When you say it, you'd better mean it.

Warning: Reading this blog may be harmful to your sensitive spirits and to your tear ducts.

God, use me to do whatever it is that you'd have me do.

Yep, when you say it, you'd better mean it. That came through loud and clear today.

A little backstory. A coworker & I go weekly to a local park and do art & music & just build relationships with the neighborhood kids there. We've connected with probably hundreds of people since we started doing it -- some in big ways, others in very casual ways. When we started, we had no idea what to expect. We went to the park that very first day and prayed this prayer (and continue to pray it every single day):

God, use me to do whatever it is that you'd have me do.

This park is in various states of disrepair. There are swings that are broken, slides that have sections burned out, grafitti over all surfaces, broken bottles, remnants of drug use and trash that never seems to find its way into the trash can. No biggie. We bring our gloves and our trash bags and every time set out to clean up the park just like we did before. Lots of people stop and ask why we're cleaning. Some thank us for cleaning. Others just nod and smile.

This morning when we got there -- well, let's just say that Labor Day weekend must have been one wild time in this park. There was more garbage than normal. And one especially hearbreaking sight: a dead cat right at the entrance to the park. Now, this isn't CSI: Feline Edition, but this cat had been there for a few days at least. People had to have walked over it or around it to get in and out of the park. Kids must have seen it. We saw it and immediately knew "whatever it is that you'd have me do" was right here, right now.

Some friends in the neighborhood walked by and told us there was a cat that needed to be cleaned up. They mentioned it had been there for a while. They even joked that there was no way we would pick it up. We did. A local botega loaned us some trash bags; a local business donated some gloves and 10 minutes later, God had wrecked me again and brought me back to the place where I had needed to be all along -- knowing that I am His servant and ultimately called to do whatever it is that He needs done.

R.I.P.. Grey & White Kitty, R.I.P. :(

It's all about relationships.

It's all about relationships. I feel like this is what I've been hearing over and over again for the past few months. I can't deny that the phrase feels trite to me; I also can't deny that because it does, I don't fully "get" it. Because it is. On the most basic level, it comes down to relationships. But I'm trying. Day by day, I'm trying.

If you don't love someone, you don't hate him/her (or, at least, not necessarily). But you don't have an emotional investment, a vested interest, an out-and-out desperation to love. Is that apathy? Is that nonchalance? Is that spiritual laziness? Is that an inability to fully understand the position we all hold in Christ? Is that human nature?

Somedays, I know the answer is yes. I know it's yes to all of them at one time or another. I know that ultimately I have to admit, I haven't helped bring justice to this world with my resources, time and energy, not because I hate, but because I don't care enough. Because I don't love enough. There was a time where I would have tried to soften the blow of that for myself -- would have tried to put a twist to it to make myself come out looking better than I am. The smoke and mirrors treatment if you will, but those times are behind me for now. Seeing it in print and making it a public proclamation makes it that much more real and holds me that much more accountable.

It has to be now. It has to be love. It has to be relationships.

p.r.a.y.e.r.

Once upon a time, the President of International Justice Mission, Gary Haugen, was describing the culture that exists within their main offices day-to-day. He said that the staff as a whole comes together at a certain time to pray every day. He went further to say that they didn't necessarily do this because they liked to (I bet they did), they didn't do this because they had to (sometimes people were gone), they did this because they couldn't make it through their day -- and the incredibly weighty tasks they perform day in and day out -- without it.

Can I be honest and say, I want to get to that point. I want to be so desperate for prayer that my day seems impossible.

Northeast Community Church is hosting a prayer gathering tonight. It will be at 18 Knight Street in the community room. We'll be praying for NECC, our city, our state, our world, just people, just neighbors. No hard and fast rules to it, just a time to gather in prayer. If you're around, scoot in around 7:30pm. It's open to everyone.

Neighbor.

neigh·bor (nbr)
n.
1. One who lives near or next to another.
2. A person, place, or thing adjacent to or located near another.
3. A fellow human.
4. Used as a form of familiar address.
v. neigh·bored, neigh·bor·ing, neigh·bors

How often do I forget this? A neighbor is nothing more than a fellow human. Someone who might be in a completely different situation than me, but never removed from their humanity, just as I can never be removed from mine.

The thing I love best about using a definition as simple as that is that it breaks down any sort of walls you might try to put up. It can mean the person next door just as easily as it means the person across the globe. We are all fellow humans; all wanting...needing...desperate for love and desperate for justice.

A few years ago, a group of us were discussing our neighborhoods and one person asked us to write down the names of all the neighbors we knew. Not just first names - first and last. I could write down one. One name of one neighbor of one neighborhood that I had lived in for four years. My dissapointment in myself was palpable but my hope for moving forward was tangible.

Who are your neighbors? First and last name, of course.

ICDC

The Idea Camp is over yet again and, as expected, I am not the same. I blogged about the first Idea Camp held in California. Well, this past weekend, they picked up shop and moved it to Washington DC to discuss issues surrounding justice and global movement toward justice.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to attend in person (I'm still boohooing over it, but schedules were crazy), but the cool thing abotu Idea Camp is you can be there without really being there. Charles Lee, the ideator behind it, is committed to making it available to everyone through different avenues of communication.

We watched the live stream in the office on the big screen. After a few IT hiccups we were rocking and rolling. Ever been to one of those conferences where there are so many good ideas flowing that your pen or your typing fingers can't keep up with your head? Yep, that about sums it up.

I was espcially inspired by Leroy Barber (http://theideacamp.ning.com/forum/topics/new-neighbor-with-leroy-barber) and his talk on neighboring. Yeah, it's a verb. His sincerity in talking about living and being with people in the neighborhoods where you want to affect change and inject hope was spot on and just what I needed to hear. It's not just a quick fix and it's not just a one-day thing. It's building relationships and fostering it over time.

There are a million and two things needing to be blogged about, so in light of being un-overwhleming (is that a word?), they will be spaced out over the next few days. All I can say is: Mr. Rogers had it so right when he said: It's such a good feeling to know you're alive.

Snappy new days to all!