In with the New

Young Life Lincoln Park

          In response to some friends I've decided to post an update on my blog. Over the last six months I've been living in Chicago at Moody. In summary I've been taking 18 credits at school as well as ministering through Young Life, apart of big brother and sisters, as well as my relationship with Natalie.
         Last semester I was challenged a lot and learning a lot. I studied the early Christian church and its development's, studied Hermeneutics, as well as race and poverty, and the multicultural history of America. Exciting semester filled with a lot of growth both on the educational side as well as the spiritual side. One thing I've been lacking in though is community since leaving Sunshine I've really noticed my the absense of. So I've recently joined a Men's prayer group and a small group to add some fellowship with other Believers.
          Young Life has been tremendous for me and for Chicago. Amazing growth, Luke Schmitt came on staff for north side of Chicago, Which is the area I've been apart of. The 5 Area directors for Chicago have brought back an old element to Young Life in Chicago, citywide fellowship between volunteers and leaders. Over the past weekend we took some time for a Leadership retreat going through the vision of Chicago Young Life. By Re-visting our roots in the city as well as the history leading up to the different schools and the stories of whats going on! We then looked  to the future of Young Life in Chicago. The past 2 years have seen many new Young life groups, Young Life Lasalle, walter Peyton and Lasalle came back on the map with there new area Director Kimmy Taylor! Brand new this year came Young Life DePaul for college students! Young Life Lincoln Park is now up and running as well.
         The past six months I've been pouring into Young Life as a team leader in Lincoln Park. Prior to this year we've had one to two leaders volunteering at the school and dreaming big about the school. On December 2nd three Lincoln Park kids joined Lane Tech for camp. And decided they wanted to have Young Life in their school. So on wednesday, December 7th Young Life basketball outreach began. New Life Lincoln Park opened up there campus for us to use their gym every wednesday to reach the local high school. 25 students came out to play ball and so it began.  We met once more before break and  came back together on Jan 11th which we had 30 students come out. Since then the Ministry has been growing and we now have 3 leaders on the team  and 2 helpers from DePaul and Moody.

      Last six months have been exciting! This semester along with school I will be continuing to Meet new students and grow the trust in order to speak into their lives and to share the gospel. As well as develop a solid leadership team at Young Life Lincoln Park. Im also preparing to go on Student Staff with Young Life for the fall. Keep praying for the ministry and for next steps for me!

-JR

Passing By

How often do we drive by a man on the streets asking for money? Just the other day I drove through Chicago to a friends wedding. On the way I saw a young man half his teeth were missing, yet he could be hardly older then me. He was holding a sign saying he was homeless. We drove on by. Who is he, why is he on the streets at such a young age? Why doesn’t he go get an education or a job? What parents would let their kids be on the streets? All these are some of the many questions we think of. Why don’t we learn what happened. Lets stop making assumptions, were all guilty of this myself included. Instead we can learn what the real reason is, go learn their name let them share there story. The easiest thing we can do and the cheapest is talk with them. Learn their story, we all have a story so whats yours, whats theres?  I encourage you to go out this week meet one person, they don’t have to be homeless but that be sweet if they were or even someone who sits alone every week in the cafeteria or local restaurant you go to alot. Let them talk about their life. Every story is important and when you put a face to an issue it becomes personnel.

Reaching are full Potential

As a ministry team here at Sunshine Gospel Ministries we have been meeting together weekly to discuss Radical Together, by David Platt. Only a few chapters in, yet I have been wrestling with one of his thought provoking questions. He challenged his readers to consider the ministries their involved with, and the money they spend. He didn’t ask whether the ministry is good but if it is the most effective way to share God’s word. Platt says it like this, “We have to put everything, even good things in the church, up for reconsideration before God, releasing them wholly to him and asking him to show us his priorities and purposes for each” (Platt, 9). That simple statement really challenged me, to evaluate how I go about my ministry, am I really doing it the most effective way with the resources I’ve been given?

Some questions I began to comb through as I evaluated my own life were; who does God say is my neighbor? Is my life-style and work, my free time, my spending, my giving used in the best way for the glory of God. So how can I make my resources and time most effective for God? Once I thought through these I began to write down some things I could change. They didn’t have to be big changes.

 I started off with my money. Not having much money makes it easier to know where I spend it. The biggest money expense after rent is food. Now I love to go out to eat and I tend to go at least 3 times a week, so I decided why not cut back to one meal with others and one by myself. So one less meal a week and I made one meal with the purpose of fellowship. Last year I worked on my tithing realizing that I struggled to give god just 10% I decided to donate to a cause every month in order to make sure I was giving at least 10% if not more monthly. Since then most months I’ve also found myself more available to give to others and churches with the extras the lord has provided me with. Here’s one last change I made in my own life, my free time. As I look at my journals over the past year I notice that I wasn’t daily in the word some weeks I was missing four days. Yet most days I was watching a movie. So I decided daily I will spend time in the Word and instead of watching movies, I will read more books. So this summer I began that challenge and yes I’ve watched some movies but without missing a day I’ve been in the word and I’ve read Seven books. Even the little things in our life might need to be reevaluated to allow ourselves to be more available to God. I hope this may encourage you all to evaluate your own lives to and walk in this journey along side me!  

Community

Head up look right look left, why is it that I’m fearful to walk down my street on the south side of Chicago. Yes its dangerous, yes there are problems, but there are problems everywhere. Every neighborhood, every city, every country has its problems. I’ve slept in the slums of Manila, stayed in a remote village in Zambia yet I find myself reciting scripture as I walk,  “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4) The people here are no different then anywhere else I’ve been. We are all creations of God beautiful yet corrupted by sin.

Looking back at my journal over the past two weeks, I saw that paragraph staring up from the pages. My fearful attitude from that first day got torn down before my eyes and was replaced with passions and love for my new neighborhood. God’s opened my eyes to the beautiful community that exists here in Woodlawn. Everyday I walk to Sunshine Gospel Ministries where I’m interning, I love my daily walks. Getting to talk to the elderly men in the community has become one of the main reasons I prefer to walk. Just today on my way back from the suburbs I came across one of my neighbors who I say hi to every morning. This time I sat and talked with him for a while he first complimented my hair cut and then went on to learn about why I choose to move here, he went on to encourage me in my ministry. We shared the next few minutes talking about the impact one conversation can have on the youth… haha ironically he was having an impact on me. It amazes me that on my walks I come across men and women who ask me how my day is and talk with me about their lives.

Community, here is strong. Hopefully this summer God will reveal to me more about how community can develop and grow. Robert Brault, a freelance writer wrote in one of his blog posts, “I nod to a passing stranger, and the stranger nods back, and two human beings go off, feeling a little less anonymous.”  The nod was always fun in high school sort of acknowledging one another. Yet here instead of nod, a simple “how ya doin?” sparks so many conversations and relationships. How many conversations do I miss a day because I am too busy to say how are you to someone. Today on the CTA L, I met a woman who told me how she has tried to kill herself 8 times from crack to overdosing on prescription drugs yet somehow she hasn’t died. I asked her why do you think that your still alive after all that. She responded, by simply saying God seems to have a purpose for my life, I just don’t know what that is. What if I never talked to her, and never got to hear her. Never got to reveal God in her life.

So I hope I can leave a little encouragement on seeking community. One passage from the Bible which is awesome when it comes to community is Acts 2:42-47. Here’s some great books that I’d encourage for our own growth as well as a larger desire for community Crazy Love, Irresistible Revolution, Radical. For those that you that believe in the power of prayer I would love some prayer for this week we are taking all of our kids to Michigan, for summer camp! Many kids are not Christians, most have very rough lives, and all come from the South Side of Chicago. 

Food options

Learning more and more about the city I call home has become a pursuit of mine over the past year. Yet over all my exploration and understanding of the city one huge mystery has laid untouched for me. The South side; known by most people as dangerous. So over the next two months I want to maybe shed some light on this other side of Chicago. I don’t know exactly where my journeys here will take me, or What God has in store for me while I’m here but I hope to effectively and accurately display that on my blog site.

A week ago I moved into the Woodlawn Neighborhood over on the south side of Chicago. The neighborhood is mainly residential with very little stores or other options for food. I can walk from my house over on 62^nd ST. to Save a Lot, a very small grocery store barely bigger then a 7Eleven, there are also two corner stores and one family restaurant. For starters this surprised me a year ago when I first moved to Chicago. How do some neighborhoods have very little options for people to choose from? How can you make healthy choices on food when there are few to none to choose from?

Some of the money we pay for taxes goes to provide low-income families living below the poverty line in the US money for food. The majority of families in this neighborhood I live in are below this line. So imagine you are low-income family struggling to make ends meet. You apply for a Links card, food stamps and are accepted to help pay for groceries for your family. Yet when you go to the store all you see are frozen foods and isles of junk food. So you have to buy these frozen foods, and you think to yourself well at least there’s food.

For me its become just an annoyance, I have to get a ride to a store or take the L but for most in this community that’s not an easy option. It’s to much of an expense when you barely have money to cover rent. So my question over this thought is how does a bad diet affect our daily life?

Quick response I’m sure any of you can go do some longer research then just look it up on answers.com but this is what I gathered from this site. “Junk foods also consist of refined (processed) carbohydrate. Refined (processed) carbohydrates are a major cause of weight gain, obesity, and many diet related diseases. For good health and well-being, these foods should be strictly limited apart from the occasional treat”

I don’t have any answers on how this can be fixed in a quick and easy way. Some long term ideas are the role of the church, and Christians. Sunshine Gospel Ministries provides a fresh food market weekly here in Woodlawn that accepts the food stamps, Links card. More organizations both Christian and non-could very much improve this issue by helping their neighbors go to places that provide fresh food. Or those of us in business could open up a restaurant or grocery store in a low-income neighborhood. Yes that business wouldn’t make as much as somewhere else but it would enhance the community and the life of others. There’s more to life then money and status

Young Life Work Week

Thoughts from a beautiful trip to Michigan Timber Wolf, Young Life camp. This past week I got the opportunity to take a young life group from the north side of Chicago; Lane Tech, Lincoln Park, and Lakeview high school students. We spent a week at Timber Wolf camp in Lake city Michigan. The day was split between cleaning the dining hall in order to prepare it for the summer camp, and the second half of the day was free time and activities.

I was in charge of all the boys and got to teach them how to clean. Their amazement over the small things in life was great. For instance on the ride there from Chicago they got all excited when they saw cows and all wanted to see the cows. Everything seemed like a new experience, which they tackled with excitement. The cleaning for the boys consisted of washing all the dishes after every meal. Which although it was work the boys had fun in the midst of it all. We had water fights with the hoses and spray bottles and danced to the music as we worked. Some of the other jobs we did was wiping all the chairs down, and using a lift to dust the upper windows in the dinning hall. We cleaned out all the grills as well. It was great to get to relive moments in my own life with the boys from teaching the boys how to sweep and mop, to cleaning toilets and washing dishes not to mention dusting. Everything was new to them and everything had to be taught which was great.

We got everyone to ride the go-karts they had at the camp as well as to climb the rock wall. We had a gym and game room available to the students during the day as well. From snowball fights to broomball we had a lot of fun getting to know each other. Every morning we spent a half an hour on a bible study and devotion time, which went very smoothly. I got to share on death and judgment which I taught on from Hebrews 9:27, while cross-referencing Psalm 50, and Romans 3:23, 6:23. How we, humans are all sinners. These passages teach that sin earns (wages) us death, but God knew that we could never achieve perfection, only he was capable of perfection and so he sent himself as Jesus his son who traded his perfection for our imperfection so that we could carry his title of perfection to be able to be with God as his perfect creations.

Overall it was a wonderful week. The majority of the students were new to Young Life and Christianity so it was wonderful to get to share something I’m very passionate about with them. Another awesome take away is that, Lincoln Park high school where I work as a Young Life rep has never had an official club yet. But we got eight of the students at the camp from the school and they all plan on coming weekly to club and want to do other activities as a group. Who knows where God will take this! Even if it doesn’t grow he is sovereign and I need to always remember that. 

Life back in the states

So it's now been a few weeks since I got back from the Philippines. I miss it alot, especially the warmth, although here in Chicago it got up to 80 today! Since I left I've been able to stay in contact with some of the the youth leaders from week two when we ran a VBS. My hardest part adjusting back to life has been just getting back into the swing of school.

I loved the trip their, such a wonderful experience. Even though I've gone once before on an oversees mission trip this time I witnessed how my growth in maturity through the relationships I was able to build with those we met there. When I left Zambia two years ago I left no lasting friendships except with the missionaries we stayed with. This time I was brought to tears by a student who was crying because we were leaving and life would just return to normal. It's hard just to think about those we got to know. Some of them who live in Dupax a squatter community in Manila are waiting to hear from the government whether there being relocated. Forced to move because the government wants to build a highway.

Update on life here in Chicago, About to leave for a week. taking student from Lincoln Park high school to a camp called Timber wolf in Michigan with Young Life. I'll be in charge of 15 high school students. So I'm excited for that. Although school is rough having to get 3 weeks of hw done by this friday to be able to leave. So lots of all nighters, right now I'm taking an hour break to recharge a bit. Weathers been nice, went to the beach today! Got to slack line play frisbee, jump in Lake Michigan as well as take natalie on a walk along the beach and then through Lincoln Park.

Well time to get back to hw, just thought it would be nice to get something on here, wish it could've been done like a week ago but ya know life happens. Till my next post I recommend you all enjoy life!! :)

-JR