4th of July Reflections

In our reading for today is Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist. For some reason, the image of Jesus being baptized brings to mind the children I see playing in the water gushing from broken fire hydrants. I think that if Jesus was to come to Chicago today, he would not be baptized in Lake Michigan, but instead on the street from the water of a broken fire hydrant. Because the neighborhoods of broken fire hydrants need Jesus’ ministry…all places need the message of love, but I believe these broken neighborhoods could use a little extra help. I read in the news today that there were 15 people were shot between the hours of 5:30 pm and 11:30 pm yesterday. One of the people shot was a little girl…just trying to cool off in the stream of water from a broken fire hydrant.

Tonight, all across the country people are celebrating the 4^th of July. But I am having a hard time mustering up my “Go America” attitude. Right now there are people shooting off fireworks all around my house. They are beautiful, but they sound like gunshots to me. 250 people have died due to a gun shot wound. Sure, some of them might be gang related, but that doesn’t mean those men/women/boys/girls deserved to be shot. When will the violence end and freedom begin? How is the west-side, south-side and north-side of Chicago any different than the 3^rd world countries we read about in the news?

In her reflection of today’s reading, Donna Gray wrote, “Jesus said that he was the good shepherd and that the sheep would know his voice. In fact people who know sheep husbandry explain that sheep do know and will follow the voice of their good shepherd. They know the difference between the voice of their shepherd and another who might lead them to places other than the paths of righteousness. I love Jesus' words, for they ring true.”

Her words made me think: Where are we in the midst of this violence? Are we following Jesus’ words or are we choosing to be baptized in Lake Michigan instead of the broken fire hydrants of Chicago. What can I do to help stop this senseless violence?

I celebrated the 4^th of July by having lunch with Kiva, Potts, Jana (Kiva’s old roommate from college who is visiting) & Rachel (a girl from Grinnell College who is interning at 4^th this summer & I was worried she wouldn’t have any fun plans!). I grilled sausages & made salad, corn on the cob, baked beans & peach cobbler for dessert! My salad was a red, white & blue salad. It has been my favorite salad for the past few days—strawberries, blue berries, goat cheese, balsamic vinaigrette, cashews and spinach/arugula. YUM! You need to make this salad ASAP if you know what’s good for you. Then Kiva, Jana and I went to a White Sox game. They played the Rangers & it was a really fun game! (Chicago won btw in case you were wondering) Then I came home to make today’s daily video and wrote the reflection above. Tomorrow is back to work as usual.

Sorry for the downer of a blog post. I truly am eternally grateful for those who sacrifice their lives to defend our country. I thank God every day for Rebecca, Alex, & their peers. And I hope that everyone had a blessed day.

Busy, busy weekend!

Seriously- when does it all end? I thought the summer time was for relaxing, not baking into the wee hours of the morning! On Friday I came to the church to help the Senior Highs bake up a storm for their bake sale, which took place today. I was there for over 6 hours and didn't get home until around 1 am. I was, how do you say, completely exhausted. At PAWS on Friday I was actually really busy and was on my feet for most of the day helping to host a visiting volunteer group from Discovery Communications. Then I did a few adoptions (that reminds me...I need to do those follow-up phone calls tomorrow...)

Since I was so tired, I didn't set an alarm clock for Saturday morning. Which meant I didn't wake up until almost 12 pm. I cannot remember the last time I slept so late! After waking up and making a delicious brunch for myself of turkey bacon and french toast, Kiva and I went down to Hyde Park to visit the Smart Art Museum.

2 side notes:
1. I LOVE BRUNCH. Not sure if you guys know that about me...but there it is. Almost every morning I make a warm breakfast for myself. I've been on a breakfast taco kick lately, but was definitely feeling the french toast on Saturday morning.
2. The Smart Art Museum is not the Smart-Art Museum. Aka, the art is not intelligent art. I was expecting really brainy art...or art that was actually a robot or something. Nope. It's just named after some dude who's last name was Smart. Still cool, just not as cool.

I've been to Hyde Park a lot lately. I like it, which I know I mentioned in my last post, but thought it was worth mentioning again. Kiva and I found the Oriental Museum that is down there after the Smart Art Museum. IT IS AWESOME AND IT IS FULL OF SUPER OLD THINGS AND IT IS FREE! The free part just might be the best, but the old stuff was cool too. There were a lot of plaques next to things that basically said, "This is so old, there are only 2 left in the entire world. We have one and Egypt has one." Ok, clearly paraphrasing...but you get the idea.

Kiva and I then decided to mull over our lives. Clearly this was done with fried pickles and a beer...or two. More about the depths in my psyche that we daringly plunged into later. That is a blog post or 2 all on its own.

Sunday aka today was the bake sale! We raised over $2000 towards Senior High Workcamps! I am really excited to be able to go on this year's trip as one of the lady sponsors. We leave on Saturday. It is promising to be a great trip and I am sure I will have much to report after we get back!

I had a few housekeeping things to take care of in my office (aka make the daily video for today & write my devotion for July that was actually due on Friday but I spaced out and completely forgot about it), so I am still at the church...12 hours after I arrived. I am finally on my way home shortly.

Tomorrow should prove to be an interesting experience. I am going with one of the Discover groups to their site for tomorrow in order to help Krista (my site director) critique the DOOR program. For those of you who have absolutely no idea what I am talking about, don't worry! All will be explained. I am a YAV. YAV has a partnership with DOOR (Discovering Opportunities for Outreach and Reflection). DOOR has year-long service people that live in the house with me aka Kiva. They also have a week-long opportunity for various church groups to come to Chicago, learn about the city and volunteer. It is with one of these groups that I will be volunteering with tomorrow. We are going to Ada Niles, an Adult Day-Care center. Like I said before, it should be interesting!

I hope all of you fathers out there had a wonderful Father's Day! :D

Faith House's Daily Reflection Video Debut

I had to make a daily video the other day for work (obviously...I spend a lot of time working on those) but I wasn't in the mood for it. So instead I made my housemates join in on the creation. Check out the video below to see it! :)

If the video above isn't working...here is the link! 

In other news, Denis has left us for the sunny beaches of California. He felt like his time in Chicago was done and that it was time for him to leave. That means we are down to just 3 people in the house. We are housing 2 cats from PAWS right now, so we are actually back up to 5 beings living in the house! :) They are adorable (the cats, not my other roommates) and I will hopefully get a chance to post pictures of them soon!

Read the Bible in a Year

Hey y'all! You should probably go check out the Fourth Church Youth's YouTube page. We are uploading a 90-second reflection video everyday. We have been doing this since January 1st, but I just haven't gotten around to posting about it yet.

Although it creates more work for us, I do love this idea. Though I am not sure how many of the kids are watching the videos daily. If you have some time to spare- go check out the videos! My favorites are the ones that the kids make.

The video above is the one we made on the Elevation Winter Retreat a few weeks ago. The videos follow the same passages for reflection as the "Reading the Bible in a Year" devotions. If you want more information on those, check out the Fourth Presbyterian Church's page for more information.

I know this sounds like an advertisement for Fourth...and maybe it is...but I just think it is a great resource that should be spread beyond the Fourth Church congregation. :)

Seminary Update: I am visiting McCormick Seminary on the 21st. I am really excited for my visit!! A lot of the people I work with are graduates of McCormick and absolutely loved it. There is a grant available to allow YAVs to visit Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and I have emailed Admissions to try and set up a visit.