Frozen Porta-Potties. Yes Frozen Porta-Potties.  I never thought I would have to deal with Frozen poop.

There is a Facebook group called Things I was not Taught in Seminary.  It is place to share the weird and unusual things that happen in the church world. Now, the former Dean at Wartburg would say it is not fair to expect a seminary to teach you everything.  And he is right. And he visited the center last week, and he acknowledged that we deal with way more than a seminary could prepare me for. That we are way off the chart.

So back to frozen Porta-potties. It has been so cold that the porta-potties have frozen solid. They are full and solid. It is so bad that the service could not clean them out. They had a wonderful solution.  They delivered replacement units right in front of the existing units. It works as a solution. 

But there are other things that we have to deal with that I could not have been prepared for.

Tonight I received a request for more batteries for the temp lights of the shelter. When I went to the local store I was greeted by multiple homeless people that were there simply to stay warm. I greeted them, and I was immediately asked to pray for them.

Seminary did not prepare me to pull cars out of a ditch. Nor how to fix a busted fender in 100 degree heat. To jump start a car when it is below zero and not get frostbite.

Or to literally bury a body at a funeral. To dig a grave for an infant casket. To wait for hours in a cemetery while waiting for a pine box that is late.

How to replace a broken faucet for an elder. Or to replace busted water lines. To jury rig a furnace to keep a family warm. How to defrost the front door.

That generators don’t work when it is 30 below. Or how to quickly switch out power lines.

How to cook a hot meal for 60 plus people. Or to keep enough supplies in stock when you go through 12+ cans of coffee and 100 lbs of sugar in a week.

How to be a presence for trauma stricken people. And to advocate for them. How to clean and bandage a girl who woke up to someone literally kicking her in the face.

To go from cooking lunch, to doing laundry, to working with a crying 6 year old who is upset that they ate all their chips to helping an elder who is lonely all in a manor of of a couple of hours.

How to fund raise enough money to operate a homeless shelter. And to pay the staff. To do the paperwork.

While I was not taught in Seminary how the thaw out a Porta potty, I was taught to love my neighbor. To let God’s light shine in the darkness.

God loves you, and so do I.