Something to think about!

This is an article from the American Association for Palestinian Equal Rights about Bethlehem. Just today I was thinking about Christ's presence in the streets of that city.

http://www.aaper.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=quIXL8MPJpE&b=5492575&content_id={D0D242AF-D852-4462-831B-6A8D146BDEA8}&notoc=1

Encounter with Bono

Yesterday morning, around 8 am, we were finishing up a Bible study on the Upper East side of New York city with some Sacred Heart middle school girls who had attended a FOCUS camp this past summer when I had my encounter with Bono from U2.

Several months ago I had a dream in which I had told him that his music had really ministered to me. I don't remember much surrounding the dream, except that I had said that clearly to him and he was really encouraged.

I've been struggling lately with what it means to believe God when I keep failing into the same ruts or patterns. The night before the encounter I had been talking with my good friend and co-worker about how to trust God in certain areas and step out in faith.

The whole interaction with Bono began when my two co-workers from NY and I were gathering up our things to leave the diner in which we had just hosted the early morning bible study with those middle school girls. I spotted a man outside down below who looked exactly like Bono, but I wrote it off because I wasn't sure. As we exited and turned the corner on 91st and Madison, we brushed up next to Bono who was saying goodbye to his child and wife. We stopped after a few moments and I told me friend the dream I'd had a few months ago. "Well, he's in there right now," she said. Yup! He sure was! I felt a confirmation in my spirit that this was a step of faith that God wanted me to take. I went back in the diner, told my friend who was paying the bill what I was about to do, and she prayed for me to have courage. I walked straight up to Bono who was sitting alone quietly in the corner of the diner and said, "I'm sorry to bother you, but I wanted to tell you that your music has really ministered to me." He told me thank you, and that it had really ministered to him too, as he touched his heart. He asked me my name and we shook hands. Then he said, "God bless you."

It was a really special moment that I believe epitomizes what it's like to trust God and step out in faith. Not only that, but it was a personal confirmation from God that He not only hears the desires of my heart, but gives me the strength to step out and trust him.

It was an awesome morning!

Game night & one of my favorite schools

I really love the transition from Sunday evening into Mondays. Most people really hate it, but I actually relish it. The weekends here in New Haven consist of a mish-mash of different activities: Friday evenings I switch off with Kendra or Stella leading fellowship meetings at two different schools, then rejoin my friends whereever they are around town. Saturdays are a kind of a "catch-up" day - usually including errands, cleaning, or laudrey. Saturday evenings can vary from watching a play with my roommate, to going to a Yale ice hockey game (something I hope to do more of increasingly this winter).

However, Sunday evenings are a highlight, and the energy usually carries over into Mondays. I'm obsessed with my church, and have been ever since last year. Like all communities, it has had it's highs and lows, but lately the sermons have been rich and practical, and my relationships with people have become more two-sided, instead previously feeling like I always was the broken one (this is not bad, for a season, but it is a testimony to God's power that a lot has changed in my ability to "get over" certain issues and work through things towards a point of greater health. God has really used many people in this community for my healing!).

Then we transition to GAME NIGHT! At first, it was hard to relinquish my Sunday evenings especially when I'm not really much of a game person. They are one of the only quiet nights I have during the week and one of the few evenings I get to spend with my roommates. However, game night has become a fun place for us to bring our friends, eat a great meal, drink some wine (hopefully not wine cooler wine), and play games that range from Life to Mafia. A couple weeks ago, my co-worker Kendra's neighbors announced a BBQ to get to know people in their building. This quickly progressed to a Sunday night game night, which has since moved to Kendra, Mel, and Tracie's apartment. Mel is an avid cook and always whips up an amazing meal, during which I continually learn more about cooking.

Monday mornings I rise early to volunteer at Pathways, an organization that friends of mine from church started, to create dialogue between the East and West (specifically Muslims and others). It's been awesome. I get to recipt, attend lectures, and banter with the other staff members. After working out in the afternoon and usually preparing a bible study, I then ride with Kendra to a school near Hartford where we are currently teaching through the Gospel of Mark. It's the most random group of students, but perhaps the most rewarding bible study I've ever led. It reminds me in small ways of the larger group bible study I would lead at Benjemijn in South Africa where you had your "faithfuls" and then didn't know who else would show up, and it was always a treat and widely diversified group.

It's interesting how whenever I'm at Robb and Asha's apartment, I'm always inspired to write - perhaps that comes about since this was such a great place of healing for me last year. So maybe there may be more blog entries :)

Finally...

It's pretty obvious by glancing at the dates on the posts that I have not written in this blog in a while. My blog has morphed various times over the past few years - from one of the earliest versions of "blog," to it's current state (I even considered Wordpress recently - because you can play around with photo layout more). I don't read many blogs in my spare time, so I wondered what the point was in keeping one of my own. You don't know who reads what you wrote....

But if you look on my shelf you'll see that I have at least 3 types of journals. There's the one I write freehand, my quiet time journal, my ministry journal, and my Internship One/seminary/staff meeting/lists journal.

I don't know really what the point of this journal is... but I think I'm closer to defining it. I might have a specific writing style from now on.. or post specific types of photos... I also probably won't be as political as I've been... not that I'm apologizing... However, I think it's important to keep my notes from South Africa, grad school, the West Bank, and my beginning days of FOCUS within this blog.

I also just might not write in it anymore... I think it's purpose was fulfilled, and now that I'm in the States I can keep in touch with people again in a way that I couldn't when I was abroad :)

We'll see what happens... but it's definitely come a long way from the first time I created a blog with my roommate Kris in South Africa. First, it felt like bursts of clarity, then a place to regurgitate thoughts from class, a venting wall, and then a place to share joys of ministry in boarding schools. All these things have been important at different points. But now it's time to end... maybe now.... we'll see ;)

Written from a friend

One of my good friends in New Haven, a former NEBS (New England Boarding Schools) FOCUS staff worker, is currently in Palestine, tredding the same ground I lived on over a year ago. She's encountering many of the things I did - reacting in many of the same ways - and in a way, I'm re-living it - but praying new things for her, which I didn't have eyes and ears for at the time I was there.

This is an excerpt from an email she recently sent:
I find myself wrestling with to what extent our Lord asks us to fight on behalf of the oppressed, poor, and suffering, and to what extent what they truly need is just simply to know Him. I believe He asks us to strive to meet both needs, physical and spiritual, and I pray I will be able to while here, even if in the teeny tiniest of ways. But I've been haunted by the fact that while the disciples expected Jesus to overthrow Roman rule, and restore justice to his people, His answer to the suffering around Him was to die upon a cross. When does God ask us to fight injustice, and when does He ask us to simply follow Him in a path of suffering?

I wonder, in the midst of these questions, as well as I as wrote my talk a few weeks ago on the Jewish expectations of a Messiah, how much the disciples wrestled with these facts - and how Jesus addressed them. I'm sure they muttered comments about the injustices Roman guards inflicted upon them. How did Jesus respond to the soldiers?

I'm grateful for another friend to walk this road -may God's peace come to that region!

Reunion

I've had clear moments since I've been on staff with FOCUS where I sit back, think a bit, and wonder out loud - "How did I get here?" Voices and faces from my past are now in my midst, and these people continue to encourage and strengthen me. Many of them I never thought I'd see again. How did God lead me back into this mileu? Why is it particular encouraging to me?

First, FOCUS is familiar. I don't have to try to mold myself to an entirely different culture or language. I grew up in a prep school setting. This familiarity feels good after having strewn my heart around the world in the different places where God called me after college.

Secondly, many of the stereotypes and insecurities I wrestled with in high school are now being turned on their head. I talked recently with my brother about the issues of insecurity we suffered with in high school. We were never "cool," so at times, FOCUS seemed like this foreign yet familiar place, where "cool" kids heard about Jesus. However, now as I press further and further into these student's lives and fight with them back against the powers of darkness that cover so much of these schools, I more firmly believe how insecure we all are (and were) without Jesus at the center of our lives.

I remember when I first came on staff how insecure I felt because I didn't know all the current movies, music, or tv shows that were popular. In many ways, my high school insecurities cropped up as I started my new job. But as I really got to know the people I worked with and others I'd known since high school, I realized how utterly unfounded many of those insecurities and stereotypes were. Ultimately, Jesus seemed to have masterminded this entire job so that I could face and conquer these insecurities in ways that I never would have, had I not been on staff.

Obama Speech in Egypt on Jews and Israel

I sat for an hour in my apartment tonight, overjoyed at the ability of President Obama to clarify points of tension, and attempt through this speech, to nullify unhelpful stereotypes and the unhelpful hold that history has had on nations. I think this speech was monumental - not only because of a U.S. president's ability to speak in widely recognized Arab terms, but also because it did much to aid the work of reconciliation. For me, it was a rare moment of someone expressing how I feel after having lived in the West Bank for a couple of months.