Relative - Part 1

Wow, what a week!  There were 39 people from Clemson University that drove down to Jacksonville for their spring break to help and serve the Brentwood neighborhood in whatever way they could in one week.  This larger group made it hard for me to imagine that I'd be able to connect with all of them, since they'd be split up in different morning and afternoon groups.  My mornings consisted of going into North Shore Elementary with 11 people from the group.  I was worried that this large quantity would be difficult to shepherd into different serving possibilities.
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Two weeks ago, I had one of the worst nights of sleep in my life.  I woke up in the middle of the night, freezing, curled up to get warm, didn't occur to me to layer up in clothing, and when I couldn't bear it anymore, I put on a second sweatshirt, a second layer of sweat pants, and tried to get back to sleep.  My head was hurting, my body was experiencing chills, and I was praying for God to alleviate the pain just enough so I could sleep.  Not a big burdensome request, right?  I knew full well that God could heal me at any point or he could choose to allow me to go through the pain.  The help never came, and I don't remember sleeping much that night.

It didn't occur to me until about a week ago that I had been approached three times by three different people who were asking for money.  They were all different in their manner of talking yet I had no money to give.  All said they were trying to get $8 so they could stay at the rescue mission either for the night or the week (I can't remember which).  One man had just moved to Jacksonville, was walking his bike next to us, said he was able to secure a job but wasn't getting paid until the end of the week and would be forced to sleep under the overpass for a third night in a row.  When I told him I had no money on me, his look was unforgettable.  It wasn't of anger or frustration towards me, but of defeat, coming up short, worry of another inevitable freezing night of trying to make it to the next day. He was thankful for the sunny day, the warmth, and was very kind in his demeanor towards us.  Sure, he would get paid at the end of the week, and he found a food kitchen so he was well fed, but shelter, a safe and warm place to sleep, that was what he desired most.  He went on his way, no doubt searching for any available money floating around.  My one bad night of sleep, compared to this man, was only relatively uncomfortable.
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Back at North Shore, two in our group willingly helped organize books in the library, two more willingly helped the main office photocopy, laminate, and cut paper, four more willingly entered classrooms to help different teachers with anything they needed (grading papers, cutting paper, reading to kids, loving on them), and the final three willingly decorated the hallways spring and Dr. Suess themed.  Here's an example of their self-discovered expertise.

Although much of the school didn't know there were spring breakers in the building, it didn't take long for them to just see the impact they were making.  "I wish y'all could come back all the time.  Y'all are just wonderful people for helping us out," said Ms. Busbee, the main office lady.  I know these Clemson students felt loved.  I was very encouraged this week by their eagerness to do anything and everything asked of them.  At no point did any of them wonder, "What am I supposed to be doing right now?" and I thank you God for that.  They made my job so easy and free of stress.

In the afternoons, I led a group of seven in "beautifying" the neighborhood through some landscaping.  I've done this job before, so the experience definitely made the leading part a lot easier.  I remember my first time leading a landscaping team, I had no idea what I was doing and I had to be the voice of direction for what needed to be done.  I didn't know what an edger was, or what a weed whipper looked like, or even what kind of gas goes in a lawn mower.  The afternoon team was excited to pick up trash, rake leaves and bag 'em, spread mulch, pull weeds, root out trees, trim bushes, load and unload tools from the truck.  They were excited to work hard and get dirty as the neighborhood gets clean.

The community garden we helped make look perty last week (this is in between a before and after picture)

Yesterday, the last night the Clemson was here, they all asked the staff members to come up to the front so they could ask us what scriptures help us keep going as we live in this neighborhood long term, relative to their short week-long stay.  Afterwards, they crowded around us and prayed over us, then asked their own group questions of what God has been teaching them throughout the week.  Every time a new student walked to the front and shared, my heart was encouraged and I became more amazed at how complex and big God is.  The inside of their hearts became exposed to the whole group to hear, stuff I would've had no idea had been going on.  By the time all the sharing was over, the students were given time to say their goodbyes and talk to us one more time.  Most everyone I worked with, at the schools and with street clean-up crew came up to me to hug and thank me, even though I wanted to hug and thank them for all they've shown me this week.  Neither side could take credit for such a great week, it all goes to the Lord.  There's something about meeting your siblings in Christ that is just encouraging.

Even though this recharging happens only one month out of the year, it has really blessed me in reminding me that God is working here, he is using us in bigger ways than we can even see or believe, and it is all for his glory, not mine, not 2nd Mile Ministries'.  This month, relative to the rest of the school year, is not something I want to get used to, because ministry can be draining and slow, not energizing and muscle-flexing.  This week has been great, it's hard to put into words.  I hope you are encouraged by this.  If you want to hear more, I'd love to share.  Just send me an email.  lilvollmer@gmail.com

Blessings

This is Madness!

One week ago today, we at the ministry began what will be called March Madness.  Every March, spring break teams arrive and get exposed to life in an urban area and help out with various parts of what we do.  This year, we have three groups coming; one from Northwestern College in Iowa, one from Clemson, and one from Blackhawk Church in Madison, where I attended for a few years in college.  The team from Iowa arrived, we greeted them at the airport, and I began to wonder what the coming week would entail.  A year ago, we had a group from the same college and two of the team members returned.  It was a fun reunion.  This week, the ten members of the team split up to volunteer at two of the elementary schools in the area during the mornings, then they have discussion during lunch time, then in the afternoon, they split up again and volunteer at the two:fiftytwo after school program, and two others in the area.

What has been different about this spring break experience is that our ministry's director needed to attend a conference in Chicago for most of this week and those responsibilities moved to Marc, and his responsibilities moved to me.  Now, I've done his job before when he's been away so it was nothing new to me; what was new was the fact that I'd be doing it for five straight days and I would need to incorporate the special guests into the program that week.  New tasks included pairing up the students with the adults for homework time (sounds easy but when you need think about which kids shut down when they are with certain adults, it becomes a difficult jigsaw puzzle), having conversations with only the kids that are misbehaving (this can lead to feeling like every day was rough), prepping the announcements for the volunteers and the students that day (if you know me well, you know talking in front of lots of people ain't my thing), and communicating with parents when a child's behavior needs to be communicated, good or bad.

It became very easy for me to wonder if the spring break team could sense my lack of experience with these new tasks.  Heck, maybe they just assumed everything that was happening was how it normally is.  I hope that's not what they though, especially after a day like Thursday.  We had one student yelling, and I mean YELLING at one of the staff members, and she had to be moved to the hallway to calm down.  As I was in the hallway with the other staff member, trying to figure out why all this was happening, it turns out that back in the main area, three more students decided they were going to be difficult.  I had conversations with those three and was actually surprised by how calm I was able to stay.  Where I could have taken this rare crazy day personally, I did not.  Where I could have been worried that our week-long guests were judging our ministry, I was not.  After a long week of craziness, the weekend is here, and although my responsibilities have lessened, I cannot rest.  In the past two days, I've had the chills, a cough, headaches, the sweats, and a terrible night's sleep.  If you could pray for my health, I would be very grateful.  I hope in the coming weeks, I'll have a more detailed account of the spring break teams and all that God has been doing through these experiences.

Liberty and Justice for All?

I start off by apologizing for the inconsistent blogging this past month.  Last weekend, I had the privilege of attending the Justice Conference in Philadelphia for a couple days.  The day before it started, however, three other staff members and I went to Washington D.C. to stay overnight with someone we knew.  I've never been in that area of the United States before and was excited to see as much as I could with the short amount of time we had.  It was cold.  For someone barely learning to adapt to Florida weather, I thought this temperature switch was cruel.  There was wet rain snow stuff falling but the anticipation of seeing buildings and monuments I've never seen helped keep my mind off the frigid air.  Lincoln Memorial.  check.  Pose with the Washington Monument.  check.  We even walked by the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, built in 2011.  Walking in a city with so much history made me feel like I was walking outside of time.  If you've ever seen the movie National Treasure, I definitely felt very tempted to "steal the Declaration of Independence."  Also, just closing out Black History Month, King and what he stood for has been on my mind.  Part of his memorial, a long marble wall with some of his famous quotes were portrayed from various speeches he made.  My favorite perhaps, TRUE PEACE IS NOT MERELY THE ABSENCE OF TENSION; IT IS THE PRESENCE OF JUSTICE. (1958)  I have to admit, if there is tension, or conflict, or injustice, I'm more apt to turn my face away and pretend it isn't there than to actually fight for rightness.  I flee from trouble and don't want to disturb my comfort.

The Justice Conference was in Philadelphia, also a place with lots of American history.  If you hear of people fighting for justice, maybe thoughts of Civil Rights activists or picket-signs flash in your head.  Maybe your impression is some over-zealous complainers who should just accept that life will never be perfect.  At the Justice Conference, many speakers came and informed the 5,000 people attending of their stories of justice and a proper approach to fighting for it.  More importantly, we were shown lots of scripture on God's justice and righteousness.  Often in the Bible, these two characteristics of God, His justness and righteousness, go hand in hand.

"Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you." -Psalm 89:14
"For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face." -Psalm 11:7
"The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love." -Psalm 33:5
"I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion." -Hosea 2:19
"'Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,' declares the LORD." -Jeremiah 9:23-24

Obviously this subject is important to God and I'm trying to figure out what that means for me.  Probably the most powerful moments for me at the conference were during one of the 15 minute breaks.  There were booths to many ministries with tons of information about them.  It almost seemed like a shopping center for your broken heart's desire to serve.  Lots of people talking, laughing, sharing great stories, positive chatter.  Then I saw a closed-off tent that people could walk through.  I wasn't exactly sure what was inside but the outside had a wooden sign that read "27 million slaves", the number believed to exist today.  As I walked in, there was a sign that showed four pictures of girls between 6 and 13 years old.  Next to the pictures were descriptions of their "experience" and how much certain things done to them would cost you.  It was a menu typical in places where sex slavery occurs.  6 through 13!  Well, that set the mood for this very slow and somber walk.  A red light bulb hung from the ceiling, as a symbol for the "red light districts" where sex slavery occurs.  To the right of the tent, on the floor lay a tattered mattress with a tattered blanket and a tattered stuffed bear as a symbol for where a child's life is tattered.  Further down the tent, a broken mirror with a story written of how a child who refused to obey her "master" was thrown into a mirror as punishment.  Even further down, an open wooden box rests, maybe 4ft by 3ft by 3ft, with a story written of an orphan who was promised food, kidnapped, stored in a shipping crate with three other girls, thrown overboard when the "cargo" was being check on deck, recaptured, and sold into slavery.

The fact that this is happening makes me mad.  I can very easily be filled with hate.  Sin is a big problem, not just to point at in others, but in ourselves as well.  A quote from the conference that will stick with me was, "People are more willing to fix the world than they are to fix themselves."  I don't have a problem, just everyone else does.  Everyone makes mistakes, but only those other people have to pay and repent.

Yes, I am overjoyed that Jesus has redeemed my life from the pit and crowned me with love and compassion.  I am grateful for all the blessings He has given me and the ways He has provided.  I just look at  Matthew 25:31-46 and wonder where the church is?  I was encouraged to bump into a pastor from the church I grew up in.  He said he wanted to learn how to communicate justice to the congregation, a topic seldom preached on in today's church.  In a consuming world, I can see why not.  In a capitalistic country, I can see why not.  In a "move-up-the-corporate-ladder" nation, I can see why not.  I refrain from making totalistic judgments on all churches, but many have missed a huge part of Jesus' teachings.  If justice was discussed in a sermon I saw, it never came across as vital in a Christian's life.  It just seemed like a small slice with justice toppings in the God pizza when in fact it is an ingredient (k)needed in the whole dough.

On the topic of sex trafficking, the first time I heard that child prostitution was happening in the world was during my time working at the Christian bookstore where we were selling CD's called "Freedom", a compilation of artists who performed songs about justice.  It raised money for the International Justice Mission, an organization that fights against human trafficking.  I bought one to support the cause, not really getting it for the music.  Few movies have made me cry, but only two songs in my life, that I can remember, have ever made me cry.

Here's one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R9rdKoCqGY

Please pray whatever God is putting on your heart right now.  If you're indifferent, ask him why you are.  If you're feeling a hurt, cast your anxiety on him because he cares for you.  He is the maker and perfecter of your heart.  He desires both justice and righteousness.  Do you?  Please pray that I would desire them more than I do.