I realize that every journalist has to start somewhere. While I was a reporter for The Campbell Times as an undergrad I once had to write a story on the new bikes the Campbell security guards were riding.
So when I read this article I could understand if the reporter who received this assignment felt a little ridiculous. And yet, this is Harnett County, so I imagine stories like this aren't incredibly rare.
Did I mention I love the city?
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Friday, May 9, 2008
Perspectives on Current Events
I just got finished reading some entries from the blogs of Arloa Sutter and Edward Gilbreath, both located on my list of recommended blogs. Arloa is the Executive Director of Breakthrough Urban Ministries in Chicago and Edward Gilbreath is a Christian journalist/writer who wrote an amazing book entitled Reconciliation Blues: A Black Evangelical's Inside View of White Christianity.
I was reading Arloa's blog and discovered a serious problem I knew nothing about: school children in Chicago are being killed. According to her blog, 24 Chicago Public School children have died this year. One of the youth in Breakthrough's after-school program was hit in the head by a brick and is struggling for his life. One youth was killed in the park at Fulton and Albany. That is the park that was right by my apartment in Chicago, one that I walked past countless times.
I may not be able to stop the violence, but there are some things I can do. I can pray. I can tell you guys so you can pray. These kids are growing up in an environment where it's not cool to succeed and do well in school. There are gangs and drug dealers using kids as runners. So, even though you don't know the people in this community, and I don't know them anymore either, I ask you to pray. And I hope that this encourages us to look at social issues within our own community and then do something. It makes me feel like I should be headed back to the city, but I am trusting God that he is going to use me greatly in the town where I'm going.
Another issue is about Rev. Wright, Obama's former pastor who has made some controversial statements regarding race and America. Both Arloa and Mr. Gilbreath wrote blogs on this issue. I have to admit, I didn't understand everything and after reading excerpts from interviews and other people's opinons, I am understanding it better. Yes, Rev. Wright said some inappropriate things, but we (myself hugely included) have failed to understand it. Rather, we've trusted video footage edited together by the media, and I'm pretty sure we all know we can't always trust the media. Maybe Rev. Wright isn't the crazy racist we thought he was. And, as Mr. Gilbreath said, this incident has opened a great opportunity to talk about race and racial differences.
These are some heavy thoughts.
I was reading Arloa's blog and discovered a serious problem I knew nothing about: school children in Chicago are being killed. According to her blog, 24 Chicago Public School children have died this year. One of the youth in Breakthrough's after-school program was hit in the head by a brick and is struggling for his life. One youth was killed in the park at Fulton and Albany. That is the park that was right by my apartment in Chicago, one that I walked past countless times.
I may not be able to stop the violence, but there are some things I can do. I can pray. I can tell you guys so you can pray. These kids are growing up in an environment where it's not cool to succeed and do well in school. There are gangs and drug dealers using kids as runners. So, even though you don't know the people in this community, and I don't know them anymore either, I ask you to pray. And I hope that this encourages us to look at social issues within our own community and then do something. It makes me feel like I should be headed back to the city, but I am trusting God that he is going to use me greatly in the town where I'm going.
Another issue is about Rev. Wright, Obama's former pastor who has made some controversial statements regarding race and America. Both Arloa and Mr. Gilbreath wrote blogs on this issue. I have to admit, I didn't understand everything and after reading excerpts from interviews and other people's opinons, I am understanding it better. Yes, Rev. Wright said some inappropriate things, but we (myself hugely included) have failed to understand it. Rather, we've trusted video footage edited together by the media, and I'm pretty sure we all know we can't always trust the media. Maybe Rev. Wright isn't the crazy racist we thought he was. And, as Mr. Gilbreath said, this incident has opened a great opportunity to talk about race and racial differences.
These are some heavy thoughts.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Rebecca vs. a mosquito
Perhaps I'm just emotional from the process of beginning a new stage of my life, but I just had a very emotional exerpience with a mosquito.
He was in the bathroom and I had seen him before. I thought maybe my dad had taken care of him, but there he was again, sitting on a cabinet up on the wall. Mom was making me kill it myself since I had to be able to do it in my new apartment. I took a shower in the other bathroom. But I went back to kill the bug.
I hit him with a shoe and he flew into the bathtub, which caused me to scream and I think run from the bathroom. I went back in.
I don't know how long I stood there or how many attempts I made to scoop him up in toilet paper, but I began to tear up. I would bend to get him, then I'd stand back up again. His legs were long and I was scared they were going to touch me if I scooped him up.
Finally I smacked him again with the shoe, saw him looking quite smashed, screamed and ran out of the bathroom. When I went back in I just started crying. I was afraid to scoop his dead mosquito body up because I thought he might not really be dead and one of those legs would touch me. Finally I flushed him in the toilet.
There was a leg left in the tub. I leaned my elbows on the sink counter and cried some more. Then I flushed the leg.
Mom clapped for me and told me I did a good job. By this time I was on the computer and she asked me if I had cried. When I told her I had and she asked why, I started crying again and told her I hated bugs.
I'm doing better now.
The crazy thing is, when I was in my apartment on Chicago's West Side and thought someone was breaking in upstairs, I don't remember crying; I was rather calm. Yet, that mosquito scared the mess out of me.
Go figure.
He was in the bathroom and I had seen him before. I thought maybe my dad had taken care of him, but there he was again, sitting on a cabinet up on the wall. Mom was making me kill it myself since I had to be able to do it in my new apartment. I took a shower in the other bathroom. But I went back to kill the bug.
I hit him with a shoe and he flew into the bathtub, which caused me to scream and I think run from the bathroom. I went back in.
I don't know how long I stood there or how many attempts I made to scoop him up in toilet paper, but I began to tear up. I would bend to get him, then I'd stand back up again. His legs were long and I was scared they were going to touch me if I scooped him up.
Finally I smacked him again with the shoe, saw him looking quite smashed, screamed and ran out of the bathroom. When I went back in I just started crying. I was afraid to scoop his dead mosquito body up because I thought he might not really be dead and one of those legs would touch me. Finally I flushed him in the toilet.
There was a leg left in the tub. I leaned my elbows on the sink counter and cried some more. Then I flushed the leg.
Mom clapped for me and told me I did a good job. By this time I was on the computer and she asked me if I had cried. When I told her I had and she asked why, I started crying again and told her I hated bugs.
I'm doing better now.
The crazy thing is, when I was in my apartment on Chicago's West Side and thought someone was breaking in upstairs, I don't remember crying; I was rather calm. Yet, that mosquito scared the mess out of me.
Go figure.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Avoiding the Problem
Tonight I was perusing travel books at Barnes and Noble. I suppose I wanted to pick a "fight" because I located the Chicago guidebooks and looked up the area I lived in last spring semester. I found Garfield Park Conservatory, which was just a couple blocks from my apartment and checked out what some of the guides had to say.
The general gist was to forego public transportation and drive yourself to the conservatory because the area around the conservatory was "blighted" and had high crime.
It was hard for me not to be a bit offended. Sure, there is plenty of crime, but there are plenty of amazing people.
Ok, I concede to the point that tourists who don't know where they are going probably shouldn't trapeze through East Garfield Park, but I think it goes further than that.
We live in a culture of avoidance. If it doesn't make us comfortable, we ignore it. I'm going beyond tourism here, I'm going to the heart of acceptance. We can't accept people we will have nothing to do with.
As Christians we are called to minister to the poor. After all, it was a major teaching of Jesus. I know that not everyone is called to the same ministry and there are many other economic classes that need the Gospel too. I don't think everyone is called to move to the inner city. What I am saying is nothing is going to change if we avoid what is difficult for our own safety.
This is a hard blog to write becuase I understand the importance of being smart and cautious, but I think that is so often used as a safety net.
But how do we approach ministry in the inner city? A lot of times we use language such as, "taking God to the city." Through the writings of others (though I wish I could credit this to my own insight) I have come to realize that we don't take God somewhere he isn't already, we are simply helping to show people that he's already there.
No, I don't think tourists should walk through high crime neighborhoods they aren't familiar with (especially if they are anything like the Washington, D.C. tourists I would see whenever I went downtown back home), but I think that Christians need to go against the advice of the rest of the world and "take the public transit."
And when we do so, we must be careful not to confuse ministry with cultural adaptation. I'm a middle class white, but that doesn't mean I'm going to take the ideas used for my youth group and apply them in a context where they won't work. But how does a middle-class white learn what does work? I think sometimes they get a bad rap for trying to make other cultures like them, when in reality, they are doing the best they can. I know when I first received my calling to social ministry I felt like I was looked down on for not knowing what I'd never been taught.
But there are people who are trying to change what suburbanites are being taught. We need people like Tony and Bart Campolo, Jimmy and Janet Dorrell and Arloa Sutter to guide many Christians in this ministry Jesus commanded of his followers.
Ministry is always two-way. After all, if God is already there, there are people who have seen him and they become ministers to us. As I read on a friend's blog once, pride is an easy load to bare when you think you're sent to save the city. Pride must be erased and then relationships can be formed.
I know sometimes I might come across as thinking ministry to the poor is the most biblical form of ministry. I don't mean to be that way. I'd be incredibly mistaken if I overlooked the importance of reaching everyone. It's just that I believe this is the ministry calling God has given me and it is hard for me not to be passionate about it.
If you want to read some provactive thoughts on urban ministry, check out "Their's Is the Kingdom" by Bob Lupton. It has been an incredibly formational book in my own experience. It's a super short book full of super short stories. I have a copy if you want to borrow it. And if you do read a few pages of it, let me know. I'd love to talk about it.
The general gist was to forego public transportation and drive yourself to the conservatory because the area around the conservatory was "blighted" and had high crime.
It was hard for me not to be a bit offended. Sure, there is plenty of crime, but there are plenty of amazing people.
Ok, I concede to the point that tourists who don't know where they are going probably shouldn't trapeze through East Garfield Park, but I think it goes further than that.
We live in a culture of avoidance. If it doesn't make us comfortable, we ignore it. I'm going beyond tourism here, I'm going to the heart of acceptance. We can't accept people we will have nothing to do with.
As Christians we are called to minister to the poor. After all, it was a major teaching of Jesus. I know that not everyone is called to the same ministry and there are many other economic classes that need the Gospel too. I don't think everyone is called to move to the inner city. What I am saying is nothing is going to change if we avoid what is difficult for our own safety.
This is a hard blog to write becuase I understand the importance of being smart and cautious, but I think that is so often used as a safety net.
But how do we approach ministry in the inner city? A lot of times we use language such as, "taking God to the city." Through the writings of others (though I wish I could credit this to my own insight) I have come to realize that we don't take God somewhere he isn't already, we are simply helping to show people that he's already there.
No, I don't think tourists should walk through high crime neighborhoods they aren't familiar with (especially if they are anything like the Washington, D.C. tourists I would see whenever I went downtown back home), but I think that Christians need to go against the advice of the rest of the world and "take the public transit."
And when we do so, we must be careful not to confuse ministry with cultural adaptation. I'm a middle class white, but that doesn't mean I'm going to take the ideas used for my youth group and apply them in a context where they won't work. But how does a middle-class white learn what does work? I think sometimes they get a bad rap for trying to make other cultures like them, when in reality, they are doing the best they can. I know when I first received my calling to social ministry I felt like I was looked down on for not knowing what I'd never been taught.
But there are people who are trying to change what suburbanites are being taught. We need people like Tony and Bart Campolo, Jimmy and Janet Dorrell and Arloa Sutter to guide many Christians in this ministry Jesus commanded of his followers.
Ministry is always two-way. After all, if God is already there, there are people who have seen him and they become ministers to us. As I read on a friend's blog once, pride is an easy load to bare when you think you're sent to save the city. Pride must be erased and then relationships can be formed.
I know sometimes I might come across as thinking ministry to the poor is the most biblical form of ministry. I don't mean to be that way. I'd be incredibly mistaken if I overlooked the importance of reaching everyone. It's just that I believe this is the ministry calling God has given me and it is hard for me not to be passionate about it.
If you want to read some provactive thoughts on urban ministry, check out "Their's Is the Kingdom" by Bob Lupton. It has been an incredibly formational book in my own experience. It's a super short book full of super short stories. I have a copy if you want to borrow it. And if you do read a few pages of it, let me know. I'd love to talk about it.
Seeking God's Will
So the job search I began earlier this school year has culminated in my taking a position with the Salvation Army in a small North Carolina town. I originally went to this interview to "keep my options open." I was still seeking out Chicago and some other big city opportunities, but God surprised me in a big way.
As I was trying to decide on a ministry position, I really wanted to do God's will. That got me thinking because I realized that a main reason I wanted to do God's will was because I knew that would make me happiest. If I am where God wants me and doing what God wants me to do, I will be happier than if I were anywhere else.
So, do I want God's will just so I can be happy? I really had to rethink my motivation and realize that I need to desire God's will because it is serving God, not my own happiness. Of course I can take my own happiness into consideration, but that should be a byproduct, not the main reason for seeking God's will.
I know that I want to honor God and be used by him, but my concern for self so often seems to outweigh that.
So as I begin this new phase of my life- in a small southern town- I'm going to try my best to keep my focus on God, not me. And if I'm completely honest, a lot of the time that's a pretty hard thing to do.
As I was trying to decide on a ministry position, I really wanted to do God's will. That got me thinking because I realized that a main reason I wanted to do God's will was because I knew that would make me happiest. If I am where God wants me and doing what God wants me to do, I will be happier than if I were anywhere else.
So, do I want God's will just so I can be happy? I really had to rethink my motivation and realize that I need to desire God's will because it is serving God, not my own happiness. Of course I can take my own happiness into consideration, but that should be a byproduct, not the main reason for seeking God's will.
I know that I want to honor God and be used by him, but my concern for self so often seems to outweigh that.
So as I begin this new phase of my life- in a small southern town- I'm going to try my best to keep my focus on God, not me. And if I'm completely honest, a lot of the time that's a pretty hard thing to do.
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