Tuesday, June 27, 2006

I Wish I Were a Man!

**Alternate Title: Desperate People**

Today I went to Uptown with 2 friends to go shopping and to eat to celebrate one of their birthdays. Well, anywhoo, on our journey throughout the day...we saw a lot of homeless people with signs. Some of them stood on the side of the road, just holding a sign, some were verbal, some were not, some were men, some were not, some sat, some didn't.
I am not eloquent with words, so I hope that my heart will come through this anyways. Let me give a little background of the eyes that I saw these homeless people through: This past semester I took an Urban ICS class. We explored, debated, and hashed over the culture and injustices of the city. A lot of times, we didn't come to any concrete conclusions. I also was with Streetlight this year, a ministry to the homeless through the Marie Sandvik center. Through my experiences, I learned how to see these people in a different light, as real people, God's creation, whom I am supposed to consider better (not just equal) than myself. Not that I demonstrated that clearly though. One of my friends from the center was named Sammy*, the last time I saw her, she asked me to pray for her b/c she was meeting with someone to see if she could get her own place. She was so excited that the next week she might have a home of her own! And I got to share that joy w/ her. She let me into her life, not vice versa.
Most of the people, actually all, at the center still had pride and dignity, and wanted others to see and respect that. Today, in the very beginning, I saw a man, holding a sign...something about homeless, please help....and he was strong and tall and silent. Yet, here he was, in front of hundreds of cars, holding this sign. What drove this man to such humility? It's not a trait that comes easy to anyone. You could tell that he had an enormous amount of dignity (these are just MY assumptions...not facts). What drove him to this desperation??? Many people say that in America-the land of opportunity- the homeless are homeless b/c they are addicted to something, and that they usually deserve it. These people give up their dignity, holding out signs, in desperation, and/or habit. Whether they are desperate for drugs/alcohol/money to feed some addiction, or for food/shelter, isn't it our duty to help them? Because underneath that other desperation, aren't they just desperate for Christ?
Later on in the day, we were walking to a store and there were 3 homeless people sitting on the sidewalk, most of the time, I just didn't look up and pretended I was focused on walking with my crutches. As we were walking, a young man in the group, (probably a little older than me) asked for money, I said, "Sorry" and kept walking. He had blond dreds, and bright blue eyes, if he had been cleaner and walking around, I probably would have taken a second glance. I felt so horrible, with my GAP bag and all. I don't want anyone to think that I am doing the "holier than thou" thing, that would be stupid: while they were asking for $ and I was saying sorry, I told myself that if I wasn't on crutches and my wallet was easier to reach, or if I was a man and I could let him/her in my car, and maybe if I wasn't w/ friends and had time to chat with the people, etc, etc....BULLCRAP
Anyways...this has just been the impassioned ramblings of a disgusted girl, wishing she had done more, vowing to do more and to be ready for the next time.

*Name changed to protect dignity.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Frustration


Hi...Well, lately I have been frustrated...w/ a good many things...but I'm only going to tell about one of them tonight. I am reading the book "Short Term Missions: Serving w/ Eyes Wide Open" by David A. Livermore. It's one of my internship reqs and I am thoroughly enjoying it...and hating it. I have been questioning short term ministry since my Urban ICS class this sem. and now I'm more confused. Anywhoo...There are so many pros and cons about short term ministry...a lot of cons, in the eyes of the national church. ARGHHHH...hopefully by the end of the book, I will have more hope! On a side note...isn't it awesome that the majority of Christians in the world are OUTSIDE of the US and W Europe?! That is mindblowing. Ok, well, enough for tonight...and enough of [...] as well, I'm sorry that I used a copious amount of them tonight. Adios!
SDG


PS: If you think about it, pray for my knee...I was allowed by the DR. to start putting weight on it (to work up to walking) and I think I overdid it and it's swollen like a baloon now.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Character building...


Does anyone remember that song "Character building" ?? I think it might be from GT and the halo express, or sunday school, or TMI, or something....maybe patch the pirate. Anywhoo. This summer has been all about character building for me....Does anyone besides me think that it's hard? I wish I could say abracadabra and a sky scraper of character would be there. It's kinda interesting that I'm talking about buildings....Ezekiel 13 talks about the wall of Jerusalem being whitewashed and not withstanding the battle...I guess if I'm going to build character, better do it right the first time!
ON a different note...I will be off my crutches in 1-2 weeks! WAHOOOO!!

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Vilkommen!

Hi! OK, so I've been sucked in! But I decided that I need to get a place to blog because I'm leaving for Hong Kong soon. So now my parents and friends can read what I'm up to w/o me actually e-mailing them. So convenient! =) (Don't worry guys, I will write you personal notes too!) So yeah. Ok, so you may be wondering what the title is about. Well, here's the story: my brother Luke is really into music and he went through this phase where he really wanted to start a band (and he did). So he was asking me to think of names and the best one I could come up with was Eight Lives Lost. Weird yes, but if you think about a cat, he is supposed to have nine lives, well, 9-8=1!!! I have only one life to live and I plan on making the most out of it serving Christ. Well, that's all for now, I probably won't write too much until I leave for HK.
Adios
SDG