Hiding

Alright, get your "Awwwww"s out of the way

I've known my son for less than two months and I can't imagine sending him somewhere on purpose in order to die and save a bunch of people that were evil and full of sin.  How can one love sinful people so much?  As I teach our students about Easter, I was amazed how little they knew.  I thought I would just have to review and fill-in-the-blanks to their already learned knowledge of the holiday.  When asked about what Easter is all about, one kid actually answered, "Bunnies?"

Last week, we made bracelets with five colored beads to signify the gospel story. To make it even easier to remember, I modeled it off of our summer day camp cheers. Green means God loves me. Blue means that all people are sinful. (Most bracelets I've seen use a black bead for sin and a white bead for purification which makes sense but is not a great message to these kids).  Red means that Jesus died for me. Clear means he forgives our sin when we receive him (not a camp cheer). And finally, yellow means that we need Jesus to be our best friend in order to grow.

This past week, we utilized some donated resurrection eggs which are basically a dozen plastic eggs with objects inside that tell part of the Easter story.  The kids hunted for the hidden eggs, we brought them inside to open, and then we unpacked the story.  If I can remember correctly, these were the twelve objects:
A donkey
Silver coins
A wine cup
Praying hands
A leather whip
A crown of thorns
Three nails
A spear
Dice
A linen cloth
A stone
A completely empty egg

I'd say the parts of the story that really had the kids attention were the whip, the thorny crown, the nails, and the spear.  Each detailed description of how those things played a part in Jesus dying really helped the kids understand a little more about Jesus' suffering. The kids felt it unfair that Jesus got crucified when he didn't even do anything wrong. I pray and pray that these kids learn more and more about their own sin and how we need to repent and turn around from it.  So often, they blame their sin on other people (who doesn't?) or justify the wrong they've committed (again, who doesn't?).

I'm thankful for the opportunity to share the gospel story with kids who have never heard it before.  I sometimes wrongfully assume that they've heard this all before at church or at our camp, but they are kids and this is sometimes hard to grasp.  When I wanted to use John 3:16 to help them understand why God had Jesus die for us, Key'Ahrah's eyes lit up and recited it word for word.  "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." This love God has for us might seem crazy to us because we may feel unworthy, but God loves those he has made.

First John 1:7 I memorized in Boy's Club in elementary school.  The words were written on the board and slowly erased to build it in our fresh memories.

Romans 6:23 I memorized, again, in Boy's Club in order to enter the swimming pool at our lock-in at the YMCA.

One morning in college, I woke up super early, walked to Lake Mendota, sat there for a couple hours and memorized Psalm 103 because earlier that week I heard God tell me to open up to that chapter of the Bible without any understanding as to why. (It's a good one.)

Not too many other verses jump out to me as to when, where, and in what circumstances I learned them, but throughout my life, God has been depositing, hiding his word in my heart in various ways, even if those ways were in order for me to fulfill my desire to swim. Since last fall, God put the desire back in me to memorize scripture; however, writing on postcards just didn't seem the way to go for me.  There's a website, scripturetyper.com, that has helped me learn scripture at a very quick pace.  This is more bragging for the website rather than for me, but I've committed 157 verses to memory so far.  It's been amazing the circumstances where I can now bring up passages, combat temptation, claim a promise, hear a command, understand my identity, know of the character of Jesus without the need for a physical Bible.  I believe that in thirty years, I'll look back on the day I started on this website and point to that as when my spiritual life put on the gas and accelerated.

Psalm 119:11 says, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."  This act of hiding the word is something valuable that I've already seen God doing in my life.  I hope you check it out, even for just fifteen minutes, because then you might be hooked. I recall when Jesus was in the desert for 40 days, he probably didn't have scrolls readily available to him, and yet he used scripture to combat those temptations from the devil.  In Matthew 4 when hungry and tempted to turn stones to bread, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3 saying that man cannot live on bread alone but on every word of God.

I hope that as you read scripture that you occasionally commit it to memory.  I do want to make it clear that memorizing and studying scripture will not on its own bring you closer to the Lord.  It may increase your knowledge of the word but it doesn't guarantee that your heart wants to spend time with Jesus.  When you read, listen.  God may be trying to speak into your life through his word and through the example of Jesus Christ.  Today, on Good Friday, Christ died for us.  Just a few scriptures that come to mind about this:

Romans 5:6-8--"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps--for a good person one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

John 5:12-13--"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."

1 John 3:16--"By this we know love, that he laid his life down for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."

I'm excited for Easter, to be able to have conversations with children about Jesus, his love and their sin.  My parents are currently on their way down to Jacksonville and that's also exciting too.  God used them to give me physical life and Jesus gave me spiritual life.  As I look at Maximus, I pray that God would be a strong part of his life and that Jesus would open his heart and create a vacancy there.

Weening

Since Monday, February 13th, Missi has been staying at Baptist Medical Center in hopes that if anything were to happen with the baby in her belly, the right people and protocol could be taken much more quickly than if on bed rest at home.  For those who are pregnancy illiterate (like me a couple months ago), a typical pregnancy is about 40 weeks long.  At the 24-week mark, a baby is called "viable", meaning that if born, the chances of survival increase greatly than if born at 23 weeks.  Missi's water broke at 19 weeks and it's a miracle that the baby didn't die shortly after.  At home on bed rest for weeks, having multiple appointments each week to check on the baby, Missi and I have been giving every moment to God in prayer, knowing that only He was in control and had the power to keep the baby alive.  Every heart beat that was registered on the ultra-sound was a continuously pulsating blessing.

Philippians 4:6-7 says, "do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."  

An amazing byproduct of prayer has been his peace, which has guarded our otherwise anxious and fearful hearts.

Isaiah 26:3 says, "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you."

These words have kept us calm even in the frustrating times that we weren't sure what was going on or why this all was happening to us.

February 21st, this past Tuesday night, I got off of work, drove to get some burgers for dinner and bring them to the hospital for us to enjoy.  We had started to get comfortable with our private room with a pull-out couch, refrigerator, and television.  Missi would get visited often throughout each day by nurses to get the baby monitored, to be given water, food, and medicine.  Twice daily, our baby's heart rate got checked for about a half hour, making sure it ebbed and flowed normally.  But something was different about these numbers that night.  The pattern was different this time.  It was on the higher end and was staying too consistent (consistency sounded like a good thing to us but with babies, it's better that they show variation).  So down to the labor and delivery floor we went for the monitor to be continually checked.  Missi's temperature was at 100.0 (100.4 is declared a fever) so there was fear in what this might mean.  The nurses mentioned possibly delivering the baby. "What?" was kind of our thought.  We were just getting settled in to a routine and weren't really expecting the baby for at least a few more weeks, maybe months (I was optimistic [or in denial]).  After sort of dealing with that possibility, we began to pray, knowing that everything has been in his hands and was currently in his hands as well.  Missi's temperature went down to 99.0 and the baby's  heartbeats started to look better, according to the deliver doctor.  There seemed to be hope that after a while we'd go back to the room and continue back to normal, back to comfort.  It was as if God answered our prayers by lowering Missi's temperature, calming the baby's heart rate, and bringing in the head doctor to tell us we should be fine after a little while.  Within another half hour, our doctor, she comes back in and suggests that we deliver the baby at that time rather than later when another heightened heart rate from the baby might complicate things.  So, having already calmed down from the initial scare, I firmly believe that God was weening us off of our own understanding and comfort and helping us adjust our hearts to his will, which was at that point to have the baby.

After confirmation that the baby was coming

Missi had to have a C-section because we were at about 25 weeks.  She got some anesthesia to numb her up, but her shoulders and up were awake.  I was able to come in and sit with her top half while the room had like six or seven people (felt like twenty) doing their part to make the birth a success.  There was a sheet creating a wall to block our view from all the cuts and blood and stuff that you can't unsee.  They played Missi's request of music in the background which was Hezekiah Walker (at one point his lyrics mentioned God as our deliverer and I couldn't help but internally giggle at the pun).  The whole surgery seemed quick, only like 30 minutes or so.  They pulled him out (yes, him. We were convinced for days that he was a she) at 1:31am, Wednesday morning, February 22nd, showed him to us for about two seconds, I snapped a very timely picture, then they rushed him off to the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) to get him hooked up to a respirator as well as other things that I'm still slowly learning the purpose of.

About an hour later, while Missi was in recovery, I got the chance to meet our boy for the first time without mommy-supervision.  He was so tiny.  His eyes looked fused shut.  His belly went in and out.  His ribs looked so fragile.  This being was alive.  I checked and yes, he has ten toes and ten fingers.  Every wire, bandage, monitor, piece of clothing, incubator setting had its purpose and was almost so overwhelming that I didn't have to understanding what everything did or if things were working.  He is alive and that's the most important thing right now.  From head to toe, he was about 12.2 inches but when he's in his position, he's about as long as it is from my thumb to my pinky if stretched out wide.  He was 1 lb. 6 oz. when born.  Who knew that a baby that small could make it?  The NICU nurses asked me what his name was.  Because that night's events were a surprise, and only having picked a girl's name, I gave her no answer.  It was only a few hours later that Missi and I agreed on the name Maximus (Max for short) Von (meaning hope) Vollmer.  We liked the name Max, weren't feeling the elongated name Maxwell, and then were excited to discover the name Maximus.  With thoughts of Gladiator, this name sounded strong, hoping that he would continue to fight every day for growth and life, showing off his life and telling onlookers "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!?!?!"  We had named this baby Hope while in the womb, and that sort of went out the window when we discovered it was a boy.  Von sounded the most normal boy name that means hope, and it rhymes with my middle name (John) so in my mind, the name seemed to flow.

I took pictures, showed them to Missi.  Anxious to regain feeling in her legs and the ability to get on a wheel chair, she was able to see her oven bun about eight hours after delivery.  I'm grateful that I captured this moment of her seeing him for the first time.  Missi did amazing.  Her faith in God has been so beautiful these past few weeks.  Praying to the only lifeline worth holding, we are so thankful to God for all that he is.  Thank you for your prayers and encouragement throughout this process.  The transition from working to bed rest at home, from bed rest at home to bed rest at the hospital, from bed rest at the hospital to delivery, God has been helping in every change of setting and circumstance.  We know that we won't be in our current circumstances forever, yet we know in faith and now in experience that God is in those transitions as much as those circumstances.  Pray that the transition home and away from the baby goes smoothly as well.

As for right now, the baby is doing well.  It's the nature of the NICU that babies have good days and bad days.  On good days, he is weened off of certain things.  On bad days, he is put on certain things.  The progress is slow, but it is progress.  He will most likely have to stay at the hospital until our original due date, June 7th (give or take a day).  I'm reminded of the times when I'm teaching a new concept in math to a student, like fractions.  I gauge how much they understand, maybe I do one of their problems for them and slowly teach each step until they can finally do it on their own.  Same with the baby.  If he can't handle breathing on his own, he needs a little more help until he can finally do it on his own (he can't right now by the way).  The nurses call our little guy feisty, moving his arms and legs.  He's already had to be (gently) restrained.  Praise God for all he has been doing.  It's amazing how he created life.  It's overwhelming to think about how exactly he does it, but I don't understand it, so I can just rest and not worry.

Special Guest

Well hello there! This is Missi, Andrew's wife, and I will be making a guest appearance today. I am not much of a blogger so bear with me. I know Andrew typically talks about 2nd Mile Ministries and his current life events. As he mentioned in a previous blog, we had some difficulties in pregnancy this year. We have two little ones in Heaven and one on the way here. This little one, Hope, as we call it, is a modest baby, partially because at 23 weeks we still don't know the gender. It likes to cross its legs during the ultrasounds. Yes, I know Hope is typically a girl's name but at the beginning of this pregnancy, we decided no matter what happened our hope would be in Jesus. We were so blessed and joyful that we made it past the dreaded 11 week mark.

Unfortunately, four weeks ago, my water broke (21 weeks early) but were blessed that I did not go into labor right away. Until 24 weeks the survival rate is below 30% and if it came now.  Baby Hope has been a fighter, constantly reminding me of God's glory. We need your help. Obviously, God is in control and so we desperately need your prayers. Whatever the Lord has planned for us, we will glorify Him.

He has blessed us with time and wonderful friends and family who have been incredibly selfless towards us during this experience. Words cannot express how truly grateful I am for the wonderful people in our lives. They have served us constantly and showered us with love. I am amazed at the incredible people God has put in our lives.

Every time that I feel like giving up, the Lord reminds me of His greatness--either through time with Him or encouragement from a loved one. This experience, while difficult, has definitely led to precious time with the Lord. Each day, He has reminded me of His goodness and all of the blessings he has given me. He has definitely slowed down my life and shown me how I need to appreciate every day we get with Baby Hope.

Monday, we (I) go into the hospital so the doctors can do more preventative care. I am thankful for all they will do but it will not be easy for me to transition from the comfort of my home and precious time with Andrew to an unfamiliar place in which I do not know what to expect. I do not do well with change and have issues with anxiety. I would love for God to let me know ahead of time what to expect but that's not how He works. So, I pray that I lean firmly on His will and not give into fear.

Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Thank you for reading this!
I will be praying for you as well.

Season of Hope

This word hope has been entering our lives more often than it ever has in our lives.  I recognized it most recently in the conclusion of the Rogue One Star Wars movie.  It showed up in a memory verse simulator app I'm working on for Romans 15:13 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 you may abound in hope."  When looking to the future, depending on our outlook, we can either have hope or feel hopeless.

The four weeks leading up to Christmas, my wife and I decided to celebrate Advent, going through a daily devotional in anticipation of the day that Jesus was born.  It occurs to me that anticipating something that has already happened is a strange concept, but getting a little taste of the anticipation that many people back in those days had towards their coming King was a beautiful experience.  We lit four candles--first week, one, second week, two, and so on--representing God's promises, His peace, His love, and finally hope.  The importance and significance of Christmas was compounded in doing this for four weeks straight as opposed to one day or one church service on Christmas Eve.  I vaguely recall lighting these long purple and pink candles as a kid.  The light is most beautiful in a dark room, which reminds me of Jesus declaring himself as the light of the world, who came to light up the darkness.  We, too, as Christians are to "in the same way, let our lights shine before others so that they may see our good works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:16).

November of 2015, Missi and I were surprised and blessed with the news of pregnancy.  The thought of having a baby was part of the plan...eventually, but we weren't really sure how we felt.  Us parents? A couple months later, after feeling more okay with the thought of becoming parents, we lost the baby.  We were extremely hurt by the loss and amazingly friends and family provided support and words of encouragement and experience that softened the blow of loss.  Fast forward to April-ish, pregnant again.  We apologize if this was news to you, we were much more cautious with how quickly we shared the news with people, probably due to the fear of another loss.  I recall in myself being much slower to want to connect with this baby.  I didn't want to get hurt again.  Second miscarriage. It happened almost too quickly.  Thankfully we took the loss easier than the first, but I wish I would've meditated on parenthood and trusted God more with the pregnancy.  Not that we would've followed through with these names at birth, but the first two babies we named Monster (it was very painful for Missi) and Blessing (getting another opportunity for a baby).  The two losses were hard but we got to experience the joy of our close friends having their baby this past May.  Fast forward to today, Missi is pregnant once again and this time she has made it into the second trimester.  Hope is doing well, healthy, and further along than both babies were.  We've been much more willing to trust in the Lord for His control over the pregnancy, much more willing to connect with the baby even if it means future loss, and much more hopeful of his/her birth in June 2017, thanks all to the Lord.

More instances of hope in our lives, our sister-in-law made us an ornament with the word Hope on it, unaware that that was the name we chose for this pregnancy.  Visiting my in-laws for Christmas last week, I found a beanie baby (remember those?) of a bear kneeling down in prayer.  "Cute," I thought. Then I looked at the given name inside the ty tag.  "Hope!" my inner voice shouted.  Not sure if my in-laws are aware, but we took that beanie baby with us for when the baby is born.  Hope that was okay. Love you!

I live in a neighborhood where it can become the normal to have little to no hope.  Bills need to be paid, yet questions as to how they'll be paid become routine.  Not an unfamiliar sight, ripped up lottery tickets.  If two guys buy lottery tickets, one is hopeful in winning and the other isn't, yet they both have losing numbers, did the hopeful person lose anything in losing?  These are the questions that are difficult to answer.

Serving food at our Christmas party

This year of ministry has been extremely difficult.  You never know when a kid will throw a fit, throw a fist, or throw markers. There always seems to be at least one meltdown each day, if not five.  Many of the kids are new with us, many are on the younger side, and it can be easy to go home at the end of the day hopeless to seeing any positive progress. Sometimes I feel I see more negative growth than positive.  However, at our Christmas party before Christmas break, we invited the kids and their families to celebrate the holiday with dinner and some donated gifts.  Unprompted, several of the kids wanted to help serve their families the dinner.  It started with one volunteer and ended up being six or seven kids following suit, happily, willingly helping out.  Am I blind to when these things happen throughout the school year, only fixating on what's wrong or was I witnessing a moment of hope for these kids.  I feel that hope gets a lot of help when there are signs to that thing hope for coming true.  I feel these are some of God's quiet assurances that He is in control, watching over the entire situation.

Al'Savion building a gingerbread house

Please pray for baby Hope's growth and development.  Pray for these kids that are deeply loved by Jesus Christ, enough to die for them.  I hope you've had a wonderful Christmas season.  Continue to celebrate Jesus, not just Christmas and Easter.  He wants us to be a light to others so that they may give Him glory.  

I pledge allegiance to God

Think of a time when you have wronged someone.  Take one minute and actually think of that time.

If you're like me, it might take you a while to actually pull up a memory of us doing something wrong to another.  Or maybe you were quick to think of something, but refrain from going through the details of that circumstance.  Either we can quickly justify our actions, or maybe we blame someone else, or maybe we try to forget and erase those things from our long term recollections because it's too difficult to remind ourselves just how messed up we can be.  As I've been repeatedly reminded in my counseling classes this semester, it is so much easier to point out other people's faults than our own, and yet the Bible teaches us to first get the plank out of our own eyes before we can get the speck of dust out of our brother's.  As I talked about in the previous blog entry, we choose which burdens (our own or other's) in life we want to carry.  It is much easier to turn your face away from someone else's suffering than to engage it, help carry it, and help try to bring someone out of a struggle or painful circumstance.

Think of a time when America has wronged a particular group of people.  Again, take a minute to think of that people group.

If you're familiar with what I do for a living, you may already be anticipating where I'm going with this blog.  There are probably many more examples, but the two that dominate the front of my mind our Native Americans and African Americans.  We don't talk much about Native American rights these days, mainly because, well, we've taken most of their land and much of their way of life.  We don't listen to those voices anymore.  Secondly, African Americans have been "wronged", to put it lightly, and continue to be wronged to this day, yet many can live unaffected by the day-to-day struggle and confusion of the predicament that many black people find themselves in.  "But Andrew, I wasn't part of the Native American genocide.  And I'm always nice to black people whenever I see them.  They are just another person to me.  I don't see race."  Although you may not be directly involved with causing the suffering of certain people groups in this country, our turning-our-faces-away has perpetuated and legitimized the unjust systems many have to live with.

If you have Netflix, please watch 13th.  I watched this documentary about the 13th Amendment and my heart broke.  Growing up, I learned about Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, Malcolm X, some of the Civil Rights Movement, feeling like racism and hatred was from way in the past.  Now 28, I'm amazed this movement was only like 50 years ago.  I just assumed things were better for black people now.  Where this may be true for some, it is not the case for most.  This documentary was difficult to watch but I couldn't turn my face away.  Given the chance to hear someone's entire story of suffering uninterrupted by my assumptions and comments, I had to watch.  Living in a neighborhood with mostly black people, I feel the weight of this history in their families, their schools, their streets. 

As a staff at 2nd Mile, we started watching this documentary.  We watched the first half last week.  Having white and black coworkers made the experience so much sweeter, harder, stronger.  Our boss (black) broke down in tears when describing his heart for the African American male.  Our high school director (black) broke down in tears when sharing about his murdered friend and how this friend can't meet his white church's definition of a real man because this friend has never seen one.

Colin Kaepernick.  Chances are if you know who he is, you have an opinion on this guy.  Those against him talk of the disrespectful stance towards the flag, America, those who died for this country.  This view, like any conflict with anyone ever, involves a perspective that has nothing to do with his reasons for kneeling during the anthem.  Do you know his reasons for kneeling?  If you do, did you hear these reasons from him or another source?  More importantly, if you talk about these things (with words from our mouths not words put online), who do you talk to about these things?  People that will agree with you?  People that won't object or are too scared to offer their opinion to you?  If interested, here's Kaepernick's Press Conference.

In America, people today have to deal with the evil and sinful decisions of people who lived hundreds of years ago.  The ripple effects of that evil are rampant in areas like where I live.  Nobody wants to take ownership of these evils because it's easy to deflect.  The reason Black Lives Matter and phrases like police brutality and white privilege are in conversations today are not just trying to have something to argue about.  People are dying!  People are struggling to survive every day!  And obviously it's not just black people.  But black people have a unique American history, one of great suffering that we choose to turn our faces from and ignore.

So what do we do?  How can such a big problem like this be rectified?  Let's first diagnose a smaller conflict.  If I say hurtful words to my wife and have wronged her, how do I rectify that situation?  I own my wrong and I apologize.  I do what I can to right the wrong and ask, sometimes beg, for forgiveness.  Does this process translate to big things such as genocide, racism, slavery, etc.?  I believe so.  Often before I apologize to my wife, there's is a conversation where her feelings trump mine.  As Kaepernick states, there needs to be a conversation, an understanding as to what has happened.  There needs to be a collective of white people taking ownership (however relevant).  There needs to be an extension of love, actual equality, and above all else a big huge and truly HUMBLE apology, seeking forgiveness.  One of white America's biggest corporate sins is pride and selfishness.  How does an entire majority of a country collectively make this apology?  That seems insane.  Well, I believe nothing short of a Great Awakening can accomplish this.  As I need to get right with my wife, I also need to get right with God, who I have ultimately offended by my sin.

The way these elections are shaping up, it can be easy to feel hopeless, like we are getting further away from God, from any sort of reconciliation between white and black.  Often times in the Bible, Israel would go further and further from God before coming back to him.  This country, although in pretty bad shape, is hopefully closer to humility, closer to realizing how far we've turned away from God, and how little we have taken God seriously, even us proclaiming to be Christians and lovers of the things of God (justice and mercy).

I encourage you to be humble when in conflict, quick to apologize and own your wrongdoing despite how right and justified you feel.  Lastly, please watch 13th if you can.  It is powerful and humbling.  Let me know your thoughts if you do.  We can have a conversation about it!

Whoever has ears, let them hear

So much has been going on in my life and in the life of 2nd Mile Ministries.  I've never been one to participate in discussions of any kind of importance.  I've never mastered the back-and-forth of a conversation.  As we are surrounded by media, agendas, issues, and just general darkness, it has been difficult for me to make sense of it, like I'm navigating through thicker and thicker fog.  I think human nature is to only carry the burdens that you want to carry.  You may hurt for an individual going through a struggle, but then you hear about a big catastrophe and sometimes it's easier to be thankful it wasn't you and just move on.  As Olympians are caught doping, politicians abandon integrity, and people respond to their fears with aggression, waiting for the next scandal, offensive words, or incredibly tragic news story builds up the muscle memory of our hearts to care less and less, wince less frequently, and get frustrated at our inability to change.

With very little experiential hope of a complete transformation of the world, a great awakening, if you will, I can take comfort knowing and seeing transformation happen on a small scale in the Brentwood neighborhood.  I am more and more convinced of this the longer I'm in ministry, but the love of Jesus is the answer.  I would say that love in general is the answer, but the kind of love that Jesus has given us, the kind that always flows and never runs out, always gives and never takes, and always considers the other rather than the self is the only kind that can bring true redemption, reconciliation, recovery, and real growth.

Challenge Circle with Darien (boy on right) leading his team in cheers

Pretty much the entire month of July, we held our 8th Annual Summer Day Camp.  I led the Sports and Education stations this year, while heading up Challenge Circle many days as well.  Many of the kids were brand new to 2nd Mile and it has led to some very cool connections.  There were also some students that have been with us for over five years.  The bond that we've had with them has grown more and more.  Outside of immediate family, people that will probably have the most influence on a kid will be their teachers (who many only have for one year of their life), a coach (who may coach them a few years), or a mentor/tutor type of person.  I've had the privilege of seeing firsthand how relationships grow, how God makes each individual unique with gifts and passions, and how trust is mutually developed over a longer period of time.  When a kid knows you are there for them year after year, a transformation begins to happen.  They become more and more like the people who show up for them.  That's why it's so important for Christians (whether a newborn in the faith or a mature one) to remain in Christ, so we are more like him and see just how trust-worthy he is.

Water Day, a must at camp in Florida

The mission is not just for missionaries.  The mission is to make Christ known, who he is and what he has done, and what that means for sinners like us.  You can create stricter and more detailed laws, you can have an open dialogue across racial lines, you can throw money at any kind of problem, but where true growth happens, it's gotta be out of the love that was so freely given to us.  Pride is like headphones in a conversation.  I'm right and anything you say that slightly contradicts me, I'm ready with my defense, my blame-shifting, my justification.  Sometimes the best way to love someone is just to listen.  Every person has a story.  Every person has a song.  They may have nobody around them to hear them sing it.  As the years go by, my song includes the melodies and chord progressions of the songs I witness here.  As I write my blogs and sing my song, know that it includes some of what I'm seeing here.  In a place where people are forgotten, ignored, or dismissed as not good enough, I hope to get this song stuck in your head.  I pray you have the opportunity and courage to listen to those who may not have a loud voice yet their song is powerful, to those whose song clashes with yours challenging its overarching truth, and to those who aren't getting your song in their head.

Already into week 2 of the school year, we hope to enjoy this process of relationship-building again as we have ten new students (and very young I might add) with little-to-no relationship with us thus far.  Continue to pray for our high school program as it's only a couple months old and already bearing fruit.  Pray for the director's continued leadership and endurance in pouring his life into the next generation of local leadership.  Despite being a huge task, pray for the world, pray for the governing leaders (1 Tim. 2), pray for justice, pray for direction in your own life and how to advocate for those things that God has instructed and even commanded you to do.  Much love.  Check out more camp pictures on our facebook page.  (2nd Mile Ministries)

They sing their song...

...and I'm loving it.

Under Construction

 I left church yesterday dwelling on this short phrase that the pastor ended his sermon with.  In exciting anticipation of the day that he'll see Jesus and become like him, pastor H.B. Charles said that he may not look like much now, but one day he will look like what, or I should say who, he sees--Jesus Christ.  He said that he was just "temporarily under construction."  Ephesians 6:17 talks of the helmet of salvation.  First Thessalonians 5:8 says to put on the hope of salvation as a helmet.  It is important to protect our minds and have confidence of our salvation.  This assurance keeps us from living in "doubt, distraction, or discouragement" (-H.B.).  God makes us righteous when we put our trust in Him, and He continues to make us righteous until we see Him.

Coincidentally, yesterday I also completed C.S. Lewis's book The Screwtape Letters.  For those unfamiliar, this book is a fictional compilation of letters written from a demon named Screwtape to his demon nephew Wormwood, giving advice on how to manipulate and steer his human subject away from the Enemy (God).  Each letter displays the intricate aspects of human weakness and tendencies to backslide away from the Lord.  The last letter in the book beautifully describes the moment when the human subject died in the war and finally understood Wormwood's dealings with him when he was alive.  Screwtape writes to his nephew, "You have let a soul slip through your fingers.  The howl of sharpened famine for that loss re-echoes at this moment through all the levels of the Kingdom of Noise down to the very Throne itself.  It makes me mad to think of it.  How well I know what happened at the instant when they snatched him from you!  There was a sudden clearing of his eyes (was there not?) as he saw you for the first time, and recognised the part you had had in him and knew that you had it no longer.  Just think (and let it be the beginning of your agony) what he felt at that moment; as if a scab had fallen from an old sore, as if he were emerging from a hideous, shell-like tetter, as if he shuffled off for good and all a defiled, wet, clinging garment.  By Hell, it is misery enough to see them in their mortal days taking off dirtied and uncomfortable clothes and splashing in hot water and giving little grunts of pleasure--stretching their eased limbs.  What, then, of this final stripping, this complete cleansing?"  I wonder what it would be like to experience the complete absence of sin, to understand entirely what God has done for us in our lives and how little we really understood of it on earth.  As of right now, I am currently learning more and more of what it means to be a Christian, walking more than talking.  I still have many ways to improve, but God is my construction worker.

With the start of our high school program this summer, it adds to 2nd Mile's leadership pathway which started with elementary school students, then the Connect Middle School Program was added, and now high school.  The end of the school year was last Friday and I want to take a little time sharing about our six 5th graders moving on to middle school.  This is the fifth year of the two:fiftytwo After School Program and this is the most 5th graders we've ever had in one year of the program.

Ferrell and Mekhi

I've known Ferrell and Mekhi for a long time.  They started in our program when they were in 2nd grade, so for four years they've grown in wisdom, in stature, and in favor with God and man.  I met Ferrell when he was five years old back at summer camp in 2010.  He has a great sense of humor and is very personable with everyone.  He loves football and science, and we bond over some Dude Perfect videos.  It's been fun hanging out with him at the park and even at my house over the years.  We have an agreement that when he gets his driver's license, he'll take me wherever I want to go.  Pretty sweet deal!  He won our Leadership Award at the end of the year and we are excited to see how God shapes his future.  As his grandmother says, "He'll be with y'all forever," and so far that statement is true.  I've never seen a friendship tighter than the one Ferrell and Mekhi have.  Even since 2nd grade, they were great friends despite going to different schools and only meeting at our program.  Mekhi used to be very fidgety and sad/angry at times, but I've seen him grow socially, a lot credited to Ferrell.  He has a very creative mind and works well with his hands.  He got our engineering award and I don't know anyone who knows how to make more kinds of paper airplanes than he can.

Christian

I've only known Christian for the past two years, but his close friendship to Ferrell and Mekhi makes it feel like we've known him for much longer.  Christian also has a great sense of humor and is always willing to help out.  His serving heart isn't without its own purposes as he often tries to find ways to get the things he wants, like food, school supplies, etc.  We think he could be a business owner someday as he is very creative in the ways he helps and makes others happy in order that he himself is helped out.  We hope to spend as much time as we can with him since there's a possibility of moving in his future.

For the 5th grade girls, we have Breana, Caydince, and Myesha.  This was Breana's first year in our after school program, but we knew her from summer day camp so she had some familiarity with 2nd Mile Ministries.  She was the female recipient of our Leadership Award and has demonstrated this leadership by getting other girls excited to start a dance team during our rec time, and by creating box houses and eventually an entire cardboard neighborhood in one section of our facilities.  I feel the least worried about her transition to middle school as I feel she will do great.

Breana and Caydince making/eating sushi

This was Caydince's second year with us.  She and her brother Caden, also in the program, live right next door to the church that our program is held.  She will just as quickly toss a football around as she would do cartwheels and splits and handstands and other gymnastics.  Like Christian, I never really see anyone have a problem with her.  She is a joy to be around.

Myesha

And lastly, Myesha's story is amazing.  She seems to always be smiling and is friendly to everyone, no matter who it is.  I first met Myesha when she joined our program when she was in 3rd grade.  After leaving the program for a year, she came back to us in her 5th grade year.  She has a beautiful voice and has taken piano lessons all year.  What's amazing to me about her story is her ability to be so joyful yet be going through lots of, we'll just say, "stuff" in her family.

As some of these kids either move, or go away for the summer, please pray that they would have people who love them in their lives, pouring into them.  We hope that they are able to continue into Connect (middle school) with us and continue to discover who God is and who they are growing up to become.  God already knows what the final product of these kids will be.  Please pray. Please.