one step at a time...
It seems hardly possible that almost two years have passed since I felt God lead me out of YWAM (worldwide Christian missions) & into a season of dwelling near family in good ol' Kansas City, MO... While my 3 years with YWAM were some of the most healing, identity-releasing, & confidence-in-Christ-building; this time with family has been some of the most root-deepening & reinforcing, especially in the realm of what it means to "stir up/strengthen my own soul in the Lord." Prior to the last couple years, I hadn't lived near family for a decade. So, re-connecting in a tangible way with them has been simply marvelous.
I've also had the joy of substitute teaching these two years in over a dozen different schools, ages K-12. I've genuinely enjoyed it BIG-time. There has been countless important conversations, opportunities to serve & love, as well as prayer walk these schools in a district with astonishingly rampant poverty (recent statistics say that over 70% of the youth here are growing up in poverty...). The picture the Lord kept giving me through others these 2 years has been that of taking a "Johnny Appleseed" role of scattering seeds of love, prayer, & service that are indeed hard & laborious at times, but they DO matter & WILL take root in one way or another. He's been showing me all over again the utter privilege of the hidden/behind the scenes servant & seed-planting roles...it's true ya know, all growth and life we see surrounding us started from a seed.
Dang. Let that really sink in :)
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
a lil' life update [part dos].
During these last couple years, I've spent a good deal of time involved with a local community known as The Boiler Room. It's part of the 24-7 Prayer International family. I have found these hearts rather kindred to say the least. The emphasis on First Love, Prayer, Mission & Creativity has had my heart responding with many a "YES!" in the last couple years of friendship, involvement, teachings, etc.
So, I've made the commute every weekend from where my family lives in St. Joseph, MO to live in KC during most of this 2 year season. The KC community home I live in is located right smack-dab in one of the top-10 worst neighborhoods in our nation {Yes, we live in this locale on purpose :) }.
Myles (a 23 yr old single fella),
Lindsay (23 yr old single gal),
Derek & Rebecca (a young married couple),
Shelby (18yr old single momma) & her two beautiful kiddos (2yr old Angel & 1yr old Quentin), and myself all dwell within our lovely little abode. We are a motley crew family indeed. I ADORE it.
And we find ourselves ever-stumbling upon more and more young single mommas with fatherless kids. Most of these young women's stories are stuffed full of the pain, turmoil & loss that they've come to see as "normal." So very many of these young people's realities are of the likes of which many of us only hear about in the news or read in about books. The experiences of abuse, rape, drugs, prostitution, neglect, poverty and abandonment that happen right here, in our nation, in our very neighborhoods are almost unbelievable. But they are indeed reality for these teens.
And then they encounter this God-Man Jesus.
And nothing is the same for them, ever again.
It's become clearer than ever to me, that these young women and children are the modern day “widow and orphan” that Scripture is so wildly emphatic that each of us intentionally love, serve, and care for.
It's been a high privilege for me to know & love each of them.
I'm more convinced than ever that God has special deep, deeeeep affections set aside for the ghetto, my friends.
I've never known more deeply that, truly, ours is the God that is indeed "so close to the broken-hearted." I've seen Him time & time again, take these girls' lives, take my life, take our lives, pasts, mistakes, & pains and:
"Do something new! See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland..." [Isaiah 43.19]
The reality is that most of these young women are facing a vicious cycle of little family support, lack of education, unemployment, and abusive relationships with men. Their situations are oftentimes dismal to say the least, and so often they aren't even aware of an alternative way to live life. But gosh, some of the hearts of these youth are just BEAUTIFUL. I wish I could transport them to you for just a minute and introduce you to all the unique wonder each of them holds. And this GOD of ours "always hopes" for them and relentlessly chases each of them. He's not put off or fearful in the least to full-on jump in to their lives. And the cycle so many of them are in is no match for His mighty love and powerful. Every day that I live life with these ones in the midst of their mess, I am confronted with the reality of how interconnected the human race truly is.
"Their" mess, is really "our" mess, the Church's mess, too.
I can honestly say that there is little more precious than the utter joy of watching an abandoned teenage mother freshly discover daily that there is a different Way, there is a Hope bigger than any reality she'd become accustomed to up until now.
She has unlimited access to the perfect, safe, involved, stable Heavenly Father Who desires her and pursues her, her kids (and her broken family as well) with an unwavering love, joy, freedom and hope.
Our little community home and weekly gatherings with these single moms are so very full of the "powerful mundane"...the every day living life together, that powerfully reveals to each of them that there truly is another Reality to live in all the days of their existence.
OHHH GOD! You're soooo GOOD and right in the middle of humankind's beautiful mess!
You willingly left perfection of beauty, love & holiness to put on a flesh suit and willingly entangle Yourself with the utterly broken, tattered mess of humanity. You CHOOSE to, You delight to do so, and You even call us Your Portion, Your Reward.
Teach us how to willingly, ever-increasingly lay aside our addictions to comfort and willingly entangle our short breath of a life in the affairs of our brothers and sisters so very in need of You, living, dwelling among us in our cities, at our jobs, in our classes, right down the street in our very neighborhoods.
There is absolutely no limit to the Love, Grace, Freedom and Hope that this very good News has afforded us all.
So, I've made the commute every weekend from where my family lives in St. Joseph, MO to live in KC during most of this 2 year season. The KC community home I live in is located right smack-dab in one of the top-10 worst neighborhoods in our nation {Yes, we live in this locale on purpose :) }.
Myles (a 23 yr old single fella),
Lindsay (23 yr old single gal),
Derek & Rebecca (a young married couple),
Shelby (18yr old single momma) & her two beautiful kiddos (2yr old Angel & 1yr old Quentin), and myself all dwell within our lovely little abode. We are a motley crew family indeed. I ADORE it.
And we find ourselves ever-stumbling upon more and more young single mommas with fatherless kids. Most of these young women's stories are stuffed full of the pain, turmoil & loss that they've come to see as "normal." So very many of these young people's realities are of the likes of which many of us only hear about in the news or read in about books. The experiences of abuse, rape, drugs, prostitution, neglect, poverty and abandonment that happen right here, in our nation, in our very neighborhoods are almost unbelievable. But they are indeed reality for these teens.
And then they encounter this God-Man Jesus.
And nothing is the same for them, ever again.
It's become clearer than ever to me, that these young women and children are the modern day “widow and orphan” that Scripture is so wildly emphatic that each of us intentionally love, serve, and care for.
It's been a high privilege for me to know & love each of them.
I'm more convinced than ever that God has special deep, deeeeep affections set aside for the ghetto, my friends.
I've never known more deeply that, truly, ours is the God that is indeed "so close to the broken-hearted." I've seen Him time & time again, take these girls' lives, take my life, take our lives, pasts, mistakes, & pains and:
"Do something new! See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland..." [Isaiah 43.19]
The reality is that most of these young women are facing a vicious cycle of little family support, lack of education, unemployment, and abusive relationships with men. Their situations are oftentimes dismal to say the least, and so often they aren't even aware of an alternative way to live life. But gosh, some of the hearts of these youth are just BEAUTIFUL. I wish I could transport them to you for just a minute and introduce you to all the unique wonder each of them holds. And this GOD of ours "always hopes" for them and relentlessly chases each of them. He's not put off or fearful in the least to full-on jump in to their lives. And the cycle so many of them are in is no match for His mighty love and powerful. Every day that I live life with these ones in the midst of their mess, I am confronted with the reality of how interconnected the human race truly is.
"Their" mess, is really "our" mess, the Church's mess, too.
I can honestly say that there is little more precious than the utter joy of watching an abandoned teenage mother freshly discover daily that there is a different Way, there is a Hope bigger than any reality she'd become accustomed to up until now.
She has unlimited access to the perfect, safe, involved, stable Heavenly Father Who desires her and pursues her, her kids (and her broken family as well) with an unwavering love, joy, freedom and hope.
Our little community home and weekly gatherings with these single moms are so very full of the "powerful mundane"...the every day living life together, that powerfully reveals to each of them that there truly is another Reality to live in all the days of their existence.
OHHH GOD! You're soooo GOOD and right in the middle of humankind's beautiful mess!
You willingly left perfection of beauty, love & holiness to put on a flesh suit and willingly entangle Yourself with the utterly broken, tattered mess of humanity. You CHOOSE to, You delight to do so, and You even call us Your Portion, Your Reward.
Teach us how to willingly, ever-increasingly lay aside our addictions to comfort and willingly entangle our short breath of a life in the affairs of our brothers and sisters so very in need of You, living, dwelling among us in our cities, at our jobs, in our classes, right down the street in our very neighborhoods.
There is absolutely no limit to the Love, Grace, Freedom and Hope that this very good News has afforded us all.
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