Week 1 Reflections

The schedule of an inner city missionary has turned out to be very busy. My hands are full everyday, but it is in such a good way. The only problem is that I don't have as much time to blog as I was hoping. My goal is to blog at least twice a week, though, so I can keep my family and friends informed about what I'm experiencing and learning. I don't have a lot of time right now, but here are a couple thoughts.

First of all, I've never felt as spiritually strong as I do right now. The people here are on fire. I don't say that lightly either. I thought I had seen what it looked like to be consumed with a passion for the gospel, but I've only now been able to see the real thing. I've been convicted about where I fall short in my personal faith, and I'm so glad too. I wanted to grow this summer, and working with the people here is pushing me incredibly. Praise God. One of the other interns/staff members here will break into prayer at any given moment if he sees something that needs it or feels the Holy Spirit convicting him to pray. It took me off-guard at first, but I've grown to love the constant conversation he has with God during the day.

Secondly, my heart is breaking for the men and women on the street that I am meeting. Take Joe for example. Joe has been living on the streets by Santa Monica for about 3 weeks now after moving from Florida. Joe developed a form of cancer last year and had to go through a lot of treatment. The treatment and chemotherapy have dried up his bank account, and he has no family to turn to. There was a mess-up when his papers went in for social security money he could receive because of his situation and now he won't receive any money for weeks, maybe even months. He refuses to go downtown where drug and alcohol usage is rampant on Skid Row, so he's staying close to the beach where it's safer. He still has faith left over from his childhood when he went to church with his mom. He knows God is taking care of Him, but it's hard not knowing whether he'll live much longer with the cancer on the streets. After talking with him I could see how tightly he was gripping onto the hope that comes only through Jesus Christ, but I fear for how long he can pull on the hem of Jesus' garment before his strength gives way. I had such a good conversation with him, and I even got the chance to pray for healing in his body. With that said, it is so hard to walk away from someone like that without wanting to do everything possible to get him off the street and help him find a home. Even more than that, I want him to be in the fellowship of other believers who will encourage him and point him to Christ when it gets difficult. I haven't figured this all out completely, but I know this is just one way I have to trust in the power of Christ for his life. I am still praying for him, as well as all the other homeless men and women I've been meeting on the street.

On that note, prayer has been one of the greatest parts of this internship. We pray all the time, and I'm not talking about the kind where we go around the circle and pray for 5 minutes. I'm talking about the kind of prayer that storms the gates of Heaven looking for the presence of God! It's very Spirit-filled prayer. I'm learning so much about prayer still, and being around this ministry is teaching me even more. A big thing I wanted to do this summer is pray about the direction God wants me to go after I graduate college in May. There are so many options but I think He is slowly showing me more specific things.

Finally, I wanted to add something for any of my Christian Ed classmates that might be reading this and make fun of my loud voice. Last night we had a service for the homeless by the Santa Monica pier outside. We share a couple testimonies, someone preaches, and then we break out the food and eat and fellowship. Well, last night I was asked to preach. Normally we have a PA system with a mini-microphone to blast the sound, but it wasn't working when we got there.... which of course meant that I had to preach in an outdoor park to a group of about 100 total people with only my loud voice. I was definitely shouting the gospel out there, haha. I was laughing and wondering the whole time how my CE 2010 classmates would react to that scene. Turns out God gave me a loud voice intentionally so I'd be able to preach with no microphone outdoors.... haha. Some people mentioned to me afterward that they had trouble hearing the two people who shared their testimonies before me, but that they didn't struggle at all to hear my sermon. I know my classmates will get a good laugh out of that.

But anyway, I'd like to leave my blogs with verses that are pushing me to do this kind of ministry and what motivates me to continue.

James 2:14-17
"14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

First Impressions and a little C.S. Lewis

I don’t think it’s truly sunk in that I’m in Los Angeles right now. But I have been here for a full 24 hours, incident-free! I am really enjoying meeting so many new people (and trying to remember a thousand names). There is a genuine sincerity about the people here that you can feel. I love to hear about their love and passion for God. They are truly consumed with a fire for Him in every conversation. I think much of this is due to the fact that many of the people who volunteer here have been saved off the streets themselves and know what it’s like to be in desperation and without hope. Now that they have that hope that comes only through Jesus Christ, they won’t ever let it go and they want to talk about it all the time! It’s been a huge encouragement to me.

On another un-related note, I’m reading through several books right now, one of which is the first book of the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. I wanted to re-read them now that I can catch the analogy and metaphor behind the story. There is an interesting correlation I noticed in Peter and Susan’s conversation with the professor at the mansion they’re staying at. They are asking the professor’s advice about how to deal with Lucy, their sister who keeps talking about a “magical” wardrobe she found that leads to another world of fauns and evil witches. Her brother Edmund keeps calling her a liar and makes fun of her even though he saw exactly what she saw.

The professor, Peter, and Susan determine that Lucy is not known for lying. The professor’s response: “Why don’t they teach logic at these schools? There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn’t tell lies and it is obvious that she is not mad. For the moment then and unless any further evidence turns up, we must assume she is telling the truth” (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, 45).

When I read this, I thought, “Hmmm… this sounds so familiar…” In C.S. Lewis’ well-known book Mere Christianity, he proposes this same logic for determining the validity of Jesus’ claims to be the Messiah. This is commonly known as the lord, liar, or lunatic logic:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to” (Mere Christianity, 52).