Chicago - Day Four

Boy, God sure is messing with some people on this trip! Last night I led a debrief with our entire group. It was the first time we were all together for a debrief and it was great for everyone to hear from the other groups and what God was doing in them. But first, let's play catch-up...

On Tuesday, as I wrapped up working with Teams Murray and Kroc, Kirk Bell - the pastor we were working with - sat us down and talked with us for about an hour. Two things that seemed to stand out in what he said were:

• He shared a story about how he felt that God was leading him to go get his car washed one night. When he did, while he was there, he looked in the mirror leading out of the bay and saw a flash. His friend grabbed him and pulled him down beside a car. It turns out that someone had just shot a young kid who had stolen a car with some drugs in it to get payback. The next thing he knows, he is standing face-to-face with the gunman. He looked at him and said, "We're not dying today." When the gunman walked away, he walked over to the young man who was lying in a pool of blood and, before he died, Kirk was able to lead him to Christ. Our students seemed to really resonate with the need to be constantly listening to what God is saying to them because you never know what He will do through you.
• He also compared having Jesus inside you to having diarrhea (stick with me here). He talked about when you have diarrhea, you just gotta let it out. It should be the same way with Jesus. we have Him inside us, which should lead to an urgent desire to let Him out and let others know about Him. It's not an illustration that would work at La Croix, but it worked in this setting. Several of our students also resonated with this.

Later that afternoon, we served at Cornerstone Community Outreach, an outreach started by Jesus People USA. We served in the kitchen of a soup kitchen in one of the areas of the most visible homeless population. We served dinner and talked with over 200 people that evening. The thing that stood out to me was that homelessness does not discriminate. We saw whites, blacks, Asians, Hispanics, men, women, and children (that part killed me). The students served like champs! And we had a blast afterwards playing with Christian(?). He was this little boy from the Congo and he was holding court with us and we were doing anything he asked. We got a good laugh from him!

Wednesday morning was spent driving a couple of students around to doctor's appointments and pharmacy runs. That afternoon, one of our groups had a powerful experience. Team Murray did a Meet a Need, which means they broke up into smaller groups and started talking with homeless folks. Each group was also given $5.00 to meet the need of one of the homeless people they encountered. They were not to simply give the money to someone, but to talk to them enough to find out an actual need, and then meet it. Caleb's group encountered someone and talked with her. They asked if they could pray with her. Caleb started praying and when he 'ran out of things to say,' he just continued praying. He said he felt like God was praying through him, and that he had never experienced anything like it before. All of the other students were very moved by the experience as well. Dylan felt like he should use his own money to buy the lady coffee and food (since they had already used their $5.00), so he did (even though it was against the rules). I think they all experienced something that they will never forget.

Yesterday was a pretty easy day. We - Team Capone - went to our morning anchor site, the YMCA Early Childhood Program. How fun! We hung out with, read to, cuddled with, and tickled lots of kids. I loved being the tickle monster, but boy, they wore me out! The afternoon was spent at the beach just relaxing and playing. The students got a taste of Great Lakes swimming - it was FREEZING! And then last night we had a taco picnic on the North Park campus and a night of worship. We sang songs and had Leslie Hunter speak with us and share his poetry. The students ate him up!

Our debrief last night was really great! It seems like they have experienced an openness to God's Spirit like never before. They can sense His presence and the rewards from being obedient to what He is asking them to do. My prayer is that both of those continue long after we return home. That's where you - Mom and Dad - come in. Please don't let this experience fall by the wayside. Find ways for them to serve and see how they can be used by Him. Encourage them to regularly spend time with God so they can recognize what His voice sounds like. We don't want this to be some mountaintop experience that has no impact on the rest of their lives. But they can change the world if they listen to what God says and do what He calls them to do. Let's help them do that!

I don't think I will be able to upload more pictures until we get back. It's taking too long, and I have to get on to another doctor's appointment and to a ministry site. Keep praying!

Chicago - Day Three

This will be brief, since I have to leave earlier than I have been. It's been a crazy couple of days, including a trip to the ER (don't worry - if I didn't talk with you, it wasn't your kid, and he's fine), rounding up meds from two different drug stores for another students, and a walk in the rain. I can't believe in two days we will be heading home! It seems like we just got here.

After making rounds to the doctor and drug stores yesterday, I hung out with Team Capone for the afternoon. We went to A Safe Haven, an organization that provides shelter for up to 400 residents, mostly women, children, and veterans. It was a much different experience than the soup kitchen I served at the day before. This was less a soup kitchen than it was a full-service housing shelter. Some of our group helped in the kitchen, but the majority simply hung out in the dining area and talked with residents. We spoke with veterans, moms and children, people who were coming off of drugs, and some who had recently been released from prison. It was eye-opening for our students to talk to the residents to learn the various ways they had become homeless.

A quick glance at my clock shows me that I need to run and make my lunch so I don't get left behind today. I will try to finish this update later today. A cool prayer story featuring Caleb Bishop is on the way (that's called a teaser). We're supposed to go to the beach today, but they are calling for thunderstorms, so we'll see how that plays out. Thanks again for your prayers!

Chicago - Day Two

...or Three, depending on how you count.

Since it's so fresh in my mind - and nothing else is - I need to tell you about the serendipitous experience a few of us had this morning. Several of us were at Starbucks loading up on the caffeine and calories. I had just ordered my beverage and turned around and noticed a couple of our girls talking to some guy. I looked closer at him and realized that I knew him. It was Lucas, one of our hosts from CSM-DC last summer. Apparently, he is a teacher in the area and we just happened to be in the same Starbucks with him half the country away from where we met him. How fun is that?

Many of the members of Teams Murray and Kroc should be losing a layer of skin in the next day or so. It's funny how when the temperature is in the 70's - I know, you're jealous - you don't think about getting sunburned. But Houston, Jared W., Hugh, Kelsi, and myself, among others, can attest to the fact that you most certainly CAN get burned. The reason we got burned is because we spent several hours outside working with Kirk Bell. He is a local pastor who is working to improve the neighborhoods on the south side of the city. He took some of our group to help paint dugouts on the ballfields of a local park. If you ever need painting done and want to hire someone cheap, we discovered that Riley is a great option, but not if you want more paint on your house than you want on her. Apparently, she made quite the mess. I was with a group of students that were taken to Needles Park, which contains a driving range and batting cage. The men who we were working with wanted to ensure that kids had a safe and nice place to go and stay out of trouble. One young man grew up in the area having lots to do, but now he saw that kids were getting into trouble because of the lack of options. So we helped spruce up that park, from pulling weeds out of cracks, to weed-eating (way to go, Jared W.), to painting lines (nice work Ryan, Kelsi, Sydney, and Alyssa) to tying up the netting around the cages (well done Cody). It looked like a completely different park when we were done with it. Mr. J, one of the men we were working with, wouldn't stop going on about how proud he was of our crew and what a good thing they were doing. I agree!


Side note: the young man I referenced above (and pictured here) is named Will Fisher. He is a baseball player who was hoping to be taken in the MLB draft that took place recently. He has some tryouts coming up in the near future with some teams. I know I'll be keeping an eye out for his name to see if he makes it with some team. And I know if he does, he will use his money and influence for good. He has a really good heart!


It's remarkable how in Chicago when you think you are making good time, you hit traffic and those thoughts quickly come to an end. We headed back to our housing with probably 45 minutes to spare before our next activity. When we finally got back, it was more like ten. Not a lot of rest time. From there, we went on to our Immersion. This is an experiential learning activity where small groups of students and an adult (who is just a chaperone - the youth are doing the work) are immersed into the city and have to find their way around and complete certain tasks. Among these are riding the L, asking people questions about the city, and finding out certain information (like where would a homeless person take a nap, go to the bathroom, find something to eat, etc.). Also, each person is given $2.00, which is the money they have to eat dinner on. So they had to decide whether they should pool their money with the others or eat on their own. As it has always been every time I have done it with students, it was very uncomfortable. But, it is so good for them to break out of their comfort zones to do something that is totally against their nature - like talk to a perfect stranger or eat cereal on the side of a busy city street. Our crew rode the L downtown, went to the bathroom in the Hard Rock Hotel, ate cereal and granola bars by the river, and spoke with a pregnant woman who was begging on the street. We also learned that Jared W. has a little bit of trouble with revolving doors. For some reason he kept trying to go in the same opening with Caleb and getting completely crushed by the door. I was usually very little help since I was laughing too hard! Other groups ventured to other neighborhoods and had their own experiences. We did find out that Houston is not going to be working for Tom Tom anytime soon, as he had a little trouble finding his way around (he will tell you he only got lost once, but the person they asked for directions from told them that they were one hour the wrong way :-) ). He will probably also tell you that he got stared down by a gang. He did what any self-respecting male would have done in that situation: he got on his phone and called for help. One other group saw a tough-looking African-American man on a souped-up, bright yellow motorcycle, that was blasting 'Dancing Queen' on the stereo. Too funny!

I will be with Teams Murray and Kroc again today, and then breaking off with Kroc this afternoon. Tomorrow I will start going with Teams Caray and Capone. So, if you haven't seen pictures of your kid or heard any stories, those should be coming later this week. Don't forget to check out the pictures here. Thanks for your continued prayers!

Chicago Pics

I just uploaded my first batch of pictures. Keep in mind that these are only from my camera. Others are taking pictures and I will work to get those uploaded, too. You can see them at our Flickr site.

Today, Teams Capone and Caray will be working with the YMCA Early Childhood Development Center, while Teams Murray and Kroc will be working with Kirk Bell, a pastor who is working to improve the living conditions and neighborhoods of Chicagoans. Actually, these will be anchor sites for these groups, meaning they will be going back in the mornings all week. While this may not give our students a grand scope of everything there is to do and all of the needs there are in the city - although, they do get more in the afternoons - it is very good for building relationships at the sites. This seems to be something that the students really value and talk about after we return. Keep praying for us. We had a late night last night. Today should be a little more normal...whatever normal is.

Chicago - Day One

This will be brief, as I am typing this on my iPhone when I need to be sleeping. However, I wanted to make sure that I got an update to all you parents who are wondering what is going on with your kid. After an uneventful trip which we made great time on - until we hit Chicago, of course - we unloaded our stuff into our home for the next week: apartments on the campus of North Park University. We debriefed and headed out for dinner. Teams Murray and Kroc - the teams I hung with - went to a West African restaurant (translation: spicy!), while the others had Thai food. We then took a prayer tour in our vans of the south side of the city. This was heartbreaking! Just to hear the stories and statistics of the poverty and racism in this city is a strong reminder of why we are here. The debriefing afterwards gave me a good indication that God is already working on our kids' lives. And now, after a quick run to pick up forgotten supplies while other SIMYs took care of some other necessary details, it is bed time. Keep praying for us. We have a long and good week ahead of us. Good night!