Happy Easter!

We had a little Easter celebration with our neighbors.
Delone even got to use a Spongebob Easter egg decorating kit!


Chongo & his niece Amelia.


Delone with his Spongebob egg.


Amelia



Savannah...


Luisa, T'Anna, Savannah, Delone, & Sarah

A child shall lead them.

Today a potential grant-donor came to DinoMights tutoring. Typically, when these people come my boss spends a decent portion of the work day preparing for their visit. The whole process could be compared to a really intense job interview. Grant donors want to make sure you are an organization worth supporting. Well, for as much time as we can put into these "visits" by people who help fuel non-profits, surprises come up.

DinoMights tutoring takes place in an elementary school in South Minneapolis. Tutors spend an hour each Tuesday with a student working on reading, math, homework, and simply building a positive relationship with a kid.

As all of the kids were beginning to fill the library a school employee asked "are these kids with you?" I told her that they were with me. I was worried that she was going to have some type of complaint that they were being disruptive. Instead, she began to tell me how incredible DinoMights is. The potential grant donors walked into the library and this school employee asked if she could talk to them. She told these two individuals that the school which we use for tutoring has a 97% poverty rate. She began to get teary eyed, explaining that too many kids in the city fall through the cracks. As this happened, my boss entered the conversation and simply listened. Talk about a true testimony to our organization without even expecting it!

After talking with the grant people for awhile, my boss introduced them to some tutors/kids. When Kelsey( tutor/former DinoMight) and Edward (1rst grader/Kelsey's buddy) were introduced they were playing a game. Edward did not seem to be phased by these professional business-looking people. He said to them "Wanna play?" I loved hearing that story from Kelsey after tutoring. This 1rst grade boy attends the school where 97 % of the student population live in poverty. Yet, he has such a love of life and people. He has a HUGE heart. On Sunday afternoon we took him and another DinoMight out for lunch. He saved half of his lunch to give to his little brother.

Yes, gangs exist, drugs are being sold on the corner, and the schools seem so flawed at times. In the midst of the numerous broken, messed up, un-just situations, a child shall lead them.....

Ordinary Radicals.

On Monday I got to hear Shane Claiborne speak . He truly takes what Gandhi said and does it "Live simply, so others may simply live."
If you have never heard of Shane , you should check out what his life is all about at The Simple Way

He writes in his book "The Irresistible Revolution: Living as Ordinary Radicals", that when we talk of materialism and simplicity we must always begin with love for God and our neighbor, otherwise we are operating out of legalistic, guilt-ridden self-righteousness. Our simplicity is not an ascetic denunciation of material things to attain personal piety, for if we sell all we have and give it to the poor, but have not love, it is meaningless ( 1 Corinthians 13:3)
Simplicity is meaningful only inasmuch as it is grounded in love, authentic relationships, and interdependence. Redistribution then springs naturally out of family that is larger than biology or nationalism. So ,it is important to understand that redistribution comes from community, not before community. Redistribution is not a prescription for community. Redistribution is a description of what happens when people fall in love with each other across class lines.

As Shane spoke, I thought of many of the "ordinary radicals" that I know seeking justice and love around the world. I have friends currently living in Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Mexico,India & Europe. Yet, I couldn't help but think of one of my closest friends, Sarah. I have known Sarah since our freshmen year at Bethel. Over the 6 + years of our friendship I have been continually struck by the ways she loves people. I have had the privilege of living in community with Sarah this year and I am truly inspired by the ways in which she lives her life. She has the ability to form relationships with so many different types of people. She is a woman filled with confidence and vision. Currently she has been applying/interviewing for different international organizations. It will be a transition not being able to live with her next year, but I know that whatever it is that she does she will do it with her entire being.

Last night we went to a Native American coffee cafe with our neighbors. Sherry & Sarah had their "debut" singing Karoke together.



Sarah, thanks for sharing your life with SO many people.

Snowflakes and sunsets....

It snowed this morning in Minneapolis. People were driving extremely slow.I took my friends and their week old son to the WIC office. A drive that should have normally lasted 5 minutes, took ten. WIC provides low-income families with nutritional counseling, and food. 45% of children in the U.S. benefit from WIC.

Last year I lived in the same building as this family and really learned a lot from them. Besides having a week old baby, they have a 7 yr old son. He has received the student of the month award this year, and I cannot even begin to describe the look of pride his father had on his face when telling me this news. This family has such a sense of raw, authentic love for each other.

My parents had dreams for my life, as well as for my two older brothers.. As a child they wanted me to grow up in a healthy environment, eat nutritious foods, make good friends, show respect to those around me, and do well in school.

Dan & I



Hangin out with my big brothers...


This couple has similar desires and hopes for their 7 year old son, and 7 day old son. As I sat down with them in their living room today, the father had such a sense of pride in his voice as he talked about his children. Their 7 year old son was so excited to be a "big brother." His Mom was had such a high smile on her face as she talked about the new baby.


I think one of the most beautiful lessons I have learned living in the city is that we do share humanity. Yet, we also create a mosaic of different cultural backgrounds, and traditions to be celebrated.


As Robert Lupton writes so powerfully in his book "Theirs is the Kingdom: Celebrating the Gospel in Urban America."

'I think God must detest sameness. At least he has gone to great lengths to avoid it. Every snowflake, every cloud, every flower is unique. He has created and continues to create an endless variety of tress, bugs, sunsets and beasts. He has created billions of human beings, every one an original. All of nature is an infinite array of individually designed organisms interacting in harmonious praise to its Maker. And humans, created in the very image of God are given the privilege of being co creators with God.
I suspect that one of the results of the fall for humanity was the loss of some of our creativity. Not all of it, of course. We still are quite capable of creating symphonies and paintings and children and other beautiful things. But I think that sin brought with it sameness. Boredom. Monotony. Instead of remaining co creators with God, we opted for making molds. We began making people on our own image, forcing them into conformity. We traded creativity for cloning. We found that we could accomplish certain ends more efficiently by re eliminating faces and personalities and replacing them with numbers and uniforms. Regimentation became our method. We separated human beings into tasks, color, intellect, health, age, sex, and a host of other useful classifications.
Soon bondage and drudgery choked out much of the fun of living. We became isolated from the rich, dynamic interaction in which all creation was to participate. We became so accomplished that we didn't have time to stop and see the loveliness of snowflakes.
The city. A melting pot. Variety packaged together in one place. A collage of humanity. A nightmare to economists. A fright to social engineers. A curse to many.
But the church- how does it view the city? Church growth experts see the city as a problem because its diversity makes homogeneous grouping difficult to achieve on a large scale. Denominations aren't able to replicate their traditional church models here very well. And keeping alive the old city structures is quite a drain on our resources. The city is making us realize that sameness is a failure.
Maybe, just maybe , God will use the city to remind us that all his unique individual masterpieces clustered together in high rises and housing projects and neighborhoods bear a reflection of his original design. Perhaps it will be in the city that the church will rediscover the richness of diversity interacting in hard-earned unity.
I wonder why God has selected for our place of final destiny the City of God!