Fight Injustice. Love your neighbor.

I am not sure if the cut and paste option is working, but i felt the need to add this to the blog today. i have spent a lot of time talking and thinking about the relationship between politics and christianity and definitely been blessed to receive answers on how i should direct my political godly life. 

1) our allegiance is to God alone. 

2) our citizenship is in heaven

3) politics affects our daily living. policies are being made that affect the lives of millions and those millions are our brothers and sisters. we should be conscious to that and we need to live in the world but not be of this world. 

i feel good about those answers. 

so here's a little blurb from sojourners that spoke truth to me (it is both political and godly): 

"Therefore, we have this against you, brothers and sisters, that along with this powerful announcing of the Gospel, the Church form the US has not also raised its voice in protest against the injustices that powerful governments and institutions are inflicting on the global South - injustices that afflict the lives and ecosystems of millions of people who, centuries after the proclamation of the Gospel, still have not seen the sweat of their brow turned into bread. Specificallys, And so we ask you as sisters and brothers, citizens of the wealthiest most powerful nation on earth, to publicly challenge your candidates and political leaders -- now and after the elections are over -- to lead the world in the struggle to cut global poverty by half 2015 (as per UN Milennium Development Goals)." 

Amen. 

nothing short of a roller coaster

I am not going to say too much. I've been trying to collect my thoughts in prayer for the past 12 hours. This life is an incredible journey. I am praying for 100% guidance from the Lord. Last night I had to say goodbye to a very dear friend (BJ - this is for you). His name is Brandon Joseph Clayton and I am blessed beyond words to have him in my life. (--) NOTHING LESS OF LOVE and OBEDIENCE.

thank you to my friends and family who have kept me in their prayers as i cry through this little bump (a bump that is definitely perfectly placed by God).

la vida dulce.

amore.

cristo te ama.

My heart still beats

After nearly two years at ACHIEVEability, I submitted my letter of resignation. The point of this note is so that I can remember this day and to remind myself that my heart still bleeds for this community and it will continue to have hope and faith in Christ that his hands are in everything.

God bless West Philadelphia and ACHIEVEability.

Break Me Down

or perhaps more A Collection of Thoughts.

i noticed the leaves were changing today. it was quite a revelation. i like the fall. i am nervous about the fall. for the past two years, we have had a harvest festival for the kids and the community and I worked on these projects with Pete. Pete is leaving Philadelphia. That broke me down last night. My boss resigned. That broke me down. I can't understand why you put people in our lives, people you are supposed to love and care for, and why 3000 miles is so far away. That broke me down. I realized I haven't spent any time with my brothers and sisters who are homeless and hurting. That broke me down. Break me down so that i can experience your love, break me down so that i can love deeply the way that you love us.

i rode my bike down a grassy hill and it was fabulous. I think i like riding bikes on trails and so instead of trails today, i rode along the broken sidewalk which i made myself believe resembled a very rough trail. i used to avoid trails.
i spent time with just God today and that was wonderful.

i am praying from the depths of my heart for Him to break me down so that i can experience all of his love.

Keeping focus

At the end of the day, only God matters. And I am working (trying to work) for Him. He and his plans are bigger than me and all of us combined. I guess i had a pretty tough day. A boss that i had put my faith in made an annoucement to the staff today that she would be resigning. It's difficult because she is leaving, but it is more difficult to understand that an organization trying to do good can be so full of b.s.

... must be what happens when you are not working all for his glory.

I am in love with my God and that is ALL I need. missing my family in san diego. i wish you guys were here right now. i wish i was there. it's 6:40pm and i'm writing this from my corner office in west philadelphia. it's a beautiful thing. it's a very gentle sadness.

thanks for checking in.

yellow school bus

school started today for most of the kids in my neighborhood. sort of makes it seem like the summer went by too quickly. maybe it did and maybe it always has, but i would not have minded one bit if we could slow it down, add a couple more days/weeks/months.

praying to god is good. listening to him is very good. not listening to him is not good and may lead to times where He's going to not be as responsive? So what i need right now is to obey every gut feeling that is coming from God.

Remember that gentleman that came up to my friends and me and asked us for food and nate just said no and sent him off, i wanted to stop the gentleman, but i didn't. I am sorry about that father.

When mom called and i didn't pick up because i just didn't want to deal. I should have. Nothing is too difficult for You. You will always provide for us.

When you told me that i should take the risks and love him dearly and i let my fears decide, I could feel the weight on my heart.

Thanks for reminding me to put You first.

so i don't think this entry had too much to do with yellow school buses. Sing praise.

the collective

I could not run back fast enough to write all of this down. I have had a most amazing morning. praise god.
I was woken up by a less than moral dream, if that's possible. I also went to bed at around 11pm so 6:30 isn't half bad. I spent some time reading and thinking. Then I biked to the office. It's labor day so there weren't many people on the road. I spent most of my ride on the street. It felt incredibly liberating. I could only imagine what it would be like to have 3 or 10 other bicyclists on the road with me. In moments of restlessness toward the violence in this community, I had thought about doing monthly walks along the streets. Somehow i would get the word out there and we would have 100 people every month walking through the most dangerous streets in philadelphia. The bike thing - same idea. It doesn't have to be a revolution, just a collective spirit ignited.

I stopped into the office to get a change of clothes and to drop off my backpack (it's a much smaller one than the one i had). Checked my email and a missed call then it was off to run along cobbs creek. About 1/2 way through, i ran into patrick (the volunteer manager at Cobbs Creek Environmental Ed. Center) and Larry, a before my time activist for the Ed. Center, and both of them were getting ready for trash duty around the creek. They flattered me with some nonsense. Larry told me he had heard about me. But the real meat of the conversation was when they told me about the transformation of Cobbs Creek: More people are running along the trails and dog walkers were picking up after their dogs. The center has gotten a lot more attention and refridgerators weren't being thrown into the creek. They were elated and so was I.

How many people did it take to get here? I am so grateful that God has given me the opportunity to play some role in changing this community perhaps bringing back the spirit that was here before my time. We still have prayers that need to be said and work to do, but i was inspired today. the grass lining the trail was clean, good mornings were shared between runners and dog walkers (some less receptive than others...but beautiful nonetheless), pat and larry were out picking up trash, the sound of the creek came crisply through the trees, people were out and enjoying the beautiful day that God has given. I am blessed.