God's 'unblessing'

On a daily basis I have conversations, interactions and experiences with a wide range of individuals who are struggling.  Struggling to survive.  Struggling to provide.  Struggling to find hope.  Struggling to find worth.  Struggling to make ends meet.  Struggling to find God.  

Half of my day is spent with people and families who need a helping hand.  They come to get food.  They come to get clothes.  They come to see a doctor for $2.00 because they don't have medical insurance.  Some don't have medical insurance because they don't have reputable enough jobs that offer that type of thing.  Others don't have medical insurance because they don't have jobs.  Some don't have jobs because they're lazy or maybe, just maybe, they can't get a job because they're 'illegal', you know, an 'alien' from, like, another country.  How ridiculous, right?  Who would come to a country illegally in hopes of bettering their families lives?  I digress.

Why is their life like this?

Why are they struggling?

Why do I have a job and they don't?

Why does my wife have a great job that allows us to have medical insurance?

Why was I born in the "greatest nation" in the world?

Why was I born a white male in a middle-class family?

Then there is the homeless men and women.  They come to eat.  They come to get their clothes cleaned.  Some come to shower.  Some of them come for the Bible study.  Some come to help out around the mission, to carry boxes, to take trash out, to unload donations.  Some see the doctor.  Some of them, not all, don't want to see the doctor because they don't want to be told to stop drinking, to stop smoking or to 'straighten up'.  Some of them are just fine being homeless.  Some are 'ok' with being 'dirty, smelly drunks'.  Some of them desire something different, something better but just aren't capable of making it a reality.  

Why are they homeless?

Why cant they stop?

Why do I always have clean clothes and a warm shower?

Why am I not an alcoholic?

The other half of my day is spent with youth.  The kids come for a variety of reasons, also.  Some come to talk.  Some come to eat.  Some come to play.  Some come to help.  Some come because they're bored.  Some come because, believe it or not, they (kinda) like us.  Some come because they don't want to have to go home.  Some don't want to go home because home sucks.  Home sucks because mom and dad are at home.  Mom and dad (in most cases it's mom OR dad, not both) suck because mom and dad hit them.  Getting hit sucks.

Why do their parents not care?

Why do their parents hit them?

Why did I have a good childhood?  

Why was I born in to a stable, loving family?  

How come my childhood was healthy?  

Why did I have parents that encouraged me in school, disciplined me for my own good and who taught me how to be successful in life?  

Why didn't my parents hit me?

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Yeah, I understand and agree that there are scenarios and problems that people get themselves in to because they make bad decisions and bad decisions lead to consequences that you have to live with...but being born in to a crappy family with bad parents isn't one of them.  

The easiest thing to do with 'poor people' or the homeless population is to say, "Yeah, well, if they would get a job or get off the pipe they could have the money they need to get off the streets and they wouldn't have to beg for money on the corner."

You don't know them.  You don't know their story.  You don't know their crappy parents that taught them nothing, that didn't care or love them and that didn't encourage them.

Then there's those criminals coming to the US illegally.  Those darn scoundrels.  They don't even have the decency to stay in their own country and work, they have to come to our country and take OUR jobs.  Psssssh. Ridiculous, I tell you.

What do you know about being born in another country, scratching and scraping for every morsel of food you eat or sharing a room with 5 other family members in a dirt house with no water, cool air or bed to sleep on?  If you're like me, not much.

So why?

For far to long I have prayed to God and thanked Him for all my 'blessings', like, being born in a great family, having good health and not having to worry about where my next meal would come from.  The list goes on.  I am so 'blessed', I thought.  And, I am blessed, just not entirely how I have always thought.

If I'm 'blessed' because I was born in to a loving family with parents who cared for me when I was young what does that make the boy who was born in to a crack smoking, pill popping, no food on the table, no help with homework, no discipline, no care, broken home with parents who abused him?

Is that child 'un-blessed' by God?

Fast forward several years down the road and now that child who was born in to the crappy home life with no love, care or direction is now the homeless man on the street corner who we immediately label as a lazy, good for nothing thief.

Seems fair.

I refuse that idea.

I refuse the notion that my all-loving, all-powerful, all-knowing God would play favorites with His creation (Unless, we're going OT and we are speaking, strictly, in terms of the Israelites).  The idea that my God, the God who holds time in His hands, the God that spoke the world and myself in to existence, would 'bless' me with a wonderful family and circumstances at birth and then in the same breath 'un-bless' another child by allowing he/she to be born in to a ridiculous scenario like the one I spoke of earlier is unacceptable.

"Well", you say, "What about God being sovereign?"

Don't get me wrong.  I believe God is sovereign.  I trust that God is sovereign.

What I don't trust is us.  We are sinful.  God gives us the ability to choose and more times than not we choose wrong.  We act wrong.  We treat others wrong.  We do wrong.  We have created a mess.  Our mess has gotten out of hand and as a result this world is a mess.

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Let's take a look at a conversation Jesus had with His disciples concerning a man who appeared to be 'unblessed' in terms of his physical state.

John 9:2 says this,

"His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 

Wow. Such compassion, right?  The disciples communicate little concern for the man or his blindness but, rather, they are interested solely about the cause of his problem.

I can relate.  I think a lot of us can.  We see the beggar on the street corner with the sign that reads, "Hungry.  Anything helps", and are initial thought isn't, "Hmmm, I wonder what he likes on his cheese burger....or if he even likes cheese on his burger....or if he even likes burgers."

No, our first thought is something, like, "What a good for nothing, lazy bum.  I wonder how he got to where he is at now?"  Or, something along those lines.

Then there are those who are somewhat compassionate who might even question how he got to where he is now.  You might have genuine concern for the person and so you take the next step.  Maybe, we think, if we can identify his problem we can formulate a solution.  I don't think having this type of mindset is necessarily a bad thing but it sure doesn't seem to be the approach Jesus takes.

Jesus replies to his disciples in verse 3 with the following,

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him."

When the disciples approach the blind man they recognize a problem, the mans' blindness.  Their assumption is that his problem had to have had an equation, a sequence of bad decisions, or in this case sins, that lead to his condition.  In the disciples defense the Old Testament does mention a few times how the sin of one, such as a mother or father, would result in off-spring being punished (Hosea 4:6).

Jesus, on the other hand, does things a little differently.  He explains how neither the man nor his parents are responsible for his condition, but, rather, his condition exists so that God's power and presence might be displayed, showcased or modeled.  In other words, evidence of His works.

You know the rest of the story.  Jesus does His thing.  He spits in the dirt, rubs it in the dude's eyes and then tells him to go do a cannonball in the pool.  Game over.

Too often we want an explanation, a reason or a formula when things go wrong.  We want to know why a family member has cancer.  We want to know why the tsunami.  We want to know why good things happen to bad people and why bad things happen to good people.

Why?

Why?

Why?

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If Jesus walked the earth, like He did back in the day, I think He might give us a similar answer that He gave the disciples in the story about the blind man.  In other words, He might give us one of those often indirect, sometimes confusing, but always truth-filled parables.

You know, the answers that frustrate the dog out of you because you really just wanted a 'yes' or 'no' answer to your question but you end up getting a 'knock and the door shall be open; seek and ye shall find", response.  Not always fun.

What I have come to think, learn and believe is that, maybe, just maybe, a lot of the questions we have about circumstances, worldly happenings, and the 'whys' in life might be more a result of a sinful world and less about God pouring down His punishment and wrath or lack of control over earthly happenings.

Again, God is sovereign.  God is in control. God is love.  His love gives us an opportunity to choose.  An opportunity to choose means an opportunity to not choose.  Not choosing results in sin and sin gives way to a whole nother world of existence.  We live in a world of choice and sin.  A sinful world is painful and unfair at times, most of the time.

With that being said, I don't think God chooses to 'bless' and 'un-bless' His children in many circumstances.  Can and does God choose to bless His children?  Absolutely.

There are countless stories and examples of God blessing people and nations throughout the Scriptures.  Matthew 25:34-40 tells about God's blessing to those who treat others with love.  Hebrews 12:5-11 and James 1:12 even speak about God's discipline being a blessing to those He loves and hardship being a form of blessing, in some cases.  Then there's the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus goes against all normal thought processes and gives one of those 'first shall be last and last shall be first' talks by speaking about how the poor, meek and those who mourn are and will be blessed.

Blessings from God do exist but that doesn't mean that any and everything we deem as a 'blessing' from God is in fact a blessing from God.  Maybe, rather than my circumstances being a 'blessing' from God I was just born in the right place at the right time.  Whereas, the now homeless man who was born in to the less fortunate living circumstances wasn't born 'unblessed' but rather born in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Neither circumstance a result of our own doing nor some type of 'blessed' nor 'unblessed' scenario.

I think this guy says it better...

"About a year ago, Tanya was walking back to the rooming house after having a fight with her boyfriend. It was late at night, and to get there, she had to cross Martin Luther King Blvd, which has five lanes.

Like I said, it was late at night, and on that section of MLK, the street light was burned out. And Tanya was wearing dark clothes.

The drunk driver never saw her. He hit her dead on, ran over her and drug her now dead body about 300 yards. He said later he thought he had hit a dog.

I preached her funeral, and I said the sort of things one says at a funeral, but inside I was screaming -

Why God? Why Tanya?

The church did not have any really good answers in that moment.

The reporter on the TV said Tanya was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Personally, I think that reporter was, in that moment, quite Jesus-like in her theology.

We like to see our prosperity, our good family, our happy lives, our full stomachs as signs of God’s favor, as evidence of our doing “the right things”.

- Hugh Hollowell 

Wrong place.  Wrong time.


Hugh goes on to tell, I think, another helpful story that I will end with...

Last spring, I was invited to a small group meeting a local college ministry puts on in order to talk about Love Wins, to see if any of them wanted to volunteer. I thought I was the main event, but they told me they had to do the Bible Study first.

The passage was the story of the rich young ruler, who comes to Jesus for advice, and then Jesus tells him to sell everything he has and to give it to the poor. The people in the small group were having a tough time with this.

After hearing that story read, a young guy in the room – richer than 80% of the planet, born the predominant race and the most privileged gender in the wealthiest country in the world – the very epitome of a rich young ruler to the majority of our planet – it was then that this kid said,”I think the important thing to keep in mind is to have a balanced view. After all, God gives us our possessions for a reason, and—”

It was then that I lost it.

“Hold on”, I said. “God didn’t give you your possessions. You have those things because you paid money for them. You had money to spend because you are employed. You are employed because you are well educated and look trustworthy to employers, both benefits of growing up white and male and inheriting a culture built on stolen land with the labor of enslaved people.”

You would have thought I drop kicked a kitten across the room.

Look – I have a congregant who lives in a car. And at night, when its 25 degrees and she is shivering and shaking and wanting to turn the car on for heat but knowing she does not have the money for gas – all the while crying out to God and praying for warmth… but no warmth comes.

So if you tell me that God has given this rich young ruler in that overheated living room his possessions while leaving my friend in the car to shiver, I call shenanigans. Because if that is true, then you are saying that God loves this kid more than he does my friend in her car. Or more than he does the 80% of the planet that lives on less than $10 a day.

You are not better than they are. You are just better off. "

 To read Hugh's entire post on this subject click here.

This is the challenge we face now.  We all know people or know of people that have awfully unfair circumstances.  If you don't know them personally I bet you know someone who does know them personally.  That person, family or group of people is your opportunity to get involved,

"...so that the works of God might be displayed in him."

Help Wanted

On Tuesday, April 12th at 9:00 am we (and hopefully you) at Cross & Crown Mission will be distributing boxes of food and personal care items to 400 families.  We are excited about this opportunity to team up with Feed the Children in a program called, "Americans Feeding Americans."  You can check out some more details here.

We are in great need of volunteers for this event and are looking to get anywhere from 50-75 individuals to commit their time and energy.

Here is a list of a few other things that we are looking to get our hands on for this 3-4 hour event...

       * t-shirts! Because this event will involve several hundred individuals we would like to be able to identify those who are helping.  So, we figured either everyone that is helping should wear the same shirt or everyone helping wear no shirt.  Shirts won.

       * pallet jack & fork lift. Pretty self explanatory.  There will be a bunch of food on pallets and so we need something to lift and move the pallets.  We don't have one.  We want one.  Do you have one?

       *YOU!  Again, we need 50-75 bodies to make this thing happen.  On any given day at Cross & Crown we have somewhere between 15-20 volunteers.  We need more than double this amount in order to make this thing happen.

We are, also, very excited about this event because it will take place in the parking lot of our newly acquired building at 1900 NW10th, the old Whittier school building.  We are excited about this opportunity to meet and begin relationship with many new families in the neighborhood.

If you are interested in being apart of this effort in any form whether it be t-shirts, materials or your services please call 232-7696 and leave a message for Paul.

Spring Break 2011 Rock Island Style

This past week the schools, teachers and students of Oklahoma City observed several days of Spring Break.  During this time we at Cross and Crown closed down the food pantry, clothing room and other ministries in order to focus our attention on the kids.  

Monday and Wednesday morning 15-20 kids from the neighborhood helped Ron and I pick up some food donations and then deliver the food throughout the neighborhood.  

Similar to the week before, the kids organized fruits, vegetables, frozen meats, breads and other foods in 60-75 boxes each day and then traveled with us throughout the neighborhood going door to door to deliver each family a nice Spring Break food basket.  The kids enjoyed themselves and the families were very appreciative.  Everyone wins!

Following their hard work and help we cooked up some pizzas and snacks for the kids, hit the computers and video games for a couple hours and then called it a day.

Tuesday we gathered up 20 some odd kids and headed to go skating.  We had a delicious meal at CiCi's Pizza and then hit the rink.  The skating outing was a first time experience for some of the kids, as you can see from the pictures with most of the girls clinging to the side rails and walls.

Some of the kids walked away from the rink with bruises to remind them of SB2011 Rock Island style for days to come.  There were kids falling and splattering all over the rink every time you turned around.  It was awesome.  

Below are some pictures and videos from our neighborhood food excursion and skating adventure.  

Be warned: some of the videos may contain footage of ridiculous dance moves that should never be mimicked or attempted.  Enjoy!

Loaves and fishes

Wednesdays are normally reserved for the elementary kids at Rock Island but this Wednesday had a little different look.

Instead of the typical Wednesday look of video games, pizza and lots of noise Ron, Paul, myself and several of the junior high/high school Rock Island'ers picked up a couple thousand pounds of frozen meats, fruits, breads and potatoes.

We then distributed all of this goodness to neighbors throughout the neighborhood. Some we knew and others we met for the first time.

This one, relatively simple, act that we were able to do yesterday is one of my favorite occurrences at my job.

People getting food is great but that's not what I'm talking about.

One of my favorite aspects of my job is when the youth from Rock Island contribute and invest in THEIR neighborhood.

Even though they may not realize it or completely grasp the significance of it all, it's crucial that these kids learn and practice practical ways they can influence and make an impact in their community; both now and in the future.

One of the most crucial truths we have learned firsthand about impacting this neighborhood is that there must be indigenous leaders.

We can try to develop ideas, programs and ministries to help stabilize this community but long, lasting impact FOR THIS neighborhood will be performed by people OF THIS neighborhood.

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No school and some snowy fun

Ron, myself and some of the boys from the neighborhood did some snow Olympics a few weeks back. Here are a few pictures displaying our work...
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Isaiah 61:4 in action

"They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations." - Isaiah 61:4 

As of January 25, 2011 Cross and Crown Mission is now the proud owner of the old Whittier Elementary School building located at 1900 NW10.  It is a three story building with long hallways, big rooms and lots of space (basketball courts require a lot of space, hmmmm).

Below you can check out some very unprofessional, blurry pictures taken by myself with my camera phone.  Paul closed on the building at 3:00 Tuesday afternoon and as soon as Ron and I got word of the news we quickly rounded up the Rock Island kids that wanted to check it out.

Most of the kids were excited to browse through the building because it has a old, vacant, haunted house feel to it.  I can't blame them.  It's old.  It's rough.  It has a lot....a lot of work to be done.  As you can see from some of the pictures, we, along with the help of many partnering churches and individuals, have a lot of work to do.

There have been several individuals and, undoubtedly, will be more who will ask, suggest and question whether or not this building is worth the time, energy and investment to restore.  And, I can't blame them.  That's the same thing I, along with countless others, thought when the original, founding group laid eyes on the building that is now Cross and Crown.  

Something I have learned during my time at Cross and Crown/Rock Island is that God has a special interest in restoring and transforming.  In the Old Testament God restores people (Saul/Paul), nations (Israel) and even buildings (the Temple).  

I happen to believe that God is still in the business of restoration.  I've seen individuals restored from addictions and in relationships with others.  I've seen homes and buildings restored and transformed through Christ-followers, his hands and feet, from this very neighborhood.

I would love for this building to be restored and completed in the next couple months.  I would love for 400 people to come at the snap of a finger with cars full of money, shovels, paint, brooms and other tools to knock this project out asap.  I also know that God's faithfulness and timing never fails.  His word is good. And, because I know this, I know that I, that we, might have to wait.

"LORD, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God." - Psalm 38:15

"Since ancient times no one has heard,no ear has perceived,no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him." - Isaiah 64:4 

But, until then, we will be doing the best we can to recruit professionals, located supplies and find bodies that want to get dirty.  If interested or curious as to how you can help in any way you can contact us in one of the following ways.....

Phone - (405) 232-7696

or...

Email - crossandcrownmission@gmail.com

or...

leave a comment and/or contact information in the comment section of this blog.