new set of eyes

OH MY WORD! God is incredible. He continuously shows me where my heart and where my passion lies here in the city. Before coming to project we were supposed to read "mercy Streets" by Taylor Field. When i read it before project, it helped my eyes to open a little bit to what is going on in the cities and helped me to see a tiny bit of what 'might' happen here in chicago. But oh my goodness, monday night our action group (girls small bible study group) decided that we really wanted to discuss the book b/c we haven't used it much and we all really enjoyed it when we read it the first time. So today while on our way home from our ministry site at Edgewater, i opened the book and began to re-read it. I can't tell you how differently i was able to read the book, after having truly seen homeless men and women, after seeing Al being changed forever because of prayer and persistence, after opening myself up to be taught by God.
Ok, now go forward in time a few hours to 7:00pm. For reflection night ( a time each week that we are encouraged to journal, read scripture, pray, and spend quality time with God), Lauren really wanted us to focus on the power of God and just how awesome He is. Me, Celia, Katie, and Kelly were leaving IIT to go to starbucks for our time of reflection, and i thought..."hmm..do i want my ipod? it would have been nice so i could block out some extra noise...but oh well, i don't want to hold us up any longer." (yes, that seems random, but just WAIT!!) at Starbucks for Reflection Time, we were all at different tables, reading, journaling, etc. And i was going through Psalms and Isaiah looking for verses that talked about God's majesty, or how i thought he displayed His majesty. THis whole time, it was thundering and lightening all around us. 30 minutes later, it began to pour!! It was so beautiful to see God's majesty displayed in a thunderstorm and thinking that his pinky finger pointed at Chicago and BAM the clouds were opened and the rain fell.

Jeremiah 10:12-13,16
"But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses...He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the Maker of all things, including Israel, the tribe of his ingeritance--the LORD ALMIGHTY IS HIS NAME."
yeh, i read that as it was happening! so amazing!
ok, going back to mercy streets, i was flipping through reading different quotes that were at the beginning of each chapter or sentences that i had underlined the first time, and understanding it in whole new way.
Some incredible things that HIT me were:
"The question is, not what you look at, but what you see." --Henry David Thoreau
"We can see only what we have grown an eye to see." --E.F. Schumacher
"Our point of view is determined by our point of viewing." --Paul Minear
"How strange that in order to learn how to see, we must remember what it is like not to be seen." --Taylor Field

have you noticed a trend yet?
My eyes have been opened and compassion has flooded in. Ephesians 1:18 is like a theme verse for us, it reads, "I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you , the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints."
ok, back to my story, sooo...as i was reading all these amazing quotes, Celia came over to my table and said, "look, do you see that man, he's been digging in the trashcans for food, and i even saw him drink something out of it, do you want to go see if we can get him something."
as i turned around and watched him walk back and forth from trashcan to trashcan, there was no way i could not go out there with celia to see if he wanted some food. So we grabbed or purses and walked outside, (where it was still raining, i might add) and as we approached the man Celia had been watching another man asked if we could get him some food. we were both sort of confused because we did not see him coming, so i walked more towards the man we had seen as celia told the other man that we would get him a pastry or something from starbucks. I asked the first man if he wanted some food or anything and he just looked at me like, No, i dont' want anything from you, especially not food. So i pulled out a tract to give him or possibly go through it with him, and he didn't want it at all. He never actually said a word he just moved his head and looked at me funny. So i made sure that he didn't want any food and then went back with celia.
WE went inside and told the second man to pick whatever he wanted. I was hoping he would have picked the salads or sandwiches, but he couldn't stop eyeing the marble cake and the lemon cake, so we got him a piece of both. THe most discouraging part of the whole evening was when the employee told him that he shouldn't ask people for food and that he would need to leave because that was breaking starbucks policy. Me and Celia both take it personally when they say that to humans who are no better or worse than anyone, we all have the same eternities dont' we? God loves us all the same, doesn't he? so shouldn't we love all people the same? Anyway, Celia kindly told the employee that he was with us and that we offered to buy him food; she just looked really perturbed and got him the cake anyway.
As Celia was paying, I point blank ask the man if he knows who Jesus is? He looked at me, smiled, and said, "why yes, i do. He is my friend and his mercy endures forever." how encouraging to hear him speak those words so genuinely. How i long to speak of my Jesus that genuinely in every situation. as we continued to talk to Anthony, he never ceased to astound me at how strong his faith was and how much he believed that God would provide for him.
Definitely be in prayer for him, he was shot in the foot by some gangbangers b/c he got in the way, he has shelter but could get kicked out at any time, and he was donated some clothes and toiletry items but they were all stolen one night so now he just has a grocery bag with a few things in it. You'll never know what i'm talking about until you talk to someone first hand. Our eyes need to continuously be opened to what is around us, to the godly men and women who need to be encouraged and prayed over daily.
later i asked Celia, "why exactly did you come to me to go outside with you?" and guess what she said!?! "you didn't have your ipod headphones in."
OH Boy, did that get me excited! God planned for me to not take my ipod with me tonight for a reason and he used that little moment of me deciding to not go back to my room to get it, to orchestrate something else!! GOD IS COOL!

I pray that when i return home august 3rd and then back to samford august 27ish, that God will open up opportunities for me to pursue the passion that he has given me for the inner-city.

ok, so this has to be one of the coolest things EVER!. when we go to impoverished areas, there is TONS of glass all over the ground, mainly from alcohol. whereas, when we are walking in affluent neighborhoods, the streets are clean and glass-free. the glass is always all broken up and shattered and completely covers the sidewalks. One morning when we were walking to Restoration Ministries, the sun was shining brightly and caused all the broken glass to shine, reflect the sun, and sparkle beautiful rays of light. I then remembered this verse Revelation 4:6 "Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal..." So basically, the poorest of poor, get to see what heaven will be like every day! They GET to walk on a "sea of glass" each and every day. How lucky are they that they don't have street cleaners. I know i'm jealous.
GOD is awesome! and he is majesty!