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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!"

"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.

God's Listening...

I love seeing and hearing how the Lord is working in peoples lives...God never ceases to amaze me! There is such encouragement in even the seemingly "small" things.

Today, a couple of us from TDWM met with on of the teachers from IndyMet to help get our newest intern all set up and ready to go. Aqilla has actually been volunteering with us for the last few months, so it was exciting to hear that she wanted to intern with TDWM. She will be working with us on Wednesdays, which happens to be one of the days that we have our Bible study and lunch. I could sense some excitement from her when she realized that as part of her internship she was going to get to study the Word...personally, I think I had that same feeling of excitement when I realized that one of the really great things about working with TDWM full-time meant that, twice a week, it was my "job" to study the Bible. And, although seeing her enthusiasm was a real blessing, there is more...

On Thursday nights we have our youth program for students in grades 7-12, called The Wave, which Aqilla is apart of, along with her older sister and one of our other interns. We talked tonight about how God DOES use young people and discussed the stories of people like Ruth and David. While explaining how important it is to listen to God in order to know where He needs us to be and what He needs us to do, it was mentioned that it is absolutely crucial to spend time reading God's word. It is amazing how God can speak to each and every one of us through that book, that we may have read a million times over OR never even opened. Seriously, just flip through the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) and read about Jesus' life here on earth, I'm positive God will move! But, back to what has me smiling...we announced that we were going to start having a girl's Bible study and a guy's Bible study every week in order to help them break into reading and studying the Bible on a more regular basis.

As we were packing up and heading out the door, Aqilla told us how happy she was, because she had been praying for a while that she would be able to get involved in a Bible study...and now she has TWO chances each week! It's encouraging to see these high school students so eager to learn more about our Savior...almost every kid at the Wave tonight signed up to attend the Bible studies! Praise Jesus on that one, for sure!

"Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."

-Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT)

If God Created Everything...

I think I’ve mentioned the partnership between TDWM and The Watkins Family Center in Riverside, anyways…on Tuesdays and Thursdays we run a youth program for kids in the neighborhood. It gives them a chance for them to hang out, play games, grab a bite to eat, and hear a little bit about Jesus. These kids give us a run for our money a lot of times, but I know God is going to use these nights to work in the lives of these kids and I can’t wait to see what He’s up to!

Tonight we had the high school kids and we talked about evil and whether or not it was created by God. We split the kids into a couple groups and each group sent a spokesperson up to voice their opinion on the topic. We had some great arguments from both groups. We wrapped up with a short story I’d like to share with you.

A University professor at a well known institution of higher learning challenged his students with this question. "Did God create everything that exists?"

A student bravely replied, "Yes he did!"

"God created everything?" The professor asked.

"Yes sir, he certainly did," the student replied.

The professor answered, "If God created everything; then God created evil. And, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then we can assume God is evil."

The student became quiet and did not respond to the professor's hypothetical definition.. The professor, quite pleased with himself, boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, "May I ask you a question,
Professor?" "Of course", replied the professor.

The student stood up and asked, "Professor does cold exist?"

"What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?"

The other students snickered at the young man's question.

The young man replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Everybody or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-460 F) is the total absence of heat; and all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat." The student continued, "Professor, does darkness exist?"

The professor responded, "Of course it does."

The student replied, "Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact, we can use Newton's prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn't this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present." Finally the young man asked the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?"

Now uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course, as I have already said. We see it every day. It is in the daily examples of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist, sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat, or the darkness that comes when there is no light."
The professor sat down.

The young man's name -- Albert Einstein

So, whatever your opinion on God or evil or anything else, this sure makes you think. When you feel like all you see around you is evil, try inviting God into that darkness – His power will surprise you! There isn’t anything He can’t handle, no situation He can’t turn around…the evil WE’VE created is no match for the God I serve!