Dear CLDI Family and Friends,
This month, we have a very special guest writer for our blog, Kelsey Perdew! Not only is Kelsey my beautiful wife, but she is also the mom to Luther, our two-year-old son. She is an ICU nurse and MSU professor of nursing, and she has joined me in missional living on the South Side of Billings. Please enjoy her take on living and serving on the South Side for the last seven years!
His shoes are still in the garage.
Scuffed and worn, laces knotted the way he always tied them. One of the only things he brought to our house when he moved in. They sit quietly on the shelf by the door the one you pass without thinking, unless you’re looking. Unless you remember.
I haven’t moved them. I can’t throw them away.
He was our foster son. A teenager from just a few blocks away, not from a far-off city, but from our own neighborhood. He lived on the same streets we walk every day. His life overlapped with ours in more ways than just geography.
When he came into our home, we knew it might not be forever. But we hoped. And we gave. And we loved. Not because we were promised an outcome, but because we believe in the gospel of costly love.
Eventually, he was placed back with his biological family. We haven’t heard from him since. Just silence… and his shoes.
They remind me that the work we do through CLDI, and the life we’ve chosen to live in this community, isn’t always clean or tidy or tied up with neat endings. It’s relational. It’s hard. And sometimes it hurts. But it’s worth it.
“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 1:6 (NIV)
This verse reminds me that the work God started, whether in the life of our foster son, in our family, or in this neighborhood, is far from finished. It’s a promise that God is faithful to continue shaping, healing, and restoring, even when we can’t see the whole picture. The journey of costly love often feels uncertain and incomplete, but God never abandons what He’s begun. He carries it all forward, step by step, until the day when everything is made whole. This gives me hope and courage to keep loving, keep serving, and keep believing, even in the silence.
We’re no longer actively fostering, but our commitment to this neighborhood remains as strong as ever. We’ve rooted our lives here, not just as workers or volunteers, but as neighbors present, visible, and invested. We regularly spend time with kids from the neighborhood, offer a safe and welcoming home, and continue showing up in the ordinary rhythms of community life. Because we believe that being known, available, and consistent is its own kind of ministry, and it’s one we’re called to for the long haul.
We stay in this work because Jesus showed us how to love without conditions. He loved us when we ran, when we forgot, when we couldn’t love Him back. And now, we choose to do the same with our neighbors, our friends, and our foster sons from just down the block. We still hope he’ll come back one day. We still believe love leaves the porch light on. And until then, the shoes stay.
This story isn’t just ours. It belongs to our neighborhood. To South Billings. To the families CLDI walks alongside every day.
Would you join us?
- Pray: For the young people aging out of care, for families working toward restoration, and for the quiet, everyday moments of redemption unfolding in homes and on the streets of our neighborhood. Kaleb and I are also partnering with the YouthWorks team this month to host a bi-weekly dinner and Bible study in our home. We would deeply appreciate your prayers for these evenings to be full of connection, truth, and grace.
- Volunteer: Become a mentor, tutor, or simply a present and faithful neighbor.
- Give: Support the mission financially so we can continue to invest deeply in people and place.
- Stay: Plant roots, build trust, and love your neighbor with your whole heart.
Because this neighborhood matters, these stories matter. He still matters. And costly love, the kind that keeps the shoes, is always worth it.
Thank you for your continued support of the mission and vision of CLDI.
Kelsey Perdew
