The past few weeks, I've realized that when I give a Bible lesson to the kids at two:fifty-two (after-school program), I ask a lot of simple questions to help get their minds going, similar to what I typed above. I've also realized that this method of simplification has helped me in my own understanding of the Bible. To answer the above questions, I want to tell you of a time I got owned! "Owned" technically meaning to be made a fool of or proven wrong or embarrassed. In my case, proven wrong. Last Sunday at Shiloh Baptist Church, the pastor talked about Job. One of the richest men to ever live. Read Job chapter 1 and just imagine being in his sandals. Loses his family, his workers, his animals, and what does he do? Yes, he grieves, weeps, rips his robe, shaves his head, all understandable natural human reactions for his time. Even Jesus wept when he was deeply moved in spirit by others' tears (which is incredible to think about all on its own that we have a God that feels our pain). After Job grieved, verses 20 and 21 say "he fell to the ground in worship and said 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.'" What?!? How is he able to do this? Job did not find his worth or identity in his blessings. Satan accused him of following hard after God because he had tremendous wealth. I've heard and learned this story before, but what hit me was when H.B. Charles (pastor) was saying that we came in the world with nothing. Therefore, even if the only thing you accumulated in your entire life was a measly old penny, you would still come out in the positive.
I had to think about that. Everything I have was given to me, even if I bought it with money I earn from a job that I work for. Job was blessed to still have God and continued to trust in him even when he had nothing. Take some time and think about 5 things that you have, big/small/expensive/priceless, and think of where you got it. Me:
1. The food I eat -- God gave my supporters a giving heart and the money to support me in order to buy what I eat.
2. My basketball shoes -- Someone that used to live at the green house (where I live) left them and they happened to be my size. Thanks God.
3. My family -- God gave me a family that loves and supports me, which is an emotional resource that many in poverty do not have, which often determines education and knowledge and behavior.
4. A Steven's Point T-shirt -- God allowed my brother to go to the University of Wisconsin in Steven's Point and he gave me a basketball tee which I still have and wear.
5. The pen in my book -- Borrowed from the green house, it was bought at some point. I don't know how it was given to me, I just know I didn't earn it myself.
In my possession are probably like thousands of things. In poverty, there is much greater emphasis on sharing. Ownership is not as important. Survival is key on who you know and how you can mutual help each other based on what you have, whether it is physical or emotional or mental.......
Oct. 29th, we had 2nd Mile's annual Family Fall Festival where families enjoyed games, candy, hotdogs, nachos, costumes, apple bobbing, face-painting, and music. It was put on by 2nd Mile and the Boys and Girls Club, with various churches volunteering the decorated trunks of their cars for a Trunk-Or-Treat event where kids can win candy playing different games. We all shared in the excitement for three hours. All eight of our two:fifty-two kids were there and it was awesome seeing them connect with each other amongst the sea of children. To preface this, we handed out flyers around the neighborhood the week before the big event. Oh yeah, and this was done at night which kind of freaked me out. Constant suspense. The worst that happened was getting chased by a little dog but other than that, we all came back safe. Anyway, we had plenty of volunteers and supplies to make the event a success so thank you for your prayers. It was cool to talk to people from the community who didn't even know 2nd Mile existed. "Who y'all is?" "We're a part of 2nd Mile Ministries." "Where y'all at?" "We live in different parts of Brentwood." The whole point of this event was to show the neighborhood that we cared about them and hopefully God used the Family Fall Festival and continues to use it to ignite some hope in people that otherwise would go through life without much reason to hope.
If you admit that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you are saved by his grace. That also means a whole lot of other things like, you are my brother or sister in Christ regardless of age or ethnicity or perferred music. You were also purchased by the blood of Christ which means, in a sense, you are owned by Christ. And that is something to be excited about, not embarrassed about.
So much has happened in the past two weeks that I was too busy to blog last week. I will make it up by introducing a couple more of our students. The other siblings we have in our program are Charity and Chassidy. Charity is in third grade and is probably the most participatory during carpet time and Bible time. She loves to answer questions or read the memory verses, even when someone else is called on. If you remember me mentioning little Moses during my support raising summer, these two girls are his younger sisters. Charity will do anything to be a helping hand and it seems very genuine. She wants nothing out of it. She is very well-behaved and loves to learn. She still needs work with reading (like most of the kids) but no doubt will improve by her hard work. Chassidy is in second grade and is very tiny. It's kind of a mystery as to what kind of day she's going to have. She might be very focused and well-behaved one day, or disruptive and unmotivated the next. I've had the privelege of working with her during homework time and reading time a lot in the past weeks. "Mr. Andrew, can you help me with my homework?" is usually what I hear in a slightly demanding tone. Out of everyone in the program, I would say with confidence that Chassidy has the best reading comprehesion skills. She is learning new words so quickly. Everything academic is improving for her and she has amazing potential. She just needs to work on persevering and focusing if she gets disciplined.
Please pray:
-For us staff and volunteers to be consistent with discipline.
-For Charity to know when it is her turn to speak.
-That God would intervene when we inexperienced instructors have to teach and discipline.
-For my own personal relationship with God to be seeking Him with all I got.
(Charity playing Red Rover)
If you admit that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you are saved by his grace. That also means a whole lot of other things like, you are my brother or sister in Christ regardless of age or ethnicity or perferred music. You were also purchased by the blood of Christ which means, in a sense, you are owned by Christ. And that is something to be excited about, not embarrassed about.
So much has happened in the past two weeks that I was too busy to blog last week. I will make it up by introducing a couple more of our students. The other siblings we have in our program are Charity and Chassidy. Charity is in third grade and is probably the most participatory during carpet time and Bible time. She loves to answer questions or read the memory verses, even when someone else is called on. If you remember me mentioning little Moses during my support raising summer, these two girls are his younger sisters. Charity will do anything to be a helping hand and it seems very genuine. She wants nothing out of it. She is very well-behaved and loves to learn. She still needs work with reading (like most of the kids) but no doubt will improve by her hard work. Chassidy is in second grade and is very tiny. It's kind of a mystery as to what kind of day she's going to have. She might be very focused and well-behaved one day, or disruptive and unmotivated the next. I've had the privelege of working with her during homework time and reading time a lot in the past weeks. "Mr. Andrew, can you help me with my homework?" is usually what I hear in a slightly demanding tone. Out of everyone in the program, I would say with confidence that Chassidy has the best reading comprehesion skills. She is learning new words so quickly. Everything academic is improving for her and she has amazing potential. She just needs to work on persevering and focusing if she gets disciplined.
Please pray:
-For us staff and volunteers to be consistent with discipline.
-For Charity to know when it is her turn to speak.
-That God would intervene when we inexperienced instructors have to teach and discipline.
-For my own personal relationship with God to be seeking Him with all I got.
(Chassidy playing Red Rover while keeping her
root beer float from spilling)
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