Thursday, February 25, 2010

What I Do

In the last entry, I wrote about how I ended up in Los Angeles. In this one, I’ll explain what I’m doing here. To begin with, my job title is Los Angeles City Host, which means that I lead youth groups/college groups/ school groups on mission trips in inner city LA. CSM sets up a schedule for them and I guide them through their time in the city. Groups are usually here either Sunday evening through Saturday morning or Friday evening through Sunday afternoon. We usually start the morning working at one of the homeless or food ministry sites. After eating lunch there we go to an after school program to tutor and/or hang out with the kids. At night we eat at an ethnic restaurant of some sort and then we head to a park to debrief (process the day). That is our basic schedule in a nutshell; although there are some variances. I’ll likely highlight some of our partner ministry sites in future blogs.
That is the job description, but I want to explain some purpose behind it as well. One of the main goals of CSM is to expose and educate people to the struggles of the city. We also put emphasis on encouraging groups to find ways to serve their own communities when they return home. What it all comes down to is love. God’s love for His children runs deep, and as the body of Christ we must share His love with all of His children, especially those who may feel as though God has forgotten about them. This feeling is connected with the ways our society pushes away the “undesirables” as though they are not people who love and hurt, just like everyone else. Their hearts beat and their stomachs growl in hunger, just like everyone else. There are two parts to my job: as a city host I strive to teach my groups about the realities of the city— its hopes and struggles—and help them hear God through it all; as part of the body of Christ I try to be love to everyone I encounter, to remind them that God has not forgotten about them and that He loves each one of His children. I am by no means saying that I have mastered either one of these; what I am saying is that is the way I am striving to serve God in Los Angeles.

I’ll leave you with a couple of quotes from Kevin Blue’s book Practical Justice:
“We are called to be God’s reminder to those who suffer in poverty and injustice that he has not forgotten about them.”

“Direct relief of another’s suffering is a high form of love. Sometimes it requires our money; frequently it requires our time. But most of all, it requires that we see the value and dignity of each person we interact with. It requires that we see who they were created to be more than who they are. It requires that people be more important to us than the list of things we have to do that day or our possessions. It is, after all, the people around us who are eternal, not the stuff we use or the money we make.”

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Los Angeles? Really??

Some of you may know the story of how I ended up in Los Angeles; but I’m going to share it anyway for those who don’t know it, and because it’s a logical place to begin.
When I returned from Uganda, I moved in with my best friend and her family who so lovingly welcomed me into their home. For a while I helped take care of her twins (who just turned 2). I had expected to find a job teaching for the spring semester. I know it doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. I started substituting in Tuscaloosa County late in the fall semester. It was a job and a good foot in the door, but it was really frustrating to me because I really wanted to have my own classroom. I pursued several different doors that in turn shut in my face. I was worn out emotionally and incredibly frustrated with the job hunt. I had been missing working in ministry, so I thought about working in that for a season. Also, I felt this pull toward urban ministry. I decided to search for paying internships in ministry to fill the spring before returning to the education job hunt for fall 2010. While searching, I decided that I if I was willing to do something that I would apply and leave it in God’s hands. I knew that if I weighed out all the pros and cons beforehand I would end up really wanting a job that may again not work out. I found the Center for Student Missions online and emailed the home office. The deadline for spring interns was not too far away, so I did my research, prayed, and completed my application to be a city host in Washington D.C. I quickly heard back from the home office that D.C. wasn’t hiring, but inquired whether or not I’d be interested in serving in another city. She told me 4 cities that were still looking for spring interns; I had not been to any of them and none stood out more than another. I told her I would go wherever she thought I’d best work out. She said, “How about Los Angeles?” I said, “Um, ok.” All the while, though, asking God, “Los Angeles?? Really?? Hm…” I interviewed with Rachel, the city director here. Then I went to Nashville to do a site visit and learn more about CSM. Rachel and I both prayed a lot. She called me the first Wednesday of January and asked if I wanted to come work in LA at the end of January. I was so excited. The timing was great. The job really interested me, and I was really excited about working with CSM. I bought a ticket a week later, and now here I am.

From Part I to the Next Season

First, I realize that my last blog is entitled “Part I,” which indicates that there should be a part II. However, I’m pretty sure it’s not going to happen in the near future since it didn’t even happen when I had some time to do it. There are a few blogs that need to be written to wrap up my time in Uganda; for one reason or another, though, I didn’t invest the mental/emotional energy into processing things like I should have. I wanted to quickly write them before beginning a blog for Los Angeles, but I won’t ever get around to writing blogs for here if I do that. All that to say, for now I’m going to have to skip ahead and leave out some stuff. However, feel free to ask any questions you may have. So, now my blog is shifting from life in Uganda to thoughts on life in LA.