A little encouragement

I've refrained from saying much because I didn't want you all to have to listen to me whine. I have two young children, so I know the torture of listening to a poor-pitiful-me-saga. 

On Sunday, I received some encouragement, so let me share that story.

Maybe you find yourself a little down about this or that, and somehow, this story will encourage you too.

At the end of the church service I attend, there is always a closing song and an invitation to spend some time at the altar in prayer.

During the closing song, I was thinking about all of this "seeds of grace" stuff and all of the obstacles we need to overcome and how few answers I have. I was thinking how I would love to have my church body and all of my friends rallied behind this idea. But, it is hard to rally people when you aren't exactly sure how you are going to make any of your ideas happen. 

My prayer is over and over again, God show us the way. Open our eyes. 

Anyway...I sort of came to this "ok, God, I know that you led me here.  I know that you have put these ideas in my heart. For a long time, you have been giving me these wild, crazy dreams (for about 10 years). I have NO IDEA how you are going to make ANY of them happen, but I'm trusting that you are going to show me the way." 

It wasn't emotional. It wasn't an epiphany. It was more...a very matter-of-fact, I've said this before, but just so we both know...

So, that wasn't really the encouraging part. The encouraging part was that this woman, whom I would not normally call bold, came to me and with great boldness and surety said, "I know you must be discouraged. I know that it must seem like every time you take one step, you get knocked back two. But, I want you to know that God is gonna make a way and that I am praying and will keep praying." 

We had talked a little before church, so she knew some of what we are facing. She has been working on a simple cookbook that we can use to teach some classes when we do "get a place." She is with us, has joined the rally, and she isn't family, so she doesn't have to-ha. It's encouraging. 

I'm so thankful God gives us these little gifts to keep us going. I'm so glad this sweet lady was obedient. 

Hope someone encourages you this week. Hope that whatever it is you might be trying to sort through, you find the strength to believe that God is with you and he will show you the way. Because He will...

If you can't say anything nice...

It's not that I have anything bad or mean to say. It's really that I don't have much at all to say.

We got bad news from the county zoning office, and we are still mulling it over and thinking about what it means and what we ought to do. You'll probably hear more about all of that later.

I have articles of incorporation written.

It's been a productive, but kind-of-blah kind of week.

I guess, maybe, the best thing I could say is... Please pray for Seeds of Grace.

We believe the best way to minister to High Ridge is to move into the neighborhood, but the word from the zoning office is that it will be very difficult, at best. So...if this is the plan, we need to know how to work within the system and how to get a place in the neighborhood. If it is not the plan, we need to know what the best way to do what God has called us to do without being in the neighborhood.

Please pray for Teri and I as we continue to sort out what we are to do with the burdens God has laid on our hearts. he has the answers. He is the answer. We are trusting him.

Active Waiting

As we continue to search for the property that will give Seeds of Grace four walls and a roof we try to look at other paths that God may want us to travel until the timing is right.  As we wait on a place to share “Grace” I believe God is not calling us to just sit and wait. I think he expects active waiting. Even though there are many things we realize we aren’t able to do right now, we are trying to focus on those things that are within our realm of action.

 An idea that is still in formation is a “New Mommy” class. Pulling from local resources, the idea is to have an opportunity to share with a group of young mothers to be. The class would have a little of everything from swaddling to the importance of conversation to develop early language skills. The plan is for each class to be led by a different person who can share their knowledge and life experience about a specific area of parenting. This will be a chance to educate but I think we may be just as much the recipients of the education. We can continue to form relationships and gain insights as we wait....

My momma loves me...

I can't claim thousands of supporters, but I am so thankful for the few who help carry me on the days I'm not sure all of this is worth it, when I'm not sure I will ever see this dream come true.

My momma is one of my biggest fans, and I genuinely appreciate her public bragging.

Check out her blog post here, she has some great pictures of our day.



Also, if you know of someone who would like to help us organize that mess of a book bus closet, we would welcome them.

Science and Hope

A friend of mine, who has taught for several years and recently spent some time studying ESE while earning her masters, said "I think that if we could change the home life of most of our children in ESE classes,  we would see the need for those programs almost eliminated."

See this article from NYtimes that says doctor's are now saying my friend's hypothesis has been scientifically proven.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/kristof-a-poverty-solution-that-starts-with-a-hug.html?_r=3

Complications

Maybe trying to keep up a blog daily on an iPad wasn't my best plan. There have been complications. On MLK day, I had a beautiful (if I do say so myself), challenging post written. I went to check a fact, and when I came back my post had disappeared. I couldn't re-write it, there was no way I could get the words to read just so. And besides, I'm pretty sure I had climbed up on my high horse and was sounding more than a little preachy.

But, here is someone who managed to write what I wanted to write without sounding preachy and self-righteous.

http://deeperstory.com/the-streets-full-of-hungry-people/


And here is the MLK quote that inspired me that night.

"Pity may represent little more than the impersonal concern which prompts the mailing of a check, but true sympathy is the personal concern which demands the giving of one's soul."

The first step to giving our soul is "seeing" someone.

There is a lot of complication in life. Trying to figure out the best ways to help people, even people I am close to, seems like one of the most complicated tasks. When I think about helping people whose pain I only know from a distance, it seems nearly impossible to know the right way to help. I know it has little to do with handing out food, and books, and clothes; and more to do with a smile, a conversation, and journeying through the ups and downs of life. But that is all really complicated, isn't it?

Hope these things inspire you too! And we would love for our readers to share some similar things that have inspired them. Just leave a link in the comment box. Thanks!

A glimpse

Book Bus is always fun. I enjoy meeting new people and seeing familiar faces and having little chats with people of all ages about what they like to read or why they have never liked to read. It is intriguing and insightful and interesting to hear people's stories.

But then there is always at least a moment, a glimpse into the brokenness and the hurting and the poverty. Mother Theresa is credited for having said "The most terrible kind of poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved." Sometimes when you are bent over a crate of books with a child you notice their hands are too dirty, and you wonder if they feel ignored. Or sometimes you find yourself talking to a grown man who says something that is inappropriate and you wonder how long it has been since he's had an honest and trully intimate conversation with anyone.

I've been hesitant to write about much of the brokenness we have seen, because I don't want to give a stereotype to a whole neighborhood. I don't want to cast judgement on a single person. We don't know any of our new friends well enough to know how they got where they are. And not everyone we meet is living in poverty.

The thing is...when we go to High Ridge for a Book Bus trip or anything else, it seems like the things of life are just magnified there. Love and Joy and Connection seem grander, and hurt and hate and pain seem bigger.

Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the bad, painful things in this life. I'm a fixer, and I'd like to make it better for everyone. What I have to remember, though, is that isn't really my job. My job is to do the little, tiny things that God asks me to do...pack up some books, listen to people talk, pray...and trust that somehow God will use those tiny little things in his big, grand scheme of redemption.

There are just days when I wish I got more glimpses of redemption than brokenness, and today is one of those days.

The Magic Book Bus

This weekend marked the January run of the BOOK BUS. We layered our clothes, cranked up the heaters and pulled into High Ridge with crates filled with books and thermoses of hot chocolate.  Even though the air was cool, the sun was shining and attendance was good.  At two of our stops we actually had customers waiting on us (are they customers if the books are free?). Picking out your 5 books is serious business. Often times, there is consultation with a friend or at least the person leaning over the crate next to you. It’s fun to get down there with the kids who may feel a little shy and draw them out with a good Junie B. or Amelia Bedelia book. Before you know it they are requesting books and Carey and I are realizing we have got to get that closet organized. The books are plentiful but the workers few. J I have to say the biggest thrill I get is the kids that say, as they walk away with their books in hand, “See you next month.”



Crates ready to go!



First customers of the day

It was just what he was looking for.

Checking out the chapter books

This Saturday

We are gearing up for another book bus run. We have posted our signs around the neighborhood so people will know when and where, and we will be passing out some flyers.

Saturday morning we will go to our very scary closet, load up our boxes of books, drive to High Ridge and give away as many books as we can.

So...hold on until then, and I hope I will have some good stories and pics to share.

For those of you who are following (officially or unofficially) us, we really appreciate it!

Waiting

I don't really enjoy the waiting stage. I know it is part of life, but I'm still always looking for the action. I've always loved that part in Dr. Seuss' Oh the Places You'll Go about the waiting place.

Anyway, we are in that stage, waiting...waiting to get some info from the zoning department, waiting to find the right location, waiting for the right people to come alongside us.

We aren't passively waiting. Teri and I do what we can until we get a place. We do a lot of praying and thinking and talking and dreaming and debating and then more praying. And we do some reading and researching.

Not to long ago, we spent a day at an amazing place called Grace Place in Naples, FL. Stephanie Campbell, the director of Grace Place, was more than generous with what they have learned. She lent me a book entitled Good to Great, and I finished reading it over Christmas break.

The author, Jim Collins, says that if a non-profit wants to be great, it must answer three questions.

1. What are you deeply passionate about?
2. What can you be best in the world at?
3. What drives your resource engine?

For the past few days, I've been in the waiting place with these three questions. They are big, deep, difficult-to-answer-honestly questions. My waiting space is feeling a little crowded. At the same time, I know they are important questions, and I hope I have the discipline and perseverance to wait it out and find the best answers. I am also so thankful that I'm not waiting alone or left to find the answers on my own. I have an amazing group of friends and family whom listen to me blabber as I  try to process all of this out loud.

Check out www.graceplacenaples.org. They are living the dream, at least what Teri and I dream Seeds of Grace could become.

Hope I didn't keep you waiting. When I tried to post last night, I had some obvious technical difficulties.

A fourth century challenge

I use an awesome prayer book, called Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Enuma Okoro. A few days ago, there was this quote from Basil of Caesarea, "When someone steals a person's clothes, we call him a thief. Should we not give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry; the coat hanging unused in your closet belongs to those who need it; the shoes rotting in your closet to the one who has no shoes. The money which you hoard up belongs to the poor."

Our statement of purpose

Seeds of Grace exists to provide educational opportunities and life-enriching skills for at risk children and impoverished families in High Ridge Estates, and to foster relationships among all people looking for a new, more grace-filled way to live. 

Seeds of Grace is a faith-based, non-profit neighborhood center which provides excellent educational programs at no financial cost to families to encourage the overall development of children in need. These programs focus on school readiness and academic success, life enrichment via mentoring relationships and new experiences. The outcomes will be (1.) children who grow up to be literate, emotionally and physically healthy, and productive members of society and (2.) volunteers who see the ways their lives are impoverished if they don't connect to the families in need next door.

We should probably mention that everything is a work in progress and subject to change. We believe this statement captures the heart of what we are planning, but we may still end up making some adjustments as we become more aware of the needs of the neighborhood and how our talents and passions best intersect with those needs.

The beginning

It is difficult to know where to start in our story. We have a lot to tell, but really we probably have only lived a short chapter of this story. What has been exciting and amazing to us, when we try to explain it may be dull and meaningless to you. 

One of the things that amazes me most about our story is how this story began without either Teri or I knowing. I had been serving as children's pastor at a church for a few years, but God started to impress on me that it was time to find a new way to minister, a way that was more involved with the "outside world" as I called it at the time. So, I applied for a job at our local elementary school. I applied for a classroom assistant position and was hired to work in an ESE classroom. I found out that I would be working with Teri Sapp, whom I had met a few times, but did not really know. It didn't take long to find out we were kindred spirits.

At about the same time Teri and I were starting to get to know each other, God started to open my eyes to some of the things that break his heart in Keystone Heights, our tiny little town.  We began to talk about what our community and school and students might need. We talked and dreamed about different ways we might could begin to follow God more fully and join Him in the work He wants to do in our community. One day we were driving through High Ridge Estates, a neighborhood where many of our students live, and Teri said, "You know what I've always wanted to do...I think it would be really fun to drive around this neighborhood like an ice cream truck would, but instead of selling ice cream,  I'd give away books." We both laughed, and then I think we started talking about something else.

Later that night, the ice cream truck with books haunted me. It was a good idea!

Over the next few months, we talked and dreamed with anyone who would listen, and then we made a plan for the summer. We emailed our school faculty and a few others to say we would love to have some used books. At first we thought we wouldn't have enough, but then we were flooded with books. 

We gathered a small group of volunteers, advertised in the neighborhood, loaded up our trucks, and drove to four stops in High Ridge. Last summer, we made a book bus run every other Saturday, and during the school year we have tried to go once a month (although we have had some weather issues). 

We aren't exactly sure what God has planned for us, but we are working on non-profit status, and hoping to find a piece of property in High Ridge where we could offer some tutoring for students and encouragement for their families. In the mean time, we are thinking of creative ways we can bless our students and families living in High Ridge.
Have you ever asked God to show you what breaks his heart in your community? What did you find? And how did He invite you to join Him in his redemption story?