Love, Jesus, and Christians

Coming into this summer, I didn't have any idea what I was getting myself into. Driving into the SOS parking lot for the first time on May 25th was probably one of the more overwhelming experiences of my life. About a dozen people waiting for me at the gate. Once my car was in the lot, they ruthlessly welcomed me by pounding on my car and screaming "DONNIEEEEE!!! Welcome!!!" They then proceeded to take all of my stuff out of my car and move it up to my room that I would be staying in for the summer. This was my first time in Memphis. I didn't know what to expect with SOS. I was nervous. I didn't know anyone. I just wanted my space. But this was them saying "We are your family. We want you to feel welcomed and loved. And we will show you you're loved by serving you over ourselves." Little did I know that this was going to be a theme throughout the summer. That I was going to learn how unconditional God's love is for us and what it looks like for His love to spill from our lives into everyone around us.

I met so many Godly people throughout the summer. People with so much wisdom, joy, love, and contentment from up above. People that gave and continue to give their lives for the gospel. People that live so counter culturally that others around them have no response other than "You're insane."

Love.

That's what made this community and the people different. Love that put others in front of themselves. Love that said "I just got done with a long day of work. I want a nap. But you're my brother/sister. You need help. I'll put aside anything that I want right now to serve you and help you out." Love that put comfort aside and said what needed to be said regardless of how I or others may feel. This love transformed the way that I saw God and the gospel. The verse 1 John 4:19 states "We love because he (Jesus) first loved us." I thought this was a nice concept before the summer but never really understood it... The more of the summer that passed the more I understood how life changing this verse is. 

Gospel.

God's love was ultimately shown through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the sins of the earth. Jesus had everything in heaven. He had nothing to gain. Yet he came down, gave up everything that he had in Heaven so that we may be made perfect in him. (1 Corinthians 8:9) This sacrifice and the grace involved in this sacrifice is completely free to you and me. However, it cost Jesus everything. He gave up everything so that we can be with him in Heaven eternally. That is love. Giving up everything that you have, even the right hand seat to God Himself, so that the poor in the world (us) can be made righteous. When we see how much was given so that we may have a relationship with God, we should want to love people in the same capacity! Obviously, there will always be holes in said love (because we live in a broken world that won't be made right until the day Jesus comes back). But that doesn't mean that we can't attempt to love people the same way that Jesus loved us. 

This is the type of love that I experienced in Memphis this summer. People that saw the sacrifice that was so huge in the gospel of Christ crucified and wanted to in turn love people sacrificially. This is something that I will be trying to incorporate into my life at MSOE in the next school year in a few different ways. I'm not completely sure what those ways are yet. Prayers for wisdom and discernment are appreciated. 

Looking back, I have seen the ways that I have treated others in the past year and have been convicted of the ways that I haven't been loving them. I feel that the gospel is starting to come alive in my heart and show itself. I have a feeling that God is going to do awesome things in MSOE and Milwaukee this coming year. 

All glory to God.

"If the Lord says so."

There are multiple reasons that I want to tell you the stories of my home owners. One is that I believe that anyone can learn something from anyone. It doesn't matter what socioeconomic status they live in, race they are, or neighborhood they live in. This has been exemplified in many ways this summer through my first homeowner: Pearlie Dotson.

Pearlie is a 70 year old woman that was born in Whiteville, TN on October 22, 1941. Whiteville is a small town in the country of Tennessee that most of the land, at the time Pearlie was growing up, was owned by white men. Growing up, Pearlie's father was a sharecropper. I had never heard of the term "sharecropper" before I talked to Pearlie about this.

A sharecropper is a black man that essentially works on a white man's property. He gets a stipend throughout the year (every three months). The amount that this particular white man decided to give was $105 per three months. With inflation, this balances out to roughly $1500 in 2012 money. This money was to provide clothes, food, and, if money left over, entertainment for the family. The household that Pearlie grew up in has 13 people in it (2 parents and 10 siblings). $1500 was not enough in and of itself to provide the basic necessities for these families. The owner of the land would say that he would pay the sharecropper if they provided "x" amount of product by the end of the season. Say the number was 200 lbs of cotton. The owner would then say that they would get half of the product that was picked past this amount. Oftentimes, however, the number would "magically" shift upward throughout the crop picking year. At the end of the season, the sharecropper would turn in the final product and, most of the time, the owner would say that they didn't meet the standard that was set at the beginning of the year. One bail of cotton typically went for $500-600 on the market. And on an average year the sharecropper would pick 15-16 bails of cotton. Most of the time the owner would go on the entire year just giving the sharecropper the money for the stipend all year long.


Pearlie talks about the difficulties of racism growing up. She says that black men had to worry about getting beaten and killed if they talked back to a white man. For all of the sharecroppers this was difficult because they had to work for them. When a white man would verbally assault a black man, the black man really couldn't do anything about it because of the fear of getting hurt. Pearlie also talks of times that she stands up for herself in situations where she gets cursed at by white men. She recalls one situation where she reminded a white man that respect is generally a two way street, we need to treat people the way we want to be treated, and that we this is something we should all live by. The response was drastically different than if a man were to do it. She says that the man tended to stay away from Pearlie for the next couple of weeks.

Pearlie's father, Hubert, was killed by a robber while he was on the way home from work one evening when Pearlie was in her late 20's. He was asking for a ride to his home and the man that picked him up robbed him and killed him. No one was ever convicted for the murder.

There was another woman on the porch while Pearlie was telling me her story. Her name was Louise. In response to hearing the story of Pearlie's childhood, she said "We had problems but God brought us through them. If it wasn't for our problems, we wouldn't know or have the belief in God we had." Pearlie agreed with this statement and the faith that it took in her childhood is still present in her life to this day.

I found it interesting that, even though there was so much darkness, racism and violence that they still found that respect for women in the society (even though in an "inferior" race) was still important.

Pearlie didn't have very many friends growing up. She found herself playing and socializing with family all the way growing up. She still values family greatly. She moved to Memphis in 1964 from the country. She got married to a man named Milton and he wanted to move to the city. At first, Pearlie didn't like it very much. She visited home every weekend like a homesick college freshman. The reason was that she loves the country. She loved the wide open areas and how "freeing" it is. The city is closed and impersonal.

Once she spent more time in the city, she started liking it a little more. Her favorite part was that she felt like she "was working for herself and not a white man."

Now, Pearlie enjoys whenever her family gets together again even if it's just a few of her sisters. She values family immensely and loves talking to new people. When asked what wisdom she wants to share with anyone, she said, "Be good, be kind, treat people right." and "Be strong. Stick with it. You can do anything that you put your mind to."

Everyday when I leave Pearlie's house after a long day, I say "I'll see you tomorrow Pearlie!" Her response, everyday, is "If the Lord says so." This exemplifies the faith that was instilled in her at a young age by her parents and a trust that the Lord's timing is perfect. That is truly what a life glorifying God looks like. Putting yourself behind for the glory and will of God.

Coming Soon...

This summer one of my favorite things about my job is that I have the privilege to build relationships with the owners of the homes that I'm working on. I'll be starting a short series on the home owners that I've been developing relationships with this summer. I'm going to "interview" them about their lives, what they've gone through, struggles they've had, and pieces of wisdom that they want to share with the world. Keep posted and pay attention on these posts coming!

Weakness and Leadership

I'm here in Memphis. I've been here for little over a week now and I'm loving it. I have the privilege to work with 45 other fantastic mature Christians here at SOS and I love them and the community that comes with working and living with them.  Service Over Self is more than a name for this camp.  It's a lifestyle.

Jesus Christ was a servant.  He hardly ever claimed credit for himself directly.  Even though he was weak, he humbled himself to the lowest of the low.  He was friends with the poor, needy, and sick.  He even went as far as to consider himself as one!!! (Matthew 25:40)   I feel that this is an often overlooked aspect of the Gospel (if it's not, then it's often overlooked for me).  This has been emphasized over and over again here at SOS.  First of all, the "higher ups" on staff that are looking out for all of the other summer staff here at SOS are called staff servants.  I think that this is so cool.  The fact that servants are lifted up and given more responsibility.  I feel as though in today's society servants are generally looked down upon if not subconsciously then explicitly.  The lifting up of the servant is what we do when we worship Jesus. We are giving the ultimate servant the glory and worship that He deserves.

The staff servants brought this concept of "leading out of weakness" to the summer staff during the first 24 hours of staff training.  This blew my mind.  Any sort of leadership style, training, or booklet that you'll find out there is all about power.  They look at your strengths and how you well you can take power in any situation.  The concept of leading out of weakness comes from how we are all failed and horrible sinners of this world.  There's no hope for us... any of us.  Here's the beautiful part of this: Jesus is our strength.  If we lead out of weakness... if we lead with nothing of our own, the only thing that the people you're leading are going to see is JESUS! Whoa. Your strength, wisdom, and power is only going to get you so far.  The only way that you can be a true Godly leader is to be leading out of weakness, confessing your sins to the people around you, and turning to Jesus for any and all the glory that is present in this world.

This concept has also brought on a new grasp on the gospel.  It's so easy to say that you're a sinner and to even mean it a lot of the times.  It's so easy to say that you've accepted Christ into your life and say that you're a "Christian".  But the severity of our brokenness is GIGANTIC! We are all broken people and that makes this whole earth broken.  There's no way that we can be made whole by ourselves.  There's nothing that we can do to earn it.  The only way is to turn to Jesus.  He's the only way that our lives, this world, and relationships are going to be made whole and brought back to the way they're supposed to be again.  I love this stuff.  I love Jesus.

What would it look like if we all realized our brokenness and weren't afraid to show it?  Confess to someone. It frees the soul.

I'm excited to see how God is going to work through me, SOS, Bingham(p)ton, the campers, the homeowners, and all of the staff here.  I've already learned so much and seen God work in crazy ways.  Prayers for me being present while I'm here in Memphis and friends from school and home are appreciated.  Prayers of wisdom and discernment on who God highlights in my life and what needs to be done.

· · · — — — · · ·

Some of you reading this started reading this blog because of LeaderTreks. Some of you have started reading it this past academic year. Some of you are reading this for the first time. A lot has happened this last year... Thinking about everything that has happened in the last year and where and who I was a year ago is all overwhelming. LeaderTreks taught and grew me so much last summer (see previous posts). This last school year has been insane. I've learned a lot about God, engineering and what living out the Gospel looks like. One theme that God has been driving home this last year has been loving the "orphans, widows, immigrants, and the poor." These four people groups are seen in the Bible as people that God values. God sees the need of these people and wants to use the material possessions that He has blessed unto the rest of society to meet those needs. Obviously these people groups have changed a little bit in today's society... The idea is that there are always going to be marginalized people groups in society and God loves those people and cares to supply for them. This is evident in a lot of Scripture. One example of this is the concept of gleaning in the Old Testament. God told the farmers that while they are picking a crop and they miss some to leave it. This isn't for laziness sake... It's so that the people that do not have can pick it and have food. 

God has been putting many opportunities to love these people groups in my life this last year. Some of the main situations that He's gave me are my summer in Chicago, my job as an RA, going to college in Milwaukee (fourth poorest city in the country), and *drum roll.....* working in Memphis as a construction manager this summer for Service Over Self (SOS). (For those of you that didn't know that I'm working for SOS this summer, this is something that I've been looking forward to since mid-February.) Working for SOS is something that I believe that God has placed in my life to challenge and grow me into a more faithful servant of His. I'm excited to experience a new city and to grow my knowledge of construction management this coming summer. SOS is a home repairs ministry that gives high school and junior high school students a place to learn about God, get a missions experience, and challenge them in their construction skills. There are students that come into the SOS for a week at a time and do construction projects in an inner-city neighborhood called Binghampton.

I am excited for this summer for a multitude of reasons:

1. To get away from MSOE for a while. As much as I LOVE going to school at this wonderful institution, it will be nice to escape for a while. I enjoy the people here and what they have done in my life. However, MSOE does not bring very much diversity in my life. I'm looking forward to interacting with people of different majors, personalities, and faces. It will be a refreshing yet challenging time getting away from MSOE and getting to know all of the amazing summer staffers that I will be working/growing with this summer. 

2. Experiencing a new city. I've enjoyed learning more about the diversity, history, and culture of Milwaukee this last year. Milwaukee is an incredible city to live in and to experience at any time of the year (unless you can't stand the cold...). I'm looking forward to experiencing life in a new city. One of the largest things that has struck me hard just in the last couple months is the civil rights movement. Memphis, being the city that Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in, was home of one of the largest turning points in the movement. I'm also excited to experience the beauty that is found in the buildings and structures in Memphis seen in this slideshow. 

3. Learning more of what God's plan for my life is. Right now in my life, I believe that God is calling me to use my degree in Architectural Engineering and Construction Management to be in ministry someday. I don't know where or what that's going to look like. I think that exposing myself to people that have made these decisions for their lives is a good way for me to figure those questions out. I'm excited to dive into God's Word all summer and be in a place that is submerged in the presence of God to find a little more of God's will for my life. 

4. Learning more about God! I love working with high school students. I love challenging them and exposing the talents that they didn't know that they had. I love seeing God in the city. I love seeing God work through brokenness. I love experiencing God through His Word. I love learning more and more about what it means to have "gospel-faith". I'm pumped to be challenged and molded by God, the people that I'll be working with, and all of the experiences I'll have this summer.

To everyone that supported me for LeaderTreks last summer:

If you think that what you gave or all of the prayers prayed were just a one time thing last summer, you're dead wrong. Last summer shaped who I am and how I go about living my life for the one and only Lord of the universe. I thank you for every penny that you gave and every word that was prayed for me. Last summer pushed me to seek other inner-city connections and possibilities for this summer. So if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be in Memphis this summer either. I have been blessed by having all of you loving supporters out there. I hope that there has been some way that I have been a blessing in your lives as well along the way.

To everyone reading:

I don't need financial support for this summer. SOS is nice enough to provide a stipend for this summer that comes directly from them. Just because I don't need financial support for this summer, I need prayer support. As I'm preparing for this summer, I ask that you join me in prayer for this coming adventure. I ask that you pray for me being able to finish school without dying. I still have 4 weeks of school left including finals and it's crunch time. I will need prayers to be able to focus on God and being able to set aside time to prepare for this summer spiritually and emotionally. I ask that you can be praying for all of the relationships that are in my life. This summer I will not have very many opportunities to keep in touch with all of the friendships that I have here at MSOE. If these friendships are not strong and steady before the summer, there's a chance that they will be crippled when I come back from the summer. I ask that you can be praying for an urgent and intentional mentality in this area of my life.

I thank God for the each and every one of you and the support system that I have in my life. I feel extremely blessed through the friends and family that He has placed in my life. 

"May God bless you a million times"

Brew City isn't all beer and cheese...

ATTN: Long Post. If you have something to do/ somewhere to be, you have been forewarned.

This past week was MSOE's spring break. Yeah, yeah... it's really late for spring break. I know. You don't have to tell me. The InterVarsity chapter at my school had the privilege of having our own Milwaukee Urban Plunge (MUP for short)! This week is to train and inform the college population of the injustices urban populations go through. Another thing that this trip did was to empower college students to do something about these issues. This week (that wasn't really a week I guess) lasted from Tuesday till Sunday. The theme for the week was "Who is my neighbor?" The reasoning for this to be the theme was that the college campus sets up walls around itself so that it doesn't have to experience the outside world. Honestly, if I didn't want to, I could go a month without hearing about anything outside of the MSOE world. This trip forced us to get a (hypothetical) ladder and look over those walls into the parts of Milwaukee that are deemed undesirable by society. The week looked a little something like this:

In the morning we would have a Bible study going over various passages dealing with the "Who is my neighbor" theme of the trip. The passages included James 2, John 4, Acts 18:8-25, and Ruth 1-2. The study made clear that our "neighbors" are anyone that we come in contact with. When Jesus said in Mark 12:31 that we should "love our neighbors as ourselves" he wasn't just talking about our physical neighbors. We also discussed injustices that dealt with neighbors (everyone) and how we (middle upper class white folk) tend to shy away from looking at those issues (especially when those people don't look like us, come from the same background, or believe the same things as us). We weren't just shown the wrong things to do but the good things as well.

The next part of our day we went to a ministry on the north side of Milwaukee called Mother Scott's Christian Youth Center. This place is blessed upon blessed by God. Mother Scott is considered by many as the "grandmother of Milwaukee". She has been serving in Milwaukee since 1974. This ministry provides hot meals to the homeless and poverty stricken, has a food pantry, clothing donations, addiction counseling, a 24 hour prayer hotline, as well as summer programs and tutoring for children. They also have a computer lab that they are currently working on getting internet in. This computer lab does wonders for the homeless community. When someone doesn't have access to a computer it's considerably more difficult to look for jobs, make a resume, and read the news. Mother Scott's also mostly hires people that are living in poverty/ need. In the time serving there I spoke to at least 3 people that said they just started working at Mother Scott's and got hooked up with them through a temp agency. Seeing Mother Scott interact with the people that were in her building allowed me to see why she was widely known as the "grandmother of Milwaukee". She has such authority, people respect her, she is intimidating but has unfailing love for everyone, and she strives after God and encourages others to as well.


In the evening of the days during MUP we experienced the city more. The activities that we did included watching a documentary about the civil rights movement in Milwaukee and the racism still prevalent in the city (Milwaukee is the most segregated city in America). This opened up my eyes to the complexity and abstractness of segregation and how everyone contributes to it.

Another evening activity was going to a Hispanic church on the south side of Milwaukee called Desatar (day-say-tar: means undo or untie) for their evening service. The sermon this night was about being a good steward of what God has blessed you with. This was extremely interesting because just that morning our planned quiet times was on Revelation 18 and the temptation of materialism. The sermon at Desatar spoke on God wanting to bless His people financially and it's our job to do good with what we have. (Those of you that are familiar with the prosperity gospel, this is not that.) Our quiet times, on the other hand, was talking on the temptation of materialism and wanting our stuff too much. The reason that these two things are such an interesting contrast is that, on the surface level, these are two opposite teachings. However, if we go too far in either direction (not wanting money because it is "evil" and wanting money too much), is not sound theology. Yes, God does want to bless us with enough money to survive and live in this world. Yes, God wants your full and undivided attention, not distracted by something as trivial as money. There is a happy medium between the two. Another thing that I learned from the contrast between the two was the cultural differences and the fact that with different cultures comes different struggles while following.

Thursday night we went to a food kitchen in the downtown of Milwaukee called St. Ben's. This was probably the most thought provoking and best experience that happened all week. At St. Ben's all we did was get food and sit down to talk to another person there that we didn't previously know (preferably a homeless/ poverty stricken person). I talked to a man named John (he introduced himself to me as Giovanni). While I ate with him the conversation went from Illinois to Abraham Lincoln to Bill Clinton to Monica Lewinsky to legalizing weed to other laws in America that should be passed. After eating, John left. I felt the urge to go pray for Him. So I got up and asked if I could pray for him, he agreed and asked if we could go outside. We talked for another 20 minutes outside about Christianity, family, and injuries in our lives. While talking to this man that may or may not be homeless, I was thinking to myself "Why am I so afraid of people like this?" Here he is, pouring his heart out to me and on the verge of tears. He's a person. I'm a person. There's no more reason for me to be afraid of him than there is the professor that is teaching my Macroeconomics class. As I'm writing this, I'm understanding that this is what the theme of the week is all about. If we're all living in the same city, under the same government, surviving through the same weather, and created by the same God, why can't we just love each other like it? Why do we fear people that are different than us? Why do people feel that they can't change? Why does our society marginalize the people that don't have and seclude the people that have a lot? What would love do to our society? What would it look like to have everyone love everyone? Maybe the Beatles were right...

"Charity Gives but Justice Changes"

This is a saying that I have recently run into.  The difference between justice and charity is something that I have been thinking about quite a bit lately.  In today's society, it seems like they should be pretty much interchangeable.  Is that the case though?  What is the difference? How does "Justice Change" and what does it change? Let's look at both of these words and see what each of them entail and how they're done.

Charity
A lot of times when I'm talking to people about service events that I do/ will be doing in the future, this word comes up a lot.  It kind of makes me cringe inside a little bit... When I looked up the definition of charity, I found a few things related to volunteering, giving things away, and even one that says "love of humankind, typically in a Christian context."  What's so bad about the word charity then? It's an action that gives poor people money. Where's the bad in that?  Well, with charity, that's all there is.  There's just giving.  When there's just giving, there's no relationship.

Justice
Before we get into justice, it's important to realize that the type of justice that I am talking about it Biblical justice.  The type that is talked about over and over in Isaiah (1:17, 58), in the gospels (Luke 14:12-13, Matthew 9:13), and in the letters to various branches of the early church (James 5:1-6, Galatians 6:10).  That being said and looking to scripture for characteristics of justice, there are aspects of charity that are in justice.  For example, justice calls us to give our possessions to the poor (Luke 18:18-22).  However, Jesus calls us to more than simple giving.  He sets the standard by having dinner with the "lowest of the low"... people in society that wouldn't even be looked at (Luke 14:12-13). Jesus is a radical dude. He went against so many social norms. He loved people (no matter who they are). He gave to people (no matter where they came from). He led others to do the same.

Justice is active. It's hard. Something that needs to be worked on and practiced. It's something that goes so against so many social norms that it's hard for us to want to do it because "people will look at us weird". Justice is something that Christians need to strive for because Jesus (and God) value it very highly.

When looking at charity, it's passive.  Giving is easy. It doesn't require much work on our part. We put in our money to a box and we're done. Yes. Charity gets money to people that need it. Charity brings good things to society. It can unite people in a community around a certain cause, redistribute the money economically, among other things. But what about the people that are stuck in these injustices? The people that have no way to get out of "the system"? Where does charity lie in that? There's not a whole lot that charity can do for people that seem to find themselves in situations where they can't meet the necessities in life.

As a Christian, I feel a sense of urgency and need to do something about these problems. I see that there are people out there that are being victimized in many different ways and it disturbs me. I understand that I may not "change the world" in the sense that most of society sees it. But by seeking justice and loving people the way that Jesus did, I'm hoping that God will use me to just "change one person's world" on the way.

Biggest. Puzzle. Ever.

It's been a while... I think I'm ready to express myself again.

Your will is like a 4,000,000 piece puzzle that expresses all that this world is. You are the Father that is completing this puzzle, and we are the child that is sitting in your lap in awe of what you are doing. We watch enviously as You work while wanting to help.  We look at this puzzle and we are overwhelmed. We don't know what to do with all of these pieces.  We want to help finish this puzzle. Every now and then we will think that we see a place that a piece will fit. We'll try and slam it into the piece. We think it fits. It doesn't. You take the misshapen piece out, take our hand, and allow us to help. We did it! We helped with the puzzle. That's all we wanted ever since we saw this daunting project. After that, we get a taste of what it's like to put a puzzle together and we want to do more. We try to slam a few more pieces into places that it doesn't fit like children do so well. You will once again, so graciously, allow us to help again. Taking our hand to get .000025% closer to the end of the puzzle. The process repeats itself over and over again. Every time we help, we get happier and more excited that You're allowing us to help with Your puzzle. Someday, maybe, just maybe, we will understand that the only way that we will be able to help You, serve You, is if we allow You to work through us.