press 1 v. pressed, press·ing, press·es. v. 1. To exert steady weight or force against; bear down on
This past week at the after-school program has been great. And by great, I mean it provided us with many challenges that we've never had to face before. I honestly thank God for these unique chances to see our kids' weaknesses as well as our own. If God knocks me down in order for me to trust Him more, heck, why should I object to this? Putting things in God's hands should be done all the time; however, the fact is, I often try to create circumstances where I succeed or try to figure out a practical way to solve problems. What if God's plan is to not answer your prayers in order that you examine your heart and realize that God's grace is sufficient?
I've been reading through 2 Corinthians and I got to chapter 4. Verses 7-9 say, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed." At times in the past few weeks, I've felt this pressure. Although I haven't been through nearly as harsh or frequent persecution as Paul has, I believe that these small trials of disruptive kids and lack of respect and obedience are ways that God is forming his precious jars. He is careful not to break me. I'm still alive and have my sanity. Sometimes I get perplexed or confused as to why my methods of control don't work, but I'm not in despair.
Davon and Dreshaun. Brothers. 4th grade and 2nd grade. Read way above their grade level. Super smart kids. Nice kids even. Only thing is, they get in eachother's faces sometimes and they get upset very very very easily. In kickball, if Dreshaun gets out, he walks off with an angry face and it's hard to get him to do anything. If Davon doesn't get what he wants, if this fourth grader doesn't get what he wants, he contradicts every thing you say. "Please take a seat." He stands up and walks off. "You need to listen to directions." "No I don't, get away from me." That sort of thing. They both blame the adults for their discipline and seem oblivious to their own actions. Davon got suspended one day and I think his younger brother is trying to be his older brother. I don't know. At these times where I don't know what to do, all I can do is look to my Lord and say thank you. Thank you for these kids, these challenges, for keeping us on our toes, for these opportunities to tell them you love them deeply. My jar is far from being completely finished. I want to learn from my Father how to be a potter. Lord, how do I press these kids hard enough to not break them? I know that in my different experiences, God grows me and shapes me.
Please pray for more opportunities to deal with the difficult kids in a way that is pleasing, acceptable, and glorifying to God. Please pray for Davon and Dreshaun, that they come Monday willing to listen, not for the sake of us having an easy day, but so that God would be transforming their hearts.
One praise from last week is Alex. Remember Alex? He had a very rough couple days a few weeks ago, causing him to be suspended for a day. This past week at school, his conduct grades (all kids get a daily grade on behavior) were A's and B's and at two:fiftytwo he has been respectful to us, he's apologized on his own to kids, he's been focused and had a good spirit about him all week. Praise God! Thank you for the prayers because they are heard! Thanks
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Poverty Parable
(From Divided by Faith by Michael O. Emerson)
"Both Maridel and Parker were overweight, to the point of being unhealthy. They decided it was the time to do something drastic. Responding to an ad for a Fat-Away program, they drove to a rural area in their state, where they were taken to separate areas of the woods. For six weeks, they would be locked into these 'compounds,' as they were called. In each compound, according to the ad, were the perfect ingredients needed to lose weight. Their goal was to each lose forty pounds. What they did not know is that the less-than-ethical Fat-Away organization was really a research laboratory studying the effects of various diets, exercise programs, and weight-loss expectations on people's weight change. Without a word to Maridel and Parker, they placed Maridel in a compound designed to help her lose weight, but they placed Parker in a compound designed for Parker to gain weight.
In Maridel's compound were running trails, a swimming pool, state-of-the-art exercise equipment, a basketball court, and a sauna. In her cabin were magazines on proper nutrition, instructional videos on how to lose weight, an abundance of natural, healthy, low-fat, low-calorie foods, and no sweets. Each day she was greeted early by fit and trim people who asked Maridel to go on a run with them, talked about how much they loved being thin, and encouraged her that she too can be thin--wonderful conditions for losing weight.
In Parker's compound was only a tiny cabin. No exercise equipment was available whatsoever, but there were plenty of videos and movies that showed high-calorie foods looking sumptuous, more high-calorie goodies than even a sumo wrestler could desire, and just a few fruits and vegetables. The only other people Parker saw were also obese, and though they talked about losing weight, they seemed not to really care about their weight--not good conditions for losing weight.
The program called for each participant to weigh in at the start, and then every two weeks thereafter. At the end of two weeks, with neither aware of what was inside the other's compound, Maridel and Parker were taken to the weighing room. They each took their turn on the scale. Maridel stepped on the scale first. She had lost nineteen pounds! Parker's turn produced far less excitement. He actually gained two pounds.
Maridel, who assumed that both she and Parker had the same type of compound, was irritated with Parker. 'We paid good money to be here, Parker. How can you waste it? You have to exercise, you have to eat right!' Parker tried to make his case, but it only made Maridel more irritated. Maridel told Parker he needed to try harder. Parker, though he was depressed about his weight gain and the difficulty in exercising adequately and eating right, resolved to do so.
But try as he may, Parker kept eating too many bad foods. And he exercised very little. He became despressed, and his depression only made him eat more and exercise less. After another two weeks, back he and Maridel went to the scales. Maridel, with wonderful weight-loss opportunities, and taking full advantage of them, lost another fifteen pounds. Parker, however, actually gained more weight then he had the first two weeks. Maridel could not believe what Parker was doing to himself. 'Don't you know why we are here? Parker, this place is designed for us to lose weight. If you can't do it her, where can you?'
'I don't think this is all that great a place to lose weight,' Parker sniped. 'The food here is fatty, and exercising is next to impossible.' Maridel was taken aback. Finally she replied, 'It wouldn't matter if that were true, Parker. When we get home, the food can be fatty and exercise difficult, but you must learn to eat and exercise right, regardless.' Parker, increasingly frustrated by Maridel's comments, retorted, 'No way is it as easy as you're making it seem. I think that Fat-Away is treating me unfairly. I'm not even sure I want to lose weight.'
With that Maridel was dumbfounded. If Parker was not even going to try, if he was going to blame others, perhaps he deserved to be obese. But she also thought that if only Parker could have a vision of what he could lok like, he would take advantage of Fat-Away and lose weight. She encouraged Parker to imagine being thin, toned, and healthy. 'Wouldn't it be wonderful, Parker? If only you would try.'
Back they went for another two weeks. At the final weigh-in, with the predictable result of Parker not having lost weight, Maridel simply resigned herself to the idea that Parker wanted to be overweight. Why Parker would want this, she was not sure, but of one thing she was sure--until Parker decided he wanted to lose weight, he would not."
I wish I could spend a lot of time individually with you just pouring into you what I'm learning about poverty and how we got these poor pockets of society in this country. I wish I had the kind of faith that believes that God can take these long blogs, everything I pour out, and then change your perspective, maybe even how or where you live for the sake of reconciling black and white, rich and poor.
In the story above, we see two people of equal girthability, separated into what they believe to be equal opportunities of success. Consider this like the racial isolation that a large majority of people choose residentially. When I would see a bum on State Street in Madison, or even hear about homelessness, in my mind, they just needed to motivate themselves and get a job. Perhaps if they knew Jesus, this would automatically course-correct their circumstances. I didn't realize that all these "Parkers" that I've met feel that an unfair hand has been delt to them. Divided by Faith might be the best book I've read about describing race relations, more specifically how it looks in the churches. I think I like the book so much because they authors have done the exhausting work of interviewing, surveying, and conversationalizing with so many people over the years. Their results are stunning. This book makes the case that religion, from a white evangelical standpoint, does more to perpetuate racialization than to diffuse it. As more and more white evangelical isolate themselves from cross-racial relationships and networks, the greater the divide will be between them and the farther away from reconciling we will be, as those values of comfort and ample opportunity will be "born-again" in the future generations.
One result to a survey in the book was that white-evangelicals almost always choose individualistic ways to mend racial relations (i.e. show unconditional love if you see a black man, reach the person and if enough people do this, change will happen). On the other end of the spectrum, almost all black-evangelical chose structural and systemic ways to mend racial relations. This gets difficult to explain but it is more about feeling unfairly treated, discriminated against. They're not more stupider (haha, one of my favorite sayings), they just don't have equal opportunity with quality schools. They're not lazy, there are so many more factors that as middle to upper-class whites, we take for granted that they have to deal with. Lack of transportation, not having proper paperwork available, way less resources of materials and even people to lean on, no examples set of how to succeed (if there are any success stories of rags to riches, ghetto to high-society, these people rarely stay in the community). These are only a few. Just in living here for these past six months, my view of race relations has changed. These people are not any less Christian for being less clean, not having as much.
I've seen, just in our after-school program, the ability that these young poverty people have to learn and grow and desire and succeed just like any middle-class white kid, perhaps more. We had our second field trip yesterday. The two:fiftytwo after-school program went to MOSH (Museum of Science and History) and they loved it. The thing I think I loved the most about it, however, was not that they were excited to learn, it was at the end of the trip where they all, like a family, were running around playing with each other by a huge fountain. It was a beautiful picture of joy and almost like a culmination of all the love that God graced us to show the kids this whole year. It will be very difficult for me to leave them in June. Let's not think about that quite yet, there's still work to be done, a God to be obedient to, friends to encourage, and connections to be made. If you made it all the way down here, you deserve a prize I think. You should email/text/comment a smiley face and maybe I will try to think of something fun to give you. Take care y'all! (translation for northerners: Have a good one!)
(Top) Mr. Marc, Davon, Challah, me (Middle) Rayshantia, Chassidy, Dauna (Bottom) Emery, Charity, Diallo, Dreshaun (They wish you all peace, not sure what Charity is wishing you all)
"Both Maridel and Parker were overweight, to the point of being unhealthy. They decided it was the time to do something drastic. Responding to an ad for a Fat-Away program, they drove to a rural area in their state, where they were taken to separate areas of the woods. For six weeks, they would be locked into these 'compounds,' as they were called. In each compound, according to the ad, were the perfect ingredients needed to lose weight. Their goal was to each lose forty pounds. What they did not know is that the less-than-ethical Fat-Away organization was really a research laboratory studying the effects of various diets, exercise programs, and weight-loss expectations on people's weight change. Without a word to Maridel and Parker, they placed Maridel in a compound designed to help her lose weight, but they placed Parker in a compound designed for Parker to gain weight.
In Maridel's compound were running trails, a swimming pool, state-of-the-art exercise equipment, a basketball court, and a sauna. In her cabin were magazines on proper nutrition, instructional videos on how to lose weight, an abundance of natural, healthy, low-fat, low-calorie foods, and no sweets. Each day she was greeted early by fit and trim people who asked Maridel to go on a run with them, talked about how much they loved being thin, and encouraged her that she too can be thin--wonderful conditions for losing weight.
In Parker's compound was only a tiny cabin. No exercise equipment was available whatsoever, but there were plenty of videos and movies that showed high-calorie foods looking sumptuous, more high-calorie goodies than even a sumo wrestler could desire, and just a few fruits and vegetables. The only other people Parker saw were also obese, and though they talked about losing weight, they seemed not to really care about their weight--not good conditions for losing weight.
The program called for each participant to weigh in at the start, and then every two weeks thereafter. At the end of two weeks, with neither aware of what was inside the other's compound, Maridel and Parker were taken to the weighing room. They each took their turn on the scale. Maridel stepped on the scale first. She had lost nineteen pounds! Parker's turn produced far less excitement. He actually gained two pounds.
Maridel, who assumed that both she and Parker had the same type of compound, was irritated with Parker. 'We paid good money to be here, Parker. How can you waste it? You have to exercise, you have to eat right!' Parker tried to make his case, but it only made Maridel more irritated. Maridel told Parker he needed to try harder. Parker, though he was depressed about his weight gain and the difficulty in exercising adequately and eating right, resolved to do so.
But try as he may, Parker kept eating too many bad foods. And he exercised very little. He became despressed, and his depression only made him eat more and exercise less. After another two weeks, back he and Maridel went to the scales. Maridel, with wonderful weight-loss opportunities, and taking full advantage of them, lost another fifteen pounds. Parker, however, actually gained more weight then he had the first two weeks. Maridel could not believe what Parker was doing to himself. 'Don't you know why we are here? Parker, this place is designed for us to lose weight. If you can't do it her, where can you?'
'I don't think this is all that great a place to lose weight,' Parker sniped. 'The food here is fatty, and exercising is next to impossible.' Maridel was taken aback. Finally she replied, 'It wouldn't matter if that were true, Parker. When we get home, the food can be fatty and exercise difficult, but you must learn to eat and exercise right, regardless.' Parker, increasingly frustrated by Maridel's comments, retorted, 'No way is it as easy as you're making it seem. I think that Fat-Away is treating me unfairly. I'm not even sure I want to lose weight.'
With that Maridel was dumbfounded. If Parker was not even going to try, if he was going to blame others, perhaps he deserved to be obese. But she also thought that if only Parker could have a vision of what he could lok like, he would take advantage of Fat-Away and lose weight. She encouraged Parker to imagine being thin, toned, and healthy. 'Wouldn't it be wonderful, Parker? If only you would try.'
Back they went for another two weeks. At the final weigh-in, with the predictable result of Parker not having lost weight, Maridel simply resigned herself to the idea that Parker wanted to be overweight. Why Parker would want this, she was not sure, but of one thing she was sure--until Parker decided he wanted to lose weight, he would not."
I wish I could spend a lot of time individually with you just pouring into you what I'm learning about poverty and how we got these poor pockets of society in this country. I wish I had the kind of faith that believes that God can take these long blogs, everything I pour out, and then change your perspective, maybe even how or where you live for the sake of reconciling black and white, rich and poor.
In the story above, we see two people of equal girthability, separated into what they believe to be equal opportunities of success. Consider this like the racial isolation that a large majority of people choose residentially. When I would see a bum on State Street in Madison, or even hear about homelessness, in my mind, they just needed to motivate themselves and get a job. Perhaps if they knew Jesus, this would automatically course-correct their circumstances. I didn't realize that all these "Parkers" that I've met feel that an unfair hand has been delt to them. Divided by Faith might be the best book I've read about describing race relations, more specifically how it looks in the churches. I think I like the book so much because they authors have done the exhausting work of interviewing, surveying, and conversationalizing with so many people over the years. Their results are stunning. This book makes the case that religion, from a white evangelical standpoint, does more to perpetuate racialization than to diffuse it. As more and more white evangelical isolate themselves from cross-racial relationships and networks, the greater the divide will be between them and the farther away from reconciling we will be, as those values of comfort and ample opportunity will be "born-again" in the future generations.
One result to a survey in the book was that white-evangelicals almost always choose individualistic ways to mend racial relations (i.e. show unconditional love if you see a black man, reach the person and if enough people do this, change will happen). On the other end of the spectrum, almost all black-evangelical chose structural and systemic ways to mend racial relations. This gets difficult to explain but it is more about feeling unfairly treated, discriminated against. They're not more stupider (haha, one of my favorite sayings), they just don't have equal opportunity with quality schools. They're not lazy, there are so many more factors that as middle to upper-class whites, we take for granted that they have to deal with. Lack of transportation, not having proper paperwork available, way less resources of materials and even people to lean on, no examples set of how to succeed (if there are any success stories of rags to riches, ghetto to high-society, these people rarely stay in the community). These are only a few. Just in living here for these past six months, my view of race relations has changed. These people are not any less Christian for being less clean, not having as much.
I've seen, just in our after-school program, the ability that these young poverty people have to learn and grow and desire and succeed just like any middle-class white kid, perhaps more. We had our second field trip yesterday. The two:fiftytwo after-school program went to MOSH (Museum of Science and History) and they loved it. The thing I think I loved the most about it, however, was not that they were excited to learn, it was at the end of the trip where they all, like a family, were running around playing with each other by a huge fountain. It was a beautiful picture of joy and almost like a culmination of all the love that God graced us to show the kids this whole year. It will be very difficult for me to leave them in June. Let's not think about that quite yet, there's still work to be done, a God to be obedient to, friends to encourage, and connections to be made. If you made it all the way down here, you deserve a prize I think. You should email/text/comment a smiley face and maybe I will try to think of something fun to give you. Take care y'all! (translation for northerners: Have a good one!)
(Top) Mr. Marc, Davon, Challah, me (Middle) Rayshantia, Chassidy, Dauna (Bottom) Emery, Charity, Diallo, Dreshaun (They wish you all peace, not sure what Charity is wishing you all)
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Patience Tried and Tired
Two weeks ago, the Bible lesson for the kids was about the John 15:5 and the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I was really hoping that the kids, especially the poorly behaved ones, would instantly apply this fruit to their lives so that it would make my job easier. Selfish, yes I know. What God had in store for us this week was, in a sense, good for us to learn from, but really really difficult to deal with at the time. Allow me to share,
The Friday schedule is a bit different since most of the kids don't get homework, so we call them "Fun Fridays." We either do a science experiment, learn about a foreign country's culture, have a guest come in to talk about their job, or we learn a dance from a dance instructor. Anyway, yesterday may have been the worst day we've had, behavior-wise. One girl sat down in the middle of the court during game time and refused to move and sit off to the side. One boy would repeatedly disrupt everybody inside and disrespect the adults just to get a laugh from a girl he really likes. Another boy would repeat our instructions loudly and obnoxiously and blame everyone else but himself for getting everyone in trouble. We came in 11 minutes earlier from game time than we normally do, so they had to sit still, quietly inside for 11 minutes. The time started over probably over a dozen times due to talking and disruption. It was crazy. The three or four kids that were actually being quiet and respectful wrote apology letters (all on their own) for their behavior even though they did nothing. Things finally settled once one particular boy got sent home early for his behavior.
It was frustrating, if you can imagine. I immediately began to question myself. Did my corrections and discipline sound more like loveless orders that caused them to be disruptive? Is there something I did wrong? If I had any patience before that day, it was all gone at the end. Every week, the two:fiftytwo staff fills out weekly evaluations. "How did this week go overall?" It's very difficult to assess the week as a whole when you are recovering from one terrible day. The thing is, a couple days this week were actually pretty awesome. It was a very fluent environment for the most part. The kid that got sent home early had an awesome Monday and Wednesday, was focused on homework, was encouraging to others (mostly). His Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday were not so awesome. We haven't changed anything. I wondered why he was so up and down. Is something going on at school? At home? I know his family situation is rough and his conduct grade at school is bad. He desires attention so I guess misbehaving is his way to get it. For some reason, I see this need that he has for someone to just listen to him, care about him as a human being, rather than just a kid. He does act older than his age and I'm sure has had to grow up a lot faster than other kids. I don't know what to do besides pray for him.
I often go into each day thinking more about how I am doing (trying to get kids to behave) rather than how the kids are doing. Please pray for that I'd realize that the selfishness I have is not only sinful but also dead according to Romans 6:11. Please pray that God would show us how to be patient with all the kids and how to lovingly direct their academic, physical, social, and spiritual growth. Please pray for Alex, the one who tries my patience the most. Please pray God would give him a heart to be respectful to those around him. We could all use an adjustment of where our thoughts are. Are they on yourself and how you feel or are they on God and others and how they feel?
Matthew 22:37-39
"Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
The Friday schedule is a bit different since most of the kids don't get homework, so we call them "Fun Fridays." We either do a science experiment, learn about a foreign country's culture, have a guest come in to talk about their job, or we learn a dance from a dance instructor. Anyway, yesterday may have been the worst day we've had, behavior-wise. One girl sat down in the middle of the court during game time and refused to move and sit off to the side. One boy would repeatedly disrupt everybody inside and disrespect the adults just to get a laugh from a girl he really likes. Another boy would repeat our instructions loudly and obnoxiously and blame everyone else but himself for getting everyone in trouble. We came in 11 minutes earlier from game time than we normally do, so they had to sit still, quietly inside for 11 minutes. The time started over probably over a dozen times due to talking and disruption. It was crazy. The three or four kids that were actually being quiet and respectful wrote apology letters (all on their own) for their behavior even though they did nothing. Things finally settled once one particular boy got sent home early for his behavior.
It was frustrating, if you can imagine. I immediately began to question myself. Did my corrections and discipline sound more like loveless orders that caused them to be disruptive? Is there something I did wrong? If I had any patience before that day, it was all gone at the end. Every week, the two:fiftytwo staff fills out weekly evaluations. "How did this week go overall?" It's very difficult to assess the week as a whole when you are recovering from one terrible day. The thing is, a couple days this week were actually pretty awesome. It was a very fluent environment for the most part. The kid that got sent home early had an awesome Monday and Wednesday, was focused on homework, was encouraging to others (mostly). His Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday were not so awesome. We haven't changed anything. I wondered why he was so up and down. Is something going on at school? At home? I know his family situation is rough and his conduct grade at school is bad. He desires attention so I guess misbehaving is his way to get it. For some reason, I see this need that he has for someone to just listen to him, care about him as a human being, rather than just a kid. He does act older than his age and I'm sure has had to grow up a lot faster than other kids. I don't know what to do besides pray for him.
I often go into each day thinking more about how I am doing (trying to get kids to behave) rather than how the kids are doing. Please pray for that I'd realize that the selfishness I have is not only sinful but also dead according to Romans 6:11. Please pray that God would show us how to be patient with all the kids and how to lovingly direct their academic, physical, social, and spiritual growth. Please pray for Alex, the one who tries my patience the most. Please pray God would give him a heart to be respectful to those around him. We could all use an adjustment of where our thoughts are. Are they on yourself and how you feel or are they on God and others and how they feel?
Matthew 22:37-39
"Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Black Widow
[Watch this short 25 second video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w_Vy0lDk_A
Sports fan, if this is the first time seeing this, how did you react? If you have seen this, do you remember how you reacted the first time you saw this? My reaction was similar to the crowd's. "Ooooohhh!" Witnessing a dunk so rare and so powerful gets my adrenaline going. Can you think of a time when God answered one of your prayers and there was no other explanation for how things happened except that God did it? When God answers prayer, I feel so loved and my soul goes, "Ooooooohhh!!!" It's in those moments where God renews and recharges my faith, bringing me assurance of his love and grace. Don't get me wrong, God does not exist to fulfill your needs and answer your prayers, He exists for us to give him glory. Again, it's not the answered prayer that gets me jumping, it's that intimacy with God that I do not deserve. I get a small fraction of God's entirety.]
In the last couple weeks, the word "widow" has come up a bunch and caused me to think about this word. A widow is a woman whose husband has died and she doesn't remarry.
I began to redefine what a "widow" is based on what I see in Brentwood. Out of all the people I know and have met in this poor neighborhood, I can think of no households that have both a mother and a father. I'm not saying they don't exist, I just haven't seen any. Many inner cities and poor communities have a maternalistic family structure (mother is the head of the household). Where are the fathers? In a neighborhood where prostitution is normal, and very few good examples of marriage are present, there is no reason for people to practice any sort of abstaining from sexual sin. Although these fathers or "baby-daddies", as they are called here, are usually still alive, their presence in their child's life is dead, widowing women over and over again. There are many scriptures about showing care to widows even financially since a husband's death can be detrimental to her family's ability to afford food and clothing. The more babies born in Brentwood without a loving husband or father, the greater chance that the next generation will be even worse off financially, opportunistically, and spiritually. There are many over-18-year-old males here, but they are men who are lost in irresponsibility.
Last Wednesday at church, there was a guest preacher, Marcus Cosby from Houston, who taught on Luke 7:11-17, when Jesus raised a widow's son from the dead. It was one of the most powerful sermons I've ever heard, not because of the pastor's words and clever story-telling, but because God spoke through this man to so many people in the congregation. To preface this part of the Bible, please read Luke 7:1-10. This blog will still be here after you finish reading it, I can wait, trust me..........
Verse 9, Jesus marveled at this man's faith. Jesus. Marveled. awesome. After Jesus healed the servant, he and his disciples and a huge crowd followed him into a town called Nain. I imagine this huge crowd was amazed at the miracles, joyful, in awe. This crowd, smiling and celebrating, came to Nain and collided with another crowd, solemn and sullen (pastor's words, not mine). Luke 7:13, possibly one of the most telling verses of the depths of who Jesus is. Look in your Bibles or to that online Bible you looked at earlier and read it. "And when the Lord saw her," stop. Right after Jesus marveled at the centurion's faith and healed his servant, with a joyful crowd following him, Jesus saw her. Out of all these people, He saw the lowest person in spirits and emotions. A widow. A widow who lost her son. Not just her son. Her only son. This woman was about to attend her second devastating funeral. Cut off from her husband, now her son. Jesus saw her out of everybody. That's the kind of God I love and serve. One who looks at me when I'm in my lowest. When I think things are going tough, He sees me. When I try to hide my hurt when I'm around people, he sees me! I hope that encourages you. The Bible goes on to say he had compassion on her and told her, "Do not weep." As if saying, "I got this." Jesus being a man of parables and metaphors, I wouldn't doubt if he looked at her son, her only son, dead, knowing that he would be raised from the dead. I wonder if he put himself in that boy's place in his mind. God's one and only son, to die, only to be risen. Although I haven't gone through anything in my life as bad as this widow, I know in my heart that I want a God that weeps with me, that sees me, that wants me enough to die for me so that I may be with him for eternity. Praise God! Thank you Lord. Thank you for continuing to pursue me even when I sin against you! Remind me that I am dead to sin and alive to you in Jesus Christ. (Romans 6:11).
Whew, God is so good. You should see the movie "Courageous", at Redbox for a buck. It's a good movie about fatherhood, the hood, and brotherhood. Just some updates. We got three new kids this past week. Dreshaun (dray-SHAWN) 2nd grade boy (crazy smart for his age, but still sucks his thumb...as well as most of his other fingers), Dauna (DEE-awna), just think the letter D-auna, 3rd grade girl (super kind and loves to sing, close to grade level), and Davon (DAY-vahn) 4th grade boy (crazy smart for his age yet demands tons of attention, often distracting to others). These three are all siblings and bring our total to 10 kids. God's used these three to show us where the leaks are in our own strength and have allowed us to see the gap in behavioral differences in our first seven. Please pray that attitudes get better, that the collective volume of chatter remains the same (we don't like raising our voices to the kids), that opportunities come to talk to people about becoming summer interns with the ministry. I'm including our first ever 2nd Mile Update video!
Update video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bibo90DiTAc
Spoken word about a man's lack of a father
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E0DMcZ23kE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w_Vy0lDk_A
Sports fan, if this is the first time seeing this, how did you react? If you have seen this, do you remember how you reacted the first time you saw this? My reaction was similar to the crowd's. "Ooooohhh!" Witnessing a dunk so rare and so powerful gets my adrenaline going. Can you think of a time when God answered one of your prayers and there was no other explanation for how things happened except that God did it? When God answers prayer, I feel so loved and my soul goes, "Ooooooohhh!!!" It's in those moments where God renews and recharges my faith, bringing me assurance of his love and grace. Don't get me wrong, God does not exist to fulfill your needs and answer your prayers, He exists for us to give him glory. Again, it's not the answered prayer that gets me jumping, it's that intimacy with God that I do not deserve. I get a small fraction of God's entirety.]
In the last couple weeks, the word "widow" has come up a bunch and caused me to think about this word. A widow is a woman whose husband has died and she doesn't remarry.
I began to redefine what a "widow" is based on what I see in Brentwood. Out of all the people I know and have met in this poor neighborhood, I can think of no households that have both a mother and a father. I'm not saying they don't exist, I just haven't seen any. Many inner cities and poor communities have a maternalistic family structure (mother is the head of the household). Where are the fathers? In a neighborhood where prostitution is normal, and very few good examples of marriage are present, there is no reason for people to practice any sort of abstaining from sexual sin. Although these fathers or "baby-daddies", as they are called here, are usually still alive, their presence in their child's life is dead, widowing women over and over again. There are many scriptures about showing care to widows even financially since a husband's death can be detrimental to her family's ability to afford food and clothing. The more babies born in Brentwood without a loving husband or father, the greater chance that the next generation will be even worse off financially, opportunistically, and spiritually. There are many over-18-year-old males here, but they are men who are lost in irresponsibility.
Last Wednesday at church, there was a guest preacher, Marcus Cosby from Houston, who taught on Luke 7:11-17, when Jesus raised a widow's son from the dead. It was one of the most powerful sermons I've ever heard, not because of the pastor's words and clever story-telling, but because God spoke through this man to so many people in the congregation. To preface this part of the Bible, please read Luke 7:1-10. This blog will still be here after you finish reading it, I can wait, trust me..........
Verse 9, Jesus marveled at this man's faith. Jesus. Marveled. awesome. After Jesus healed the servant, he and his disciples and a huge crowd followed him into a town called Nain. I imagine this huge crowd was amazed at the miracles, joyful, in awe. This crowd, smiling and celebrating, came to Nain and collided with another crowd, solemn and sullen (pastor's words, not mine). Luke 7:13, possibly one of the most telling verses of the depths of who Jesus is. Look in your Bibles or to that online Bible you looked at earlier and read it. "And when the Lord saw her," stop. Right after Jesus marveled at the centurion's faith and healed his servant, with a joyful crowd following him, Jesus saw her. Out of all these people, He saw the lowest person in spirits and emotions. A widow. A widow who lost her son. Not just her son. Her only son. This woman was about to attend her second devastating funeral. Cut off from her husband, now her son. Jesus saw her out of everybody. That's the kind of God I love and serve. One who looks at me when I'm in my lowest. When I think things are going tough, He sees me. When I try to hide my hurt when I'm around people, he sees me! I hope that encourages you. The Bible goes on to say he had compassion on her and told her, "Do not weep." As if saying, "I got this." Jesus being a man of parables and metaphors, I wouldn't doubt if he looked at her son, her only son, dead, knowing that he would be raised from the dead. I wonder if he put himself in that boy's place in his mind. God's one and only son, to die, only to be risen. Although I haven't gone through anything in my life as bad as this widow, I know in my heart that I want a God that weeps with me, that sees me, that wants me enough to die for me so that I may be with him for eternity. Praise God! Thank you Lord. Thank you for continuing to pursue me even when I sin against you! Remind me that I am dead to sin and alive to you in Jesus Christ. (Romans 6:11).
Whew, God is so good. You should see the movie "Courageous", at Redbox for a buck. It's a good movie about fatherhood, the hood, and brotherhood. Just some updates. We got three new kids this past week. Dreshaun (dray-SHAWN) 2nd grade boy (crazy smart for his age, but still sucks his thumb...as well as most of his other fingers), Dauna (DEE-awna), just think the letter D-auna, 3rd grade girl (super kind and loves to sing, close to grade level), and Davon (DAY-vahn) 4th grade boy (crazy smart for his age yet demands tons of attention, often distracting to others). These three are all siblings and bring our total to 10 kids. God's used these three to show us where the leaks are in our own strength and have allowed us to see the gap in behavioral differences in our first seven. Please pray that attitudes get better, that the collective volume of chatter remains the same (we don't like raising our voices to the kids), that opportunities come to talk to people about becoming summer interns with the ministry. I'm including our first ever 2nd Mile Update video!
Update video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bibo90DiTAc
Spoken word about a man's lack of a father
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E0DMcZ23kE
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)