Keeping Your Eyes Open

They say that at the end of the week a heat wave is about to hit Philadelphia.  It's been pretty cool for a while now, but summer will officially start tomorrow, and the heat isn't messing around.  And neither is our summer staff.

We're in the middle of Week 3 right now, our largest week yet, and our staff is confident and excited.  I just got to meet with one of the hosts who told me that her favorite part of hosting is getting to hear how the students process there time here at CSM.

"One kid had never seen a homeless person before," she told me.  "And I got to hear him experience that."

She also told me that she was enjoying getting to build relationships with the people at the ministry sites she went to every week.  Another host told me that building relationships is her favorite part of ministry and meeting all the new groups gets her even more excited each week.

One student described what they hope to continue when they got home as "not closing your eyes at Christ," and I think that our hosts are doing just that.  They approach each week with eyes wide open and help groups to do the same.

As the summer stretches on, I know that the hosts will dig deeper into their relationships with the ministry sites, the groups, and each other.  And as the summer rolls along, I know that the students and the hosts will come home with more awesome stories like the homeless man they met at a rehab program who is working through addiction or the cute kid who always made them laugh.

To the groups, thanks for sharing your experiences of Christ with us.  And to all the hosts, thanks for keeping your eyes open.

-Nicole Engelhardt, CSM Philadelphia City Staff

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