It's Football Season!

Summer is winding down and fall is just around the corner. Most of all it's FOOTBALL SEASON! One of my favorite places to hang out when I'm at home is not here on Oak Street but one block over in Shelby Park. Much of my time spent in Shelby Park consists of just hanging out and occasionally playing with my friends Egypt, London, and Rio (all of whom are under the age of 7). I know this can seem strange or pointless when we think of going to the park to do ministry but I have to remind myself that, even here in America, cultures are different. There are a lot of things I have yet to learn about inner city culture. Especially having grown up in a more rural area in Northeast Georgia. The big question is "How does this all tie in to FOOTBALL SEASON???" Well, Shelby Park may not be an ideal place for recreational leagues to practice but hey, they're here. I may know nothing about the kids on the team, their names, or their parents but I can and I will support them. This is my community. This is my home. Those are my neighbors. With that being said...GO BEARS!

Medical Clinic

Each year Sojourn Community Church holds a free medical clinic for the Shelby Park community. Now, I know that for you economist out there that just read that first sentence you're thinking "there is no such thing as free lunch." You're right, the medical clinic was not entirely free. People gave up their time that could have been spent doing something else or getting paid for the services they offered that day. God called each volunteer to serve at the medical clinic and they were obedient. That obedience allowed for the Shelby Park community to have needs met that day that otherwise may not have happened.

Let me give you a little more of an idea of what exactly the medical clinic had to offer.

1. There were advocates who walked each individual through the medical clinic and offered a listening ear and friendship.

2. There were nurses and Doctors who attended to the needs of these individuals.

3. There were people who offered hearing and vision testing.

4. There were Dentists who attended to the needs of these individuals.

5. There was a room full of food, toiletries, and other household items people may need as well as an over-the-counter pharmacy.

6. There were massage students who offered ten minute massages

7. There were people who help set-up and break-down the entire clinic

8. There were people who helped serve a hot lunch, fill out medical papers and contact cards, and making sure things went smoothly

9. There were people who preached sermons and shared stories to rooms full of people who may or may not be listening

This list only shows a small portion of what the clinic covers. I myself was an advocate and was blessed with the opportunity to walk a local woman through the clinic. This woman was so kind and sweet. She continued to repeat to me how nice it was that we were doing this for the community. I was appreciative of her appreciation but found myself thinking "This is the church doing what the church is supposed to do....why should we be thanked?" I'm still not 100% sure what the answer to that question would be or why it kept popping into my head that day, but I will say that it has me constantly thinking and asking myself whether or not I am being obedient to the call God has given each Christian to be like him and to reach out to even "the least of these," to those that are hard to love, and to those who are easy to love. This woman that I walked through the clinic was such a blessing to me. I'm curious to know what it would look like for each church to be obedient to God and actually be the church rather than just some building where people meet once or twice a week. Imagine the amount of love that would be poured out among people and how many needs would be met. How much grace would we see? How much would we learn from these experiences? Oh, to know and see the answers to these questions!

When Life Gets Busy and We Make Excuses.

I know I literally just posted about how I am reading through the Bible in a year and I'm sure to a lot of people that it extremely encouraging to hear. It's encouraging to me to know that this is one of my goals, but I'm here to admit today that I have gotten behind in my reading this week and have spent little to no time in the Word this week. Much of this is due to the fact that I have recently started working my two part time jobs and have told myself that I am "too busy" or that I'll "get to it later" to wake up the next day and realize that I never "got to it." I know this whole Bible in a year reading won't be easy, but man what a difference it makes when you're reading your Bible everyday to when you're not. I have seen the direct affects of not spending that quality time with the Lord and unfortunately so have the people around me.

This is my confession (without the sweet song and million dollar hit: sorry Usher): That this week I have not been in the Word and reading my Bible or even spending any kind of time with God and as a direct result I have been ugly and mean. Yes, I realize I sound like a 5 year old child but in reality that's how I have been acting. I am a sinner who is in a constant battle everyday and this week I chose not to fight but to surrender to sin. As a result I became easily frustrated with people and with actions that normally would be unnoticed and I acted in a way that was hateful. What was the big issues you ask....dirty dishes. That's right. Dirty Dishes. I fell to sin and rather than approaching my roommates with love I approached them with hate and frustration. It all happened in a matter of minutes and then we went our separate ways for the day.

The best part about this entire situation is that God used it to remind me of the grace He has for me.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves,

it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. -Ephesians 2:8-9

I could not stop thinking about the way I had allowed for sin to take over and it was all because I had made excuses for not spending time with God and in the Word; I knew I needed to confess these sins not only to God but to my roommates and ask for their forgiveness. On my way home I was so worried about how this would all go down and honestly I was fighting with my pride. I was about to walk in and admit to my roommates that I was in the wrong and ask for their forgiveness. Looking back I am glad that God granted me the courage to apologize to my roommates. It was so freeing to confess my sins to them and ask for forgiveness. I am so thankful that God used this to remind me of His grace and to remind me of Romans 5:20b:

"but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more."

The Bible in a Year....

It's week two of Urban Experience and I'm excited to say that as a group we will be reading through the Bible in a year! I know that at times this is going to be really awesome and I'm going to be so willing to pick up my Bible and open it on a regular basis...and I know that sometimes I'm going to be so caught up in myself and the world around me that I don't even think twice about picking it up. Regardless of what kind of day or week it is I know that God will always have something to show me and teach me from His word. I type all this to say that, I'm already a little behind. Last week was great! Of Course! It was the first week and I was super excited, really intentional about my time with the Lord, and had plenty of time to get stuff done. This week....well, this week I started my two part-time jobs (one as an admin. assistant and one as a nanny). Quite frankly this has been one of those weeks were I haven't thought twice about picking up my Bible on a daily basis. This frightens me, but is a good reminder that we must constantly fight against our sin. This week, along with last week we are reading through Genesis and some of Psalms. It is amazing to see what all God has done for us. Even WAY back in the day He was thinking of those of us that would be here now and He created this thing we live on called earth and everything in it that we take for granite. What if it was up to us to create our own world and our own means of existence? For some of us, our world would be full of beautiful, creative things and for others it would just be blah. Thank God for His creations and that it's not up to us!

On a different note, here are some things that have really stood out to me thus far in Genesis:

1. God is constantly making covenants with His people.

He does this wit Noah in Genesis 8:20-9:17, Abram in Genesis 15, He promises to Isaac that He will keep the covenant He mad with Abram (Isaac's father) in Genesis 26, and He continues that promise to Jacob (Isaac's son) in Genesis 28:10-17.

2. There are generational mishaps that happen within families.

Both Abram and Isaac travel with their wives to the territory of Negeb and tell Abimelech the King of Gerar that they are not married but are brother and sister, in which their wives are taken in by Abimelch only for him to be told otherwise. (Genesis 20 and Genesis 26:6-35)

It has been really good to read through these chapters in Genesis and already see that A. God keeps His promises and B. That people have been full of sin and messing up for years and yet God had mercy on them. Both of these instances that stand out to me do not come to mind for no reason, but because I can relate to them. God has kept His promises regardless of the way I have been and I too have, at certain points, found myself following in the generational footsteps that are covered in sin.

Expectations vs. Goals

Since moving to Shelby Park I have been asked a multitude of times "What do you think will come of this?" To be completely honest I think my answer changes each time I answer. I have expectations of what being a part of Urban Experience will be like but I also have goals, goals that I've set in hopes of pushing myself to have every intention and motivation behind what I do be to glorify God and not myself. At this point, for those of you who like to play devil's advocate, you're wondering how this is going to work since setting goals typically leads to either success or failure and in our success our pride tends to grow and we, as sinners, naturally begin to forget about God allowing us to be a part of His plan and start thinking "Look at what I just did!" and henceforth our motivations and intentions are to glorify ourselves. Welp, I'm here to say I'm wondering the same thing. I know it will be a constant battle between my sinful pride and striving to give the glory to God, but I also know that it is possible. In saying this I ask that for those of you that are reading this and feel called to do so, please pray along side me that anything, and I mean ANYTHING, that I do in this neighborhood and for this neighborhood be backed with the intention and motivation to glorify God rather than myself.

With that being said...here are some of my expectations and goals:

EXPECTATIONS

1. To see the community of Shelby Park be impacted by the Gospel

2. To grow in my faith in Christ

3. To walk away with a larger community of Christian friends and family

4. To be tested in multiple areas of my faith

5. To have fun with my neighbors and get to know them personally

GOALS

1. Be active in the community at least 3 days a week (i.e. getting out in the park, volunteering, walking around)

2. Do something to serve my direct neighbors at least once a month

3. Read through the Bible in a year

4. Learn to show love to those that are hard to love in practical ways

5. Get to know at least two of my neighbors (Who are not Sojourn members) on a personal level

Now that we've all read through some of my expectations and goals I'll explain a little more behind this blog title. You see a lot of times our expectations can be WAY too big or WAY too small and are sometimes unrealistic. I don't believe that any of my expectations listed are unrealistic by any means. I do think however that most of those expectations will be hard to "follow" or keep up with the way you can by setting both long-term and short-term goals. These goals are much easier to "follow" or keep up with in a since of I can look back at the end of this month and ask myself whether or not I did anything to serve my neighbors or if I've been keeping up with reading through the Bible. I pray that I will see something come of each of my expectations and goals whether it be considered a good thing or a bad thing. I say this because I know that God knows what He's doing. Even in my failed goals and unrealistic expectations God is sovereign.

First Impressions

We've all been told, or at least heard someone say, "Don't judge a book by it's cover." yet we do it anyways. Sometimes we're spot on, but let's me real, most of the time we're dead wrong. Shelby Park is a neighborhood that is constantly judged by its "cover." From the outside looking in or even the occasional drive around the block Shelby Park looks dangerous. It looks unwelcoming and quite terrifying to anyone who as never experienced urban life. I have been here a little over a week now and I can say that Shelby Park is a much better neighborhood than what it is given credit for. People here are just like people everywhere else. They may not have as much money or live in up-to-standard homes, or have the nicest stuff but they are human...just like you and me. They have ups and downs, struggles and triumphs, families to support, things they like and don't like. At the same time, the people of Shelby Park are different. Their culture is different. That's right. Here in America there are people whose culture is different than yours and mine.

My first impressions of Shelby Park were much like those I described above. I judged the neighborhood based on what I saw and that was it. I knew that the people of Shelby Park would be different than me but I never really gave much thought to how similar our lives or personalities might be. God has already placed people in my life, who live in the community, who have similar backgrounds as me (minus a few $$$) but nonetheless we have that connection. All of this which has been revealed only fills me with joy and excitement to look back at this a year from now and see what all God has done in this neighborhood. He has already been working in the lives of the Shelby Park community and this has been happening for years, before any of us ever thought of coming and living as a resident of Shelby Park.

To God be the Glory!

Mid-Orientation Week

August 7, 2013

Day three of orientation week is now complete. God has already shown and reminded me of all He can do. He never ceases to amaze me. I am so very thankful for each and every day that He blesses me with. Since the start of orientation week we (Urban Experience) have been taking in a lot with new surroundings, new neighbors, a new community, and most of all new opportunities to be obedient to God’s call in our lives to be here in Shelby Park and to do His work. I would be lying if I sat here and told you that it has not been overwhelming at times. It absolutely has been, but it has been overwhelming in a good way. Over the past few days I have been in awe over the things God is already doing here in Louisville, KY. It is a sweet reminder that He does not need us, but that He chooses to use us.

“All things are done according to God’s plan and decision; and God chose us to be His own people in union with Christ because of his own purpose, based on what He had decided from the very beginning.” -Ephesians 1:11

God didn’t call the Urban Experience team here to “change the world,” He’s doing that already, God called us here to be obedient to Him.

Today, specifically, as a group we visited two ministry options: Jeff Street Homeless Shelter and Scarlet Hope. Jeff Street is a facility that is open during the first half of the day to men and the second half of the day to women. Here the people of Louisville can shower, use the restroom, wash their clothes, and store their belongings for free. Jeff Street also acts as a transition house for some. (To find out more please visit:Jeffersonstreet.org ). Scarlet Hope is a ministry that had dared to do the “unthinkable.” Scarlet Hope is a Christ-centered ministry that labors within several strip clubs here in Louisville. That’s right. They physically go into the strip clubs and serve and show the love of Christ to women who are in the industry. This may sound radical to some of you reading this, but the reality is this ministry has stepped out in faith and been obedient to the Lord’s calling to love all people and to share the Gospel with each and every person. (To Find out more please visit: scarlethope.org ). Visiting both facilities and hearing the transformations God has made in the lives of generations of people is just plain amazing! It is very humbling to sit and reflect on my own life and the past I have, though it may not entail a life of stripping for money or selling drugs to get by or losing my job and being evicted or whatever it is….God is sovern (SP) over all. Regardless of what we do, God’s will, will be done.

Although our day was extremely packed and busy it wasn’t over….at least not for me and some of the other Urban Experience team members. Sojourn has begun to hold neighborhood potlucks each Wednesday at the St. Vincent building. I saw this as an opportunity to get to really engage with the neighbors and fellow church members for the first time outside of having someone have planned it for me. 416 (the house I live in) decided we would attend the potluck and bring a few delicious side dishes. We brought some pigs-in-a-blanket and mac-n-cheese, but most importantly we brought ourselves. I don’t say this to sound self-righteous by any means. By simply going to the potluck and bringing a few simple dishes we were able to commune with people we may not have gotten the opportunity to had we stayed on the front porch of our house. God is good all the time.

Sunday Funday

AUGUST 4, 2013

First, I want to thank God for blessing me with the opportunity to be a part of His work in Shelby Park. I am excited and a little nervous about what this next year will entail, but whatever it is I know that God’s plans are much better than mine…plus He kind of knows what He’s doing ALL the time. I only know what I’m doing some of the time.

We’re moved in and settled….for the most part. The house is slowly coming together day by day. Jenny and I arrived yesterday around three in the afternoon; we unloaded her car and went straight to the park where the neighborhood was having their annual “Pitty Party” for rescued Pit Bulls. This was a sweet but short visit to the park that allowed us to see and take in an area of the neighborhood where almost everybody spends part of their week. I have a feeling this will soon be a second home to me, especially since it’s only on the back side of the block, however over this next week the Urban Experience program will be immerged in orientation week and we will have several opportunities to explore different parts of the neighborhood I now call home and perhaps God will lead me to the other side of town where there is a community garden….only time will tell. Until then, let’s talk about Sojourn!

This morning was my third time attending Sojourn for a Sunday service and my first time as a Shelby Park resident. I cannot thank God enough for bringing me here! Each time I attend a service I am reminded of why Sojourn has such great standings with the neighbors and the neighborhood; they care. Sojourn is a church where the members don’t only speak of doing God’s work they do it. We (Urban Experience) are not the first ones from Sojourn to pick-up and move to Shelby Park. There have been several other church members who have gone before us and God continues to be faithful! Enough of my “I really like Sojourn!” rant….on to the most important and challenging part of today’s service: The Scripture. Today we went through Psalm 139:

1 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.

5 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God! How vast is the sum of them!

18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.

19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!

20 They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.

21 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?

22 I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

This passage is a sweet reminder that God knows us and He knows us better than we know ourselves. Within the first few verses the word “search” is used. The Hebrew translation of search means to “explore” or “map out.” God doesn’t just get us…He understands us. At the end of Psalm 139, verses 23-24 really stood out to me. God already knows us; He has already searched our hearts, but have we asked Him to allow us to better understand Him and what He’s doing……or have we even simply trusted Him to lead us? All this to say that I have been challenged this week to pray through verses 23-24 each day and be willing to let God lead rather than standing hand-in-hand with pride and think that I know myself better than He knows me.