Year One - Memorial Stones

I am not sure why I am celebrating our 13th anniversary in Texas like this...maybe because it is because of this COVID marathon that we have been running, maybe it’s because the word cancer has come into my family, maybe it’s because I have been selfish and haven't stopped to appreciate (in full), and share, all that the Lord has done in my life, over these years. Whatever the excuse might be, here is a part of my story and memorial stones for this very special day in the life of the Richards family.

Joshua 4:6–7 that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So, these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”

Thirteen years ago, this morning, I woke up in San Antonio, Texas for the first time in our new home. My cousin, Father-in-law, chocolate lab, and I had slept on the floor upstairs because all of the (mostly) new (a moving gift from my wife's papa Stan) and unassembled furniture was out in the U-Haul that was parked out front.

I think that I had one cup of coffee before the four college-aged, athletically inclined, young men showed up to unload the U-Haul for us. I had hired them through U-Haul and what a joy it was to watch them physically obliterate the U-Haul, and everything it held, in under two hours. They were so fast, and so effective, that they spent their remaining time assembling the aforementioned unassembled furniture, almost entirely. It was remarkable how much they accomplished and how ready the house was to live in before they left.

Carrie and the boys were due to fly in from Los Angeles that day with her mom and so I was so excited that the boys’ beds were ready, the kitchen table and chairs had been assembled and the living room furniture was ready. The house looked incredible for day one and I went out and bought a dozen red roses to welcome them home, we had put the Christmas tree up as it was only nine days until Christmas. It was shortly after that when she called and told me that she somehow missed the flight while sitting AT the gate! We are still not sure how, or why that happened, but it did. She would have to wait at LAX for another 6 hours for the next flight without enough snacks for three boys, without a stroller (checked in upon arrival), and leaving the only home that she had ever known. To say that it was a long and hard day for her would be a gross understatement. That day is still legendary in our house, and we really did not speak of it for a few years – truly!

People always ask me if I miss California, and the answer is no, except for two things. I miss the cold water of the Pacific Ocean. When you are born that close to the water, and you grow up in it, swim in it, boogie board in it, and surf in it (okay, I tried really hard, but it just didn’t work for me and nobody would call what I did surfing – it was more flailing), it becomes a part of you. The water in California is almost all cold rivers, lakes, ocean, etc. The water in Texas is almost all warm (eww) and I am not sure that my aversion will ever wear off. The second thing I miss is the mountains. There are so many adventures waiting at your fingertips...Sequoia, Mt. Whitney, Kings Canyon, Yosemite, Big Sur that's where we went with the boys when they were little because for $8 a night you could get up close and personal with the beauty of God's creation. All you had to do was look up and be amazed!

From December 16, 2008, through April 6, 2009, Children's Hunger Fund operated out of our living room and my only lifeline to my co-workers back in California was an iPhone 3G on speaker. I had one other staff who would drive to my house every Tuesday for our staff meeting while we went out and looked for a suitable space for us to set up CHF. We ended up finding a space that was big, clean, beautiful, and almost unbelievable. At the time, it was WAY nicer than the distribution center in Pacoima that I worked at for nine years before I had left in Los Angeles. That one was about 30 years old, had very low clearance, only had two dock doors, and was across the street from a very rough apartment complex. Our Eisenhauer distribution center though was 33,000 square feet, had very high ceilings, eight dock doors, and for most of that time, I got to stare out of the window at undeveloped parcels of land (about half has since been developed). I thought that I had gone to heaven!

I remember standing there in a cavernous space while it was completely empty, and I had a conversation with the Lord about having all this space, wanting to be a good steward of it, and less than a year later the earthquake in Haiti would happen. We filled just about every square inch of space in that place, multiple times over, as we were the hub for all our relief efforts over the year and a half after the earthquake had happened.

Community Bible Church, in San Antonio, was one of the main reasons we are in the city and the road to San Antonio actually starts in Ggaba, Uganda in 2002/2003 with Dave Phillips meeting a member of CBC, Dana Mann. CBC was so gracious in being willing to seed into CHF and committed to supporting CHF quarterly for three years to help us get started and get our feet planted. I thank God every day for CBC and for their quarterly support, encouragement, friendship for these thirteen years. They have never once wavered in their blessing of our ministry from day one, and I am eternally grateful!

We had our first volunteers in April, and it was the first time that I got a clear look at Texas heat. 2009 was hot (it's always hot here unless it is cold) and we had a group of kids come in from Oklahoma and they served in the warehouse for a few hours and most of them looked physically ill from the heat and humidity. We didn't have fans, air conditioning, or anything to mitigate the high temperature. We went back to our landlord and asked them if there was anything that we could do, and they found the money to build a 6,000 square foot, temperature-controlled volunteer space for us. I will never forget that it was a $155,000 project and they funded $150,000 of it. It cost CHF $5,000 to build which was essential because we were new and had no money, at all.

June 1, 2009 was a really great day as we made our second hire in Charlene Webster who was, and is, amazing, and correctly realized that we needed help, desperately. We followed that up with Steve Huerta on July 20, 2009. I am not who I am, and there is no way that we are who we are, as an organization in Texas, without those two servants. Add in Jesse Reyes in 2010, Pastor Carlos in 2012 (now with Jesus), Frankie Rodriguez in 2013, and Mario Rubi in 2014 (14-year employee at the time and one of the two people I originally asked to come with me in 2009), and you have the human foundation that we have built our ministry on in Texas. If there is one thing that I am most proud of here in Texas it is our relationships, and those relationships start with the people that I have relied upon, laughed with, cried with, cramped in front of, prayed with, bled with, and sweat with, every day, over these years. We have been so blessed with a staff that is family. Their others-orientedness, selflessness, and heart for Christ, have been my utmost joy, honor, and privilege to walk alongside.

August of 2009, our amazing friends at Oak Hills Church hosted an all-church gathering at the AT&T Center called "Bigger Than You" and they were featuring Michael W. Smith, Max Lucado, Randy Frazee, NBA Hall of Famer David Robinson, and some new non-profit in town called Children's Hunger Fund. Back in October and November of 2008, we met with the Oak Hills leadership team and elders, and at the November meeting they committed to featuring CHF as their charity of choice for this event and they wanted to fill 10,000 Food Paks for CHF. 10,000! 10,000 in 2021 is no small thing, but 10,000 in 2009 might as well have been someone saying, "Hey, we are going to climb Mt. Everest and you are coming with us!" It was amazing to see our Food Paks on stage with those men that day and over the course of August 2009 - February 2010 they encouraged the congregation to fill Food Paks to reach their goal, and they did! The thing that inspires and humbles me so much was the constant promotion of CHF and the goal...nonprofits usually only dream of that type of pulpit support, and we seemingly received it weekly. There are many amazing families who met us through that event and still support CHF today, and have every month, for more than twelve years - many are dear, dear friends and mean the world to me.

That event helped to set CHF up for success and our start in Texas was not a cold start - between CBC and Oak Hills Church - it was a super jumpstart!

As members of Oak Hills Church at the time, the church hosted river baptisms in the Guadalupe River at The Marquardt Ranch in Boerne and my two oldest sons were baptized (the three of us did it together). Camden and I were baptized by elders of the church, but Connor was baptized by THE David Robinson! It was a special day seeing the boys baptized but adding in the Admiral! Amazing and humbling.

Back in October 2008, CHF had planned a two-year goal to raise $500,000 to get CHF started in Texas. The housing crisis was in full effect, yet God provided in ways that still humble me. We finished our goal on December 23 (16 months versus 24) and through a series of events that entire year, the Lord gave me permission to be. He showed me (convincingly) that he could use someone that grew up on the streets, like me, for His glory. This has been the greatest gift I have ever received apart from salvation and my family.

This is a portion of my testimony for the first year of life in Texas for our family. God will equip those that He has called - He doesn't always call the equipped. I was a reluctant leader, an introvert, but He, and all of you that know me, ?have been patient, kind, and gracious.

I am grateful to Him.

I am grateful to you.

For God so loved the world that he sent His son to die for a broken kid that was born in Baldwin Park, who was hurt, and angry, and mad, and selfish, but who had an encounter with Jesus and became new. If I can be transformed, anyone can

Michael