Thoughts so far about this hood....

Sirens throughout the night, news of shootings a couple days ago and a week ago, and other things remind me of that constant reality that this isn't Cedarville or Akron (although Akron has started picking up in certain areas).  Like they told us from the beginning, we're going to be not only serving in the hood, but living in it as well.

Depending on what you watch, who you know, or what your previous perceptions or views about the hood are will greatly shape how you feel about things wherever you are.  Not to point any fingers or say anything negative about anyone, but growing up in schools where there is a sometimes a stigma about things that might surround the hood, it was easy to come here hesitant about what may happen.  I was both curious and nervous at first about what it'd be like walking these streets at night, who I might meet, what could happen, etc, etc, etc.  Ridiculous! Absolutely ridiculous! I know that there will be fears and caution about things in life, especially when going to a place like the slums overseas, or the hood in the states.  For someone who has the ability to stay out of it and sees no need to go there, yea, I can kinda see why many may steer clear of it.  I absolutely love it here, and I love the model that PBC is showing in respect to that.  There are times when people think about helping others in the inner city, but they do things from their comfortable places and maybe dont get down and dirty in the mess that there is here.  This church, and what seems like almost a majority of its 250 members, live to live among those they serve.  As Juan often puts it, "They are doing life with them." While there is problems of course here, the type of tight knit community that I've seen here is awesome.  And to top it off, Providence is being made known among the area, which means that Christ is reaching some places that may or may not have otherwise heard of Jesus.

I figured that I should def write something leaned more towards the title of this blog, so that's one reason why I'm writing this.  Another reason is because I'm realizing that even though there are dangers and things wont be easy when you're moving somewhere like the hood, if you're being called there, its for a purpose and while troubles may come, I believe that you will be provided for until your work for God is completed (if it ever is).  So with that realization, I know that I'll have fears every now and then, but regardless, that shouldn't freeze me into inaction.  Knowing that I'm doing work for God and continually being reminded of his heart for these (and all people), is what gives the energy and confidence to know that this is all worth the stress and struggle that it may provide because of the triumph that will be well earned.  These people here are incredible and I don't know what I'd do if I hadn't met some of them already.  Until next time :)

*A question posed by a guy with Camp Hero , that i think is interesting to think about when serving others is, "Is Love Enough?"

****P.S. - Please pray for the Denver area, especially over here in Clayton and other neighborhoods around.  A week ago, a kid got shot in near the school where Camp Hero is at, and then last Friday, two 21 year olds (or somewhere in that range) got shot down the mile from our house.  It is apparently being predicted that this is gonna be a hot summer. Both temperature-wise and in terms of things and violence happening.  We're gonna be right in the middle of it all, which is crazy, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

It's crazy what kinda things you may learn given certain scenarios.  During those times, you'll learn things about yourself, those around you, and even how aware to things you become, or how checked out you may become.  The way those thoughts, feelings, or revelations show themselves can come in any kind of way.

Through different challenges from people like David, Juan, Alysa, and Z, continuing to work on figuring out who I am and what makes me, me, it hasn't taken long for me to become more aware in situations and to be more transparent with others when it comes to how I may have reacted in any situation (mainly if I think I could have been taken wrong, or it was clearly bad).  Not that I'm saying that I now critically analyze everything I do, but I am paying attention to things that could need to be fixed.  This week has brought both positives and things to think about.  A sweet thing came from our staff meeting that we had yesterday.  In that staff meeting we basically talk about how things are going, how we are doing, and something that was either new, good, or both from the past week.  

The building being bid for in Globeville

Over the past two weeks now, we've been involved with doing two tasks that I would have been certain to try and avoid in the past.  Those two tasks were going door-to-door with surveys and calling over a hundred people on the phone for whatever reason.  It's crazy to think about after the fact, but this task I thought that I would hate, grew on me, and for a certain cause or reason like what we were doing, I'd go door-to-door like we did all over again.  Last week, we went door-to-door in Globeville (~1000 homes) because there is a building that the church is looking to put a bid on because the city is offering it to whatever organization they deem to be the best for the community.  Our purpose in going out was to survey the people in the neighborhood to see what all it is that they'd want out of a building that is pretty central in the community.  At first, I was hesitant and really didnt want to mainly because I figured that I'd be bothering people, they'd possibly outright reject me, and I honestly thought  I'd fumble over things to say.  Some of those may have been extreme versions (which all actually happened), but the point was going past that fear and continuing on to carry on because of the purpose behind it.  If I hadn't done that, I wouldn't have met some of the awesome people in the community and get to have half hour conversations with them.  Ya never know what'll happen until you step past that hesitancy, fear, or whatever.  And to top it off, who cares what bad could happen?  It's for a good cause and you're doing what you can.  After that, you can do no more.   In that staff meeting yesterday, Juan had mentioned something that he said before but I hadn't given much thought to.  He basically said that there was something that seemed to give the people I was talking to some sort of ease, which then led to long conversations.  I think thats awesome, not only for me, but I know a couple of the other interns had the same kinda reservations at first, and we had the same kind of great convos.  You really don't know what will come from something like taking surveys door-to-door until you actually do it and give it a chance. The other thing we did was call all the kids that had been accepted into this camp called Camp Hero.  Our basic job at the camp will be to help with a thing called Read-to-Achieve, which will work to help kids 1st-3rd continue to keep what they've learned and not drop back a half of a grade in reading ability (apparently that is what commonly happens).  I basically had the same reservations at first, but then that was quickly changed just because I got used to it.  In less than 3 hours, we pumped out over 250+ phone calls to parents to make sure their kids were going to be there when it starts on Monday.

Reflections from the past week and a half...

So real quick, for those who don't already know, I've been blessed to be able to accept an internship out here in the city of Denver, Colorado.  It is with Providence Bible Church. Been here for a week and a half already and I'll be out here until the end of July.

In the past week and a half, I've been broken down, shocked, challenged, and amazed here in the Mile High City.  I knew coming into this that this internship with Providence Bible Church was going to be challenging and awesome, but my expectations are continually being shattered.

Last week was pretty exhausting, for multiple reasons.  Some highlights came from our training that we'd have from the morning into the afternoon.  As usual, when bringing in a new group of people to an organization, we were given the first day for an icebreaker, overview of Providence, Logistics and things like that.  Then came information concerning the Clayton area (where we are living), Denver as a whole, and meetings with some people that work here.  The meetings that were with Z and with David were very key in opening us all up into being transparent with not only each other but ourselves, the community of those around us, and most importantly, with God.   I found out a lot about myself during that one day.  As much as I would have preferred not to, I came face-to-face with some fears, some obstacles, and things like that. It's incredible what you can find out about yourself when a man like David asks the right questions, and it's also incredible to see how certain things weigh on you and keep you from truly being you and moving forward in what God has in store.

All us interns minus Grant

So to sum up most of last week, it was information overload, somewhat, and emotionally stretching and exhausting.  Saturday, we went to the 16th Street Mall, which was pretty cool, but one of the many highlights for me came from Monday when we went to the Red Rocks.  Leading up to Memorial Day, we'd struggled to figure out what we all were going to do on our day off.  After talking to multiple people, we decided to go 30 min out of the city to the Red Rocks Amphitheater.  Best choice we could have made.  While this became a relaxing day where we could enjoy this wonderful bit of Colorado (that we've been able to see so far), it also became somewhat of a bonding moment and led to some awe moments where we just sat on top of these huge rocks and, I have no idea what the others were necessarily thinking about, but so much of the stuff that normally goes through my mind just quieted down and I was able to enjoy this time and regroup/reorganize myself and while I wasn't necessarily thinking about the upcoming week in particular, this time of relaxing in a wonderful bit of nature, was energizing.

Without a doubt, I know that this is where I know God wants me to be at this time.  I've met so many incredible people, and while not everything is perfect and there are problems here, I've seen so many incredible things as well.  If a week and a half has already had this much, with the other 5 interns who continue to become very close friends, I cant wait to see what the rest of this summer holds.

So I figured I'd try my hand at blogging, if for no other reason than to keep those back home, who are interested and have supported me, involved in what's been going on.  Not quite sure how often I'm going to get to this, but I'll make sure to keep it updated at least a couple times a week, as best I can.