This week was VBS at Olive Springs. I worked with a team of 4 amazing adults to teach the 5th and 6th grade class. We had about 22 kids each night!
We split the kids up into 5 teams. I was the coach of Miracle Workers 1 (they chose the name!!!). I had a great time getting to know my group of 6 amazing girls. I taught them about Jesus, how to obey God and was able to share my story of coming to Christ with them. It was exciting telling them how God called me to be His child 16 years ago at VBS. Then later that night I got to help a precious girl, Dwymesha, step into God's family. It was an amazing moment. Sixteen years ago Clara Winchester did that for me and now here I am continuing the process. God's kingdom is amazing. He is working.
The really cool thing about all of this is the Dwymesha lives in the apartments where we are doing Kids Club. She didn't know about it, but now she will be coming every week. This gives me like 6 more weeks to continue our relationship and to get to know her family. I am excited to see where this connection leads.
It was an exhausting but wonderful week, 144 kids all total, almost 100 of them from the community. God is continuing to grow my love for the children in this community.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Friday, June 15, 2007
Student Life Camp
Tonight Stacey and I went to visit the Olive Springs youth at Student Life Camp at Covenant College on Lookout Mountain.
Student Life has been a huge part of both my teenage and adult life. This year would have been my 12th year. That's right, I said would have. I didn't go. I didn't get asked. I don't even really work with student's anymore. But it was killing me. Watching them pack up and roll out Tuesday morning without me hurt my heart. So Stacey made a big sacrifice and we went up and spent the day. It was fun. It made me feel apart, even if just for a day.
Covenant is the first place I ever went to camp. It is kind of a sacred place to me for that reason. Even though it is old and really smelly, walking through the halls floods my mind with precious memories of my life with friends and God.
Our youth group is so different now. I don't know very many of the students. Most of the student's that I poured my life into have either moved on or lost interest. There are a few left, my precious Sunday School boys, who I love and adore, even though they have made my life difficult at times. So as I'm sitting there tonight looking at this strange crowd, it's a different group. These are no longer church kids. They are kids with hard lives, big issues and lots of problems. They are hard to get to know, they are different than me, so it's harder to relate to them. They seem to have no respect for anything including themselves. I don't know them. I don't like them. I don't feel the love that I have felt for my students for them. I'm confessing that. God loves them. He created them. I give up on them, and I've known them a day. He continually pursues them and me. They are just as worth the pursuit as I am. So this is where the sermon comes in....
The speaker is talking about Jonah 4 and how Jonah is mad because he doesn't think the Ninivities deserve grace and saving and that the reason for that is the Jonah loves himself more than he loves others. I'm still thinking about how this is true of me in comparison with these students. I like me. I love me. I like God to love me. How selfish. I've got it. I have the grace. I've been saved, not just from death but from the horrible life that many of them face. I feel grateful, that should spur me on to compassion, but yet like the pastor said tonight, instead of caring, we don't care. We don't even care enough to hate, we simply just don't care. We're apathetic. I'm apathetic. I know is calling me out of that, and like Jonah, I don't like it.
I love students. I love teaching them. God has gifted me to do this. I've tried to deny it. I've denied it for a whole year. But I can't deny who I am. So, I think I am going to have to swallow my pride and figure out some way to reconnect with student ministry. That is a huge risk for me. It could be costly. It could get ugly. It will require major humility. I truly don't know if I'm up for it. I could fail. I could get hurt again.
So, I don't know what this means. I guess I'm starting the journey of figuring it out. Somehow, someway my life is going to reconnect with students again.
Student Life....it's more than a camp. It's a cornerstone in my life. It reminds me of who I am, of where I've come from and once again it has helped to point me to where I am going.
Student Life has been a huge part of both my teenage and adult life. This year would have been my 12th year. That's right, I said would have. I didn't go. I didn't get asked. I don't even really work with student's anymore. But it was killing me. Watching them pack up and roll out Tuesday morning without me hurt my heart. So Stacey made a big sacrifice and we went up and spent the day. It was fun. It made me feel apart, even if just for a day.
Covenant is the first place I ever went to camp. It is kind of a sacred place to me for that reason. Even though it is old and really smelly, walking through the halls floods my mind with precious memories of my life with friends and God.
Our youth group is so different now. I don't know very many of the students. Most of the student's that I poured my life into have either moved on or lost interest. There are a few left, my precious Sunday School boys, who I love and adore, even though they have made my life difficult at times. So as I'm sitting there tonight looking at this strange crowd, it's a different group. These are no longer church kids. They are kids with hard lives, big issues and lots of problems. They are hard to get to know, they are different than me, so it's harder to relate to them. They seem to have no respect for anything including themselves. I don't know them. I don't like them. I don't feel the love that I have felt for my students for them. I'm confessing that. God loves them. He created them. I give up on them, and I've known them a day. He continually pursues them and me. They are just as worth the pursuit as I am. So this is where the sermon comes in....
The speaker is talking about Jonah 4 and how Jonah is mad because he doesn't think the Ninivities deserve grace and saving and that the reason for that is the Jonah loves himself more than he loves others. I'm still thinking about how this is true of me in comparison with these students. I like me. I love me. I like God to love me. How selfish. I've got it. I have the grace. I've been saved, not just from death but from the horrible life that many of them face. I feel grateful, that should spur me on to compassion, but yet like the pastor said tonight, instead of caring, we don't care. We don't even care enough to hate, we simply just don't care. We're apathetic. I'm apathetic. I know is calling me out of that, and like Jonah, I don't like it.
I love students. I love teaching them. God has gifted me to do this. I've tried to deny it. I've denied it for a whole year. But I can't deny who I am. So, I think I am going to have to swallow my pride and figure out some way to reconnect with student ministry. That is a huge risk for me. It could be costly. It could get ugly. It will require major humility. I truly don't know if I'm up for it. I could fail. I could get hurt again.
So, I don't know what this means. I guess I'm starting the journey of figuring it out. Somehow, someway my life is going to reconnect with students again.
Student Life....it's more than a camp. It's a cornerstone in my life. It reminds me of who I am, of where I've come from and once again it has helped to point me to where I am going.
Monday, June 11, 2007
homeless man
There is this homeless man that has been hanging around Olive Springs for several weeks. He's just a kid, 19 years old, and it appears that he lives in his car. He's stolen food, scared a couple of people and then last week, he broke in to the church. Last night, he just appeared at a time when no one else was there and all the doors were looked, which confirmed our suspicion that he has been hiding in the church. It was creepy the way he just appeared. Due to the break in we had to call the police. It was a kind of scary and intense situation. No one knew where he was, we just knew he was in the church somewhere. The police searched the building and found him. I have never been apart of anything like that before. I have never felt afraid inside my own church, but last night, we did.
I am struggling with this. This guy, he is not like the homeless people that Shane Claiborne talks about. We have tried to be his friend. He doesn't want to talk, be friends, be apart. Nothing. He just wants stuff from us. He is aggressive when you have nothing to offer and the police suspect that he is on meth. That is the struggle. I want to be an advocate for the poor and homeless. I want them to be able to come to the church when they need help, but I don't want to be stupid and careless with other people's lives and safety. I know that Christianity is not safe. But I am not willing to risk my life over giving this guy a piece of pizza. Maybe that means I don't believe in the revolution the way I thought I did. I don't know what it means really. All I know is I get that feeling of uneasiness around this guy.
Today I feel like I've failed to be different. I still feel like we did the right thing, the only thing we could do, but I still hate it. So the question on my mind today, is how do we handle the homeless in this community? It feels hard to find the balance between caring for them and being careless about others in our church.
I am struggling with this. This guy, he is not like the homeless people that Shane Claiborne talks about. We have tried to be his friend. He doesn't want to talk, be friends, be apart. Nothing. He just wants stuff from us. He is aggressive when you have nothing to offer and the police suspect that he is on meth. That is the struggle. I want to be an advocate for the poor and homeless. I want them to be able to come to the church when they need help, but I don't want to be stupid and careless with other people's lives and safety. I know that Christianity is not safe. But I am not willing to risk my life over giving this guy a piece of pizza. Maybe that means I don't believe in the revolution the way I thought I did. I don't know what it means really. All I know is I get that feeling of uneasiness around this guy.
Today I feel like I've failed to be different. I still feel like we did the right thing, the only thing we could do, but I still hate it. So the question on my mind today, is how do we handle the homeless in this community? It feels hard to find the balance between caring for them and being careless about others in our church.
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