It’s so hard to put into words all that is happening in this time. My mind is racing all day long, trying to process. Running so fast, trying to remember all the new information, directions, places, tasks, rules. So much absorption of conversations from building new relationships. My low today: my energy level and this constant headache probably from all the processing and reading the map of the city. My high: I love hearing people’s story. It is amazing how you come to so much more of an understanding of someone when you know where they come from. When you know more about their family and how they grew up. How God has worked in their life, no matter what they have gone through. It’s amazing, how we have all come from different kinds of brokenness and the power of Jesus has lifted us up in the midst of our hopelessness, loneliness, abuse, neglect, depression, and uncertainty. This shows me the realness and power of our Savior, and the power of the gospel. All of us are struggling with understanding why in the world we are here for the summer. In this unknown land. This place of brokenness and beauty.
It’s so real. It’s intense. It hits you in the face. We wonder why? Why us? Why me? Why here? It came to me tonight that this is totally a manifestation of the life of Jesus. He transforms lives. He wrecks us and rebuilds. He restores and renews lives. He is doing this in us, in great step of faith. It just shows me how amazing He is, because he will use a bunch of suburban white kids and place us, smack dab in the middle of an intense place of rich diversity and beauty, violence and brokenness. WOW! This doesn’t even make sense. God doesn’t make sense. He doesn’t always have to make sense. He is God and we are man. He does big things. He provides all we need. We can believe in Him to change lives, and in this life we get to be vessels of this love, grace, and truth. We get to see his kingdom come, now! We can believe that his faithfulness truly is to the end and His steadfast love endures forever, and He is very much present in this world of instability, inconsistency, pain, and evil. Praise Him! He reigns.
-Rachel, CSM Chicago Summer 2011 City Host
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