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- not a well thought out post, so bear with me...

- camp is over!  it was a lot of fun, but i am ready to transition in the school year program.  however, as i make this transition i've had some time to reflect on the summer and some of my early observations from living in dorchester and working at bird street.  i find that as far as work goes, i oscillate between hope and despair often...

- for example, this week, for the first time all summer justin's dad came to pick him up from camp.  normally his aunt takes him home, but, for whatever reason, on this day his dad came and the kid was pumped.  justin has struggled all summer with choosing his words well, especially when he gets frustrated.  i have talked to him several times about which words are acceptable while at bird street and which words are not.  so, it was incredibly discouraging when his dad rolled up in his escalade, with the music pounding, and yelled out the window: "get in the f*&#ing car dummy!"  and it goes on and on, stories like this one.  joao, the kid with jimmies all over his face, had his wallet stolen on friday, etc etc.  these moments of ugliness always juxtaposed with the face of a kid totally enjoying himself, lost in a world far removed from some of the harsh realities of "normal" life.

- i've observed many reactions to the idea of inner-city ministry.  however, two stand out in my mind.  one is exemplified by a conversation i had with someone at our wedding reception.  this woman came up to me and said: "it's so great that you are going to be working with 'those' people in the inner-city.  i only support overseas missionaries, but 'they' need Jesus too, in the city."  i call this the "overseas missions is more important but i guess the inner-city needs Jesus too" perspective.

- the other side of the coin, in my experience, is the wide-eyed naivete of mostly young white people (myself very much included in this critique) who see working with kids in the inner-city as this amazingly radical and "pure" ministry.  

- of course, the reality is lies somewhere in the middle of all this...i wrote a couple of weeks ago about the beauty and the ugliness at the beach, and that is really the story of my summer.  there is both incredible beauty and incredible ugliness in working at a place like bird street.  the realities of the inner-city really expose many of the atrocities of our society but also bring out some of the best kingdom moments possible on this side of heaven.  the mature perspective, i think, is the one that can hold those realities in tension and keep choosing to love.

- we've been talking, at church, about having hearts that break over the things that break God's heart, and i think that is ultimately what happens when you serve in this context.  i hope i brought some light into the world's of the people and especially the kids i worked with this summer, but more importantly i think i've gained some insight into some of the things that break God's heart.