Some of you may be familiar with the song, "Walk it out", some of you may not. Regardless whether or not you know the song, hears the literal meaning of what it means to 'walk it out'.
Honestly, there is alot of buildup and sequence of events that lead up to this story, but I'll do my best to limit my wordiness.
Towards the beginning of the school year Ron, Chandy and I (through answered prayer and divine intervention) were asked if we would like to go to Taft Jr. High during the lunch period to participate in an activity called, "Impact". There are 3 different lunch sessions, one for each of the grades 6th, 7th and 8th. During each session we would go throughout the halls and lunchroom handing out passes to students who wanted free pizza and an opportunity to get out of the stinky lunchroom (no offense lunch ladies). During the mad scramble of kids fighting over pizza we would find a 10 or 15 minute gap for a small message to be delivered and offer prayer over the entire assembly, as well as to any individual wanting some 1v1 time. We were located in the gym during this time primarily because it was a large area and had seating for everyone in the bleachers. Because of our location I was able to meet one of the P.E. teachers, who also coaches the boys basketball team.
After a few weeks of talking to him and learning that he had to organize and select 12 kids from a group of 70 who were trying out I figured I would ask if he needed any help. He did.
Several weeks later, after tryout selections, morning practices and some bumps along the way, we have 9 players(due to grades and failure to attend practice) and are 4-0.
Two weeks ago after a home game one of our players, "Joe", asked me if I could give him a ride home. I gladly agreed. As we walked to my car I asked Joe were he lived. He informed me he lived on the northeast side of town, which seemed unusual because his school, Taft, is located on the northwest side of town. While driving to his house we had a good 20 minutes to chat. Joe was, to my surprise, relatively talkative. He informed me that his foster mom wasn't able to pick him up that night because she had some prior engagement. Which meant he would have to catch a ride home. He went on to tell me how he had been living with his foster mom for about three months now. Prior to living with his foster mom he, his two brothers and his mom lived in an apartment but were being evicted. A few days before he and his family could move into a new house their mom had "bought"(who knows the actual sequence of events and validity of the story)they had to find somewhere else to stay. Joe described their situation by saying that because they don't have any family or relatives in OKC they were "kinda homeless" or "on the streets" for a few days. I guess their family/mom has been in some trouble or has a history with DHS because once their case worker discovered this the kids were immediately taken from her(for good reason, as far as I'm concerned, but that's def. not my call).
Since that time, Joe and his two brothers have been living with their foster mom on the northeast side of town. Before dropping Joe off at his foster moms' house here is what I learned was his typical day.
5:30 - wake up, take a shower and get to bus stop by 6:00
6:00 - endure the city-bus stop and go experience until he arrives at the closest bus stop to Taft around 7:20-7:30 (usually closer to 7:30 because practice starts at 7:30 and he is usually late)
7:30-9:00 - basketball practice
9:00-3:35 - school
3:35-8:00 - on game day, take bus to game, watch girls game and maybe do some homework, play in guys game, then, take bus back to school and figure out a way to get home
I learned all of this two weeks ago. This past Monday we had a game on the southeast side of OKC. The guys' games start at 6 so I leave straight from work at 5 and meet the team at the game. After the game I asked Joe how he was getting home. He didn't seem very worried about it as he told me he was taking the bus. I figured that was a reasonable option as I got in my car. I thought to myself, he's taking the school bus back to school and then the city bus back to his foster mom's house. Or wait, maybe he is taking the school bus back to school and then his foster mom is picking him up at the school...
Turns out, Joe took the school bus back to school and then walked home.
He walked from northwest 23rd and Penn all the way to the northeast side of OKC, that's a couple miles east of I-35. That's a twenty minute drive. He did this at 9:00 at night, which means he probably didn't get home until, around, 10:45 or 11:00. He's in 8th grade.
After hashing out how we address this unbelievable occurrence and how to avoid it happening in the future, coach and I questioned Joe about it. The thing that got me the most about this whole event was that when we talked to Joe about it, he acted like it wasn't a big deal at all. Who knows how many times he has walked that same trip. There are so many things to consider, to question and thoughts that come to mind about this story, but the bottom line is, this shouldn't happen. Coach and I are going to do the best we can to make sure that it doesn't happen again.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Thursday, November 22, 2007
breaking bread
This past Sunday at our evening worship I was able to take communion with Matt. Paul, who generally gives a thought or talks about a scripture, asked several weeks back that we invite someone each week to take communion with each time we meet. It's a really cool thing to see small children take communion with their mom or dad, a neighborhood kid take communion with a homeless man from the streets or a married couple reflect on the life and sacrifice of Christ.
Matt usually sits towards the back. This night he was in the back on one knee for most of the service. I made eye contact with him and motioned towards the communion area. I prayed a short prayer of thanks and Matt followed it up with a pretty passionate request of forgiveness, thanks for provision and the church (Cross and Crown). Needless to say, it was a pretty awesome experience.
Matt usually sits towards the back. This night he was in the back on one knee for most of the service. I made eye contact with him and motioned towards the communion area. I prayed a short prayer of thanks and Matt followed it up with a pretty passionate request of forgiveness, thanks for provision and the church (Cross and Crown). Needless to say, it was a pretty awesome experience.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
matt update part II
So, Sunday night I was left pondering what in the world Matt was talking about or what kind of trouble he was about to get himself into. Monday, at the end of the busiest part of the day (11-1:30), I headed over to Rock Island to check out what was for lunch. No luck. Looks like another day of oven pizza, micro waved burrito or leftover food from Sunday night. As I made my way back over the Cross and Crown to see if anyone had any alternate plans I ran into none other than Matt. He looked bad.
After talking to him for several minutes I was finally able to figure out what his big meeting was all about. Just within the past couple hours he had talked to his old girlfriend/employee who he had been running around with back when he was into the business of soliciting women for cash. Matt has a relatively long history with this specific women. Pretty much ever since we have known him, we have known her. They have always been off and on, as far as "dating" goes (if you want to call it dating). One day they were together and everything was great, the next they hated each other and someone was wronging the other person in some fashion. Several months ago this girl he has been running around with for quite some time discovered she was pregnant. No real shock there. Based on the type of lifestyle/job that she has adopted, it really comes as no surprise that she has become pregnant. What did come as somewhat of a surprise was that Matt was/is the father of this child.
So, that's what his meeting was all about. He told this girl that she had to choose. She had to choose between him and the man she was currently with. This isn't the first time Matt has had to confront her with a similar decision, like I said, they were frequently together and apart. Although, because she was now carrying his baby there was some added frustration to her decision to be with the other man. Matt openly talks about just about any and everything he has done or is doing. He told me how he so badly wanted to head down the street, get the 'hook' up from one of his buddies and just shoot up so he didn't have to think about it. It wasn't to hard to inform him of the reality that hours later when it wore off he would still be faced with the some troubles. He agreed, but I still wasn't sure what he would do. He also talked about the possibility of just going and beating down the man his girl was now staying with. Again, no real solution.
After several minutes of discussing options to his predicament I kinda went off on him. I asked him several questions, like, "Why do you think your in this situation?", "How can you make this situation right?", "Is it even possible to make something good come from this?", "What good will come from her(the mother of his supposed child) getting back with you?". He responded by saying that he knows that everything he is in is a result of the life he has chosen or the choices he has made. He mentioned how he wants to be apart of this childs life (apparently this isn't the first time this has happened, but with a different women).
After talking to him a few more minutes we decided the best thing for him to do would be to check on a few jobs that might have work for him. He agreed with me that all he could do was give her an opportunity to be with him and let him be apart of the childs life but it was up to her from there to make her decision. He couldn't make that decision for her. Before I left to go back over to Rock Island we prayed together and asked that God would give him direction, opportunities to do right and the strength and power to choose to do the right thing when those opportunities were presented.
A couple hours later, as I was headed home, Matt was walking towards Cross and Crown, again. He was pretty pumped. He said he made a few calls and had some hours to work. He expressed his gratefulness for the advice and especially the prayer.
Matt isn't a novel or some short story I made up to write on my blog. He isn't some figurative character that came to my mind with fictional scenarios that I made up. This is a real person. This is his real life. Honestly I struggled with whether or not to write everything that I have about Matt. I don't want it to seem like I am exploiting him and his life just for the sake of a interesting blog post. But, I do want people to know about the realness of the people that live in this neighborhood. To alot of people who have never been to Cross and Crown I can understand how it may be easy to read one of these blogs and think, "Ahhh, that's so sad", and then think nothing else of it. So I say this just to clarify, these are real people, just like you and me who struggle with daily temptations, choices and thoughts. So, what I would like you to do is more than just think, "Oh, how sad". Pray for Matt. Pray for his job/work opportunities. Pray that he makes wise choices and decisions.
In the future I will continue to give updates on Matt and his whereabouts, but will probably not get as in depth as I did in these past two blogs.
After talking to him for several minutes I was finally able to figure out what his big meeting was all about. Just within the past couple hours he had talked to his old girlfriend/employee who he had been running around with back when he was into the business of soliciting women for cash. Matt has a relatively long history with this specific women. Pretty much ever since we have known him, we have known her. They have always been off and on, as far as "dating" goes (if you want to call it dating). One day they were together and everything was great, the next they hated each other and someone was wronging the other person in some fashion. Several months ago this girl he has been running around with for quite some time discovered she was pregnant. No real shock there. Based on the type of lifestyle/job that she has adopted, it really comes as no surprise that she has become pregnant. What did come as somewhat of a surprise was that Matt was/is the father of this child.
So, that's what his meeting was all about. He told this girl that she had to choose. She had to choose between him and the man she was currently with. This isn't the first time Matt has had to confront her with a similar decision, like I said, they were frequently together and apart. Although, because she was now carrying his baby there was some added frustration to her decision to be with the other man. Matt openly talks about just about any and everything he has done or is doing. He told me how he so badly wanted to head down the street, get the 'hook' up from one of his buddies and just shoot up so he didn't have to think about it. It wasn't to hard to inform him of the reality that hours later when it wore off he would still be faced with the some troubles. He agreed, but I still wasn't sure what he would do. He also talked about the possibility of just going and beating down the man his girl was now staying with. Again, no real solution.
After several minutes of discussing options to his predicament I kinda went off on him. I asked him several questions, like, "Why do you think your in this situation?", "How can you make this situation right?", "Is it even possible to make something good come from this?", "What good will come from her(the mother of his supposed child) getting back with you?". He responded by saying that he knows that everything he is in is a result of the life he has chosen or the choices he has made. He mentioned how he wants to be apart of this childs life (apparently this isn't the first time this has happened, but with a different women).
After talking to him a few more minutes we decided the best thing for him to do would be to check on a few jobs that might have work for him. He agreed with me that all he could do was give her an opportunity to be with him and let him be apart of the childs life but it was up to her from there to make her decision. He couldn't make that decision for her. Before I left to go back over to Rock Island we prayed together and asked that God would give him direction, opportunities to do right and the strength and power to choose to do the right thing when those opportunities were presented.
A couple hours later, as I was headed home, Matt was walking towards Cross and Crown, again. He was pretty pumped. He said he made a few calls and had some hours to work. He expressed his gratefulness for the advice and especially the prayer.
Matt isn't a novel or some short story I made up to write on my blog. He isn't some figurative character that came to my mind with fictional scenarios that I made up. This is a real person. This is his real life. Honestly I struggled with whether or not to write everything that I have about Matt. I don't want it to seem like I am exploiting him and his life just for the sake of a interesting blog post. But, I do want people to know about the realness of the people that live in this neighborhood. To alot of people who have never been to Cross and Crown I can understand how it may be easy to read one of these blogs and think, "Ahhh, that's so sad", and then think nothing else of it. So I say this just to clarify, these are real people, just like you and me who struggle with daily temptations, choices and thoughts. So, what I would like you to do is more than just think, "Oh, how sad". Pray for Matt. Pray for his job/work opportunities. Pray that he makes wise choices and decisions.
In the future I will continue to give updates on Matt and his whereabouts, but will probably not get as in depth as I did in these past two blogs.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
update on "Matt"
Over the last month or so I hadn't seen much of Matt. In the back of my mind I kinda assumed that he had fallen off the deep end and was just doing the best he could to avoid us seeing him around. That's how it works with many of the men and women we have been in relationship with in the past that have struggled with some type of addiction or sinful lifestyle. Because of this over the years we have been in and out of relationship with alot of people. I guess that's just human mentality that comes into play when some sin or some harmful behavior that you just can't shake keeps getting the best of you; you don't want to be around others who you think don't struggle with similar things, they might think less of you. Or in alot of cases people wont come back around because they themselves don't feel worthy or what they have done is just too heavy for others to handle.
With this being said, I have seen Matt four times of the last 2 weeks or so. Most recently this past Sunday and yesterday, Monday. The first time I saw Matt was around 2 weeks ago and he looked really good. Physically he looked much different. He had on a nice pair of jeans, a decent looking shirt and a new pair of work boats. His hair was freshly cut (still very long) and he smelled like he had bathed recently (don't get me wrong, I wasn't sniffing all up on him). To summarize, he looked like something was very different. Something was different. Matt had taken a job opportunity in Edmond and was working full time. Matt had/has several ties in the neighborhood and so I was kinda suspicious as to why he was back in the 'hood, when it seemed like he had everything going for him. He told me he was there just to wrap some things up (probably some good and some bad). After talking for only a few minutes (it was a Thursday night so we had 30-40 kids at Rock Island) I told Matt that I was happy for him and that I was happy to see him but really I would be alright if I didn't see him anytime soon. I explained to him that I loved the friendship that we have but in all honesty I would be ok if I never saw him again because that would mean that he was out of the neighborhood, working and back on his feet. As hardcore and street as Matt is and as big as bad.....butt as everyone knows that he is, Matt began to tear up as he thanked me for all the help and advice.
This past Sunday at our evening meal and worship Matt showed up a little late but was still able to grab something to eat. Again, I was surprised to see him and was a little disappointed/upset that he was back in the neighborhood. He didn't look like he did the last time I saw him. He looked like the rougher, street, "im going to pound your face in if you say something I don't like" Matt that I was more familiar with. Like always, I wasn't able to sit down and have a long drawn out talk with Matt but I talked to him long enough to know that he wasn't working in Edmond anymore and he was back in the neighborhood. He told me that something big was going down tomorrow (Monday) and he didn't know yet if it was good or bad. I had no idea what he was talking about doing. He told me he would come by tomorrow and let me know what happened. Yikes. I was just hoping he wouldn't come back the next day and be like, "Luke, I successfully terminated the person that I had a meeting with today." I really had no idea what to expect the next day.
I'm really not doing this on purpose, but its 2:15 and we are starting to get kids for our after school hangout so I will have to finish the rest of my update at a later date.
With this being said, I have seen Matt four times of the last 2 weeks or so. Most recently this past Sunday and yesterday, Monday. The first time I saw Matt was around 2 weeks ago and he looked really good. Physically he looked much different. He had on a nice pair of jeans, a decent looking shirt and a new pair of work boats. His hair was freshly cut (still very long) and he smelled like he had bathed recently (don't get me wrong, I wasn't sniffing all up on him). To summarize, he looked like something was very different. Something was different. Matt had taken a job opportunity in Edmond and was working full time. Matt had/has several ties in the neighborhood and so I was kinda suspicious as to why he was back in the 'hood, when it seemed like he had everything going for him. He told me he was there just to wrap some things up (probably some good and some bad). After talking for only a few minutes (it was a Thursday night so we had 30-40 kids at Rock Island) I told Matt that I was happy for him and that I was happy to see him but really I would be alright if I didn't see him anytime soon. I explained to him that I loved the friendship that we have but in all honesty I would be ok if I never saw him again because that would mean that he was out of the neighborhood, working and back on his feet. As hardcore and street as Matt is and as big as bad.....butt as everyone knows that he is, Matt began to tear up as he thanked me for all the help and advice.
This past Sunday at our evening meal and worship Matt showed up a little late but was still able to grab something to eat. Again, I was surprised to see him and was a little disappointed/upset that he was back in the neighborhood. He didn't look like he did the last time I saw him. He looked like the rougher, street, "im going to pound your face in if you say something I don't like" Matt that I was more familiar with. Like always, I wasn't able to sit down and have a long drawn out talk with Matt but I talked to him long enough to know that he wasn't working in Edmond anymore and he was back in the neighborhood. He told me that something big was going down tomorrow (Monday) and he didn't know yet if it was good or bad. I had no idea what he was talking about doing. He told me he would come by tomorrow and let me know what happened. Yikes. I was just hoping he wouldn't come back the next day and be like, "Luke, I successfully terminated the person that I had a meeting with today." I really had no idea what to expect the next day.
I'm really not doing this on purpose, but its 2:15 and we are starting to get kids for our after school hangout so I will have to finish the rest of my update at a later date.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
get big or go home
During one of our recent youth meetings Ron, Chandy and I discussed how we need to do a better job of approaching the kids health/not so healthy lifestyles. After several minutes of thought we decided that pizza, tacos and lemonade weren't the top three blocks on the food pyramid (weird huh). It occurred to us that although we were providing a safe place for the kids, fun video games to play, a decent meal to eat, some spiritual guidance, and a place where the kids can talk/pray with us, we haven't done much about addressing the wellness of their physical bodies.
In Corinthians we are told to honor God with our bodies by fleeing from sexual immorality. Why shouldn't we also honor God with our bodies by treating it as if it is really what He says it is, the temple of the Holy Spirit. I think maybe Paul knew what he was talking about in Timothy when he said that physical training is of some good. How can you minister to others or give a helping hand to someone struggling with physical illness or physical troubles when you don't even take care of your own body?
Our resolution was that we need to take more seriously what we feed our kids and we need to stress physical activity more then have in the past, which isn't much. Next semester, after Christmas, we have decided to use one of our normal "hang-out" days as a study hall/workout day. Rather then feed pizza and coke and play video games we have allotted this time as homework and workout time. We will have plenty of homework available, but workout options are limited.
We have aspirations of providing the youth with a place to work out upstairs. We hope to have 3-4 cardio machines (treadmill, elliptical, ect.), a small collection of free weights(dumbbells) and a couple of weight machines. So, what we are hoping is that collectively, by way of donated equipment, machines and maybe even specifically allotted financial donations we can provide a place for the kids to improve their physical wellness.
If you have a machine, free weights or some other physically related piece of equipment (that is in decent, usable shape) you would like to donate we would be very pleased to put it to use. If you do donate something to the gym we can probably give you some type of discount or a free gym membership for a couple weeks. We'll work something out for you.
lwhitmire@hotmail.com
or email me for my phone #
In Corinthians we are told to honor God with our bodies by fleeing from sexual immorality. Why shouldn't we also honor God with our bodies by treating it as if it is really what He says it is, the temple of the Holy Spirit. I think maybe Paul knew what he was talking about in Timothy when he said that physical training is of some good. How can you minister to others or give a helping hand to someone struggling with physical illness or physical troubles when you don't even take care of your own body?
Our resolution was that we need to take more seriously what we feed our kids and we need to stress physical activity more then have in the past, which isn't much. Next semester, after Christmas, we have decided to use one of our normal "hang-out" days as a study hall/workout day. Rather then feed pizza and coke and play video games we have allotted this time as homework and workout time. We will have plenty of homework available, but workout options are limited.
We have aspirations of providing the youth with a place to work out upstairs. We hope to have 3-4 cardio machines (treadmill, elliptical, ect.), a small collection of free weights(dumbbells) and a couple of weight machines. So, what we are hoping is that collectively, by way of donated equipment, machines and maybe even specifically allotted financial donations we can provide a place for the kids to improve their physical wellness.
If you have a machine, free weights or some other physically related piece of equipment (that is in decent, usable shape) you would like to donate we would be very pleased to put it to use. If you do donate something to the gym we can probably give you some type of discount or a free gym membership for a couple weeks. We'll work something out for you.
lwhitmire@hotmail.com
or email me for my phone #
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
i got dibs on top bunk
Remember when I said I was going to try to blog like once every two weeks? Yikes.
This blog is to update those of you who read my blog that I have a new roommate. We'll call him David. David has been living with me for the last few nights now. He is actually apart of our youth group at Rock Island. I have known David for over 5 years but have never spent much time 1v1 with him. He has lived in the neighborhood by the mission long before Cross and Crown started and now, because of some family issues, has been forced to relocate.
So, David has been rooming with me while his mom has been invited into another familys house until they are able to find a house/apartment that is suitable for the two of them. David goes to school at Northwest Classen and is a freshman, which works out great because I live within walking distance of the school.
David isn't much on conversating and seeing as how I'm not Mr. Talkative I have to purposely initiate conversations in order to have some type of communication between the two of us. I do the best I can to talk to him about his situation, but try not to be too nosey. He is a very soft spoken.
I guess there isn't much else to say about my new roomie. I just wanted to give some sort of update and now I can get Ron and Chandy off my back when they say, "Luke, when's the last time you blogged?", "You haven't blogged in like three years, Luke." So, here's my blog.
But in all seriousness please pray that God would create opportunities for me to talk to David about any and everything. Whether about God, school, family and/or any other significant topic. Also, anyone still interested in the happenings with the pimp I mentioned in previous blogs; I'm sorry there isn't any update to give, we haven't seen him in several weeks.
This blog is to update those of you who read my blog that I have a new roommate. We'll call him David. David has been living with me for the last few nights now. He is actually apart of our youth group at Rock Island. I have known David for over 5 years but have never spent much time 1v1 with him. He has lived in the neighborhood by the mission long before Cross and Crown started and now, because of some family issues, has been forced to relocate.
So, David has been rooming with me while his mom has been invited into another familys house until they are able to find a house/apartment that is suitable for the two of them. David goes to school at Northwest Classen and is a freshman, which works out great because I live within walking distance of the school.
David isn't much on conversating and seeing as how I'm not Mr. Talkative I have to purposely initiate conversations in order to have some type of communication between the two of us. I do the best I can to talk to him about his situation, but try not to be too nosey. He is a very soft spoken.
I guess there isn't much else to say about my new roomie. I just wanted to give some sort of update and now I can get Ron and Chandy off my back when they say, "Luke, when's the last time you blogged?", "You haven't blogged in like three years, Luke." So, here's my blog.
But in all seriousness please pray that God would create opportunities for me to talk to David about any and everything. Whether about God, school, family and/or any other significant topic. Also, anyone still interested in the happenings with the pimp I mentioned in previous blogs; I'm sorry there isn't any update to give, we haven't seen him in several weeks.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
football, pizza, pimp update
In a previous blog I wrote about a young man who makes a significant amount of his income by soliciting a young women. Rather than refer to the young man as pimp, I will give him the name Matt.
A couple Saturdays back my brother and I went to the mission to pick the mission van. Just like any other time one of the Cross and Crown staff go to the mission for the simplest of tasks we are always in for more then we bargained for. This trip was no different.
As my brother and I pulled onto Mckinley off of tenth street we were immediately spotted by Matt. As we put the back seats into the van Matt made his way over to us. I greeted Matt and introduced him to my brother as he began to explain his current need. He explained how he had a new job that he was working with his brother. He said he was laying tile at a house on 39th and Western. I explained to Matt how we were kind of in a hurry because we were on our way to pick up family members from the airport, but that did phase him (at least he is persistent, right?).
After throwing a few questions at Matt to determine the validity of his new job I decided that if he really did have a way to make money in an honest fashion, I would love to be apart of that in help in any way I could. I told my brother to go on without me and I would take Matt to his job site, but my brother insisted that he would follow me and then we would go together. I could see why he would be concerned, Matt isn't the friendliest looking guy. Honestly though, even if my brother wasn't there I would still feel comfortable giving Matt a ride.
On the way to the job site Matt and I were able to talk. We talked about where he grew up, his parents, his brother who he was going to work for that he hadn't talked to in about a year and the girl he solicits/his girlfriend/who is now pregnant. We also talked about sin and what God thinks of us when we sin. It was interesting how we started talking about it. Matt asked me straight-forward if I knew what kind of work he was involved in. I told Matt that word travels fast and that everyone in that neighborhood and Cross and Crown knows his work. He was embarrassed, briefly. He then went on to say how it was only temporary and how he was only doing it until he could get some things straight in his life. He told me how he knows what he is doing is wrong. That's how we got on the topic of sin. Matt said he knows what he is doing is sinful and that God doesn't enjoy the way he is living. He said that he feels like a dirty person but he doesn't know what else to do. Then he said something to me I will never forget, he said, "Luke, everyday I'm living in Hell. Everyday is Hell for me."
I really didn't know what to say. I think I just nodded at him in agreement. He went on to explain how he knows it's like that because of the way he lives. He admitted that his own actions and choices shape this Hell on earth that he lives in.
As our conversation continued I mentioned to him how sin is sin to God. Sure, there are some sins that have greater consequences then others here on earth, but ultimately we are separated from God because of sin, rather large or small, anyone who sins, everyone, is separated from God.
As we arrived at his work site our conversation was cut short, but as we pulled up I made sure to pray with Matt before he got out of my car. After I finished praying for him he did something that really surprised me, he asked to pray for me. Wow, what a blessing. How many of the people reading this blog (which hopefully is more then my mom, dad or sister) have had a pimp pray for you? Somewhat ironic.
Matt's girlfriend/employee both attend our Sunday night worship. Matt expressed to me how much he enjoys these worship times and how he looks forward to each Sunday. I'm not sure of it, but I really feel like one of these days we are going to have a breakthrough with this couple and I think these worship times are going to be the catalyst.
Joshua 2:1-22
A couple Saturdays back my brother and I went to the mission to pick the mission van. Just like any other time one of the Cross and Crown staff go to the mission for the simplest of tasks we are always in for more then we bargained for. This trip was no different.
As my brother and I pulled onto Mckinley off of tenth street we were immediately spotted by Matt. As we put the back seats into the van Matt made his way over to us. I greeted Matt and introduced him to my brother as he began to explain his current need. He explained how he had a new job that he was working with his brother. He said he was laying tile at a house on 39th and Western. I explained to Matt how we were kind of in a hurry because we were on our way to pick up family members from the airport, but that did phase him (at least he is persistent, right?).
After throwing a few questions at Matt to determine the validity of his new job I decided that if he really did have a way to make money in an honest fashion, I would love to be apart of that in help in any way I could. I told my brother to go on without me and I would take Matt to his job site, but my brother insisted that he would follow me and then we would go together. I could see why he would be concerned, Matt isn't the friendliest looking guy. Honestly though, even if my brother wasn't there I would still feel comfortable giving Matt a ride.
On the way to the job site Matt and I were able to talk. We talked about where he grew up, his parents, his brother who he was going to work for that he hadn't talked to in about a year and the girl he solicits/his girlfriend/who is now pregnant. We also talked about sin and what God thinks of us when we sin. It was interesting how we started talking about it. Matt asked me straight-forward if I knew what kind of work he was involved in. I told Matt that word travels fast and that everyone in that neighborhood and Cross and Crown knows his work. He was embarrassed, briefly. He then went on to say how it was only temporary and how he was only doing it until he could get some things straight in his life. He told me how he knows what he is doing is wrong. That's how we got on the topic of sin. Matt said he knows what he is doing is sinful and that God doesn't enjoy the way he is living. He said that he feels like a dirty person but he doesn't know what else to do. Then he said something to me I will never forget, he said, "Luke, everyday I'm living in Hell. Everyday is Hell for me."
I really didn't know what to say. I think I just nodded at him in agreement. He went on to explain how he knows it's like that because of the way he lives. He admitted that his own actions and choices shape this Hell on earth that he lives in.
As our conversation continued I mentioned to him how sin is sin to God. Sure, there are some sins that have greater consequences then others here on earth, but ultimately we are separated from God because of sin, rather large or small, anyone who sins, everyone, is separated from God.
As we arrived at his work site our conversation was cut short, but as we pulled up I made sure to pray with Matt before he got out of my car. After I finished praying for him he did something that really surprised me, he asked to pray for me. Wow, what a blessing. How many of the people reading this blog (which hopefully is more then my mom, dad or sister) have had a pimp pray for you? Somewhat ironic.
Matt's girlfriend/employee both attend our Sunday night worship. Matt expressed to me how much he enjoys these worship times and how he looks forward to each Sunday. I'm not sure of it, but I really feel like one of these days we are going to have a breakthrough with this couple and I think these worship times are going to be the catalyst.
Joshua 2:1-22
Friday, August 31, 2007
to be without
The idea of "being without" has been a reoccurring thought that has come to my mind several times the last two or three weeks. Not suprisingly, because of where i work, I meet people day in and day out whose lifestyle is a continual cycle of "being without". Here is one instance that demonstrates this type of lifestyle...
Last Tuesday, August 23, one of our workers reported one particular person that came to receive help that day, received their food and then shopped in the clothing room. When this person was finished collecting their clothing she began to walk outside without paying. Because of the continual masses that enter and exit the clothing room daily the workers didn't realize the person had left the clothing room until 2 or 3 minutes after the fact. Upon realizing this, the worker walked outside and spotted the person putting the clothing articles into their car. The worker confronted the individual and questioned why she hadn't paid. The individual responded saying that she was going to borrow some money from a friend upstairs so she would go get the money and then return to pay for the clothing. To make a long story short (or at least shorter, seeing as how I can't possibly write a short story) the individual went to a complete stranger inside and told them she needed gas money to go pick up kids from school. So, the person gave her "gas money" and then the individual payed for the clothes with that money. Turns out the person who loaned the money to the individual saw her paying for the clothes with the money she gave the individual to pay for the gas. Then all heck broke loose.
After things cooled down the individual came back inside to help a women carry a box of food out to her car. I decided to carry the box for the women, which gave me an opportunity to talk to the other person who had gone through what seemed to be a very long morning. I tried to explain to the individual how it wasn't about they money, the clothes, the food or the idea of being taken advantage of that bothered me. I told him/her the thing that bothered me the most was the fact that she was leaving mad/upset/angry. I told her straightforward how it was wrong (and obviously dishonest) of her to lie in order to get what she wanted. I told the individual how we wanted her to continue to come see us for any and ever need they might have. I tried to explain to the individual how we try to be more then just a food pantry or a clothing room that people come and go just to get physical things they desire. We want to be a place where you build a relationship with us so that anytime you have a need, your children have a need, you have something to celebrate or you have something to mourn about we can be a place where you can do just that. I told her we give because we have been given to.
The individual began to cry as she began to explain why she had lied about the gas money, who the clothes were for, and where she was headed to. She lied about the gas money because she had just enough money to pay for the clothes and she knew a person would be more willing to pay for gas then to pay for clothing, which seemed to be less of a necessity at the time because she informed me that she needed the gas to go pick up kids from school. She went on to explain that the clothes were for her kids and she wanted them so bad for her kids because they didn't have any back to school clothes for their first day of school. So there she was shopping in our clothing store for used clothes to get her kids some new back to school clothes. After she calmed down a little bit and listened to what I had to say she ended our conversation by saying, "If I didn't really NEED these things I wouldn't come here to get them." She explained how it was hard for her to start coming to places such as Cross and Crown and other food pantries because it was humiliating at first. But, she explained, when you really need these things to survive and you can't go without them, you do what you have to do.
The rest of the day I couldn't help but re-play this conversation I had with the lady over and over. As much as I tried, and as heartbreaking as it was to hear her story, I couldn't relate. The reason that I couldn't relate is because I have never been without. Growing up my parents/family wasn't wealthy, but we had everything we needed, we were never without. I have never been a night without eating (unless it was by my own will not to eat, probably. because it was meatloaf), in elementary and jr. high school I always had back to school clothes. I always had a cool house in the summer and a warm house in the winter. I always had a good pair of basketball shoes, never having to wear the same shoes in two consecutive seasons. I have never been without.
Interesting how the lady said she was shopping for NEW back to school clothes in a USED clothing store. That's how different her perspective is then most of us because of her lifestyle that she has come to accept.
My intentions of this blog I am unsure of, but like most of my blogs I can reassure you that there is one thing that none of us can be without, and that's Christ. No one is without when they have Jesus Christ. So, even if you do or even if don't work at an inner-city mission, a church or some religious affiliated organization know that there are definitely people who are without, in one way or another.
Dueteronomy13:4 However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, 5 if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.
Last Tuesday, August 23, one of our workers reported one particular person that came to receive help that day, received their food and then shopped in the clothing room. When this person was finished collecting their clothing she began to walk outside without paying. Because of the continual masses that enter and exit the clothing room daily the workers didn't realize the person had left the clothing room until 2 or 3 minutes after the fact. Upon realizing this, the worker walked outside and spotted the person putting the clothing articles into their car. The worker confronted the individual and questioned why she hadn't paid. The individual responded saying that she was going to borrow some money from a friend upstairs so she would go get the money and then return to pay for the clothing. To make a long story short (or at least shorter, seeing as how I can't possibly write a short story) the individual went to a complete stranger inside and told them she needed gas money to go pick up kids from school. So, the person gave her "gas money" and then the individual payed for the clothes with that money. Turns out the person who loaned the money to the individual saw her paying for the clothes with the money she gave the individual to pay for the gas. Then all heck broke loose.
After things cooled down the individual came back inside to help a women carry a box of food out to her car. I decided to carry the box for the women, which gave me an opportunity to talk to the other person who had gone through what seemed to be a very long morning. I tried to explain to the individual how it wasn't about they money, the clothes, the food or the idea of being taken advantage of that bothered me. I told him/her the thing that bothered me the most was the fact that she was leaving mad/upset/angry. I told her straightforward how it was wrong (and obviously dishonest) of her to lie in order to get what she wanted. I told the individual how we wanted her to continue to come see us for any and ever need they might have. I tried to explain to the individual how we try to be more then just a food pantry or a clothing room that people come and go just to get physical things they desire. We want to be a place where you build a relationship with us so that anytime you have a need, your children have a need, you have something to celebrate or you have something to mourn about we can be a place where you can do just that. I told her we give because we have been given to.
The individual began to cry as she began to explain why she had lied about the gas money, who the clothes were for, and where she was headed to. She lied about the gas money because she had just enough money to pay for the clothes and she knew a person would be more willing to pay for gas then to pay for clothing, which seemed to be less of a necessity at the time because she informed me that she needed the gas to go pick up kids from school. She went on to explain that the clothes were for her kids and she wanted them so bad for her kids because they didn't have any back to school clothes for their first day of school. So there she was shopping in our clothing store for used clothes to get her kids some new back to school clothes. After she calmed down a little bit and listened to what I had to say she ended our conversation by saying, "If I didn't really NEED these things I wouldn't come here to get them." She explained how it was hard for her to start coming to places such as Cross and Crown and other food pantries because it was humiliating at first. But, she explained, when you really need these things to survive and you can't go without them, you do what you have to do.
The rest of the day I couldn't help but re-play this conversation I had with the lady over and over. As much as I tried, and as heartbreaking as it was to hear her story, I couldn't relate. The reason that I couldn't relate is because I have never been without. Growing up my parents/family wasn't wealthy, but we had everything we needed, we were never without. I have never been a night without eating (unless it was by my own will not to eat, probably. because it was meatloaf), in elementary and jr. high school I always had back to school clothes. I always had a cool house in the summer and a warm house in the winter. I always had a good pair of basketball shoes, never having to wear the same shoes in two consecutive seasons. I have never been without.
Interesting how the lady said she was shopping for NEW back to school clothes in a USED clothing store. That's how different her perspective is then most of us because of her lifestyle that she has come to accept.
My intentions of this blog I am unsure of, but like most of my blogs I can reassure you that there is one thing that none of us can be without, and that's Christ. No one is without when they have Jesus Christ. So, even if you do or even if don't work at an inner-city mission, a church or some religious affiliated organization know that there are definitely people who are without, in one way or another.
Dueteronomy13:4 However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, 5 if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.
Monday, July 30, 2007
which doesn't fit? football...pizza...pimp
This past Thursday night at our high-school hangout we had a very interesting mix of attendees.
For those of you not familiar with the area/neighborhood that Rock Island is located in, let me just say this, the women walking the streets of 9th and Blackwelder aren't selling ice cream, newspaper subscriptions or delivering girl-scout cookies. They're working. We know it. Our kids (when I say kids I mean the kids we work with, not like my actual children, I have none) know it. Everyone that lives in the neighborhood knows it. This particular street is notorious for that very reason.
Also on the corner of 9th and Blackwelder is a church. This church has been there for a very long time and they are also very familiar with the happenings that occur on their street. Recently this church decided to hold an all evening/night concert/worship on the street corner. One of their motives, along with others I am sure, was to cut down on the activity that generally takes place on their street corner. I can only imagine all of the meetings, opinions and controversies that took place while organizing this event at this specific church, but for what it's worth (which may be zilch to many of you) I like their train of thought.
Basically what happened was the women moved their work a street one block east, Mckinley. That's us. The schedule we have at Rock Island is pretty consistent, so for the most part anyone relatively close to Cross and Crown or Rock Island knows when we are and when we aren't going to be there. Needless to say, between Rock Island being open with 25+ kids running around inside and out of the building and church- woodstock (I'm not making fun of it, I really just picture it to be a really small version of what woodstock would be like, minus the drugs and other garbage) concert going on, I think we really messed up business for the ladies that night.
The hangout at Rock Island started at 6:00 pm and so I showed up around 5:15 to get a few things ready ( low and behold Ron was already there. I could have gotten there at 3:15 and he still would have been there at least 5 minutes before me). When I pulled up a girl and her pimp, literally her pimp, were on our street corner. They had clearly been forced out of their normal area of work and also seemed a little antsy when kid after kid started to show up for the nights' hangout. Regardless of the fact, they stayed there. Around 7:15 or so several of the kids followed me across the street to help unload some donations. After unloading the final items the boys started to throw the football back and forth in the middle of the street. I was somewhat nervous at first because I could just imagine the young man who was pimping this girl thinking in his head, "You have got to be kidding me. Is this really happening? " Meanwhile he just becomes more and more frustrated. Boy was I wrong...
While I was nervously walking back into Rock Island to discuss with Ron what sort of action we should take I turned around for a brief second only to see the young man in a full sprint to retrieve an arrant pass. (As a side note, the ball was very well overthrown and there was no possible way this guy could catch up to it. He had no shirt on and I thought for sure that he was going to dive for it for some reason. But, he didn't. Good, that would have only added to the already complicated scenario.) After discussing the situation with Ron for a few minutes, while we watched from the window, we couldn't help but at least chuckle about our situation. Many times during the work day, both at Cross and Crown and Rock Island, Ron, Chandy or myself will be caught in a situation and say to the other something to the effect of, "I didn't sign up for this", or, "What other job has to deal with things like this", or my personal favorite that I have copywrite on, "This wasn't in my job description when I signed up". After further discussing the situation Ron and I decided to have the kids all come inside. Our main reason was that we felt the parents of the children would question our decision making process and safety of their children if we had decided differently.
After all the kids came back inside Rock Island they were quickly entertained by the other forms of entertainment available. Shortly after they were all inside, you guessed it, the young man/pimp thought he would check things out from the inside of Rock Island. I spotted him when we was about 10-15 feet away from the front door and meet him at the door as he opened it. I asked him how I could help him and he understandably asked for something to drink. After introducing myself and explaining what Rock Island was I asked him if he could wait outside (I explained to him that in order to come in you had to be in junior-high or high-school. Let it be known he isn't the first adult who has expressed interest in coming to Rock Island on a regular basis). I grabbed him a diet coke for both himself and his friend and meet him outside. As I was handing him the drinks he began to explain to me how he was a barber. He seemed somewhat nervous (for good reason, he was lying to me) but I told him it was a pleasure to meet him and told him not to be a stranger. I invited him to come to our Sunday night worship in September and to not hesitate to come get some food from us sometime. He politely accepted my invitation and said he would defintely do so. I honestly hope he does.
My job is ministry. When I go to work I go to minister to people in need. Some people need food, some people need clothes, so need legal help, some need glasses to see, some need a toothbrush, all need Christ. Alot of times when I 'minister' to people, it's easy. Not that that's bad, but because my job is ministry, people that I see on a day to day basis at work are open to receive ministry because that's what they came for. I have been asking God to present people to me that aren't necessarily seeking ministry. What an extraordinary opportunity to minister to someone who isn't directly/purposefully seeking ministry.
Alot of people, "church-goers" or "non-church-goers", would frown upon this man and turn the other way. They would look at this man and his way of life and do everything they could to not associate with him.
I don't approve of this mans' line of work. Bottom line is that it is sinful. But what I wont do is deny this man what he really needs simply because of how deep he is in sin.
" While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
This scripture, quote from Jesus, is mentioned several times in the new testament. It seems so simple. Why would someone go to the doctor if they weren't sick? Or, why would a doctor go to heal a person who is completely healthy? Jesus is saying that he is on earth for the same reason. He isn't here to call all the people who believe already, those who have accepted him. He is here to call those who don't believe, those who haven't accepted him.
Now that is something that is in my "job description" when it comes to having accepted Christ. Isn't it for all of us? When you accepted Christ didn't you agree to let others know about Him? Even those, especially those, caught so deep in sin most people wont even associate with them?
I'll keep you posted on how our relationship with this young man grows.
For those of you not familiar with the area/neighborhood that Rock Island is located in, let me just say this, the women walking the streets of 9th and Blackwelder aren't selling ice cream, newspaper subscriptions or delivering girl-scout cookies. They're working. We know it. Our kids (when I say kids I mean the kids we work with, not like my actual children, I have none) know it. Everyone that lives in the neighborhood knows it. This particular street is notorious for that very reason.
Also on the corner of 9th and Blackwelder is a church. This church has been there for a very long time and they are also very familiar with the happenings that occur on their street. Recently this church decided to hold an all evening/night concert/worship on the street corner. One of their motives, along with others I am sure, was to cut down on the activity that generally takes place on their street corner. I can only imagine all of the meetings, opinions and controversies that took place while organizing this event at this specific church, but for what it's worth (which may be zilch to many of you) I like their train of thought.
Basically what happened was the women moved their work a street one block east, Mckinley. That's us. The schedule we have at Rock Island is pretty consistent, so for the most part anyone relatively close to Cross and Crown or Rock Island knows when we are and when we aren't going to be there. Needless to say, between Rock Island being open with 25+ kids running around inside and out of the building and church- woodstock (I'm not making fun of it, I really just picture it to be a really small version of what woodstock would be like, minus the drugs and other garbage) concert going on, I think we really messed up business for the ladies that night.
The hangout at Rock Island started at 6:00 pm and so I showed up around 5:15 to get a few things ready ( low and behold Ron was already there. I could have gotten there at 3:15 and he still would have been there at least 5 minutes before me). When I pulled up a girl and her pimp, literally her pimp, were on our street corner. They had clearly been forced out of their normal area of work and also seemed a little antsy when kid after kid started to show up for the nights' hangout. Regardless of the fact, they stayed there. Around 7:15 or so several of the kids followed me across the street to help unload some donations. After unloading the final items the boys started to throw the football back and forth in the middle of the street. I was somewhat nervous at first because I could just imagine the young man who was pimping this girl thinking in his head, "You have got to be kidding me. Is this really happening? " Meanwhile he just becomes more and more frustrated. Boy was I wrong...
While I was nervously walking back into Rock Island to discuss with Ron what sort of action we should take I turned around for a brief second only to see the young man in a full sprint to retrieve an arrant pass. (As a side note, the ball was very well overthrown and there was no possible way this guy could catch up to it. He had no shirt on and I thought for sure that he was going to dive for it for some reason. But, he didn't. Good, that would have only added to the already complicated scenario.) After discussing the situation with Ron for a few minutes, while we watched from the window, we couldn't help but at least chuckle about our situation. Many times during the work day, both at Cross and Crown and Rock Island, Ron, Chandy or myself will be caught in a situation and say to the other something to the effect of, "I didn't sign up for this", or, "What other job has to deal with things like this", or my personal favorite that I have copywrite on, "This wasn't in my job description when I signed up". After further discussing the situation Ron and I decided to have the kids all come inside. Our main reason was that we felt the parents of the children would question our decision making process and safety of their children if we had decided differently.
After all the kids came back inside Rock Island they were quickly entertained by the other forms of entertainment available. Shortly after they were all inside, you guessed it, the young man/pimp thought he would check things out from the inside of Rock Island. I spotted him when we was about 10-15 feet away from the front door and meet him at the door as he opened it. I asked him how I could help him and he understandably asked for something to drink. After introducing myself and explaining what Rock Island was I asked him if he could wait outside (I explained to him that in order to come in you had to be in junior-high or high-school. Let it be known he isn't the first adult who has expressed interest in coming to Rock Island on a regular basis). I grabbed him a diet coke for both himself and his friend and meet him outside. As I was handing him the drinks he began to explain to me how he was a barber. He seemed somewhat nervous (for good reason, he was lying to me) but I told him it was a pleasure to meet him and told him not to be a stranger. I invited him to come to our Sunday night worship in September and to not hesitate to come get some food from us sometime. He politely accepted my invitation and said he would defintely do so. I honestly hope he does.
My job is ministry. When I go to work I go to minister to people in need. Some people need food, some people need clothes, so need legal help, some need glasses to see, some need a toothbrush, all need Christ. Alot of times when I 'minister' to people, it's easy. Not that that's bad, but because my job is ministry, people that I see on a day to day basis at work are open to receive ministry because that's what they came for. I have been asking God to present people to me that aren't necessarily seeking ministry. What an extraordinary opportunity to minister to someone who isn't directly/purposefully seeking ministry.
Alot of people, "church-goers" or "non-church-goers", would frown upon this man and turn the other way. They would look at this man and his way of life and do everything they could to not associate with him.
I don't approve of this mans' line of work. Bottom line is that it is sinful. But what I wont do is deny this man what he really needs simply because of how deep he is in sin.
" While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
This scripture, quote from Jesus, is mentioned several times in the new testament. It seems so simple. Why would someone go to the doctor if they weren't sick? Or, why would a doctor go to heal a person who is completely healthy? Jesus is saying that he is on earth for the same reason. He isn't here to call all the people who believe already, those who have accepted him. He is here to call those who don't believe, those who haven't accepted him.
Now that is something that is in my "job description" when it comes to having accepted Christ. Isn't it for all of us? When you accepted Christ didn't you agree to let others know about Him? Even those, especially those, caught so deep in sin most people wont even associate with them?
I'll keep you posted on how our relationship with this young man grows.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
what you've come to expect
For those of you who still keep up with my blog you have come to expect this short of thing. You expect me to blog "every-so-often", which is open to interpretation, mainly my interpretation, as to how often that really is. I don't set a date anymore or a time that I absolutely must blog, but rather I let the blogs come to me, I don't come to the blogs.
For those of you who don't keep up with my blog anymore......I can't blame you. I can understand and relate with those of you who check multiple blogs a day or a week expecting to read what they have to share and when you find nothing on the blog, day after day after day, you quit checking. But hopefully, somehow, whether you have subscribed to my blog and you get an email reporting that I finally wrote something or you just get that inner blog-feeling that lets you know that one of your blogging buddies blogged, I hope you find what I have to share worth your time.
It should go without saying, but, as always, a lot has happened since the last time I blogged. Amongst other things, here are a few events/happenings that have occurred recently with our youth......gone to the dollar theatre, been invited to see a "sneak-preview" of the upcoming movie, "Miss HIV", had a "slip-n-slide Bible study" (as Ron likes to call it), gone to Bricktown to eat at Earls BBQ, watched several movies at Rock Island, gone to Camp Shiloh, as well as, eaten thousands of calories worth of pizza, tacos and other nutritious foods. All of these events/happenings are things we enjoy doing as a group. These kids enjoy them for the same reasons that other people would enjoy doing them for. They are fun, they entertain, they build memories and times that we can talk about later. This is what we want for them. We want the kids in this area, in this neighborhood, the kids that we can reach to have an opportunity to do things and experience things they might not be given a chance to do if we weren't the ones giving them that opportunity. Most, if not all, of the things we have done this summer with and for our kids at Rock Island are things and experiences that we, Ron, Chandy, myself, Larita and Arlesha have tried to organize and make available to our kids because we believe we have been called to do so. A lot of the things we do with these kids...they aren't familiar with...they are new to...they have never experienced before...they don't know.
On the flip side of fun/positive things we have done this summer, things we have experienced, happenings that have occurred with our kids, here is a list of not so great things. This list goes like this...had some of our not so familar youth break in to Rock Island, been in the middle of a evening hangout meanwhile a prostitute stands on the corner of our lawn working the streets, witnessed two grown men confront each other in the middle of the street one with a tree branch and the other with a steel pipe as they screamed back and forth at each other, just hoping they wouldn't go to blows as they were threatening to do, had video games stolen, been lied to, had girls not want to come hangouts or Bible studies anymore because certain other girls were present, had drugs brought into Rock Island, had kids not come anymore because we told them they had to pass a drug test if they wanted to come in anymore, had parents come to Rock Island to discuss the most unheard of family issues, ect.
After reading over the list of things I just wrote and trying to imagine what I would be thinking if I were a person reading this I think it sounds like I am hating my job or complaining. Which I'm not. But I decided not to alter my list to make it sound any better, because it is what it is. And just for the record, I love my job. My desire when listing these "negative" things that have happened recently was to give some insight as to what these kids experience, do, are around and witness on a day to day basis.....even while we are there. I can't imagine (sometimes I really wish I couldn't) the things our kids have seen in theiri lifetime, but I have a pretty good idea based on some previous talks with individual kids
Again, after reading over my blog I was thinking I might list the "negative experiences" first and the "positive happenings" second, so I could end my blog on a happy, fuzzy feeling, but I decided against it. My desire isn't to make you feel good or bad after reading this specific blog. Really I just wanted this to be more of an informative blog to let you know what is and has been going on recently, which I think I did. The only difference is this time I decided to give you the good and the bad, because they are both present.
Another update I want to give you has to do with the spiritual or Biblical interest that a few of our kids have been showing recently. I believe Chandy and Ron both mentioned it in their recent blogs, but in case you didn't read, we have had a couple instances when individuals have come to us asking, seeking, questioning God and what He is all about. That's pretty awesome. Recently one of the girls came forward and was seeking some guidance relating to spiritual matters so Ron and Chandy did what they could to give her advice, as well as, pray with and for her. Also, during our first, "unofficial/official", Bible study we started our reading about the birth of Christ, which lead to several questions. Some pretty basic questions, along with several questions that Ron, Larita and I initially responded with, "Wow, that's a really good question". Meanwhile I was thinking to myself, "Wow, that's a really good question and I hope that Ron or Larita can answer it because I sure as heck can't". And, they couldn't either, so we just left the kids hanging and told them to go home.....just kidding. Between the three of us, along with some Holy Spirit guidance, we were able to answer all their questions and left them with a little anticipation of next weeks study of the "teenage life of Christ".
That's all for now. I don't want to tell you everything about the Bible study. I will leave myself something to write about in the not so distant future....which could be, 3-4 days or 3-4 weeks/months.
For those of you who don't keep up with my blog anymore......I can't blame you. I can understand and relate with those of you who check multiple blogs a day or a week expecting to read what they have to share and when you find nothing on the blog, day after day after day, you quit checking. But hopefully, somehow, whether you have subscribed to my blog and you get an email reporting that I finally wrote something or you just get that inner blog-feeling that lets you know that one of your blogging buddies blogged, I hope you find what I have to share worth your time.
It should go without saying, but, as always, a lot has happened since the last time I blogged. Amongst other things, here are a few events/happenings that have occurred recently with our youth......gone to the dollar theatre, been invited to see a "sneak-preview" of the upcoming movie, "Miss HIV", had a "slip-n-slide Bible study" (as Ron likes to call it), gone to Bricktown to eat at Earls BBQ, watched several movies at Rock Island, gone to Camp Shiloh, as well as, eaten thousands of calories worth of pizza, tacos and other nutritious foods. All of these events/happenings are things we enjoy doing as a group. These kids enjoy them for the same reasons that other people would enjoy doing them for. They are fun, they entertain, they build memories and times that we can talk about later. This is what we want for them. We want the kids in this area, in this neighborhood, the kids that we can reach to have an opportunity to do things and experience things they might not be given a chance to do if we weren't the ones giving them that opportunity. Most, if not all, of the things we have done this summer with and for our kids at Rock Island are things and experiences that we, Ron, Chandy, myself, Larita and Arlesha have tried to organize and make available to our kids because we believe we have been called to do so. A lot of the things we do with these kids...they aren't familiar with...they are new to...they have never experienced before...they don't know.
On the flip side of fun/positive things we have done this summer, things we have experienced, happenings that have occurred with our kids, here is a list of not so great things. This list goes like this...had some of our not so familar youth break in to Rock Island, been in the middle of a evening hangout meanwhile a prostitute stands on the corner of our lawn working the streets, witnessed two grown men confront each other in the middle of the street one with a tree branch and the other with a steel pipe as they screamed back and forth at each other, just hoping they wouldn't go to blows as they were threatening to do, had video games stolen, been lied to, had girls not want to come hangouts or Bible studies anymore because certain other girls were present, had drugs brought into Rock Island, had kids not come anymore because we told them they had to pass a drug test if they wanted to come in anymore, had parents come to Rock Island to discuss the most unheard of family issues, ect.
After reading over the list of things I just wrote and trying to imagine what I would be thinking if I were a person reading this I think it sounds like I am hating my job or complaining. Which I'm not. But I decided not to alter my list to make it sound any better, because it is what it is. And just for the record, I love my job. My desire when listing these "negative" things that have happened recently was to give some insight as to what these kids experience, do, are around and witness on a day to day basis.....even while we are there. I can't imagine (sometimes I really wish I couldn't) the things our kids have seen in theiri lifetime, but I have a pretty good idea based on some previous talks with individual kids
Again, after reading over my blog I was thinking I might list the "negative experiences" first and the "positive happenings" second, so I could end my blog on a happy, fuzzy feeling, but I decided against it. My desire isn't to make you feel good or bad after reading this specific blog. Really I just wanted this to be more of an informative blog to let you know what is and has been going on recently, which I think I did. The only difference is this time I decided to give you the good and the bad, because they are both present.
Another update I want to give you has to do with the spiritual or Biblical interest that a few of our kids have been showing recently. I believe Chandy and Ron both mentioned it in their recent blogs, but in case you didn't read, we have had a couple instances when individuals have come to us asking, seeking, questioning God and what He is all about. That's pretty awesome. Recently one of the girls came forward and was seeking some guidance relating to spiritual matters so Ron and Chandy did what they could to give her advice, as well as, pray with and for her. Also, during our first, "unofficial/official", Bible study we started our reading about the birth of Christ, which lead to several questions. Some pretty basic questions, along with several questions that Ron, Larita and I initially responded with, "Wow, that's a really good question". Meanwhile I was thinking to myself, "Wow, that's a really good question and I hope that Ron or Larita can answer it because I sure as heck can't". And, they couldn't either, so we just left the kids hanging and told them to go home.....just kidding. Between the three of us, along with some Holy Spirit guidance, we were able to answer all their questions and left them with a little anticipation of next weeks study of the "teenage life of Christ".
That's all for now. I don't want to tell you everything about the Bible study. I will leave myself something to write about in the not so distant future....which could be, 3-4 days or 3-4 weeks/months.
Monday, June 18, 2007
membership suspended
I am a complete failure. Chandy just informed me that it is my month anniversary since my last blog entry. She also informed me that she and the blogging website staff are considering suspending my membership if I don't do something fast. In my defense I have recently changed my living conditions and have no access to internet at my home. Anytime I desire to check crucial websites such as "myspace", "facebook" and "espn", along with my email, I have to do it at work. So, not to make excuses but I rarely have enough time at work to just sit down and blog (mostly because when I blog I monster blog, not like Chandy's little wussy three sentence blogs. Don't feel sorry for her she has hated on my blogging frequency and style several times).
With this being said, here is my first blog entry in a month.
Over the course of the past month alot has taken place. Lucky for you (and me), Ron and Chandy do a pretty good job of updating the happenings that take place at Cross and Crown and Rock Island. Rather then re-blog about something that has already been told I want to give you a story about one of our young teens that hasn't been told. I will refer to him as John.
As many of you know, a couple weeks ago we took several of our youth from Rock Island to a summer camp called Youth For Christ. We didn't know what to expect and neither did our kids. I had been to a handful of church, summer camps during my jr. high/high school days, but never to an inner-city camp. I wouldn't have been ready for it. Even as a counselor I learned so much. Whether it was about how to discipline rebellious kids or how to "walk-it-out" ( most of you won't know what that means, but if you are really interested then get on youtube or something that has videos and type in "walk it out".....have fun), I learned alot. But the most significant thing I learned during camp came in the form of God communicating to me how absolutely crucial, how there is nothing even close to as important, how indescribably necessary it is that each person come to know Christ. Not only that, but also how equally pressing it is that we be the one's to do just that, let them know who Christ is.
During the last night at camp a dance group performed several dance routines for the kids. In between each routine a member of the group would talk. One guy talked about his past experiences, his previous drug use, his disfunctional family life, his sexual experimentation and his old gang life; all of which all of our kids have or are currently experiencing. I am sure that many of you reading this have been to a church, some meeting, some big production, a concert or somewhere were you heard someone speak and you were just so wrapped up and 100% attentive to what they had to say that you wouldn't have noticed if the room was on fire (bad description, but you get the point, these kids were listening and relating). Towards the end of him telling about his life and how he came to know Christ he told the audience that he was going to have one of his friends come up and play some worship songs and that anyone who needed/wanted/desired to know Christ, anyone who wanted to experience Christ for the first time, anyone that wanted to give Him thanks could raise their hands, stand up, do whatever they felt comfortable doing in order to give praise to Him. Keep in mind this is an inner-city camp. There is no sugar-coated description of the types things and events that these kids have done and are doing. Also, as a side note, the two previous nights we had rap groups perform for the kids and now this guy is introducing one of his buddies to lead everyone in praise and worship songs? Not happening.
Twenty seconds into the first praise song almost all of our kids that we brought stood up or went to the front to receive prayer and advice. Just the fact that some of our kids (with no names mentioned) were willing to make themselves vulnerable for that short time was astonishing. After searching through the crowd to find several of the kids we brought so that I could pray with and over them I caught something interesting out of the corner of my eye. "Jonh", with his younger brother on one side and cousin on the other, was out of his seat, sitting on the floor, left hand raised and head bowed. I was absolutely speechless. John, along with his brother, were two of the first boys that we worked with when we started our after school/summer activities 4 years ago. During this 20-25 minutes I had never seen something close to submission and praise to God as I did then.
After Chandy and I made eye contact and were done trying to take in what we were witnessing we took turns praying over him. Chandy went first and we exchanged positions after she had finished talking to him. I made my way over to John, pulled up a chair behind him and did the only thing I knew to do. I placed each of my hands on his shoulders and pulled him in tight. I begin to pray over John and ask that God would meet him at whatever place he was in his life. I prayed that God would give him the courage, the strength, the bravery to pursue Him. For so many of the kids that we work with family, peer and in many cases, gang, influences and opinions put such a tremendous, negative pressure on these kids in determining whether or not they follow Christ. Even during the worship his brother and cousin were just watching him with this look on their faces, like, "What are you doing." I'm not trying to say that they were discouraging or frowning upon his decision to do what he was doing, but rather the idea or concept of submitting to God and praising Him is so...foreign. As Chandy, Ron and myself have discussed several times, the concept of praise and worship, the "normal" worship that we are all so used to, that we grew up experiencing every Sunday morning and Wednesday night, is completely unheard of to our kids. They don't know what "worship", as we know it, is supposed to look like or be. Needless to say, John nailed the concept of submission and praise directly on the head. What an awesome sight.
As I prayed over John I began to do something I had never done before in my life. I began to weep. Not that I have never cried, because I have (several times), but never had I wept over the soul of another person. I couldn't control my emotions. I could really feel the struggle between God and Satan over the soul of this young man. I was absolutely overwhelmed with the urgency involving John's soul. I don't know if that really make sense or if I am explaining that clearly, but that is what I was experiencing. So, for the next 10 minutes of the worship I just sat over John and wept over him as he sat with hands lifted and head bowed.
All in all, camp was awesome. There were frustrating times, fun times, God experiences, good 1v1 time with some of the kids, early morning, late nights and alot of sunburn. But, the time with John and the rest of the kids this one night was the best experience of all.
Also, thanks again to everyone who contributed thier financial support and prayer time for each of these kids that attended camp this year.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Honduras, part III
These are a few pictures of some of the kids at the orphanage in Honduras that I mentioned in one of my previous posts. I also had a couple videos of some of the kids playing games, being read to and coloring with the girls that went on the trip, but as I guessed, I am having some technical problems with those. I'm not really sure that I have a whole lot more to say about the orphanage or the kids there, but I do have something to say about the man that runs the orphanage.
There is a man, along with several women who attend specifically to certain children, who runs the orphanage. After hearing him talk and listening to what he had to say about the kids that are at the orphanage, the things that are wrong with each of the kids, the life expectancy of each of the kids and then him going into detail about how each of the kids ended up at the orphanage (for instance, one of the boys with muscular atrophy he randomly came across (but as he and we both agree was more like divine intervention) was left to die up in the mountains by himself after his family deserted him), I came away thinking this guy was a super-hero or something.
Not to say that this guy shouldn't or isn't considered a present day hero (he's def. one of mine), but rather he is an incredible man of faith. I guess that's what it looks like when your faith and your actions are one in the same. I guess that's what the scriptures mean when they say that faith without deeds are dead. I guess that's what a life looks like when people say that they submit their will and life to God and His plans... and they mean it. It kinda reminds me of the time that Ron was speaking at a church meeting/luncheon and he said something like how alot of churches (and he wasn't speaking directly to this church or any other specific church and neither am I, but the fact of the matter is that not all, but some churches or at least some people are this way) want to minister and help those in need.......just as long as it's still in their church parking lot so that things don't become too uncomfortable for them or as long as those in need come to THEIR church to receive whatever it is they are in need of or looking for or as long as it doesn't require some life-changing, "over the top" act that would make them seem "socially unacceptable" or maybe even a little crazy. My point is alot of times people, myself included, say that we submit out will to God but are we really ready for God's will to be done? What if God's will for you is the same will that God has planned for this man I'm speaking of? Would you be ready to have God's will and your faithfulness to God's will lead you to open up an orphanage for physically and mentally handicapped children? Whether in the U.S., Honduras or any other country for that matter?
In my earlier post I said that if Jesus still walked the earth in the flesh like he did years and years ago that he would be at places such as this orphanage. In 1 Corinthians it says, "Now you are the body of Christ and each one of you is apart of it." We are called to be the body of Christ. Those who say they are Christians are representations of Christ in the flesh. Because of followers such as this man at the orphanage in Honduras I know that Christ does still walk this earth. My hope is that each of us that declare we are Christians, or followers of Christ, would be willing to live just as Christ himself did, which sometimes may be a scary. Last time I checked Jesus was usually doing some things that were pretty heavily scrutinized by those who observed from the outside looking in and chances are that if we follow Christ we might endure some pretty heavy scrutiny as well, especially if we decide to submit our will to Him and then actually mean it.
In a book I recently read, Irresistible Revolution (which I highly recommend), the author uses several scriptures all speaking about how we are in the world, but not of the world, about how we are to be strangers to this world, even about how Jesus was coming into a world, made through Him, yet world still didn't recognize Him. He goes on to write about how alot of the things that Jesus did were socially unacceptable, such as hanging out with tax-collectors, prostitutes, sick people and the poor. This is the Jesus that we follow. My guess is that if you hang out with people like Jesus used to, the world is probably going to look at you a little differently. But, just as Christ said it Himself, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
My encouragement is that we would do as this one man in Honduras has done. We submit our life and will to Christ and then back it up with our actions. I have tried my best to follow His calling for my life thus far, my hope is that I would have a renewed and strengthened faith now and in the future and that you would also pursue Christ's will for your life. Once we do this I think we might start to get some odd looks and people questioning our actions in pursuing Christ's will for our lives, just what we want, right?
Monday, May 14, 2007
honduras, part II
Today is Monday. It is 11:00 am. Again, I just walked from Predisan to use the Internet. Meanwhile, the nursing students are doing much of the same as they did on Friday. According to the schedule it looks like this whole week will be much of the same for them. Most of their time from here on out will be spent working at the "Good Samaritan Clinic", which is the larger medical clinic of Predisan.
Today is really hot. It's depressing to think and know that my shower this morning was worthless after the first 10 minutes of being outside. I am starting to wonder what the point of showering really is, seriously. I can completely understand why many of the people here don't shower on a daily basis. Not to say that I am considering going long lengths of time without showering, but rather I no longer question why people here don't shower as often. It's kinda like brushing your teeth and then eating a full pack of oreo's without anything to drink. It's kinda like, why bother? I'm sure family will get a kick out of that comparison seeing as how up until the 4th or 5th grade I only brushed my teeth once a day, haha. Anyway, today is hot.
Saturday we spent most of our morning at the orphanage for the disabled children. Again, it was pretty powerful stuff. I think that it will end up being my best experience of this specific trip to Honduras. Jesus is all over that place. I can't help but think of a song that I have recently become obsessed with by Todd Agnew. It's called, "My Jesus". Towards the end of the song he says, "My Jesus would never be accepted at my church, the blood and dirt on His feet might stain the carpet." Powerful statement. Along with this statement I can't help but think that rather then be at church or large assemblies of people Jesus would be in places like this, being what God says he is, love. These kids are unbelievable. It's so weird how so many of them can't even talk or control all the bodily functions, move their arms, legs, or necks to turn and look at you. But if you get on their level and look them straight in the eyes you can truly see them trying to communicate with you. Again, I can't help but think that if Jesus walked the earth today, he would be in places like these.
Saturday afternoon we went to the closest thing to a Honduran country club that I have ever been to. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I was getting it confused with Oak Tree or some other upscale facility, but it was nice. We ate lunch there and participated in some ropes course type things. It was alot of fun.
Sunday was a very relaxing day. Sunday morning we attended church with the two boys I mentioned in my previous blog, and their family to church. There was a special mothers day celebration, complemented by several performances by children, such as dancing, mimes and skits. They also named a "mother of the church", which was neat. Add all of this up and it was a 3 hour service, haha. Needless to say, The Iglesia de Cristo wasn't worried about beating the other nearby churches before the lunch-crowd hit. We ate pizza at the only place in Catacamas that has pizza, Texaco. I am not even kidding when I say this either, that is the best pizza I have ever had from a gas station. Not to say that it could battle Hide-Away, but it could go a few rounds with Pizza Hut and Lil Ceasars. We finished up the day riding around town with Doris, the founder, along with her husband, of Predisan, making "pastel"(cake) drop-offs for mothers day. It was a fun afternoon of meeting families and locals.
Hopefully today we will be able to visit the caves, a local attraction. I guess that's about it for now. I might be able to get in one more update before I make it back to the states on Thursday. Also, stay tuned for lots of pictures and maybe some videos if I can figure out how that works. Probably going to hit up Ron for help with that aspect. Until then, goodbye.
Today is really hot. It's depressing to think and know that my shower this morning was worthless after the first 10 minutes of being outside. I am starting to wonder what the point of showering really is, seriously. I can completely understand why many of the people here don't shower on a daily basis. Not to say that I am considering going long lengths of time without showering, but rather I no longer question why people here don't shower as often. It's kinda like brushing your teeth and then eating a full pack of oreo's without anything to drink. It's kinda like, why bother? I'm sure family will get a kick out of that comparison seeing as how up until the 4th or 5th grade I only brushed my teeth once a day, haha. Anyway, today is hot.
Saturday we spent most of our morning at the orphanage for the disabled children. Again, it was pretty powerful stuff. I think that it will end up being my best experience of this specific trip to Honduras. Jesus is all over that place. I can't help but think of a song that I have recently become obsessed with by Todd Agnew. It's called, "My Jesus". Towards the end of the song he says, "My Jesus would never be accepted at my church, the blood and dirt on His feet might stain the carpet." Powerful statement. Along with this statement I can't help but think that rather then be at church or large assemblies of people Jesus would be in places like this, being what God says he is, love. These kids are unbelievable. It's so weird how so many of them can't even talk or control all the bodily functions, move their arms, legs, or necks to turn and look at you. But if you get on their level and look them straight in the eyes you can truly see them trying to communicate with you. Again, I can't help but think that if Jesus walked the earth today, he would be in places like these.
Saturday afternoon we went to the closest thing to a Honduran country club that I have ever been to. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I was getting it confused with Oak Tree or some other upscale facility, but it was nice. We ate lunch there and participated in some ropes course type things. It was alot of fun.
Sunday was a very relaxing day. Sunday morning we attended church with the two boys I mentioned in my previous blog, and their family to church. There was a special mothers day celebration, complemented by several performances by children, such as dancing, mimes and skits. They also named a "mother of the church", which was neat. Add all of this up and it was a 3 hour service, haha. Needless to say, The Iglesia de Cristo wasn't worried about beating the other nearby churches before the lunch-crowd hit. We ate pizza at the only place in Catacamas that has pizza, Texaco. I am not even kidding when I say this either, that is the best pizza I have ever had from a gas station. Not to say that it could battle Hide-Away, but it could go a few rounds with Pizza Hut and Lil Ceasars. We finished up the day riding around town with Doris, the founder, along with her husband, of Predisan, making "pastel"(cake) drop-offs for mothers day. It was a fun afternoon of meeting families and locals.
Hopefully today we will be able to visit the caves, a local attraction. I guess that's about it for now. I might be able to get in one more update before I make it back to the states on Thursday. Also, stay tuned for lots of pictures and maybe some videos if I can figure out how that works. Probably going to hit up Ron for help with that aspect. Until then, goodbye.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Internet in Honduras?
Turns out they have Internet cafes in Honduras now too. The irony can be found in the fact that Internet is available here now and so many other "necessities" are lacking...is quite ridiculous to say the least. This coming from an individual who has both Internet and pretty much all the other "necessities" that I could ever want/need. Anyway, here is an update of the happenings thus far during my trip.
We arrived Monday, around noon, to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. Upon landing and going through customs we hurried to grab our luggage and catch our ride to Catacamas. Once everyone was in the cars and about to head out I was asked to exchange some American currency for some Honduran limperas. This is when I discovered one of the first reasons that I was supposed to be on the trip as the only male. After receiving nearly $240.00 in cash, mostly $20's and $10's, I was escorted around the corner to deal with 2 or 3 Honduran men (not to mention the 4 or 5 other men who were working nearby shining shoes) to exchange currency with. Just for the record, twenty dollars gets you 277 limperas, trust me, I know very well now. Needless to say, my mind and heart were both racing.
During our 3.5 hour car ride we stopped once or twice at some roadside stores to get snacks, drinks, banana bread and "coca" amongst other things. About 45 minutes before arriving in Catacamas one of our cars was dealt a flat tire. Hooray, I discovered the second reason I was on the trip as the only male. Amanda asked me to stay with the driver of the car, a 55 year old Honduran man (Spanish speaking only, of course) while two other Honduran men went to retrieve another tire. Awesome. So the rest of the group loaded into one car and I stayed behind with the Honduran man. Alriiiiiight. Every single Spanish vocabulary word that I knew was used within the first 45 minutes of our 3 hours together. To make a long story short, it started pouring rain, we got another tire, we got drenched while putting the tire on, while jacking the car up the jack actually slipped out from underneath the car and almost fell on the old, Honduran man, we secured the jack(which isn't the same as car jacks in the states)and finally got the tire on. Then me and the old Honduran man drove into Catacamas and met up with the rest of the group.
That was Monday.
Tuesday was more or less an orientation of Predisan, the medical clinic that the nurses were going to working at several days. We also got to go to an orphanage on the outskirts of Catacamas. It was an ophanage for physically and mentally disabled children. This is the same orphanage that my parents and two of their good friends visited while they were here a short time back. My parents insisted that I tell Amanda that we needed to visit the orphanage when we got a chance, so I did. I won't go into it much because writing it on here won't do it justice or give you anywhere close to the idea of what this place or these children are like, but I will say that it has been my favorite thing on my trip so far. Which is tough to say because I really would like it if places like this one didn't have to exist, but they do. I have more to say about this place and these kids later, so there will be more to come at a later date...just a teaser.
Wednesday morning we got up bright and early, thanks to the hundreds of roosters going nuts, at 5 a.m. and headed to the mountains. The nursing students were going to a clinic located 3 hours up, around, and into the mountains to give physical assessments, check blood sugar levels and alot of other technical things that I don't know much about. We stayed the night in the mountains at a small camp about halfway back down the mountain. Thursday, yesterday, morning we traveled back down the mountain about an hour and stopped at another clinic and the nursing students did much of the same as they did at the previous clinic. During most of this time I played with kids, talked to our drivers and these two young boys, Timothy and Samuel, who were our interpreters. They are brothers and were a huge help to us and alot of fun too. Because of previous trips to Honduras I was well aware of the fact that wherever the "gringos" go, the kids will follow because they know we carry goods, candy. I came well prepared this trip because I planned on being the only one who knows to bring candy, for the most part I was right. I now have two nicknames in Honduras, the "candyman" and "Justin", as in Justin Timberlake (long story). Oh yeah, after the first day at the medical clinic in the mountains we were taken to the river to clean up/swim. In spanish the place that we swam is called, "The Devil's hole". Hmmmm. Samuel and I were pretty much the only two that got in. There were also two little boys that were swimming nearby and they joined us is a cannon-ball contest. I will post pictures of these two boys later but just to give you an idea of what one boy looked like, we called him Mogley. He had on a little speedo. He was really funny too. When I asked him what kind of animals live in the river he said, "serpentes, pescado y cocodrilo". Even if you don't know spanish I think you can figure out two of the three of those animals. If not, let me help....that's snakes, fish and yes, crocodiles. He started laughing though, probably when he saw my facial expression, and said he was "being funny" about the crocodile part because they only live further up the river.....great.
Today, Friday, the nursing students are working at Predisan. It is located about a mile and a half from where I am staying at Amanda's house. So, because I can't really do much "nursing work" I decided to walk back to Amanda's house and see if I could locate her son's bicycle to use to go to the Internet cafe. Which brings you up to date. This afternoon we are going to one of the schools to play games with the kids, introduce a Bible verse and implement a game that relates to some aspect of living a Christian lifestyle. Tomorrow we are going back to the orphanage I mentioned earlier to take them some gifts and to spend the afternoon playing and interacting with them.
If you have been keeping up with my previous blogs you know that I don't edit, proof-read, or spell-check much before I post....but I have a feeling that because of the length of this blog, some of you spell-checking, grammar tighty's are going to freak with this one. Have fun and I will update when I can....
We arrived Monday, around noon, to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. Upon landing and going through customs we hurried to grab our luggage and catch our ride to Catacamas. Once everyone was in the cars and about to head out I was asked to exchange some American currency for some Honduran limperas. This is when I discovered one of the first reasons that I was supposed to be on the trip as the only male. After receiving nearly $240.00 in cash, mostly $20's and $10's, I was escorted around the corner to deal with 2 or 3 Honduran men (not to mention the 4 or 5 other men who were working nearby shining shoes) to exchange currency with. Just for the record, twenty dollars gets you 277 limperas, trust me, I know very well now. Needless to say, my mind and heart were both racing.
During our 3.5 hour car ride we stopped once or twice at some roadside stores to get snacks, drinks, banana bread and "coca" amongst other things. About 45 minutes before arriving in Catacamas one of our cars was dealt a flat tire. Hooray, I discovered the second reason I was on the trip as the only male. Amanda asked me to stay with the driver of the car, a 55 year old Honduran man (Spanish speaking only, of course) while two other Honduran men went to retrieve another tire. Awesome. So the rest of the group loaded into one car and I stayed behind with the Honduran man. Alriiiiiight. Every single Spanish vocabulary word that I knew was used within the first 45 minutes of our 3 hours together. To make a long story short, it started pouring rain, we got another tire, we got drenched while putting the tire on, while jacking the car up the jack actually slipped out from underneath the car and almost fell on the old, Honduran man, we secured the jack(which isn't the same as car jacks in the states)and finally got the tire on. Then me and the old Honduran man drove into Catacamas and met up with the rest of the group.
That was Monday.
Tuesday was more or less an orientation of Predisan, the medical clinic that the nurses were going to working at several days. We also got to go to an orphanage on the outskirts of Catacamas. It was an ophanage for physically and mentally disabled children. This is the same orphanage that my parents and two of their good friends visited while they were here a short time back. My parents insisted that I tell Amanda that we needed to visit the orphanage when we got a chance, so I did. I won't go into it much because writing it on here won't do it justice or give you anywhere close to the idea of what this place or these children are like, but I will say that it has been my favorite thing on my trip so far. Which is tough to say because I really would like it if places like this one didn't have to exist, but they do. I have more to say about this place and these kids later, so there will be more to come at a later date...just a teaser.
Wednesday morning we got up bright and early, thanks to the hundreds of roosters going nuts, at 5 a.m. and headed to the mountains. The nursing students were going to a clinic located 3 hours up, around, and into the mountains to give physical assessments, check blood sugar levels and alot of other technical things that I don't know much about. We stayed the night in the mountains at a small camp about halfway back down the mountain. Thursday, yesterday, morning we traveled back down the mountain about an hour and stopped at another clinic and the nursing students did much of the same as they did at the previous clinic. During most of this time I played with kids, talked to our drivers and these two young boys, Timothy and Samuel, who were our interpreters. They are brothers and were a huge help to us and alot of fun too. Because of previous trips to Honduras I was well aware of the fact that wherever the "gringos" go, the kids will follow because they know we carry goods, candy. I came well prepared this trip because I planned on being the only one who knows to bring candy, for the most part I was right. I now have two nicknames in Honduras, the "candyman" and "Justin", as in Justin Timberlake (long story). Oh yeah, after the first day at the medical clinic in the mountains we were taken to the river to clean up/swim. In spanish the place that we swam is called, "The Devil's hole". Hmmmm. Samuel and I were pretty much the only two that got in. There were also two little boys that were swimming nearby and they joined us is a cannon-ball contest. I will post pictures of these two boys later but just to give you an idea of what one boy looked like, we called him Mogley. He had on a little speedo. He was really funny too. When I asked him what kind of animals live in the river he said, "serpentes, pescado y cocodrilo". Even if you don't know spanish I think you can figure out two of the three of those animals. If not, let me help....that's snakes, fish and yes, crocodiles. He started laughing though, probably when he saw my facial expression, and said he was "being funny" about the crocodile part because they only live further up the river.....great.
Today, Friday, the nursing students are working at Predisan. It is located about a mile and a half from where I am staying at Amanda's house. So, because I can't really do much "nursing work" I decided to walk back to Amanda's house and see if I could locate her son's bicycle to use to go to the Internet cafe. Which brings you up to date. This afternoon we are going to one of the schools to play games with the kids, introduce a Bible verse and implement a game that relates to some aspect of living a Christian lifestyle. Tomorrow we are going back to the orphanage I mentioned earlier to take them some gifts and to spend the afternoon playing and interacting with them.
If you have been keeping up with my previous blogs you know that I don't edit, proof-read, or spell-check much before I post....but I have a feeling that because of the length of this blog, some of you spell-checking, grammar tighty's are going to freak with this one. Have fun and I will update when I can....
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Voy a Honduras
I will be leaving for Honduras in t-minus 6 hours. I was asked to go with nursing majors from Oklahoma Christian University and I gladly accepted the offer. I have been to Honduras twice, but not since high school. I am very eager to go again and hopefully see some individuals that I met several years back. Honduras is really where it all started for me. The "job position" I have now is greatly due in part to the people and events I experienced during my previous trips. I am not going to lie though, I selfishly love going to Honduras and being around the people of that culture/country.
In the past I participated in building walls/sinks/fences, attending ophanages, putting on "mime-shows", and playing games with kids, but this time I am not exactly sure how I am going to be used. It could be as simple as carrying supplies, setting up camp or just having a male presence with a bunch of female, nursing students. Regardless of my responsibilities I am sure that God has some divine appointments set up for me even before I arrive.
In my down time I look forward to reading the book "Irresistible Revolution". I have heard some pretty powerful comments about this book and have been told that I need to read it, so I will. I will be staying with a women that many of you are familiar with, Amanda. So, this trip may be a little different then in the past, I might have access to a computer. Don't count on it, but maybe, just maybe I will get around to a blog. I will return the 17th, Thursday. I ask that if you can find some space in your already packed prayer list that you fit me in somewhere. Pray that God would bring people to me and that I would approach people who are in search of something they lack. Whether it be forgiveness, mercy, love, a helping hand, food, clothes, prayer or simply a person to talk to; I pray I that I would be available to be offer that specific something.
Gracias por adelantado por tus rezos. El dios te bendice y permanece templado para las actualizaciones... (don't worry, I had to look up some of those words too)
In the past I participated in building walls/sinks/fences, attending ophanages, putting on "mime-shows", and playing games with kids, but this time I am not exactly sure how I am going to be used. It could be as simple as carrying supplies, setting up camp or just having a male presence with a bunch of female, nursing students. Regardless of my responsibilities I am sure that God has some divine appointments set up for me even before I arrive.
In my down time I look forward to reading the book "Irresistible Revolution". I have heard some pretty powerful comments about this book and have been told that I need to read it, so I will. I will be staying with a women that many of you are familiar with, Amanda. So, this trip may be a little different then in the past, I might have access to a computer. Don't count on it, but maybe, just maybe I will get around to a blog. I will return the 17th, Thursday. I ask that if you can find some space in your already packed prayer list that you fit me in somewhere. Pray that God would bring people to me and that I would approach people who are in search of something they lack. Whether it be forgiveness, mercy, love, a helping hand, food, clothes, prayer or simply a person to talk to; I pray I that I would be available to be offer that specific something.
Gracias por adelantado por tus rezos. El dios te bendice y permanece templado para las actualizaciones... (don't worry, I had to look up some of those words too)
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Summer Schedule
Monday - 1-3pm Rock Island hangout (middle school/high school)
Tuesday - 2-5pm Rock Island "Movie Day" (middle school/high school)
Wednesday - 2-4pm Underground hangout (elementary)
Thursday - 6-8pm Rock Island Bible Study (middle school/high school)
This is our schedule for the summer. Given the nature of our ministry and previous attempts at all out schedules chances are that something will change on this schedule at some point. If something does, we will let you know.
Obviously, the days with "Rock Island" or "Underground" hangout (all but Tuesday) are times that we have scheduled at our buildings. But (such as this past Thursday when we went to the Arts Festival downtown) opportunities come up throughout the week that we like to pursue in order to give our kids a chance to be outside of the Rock Island building. We have learned that it is during these times that we are really able to get to know our kids best. I say all of this just to communicate that something WILL change with this schedule. So don't get your feelings hurt when you show up for the Thursday night Bible study and we are no where to be found, because chances are we are off doing something really cool and fun without you (just kidding).
Also, we have hopes and dreams of the Tuesday Movie Day becoming an event at the dollar theatre. Again, this is to give the kids a chance to not have to spend one-hundred percent of their time inside the building. If you are interested in sponsoring a day at the movies one Tuesday, or one Tuesday a month, or team up with someone else you know to sponsor a day at the dollar theatre then email, call or come see me, Ron, or Chandy.
We are looking forward to a very eventful summer full of camps, movies, fellowship and learning more about Christ. If you interested in helping with anything this summer, whether it be coming down to make snacks, make dinner, do a craft, attend a movie day with us, or anything else (and I seriously mean anything else, we are open to suggestions) then contact one of the three of us. We look forward to hearing from you.
(405)232-7696 - Cross and Crown Mission
lwhitmire@hotmail.com - Luke
Tuesday - 2-5pm Rock Island "Movie Day" (middle school/high school)
Wednesday - 2-4pm Underground hangout (elementary)
Thursday - 6-8pm Rock Island Bible Study (middle school/high school)
This is our schedule for the summer. Given the nature of our ministry and previous attempts at all out schedules chances are that something will change on this schedule at some point. If something does, we will let you know.
Obviously, the days with "Rock Island" or "Underground" hangout (all but Tuesday) are times that we have scheduled at our buildings. But (such as this past Thursday when we went to the Arts Festival downtown) opportunities come up throughout the week that we like to pursue in order to give our kids a chance to be outside of the Rock Island building. We have learned that it is during these times that we are really able to get to know our kids best. I say all of this just to communicate that something WILL change with this schedule. So don't get your feelings hurt when you show up for the Thursday night Bible study and we are no where to be found, because chances are we are off doing something really cool and fun without you (just kidding).
Also, we have hopes and dreams of the Tuesday Movie Day becoming an event at the dollar theatre. Again, this is to give the kids a chance to not have to spend one-hundred percent of their time inside the building. If you are interested in sponsoring a day at the movies one Tuesday, or one Tuesday a month, or team up with someone else you know to sponsor a day at the dollar theatre then email, call or come see me, Ron, or Chandy.
We are looking forward to a very eventful summer full of camps, movies, fellowship and learning more about Christ. If you interested in helping with anything this summer, whether it be coming down to make snacks, make dinner, do a craft, attend a movie day with us, or anything else (and I seriously mean anything else, we are open to suggestions) then contact one of the three of us. We look forward to hearing from you.
(405)232-7696 - Cross and Crown Mission
lwhitmire@hotmail.com - Luke
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
remember billy?
For those of you who have endured the entirety of my blogging days, suffered through countless spelling typos, grammatical errors and other such flaws let me take you back a few blogs. The blog entitled "Internet not cool....singing cool". Before you read the blog that I am about to write, take the time to re-read that old blog. For those of you who have more recently experienced my blogging massacres, take the time to read the blog titled "internet not cool....singing cool".
Throughout this blog I talked about a teenager that I called "Billy". In this blog I wrote, "Billy hasn't accepted Jesus Christ as his savior. Really, if I were to ask or remind Billy about him singing last night he probably wouldn't remember or think anything of it. Sadly enough, Billy probably wasn't sincere about what he was singing. Why wasn't he sincere? Chances are that Billy doesn't really know who Jesus Christ REALLY is. That's why I want to be here. That's why Ron and Chandy want to be here. That's why Paul, Suzanne, Don, Martha, and all the countless others want to be here. We all want to be here so maybe over the course of time we might be able to fill Billy in on just who Jesus is. Who knows, maybe the next time he sings those words he will be sincere."
Guess what? Billy got baptized Tuesday.
Billy, along with another one of our teenagers, got baptized Tuesday upon confessing Jesus Christ as their Savior. It was quite the experience. Not only for Billy, but for Ron, Chandy, myself, and all the other teenagers present.
Several minutes before I baptized Billy I took him into a small room and talked to him for a few minutes. I asked him, "Billy, why do you want to be baptized?" He responded, "I just want the devil to leave me alone, to quit tricking me". He also explained how he just wants Satan to leave him alone. I went on to explain to Billy how if he decides to get baptized and to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior his troubles wont end, the devil will come at him just as hard, even harder. I read to him in 1 Peter how it talks about how his faith will be tested in order to confirm or make sure that he really, really wants to follow Christ. It will be tested so that once his faith proves to be true and authentic it, "may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed". Billy said that he was ok with that, he was ready to accept Christ.
Billy doesn't know the entire Bible. Billy couldn't name all the books of the old and new testament. Billy couldn't tell you all the stories of Jesus as a child. He couldn't sing the Sunday morning church songs that most of us know from our childhood days of growing up in the church. Billy doesn't know memory verses and scriptures by heart, but one scripture that Billy has heard and does know is Romans 10:9...
"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
Not only does Billy know this scripture, Billy lived this scripture. On Tuesday afternoon in front of his neighborhood friends Billy confessed and accepted Jesus as the Son of God, the ultimate, perfect sacrifice, and the Savior of his life.
Throughout this blog I talked about a teenager that I called "Billy". In this blog I wrote, "Billy hasn't accepted Jesus Christ as his savior. Really, if I were to ask or remind Billy about him singing last night he probably wouldn't remember or think anything of it. Sadly enough, Billy probably wasn't sincere about what he was singing. Why wasn't he sincere? Chances are that Billy doesn't really know who Jesus Christ REALLY is. That's why I want to be here. That's why Ron and Chandy want to be here. That's why Paul, Suzanne, Don, Martha, and all the countless others want to be here. We all want to be here so maybe over the course of time we might be able to fill Billy in on just who Jesus is. Who knows, maybe the next time he sings those words he will be sincere."
Guess what? Billy got baptized Tuesday.
Billy, along with another one of our teenagers, got baptized Tuesday upon confessing Jesus Christ as their Savior. It was quite the experience. Not only for Billy, but for Ron, Chandy, myself, and all the other teenagers present.
Several minutes before I baptized Billy I took him into a small room and talked to him for a few minutes. I asked him, "Billy, why do you want to be baptized?" He responded, "I just want the devil to leave me alone, to quit tricking me". He also explained how he just wants Satan to leave him alone. I went on to explain to Billy how if he decides to get baptized and to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior his troubles wont end, the devil will come at him just as hard, even harder. I read to him in 1 Peter how it talks about how his faith will be tested in order to confirm or make sure that he really, really wants to follow Christ. It will be tested so that once his faith proves to be true and authentic it, "may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed". Billy said that he was ok with that, he was ready to accept Christ.
Billy doesn't know the entire Bible. Billy couldn't name all the books of the old and new testament. Billy couldn't tell you all the stories of Jesus as a child. He couldn't sing the Sunday morning church songs that most of us know from our childhood days of growing up in the church. Billy doesn't know memory verses and scriptures by heart, but one scripture that Billy has heard and does know is Romans 10:9...
"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
Not only does Billy know this scripture, Billy lived this scripture. On Tuesday afternoon in front of his neighborhood friends Billy confessed and accepted Jesus as the Son of God, the ultimate, perfect sacrifice, and the Savior of his life.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
love them like jesus
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Before you read my blog, press play on the video. That's cool if you read the blog while the song plays, but once you have read the whole blog, go back and listen/read the video again.
A couple weeks ago today the topic of the worship/discussion was brokenness. Chandy spoke about brokenness and how it essential for each of our hearts to be broken in order for Christ to fill that void. How in our brokenness we can reach others that have or are currently in similar situations. During some periodic conversations that I had over the last several weeks with Chandy, Ron, my parents, and some random people that have stopped by the mission un-announced, I started to become somewhat discouraged. Discouraged isn't really the best word for it. Rather than give a word for it I will explain my scenario.
People who have overcome alcoholism can help mentor, direct, encourage and give advice to similar abusers. Individuals who have lost family members such as parents, brothers, sisters or other significant others can help comfort and relate with a person who recently lost a close, loved one. The list could go on and on...
Then there is me. I'm incredibly blessed. I have good health. I have never lost a loved one tragically or suddenly. I live a comfortable life. I have good friends. I go to a good church. I have never, really, ever had some huge, catastrophic incident in my life that was life-changing. For the most part I have made decent decisions over my years. So I don't really have a dramatic, inspiring, "turn-around" story to shock people with when they ask how I came to know Christ. At worst I have bad grammar, a terrible ability to spell and an everlasting, inability to proof-read my blogs to make corrections (that's not for real, that's a joke, that's just an exaggeration of how I feel sometimes).
My point is, I have really had some trouble recently deciding how I can minister to people that I don't share similar experiences with. How do I go about ministering to a mother of three when she discovered hours ago that her forth child, still in her womb, had died? How do I minister to the kid that comes to Rock Island in tears because his sister's, babies daddy is threatening his family unless they agree to give the child to him? How about the kid who has lived in the US since he was a child and now is forced to leave his school, the only friends he has, and the only life he has known to move back to Mexico because of legal involvement and family issues? Or what about the countless alcoholics, crack-heads and other drug abusers who come day-in and day-out just to get a small bag of food and some coffee? How do i go about ministering to these people? What makes me think that I can say or do anything that will influence, comfort, help or change these people's lives? Along with these concerns comes the ever so popular question, "why"? Why do things such as a baby dieing or a kid being shipped back to Mexico happen?
So far, with the help of this song and some divine, scriptural (is that a word?) intervention, this is what I have come up with.
"Just love her like Jesus, Carry her to Him.
He yoke is easy, His burden is light.
We don't need the answers to all of lives questions.
Just know that He loves her and stay by her side.
Love her like Jesus...Love her like Jesus."
"The Lord of all creation holds our lives in His hands.
The God of all the nations holds our lives in His hands.
The rock of our salvation holds our lives in His hands.
He cares for them just as He cares for you.
So love them like Jesus, love them like Jesus"
So this is my answer. How do I, how do you minister to a person with an unfamiliar situation, someone you feel like you can't relate to? You love them like Jesus. You can't explain to them why things happen like they do. You can't give them an answer to the questions they might have. But you can do just as the song says...
"WE DON'T HAVE THE ANSWERS TO ALL OF LIFES QUESTIONS, JUST KNOW THAT HE LOVES THEM AND STAY BY THEIR SIDE, LOVE THEM LIKE JESUS"
Before you read my blog, press play on the video. That's cool if you read the blog while the song plays, but once you have read the whole blog, go back and listen/read the video again.
A couple weeks ago today the topic of the worship/discussion was brokenness. Chandy spoke about brokenness and how it essential for each of our hearts to be broken in order for Christ to fill that void. How in our brokenness we can reach others that have or are currently in similar situations. During some periodic conversations that I had over the last several weeks with Chandy, Ron, my parents, and some random people that have stopped by the mission un-announced, I started to become somewhat discouraged. Discouraged isn't really the best word for it. Rather than give a word for it I will explain my scenario.
People who have overcome alcoholism can help mentor, direct, encourage and give advice to similar abusers. Individuals who have lost family members such as parents, brothers, sisters or other significant others can help comfort and relate with a person who recently lost a close, loved one. The list could go on and on...
Then there is me. I'm incredibly blessed. I have good health. I have never lost a loved one tragically or suddenly. I live a comfortable life. I have good friends. I go to a good church. I have never, really, ever had some huge, catastrophic incident in my life that was life-changing. For the most part I have made decent decisions over my years. So I don't really have a dramatic, inspiring, "turn-around" story to shock people with when they ask how I came to know Christ. At worst I have bad grammar, a terrible ability to spell and an everlasting, inability to proof-read my blogs to make corrections (that's not for real, that's a joke, that's just an exaggeration of how I feel sometimes).
My point is, I have really had some trouble recently deciding how I can minister to people that I don't share similar experiences with. How do I go about ministering to a mother of three when she discovered hours ago that her forth child, still in her womb, had died? How do I minister to the kid that comes to Rock Island in tears because his sister's, babies daddy is threatening his family unless they agree to give the child to him? How about the kid who has lived in the US since he was a child and now is forced to leave his school, the only friends he has, and the only life he has known to move back to Mexico because of legal involvement and family issues? Or what about the countless alcoholics, crack-heads and other drug abusers who come day-in and day-out just to get a small bag of food and some coffee? How do i go about ministering to these people? What makes me think that I can say or do anything that will influence, comfort, help or change these people's lives? Along with these concerns comes the ever so popular question, "why"? Why do things such as a baby dieing or a kid being shipped back to Mexico happen?
So far, with the help of this song and some divine, scriptural (is that a word?) intervention, this is what I have come up with.
"Just love her like Jesus, Carry her to Him.
He yoke is easy, His burden is light.
We don't need the answers to all of lives questions.
Just know that He loves her and stay by her side.
Love her like Jesus...Love her like Jesus."
"The Lord of all creation holds our lives in His hands.
The God of all the nations holds our lives in His hands.
The rock of our salvation holds our lives in His hands.
He cares for them just as He cares for you.
So love them like Jesus, love them like Jesus"
So this is my answer. How do I, how do you minister to a person with an unfamiliar situation, someone you feel like you can't relate to? You love them like Jesus. You can't explain to them why things happen like they do. You can't give them an answer to the questions they might have. But you can do just as the song says...
"WE DON'T HAVE THE ANSWERS TO ALL OF LIFES QUESTIONS, JUST KNOW THAT HE LOVES THEM AND STAY BY THEIR SIDE, LOVE THEM LIKE JESUS"
Sunday, April 1, 2007
2 in 4 days, yeeeeah
Bet you didn't expect to see two posts in four days. Well here it is...
Ever since I decided to commit my "career" to ministry I have learned I did more than that. Ron, Chandy and I have all come to the realization that you can't really commit your career to ministry. It's kinda like being, "100%, completely, without a doubt, no question about it, ALMOST sure". I also realize that we aren't the first missionaries to ever experience what we have experienced. I hope I'm not too ignorant that I think I'm the first person whom God has used in this way.
Basically what we realized is that we can't commit our lives to ministry, specifically inner-city ministry, and expect that once we "clock our hours" or put in our 9-5 (which all too often turns into a 9-11, yeah, check my math but I'm pretty sure that after some long division and after you multiply by the numerator that is a 14 hour day) we can be done with work. Ministry is our life. It should be for any and every person who claims to be a Christian, but once you decide to do as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:14, you can pretty much guarantee that you are in ministry mode 24/7.
Every person, Christian or not, has run-ins and experiences with homeless men and women on the corner at the stoplight, the guy at the gas station who needs some gas for his car down the street, the family outside the window when you are eating lunch downtown, along with a handful of other scenarios. It's a part of life. Not like this it's not. Several times over the past few months the three of us have had conversations about how so many individuals approach us for help, outside of work. But just recently have I really processed in my mind why this is happening. What's happening is that God is taking my commitment seriously, maybe even more seriously then I had originally intended (in a good way).
Was I really expecting to be a inner-city missionary 40 some odd hours a week and then be an off-duty, inner-city missionary the remaining hours of the week? Whether or not I intended that to happen, it's not. People approach me in the most un-thinkable situations. At McDonalds with 15 kids and happymeals a man approaches me. Body shaking, hands trembling as he holds out the dollar or so that he has collected to this point, his voice not so confident, "Could I get like forty or fifty cents." After some conversation and him declining the offer of a meal and drink from McDonalds it was clear that his intentions were not to go across the street to buy some food, as he had told me. Regardless of his intentions, whether or not he needed food or a few ounces of alcohol, he picked me out of a crowd. Why? Why would he confront me? Of all the people in McDonalds, why did he peak through the window, point at me and motion for me to meet him at the door? Because that's what I told God I was open, willing and available to do.
I'm not writing this blog in hopes that people will think, "Man, Luke, Ron and Chandy must be so cool with God. God is sending people to them because He wants them to help them out. They must be so in tone with God." Don't get me wrong, I like to think that I'm cool with God, but by no means do I feel like any of the three of us are any more special then anyone else that would simply make their lives available to God's will. That is all it is. It has all to do with you making yourself available to be used by God. I say all of this simply to say that any and every person can be used by God. Regardless of one's history, past experiences or current life situations you can be used by God. Problem is, alot of times when we pray/tell God that we want him to use us or create situations where we can be used to minister to others, we avoid them. What if all this time you have been praying that God would use you in great ways to change the world, when really all He wants you to do is change the world of that individual on the corner? What if instead of asking God to put you in the lives of some one person or some group of people to minister the love of God to, He really just needs you to minister to the people that you "know best", your family.
Really this blog turned into alot more then I intended. I planned on telling about another way that my job has alot more to offer then I ever expected. Welp, sorry, at least I blogged twice in four days right?
Ever since I decided to commit my "career" to ministry I have learned I did more than that. Ron, Chandy and I have all come to the realization that you can't really commit your career to ministry. It's kinda like being, "100%, completely, without a doubt, no question about it, ALMOST sure". I also realize that we aren't the first missionaries to ever experience what we have experienced. I hope I'm not too ignorant that I think I'm the first person whom God has used in this way.
Basically what we realized is that we can't commit our lives to ministry, specifically inner-city ministry, and expect that once we "clock our hours" or put in our 9-5 (which all too often turns into a 9-11, yeah, check my math but I'm pretty sure that after some long division and after you multiply by the numerator that is a 14 hour day) we can be done with work. Ministry is our life. It should be for any and every person who claims to be a Christian, but once you decide to do as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:14, you can pretty much guarantee that you are in ministry mode 24/7.
Every person, Christian or not, has run-ins and experiences with homeless men and women on the corner at the stoplight, the guy at the gas station who needs some gas for his car down the street, the family outside the window when you are eating lunch downtown, along with a handful of other scenarios. It's a part of life. Not like this it's not. Several times over the past few months the three of us have had conversations about how so many individuals approach us for help, outside of work. But just recently have I really processed in my mind why this is happening. What's happening is that God is taking my commitment seriously, maybe even more seriously then I had originally intended (in a good way).
Was I really expecting to be a inner-city missionary 40 some odd hours a week and then be an off-duty, inner-city missionary the remaining hours of the week? Whether or not I intended that to happen, it's not. People approach me in the most un-thinkable situations. At McDonalds with 15 kids and happymeals a man approaches me. Body shaking, hands trembling as he holds out the dollar or so that he has collected to this point, his voice not so confident, "Could I get like forty or fifty cents." After some conversation and him declining the offer of a meal and drink from McDonalds it was clear that his intentions were not to go across the street to buy some food, as he had told me. Regardless of his intentions, whether or not he needed food or a few ounces of alcohol, he picked me out of a crowd. Why? Why would he confront me? Of all the people in McDonalds, why did he peak through the window, point at me and motion for me to meet him at the door? Because that's what I told God I was open, willing and available to do.
I'm not writing this blog in hopes that people will think, "Man, Luke, Ron and Chandy must be so cool with God. God is sending people to them because He wants them to help them out. They must be so in tone with God." Don't get me wrong, I like to think that I'm cool with God, but by no means do I feel like any of the three of us are any more special then anyone else that would simply make their lives available to God's will. That is all it is. It has all to do with you making yourself available to be used by God. I say all of this simply to say that any and every person can be used by God. Regardless of one's history, past experiences or current life situations you can be used by God. Problem is, alot of times when we pray/tell God that we want him to use us or create situations where we can be used to minister to others, we avoid them. What if all this time you have been praying that God would use you in great ways to change the world, when really all He wants you to do is change the world of that individual on the corner? What if instead of asking God to put you in the lives of some one person or some group of people to minister the love of God to, He really just needs you to minister to the people that you "know best", your family.
Really this blog turned into alot more then I intended. I planned on telling about another way that my job has alot more to offer then I ever expected. Welp, sorry, at least I blogged twice in four days right?
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
long time comin...
Turns out I don't blog as frequently as the two others that I work with. If we were to create totem-pole of how often we blogged I would definitely be at the bottom, with Chandy at the top, and Ron somewhere in between. I know what my problem is. My problem is that when I blog, I beast blog. I have trouble blogging about everyday instances. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I am proud of this fact. I wish I had the ability or motivation to blog the instant I had an idea/thought, but, as my bloging past shows, I dont. In fact, I really just want to be more like Chandy. Chandy is my blogging idol. Not to be confused with American Idol or Baal from the Bible, but blogging idol.
Really, I could blog about something from work everyday. Whether it's a baptism of an eighty-two year old man, a local drug-dealer breaking down in tears after talking and praying with one of the volunteers in the prayer room, two of our kids getting in a fist fight on the steps of Rock Island, or me recognizing yet another way of how unbelievably blessed and spoiled I am, there is always something I could blog about.
Instead of blogging about some in depth epiphany I had I plan on talking about something a little more simple. In my last blog I talked about how the kids down here have experienced so much in their lives in such a short time. Not just that they have experienced so much, but the things they have experienced are so intense and raw. For instance, one of our kids ar Rock Island goes home everynight to his grandmother smoking crack. He's 12. Let's do a time warp and bring to light the issues of my 12 year old days......"Oh shoot, Sally just caught me staring at her during lunch. She probably thinks I'm a total loser now. She's so cute" or maybe, "Man, I wonder how the ninja turtles are going to escape the clutches of Bee-Bop and RockSteady". If it's not the home life, it's something else. It's having to fight, phsically fight, local kids in order to gain some respect or pride. Almost to build up resume so that others know you mean business. Sure, you are going to lose alot of fights, but at least they know they can't just walk over you. Meanwhile you are just hoping that no one brings anything other than their fists to the fight. If not fighting then maybe it's the fact that since the day you were of employable, working age you have been pulling ridiculous hours at work after school in order to support your brother, sister and mother.
What I have learned during my time with these kids is that because of their circumstances, because of their lifestyle, because of their environment, these kids don't have time to be kids.
Tuesday night i experienced a little joy. Tuesday night we went to the Hornets basketball game. Aside from the chain-prayer(read Chandy's blog for more on that), seeing those kids BE KIDS was easily my absolute favorite experience of the week, if not month. Yeah, we were sitting in section 303, 5 rows from the top. That's us. You would have thought we were sitting in Chris Paul's seat on the bench the way the kids acted. We had water-tattoos on faces, balloon hats, those really annoying thunder-stick thingy's that are really loud and hurt when you get hit the groin with, and alot of fun. It's almost like for just a couple hours they were able to forget about the things I talked about earlier, like going home to a drug-infested house, and be kids. In pure innocence. Just have fun, like kids are supposed to. It was pretty awesome. Regardless of the fact that half of our kids couldn't name 2 players on the Hornets roster, those kids had a blast.
So there it is, my once every 2 week blog update. But for real, I'm going to start making more short, quick blogs. Even if it is really hard for me to do those.
Really, I could blog about something from work everyday. Whether it's a baptism of an eighty-two year old man, a local drug-dealer breaking down in tears after talking and praying with one of the volunteers in the prayer room, two of our kids getting in a fist fight on the steps of Rock Island, or me recognizing yet another way of how unbelievably blessed and spoiled I am, there is always something I could blog about.
Instead of blogging about some in depth epiphany I had I plan on talking about something a little more simple. In my last blog I talked about how the kids down here have experienced so much in their lives in such a short time. Not just that they have experienced so much, but the things they have experienced are so intense and raw. For instance, one of our kids ar Rock Island goes home everynight to his grandmother smoking crack. He's 12. Let's do a time warp and bring to light the issues of my 12 year old days......"Oh shoot, Sally just caught me staring at her during lunch. She probably thinks I'm a total loser now. She's so cute" or maybe, "Man, I wonder how the ninja turtles are going to escape the clutches of Bee-Bop and RockSteady". If it's not the home life, it's something else. It's having to fight, phsically fight, local kids in order to gain some respect or pride. Almost to build up resume so that others know you mean business. Sure, you are going to lose alot of fights, but at least they know they can't just walk over you. Meanwhile you are just hoping that no one brings anything other than their fists to the fight. If not fighting then maybe it's the fact that since the day you were of employable, working age you have been pulling ridiculous hours at work after school in order to support your brother, sister and mother.
What I have learned during my time with these kids is that because of their circumstances, because of their lifestyle, because of their environment, these kids don't have time to be kids.
Tuesday night i experienced a little joy. Tuesday night we went to the Hornets basketball game. Aside from the chain-prayer(read Chandy's blog for more on that), seeing those kids BE KIDS was easily my absolute favorite experience of the week, if not month. Yeah, we were sitting in section 303, 5 rows from the top. That's us. You would have thought we were sitting in Chris Paul's seat on the bench the way the kids acted. We had water-tattoos on faces, balloon hats, those really annoying thunder-stick thingy's that are really loud and hurt when you get hit the groin with, and alot of fun. It's almost like for just a couple hours they were able to forget about the things I talked about earlier, like going home to a drug-infested house, and be kids. In pure innocence. Just have fun, like kids are supposed to. It was pretty awesome. Regardless of the fact that half of our kids couldn't name 2 players on the Hornets roster, those kids had a blast.
So there it is, my once every 2 week blog update. But for real, I'm going to start making more short, quick blogs. Even if it is really hard for me to do those.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
why not be wronged?
Early on in my working days with the kids (the term "kids" is used loosely seeing as how most, if not all, of these kids have seen, done and experienced things in their lifetime that I haven't and probably won't) that I had been in relationship with I was consistently being done in, or wronged. In retrospect, I was naive. I think a very accurate description of how much I know about what is going on in the lives of 100% of the kids that I work with was put best by Ron recently when he said, "I have a vague notion". Ron was referring to himself, but really if we wanted to, this could be a t-shirt used for the staff at Rock Island.
We have learned how there are soooo many levels of relationship with each of our kids that we have to surpass in order to gain trust, honesty and openness about their lives. I'm no "relationship expert", but in alot of ways it's just like any other relationship. It takes alot of time, effort and the willingness to let yourself be vulnerable. By vulnerable I mean that you have to be willing to give these kids a chance they otherwise wouldn't have and often times, as we have learned, some are grateful and make the most of the opportunity, while others have taken advantage of our graciousness. The vulnerability comes into play when you invest so much of your energy and effort, you make special arrangements and exceptions and you are always going the extra mile to make sure they have what they need/want. This is where we have been both disappointed and frustrated with some of our kids. It's a risk. Each kid is different, but more times than not, it's a risk.
Here's the way that I have come to look at it. What's the risk? The risk is that after investing all of the things listed above. this is what happens: the kid bails out, the kid really just wanted to get in good with us to steal some video systems from us, the kid isn't really interested in the whole "Jesus" thing he really just wants to holla at the cute girl that is interested in Jesus, the kid just uses us so he can check his myspace and email on a consistent basis, the kid really just wants us to help him with his homework, the kid just comes to eat. Each of these scenarios, they happen or have happened to us. Some of these examples aren't all that bad. A sin is a sin, right? But let's be honest, I would rather a kid come every day to Rock Island with the intention of using us for our internet access, rather then coming with the intention of stealing our XBox-360. In case you didn't know, that's our whole marketing scheme at Rock Island. The internet, the food, the music, the video games, the big screen t.v., the help with homework, that's all part of creating something that appeals to the kids in order to let them know why we are REALLY there. We aren't really trying to compete with Celebration Station or Incredible Pizza or trying to turn over a big time profit, don't be confused.
I haven't been in the game long enough to know how effective the youth ministry that Ron, Chandy and I are doing will be or is. What I do know is that just in the short time that I have been working there have been several different individuals that have wronged us and/or taken advantage of our willingness to help them. So what's the big deal? I think it is only human instinct that when you are wronged or taken advantage of there are a couple different responses. I feel like, "Well, he had his chance. Good luck finding help later on when you need it", or, "Ok, he got me that time, so what I can do now to get him back or get even." Not only that, but it makes you hesitant to want to help others in the future. You start to question or second guess people when they say that they need help, as to whether or not you are going to help them. Such is the case with a kid that we have recently come into relationship with at Rock Island.
The three of us agree that this particular individual has just about the exact makeup of one that is going to use us or wrong us in one form or another. After several small talks and discussions, here's my viewpoint.
"Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated" - 1 Corinthians 6:7
"For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God... But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps." - 1 Peter 2:19-21
Yes, I realize that these scriptures need to be used within context and that when written they were not referring to inner-city youth missionaries dealing with street-running, gang, tough, don't talk about my momma kids. Another thing I know is that Christ lived the ultimate example of being wronged by people when He willingly died on the cross for each one of our sins. With that being said, why not willingly risk the chance of being wronged by one of these kids with the reward being so much greater then the risk. Ultimately, here's the two different results of the risk we take by investing in each of these kids; either they wrong us, use us and abuse us, or they come to know Christ.
I don't know about you, but that's a risk I'm willing to take.
We have learned how there are soooo many levels of relationship with each of our kids that we have to surpass in order to gain trust, honesty and openness about their lives. I'm no "relationship expert", but in alot of ways it's just like any other relationship. It takes alot of time, effort and the willingness to let yourself be vulnerable. By vulnerable I mean that you have to be willing to give these kids a chance they otherwise wouldn't have and often times, as we have learned, some are grateful and make the most of the opportunity, while others have taken advantage of our graciousness. The vulnerability comes into play when you invest so much of your energy and effort, you make special arrangements and exceptions and you are always going the extra mile to make sure they have what they need/want. This is where we have been both disappointed and frustrated with some of our kids. It's a risk. Each kid is different, but more times than not, it's a risk.
Here's the way that I have come to look at it. What's the risk? The risk is that after investing all of the things listed above. this is what happens: the kid bails out, the kid really just wanted to get in good with us to steal some video systems from us, the kid isn't really interested in the whole "Jesus" thing he really just wants to holla at the cute girl that is interested in Jesus, the kid just uses us so he can check his myspace and email on a consistent basis, the kid really just wants us to help him with his homework, the kid just comes to eat. Each of these scenarios, they happen or have happened to us. Some of these examples aren't all that bad. A sin is a sin, right? But let's be honest, I would rather a kid come every day to Rock Island with the intention of using us for our internet access, rather then coming with the intention of stealing our XBox-360. In case you didn't know, that's our whole marketing scheme at Rock Island. The internet, the food, the music, the video games, the big screen t.v., the help with homework, that's all part of creating something that appeals to the kids in order to let them know why we are REALLY there. We aren't really trying to compete with Celebration Station or Incredible Pizza or trying to turn over a big time profit, don't be confused.
I haven't been in the game long enough to know how effective the youth ministry that Ron, Chandy and I are doing will be or is. What I do know is that just in the short time that I have been working there have been several different individuals that have wronged us and/or taken advantage of our willingness to help them. So what's the big deal? I think it is only human instinct that when you are wronged or taken advantage of there are a couple different responses. I feel like, "Well, he had his chance. Good luck finding help later on when you need it", or, "Ok, he got me that time, so what I can do now to get him back or get even." Not only that, but it makes you hesitant to want to help others in the future. You start to question or second guess people when they say that they need help, as to whether or not you are going to help them. Such is the case with a kid that we have recently come into relationship with at Rock Island.
The three of us agree that this particular individual has just about the exact makeup of one that is going to use us or wrong us in one form or another. After several small talks and discussions, here's my viewpoint.
"Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated" - 1 Corinthians 6:7
"For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God... But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps." - 1 Peter 2:19-21
Yes, I realize that these scriptures need to be used within context and that when written they were not referring to inner-city youth missionaries dealing with street-running, gang, tough, don't talk about my momma kids. Another thing I know is that Christ lived the ultimate example of being wronged by people when He willingly died on the cross for each one of our sins. With that being said, why not willingly risk the chance of being wronged by one of these kids with the reward being so much greater then the risk. Ultimately, here's the two different results of the risk we take by investing in each of these kids; either they wrong us, use us and abuse us, or they come to know Christ.
I don't know about you, but that's a risk I'm willing to take.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
ask, seek, knock
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."
Matthew 7:7-8
Wow, how true these words really are.
I have worked at Cross and Crown the past 4 summers but have only been working full-time since August. During the time since August I have been confronted with a new responsibility/challenge. This challenge came in the form of collecting an appropriate amount of funds to support the plans that we (Ron, Chandy and myself) have for our youth (fyi, just for the record, each one of us do this). Some of these plans are taking place now, while others are to take place in the future (such as Spring Break and summer).
Like most, I am hesitant to ask for help. Honestly, who wants to ask for help? It's a tough situation. It's often uncomfortable, for both parties involved. To me, it almost seems rude. I mean, alot of times I need help in other areas of my personal life but I don't want to bother others with my problems. Everyone has enough going on as it is, right?
So, back to my new responsibility, fundraising. My unfaithful, humanly mind begins to think, "How can I get around actually having to ask people for help, but still raise the support?" Hmmmm...Interesting concept, Luke. Honestly, how ridiculous. Because of my own insecurity and desire to not "interrupt others lives" or "have myself or someone else feel uncomfortable", I am missing the point altogether. Rather than me trying to assume 100% of the responsibility and try to organize a flawless plan to raise support, why not let God work? I feel like alot of times when situations seem unrealistic or unreachable I put God up on a shelf. I act like it is just too much. It's almost like I'm scared to give it to God because what if things don't turn out like I wanted them to? Does that mean God failed? Do I really want to test God? Good grief, Luke.
Then comes in a little bit of faith. Doesn't God address a similar situation in Malachi chapter 3 when He says, "...Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not through open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough to store it..."(Malachi 3:10). So here's my answer, this is what I felt God was leading/telling me to do. "Present your needs to the people and watch me work". So I did. Without further rambling let me say this, each one of our kids that wants to go to camp, will go to camp.
Because of several individual donors, along with some small groups, each one of our kids now has been blessed with the chance to go to camp. Also, because there was such a large response/outpouring of donations we are going to be able to use a little bit of that money in order to fund some plans that we have for our kids during Spring Break. So, thank you to each one of our contributors who felt called to donate to the cause. Not to say that this will be the last time one of us has to raise some moolah for one reason or another; but this is to say that God has everything in control and all He wants is us to allow Him to work in our lives.
In closing, I know from past experience how it is easy to read or hear a story like the one I just told you and to be like, "Wow, that's really cool. God is working in such great ways". Don't get me wrong, I still am like that. But, what I don't want you to do is read this and think this, and that be it. I challenge you to do the same as I did. Ask God. Seek God. Knock at His door. See if He wont open the floodgates in your life.
Matthew 7:7-8
Wow, how true these words really are.
I have worked at Cross and Crown the past 4 summers but have only been working full-time since August. During the time since August I have been confronted with a new responsibility/challenge. This challenge came in the form of collecting an appropriate amount of funds to support the plans that we (Ron, Chandy and myself) have for our youth (fyi, just for the record, each one of us do this). Some of these plans are taking place now, while others are to take place in the future (such as Spring Break and summer).
Like most, I am hesitant to ask for help. Honestly, who wants to ask for help? It's a tough situation. It's often uncomfortable, for both parties involved. To me, it almost seems rude. I mean, alot of times I need help in other areas of my personal life but I don't want to bother others with my problems. Everyone has enough going on as it is, right?
So, back to my new responsibility, fundraising. My unfaithful, humanly mind begins to think, "How can I get around actually having to ask people for help, but still raise the support?" Hmmmm...Interesting concept, Luke. Honestly, how ridiculous. Because of my own insecurity and desire to not "interrupt others lives" or "have myself or someone else feel uncomfortable", I am missing the point altogether. Rather than me trying to assume 100% of the responsibility and try to organize a flawless plan to raise support, why not let God work? I feel like alot of times when situations seem unrealistic or unreachable I put God up on a shelf. I act like it is just too much. It's almost like I'm scared to give it to God because what if things don't turn out like I wanted them to? Does that mean God failed? Do I really want to test God? Good grief, Luke.
Then comes in a little bit of faith. Doesn't God address a similar situation in Malachi chapter 3 when He says, "...Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not through open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough to store it..."(Malachi 3:10). So here's my answer, this is what I felt God was leading/telling me to do. "Present your needs to the people and watch me work". So I did. Without further rambling let me say this, each one of our kids that wants to go to camp, will go to camp.
Because of several individual donors, along with some small groups, each one of our kids now has been blessed with the chance to go to camp. Also, because there was such a large response/outpouring of donations we are going to be able to use a little bit of that money in order to fund some plans that we have for our kids during Spring Break. So, thank you to each one of our contributors who felt called to donate to the cause. Not to say that this will be the last time one of us has to raise some moolah for one reason or another; but this is to say that God has everything in control and all He wants is us to allow Him to work in our lives.
In closing, I know from past experience how it is easy to read or hear a story like the one I just told you and to be like, "Wow, that's really cool. God is working in such great ways". Don't get me wrong, I still am like that. But, what I don't want you to do is read this and think this, and that be it. I challenge you to do the same as I did. Ask God. Seek God. Knock at His door. See if He wont open the floodgates in your life.
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