Reality...

As I walked into Watkins last night one of the girls from The Surf (TDWM's 1st-6th grade youth program) came up to me and said, "He got stabbed." I was thinking, what? Who got stabbed? And then I asked, "What!" She pointed to one of the kids who is in The Wave (TDWM's 7th-12th grade youth program). Even though its been a couple months, I still don't know ALL the kids who come hang out with us, but I did happen to know this kid. His name is Bryant. I asked him to come talk to me and was just trying to figure out what happened. This boy is maybe 13, maybe! He's a 7th grader! And he really did get stabbed! What's even crazier to me is this isn't uncommon, it probably isn't as "big of a deal" to most people in that neighborhood as it was to me when I heard it. I tried to get the story out of him and I'm thinking there could very well be some missing pieces in there...but, he told me that him, his brother, and his cousin were all outside this weekend when a kid from school walked up to them and said he was going to kill them -- another Jr. High student, mind you. This kid went back home, grabbed a knife, and came back to the boys with some friends. Bryant told me this kid started swinging the knife around and came really close to him so he threw his arm up to block his face and that's when he was stabbed. He showed me where his arm is all bandaged up and has over 50 stitches inside his arm and over 50 on the surface! He saw "stuff", as he said, hanging out of his arm...but, also made sure to let me know that he did NOT cry! Oh, boys! :) He isn't going to school this week because of it, and I really hope things will be okay when both boys are back in school together.
Please, please pray for Bryant! And pray for Riverside -- we love the kids that we work with and would hate to see anything happen to any of them! God has given a lot of people big dreams and provided them with great imagination of what that neighborhood could be if people would learn to love. So, really...pray for Riverside!

Comment From My Amazing Friend, Cathy:
"Jena,
I have a fondness for all of my Wave kids but Bryant holds a very large place in my heart! I would bring him home in a heart beat if his Momma said it was okay. He is my Buddy! We just got off the phone with his Mom, we called right away when we read this. We found out that we know the boy who stabbed him as well. He used to come to the ... See MoreWave. Bryant's Mom is very scared and upset, as well she should be. It is time to get more serious about these boys lives! Time to step up and do what we as Christians are called to do! This really hits home and brings the reality in to focus of what it means to live in Riverside and how God has placed us there to Disciple these young men and woman and Roar like a Wave over Riverside. Thank you so much for letting us know and your continued work with these kids! We love you Jena!"

Drop Your Chains...

I had the privilege of worshiping with both Steve Fee & Charlie Hall the other night at the Passion Twenty Ten Campus Tour. It was an amazing night of praise...that I got to share with my sister! Simply awesome...and so worth the almost 4 hour drive to Bowling Green, KY!

These were a couple of my favorite songs!

On The Flipside...

Outreach was great tonight! The weather was awesome, Kim made more of her homemade veggie soup, AND we got to visit about 5 camps and see TONS of our friends! Something that I find really cool is that there are different groups of people hitting the streets of Indianapolis every night to feed our homeless friends! Before we pulled up to Davidson Street bridge tonight (the biggest camp we visit) a few other groups had already delivered meals. Someone brought an insane amount of Jimmy John's subs and people were carrying around platters full of sandwiches...so, our friends offered to share with us! How about that...homeless people feeding us! I'm glad God lets me find joy in the small things like this...it sure made my heart smile! :)

Hey 'FML'...Meet 'GMH'...

If you haven't heard of 'FML', good...but, to most people the phrase and/or website are all too familiar. FML stands for F My Life and is literally collection of downright depressing and discouraging stories. Today, a friend of mine posted a link to 'GMH', which stands for Gives Me Hope...awesome! Same concept, people get to share short little stories from thier lives, but ones with a positive and optimistic theme! Check it out...

GMH

"But, I Eat Apples!"...

The happenings at The Wave tonight both shocked and encouraged me. The majority of the students we serve rarely listen to the "talk" part of the evening and of the few that do listen, even less participate in any sort of discussion. That wasn't the case at all tonight...praise Jesus!
Tonight, Patrick told the story about the woman at the well (John 4:1-42) and the aim was to share that Jesus can and will forgive anyone of any sin -- I love how Jesus expresses his gentleness and love in this story! Anyways, it didn't take more than a couple minutes for hands to start popping up and asking questions...I'm not sure where they all came from or why the students chose this week to speak up, but I'm thankful. We did our best to keep everyone on topic and not dig too deep into the "hard stuff" -- you know, the classic theological debate questions. It's so, so, so much more important that we help them understand Jesus' love and forgiveness and the fact that we've all been given the chance to be right in God's sight.
After splitting into smaller groups, we took a few minutes to break things down and give an opportunity for discussion and questions. My girls were FULL of questions! It was really cool to get them thinking about what forgiveness really meant and how serious the love of the Lord really is! It was only a few weeks ago that one of the girls pretty much told me I was wasting my time being there -- she literally told me that maybe if I was "like them" people would listen to me (the neighborhood we serve --Riverside -- is predominantly black). I won't lie and say that thoughts like that have never entered my head, but walking away over skin color makes no sense to me. After asking the girls if they've ever felt if they were "beyond" forgiveness there was some hesitation, so I thew out the fact that I've had those feelings more than once. As soon as I shared a couple examples of things I've struggled with, girls began to sit up and look at me like they understood. Then the conversation got rolling again...and this time I felt like they were listening and were no longer thinking I was some crazy white girl trying to butt into their lives and tell them a bunch of irrelevant garbage! It was question after question after question at this point...Weren't there really 11 Commandments? Does the Bible talk about other planets? It's okay to lie to other people, just not God, right? What if you want to ask for forgiveness after you die? And...one girl shouts out, "But, I eat apples!"...I wasn't ready for that! Her concern was the "fruit" in the Garden of Eden and what kind it was and what if she eats it today?
These young ladies (and gentlemen) could benefit tremendously from opportunities to spend time in the Word. Please pray that they would hunger and thirst for more and continue to ask questions and seek out the answers. Any frustrations I've had over the last couple months were completely stamped out by what I experienced tonight...these kids really are looking for that "something more" out there, whether they've realized that yet or not! I'm excited to see how God is going to use The Wave and move in the lives of the kids in the Riverside neighborhood.