As the seasons change, or so I hear - we don't have many colors as proof down here in Abilene - so do our seasons of life and relationships. As we've come to know some of our new friends some of the more notable events and stories have slowed. But please do not hear me write this with a negative tone. We in the Allelon house remain excited for the growth and depth of relationship to come, only possible through time and God's divine appointment.
We play a fair amount of basketball, football, and tennis with youth from the neighborhood. Some stopped coming around and others took their place. Still new faces spring up each week. Each Monday, someone(s) make it to Moo Moo's football game to root him on as he intercepts countless passes and goosesteps into the end zone for numerous touchdowns. Tomorrow, I hope some of us will take in a gymnastics meet and this weekend there might be some pumpkin carving excitement.
Good things are happening. Relationships molding. Souls interweaving. Some ribbing and wrestling splatter the freshly chilled air with laughter. Everybody learns from everybody, and we wouldn't have it any other way. But continue to stay tuned, for there are more tales to be told including a potential LeCrae concert, a Christmas party, and God knows what else.
We like to thank anyone who reads this for their prayers. They are much solicited and appreciated. Also, since Wes and I posted on the same day, MAKE SURE YOU CONTINUE READING BELOW, for his words are rich, encouraging, and water to a weary soul.
Monday, October 26, 2009
To You, O Lord, I Lift My Soul.
Hear my prayer, O LORD;
let my cry for help come to you.
2 Do not hide your face from me
when I am in distress.
Turn your ear to me;
when I call, answer me quickly.
Sometimes I get discouraged for no reason. It doesn’t make sense: Life is good. I just got back from a great camping trip where I was able to stand in wonder at God’s beautiful creation. School is busy, but manageable. Life in community is crazy, but so rich. Why am I discouraged?
This psalm is the psalm of an afflicted man. I am not afflicted; I am blessed! So why can I feel the weight of these prayers in my marrow as they flow through me and out to the Lord?
My heart is blighted and withered like grass;
I forget to eat my food.
5 Because of my loud groaning
I am reduced to skin and bones.
6 I am like a desert owl,
like an owl among the ruins.
7 I lie awake; I have become
like a bird alone on a roof.
I am surrounded by community, and yet I feel utterly alone. Moments of laughter and joy are immediately quenched by the overwhelming insignificance of all my efforts, all my failures, all my growth. Times of prayer that should be dominated by thanksgiving coming from the lips of one so blessed are filled with weeping. I don’t even know why I am weeping or what would dry up my tears, but when I am most vulnerable, on my face before God, all that comes is lament.
The sun is shining bright in our land, at my school, and in our community, but in my soul it is a dark night. The truth is I am scared of the dark. How do I react when the darkness of my soul seems as arbitrary as the weather – or maybe as hopelessly cyclical as day and night?
But you, O LORD, sit enthroned forever;
your renown endures through all generations.
13 You will arise and have compassion on Zion,
for it is time to show favor to her;
the appointed time has come.
14 For her stones are dear to your servants;
her very dust moves them to pity.
15 The nations will fear the name of the LORD,
all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.
I will bless the name of the Lord forever. In the brightest day and in the darkest night, I will stand in wonder at his work in the world. Even if I feel utterly alone, the truth is that it is not about me and that God is bringing about a redemption in this world that far supersedes my emotions, and that truth will sustain me.
Somebody asked me what the middle section would be if I were to write a psalm of lament – you know, the part where the psalmist stops whining and talks about the ways that he sees the Lord working that allow him to Praise God in the midst of struggle. Well, here we go:
We have a set of glass sliding doors in Allelon house, so we set out some dry-erase markers so that anyone can write on the glass. One of the kids from the neighborhood wrote “Love is in here” the other day.
The life group I used to be a part of when I attended Beltway is helping my new church prepare Thanksgiving meals for people who wouldn’t be able to afford them otherwise. In this and so many other ways, God is breaking down walls between congregations and denominations and is uniting His Body to be broken bread and poured-out wine in the world.
Josh went to Moo Moo’s football game today. This is the third week in a row he has been there cheering him on. Tomorrow we’re going to Allenia’s program at her school. We’re going to carpool with her family who wouldn’t have been able to go otherwise. Together, as one huge family, we’re going to cheer on a beautiful little girl who we all love.
I bought Jimbo and Debbie some gas today so that they could get to Wichita Falls for his hearing tomorrow morning. We don’t know for sure when or if Jimbo will be back. I’m honestly going to miss him. As they were getting ready to leave, we shook hands at least four times and finally gave each other a hug. He had noticed that I like wearing bandannas, and he pulled one of out of his pocket to give to me – something to remember him by.
Sometime in the next few months, I’m going to stand in for my friend Clarence so that he can marry the woman he loves. It’s been beautiful to watch the Lord bring redemption and forgiveness even through the unimaginable emotional, spiritual, and physical separation of incarceration. He is at work in the darkest prison cell and the darkest corner of my heart.
But you remain the same,
and your years will never end.
28 The children of your servants will live in your presence;
their descendants will be established before you.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Rights of the Nonviolent
Since our new young friends stopped in a couple weeks ago, they haven't missed a day to stop in. One of my favorite activities to observe Wes read Redwall (by Brian Jacques) to Allenia. The young'ns have noticed the amount of reading material scattered around the house, some Dr. Seuss, some Bible commentary, some classic fictions.
In a moment of (secretly) hopeful humor I offered to read my current selection to him. Thinking it would be over his 11 year old head, as I often read the same paragraph multiple times to breathe in each oozing thought, I inquired, "Hey bro, wanna read this with me?" [fold Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Why We Can't Wait and rotate to showoff]
But before my arrogance could chalk up another point on the board, ignorance blurted out its warning in the form of this adolescent's innocence. "Nah, we're reading that in school," retorted the not-yet-teen. Thinking he was politely passing me off as some freak, I refused to believe him. "Whatever. Wait. Are you serious?"
"Let me see the cover." (What a clever response that would be be, I thought)
I hand him the book.
"Yeah, that's it," he confirms.
"This one, here? This book? By Martin Luther King, Jr.? Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?"
[Exasperated]"Yes."
"Look again. Why We Can't Wait? In your class? At school?"
"Yeah. We're on like chapter 6 or something." [astonished that I don't believe him]
"Okay. I believe you. That's awesome. Its a really good book."
Now I'm rushing through the book to catch his class so we can talk about it. Civil rights movement conversations with a 6th grader. Rock on.
In a moment of (secretly) hopeful humor I offered to read my current selection to him. Thinking it would be over his 11 year old head, as I often read the same paragraph multiple times to breathe in each oozing thought, I inquired, "Hey bro, wanna read this with me?" [fold Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Why We Can't Wait and rotate to showoff]
But before my arrogance could chalk up another point on the board, ignorance blurted out its warning in the form of this adolescent's innocence. "Nah, we're reading that in school," retorted the not-yet-teen. Thinking he was politely passing me off as some freak, I refused to believe him. "Whatever. Wait. Are you serious?"
"Let me see the cover." (What a clever response that would be be, I thought)
I hand him the book.
"Yeah, that's it," he confirms.
"This one, here? This book? By Martin Luther King, Jr.? Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?"
[Exasperated]"Yes."
"Look again. Why We Can't Wait? In your class? At school?"
"Yeah. We're on like chapter 6 or something." [astonished that I don't believe him]
"Okay. I believe you. That's awesome. Its a really good book."
Now I'm rushing through the book to catch his class so we can talk about it. Civil rights movement conversations with a 6th grader. Rock on.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Enough Theology
Let me preface that this is a confession, and so it may be offensive, but the intent is not harm. Not harm to my self nor to others but rather to be transparent. I am constantly trying to rid my self of pride that centers on my own accomplishments. So here it goes...
Even though I've made a school career out of the subject matter its taken me a long time to reach just a little way, and even all of that is by the grace of God, and most especially in terms of my legalism. How I detest my religious inclinations some times, my pride says "so much to know about God, so much Theology" and the more I have- the prouder I get. The only thing I can really do with all that knowledge is compare it to others. Thats my weakness. What else don't I know? In what way can I extend my knowledge and speech about the unending mysteries of the God that made everything. If he made everything then, yeah, we should have a default inescapable knowledge of him: He who is everywhere, though... he might not be just anywhere.
I cant escape having a theology, as painful as the process can be some times, but there is something more that God wants from me. I say: "God is good, God is Great, God is powerful." God says: "...well yeah, uh huh that's obvious, but do you know me?" Ah, see Josh there is the difference between the apostles and the Pharasees, the difference between the Centurion and the Sadducees, between the sheep and the goats. Jesus doesn't say: "Away from me you never knew about me." He says "Away from me I never knew you." The son reveals him self to those he chooses - enter his gates with thanksgiving in your heart, Josh. That's what I need.
i confess this sin brothers and sisters, of being one who seeks to know about God for my own pride and power.
God doesn't want me to be Theologian so much. (everyone is a theologian)
God wants Theophilons. (friends of God)
Is that me? Am I a friend of God?
"For they are the kind of worshipers the father seeks, God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth" John 4:23-24
and understanding is more...
"that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best..." Phil 1:9
because he said
"love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his masters business. Instead I have called you friends, for everything that I have learned from my father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I choose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-fruit that will last. Then the father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other." John 15
I think God wants me to be a lover of him, a friend , not a knower of him.
If I must keep the vocalbulary of "Knowing" in this case "to know" should mean to love him- like in the strength of the verb as found in Hebrew: To know intimately.
Like to whom the book of Acts is written God wants those kind, seeks those kind.
Like Theophilus, Lord make me a Theophilon.
Thanks for listening to this long belated confession.
Even though I've made a school career out of the subject matter its taken me a long time to reach just a little way, and even all of that is by the grace of God, and most especially in terms of my legalism. How I detest my religious inclinations some times, my pride says "so much to know about God, so much Theology" and the more I have- the prouder I get. The only thing I can really do with all that knowledge is compare it to others. Thats my weakness. What else don't I know? In what way can I extend my knowledge and speech about the unending mysteries of the God that made everything. If he made everything then, yeah, we should have a default inescapable knowledge of him: He who is everywhere, though... he might not be just anywhere.
I cant escape having a theology, as painful as the process can be some times, but there is something more that God wants from me. I say: "God is good, God is Great, God is powerful." God says: "...well yeah, uh huh that's obvious, but do you know me?" Ah, see Josh there is the difference between the apostles and the Pharasees, the difference between the Centurion and the Sadducees, between the sheep and the goats. Jesus doesn't say: "Away from me you never knew about me." He says "Away from me I never knew you." The son reveals him self to those he chooses - enter his gates with thanksgiving in your heart, Josh. That's what I need.
i confess this sin brothers and sisters, of being one who seeks to know about God for my own pride and power.
God doesn't want me to be Theologian so much. (everyone is a theologian)
God wants Theophilons. (friends of God)
Is that me? Am I a friend of God?
"For they are the kind of worshipers the father seeks, God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth" John 4:23-24
and understanding is more...
"that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best..." Phil 1:9
because he said
"love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his masters business. Instead I have called you friends, for everything that I have learned from my father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I choose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-fruit that will last. Then the father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other." John 15
I think God wants me to be a lover of him, a friend , not a knower of him.
If I must keep the vocalbulary of "Knowing" in this case "to know" should mean to love him- like in the strength of the verb as found in Hebrew: To know intimately.
Like to whom the book of Acts is written God wants those kind, seeks those kind.
Like Theophilus, Lord make me a Theophilon.
Thanks for listening to this long belated confession.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Let the Little Children Come to Me
Last Thursday we had Randy over again to talk about how things were going. It's always nice to have a different age demographic in the house; it seems to expose the ridiculous nature of our joy, because you see, its only when we become self-aware of our meal time behavior that we realize just how happy we have become in this community. So the community aspect of our ministry is still going strong. Our attempt at outreach had not been so successful over the past week.
On Sunday we tried to invite people over for a neighborhood cookout. Lots of people said they would come - Bubba Green said he would bring a bunch of people....no one came. But we had a large number of hot dogs to live off of for the week. Going into Thursday night, I thought a lot about what we could do differently. One idea Aaron and I had throughout is making food and simply taking it to people's doors. We're still in the stage of just needing to meet people so, you know, anything to do that. Anyways, we're sitting there telling Randy about all of this when a knock sounds on our back door. Only the people we know come to the back door. Usually first time visitors use the front door.
I got up and rushed around the corner and opened the door. Two young children were just standing there looking up at me. An 11 year old boy and a 9 year old girl. They just stared at me. I said "whats up." (the two children shrug) "...want some dinner?" (they shrug) "want to come in?" (emphatically they nod.)
Moo Moo and Allenia
We didn't do a thing to bring them in. They just came.
It's like they knew the kingdom had manifested on their block and so they came. They came to Jesus.
Since that day another 8 kids have come over, three of them completely unconnected to Moo Moo and Allenia. Like Bobby - the same thing happened the first time he came over, and he's only like 6 years old.
I have no idea how we expect to handle the ministry God is sending us without help. We already have more to do than we have time for and its only been a few months. But I know He's going to provide. These kids just showed up after all. His servants will as well.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Tickets Please
"It's gettin' more and more blunt, haven't you noticed?"
Today, God bought two concert tickets.
Not for himself, mind you, but for two of our new neighborhood friends - Allina, age 9, and Moomoo, age 11.
In celebration of our good friend Meredith's birthday, Josh, Wes, and I all bought tickets to the David Crowder Band concert. I arrived at the concert first, so I called Wes and Josh to find out where they were.
"We're ten or fifteen minutes out."
"Awesome. I've got your tickets when you get here."
"But here's the deal. Allina and Moomoo are with us."
"Ok. I'm on it." And I went out to the ticket booth to buy two more tickets. Apparently God thought it was vital that we spend time with these kids, and that they know just how fully He can and will provide for them.
Before I even had time to ask the lady at the ticket counter if I needed cash to buy more tickets, a man barged into the small booth, pointed at me and said, "How many tickets do you need?"
"Uh...two more."
"Here." He handed me Allina and Moomoo's tickets and walked out.
I was so blown away that I simply had to tell someone about what God had just done so randomly.
Ok, so I told several somebodies.
My favorite response, though, was, "It's getting more and more blunt, haven't you noticed?"
Today, God bought two concert tickets.
Not for himself, mind you, but for two of our new neighborhood friends - Allina, age 9, and Moomoo, age 11.
In celebration of our good friend Meredith's birthday, Josh, Wes, and I all bought tickets to the David Crowder Band concert. I arrived at the concert first, so I called Wes and Josh to find out where they were.
"We're ten or fifteen minutes out."
"Awesome. I've got your tickets when you get here."
"But here's the deal. Allina and Moomoo are with us."
"Ok. I'm on it." And I went out to the ticket booth to buy two more tickets. Apparently God thought it was vital that we spend time with these kids, and that they know just how fully He can and will provide for them.
Before I even had time to ask the lady at the ticket counter if I needed cash to buy more tickets, a man barged into the small booth, pointed at me and said, "How many tickets do you need?"
"Uh...two more."
"Here." He handed me Allina and Moomoo's tickets and walked out.
I was so blown away that I simply had to tell someone about what God had just done so randomly.
Ok, so I told several somebodies.
My favorite response, though, was, "It's getting more and more blunt, haven't you noticed?"
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Feeding The Poor Feeding Us
This story starts a few stories back, so give me a moment to get there.
The power of love is slowly taking over Abilene, which means that Jesus sightings are increasing. His love is an all consuming fire. What water can quench it? Everything I have ever looked for is satisfied within this man's embrace. It's crazy but true. Even fear is cast to the side in the presence of his love. The current sermon series at church is called Love War. The pastor started off by unveiling a painting of pretty dramatic proportions. One of the church members painted him a modern day, living, breathing image of what Jesus means by "love your enemies." The picture was Jesus kneeling before Osama Bin Laden, washing his feet in front of a restored Twin Towers. His point was this: Osama Bin Laden is one love encounter away from being the next Paul the Apostle. Can you reach the Muslim extremist? I might not be able to, but Osama surely could, and the fact is Osama might - if one follower of the way was willing to lay down their life for him. So why Love War? Because love is its own supernatural power. When human instinct says fight or flight, love says "Here's the other cheek, I forgive you." Supernatural love gets nailed to the cross and says : "Father forgive them, they know not what they do." Supernatural love lets the enemy be one of his twelve closest friends.
Many can overcome the fear of death knowing it is unavoidable, but only love can defeat death, only love removes the fear of living. Not any love - the love that Christ shows us, gives us and wraps us in. This is the kind of love that enables a heart to care for the poor. The only currency that enables a transaction between The Have and Have Nots is love, because its the only thing that a rich man will receive in return.
Having said that, all my favorite praise songs right now have to do with love...
try this one:
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
Your perfect love is casting out fear
And even when I'm caught in the middle of the storms of this life
I won't turn back
I know you are near
And I will fear no evil
For my God is with me
And if my God is with me
Whom then shall I fear?
Whom then shall I fear?
(Chorus:)
Oh no, You never let go
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, You never let go
Lord, You never let go of me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f85o-whqDY
After learning this song in particular my life changed pretty drastically. I started singing it all the time. It's a good song musically but it's also so rich in the spirit. It's freedom for my bones, water for my weary soul. You can disagree if you want but I wouldn't recommend it. One day I was walking home with this song stuck in my head, and I was really grabbing hold of the line "Your perfect love is casting out fear." This has got to be the reason Peter determined he could walk on water, even if for a short time. If I saw my savior in the flesh, no obstacle would keep me from him; his love would simply compel me. Its in coming to this kind of love that I've started to understand the early martyrs. Did you know they really wanted to die? It was an honor to be slaughtered for the sake of Christ, and for a moment, on that Friday afternoon, I felt the same way. My path changed its course. Suddenly I found myself walking towards the most dangerous street in our neighborhood. Not just that, but my feet were making their way towards the part of the street that our friend Zelma told us to never go to. Why? I'm not sure, I just felt that love wanted to make an appearance in the heart of a dark and forgotten place.
I stood there for a moment and stretched out my arms, releasing all the love in my body and closing my eyes. My heart beckoned me to approach one of the houses surrounding me. When I opened my eyes I was surprised by what I saw. There was a sign on one of the old beat up houses. It read something like: "Jesus is Lord of the Stevenson neighborhood." Naturally, I walked up to this house and knocked on the door.
"Come in." came a deep and weathered voice. The old screen door with no handle squeaked open. I squinted my eyes and looked in. It wasn't really a house. The building was just one small room. There was a high counter in front of me with a kitchen behind it. A middle-aged African American man wiped the sweat from his eyes as I took a step through the door. The expression on his face said something like: "What on earth is a white boy doing here?" I introduced myself and explained that my roommates and I had recently moved in on Cockerell Dr.
"The name's Riley. I'm the pastor of the mission church here" he said. My Spirit settled as I realized that my life was not going to meet with Christ's as soon as I hoped for. Riley was busy cleaning up a bunch of plates and running them through the sink. It turns out I showed up right at the end of the Thursday lunch program. I think it took a moment for Riley to really believe I was there, and maybe even the rest of the day after our meeting to believe that we really moved into the hood, but, in any case, I invited him over for dinner some time. It was good getting to know Riley that night he came over. He's T Dog's uncle, one of our high school friends that hangs out with John. It was good to hear his take on the area.
After dinner we offered our service to Pastor Riley in any way we could help. Almost instantly he was in, and in moments we were planning what we could bring for the next Thursday lunch program. As Riley left, a communal sigh of relief went up from our souls. We had prayed for more opportunities to serve our hood, and feeding the needy is the thing we enjoy the most. We love to cook in our house, especially together. The interesting thing about our house is that it either has a lot of food in it, or really none at all. We seem to feed a lot of people and eat a lot of left overs. Anyways, planning for our meal took an interesting turn on Tuesday. During a Bible study on the parable of the talents, Wes and I were surprised by a knock on the front door. It was surprising because people usually use the back door. There was a woman holding a couple plastic bags standing at our door. She heard from some one at church what we were doing in our house and the ministry it was bringing, and she wanted to come by and bring some things. She brought bed spreads, cups, plates, canned food, and a few gallons of milk. She stayed just long enough for us to get her name. Angel. Oh, by the way, she has four kids lives with some family and is on WIC, which is a kind of welfare program. She works two jobs, and she even offered to come over and clean our house for us once a week. Right when we get to a place to feel good about the Lord's work in our lives, something comes along to trump out our pride and teach us deeper humility.
Lunch with Riley led me to meet a bunch of the neighbors, and I even got to step foot into the house of all bad houses in the hood. That day is a story all of its own. I'm sure in the future we'll have to back track and weave some of that stuff into a post, but at the end of the day, my mind kept coming back to this: Feeding the Poor Feeding Us?
This kingdom is so upside down.
I love it.
"Our lion is a lamb that did more with love than war ever will." - Prayer tent
The power of love is slowly taking over Abilene, which means that Jesus sightings are increasing. His love is an all consuming fire. What water can quench it? Everything I have ever looked for is satisfied within this man's embrace. It's crazy but true. Even fear is cast to the side in the presence of his love. The current sermon series at church is called Love War. The pastor started off by unveiling a painting of pretty dramatic proportions. One of the church members painted him a modern day, living, breathing image of what Jesus means by "love your enemies." The picture was Jesus kneeling before Osama Bin Laden, washing his feet in front of a restored Twin Towers. His point was this: Osama Bin Laden is one love encounter away from being the next Paul the Apostle. Can you reach the Muslim extremist? I might not be able to, but Osama surely could, and the fact is Osama might - if one follower of the way was willing to lay down their life for him. So why Love War? Because love is its own supernatural power. When human instinct says fight or flight, love says "Here's the other cheek, I forgive you." Supernatural love gets nailed to the cross and says : "Father forgive them, they know not what they do." Supernatural love lets the enemy be one of his twelve closest friends.
Many can overcome the fear of death knowing it is unavoidable, but only love can defeat death, only love removes the fear of living. Not any love - the love that Christ shows us, gives us and wraps us in. This is the kind of love that enables a heart to care for the poor. The only currency that enables a transaction between The Have and Have Nots is love, because its the only thing that a rich man will receive in return.
Having said that, all my favorite praise songs right now have to do with love...
try this one:
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
Your perfect love is casting out fear
And even when I'm caught in the middle of the storms of this life
I won't turn back
I know you are near
And I will fear no evil
For my God is with me
And if my God is with me
Whom then shall I fear?
Whom then shall I fear?
(Chorus:)
Oh no, You never let go
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, You never let go
Lord, You never let go of me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f85o-whqDY
After learning this song in particular my life changed pretty drastically. I started singing it all the time. It's a good song musically but it's also so rich in the spirit. It's freedom for my bones, water for my weary soul. You can disagree if you want but I wouldn't recommend it. One day I was walking home with this song stuck in my head, and I was really grabbing hold of the line "Your perfect love is casting out fear." This has got to be the reason Peter determined he could walk on water, even if for a short time. If I saw my savior in the flesh, no obstacle would keep me from him; his love would simply compel me. Its in coming to this kind of love that I've started to understand the early martyrs. Did you know they really wanted to die? It was an honor to be slaughtered for the sake of Christ, and for a moment, on that Friday afternoon, I felt the same way. My path changed its course. Suddenly I found myself walking towards the most dangerous street in our neighborhood. Not just that, but my feet were making their way towards the part of the street that our friend Zelma told us to never go to. Why? I'm not sure, I just felt that love wanted to make an appearance in the heart of a dark and forgotten place.
I stood there for a moment and stretched out my arms, releasing all the love in my body and closing my eyes. My heart beckoned me to approach one of the houses surrounding me. When I opened my eyes I was surprised by what I saw. There was a sign on one of the old beat up houses. It read something like: "Jesus is Lord of the Stevenson neighborhood." Naturally, I walked up to this house and knocked on the door.
"Come in." came a deep and weathered voice. The old screen door with no handle squeaked open. I squinted my eyes and looked in. It wasn't really a house. The building was just one small room. There was a high counter in front of me with a kitchen behind it. A middle-aged African American man wiped the sweat from his eyes as I took a step through the door. The expression on his face said something like: "What on earth is a white boy doing here?" I introduced myself and explained that my roommates and I had recently moved in on Cockerell Dr.
"The name's Riley. I'm the pastor of the mission church here" he said. My Spirit settled as I realized that my life was not going to meet with Christ's as soon as I hoped for. Riley was busy cleaning up a bunch of plates and running them through the sink. It turns out I showed up right at the end of the Thursday lunch program. I think it took a moment for Riley to really believe I was there, and maybe even the rest of the day after our meeting to believe that we really moved into the hood, but, in any case, I invited him over for dinner some time. It was good getting to know Riley that night he came over. He's T Dog's uncle, one of our high school friends that hangs out with John. It was good to hear his take on the area.
After dinner we offered our service to Pastor Riley in any way we could help. Almost instantly he was in, and in moments we were planning what we could bring for the next Thursday lunch program. As Riley left, a communal sigh of relief went up from our souls. We had prayed for more opportunities to serve our hood, and feeding the needy is the thing we enjoy the most. We love to cook in our house, especially together. The interesting thing about our house is that it either has a lot of food in it, or really none at all. We seem to feed a lot of people and eat a lot of left overs. Anyways, planning for our meal took an interesting turn on Tuesday. During a Bible study on the parable of the talents, Wes and I were surprised by a knock on the front door. It was surprising because people usually use the back door. There was a woman holding a couple plastic bags standing at our door. She heard from some one at church what we were doing in our house and the ministry it was bringing, and she wanted to come by and bring some things. She brought bed spreads, cups, plates, canned food, and a few gallons of milk. She stayed just long enough for us to get her name. Angel. Oh, by the way, she has four kids lives with some family and is on WIC, which is a kind of welfare program. She works two jobs, and she even offered to come over and clean our house for us once a week. Right when we get to a place to feel good about the Lord's work in our lives, something comes along to trump out our pride and teach us deeper humility.
Lunch with Riley led me to meet a bunch of the neighbors, and I even got to step foot into the house of all bad houses in the hood. That day is a story all of its own. I'm sure in the future we'll have to back track and weave some of that stuff into a post, but at the end of the day, my mind kept coming back to this: Feeding the Poor Feeding Us?
This kingdom is so upside down.
I love it.
"Our lion is a lamb that did more with love than war ever will." - Prayer tent
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