The Word on the Street: What the homeless taught me about prayer, by Philip Yancey is an interesting article in Christianity Today. In it, Yancey says this:

“If you’re writing a book about prayer, you should hang around the homeless for a while,” said my wife, a veteran of inner-city ministry. “Street people pray as a necessity, not a luxury.”

Her advice made sense, especially after I interviewed Mike Yankoski, a Westmont College student who, along with a friend, left school for five months to live on the street. (His book, Under the Overpass, tells the story.) Mike told me that homeless people, having hit bottom, don’t waste time building up an image or trying to conform. And they pray without pretense, a refreshing contrast to what he found in some churches.

So I figured, what’s a little rain when the Rose Parade ends a few blocks from your house! With that in mind, a few of us cruised over to the end of the parade route, soaking wet. But, the best thing about rain is that it wasn’t as crowded, and we stood in the front, only a few feet from the band and floats as they went by. It was very wet and windy, but everyone involved seemed to be having a great time.

As soon as I get off vacation in about a day, I will be about ready to pick the blogging pace back up.

Looking forward to 2006.

This is the first New Year that my wife and I are celebrating in our Pasadena home. The cool thing is that the Rose Parade passes about a block from our neighborhood. What does that mean for us? They shut down our street, and store horses and other things on our street. Plus they give us a bunch of free passes to go to a post-parade float party.