...All The Time

So now we're finally getting into more of the swing of things... we welcomed our second group on Sunday afternoon and so far it has been a blast. We did the Prayer Tour on Sunday night (my second one to lead) and it was a success. If I haven't said it enough my prayer warriors rock!!!! This group is large enough that we split it into three groups, so each of the city hosts have their own group. We start each day together with breakfast, then the group does devotions together while the city hosts prepare for their day. Then we each depart into the worlds of San Fran and "Oaktown", depending on where our schedule has us serving. Today we went to a day care facility for children of working (or school attending) parents. The kids were so much fun to play with and you could tell that they really craved love and attention. This is one of the harder locations to really see how it fits into "urban ministry" because almost all of the kids are dressed to the nines and the school location is beautiful. But this is one of those "don't judge a book by its cover moments" as many of these children suffer from lack of attention from parents and love is purchased in a pair of Nike shoes or Baby Phat clothing. The parents buy their guilt away by providing things for their kids, when you can tell that they really just want to be wanted and want to know that someone has taken an interest in them.

After we left the day care site we found this beautiful park that sat on part of the bay looking into San Francisco. It was beautiful. It was peaceful. It was just what we needed to relax from the crazy, awesome chaos that was hanging out with the children. We just hung out on the picnic tables eating our lunch in a solemn quiet that was just the reprieve that we needed. From there we went to Project Open Hand and delivered hot meals, only this time the leader I was with suggested that we pray for each site as we left it. It really helped add something to the experience. What a concept, eh... making prayer a part of our experience and allowing God to be a part of what we are doing.

You know, I grew up in church and always knew the basics of being a Christian- the Sunday School answers of "pray, read your Bible, fellowship with other Christians", but if I learn nothing else from this trip (which I will, and already have) I've learned that we don't give God, or prayer enough credit. I know that there are many of you out there who are praying for me like crazy. I know that I haven't been forgotten because I can feel God wrapping his arms around me during the most opportune times and I know that it is a result of prayer. I've had several people tell me if I ever need something specific to be prayed for to let them know immediately- so I did. This morning I woke up and did not feel well at all, but I knew that with each of us city hosts having our own groups and each group having their own separate schedule that "calling in sick" was not a viable option. That, and I'm an adult, so I just had to suck it up and be involved anyway. So my immediate response was to contact several people who I knew would pray like crazy for me. And they did... I know they did because the message was no more than sent then I began to feel better and as the day progressed I felt more myself and was able to lead the group without focusing on what ailed me.

God is good...