Part of our Texas team; my co-leaders at 7am after 4 hours of sleep.
If
I were to be completely transparent with you, I would have to admit
that this week has been nothing like what I had anticipated.
Absolutely. Positively. 100%. Different.
I
went on youth groups trips when I was in high school and I loved
them. When I was seventeen I went on my first project to a Native
American Reservation in New Mexico and started to have my eyes open
to the poverty, inequalities and great need that was all around me.
However, I would never have guessed that this small week in a rough
New Orleans neighborhood could have brought about just as much change
in me as that first trip twelve years ago did.
I
have experienced more these past nine days than I expect to encounter
in a year. Honestly. It’s been that big of a trip. I’ve sat at
this computer screen for two hours trying to figure out how to get it
all out. And there’s just too much. So instead, here’s a glimpse.
Our
welcome to the city. We lost a window and our belongings.
In
the last six months I’ve had: my wedding ring, wallets (yes, multiple), clothes, toiletries, money, camera (these photos are all from my co-worker’s camera), sleeping bag…all taken.
One day I’ll hopefully start replacing these things. But to be
honest, I’ll be fine without them. God has really challenged me
this week to start actively
believing.
It’s
a whole lot easier to say eternal things matter more then earthly
things. That is, until you start losing your earthy things.
Helping around the community.
Poverty.
I’ve seen that when you’re poor, you’re often poor in many ways.
Money, education, job opportunities, transportation, nutritious food
(I have eaten one
vegetable since my arrival), health, safety, mindset…more ways than
I can count. What
can I do? Where do I start? How can I walk by one more person and
simply turn away? Didn’t Jesus say that what you do to one of these
you do to ME? [Matthew 25:35-45]
Some of my housemates for the week!
I’m
sharing a room with two beautiful women [front + center] in a rehab
center. They have been through more in a day then I have experienced
in my life thus far. They have been beat, raped and thrown aside.
They have spent more nights in terror then peace. They have had to
fend for themselves since they could walk.
Yet,
they live with such an unbelievable understanding of their need for
God. They don’t do it on their own. They do the supernatural
because their God is able. When will I learn? When will I stop
living out of my own strength? When will I let the LIVING, BREATHING
God who dwells within me take over?
