29659 Day 104

spring_break

believe it or not it is time to start thinking about spring break. every year sojourn travels south to do some sort of experiential learning and service trip. "alternative spring break" if you will. this year we are sending a team to kentucky, and one to south carolina. two different projects but both with tremendous opportunity to give students vision for a holistic gospel and kingdom living. very exciting! we had about 15 people from 7 different schools today to talk about our trips. got me all pumped up to go...can't wait!

21659 Day 24

generosity

amy and i have been blown away by the response to our fund raising requests. it's a weird thing asking for money. but it's also an amazing process to watch God provide. as we've made these asks we've also created a team called the "resource" or "advocate" team. we wanted to do something that would allow for a bigger circle of potential partners and also give people the liberty to be creative. yesterday we got a $100 gift card to Stop and Shop (boston's Safeway). last week someone got a new battery for the laptop. we've been provided with red sox tickets and date money. we got treated to a weekend at a new hampshire bed and breakfast. i found out today that some one is taking our support letter to their church's prayer meeting...who knows what that might lead to. i could go on, but this is, i think, a picture of the Kingdom of God at work. i quoted from donald miller a few days ago and i keep thinking about this concept of crafting beautiful stories with our lives. one of the "under the radar" blessings of fund raising is that we get to invite other people in to our stories, and, at the same time, provide an opportunity for them to create their own beautiful story. pretty cool, eh!

20659 Day 14

nate

this is nathan and he is a good man. he chooses his words well and he dresses sharply. he also loves Jesus very much and cares deeply about the ways that God's Kingdom are discovered and expressed, especially in a place like dorchester. he's been a major leader (THE major leader, in fact) in the Quincy Street partnership that Sojourn has (the partnership that led amy and i to move to dorchester).

nathan and i were able to hang out today and talk a little bit about the future...in particular we are starting to think of ways that we can link our houses and ministries together in a way that is healthy and makes sense in our particular neighborhoods. these are fun and very encouraging conversations! thanks nate

15159

shameless plug: if you vote on tuesday, go to Starbucks, tell them you voted and you can get a free tall cup of coffee...

and remember that even more important than voting on november 4th is acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly on 11/4/08, 11/05/08, 11/06/08, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.

13559

a few weeks ago at reunion, hank (the lead pastor) was speaking on valuing kids. he made the following statement based on Jesus' comments about children found in the gospels (Matt 19:13-14, Mark 9:36-37): "You will never fully understand the Kingdom if you don't hang out with kids."

i found this statement, and the whole sermon for that matter, to be both compelling and extremely relevant to my job at the moment.  i am not one who loves working with kids; i don't consider it to be a strength, passion, or desire.  nonetheless, i spend nearly ten hours a day with 11-15 boys between the ages of 10 and 12.  many of these boys come from broken families, difficult socio-economic realities, and bad schools.  they bring a lot of baggage with them to camp, and therefore can be very difficult to work with.

case in point: yesterday, while at nantasket beach, two boys got into a fairly nasty fight (over 4-square rules, of all things).  before i could get on the scene to break it up some awful words and names were exchanged and a few blows landed.  it is painful and sad to see 11 year old boys acting like hardened thugs.

counter-point: later in the afternoon i rewarded three boys with ice cream for having had a great week.  it was fun to treat them to soft-serve and "jimmies" (bostonian for sprinkles) and to watch their reactions.  tariq and eddie are both pretty low-key and they said "thank you" and quietly went about the business of eating their treats out of cups.  joao, a loquacious cape verdean who has been very difficult himself at times, and i made the mistake of ordering ours in cones.  i wish i had my camera because words cannot capture the mess joao made trying to get his cone into his mouth.  but he ate the whole thing with a huge smile on his face, his nonstop banter both hindering his progress and making the moment even more enjoyable for us onlookers.

there was ugliness and beauty yesterday at the beach.  the highs and the lows of working with kids experienced within hours (and often seconds) of each other.  if nothing else i think this summer is providing a context for hank's comments that i shared earlier.  yesterday i saw the kingdom in a kid who dropped his facade for a minute and let his joy in the moment radiate through his soft-serve and jimmie stained smile.