two:fiftytwo After School Program - The new year has brought in a new schedule for me, not too different from 2019, but enough to be put into another adjustment period. Currently at the after school program three days out of the school week, I get to see the kids more, have better traction with continuing conversations with them, and also get to see more of their human natures. Behaviors that used to frustrate me and force me to process my life decisions now allow me to have more meaningful conversations about growth, making good decisions, and reconciling with the other students. I enjoy these kids a lot, each having their own unique gifts and personalities from God on display every day. I get annihilated Jabarie each day in rock, paper, scissors, where the winner of the whole school year will either get a big bag of hot fries (if he wins) or a two-liter of soda (if I win). Quran's kindness is shown towards the students who either fall during rec time or don't have anyone to play with. Over the years, Andre has enjoyed learning how things work (power tools, typewriter, computer keyboards, etc.).
It has been great to get to know these students more and more. I pray that God would reveal himself to these students in how He's made them, how He loves them, and what He wants them to do with their lives. The students got the chance in previous weeks to get pictures taken of them doing something they enjoy. We would then take those photos and transfer them to wood for an art project. The kids got really into it and I hope they get to experience many things as they grow older, in order to find something that ignites their excitement for life. Five of our seven 5th grade students have been in the program since 2nd grade. What's crazy is that they will join the other middle school and high school students next year in our BLOCK program.
BLOCK - In case you haven't read the blog in a while, BLOCK (Building Leaders of Christ's Kingdom) has now incorporated both High School and Middle School students. The first two weeks of this merge, two volunteers gave their very powerful testimonies. Lots of suffering, lots of sinful choices, but so much grace from God. I've never seen that many teenagers that quiet in a room before. They hung on to their every word. Peoples' stories can be so powerful, and yet we often don't get past the surface in many of our encounters with others. One skill that I've been working on (that is definitely still not natural to me) is being an active listener, asking more questions than giving my own personal anecdotes. Trying to see the world through someone else's point of view can be so difficult, especially if I am more me-focused. There is power in hearing the gritty, embarrassing, shameful details of someone's life. I think we as people learn very quickly that there are some parts of our own stories that we feel we need to hide from others, keep to ourselves. Having the freedom to be open and honest about emotions, about difficult circumstances, difficult topics is so hard. "Can I trust you with this?" is often how we internalize and eventually rationalize that "No I cannot." My hope and prayer for these middle and high schoolers would be that they feel comfortable sharing their own stories, knowing that they are not alone in feeling alone, lost, unloved, unloveable, etc. Shared brokenness births community, births family. I feel that we as the church should "boast of our weaknesses all the more gladly so that the power of Christ may rest upon us." (2 Cor. 12:9). I know that God can work in mighty ways if we trust in him. I urge you, reader, for the sake of Christ, to humble yourselves by confessing your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. (James 5:16).
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