The City Calls Out

This was written by a friend of mine; who also has a heart for urban ministry.

The City Calls out
by Edwin Lindsey

• "Sirens
• Gunshots, Fighting
• A Child Crying for Food
• Drug dealers selling outside
• These are the sounds of the place
• The place in which calls me by my name
• An heir to God to impact peoples daily lives
• Away from the commotion and busyness of routines
• And into the halls of worship and fellowship in which changes
• Those sounds of sirens, gunshots, Fighting, and applause of immoral ness
• You see The place still calls but with a different tone
• With lives being touched with Gods people
• The sound of a heart that’s being mended
• Through self sacrificing saints
• Who is praying for them
• And singing about
• Peace "

Way to go ILLINI!!

Congrats to the fighting ILLINI for breaking the 38-0 home streak at Wisconsin and for continuing to be the greatest team in the nation! A 20-0 record, 6-0 in the Big Ten. YEAH!

Social injustice occur everywhere

Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow..(Is.1:17)
Is this not the kind of fasting I have chosen:to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help and he will say: Here am I. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land an will strengthen your frame. (Is. 58:6-11)

Okay so most of you know that one of my passions is social justice, and it recently it just seems like every day I encounter more and more injustices within our world. Like, last night I watched "The Life of David Gale" with my sister and I was again reminded of all the injustices that exist within the criminal justice system. It is just so upsetting to me to know that people would rather let potentially innocent people be put to death simply to protect a flawed system. Why is that?
Then today was my first day of my Social Work Practice with Communities class, which is basically a course on community development and let me tell you I am pretty stoked about this semester. Most of our course work will consist of projects outside of class working in our community. One big project we will be doing is working with high school students at a local alternative school for kids with severe behavioral and learning disorders and uniting them with low-income eldery living in a subsidized housing highrise to complete a mural in their community room. We will literally be orchestrating a whole day event painting the mural, doing a craft fair(with works created by the students and seniors) and help with cleaning/painting the seniors homes. Doing fundraising, writing a grant for additional funding, advertising the event with the public and media, as well as contacting local political officials to support the project will all be componets of the project. I'm totally excited about getting started with this process, and my professor's expertise is in community development so I have no doubts that this will be an incredible learning experience.
Then later today I was watching Oprah and Lisa Ling was doing a report on life for women and children in the Congo. They told stories about how the militia in these countries would raid families homes and beat/kill the children while gang raping the mothers and forcing thier husbands to watch. Oftentimes these women are dragged off with the men and forced to act as sex slaves at thier militia camps. Some of the girls taken were as young as 10 years old!!! It is just so appalling that this happens in our world each day and not just in the Congo. Yet nothing ceases it from continuing. Surely there is something we can do to bring change and hope to these young women's lives. It made me want to weep bitterly when one of the women said "We have no hope for the future". How can we just sit quietly aside and allow this to occur? Why are more people not infuriated about these issues? Have we lost our concern for our fellow humanity? I have to believe thats not the case...especially with the outpouring of donations and money given to the tsumani diaster...So what is it? I will end with a quote that my professor gave to us today that I hope will be an inspiration to us all " Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful comitted citizens can change the world...indeed it's the only thing that ever has."---Margaret Mead

So today I got proposed to TWICE! Yeah, thats right. This afternoon while I was working at the Compassion Center (the homeless day center) I was getting some files and dealing with a couple of different clients and kind of flustered when I turned around at my desk and one of the men was down on one knee. When I asked him if he needed anything he said "Cant you see Im trying to propose?" When I mentioned that we didnt even know each other he said "Well we can take our lives to get to know each other"...Well, at this point another client joined in with him and they kept harassing me about how beautiful I was, how they loved my red hair, etc...Yet, after referring him to work with another case manager, about an hour later he came back and again got down on his knee and said "So what do you say? Have you changed your mind?"
I mean I guess it really isnt a rare event for the workers to get hit on by homeless men at the center, but needless to say it made for an interesting day back on the job! I mean social work is never a boring occupation :)

Jane Addams:
The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.

Stressing about School

Ok, so now it is only 5 days until school starts again...and I must say that I am less than thrilled with the thought of getting back into that whole class/internship/work routine. I've had a pretty great break and spent some quality time with the people I love...so I'm not complaining. I dont really know why the thought of school is so depressing for me. I mean I should be excited...It's the last semester before I graduate!!! I will finally have something to show for the past 5 years of work...but still I just dread it all...
Fortunately for me, this shouldnt be a very academically tough semester either. I only have 2 classes (Practice with Communities, and Field Seminar 2) and a third made up class ( Topics in Social Work)to compensate for the extra amount of hours we will be spending in our field placements. However, I know these next few months will still be incredibly stressful for me for a number of reasons....mainly I have to grow up, get a job, find a place to live, and decide what to do with my life...So if anybody has any suggestions or advice for any those issues...please let me know :)

Talk about creative living space!

http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_348111014.html
CHICAGO (AP) Anyone who thinks it is impossible to find an affordable place on one of the city's priciest streets -- Lake Shore Drive -- should talk to Richard Dorsay. For three or four years that's where the homeless man lived. Actually, he lived under Lake Shore Drive, in a wooden shack built into the beams and girders of the drawbridge that crosses the Chicago River. On Sunday, Dorsay was evicted from his home after another man arrested in suburban Streamwood told police about him. Inside, authorities found a home more elaborate than the usual warrens other homeless people have created in the city's nooks and crannies. Dorsay had tapped into the bridge's electricity to power a television, microwave, space heater and PlayStation video game system. There he could relax and, on occasions, turn on a Chicago Bears game, invite friends over and pop open some beers. "I've never seen this," said Tom Powers, a deputy commissioner for the Chicago Department of Transportation, who was at the bridge Sunday. "Usually, it's somebody trying to get warm at night." The home had it quirks. Whenever Dorsay heard the bells that signal the arms of the bridge would soon rise to let boats through, he held on as the bridge slowly pitched him forward. "The first time it was scary," he said. "After that, it was almost like riding a Ferris wheel." Coming and going was different, too. Whenever he left, he would pop his head out of the hole to look for traffic. Then he would climb out and go about his routine of panhandling or searching for items to sell at junk yards. He also collects a welfare check. Dorsay discovered his new home when he spotted a hole in a girder in the midsection of the lower level of the double-decker bridge and climbed in. He liked what he saw and started moving his belongings, which he had been hauling around with him, inside. Then he started bringing in other things he could fit through the 1-foot-by-3-foot hole. Two other people also moved to the same area of the bridge, and a number of wooden huts with sleeping quarters were built. Dorsay used blankets to camouflage the huts to make them harder to spot from the water below. "You've got to be kind of agile," Dorsay said of his living arrangements. "You can't be an idiot. ... It doesn't take long to figure out what you need to do." Dorsay's luck ran out after last week. The man who told police about him allegedly implicated Dorsay in criminal activity and said he had a gun at his home. Police arrested Dorsay at the bridge on Thursday. He was taken to Streamwood, where he was released without being charged. He was, however, charged in Chicago with criminal trespass to property, a misdemeanor. On Sunday, authorities searched his home. No gun was found. Dorsay's father came by the police station Sunday to take him to his home in Burr Ridge. Several calls to the home went unanswered Monday. The discovery could lead the city to change its weekly security sweeps of the bridge and block holes in the structure, said Powers, the transportation department deputy commissioner. Mayor Richard Daley said Dorsay illustrates the homelessness problem in the city. "They're there for a reason, for shelter," the mayor said of the homeless. "And that's the concern we share."
Okay, so when I first read this story, it simply amazed me; the creativity and skill this man must possess to rig up such an operation! I mean its simply ingenious. But anyways, I hope that by including this story on my blog it won't leave you with a bad taste in your mouth or the image that justifies stereotyping all homeless as free-loaders who really choose to live that way. My only point with this post is to illustrate that each and every one of us as individuals has potential to succeed. I believe that God has created every individual uniquely with skills and strengths to build upon and further His kingdom. Unfortunately too often we neglect those talents and skills or only use them to fufill our own purposes, such as the man in this article. (I mean he escaped paying any taxes for three years and free electricity!) Simply think what things this man could accomplish if he were to use the same skills he accessed to create a home in drawbridge! It saddens me to think of the multitudes of people who squander thier potential for furthering the Kingdom by wasting time and energy pursuing things that will never last. Maybe this is a challenge to you or maybe to myself or maybe Im reading way too much into a simple article about a homeless man, but regardless I encourage you to embrace the talents and abilities that God has equipped you with and use them to bring glory to God.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," saith the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future...

Welcome to my Blog!

So, now I've done it...I've officially joined the thousands of individuals who posts their thoughts online by starting my own blog. I'm not sure exactly what my future posts will contain but I hope that it will be interesting, thought-provoking, and somewhat entertaining for those of you who chose to be my audience...Welcome and enjoy. :)