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[!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote (janine @ Dec. 16 2002,04:45)[/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]Yeah, you don't have to go to Jamaica to meet people who operate under such a different set of assumptions about life, you wonder if you speak the same language.  That's where the rubber meets the road in your own inner faith;  when you try to function within it regardless of where you are, the extraneous pieces start to fall off.

Just don't fall into thinking that pitifully, horribly disadvantaged people cannot grasp high Christian ideals.  In some ways, they may be able to give you amazing insights, perhaps because they've been in the fire while you've not had to be.

Spurly, I betcha you & Booty have a lot you two can talk about.[/quote]
Nope.  I refuse to fall into the pitfall of thinking that they can not grasp the truth of God.

As a matter of fact, when I presented the Christmas story to them yesterday, I told them that they can probably identify with Jesus' incarnation more than I can.

When Jesus came, the rest of the world looked at him as an illegititmate child and looked down their noses at Mary and Joseph.  They considered them sinners, losers, and not good for much.  

But when Mary looked at Jesus, she knew better.  She knew that she was holding the Messiah.  Then I encouraged them by telling them that when others consider them losers, when society looks down on them, to look up because God is smiling from heaven saying - "That's my child".

Kevin

Really good, meaningful thoughts.  Thanks. :thumbs-up:

I am white as white can be.  I don't have rhythm, I can't rap, and I don't know the lingo of the streets.  I grew up in wealthy suburbs, and for a while I thought that everyone lived the type of life that I lived.  That image was shattered on my first mission trip to Jamaica.

Today, I went to inner city Oklahoma City to work with "The Redemption Kids".  It is a ministry to students whose parents are incarcerated in county jails and state penitentiaries.  I can't begin to imagine the type of lives that these students live on a daily basis.

Day-Day is 15 years old.  She has a 2 year old child that is being raised by her cousin.  She will soon be getting the child back full time because now she is old enough to take care of it.

Another boy introduced himself to me as Charlie Senior.  Immediately telling me he had a child.  Come to find out this seventeen year old boy has three children and none of them live with him.  He is Day-Day's brother.  Charlie and Day-Day have lost a brother, a father, an uncle, and a very close friend to the violence in the inner city.

Natasha is in seventh grade.  All she could talk about was her boyfriend, Clarence.  I'm afraid she will soon wind up pregnant too.

Then there were Zackary, Treasure, Toneisha, Marcellus, and Marteze.  None of whom had a father at home.  Most of these were really quiet and when I asked them to tell me a little bit about themselves, they didn't know what to say.

The entire time I was there I felt like an outsider looking into a world that I had no possible way of understanding.  The pain that these young people experience everyday has got to be horrific.  

The only way I could possibly understand what they are going through and their mindset would be to be born in the ghetto.  To be brought up in a situation like they are being brought up in, and to experience life from their point of view.

And that's what our Savior did.  He was born to a Jewish girl, into a situation that most of her neighbors thought was immoral because they didn't understand the whole Holy Spirit concept.  He grew up in a backwater town, and spent his life as a man trying to understand what life was like from our point of view.

A preacher in Michigan, Rob Bell, says that what Jesus did when he came was he took away any reason we would ever have to say: "But you don't understand what its like to be in my shoes".  Yeah, he does.  And that's what the incarnation is all about.

If only I could understand the world these students live in - maybe I could better show them the love of God.

On Thursday I am going to walk into another world I can't comprehend.  I am going to go to the school for homeless children and help them celebrate Christmas.  May God grant me the wisdom to love these students into his kingdom.

Kevin

Yeah, you don't have to go to Jamaica to meet people who operate under such a different set of assumptions about life, you wonder if you speak the same language.  That's where the rubber meets the road in your own inner faith;  when you try to function within it regardless of where you are, the extraneous pieces start to fall off.

Just don't fall into thinking that pitifully, horribly disadvantaged people cannot grasp high Christian ideals.  In some ways, they may be able to give you amazing insights, perhaps because they've been in the fire while you've not had to be.

Spurly, I betcha you & Booty have a lot you two can talk about.

spurly,
it's great to have another youth minister on the discussion board.
everytime, I've visited inner city ministries, the kids have always taught me more about life than I taught them.

Hummm,

Today I went to Positive Tomorrows, a school for homeless students in Oklahoma City.  What an incredible ministry - even though they are not teaching Christ.  Wait, they are not teaching Christ, how can it be a ministry?  Because the love that the staff and the teachers have for the students is coming from the heart of Christ.

The encourage them.  They love them.  They build them up.  These students are stuck in a situation that is not or their own making.  Maybe the mother has left the home because she is abused or the children are abused; maybe they are out on the street because they fell on hard times; maybe the parents have blown all their money abusing substances.  Whatever the case, the children are just caught in the middle.  And for a while, until the family gets back on their feet, these children have nowhere to go.  They are discouraged, disappointed, confused, and upset.

And this group of people at Positive Tomorrows loves them.  They call it a school, but it is really just a bunch of hearts beating out love to students who need it.

I am going to start volunteering their once a week in January, tutoring the older students.  I am really looking forward to it.

Kevin