further reflections on the weekend past
I know I already posted a blog about the bbq we had over the weekend, but I did not go into much detail, so here is the extended version!
We had a bbq for all of our neighbors...sort of like a block party. (what I would imagine a block party to be like, anyway, since I've never actually experienced one!) The bbq turned out incredibly, much better than we could have imagined. God used it in some powerful ways.
We even had one lady that came in tears as one of our roommates and the dad of another roommate talked to her about her life and her struggles in her family. Then we got to pray for her and hear about how thankful she was that we are here.
Our roommate Amber spent the afternoon teaching the neighborhood kids to make oragami and just giving them her attention.
Our friend Dave (who doesn't live here, but came to help and to support us) was teaching some of the kids how to throw a football.
We got to let our neighbors know that we are here and we care about them and want to meet their needs if they have any, and they are always welcome to come over for prayer or just to hang out and talk.
People came and stayed, some for hours. It was incredible. They certainly did not come just for some free food.
God really made us excited this weekend about what he's going to use us for in the future. However, we don't know how much of that future will be in this neighborhood. We are really beginning to love the neighbors here in this little barrio, but we don't really feel like God has called us to them for very much longer. I feel like God used this weekend as preparation for the things to come. He used it to get us excited. He used it to show us that reaching out to neighbors is much more do-able and much less scary than we thought it would be. We got our feet wet in this whole "urban ministry" thing. He really got a good hold on our hearts for this ministry.
But I think we really are called to south Phoenix, where life is perhaps a little rougher and seems more hopeless for the people. We feel like we are being called to go to where the church isn't going to love the people the church isn't loving. I am thankful for the opportunity to be used by God in such a way. I pray that once we're really entrenched in all of this (because it will get messy, that's for sure!) that I won't retreat to the comfortable, but rather that God will give me the courage and strength to push forward in faith, no matter what the cost.
Jesus gave up comfort and took on hardship, pain, sorrow, and even death so that we could all be truly set free and have true life. He called all of his followers to be willing to do the same so that those who are hurting and lost could be hurting and lost no more. May his name be glorified in my life above all else!
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Please pray that God will raise up some more of his followers to move into this neighborhood to continue loving these precious people after we are gone.