So I realize I haven't done a very good job updating recently. Really my life hasn't been so super exciting. School started, I'm already a little overwhelmed, I went home this past weekend for Labor Day, that was good and relaxing and quick, and now I'm back here at school.
Today, though, I was thinking about New York and how much I missed it, which is something I think about a lot actually. It too was stressful and busy, but in a different sort of way.
Today, though, I was thinking about one of my favorite ministries called the Green Team. The Green Team is run by New York's Horticulture society and is also a rehabilitation program for people just coming out of prison. For the record these aren't hardened criminals. It's people who have spent less than a year in prison for a not super serious crime. They are given a paid internship with the Green Team and learn landscaping skills, so that will then be able to get a job. The guy in charge, Mark, is one of the most interesting guys I've ever met. He knows a lot about history and plants and likes to impart his knowledge about both subjects on us volunteers and his workers.
I loved the chance to play in the dirt and plant things...because who thought that during my summer in the middle of New York City I would have a chance to garden? I loved getting random bits of information about the city's history and I loved talking to the people who were there working beside me, and getting to learn about gardening from them.
Then I remember being impressed by Mark and his love for the people who worked for them. Unless you already knew that most of them were just out of prison then walking up you would have never been able to tell. Mark treated them all with respect and trusted them as you would anybody else. He was passionate about his gardens and about helping his workers to learn the skills they needed and he did all of it without any judgment or condescension.
Why can't we all love like that all the time?
Well, I've almost been down in Springfield for almost a week now. Its been a little weird and required some adjusting. I came from an intense summer to only a week or so at home and then down to school where I moved from campus into an apartment.
If you know me you know I'm not a huge fan of change. So the first few days in my apartment were a little difficult. I've been an RA for the past two years. I know the job, I know the people, I lived in the same room, and I knew what was expected from me. Last year was especially great and it was a hard decision to leave, and I was sad when the end came.
Anyway, so here I am just coming back from this crazy summer to home which is of course familiar to Springfield where I am making changes in my life. The inconsistence of the familiarity kind of threw me off a little and so the first few days were tough knowing what was going on on campus and that I wasn't a part of it anymore.
I still wonder if I made the right decision. I think so...and I'm sure that if I was sitting in my RA room I would be asking myself the same question. Either way its going to be a hectic semester...here's to trying to make it to finals week with my sanity : )
So I've now been home for about a week. I actually flew straight from New York to Kansas City for a wedding...which was outside, which was hot...but it was fun anyway. My Bible Study from my freshman year was getting married and it was in her Bible Study in her little RA room each week that year that I found the girls who are now some of my best friends down at school. We were all there and she looked gorgeous and we sweated a lot and all got sunburnt and danced the night away and it was good and the together time was much needed...
Now I'm home and I leave again on Thursday to move back down to school. I was only home for about 10 days and let's be honest I've spent most of it doing not a whole lot. I've been trying to catch up on sleep because even still I get tired early, which either means I'm getting old or still recovering. I've also been trying to unpack my New York stuff, but also then reorganize to pack to leave again. My room to say the least is chaos.
So the relaxing is going well, but there is also a part of me that's freaking out a little bit. In two days I will be moving into my first big girl apartment where I have to pay rent and buy groceries and cook real food...I don't know if I'm ready for this step yet...
You're the God of this City
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are
You're the Light in this darkness
You're the Hope to the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless
You are
There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God
For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater thing have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
So I have a little less than 2 hours left in New York City now. I'm sitting in our church's library waiting for the car to come and pick me up and take me to the airport. I can't believe it's almost officially done and I'll be saying goodbye to the good friends I've made here and to a city that has so much brokenness, but so much potential and so much room for God to do amazing things.
I spent yesterday morning serving at my last ministry site of the summer, but at one of my favorites. We went to an organization called God's Love We Deliver. At no cost the organization delivers nutritious meals terminally ill patients in their homes. It is available to anyone, rich or poor, with any life threatening illness from AIDS to cancer to MS to scleroderma ( I just learned about that one yesterday). And so that brings me to Irene who I met on my group's delivery route yesterday. She was the last apartment on the route and normally I let my group go up to the apartment to drop off the food, but for some reason I asked if I could go up with the guy going this time. So we rode the elevator to the 12th floor and found her patiently waiting in the hallway for us. She was the most fragile lady I had ever seen. The scleroderma affects your skin as well as your organs like your kidneys, esophagus, heart and lungs.
All of Irene's food has to be pureed and she has a tube in her throat because the food will harden as it goes down her esophagus and she won't be able to eat...So we round the corner and there is this tiny woman, skin and bones, waiting for us. Her eyes light up when she sees us and she gives us the biggest smile. She thanked us profusely and gave each of us a hug, telling us what a blessing the organization was and what a blessing we were for being willing to deliver this food. Irene asked us our names and where we were from and what school I went to and what I was studying.
When she heard I was studying theatre she was so excited and that was her passion and she had been part of the Yiddish theatre (she was wearing her head scarf) as well as doing summer stock theatre in Conneticut, but she had also been a registered nurse. She was so interested to know about us and I wish that I had been able to talk to her longer and hear all about her life. But she thanked us once again and said she hope our that God blessed our lives and we said our goodbyes and headed back to the lobby.
We don't always get to see the effect of what it is we are doing, but yesterday I got to see it. I am so glad I asked to deliver this meal and that I got to meet this sweet, precious lady who had such a positive outlook on life. I got to see one last time how God is working here in New York City. He knew just how to perfectly end my summer.
I don't know if I'll ever be back hereto New York in this capacity, but I feel blessed to have had the chance to be here the last couple months. I don't know where it is God will send me and that's a little scary, but I can't wait to find out.
It's hard to believe that in 2 days I'll be leaving New York and in 4 days I'll be home...summer has gone by incredibly fast. I feel like I just got here! It'll be weird to be home and to adjust back to a normal schedule. I just wanted to share, though, some more on the things I've experienced this summer...
First...subway performances...
1 hip hop dance crew
2 Michael Jackson cover artists
4 Mariachi Bands
3 R&B groups
3 barbershop quartets
2 3-person bongo playing groups (they brought their drums and small chairs onto the car with them)
1 free styling poet
and 1 man who started out singing a precious love song about two people in love and then proceeded to transition into "if you think I'm sexy and you want my body...come on baby let me know..." (I had to turn away I was laughing so much at this transition)
This is not to mention all the performers who perform out on the platform, from tap dancers, to singers, to musicians with their instruments...even someone playing a saw....
On a more serious note I have actually learned some things...not so much about what it is I'm supposed to be doing with my life, but more about myself. I learned I don't have as much patience as I thought I did and its something I need to definitely work on. I learned sometimes I have trouble delegating because I'd rather just do a job to my satisfaction and have it done my way, and I can't always do that. I need help sometimes. I know my faith has grown and that God gave me the groups I had on purpose to teach me those things and to keep me focused on Him. I got to see God working in my friend Jody's life and I'm so blessed to be able to live with this year as we both adjust to normalcy. I can't wait to see what other plans He has, but as usual He is constantly reminding me of His timing.
I was humbled this summer as I came in contact with so many people from so many different walks of life, some who from looking at their situation you would assume them to have far less faith but seem to have much more than me. It is easy to praise God when things are good, but it is difficult in the storm. I had no control in what family and situation I would end up in. How did I end up so blessed? Most New Yorkers spend more than half their income on rent, leaving little money left for food and other necessities. It takes a great deal to put one's pride aside and get in line at a soup kitchen for a meal. Who am I to judge why they're here? 76% of people living in the New York shelter system are families, many with jobs, but not able to make ends meet because the cost of living is so high. I feel like there's something wrong with that. I want to help all of them. I want all the of the kids to get to go to good schools and get good educations and see that there are so many opportunities outside of their neighborhoods. Where do I fit in? I don't know yet, so I have to wait and see where God takes me next.
