Summer Ramblings

The rich and the poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all.

Proverbs 22:2

Mondays and Tuesdays have quickly become my favorite days of the summer. Every Monday and Tuesday morning I make the drive from Aurora to Denver. Of course, I am not talking beautiful 16th Street Mall Denver. I am not talking about LoDo or Cherry Creek where you can find extravagence on every corner. I am talking about Colfax Denver. The bad part of town. It takes me about 40 minutes to get to the Gathering Place and I truly love the drive. Listening to my IPOD and sipping coffee allows me to wake up every morning and just mentally, spiritually, and physically prepare for the day. I get the view of the mountains from Arapahoe Road and everytime the sun is shining I know that good things are to come. Once I turn on Colfax the scene totally changes. Sure, the sun is still shining. But the sheer poverty of the area is evident everywhere. Homeless people are roaming for blocks and blocks, the buildings are slowly decaying away, and low income housing is rampant. In one drive to Denver I can learn a lot about how people live.

My time at the Gathering Place has truly been undescribable. There is nothing that I could say that would do it justice; I can only say that I love the place immensly. I feel so apart of the family there, and I have made friends with some of the coolest kids ever: Ezekiel, Moses, Dixie, Isaiah, and Lizzy to name a few. I love having little kids as friends. They are so willing to love. They love with no questions asked. I almost feel guilty; I feel sometimes I am taking away more than I can ever provide them. My little buddy Ezekiel has recently been put in daycare. This is wonderful news. This means that his mom is getting a job and trying to build stability in their lives. As a result, we don't get to see him much anymore because they are not relying on the resources of the Gathering Place as much. I am so proud of them. I am so HAPPY for them. I have been praying for them, and I believe this is God's intervention in their lives. I love that in place surronded by violence, gangs, and drugs good things can still happen. I see women everyday making small, but significant victories in their lives. From finding housing or staying clean from drugs, GOOD THINGS HAPPEN. This idea is important to me because when I started my internship at the Gathering Place I prepared myself for sadness. All the time. Yes, I see sad and terrible things on a daily basis. But the good things always seem to outshine everything else. What a blessing.

I have to come to love this stage in my life. I am fully able to work 2 jobs, have an internship, and coach and somehow still have time to spend with family and friends. This summer is a great stage in my life and I am excited to see where else my adventures take me. I love being a 19 year old who still loves to play Marco Polo at the pool, who loves watching Disney classics, and who loves late night ice cream trips. Growing up is good. It is necessary to discover things about yourself and how they impact you. I have discovered that age is temporal, but love is not. I will always love things I have done as a child, and as I mature, I will still love them. I love the warm Colorado sun, I love random summer days, and I love playing basketball with my family as dusk begins to set. There is just something about being home. Something intangible; something extraordinary. I know I will be ready to go back to Hendrix in the fall. But as for now, I am going to enjoy every moment. Every second. Because I truly want to LIVE. I want to feel God's presence in all that I do. I know He is with me and that He will give me strength when I am weak, and carry me when I fall. I am okay with falling. I am okay with not being perfect. He is there. Really, that is all that matters.

Three passions have governed my life: The longings for
love, the search for knowledge, And unbearable pity for the suffering of
[humankind].
Love brings ecstasy and relieves loneliness. In the union of
love I have seen In a mystic miniature the prefiguring vision Of the heavens
that saints and poets have imagined.
With equal passion I have sought
knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of [people]. I have wished to
know why the stars shine.
Love and knowledge led upwards to the heavens, But
always pity brought me back to earth; Cries of pain reverberated in my heart Of
children in famine, of victims tortured And of old people left helpless. I long
to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, And I too suffer.
This has been my
life; I found it worth living.

-- Bertrand Russell