True Community (Nov. 2019)

Brokenness. We all have it to varying degrees. Some of us have lots of personal struggles, some are very near other peoples' pain and suffering, and to many it may seem like it will never stop. Health fails, our bodies fail, our dreams fail. Another school shooting, another overdose, another political scandal, another divorce, another death. It is very clear that the world is not the way it's supposed to be. Imagine a world with no more tears, pain, suffering, or sin. I can't. It seems too far from the reality that I see and experience every day. My bent is to avoid pain, to find a safe corner of comfort to just breath and try to convince myself of the lie that this safe corner is a reflection of the whole world around me. It is not the case. The more I shut the world out from my heart and see how the world doesn't fit in my safe corner, the more I segregate myself from the reality that this world is broken. I used to compare my life with the suffering, the evil, and the brokenness of the world and consider myself above it, just a little bit better off, not because of anything I had done, but because I was living in a safe corner, keeping to myself.

We on staff with 2nd Mile are reading a book by Michelle Warren called The Power of Proximity. In what we've read so far, she talks of how much her life changed when she began intentionally living in poorer communities. The book talks about what God can do with shared pain. I relate to a lot of what's in this book. Probably the most profound takeaway for me so far has been this idea of brokenness. She writes, And it is important to know of pain...It destroys our self-pride, our arrogance, our indifference toward others. It makes us aware of how frail and tiny we are and of how much we must depend on the Master of the Universe. This reminds me of the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Luke 18:10-14 says, "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God have mercy on me, a sinner.' "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

If I am not in touch with my own pain, my own suffering, and my own flaws, I will never be able to understand the pain, the suffering, and the flaws of others. It's easy to judge from far away, but getting closer to pain builds a bridge between myself and the homeless man, between myself and the drug addict, between myself and the "tax collector" so to speak. If you think about your closest relationships you've had in your life, they are probably built on lots of time spent, lots of fun, and lots of shared pain. Regardless if the pains between you are similar, that safe space of trust allows for true healing to occur. I've seen it. I've experienced it. Finding people with whom I can share anything with complete honesty has brought some Scripture to life that I never thought could happen. Psalm 133:1-2 says, "How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes." I think of the early church in the book of Acts, chapter 4 verse 32 says, "All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had." This is talking more of possessions, but how true this is when we share all of ourselves as well.

Michelle Warren also writes about community and how it is birthed when pain is shared, "not as a stifling form of self-complaint, but as a recognition of God's saving promises." I know what it feels like to not have community, to not trust other people with my pain, and I know I'm only hurting myself and my relationships when I do that. As I continue to live in Brentwood, among the "tax collectors" of society (meaning disliked and maybe even avoided), I pray for my own humility and courage to remain proximate to this pain, to not run and try to medicate my pain and other peoples' pain with binge-watching a TV show, with locking myself in my house, with distracting myself with my phone or computer. I encourage you, especially in these holiday-filled months when you will be around family and friends, to give of yourself, whether that's listening more than talking, giving more than receiving, forgiving rather than revenging, apologizing rather than accusing, communicating rather than keeping to yourself. To understand someone else's pain, just ask. I too often assume everyone in my life is fine because of the front they put up. I'm sure people think the same of me.

Praise God that he sent his son to set the example of becoming proximate not only to humanity, but to the sinners, the evildoers, the tax collectors of his time. Where in the Bible do we see Jesus leave people in a broken place? To finish up, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

Have a great last month of the 2010's.

Obligatory pic of Max helping me putt

October 2019

Connect Middle School Program: More kids coming. More kids staying. More kids growing in leadership. More kids being introduced to the Bible, to God, and to what that means for their lives. Sometimes I overestimate what a teenager can really take in and apply to their lives. Other times, I completely underestimate their ability to understand biblical concepts and how to relate to them. I've been super blessed to be able to see Christian volunteers come in and lead a small group of teenagers in what the Bible says about a certain topic. They break it down in terms that the students understand by using their own examples and stories to better convey the biblical truths. This month, we are learning about anger and different ways it comes out and what God wants us to do with that anger.

Sweet potato harvesting

In October, we've had a chill game night. Just Dance was a huge hit on the Wii. We went to our nutritional garden and harvested sweet potatoes. It was getting darker earlier so we had to work quickly on weeding some garden beds and digging for those veggies. Also coming up this Saturday is our annual Family Fall Festival, and the middle schoolers have been planning, designing, creating a photo booth wall to be used at the event. They voted on pumpkins, candy corn, and skeleton masks like in the beloved movie Coco. Interesting combination of decorations but they have been executing it well. A couple of the students were even willing to come early to the event to help set up. I believe these kids are hungry for responsibility, for meaning, and for growth. Please pray for continued growth in their lives, for wisdom for us as staff and volunteers to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit when He would have us speak truth into their lives, and for even more kids. God proves over and over that he answers prayers, we just need to put our trust in Him.

Boys Day at the After School Program: We had six boys over at my house earlier in the month (most ever to be in my house so far) and it was fun for the most part. We got to do one of my favorite activities--spray paint art! While the boys waited their turn to colorfully express themselves, they watched the movie Like Mike inside. It was good bonding but also revealed some frustrations between some of the boys. Three of the boys are brothers and new to the program. None know how to read and struggle to process things like when they can't have what they want when they want it, when they lose in a game, etc. The other three boys have been around for years and definitely have a strong bond towards each other and band together to despise and ignore the new boys. Please pray that the boys would learn how to handle conflict this year and how to make good choices despite the choices that others make.

Max Update: Praise report, Max's hand is out of his cast and the bone has healed fine. Prayer request. Max seems to be struggling to poop lately which is resulting in stomach pain and throwing up a lot in the mornings. We give him laxatives, give him reflux medicine in case it's something to do with that, and mess with his feeding rates and amounts. If you could please pray that God would give us answers, we would be gracious. He often seems to take two steps forward and 1.9 steps back.

Thank you so much to those who donated sports equipment or money last month. The kids have been overjoyed!

If you want to see something you've never seen before, click the link below. We got a sweet new basketball to make videos with.

Light up basketball

September

Connect Middle School Program: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." -1 John 1:9. For the month, of September, our middle school students have been working on memorizing this verse. The topic that received the most votes from the students to learn about was the topic of confessing sins. We looked up verses about what sin is, learned not only the ten commandments, but also a plethora of other sins. They each took a "Life Test", as if in school where they answered relevant yes or no questions such as, "Have you ever cheated on homework before?" The point of this activity was to show them just how difficult and even impossible it is to live a perfect life. We all "failed" our tests. A perfect score gets us to heaven; a test with even one wrong bans us. I showed the students what the test of Jesus's test might look like. All of his answers were "No" and he got a 100%. I asked the students that if Jesus was willing to trade test scores with them, would they do it? Students gave a quick "Yes!" Confessing sins should be a consistent practice. If I can't think of at least one way I sinned today, that is not representative of a life without sin, it is probably a representation of how little I consider my sin nature in every day life. We at Connect have continued to write our sins on our giant wooden cross which hopefully will be completely covered by the end of the year.

Another thing that's been incorporated into the program is Read to Lead, a computer program that allows the students to become a boss of a non-profit organization that solves community problems. This month, they learned how to delegate jobs to others based on their experiences and expertise. There was a devastating flood in this fictional town and medical and food supplies needed to be transported to a community center. This program is awesome and I recommend it for anyone teaching middle school and up.

Learning how to put together a basketball rack

Leadership Development: I'm not sure if I've mentioned this is a previous blog, but if so, it's still good to remind you of this. Since the beginning of summer, 2nd Mile has put together a committee of students (ranging from elementary all the way to high school) to help plan our annual Family Fall Festival. In an attempt to encourage students to see themselves not just as future leaders but as present leaders, we filled a giant white board wall with ideas for food, activities, attractions, strategies, etc. Some good, some great, and some very creative but impractical. (Not sure if we could get celebrities to come, but I like the way they think). Since becoming a father, leadership development has been closer to the forefront of my mind. Any time I do something, I want Max with me, seeing me do it, naming the tools or items being used, and if he's able, I have him help me. Max helps me put clothes from the washer into the dryer, he helps me put forks, bowls, plates away from the dishwasher, he brushes his front teeth, then his bottoms, then his tops, then his tongue, then he spits. I've even seen him try to teach his stuffed animals how to brush their teeth, how to put "their" toys away. This is the whole point, teaching kids something new, so that one day, they have the skills to teach the next group of kids. My hope with the middle school students is to teach them how to set up the projector and how to prepare snack not to make my job easier (many times it makes my job longer and more difficult), but in order that they too can become teachers of these different skills. I'm hoping to incorporate more types of leadership development, giving them the chance to teach everyone a game, or even lead a Bible lesson.

Max update: What would a blog entry be without something going wrong with Max. He broke a bone in his left hand falling down a few steps at a playground, so now he is sporting a pretty solid blue cast. It will come off in a couple weeks. Probably more traumatized than hurt, Max is living life so full that you wouldn't even realize he hurt himself (save for evidence of a cast).

Finally, if you are a giving person, we have compiled a list of sports equipment that we'd be interested in. Since having more open courts and people coming through our building, things get worn out more quickly. Check it out! Some things don't cost much at all.
2nd Mile Sports Equipment List

And so it begins....

There aren't too many signs in Jacksonville of seasonal changes, no spring flowers, no leaves changing colors, no fluffy white snow or bitingly chilly air.  From about April through October, it seems to be either hot or very hot. There seems to be a bit more precipitation these months, especially with potential hurricanes and tropical storms. With Dorian working its way towards Florida...or Georgia, South Carolina, or North Carolina, the students of 2nd Mile have most of this week off of school...just in case. One part of the year that does yield a feeling of seasonal change is the beginning of a new school year. Some kids get bumped up to the next program in our Leadership Development Pathway, depending on if they go on to middle or high school. It is my privilege as a ministry worker to witness this growth and see relationships and trust build over the years. Let year nine begin!

Connect Middle School Program- The school year in Duval County began August 12th. I have a big prayer request. There are many middle school students that we've had in our programs over the years, but for various reasons, only about four to six have been available to attend Connect so far this school year. Pray for the knowledge of this program to reach many ears, that God would put a willingness, a need, and a desire in middle school students' lives to come to a place where they can have fun, grow, and learn what it means to live for Christ. So far, we've had Bible studies on Thursdays about the definition of the gospel, how and why to memorize Scripture, and we will dive into new subject lessons each month voted on by our students. On Monday nights, we hope to have a game night once a month, in order to chill out, invite new students, and just grow together as a unit. We have also started a Read to Lead program on the computer. Each student gets the opportunity to be the boss of a non-profit organization and they learn how to solve problems. They each get staff members that have different tasks and they learn how to lead and work together as a team. This last lesson had them figure out how to search for a missing child from a shelter after a hurricane struck his neighborhood. (This hurricane scenario was strangely relevant to what's been going on in the Bahamas). Please pray for more numbers at Connect. Those that have been coming have a special place in my heart. We have an 8th grade girl destined to do great things. Natural-born leader comes to mind. One of our 7th grade girls has had her grandmother and her grandmother's sister pass away in the past couple weeks. She has been having a rough time and might be questioning the goodness of God. There are a couple of 6th grade boys, new to this program, that have a ton of energy, can barely sit still, have huge hearts, but can get on other kids' nerves. There being a small number of kids has been great for having more conversations per student, however, we'd love to impact more students. I guess you could pray for discernment as well as this might be what God wants for the time being.

two:fiftytwo After School Program- We've been through two weeks of the elementary school program and so far, it's been a fun time. There are six new students, a family of three brothers and another family of three sisters. Each family has been great to get to know, seeing how they interact with each other reminds me so much of my siblings. The bond was strong, whether it was having fun or having arguments. Thankfully, there are a lot of 5th graders this year, seven to be exact. I'm excited to hopefully get to work with all of them once they get into middle school. Many of the students are behind in reading. They don't have the basics for sounding out, it's all word memorization at this point. They don't have the tools to accomplish all that the school district demands of them on standardized tests. Pray for a willingness to focus and learn how to read better. It breaks my heart to think that one day they won't be able to comprehend the Bible, much less, read it. If you know of any programs that have proved to help increase literacy, we are all ears. One of our students got tested last year to see what exactly he needed help with. The results were very helpful and specific, but the couple month long program costs like ten grand, not possible for families in Brentwood. When I went in to this amazing facility out in a nice neighborhood with personal tutors and computer programs designed to help students who were behind, I did not see one student that looked like our student. "The harvest is plenty....." as they say.

Personal Update- Max is eating and drinking now! Well, kind of. Successes from the last month include:

-Drinking water (from us dropping it in his mouth with a straw to him holding a sippy cup and sucking on his own)

-Putting all sorts of different foods in his mouth (from brats, to cheese, to bananas, to sausage, to apples, to popsicles, etc.)

-Spitting out his food without struggle (he used to just hold it in his mouth not swallowing it and not letting us take it out)

So, progress I guess. He's not swallowing any food yet, just kind of tasting and spitting. Please pray that tasting leads to swallowing food soon.

On vacation at the end of July, I got to play a couple rounds of disc golf with family...and my body did not shut down on me. Granted, I may have taken lots of ibuprofen, but I didn't lose sleep as I've grown accustomed to over the past couple years. I'm learning my aging body better, doing yoga more than I care to admit, and trying to make healthier decisions. Thank you for your prayers!

We had the most beautiful purple sky last week that included a huge rainbow (or "Wambow" according to Max)

July Update

Four-square!

Connect Middle School Program - Together, 2nd Mile's high school program, BLOCK (building leaders of Christ's kingdom) and the Connect Middle School program went to one of our volunteer's house last week to enjoy a cookout, video games, fellowship, and outdoor fun. It was the first time that these two age groups intentionally got together to just have fun with each other. Hot dogs, burgers, chips, fruit, water, soda, Sonic racing, four-square, football in the street, watching movies, it was a great time! No lesson plans, no agenda, just quality time together.

BLOCK - Although I am not as involved with the high school program, they have been doing some exciting things the past few months. The high school students started running our open courts. Open Court has been every Friday from 4-6pm this summer which has loud music, basketball, concessions, and indoor games for anybody who wants to come hang out. We've been seeing some new and familiar faces on Fridays and it's been encouraging to build these relationships.

In a couple of days, students in middle school and high school will be driving to New Orleans for a week to either help out a ministry with their summer day camp or, weather pending, helping with some storm relief projects. Pray that students would grow closer to God, each other, and would grow in character, even if just a little bit in this next week.

Chassidy playing basketball with 4th grader Jabarie

Summer Intern - I came to 2nd Mile back in 2010 as a summer intern, after I had graduated from the University of Wisconsin. There were nine other interns that summer, including my wife. Since that year, there has been a spattering of interns here and there throughout the years. This summer, we have Chassidy. She will be a sophomore in high school and she has been a part of 2nd Mile since she was six years old. I've talked about her in previous blogs, but just wanted to express my admiration for how far she's come in knowledge, maturity, and leadership qualities. If you search for 2nd Mile Ministries on facebook, you can see her in one of our Pray, Collect, Act videos. She's helped with field trips, some office organization, and has had weekly Bible studies and book readings to help her mind grow even more. She has also been shadowing the various staff members and their ministry roles to see how a non-profit Christian organization operates. I can't wait to see how God uses Chassidy in the years to come, in whatever He would have her do.

As summer vacation slowly approaches its end, our staff members prepare for the long school year ahead. Please pray for the right students to be in our programs (not in our eyes but in God's), for the planning period to be well-thought out, and for God to be moving in the hearts of the students, volunteers, staff, and even in your own hearts as August fast approaches.

Book Highlight - I don't read much, but I read a book (easy easy read) this summer called Kai'Ro: The Journey of an Urban Pilgrim. I've been told it is similar to Pilgrim's Progress but with more of an urban theme. If you are looking for new books to read, I'd recommend this book. It's target audience is more for people living in neighborhoods like Brentwood, but anyone can find deep conviction and meaning in Kai'Ro's difficult journey through life as a new believer in a fallen world.

Summer Time! (June)

"Dear God, thank you for this day. Thank you that we could eat this Taco Bell and have fun at the park learning how to play disc golf." What a beautiful prayer said by one of our elementary school students on one of our summer field trips. After School Program- Normally a very busy, fun, chaotic, and hype summer, 2nd Mile Ministries is a little quieter for this summer. Without our regular summer day camp (we'll be back at it next summer), we've had to adapt to planning new things for the students to enjoy. In hopes to continue relationships with our elementary students, we've taken them on field trips to different places around Jacksonville, experiencing new things they may not seen or done before. For the field trip that I got to plan, of course I was going to expose them to the wonderful sport of disc golf. Not being able to play this sport myself much anymore because of my health, it was great to see them focus on how to throw their discs as far as they could. It was a lot more walking than they had anticipated, but they enjoyed the time. We got to play on the playground and shoot some hoops afterwards. Then we voted on where to go to lunch. Taco Bell won out, which to my surprise, was even a new experience to one or two kids. On another field trip, the students went to Sweet Pete's, a huge candy shop in downtown Jacksonville where they learned how to make taffy.

Rummage Sale-Summer Trip

Interesting items sold at the sale!

Every year in early June, 2nd Mile Ministries collects items from churches and other individuals for a whole week and then sells them for six crazy hours on a Saturday in hopes to raise money for our Summer Day Camp. Because there is no camp this summer, whatever money that gets raised is going towards our summer missions trip to New Orleans where middle school and high school students will go and help Urban Impact with their summer day camp for a week. 2nd Mile Ministries has modeled and practiced their summer camp after this ministry in New Orleans so hopefully their format will not be completely new and foreign to our students. Please pray for the students to grow in their relationship with Christ, with each other, and with themselves as they spend their weeks serving and leading and growing.

Connect Middle School Program- The middle school program, of which I am responsible for leading, has continued to meet throughout the summer. For me, this summer is going to be a time where I hoping to bring in some more students, whether faces that we've known from the past or completely new students. Where our school-year schedule is very focused on personal development, Bible studies, and becoming leaders, I wanted this summer to have a more inclusive feel to it, one where we get to know new students and incorporate them into our every week rhythms. Our first meeting of the summer, we just played a bunch of indoor games (because of Florida thunderstorms preventing us from outside). The students introduced themselves, their schools, grade they were entering, and their dream jobs. We had four new students come that first week. The following week, rather than games, we went to our community garden a couple blocks from the church where we meet. I've had the privilege of spending more time in this garden lately and getting to understand nature a bit more. We learned valuable lessons on hard work, teamwork, nurturing living things, careful planning, and removing the "weeds" of our lives. We picked eggplants, green peppers, and even a watermelon (it wasn't ripe enough yet). We also weeded, pruned some plants, and collected some greens. Please pray that more students would not only start coming this summer, but as the school year approaches quickly, that students would make the middle school program a natural part of their every week schedules all year.

Family Update- So Max still isn't eating. We don't know why. Doctors don't know why. Developmentally speaking, all of the oral skills are there. At this point it may just be a mental thing for him, preventing anything from going down his throat. On top of the non-eating, he's been throwing up a bunch. We've been tossed around his pediatrician, nutritional doctors, GI, endocrinology, and surgery with little to no answers. My wife and I are hanging in there, but it gets very easy to feel like we can't do enough for Max to get him on the right track. We follow doctors' instructions with very little results of change. He's visited the hospital twice in the past month and a half for low blood sugar issues. We now know how to check his blood sugar at home and how to deal with it if it gets low again, so I guess that's a plus. He's talking more now, his facial expressions are hilarious and beautiful at the same time, and he's just a joy to be around. Please pray that God would intervene. In the gaps of our own understanding and in the evident gaps of the doctors' understanding, pray that God would help Max get off the feeding tube, that his blood sugars would even out, that his puking would decrease.

If you got any more prayers in you, pray for me. I'm having similarly frustrating issues with my own health and getting the run around from different doctors. I'm still not completely healed from a couple years ago and honestly I can't say with confidence that I'm even getting better. All I've learned about my body in the past few years is, "If you don't want any pain or discomfort and you want to be able to sleep more at night, do nothing. Don't pick up anything heavy, don't carry your son for more than a couple minutes, don't throw anything, don't shoot hoops for too long, don't exercise one bit. I've tried easing back into physical activities. I've tried stretching. I've had appointments with my doctor, with a bunch of his various specialist buddies, and no one can tell me what's going on. I have a great long list of things it isn't, so.....that's helpful. Sorry about the venting. I've just been so used to being able to play sports, run around, and using those things to develop relationships and now that that's put on hold (hopefully just for a period of time), it leaves me feeling helpless and hopeless.

I've been trying to understand in the fog of my own grumbling and lack of knowledge what God's plan is for all of this. What does he want me to do, to learn? I know that it's not beyond a shepherd to break his sheep's legs in order to keep it from running down a wrong path and getting hurt. Please pray for how I deal with Max's and my health. Feel free to pray specifically for our health, but for some reason God hasn't answered those prayers how I'd like them to be answered. Praying for my attitude, my faith, and my heart would probably be a better venture. I know God can work on my heart and my mind. Thank you for your time reading these updates. Have a great week!

Connect (May and end of the year Update)

Connect Middle School Program: We wrapped up April watching The Passion of Christ the week before Easter. Some of the kids flinched and winced as they beat, whipped, and crucified Jesus. After the movie, we took some time to think through our lives, our sin, and confessing it to God, who loved us enough to send his son to die for those sins. We wrote them in permanent marker on a small representation of a cross. It was so quiet during those minutes of reflecting, I knew God was doing something. Although I tried not to read what others wrote on the cross, it was amazing to see their honesty and desire to admit to those sins.

Going into May, it was a unique month for our middle school students. Rather than having Bible lessons on Thursdays, three adults gave their life stories, their testimonies in order for the students to get to thinking about their own unique stories and how God is shaping them precisely where they are right now in life. We did a "hot seat" drill where the students each had 5 minutes in the "hot seat" where everyone could ask them any question that they wanted. Some of these questions were silly like, "What's your favorite color of carpet?", to more deep questions like, "Who has had the biggest impact on your life so far?"  It amazes me how much asking somebody questions about their life can communicate love and concern for them. I remember in counseling classes how important asking questions and really listening and engaging in their answers is to really caring and making connections with people.


Our last week of the school year, the students each painted a slat of our picnic table. I love art projects like this where multiple people flex their creativity and ideas into a single piece. It's so representative of life, many different people making up one world. To celebrate the end of the middle school year, we took a trip to St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest city in the country. We could've toured a really old fort, we could've toured the historical streets of this town, but no, we dared to go ziplining over some alligators and crocodiles.  Most of the boys that came were a little scared to zipline, so they went to the zoo part of the attraction. The middle school girls, although nervous, tackled the zipline and ropes course like champs. It was great to see them overcome their fears, and after the first long zipline, the rest was a piece of cake. I should also mention that one middle school boy did zipline. Way to go Christian!

As three of our students "graduated" to high school, our middle school group is getting smaller. I've seen God work in huge ways with our small numbers this past year. Attitudes shifted, hearts were more open to Jesus and conversations became more real and meaningful.

Prayer requests:
1.) Pray that God will go before us and open parents' and students' hearts to Christ's love.
2.) Pray for the right students to be incorporated into our program for this next school year.
3.) Pray for a safe and fun summer for our students.

Thank you, as always, for reading and I hope you have a blessed day.

The alligator farm crew

The ziplining crew

Nyla and Amaria on that ropes course

April 2019

Connect Middle School Program- April has been month of practicing what it means to have a relationship with God. Rather than just reading the Bible and learning about God, we took a couple Thursdays to spend intentional time with Him. We not only learned about quiet times, why they are important, and how Jesus had his quiet times, but we also took about a half hour to just read Scripture, journal, and pray to God himself. This was a new experience for most of the students and they said that they felt more and more calm as the quiet time went on. The following week, we spent time learning about prayer, how to pray, and what we could pray for. With various stations around the church with a different aspect of prayer (gratitude, pray for others, confessing sin, asking forgiveness, making personal requests), the students could freely go to whatever station they felt led to go to. It was encouraging to me to hear some of them say that the easiest station for them to pray was praying for others. I struggle with this one. Too often my prayers manifest themselves out of my own feelings and personal needs. Today we will be watching the Passion of the Christ and I'm praying that this powerful display of Christ's sacrifice would bring a deeper desire within the students to draw nearer to Him in their lives.

The middle school students have done some art with spray paint and glue (really cool) as well as had a night to just play around on many different musical instruments. It was a lot of fun playing/teaching simple tunes on the keyboard.

Community Garden- With the former garden keeper now in a new role, 2nd Mile staff and volunteers are now in a rotation to keep this garden looking nice. I remember my mom keeping a small garden on the side of our garage growing up, and I remember occasionally helping, but was never really interested in it. Missi and I went to the garden for less than an hour and let me tell you, it is hard work. We weeded, and we weeded, and we weeded, and we watered a little bit. I think the weeds were growing faster than we were picking them. Weeds are really annoying. I will say, however, that it was very relaxing to be in a place where nature is grown, little lizards are running around, and right in the middle of our Brentwood neighborhood. Hopefully the extra hands in the garden will allow more people to appreciate this little gem on our streets.

Personal Share- I'm sorry. We gotta talk about the Milwaukee Bucks. Never in my life have the Bucks been in 1st place in the Eastern Conference, only once in my life have they led their division at the end of the season. This is a special year for them and I'm really hoping they not only get past the first round of the playoffs, but hopefully contend for a championship in the Finals. Sometimes I forget that famous athletes or celebrities are people too. I elevate them as untouchable, only there to entertain me and for me to watch and consume. If you have a minute, I would really like you to read a blog written by Utah Jazz sharp shooter Kyle Korver. In a league that's 75% African American, Korver (white) talks about his experience in the NBA. He has a unique perspective and I think we all can learn a lot from his blog. Click this link to read it now. https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/kyle-korver-utah-jazz-nba

Did you read it? Makes you think huh?

Anyway, thank you as always for taking the time to read these blogs. Whether these blogs encourage you, challenge you, upset you, or just inform you, I thank you for reading.

Have a blessed Resurrection Week!

February and March 2019

two:fiftytwo After School Program - Only at the program once a week these days, I still cherish the opportunity to teach our weekly Bible lesson on one of God's promises. One particular lesson I enjoyed teaching was when all the students got to throw a bunch of balled-up paper at a student holding an umbrella. This was to represent God being our shield and taking care of us when going through a rough patch. Ephesians 6:16 says, "In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." How foolish we can be when we sit there getting pelted by life even though God willingly offers his protection and guidance. Pray that as the school year approaches the final two months, the students would finish strong, that volunteers and staff would not burn out, and that those students that are still coming consistently can experience the love of Christ. Pray for the teachers of this neighborhood as well. Turnover is so great in neighborhoods like these since classrooms can be very stressful. Being in the school a couple hours a week, I see it firsthand. If you know someone who is a teacher, I challenge you to either offer them some help grading papers, or getting them supplies, or even just tell them you are in their corner praying for their year to finish off well.

Connect Middle School Program - I've had the privilege of leading the middle school program now for a few months and boy has it been eventful. In February, our Bible topic (chosen by the students) was MONEY. They learned about King Solomon's enormous wealth and how he saw his many possessions as meaningless. They looked up their own verses about money and we shared them with each other, learning about what God says about it in his word. They also learned about being good stewards of their money. The month of March, the Bible topic (again, chosen by the students) has been ANGER. Those who voted for this topic wanted to know better ways on dealing with their own anger. We learned that it's okay to be angry, but to not sin while angry (which is admittedly difficult when it's anger towards someone else). We even got to watch the movie Unconditional and wrote out times when the characters displayed anger, in order to help them recognize this emotion in others and the choices they made with their anger. We also learned that the things that we get angry about often reflect something specifically about ourselves. 

Entrepreneurs share their stories

We have Bible nights on our Thursday meetings, but on Mondays, we have our wild card activities including art, music, life skills, leadership, etc. A few weeks ago, we got to hear three African-American entrepreneurial women share their experiences with starting their own businesses. The students had the chance to brainstorm what types of businesses they would start up if they had the opportunity to do so. Their ideas were awesome! One girl talked about creating a social media app that helps to prevent online bullying. Peoples' accounts who make bullying comments could get blocked, then get suspended, and then eventually deleted. Another girl mentioned becoming a fashion designer who makes affordable clothing look stylish for those who don't have enough money to buy really nice clothes. These ideas were very specific to their own life experiences and I think it would be awesome if the seed was planted in their heads that if they wanted to, they could make their businesses happen.

Mission Teams - Every Spring break, we get college groups from all over the country (mostly Iowa) and they spend their week-long spring breaks serving the Brentwood community. We had teams from Northwestern College in Iowa, Simpson College (Iowa), and Asbury (Kentucky). The teams helped out teachers in the classrooms, mowed lawns, edges some sidewalks, picked up trash, bagged leaves, painted lines and colors on our courtyard, organized our church's storage and kitchen area, weeded our garden, watered our garden, spread zoo poop in the garden beds, spread mulch all over the garden, built new garden beds in the garden, completed our garden mural, and made an impact at our after school program. On top of all the ways they helped the community and 2nd Mile, we gave many talks about God's heart for the poor, God's heart for justice and righteousness, and the racial inequalities still experienced by so many people in our country.

Art night: learning about different textures

If you support the work that 2nd Mile is doing, consider giving towards our ministry. Check out our website at www.2ndmilejax.com and click "Donate." Thanks!

Remember Remember the Titans?

Moving to Jacksonville has changed my thought process a bit on many things. Here are some things I never thought about before while watching Remember the Titans for the first time in about a decade.

1. Coach Boone's white neighbors applaud him one night when they are going to the state championship game. When Boone first moves into their current home, the neighbors were nervous about black people taking over their neighborhood. Only when their home town high school football team performs well do they accept him, celebrate him, and applaud him (from a distance).

2. Ryan Gosling was a string bean in this movie.

3. What was supposed to be a "get this over with" meet and greet between Gerry Bertier and Julius Campbell turned out to be, in my opinion, the most powerful scene in the movie. Their raw anger and brutal honestly towards each other brought out the best change in one of the next scenes where Gerry gets on his white teammates for not blocking for the black QB. Julius, who recently lost a friend who got shot by a white business owner, was playing for himself and no one else. What team?

4. The Hall of Fame committee played a part in trying to rig a game in order for Coach Boone to get fired in order for Coach Yoast to be reinstated as head coach. This made me think, "Hmmm, I wonder if either of those NFL Conference Championship games were rigged."

5. Lastly, I never noticed subtleties in the following scenes of the movie.

Disgruntled football parent: He's not some walk-on scrub, Yoast. The boy's a player. He's a star. And he busted his butt for you. [Turns to Coach Boone] This is all your doing, you black---

Yoast: That is enough. It's my call.

Parent: Now listen.

Yoast: You just go on home now, Fred, before you do something that you're going to regret.

Doc: [Sighs] Yeah, well...I guess we won't be seeing much of him, huh?

Yoast: I will. He's on the deacon board with me.

Boone: [Laughs]

Gerry: I'm going to play basketball with Julius. Then we're going to come back here for dinner.

Mom: Gerry, if your father was still alive---

Gerry: Ma, would--just give him a chance. Just get to know him.

Mom: I don't want to get to know him. You are coming to church with your mother.

I never thought much about the underlined sentences when I saw this movie when I was younger, the irony of Gerry's mom being so committed to having her son come to church with her while wanting to keep black people out of her sight. Gerry was going to hang out with Julius, a black teammate whom she wanted nothing to do with. In the first scene, the disgruntled football parent's character doesn't quite match what you might expect in the deacon of a church either. Boone's laugh never made sense growing up until watching this movie again.

Unfortunately, this movie is still all too relevant today. Although segregation is illegal, in appearance it would seem that many people conduct their lives in a very segregated way. What might it be like if we had a Coach Boone forcing us to spend each day getting to know a brother of a different race, asking questions about their families, their likes and dislikes. There is too much hate, too much ignorance, too much talking and not enough listening.

What is discrimination like?

Zero fun, Sir.

That You May Abound In Hope

A crowd of people lined up outside. It was a chilly December morning, but they waited nonetheless. Too early for sunlight to sneak over the tall buildings of downtown Jacksonville, which made it even chillier. So many faces, stories, and expectations. Some may not have possessed home addresses, some may have been disappointed time and time again in the past, some had a criminal record, which in employers' eyes either taints or eliminates their chances. How could a job fair change the direction of one's life?

Last month, 2nd Mile partnered with the Better Together Job Fair, volunteering our time to help it run smoothly. I held a parking sign and waved it at traffic, directing them to an open field near where the fair was taking place. There were companies, businesses, lawyers, and counselors also giving their time to make sure that people were given the chance to either fill out applications, schedule interviews, or in some cases, be offered a job on the spot. Standing on the corner with my sign, I mostly just engaged with people that had yet to enter the job fair. On one occasion, a woman in a van pulled over to where I was, rolled down her window and explained with the biggest smile on her face, "I got a job!" I have friends and family that don't even look me in eyes with such familiarity and excitement, and I don't even know this woman. Oh yeah, she also won a bike in a raffle to help her get to and from work. Many others walked away from the fair, walking their bikes alongside them with newfound pride. Each one of those anticipatory faces early on, hopefully, got one step closer to the direction they were hoping. For those with a criminal record, many places of employment refuse to offer jobs, and in many cases, those released from prison end up right back in prison due to lack of opportunity for putting themselves on the right path. I commend these companies and businesses for taking chances and giving hope to people that may have been running low on any kind of hope. I've been encouraged by Roman 15:13 when hoping and praying for Max to be born which says, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, that you may abound in hope."

Connect Update

Learning about John 3:17, Christ came to save, not condemn

The new year has brought a little bit of change to our Connect Middle School Program. Firstly, I'm currently its director. Secondly, we'll be meeting every Monday and Thursday. More hours equals, hopefully, more time to help with school work and greater relationships among volunteers, students, and each other. I'm hoping to include leadership training from learning how to set up a projector to learning how to impact an entire community. Becoming servant leaders means having the right attitude, the right heart, and a right understanding of God. I hope to gain a better understanding directly from the students as to what topics they want to learn about, what questions they have about God, and how these things impact their lives outside of 2nd Mile. Thank you for those who donated Teen Study Bibles. The kids were grateful to have one to take home with them. I'm hoping this will lead to being able to do some program work outside of the program, getting them to read the word in their homes on their own.

Staff Retreat
At our annual staff retreat, we celebrated what God did in 2018 in Brentwood, as well as dreaming about the future of the ministry. With a vacancy at the permanent executive director position, we discussed what type of leader we would need to help reach our dreams of the future. Please pray as 2nd Mile navigates building a profile for the future Executive Director, searching for possible candidates, and filling the position.

Marshaun (4th grader) who attends two:fiftytwo, shooting a free throw. Check out that form!