What a gift...

Merry Christmas everyone .. May the King of Kings show up for you in unexpected ways this Christmas...

Check out my friend Wendy's blog about an incredible gift shared by one of our team members.

http://wendymccaig.wordpress.com/

Fruit Roll ups...

Today I had the great privilege of having lunch with Devon jr in one of our schools we partner with at Embrace Richmond. He is a first grader and knows allot already about life and the way the world works.As we were eating lunch talking about life and flag football, he pulled out a fruit roll up. Not just any fruit roll up but a fruit b the foot roll up. There was a foot of yummy sugar deliciousness before him and he was preparing to devour it like a lion after his prey. he starts to pull the fruit off of the paper and rejoices in his triumphant victory and prepares to take the first bite. He lifts the fruit goodness to his mouth and stops before taking a bite , he puts the roll up down and tears off two pieces one for me and one for his friend Jamal. Before he takes the first bite he offers it to us first. Who does that no one ever really thinks about others before himself, I mean we say that and sometimes consider doing it but none of us actually ever do it. Devon did , he offered his snack to us before he takes a bite. It was a powerful moment. At first I did not want to eat it because I felt a bt guilty accepting this gift from a friend , who knows really when the next time he will eat but I quickly realized he was extending hospitality to me and his friend , he was showing us a real life example of grace.He was wiling to share what he had with his friends. It is amazing to me how such a simple act, can be such a Godly experience. It was if I was experiencing the broken body and blood of Christ right there in an elementary lunch room Who knows when Jesus said no greater love is this when a man is willing to share his fruit roll up with a stranger.. There is much we can learn from our friends on the fringes when it comes to extending hospitality and grace.

So what do you think about this ..

Recently I met with a young lady who has 2 very young children still both todlers and within a year of one another. She is in need of furniture because in her new place in one of the public housing she has nothing. When I went to see her there was a TV and a mattress on the floor, she has been living there for about a month. The story gets better. As I am getting to know her and listening to her story she tells me why she had to leave her last place. The house she was in was condemned because of all of the lead based paint that was found. She did not leave because she wanted to she had to leave because she was not able to afford all of the medical bills from her 2 kids being sick and could not pay the rent. The medical bills were from the lead based paint. For this lady it never stops. She wants better for her and her family but this endless cycle of poverty traps her and she is loosing the battle. By the way she is in her early 20's and life to her seems pretty hopeless.
When I left her house I was heartbroken , how could this happen to her and to her children, then my heartache turned to anger because such things happen in my city every single day. It just does not seem to make any sense. Kids dying from lead based paint poisoning and a lady getting evicted because of her sick children and for what. The system is broken in every sense of the word from top to bottom and the really frustrating part is that there are good people trying to do the right thing but there the problems are so large and the resources few.
Well Church that is where we come in. Either we bring Good News or we don't. I do not mean in a where are you going when you die " Good News " I mean new furniture for this lady, help with her medical bills, walking along side her in this moment, being a presence in her dark places. I am talking about the GOOD NEWS OF SHOWING UP AND WALKING WITH HER. I know that it sounds as if I am coming down hard on the church but from what I have seen thus far the Church and what God is doing in these communities already , before we show up , is really the only Hope we have. We must be the Church , the church that goes to the broken hearted , fights for injustice and seeks to walk humbly with our God and neighbors. This is a call to action, I am not talking about another program I am talking about relationship and solidarity. Martin Luther once said 'Here I stand" maybe the churc has taken that statement a bit to far maybe we should think "There we GO".

Changing what I Do ..kind of..

So I recently decided to leave my position at a local church as their youth minister to pursue a calling to serve the under served in the city of Richmond. I will be working with Embrace Richmond an organization that has been doing great things in our city for a few years. Basically what I will be doing is connecting local churches to the needs in under served communities in Richmond, to build relationships, partnerships,and further the Kingdom of God. I will be meeting with lots of folks hearing their stories and building the bridges between folks who seem to live a world apart.
The truth is that most of us live in poverty. Maybe not the poverty of having enough food, money or shelter but when we are honest with ourselves we realize we are all lacking in something. Maybe it is the poverty of love or meaningful relationships , regardless the truth is we all need something, really we all need each other. Our goals at Embrace are to end poverty in the city of Richmond but I hope we end poverty in the "burbs' as well.
So here I am joining a revolution of sorts, a bunch of "ordinary radicals" trying to really live out this whole Jesus thing. So I guess we will see what happens . This is what I know I am completely dependent upon God in this , I am not real sure how we will make ends meet but I am trusting that God has all of that worked out and now I just need to be obedient. A friend of mine once said "God is never disappointed in a more radical step in faith in fact God usually blesses it". Well here we go.
If you would like to find out more about embrace Richmond go to www.embracerichmond.org
or give me a shout. I will be happy to fill you in. Iwill keep you posted no pun intended.

Blessings.....

Well hello Blog.. It has been to long..so here is the deal this weekend I am teaching on Nehemiah which if you have not read I would consider a must read for any church leader. I am talking about the first chapter and How Nehemiah is weeping for the destruction of the wall of Jerusalem. The opening few verses speaks about how Neh is in mourning for days and how He feels God calling hime to do something about it. Have you ever felt that compelled or struck by something that you knew you had to do something, you did not have a choice but to take action for an injustice. My question is this ..what would I look like if I were moved to the place that I wept for days for someone else or what would the church look like if we cared enough to weep over something.. There are so many things that break the heart of God why are we so oblivious to it, why are we so caught up in things that do not matter we miss the things that do.. I was eating dinner the other night with some strangers which was very cool but I kept looking at my phone because I had a meeting to go to.. What did I miss in those moments of looking towards something else..that I am sure did not grieve the heart of God.. God forgive me for being so wrapped up in myself that I limit You and what You are doing in the world and my life..

On the Playground..

So Yesterday we went to the playground for a little swing and slide action. Always a good time. It was fairly uneventful but something pretty awe inspiring happened. As we were palying this other little girl came and joined us. She was a second grader so a little older then my 2 girls. Anyway they played together for about an hour, laughing, swinging and having a great time. The interesting thing is that the little girl was of a different ethnicity, different back ground and different neighborhood. She was not like my 2 girls but it totally did not matter. They just played together and loved it. They did not see the differences they just saw a friend that they could swng with and all was well with the world.
When do we loose that sense of freedom? Letting down our guards and enjoying the people around us , even if they are different. I sat in awe watching them play because I want to live my life the way they do on the playground. It was amazing, it was actually a glimpse of what the Kingdom of God looks like. I hope that we may always see the need to have friends and relationships that are way different from what is the norm. In fact perhaps it is time to redefine the norm to what it was like on the playground.. Where we all play and laugh and all of the things we think matter, Don't....

See you at the playground....

A thought about the Super Bowl...

We had a a super bowl party at church ..not really because apparently it is illegal so we didn't but had we have had one I might have been there. Maybe? Anyway after the fantastic halftime performance by Tom Petty I cam home and went to my neighbors house to watch the rest of the game. My neighbors are die hard Giants fans, they truly bleed blue and red all season and post season long. I have to admit I am a sports fan, I like spots, I watch sports , I listen to sports, I even from time to time play sports. I would call myself a sports fan. I am nothing compared to these guys, I have no understanding of what it means to be a fan. I felt as if I were a part of the game watching it with them, I did not really care who won and yet I was the most stressed out I had ever been in my life. I have never seen such pure joy and raw anguish in the same moments in my life. In fact after the Giants won another neighbor was congradulating the Giant fans on their win as if they had given birth to a child, it was one of the proudest moments in their collective lives. I have never seen anything like it, it was in many ways amazing and yet it raised an interesting question for me. If they can be that excited about a win in a football game why can I not be that excited when God is doing something amazing in someone's life.

When was the last time you saw to Christians exchange high fives and say God's team rocks. Or see a good chest bump when Jesus does a totally Jesus thing. I do not know if I have ever been so enthrawed with what God was doing my every breath revolved around that. Joy or agony for a healed or a broken world. I am just saying I know what the "Good news " is and not done a touchdown dance. Maybe we as a church are loosing people because we act as if the game does not really matter. We act as if the "good news" is just "ok news"... Seriously what are we doing... I don't know but I do not even like the Giants ( Go Skins)but after last night I have seen the light..or at least a glow. What glow are we proclaiming in our message, in the way we are living out Christ to the world. Sharing the most incredible message known to mankind.. God loves You and wants you to know that.. Go Giants..Now go and give someone a high five and tell them Jesus loves you...