To read them all you will have to go onto the next page...

It’s been 11 weeks . . . 18 tutoring sessions, 10 Sunday school classes, 8 youth groups, 7 life skills sessions, 2 vacation Bible schools, 2 trips to Mrs. Parker’s pool, 1 trip to King’s Dominion, 1 night camping out, 1 day at the farm, 1 beach adventure, and just about a zillion rides on the rap-blasting-until-your-ears-are-almost- ready-to-explode, blue and yellow CHAT bus. Huh. Wow. Really?

I feel like I did when I was little and would spend all afternoon outside building a fort with waffle blocks only to be summoned to dinner by my mom. At which point, I would struggle to acknowledge that time had passed so quickly and I would be a bit dissatisfied knowing that my job was not yet finished. There was much building left to do.

lion cubs- cute, cuddly, “aw,” can be held like a baby, precious, look like a fine pet

adult lions- beautiful, ferocious, “ah!,” should be a reasonable distance away at all times, dangerous, most definitely wild and savage

Is the reason I like working with kids because I am a control freak? Because I don’t feel like my safety is in jeopardy when I’m around them? Because I see them as adorable little lion cubs?

Church Hill is a community in transition. Virtually every street has some construction team doing something. Drive around and you’ll see plywood signs on various abandoned/promise-filled commercial spaces proclaiming, “i’d prefer to be a bookstore” or “i’d like to be a movie theater.” You get the gist. It’s exciting that individuals are starting to invest in the area. Hopefully, this will translate into increased job opportunities, reduced crime, and a heightened sense of community. The question is whose community?

What color/colors were the dinosaurs? No one was alive when they were. Only their bones remain. No flesh. So how come when you go to a museum or read a book about them they are given murky green, brown, and gray outsides? Yeah, those colors might have been good camouflage. But how do you know the dinosaurs weren’t purple with yellow polka dots? And why do we make assumptions about color? And why don’t we talk about color? How come people’s colors are uncomfortable subjects for many? How do you deal with something if you can’t even talk about it? What’s up with politeness? Niceness doesn’t bring about change, not that hostility does either. Throwing down some Truth force/satyagraha minus passivity?

Being with the CHAT kids I realize that their childhood/adolescent experience is way from what mine was in many ways. I want to put a hidden camera on one of them and watch a tape of their day. I want to go follow them home and travel with them to school. I want to determine the kind of toughness Church Hill requires. What happens if you hug a dude who is trying to hit you? Why does everyone seem so hypersensitive to disrespect? Stuff that I would brush off as rude or ignorant leads to rumbles here. I hear the kids say it’s all about “defending your people.” But what about when defending your people puts you and your people in a jam? Like what if you defending your people gets you and your fellas suspended from school? Are the kids tired of sacrifices?

Last semester, I took a class on negotiation and conflict resolution. One of my assignments for the class was to collect ten “no’s.” Basically, I was supposed to ask people to do outrageous things for me in hopes of getting rejected. It was surprisingly hard to get rejections. I asked one girl sitting next to me in a leadership class if she would take notes for me during class and she said “yes”. I asked boy if he would be willing to run to kinkos in order to photocopy some documents that I needed for later on in the afternoon and he said “sure.” I continued to escalate my requests in order to get “no’s.” It turns out not everyone is willing to give a stranger a kidney.

Quote:
"The church is not a building; the church is not a steeple; the church is not a resting place; the church is a people. I am the church! You are the church! We are the church together! All who follow Jesus, all around the world! Yes, we are the church together!" - common hymn at Pleasantville UCC back home

I know that I am doing a ton of ranting in these posts. I want to throw out there that the more I learn about Jesus and the new city and servanthood, the more I realize just how (way hugely) much I fall short. I often bow down to the false gods of independence and self-righteousness. God breaks me and I still don’t always ask Him to transform my weaknesses. When I preach God’s word to the kids, I know that I need Him just as badly.

When I was younger I would ask my mom for a pet and she in turn would reply I had a little sister. I think a logic class would find that the though that premise was true the inference between that premise and its corresponding conclusion is not strong enough to form a valid argument. Still, it’s debatable as to whether or not moms always need a valid argument. So yeah, one day my mom caved and my sister Leigh and I each got a hermit crab.