The Break In

I wrote this post a few months ago after our house was broken into (it was a very full summer!) so here are some insights into what we learned and experienced:

Back in June our house was broken into and quite a few things were stolen.  Yep, it happened.  It happened here in Compton, and it happens everywhere. 

It was pretty shocking when I came home and realized what had occurred (and that Lokey had been inside the whole time… guard dog what?!) and we were pretty shaken up for a few days.  The police were called and took a report.  I asked a few neighbors if they had seen anything, no one did.  Our pastor came over immediately and helped board up the broken window.  Two neighbors came over for a while and talked with us.  They shared things we could do to keep the house safer, and also gave us their opinions of who could have done it.

A few days later as I was walking Lokey around the block, one of these same neighbors stopped to talk for a bit.  He asked if we had heard anything from the police.  I told him that we hadn’t, and that we probably never would and that was OK.  His response to me, “No, it’s not OK, because I live here too.”

His response hit me for a moment.  That statement was one of our own reasons for moving to the city.  We intentionally decided to move in to this neighborhood knowing the problems and difficulties, so that instead of standing on the outside looking in, we would be able to say “No this is not OK, because we live here too” and have a vested interest in what occurs in this community.  Now this neighbor was sharing this same sentiment with me—black man to white woman, older to younger, generations and cultures apart.  And I was thankful.  Thankful that this neighbor cared enough to make my problems his too. Sometimes God shows up before us, making a way, creating community that we have not worked for or deserve. Grace.

There were many other ways that God seemed to be preparing us for this occurrence.  Chris and I had previously spoken of needing a new laptop and guitar, both of which were stolen, and due to insurance we can replace them (bonus to a break in is having insurance).  Two days before the break in I had been sitting in the room where they broke the window and felt an urge to pray for the safety of the house and particularly that room.  I thank God that he had prepared my heart.  Three days before the break in, Chris randomly decided to put a lock on a word document that contained all of his passwords.  Grace.

While God did not stop the break in from occurring, he prepared us for it and even blessed us in the midst of it, in multiple ways. And isn’t that the same story all through the Bible?  Grace in suffering, joy in sorrow, hope in trials.  This journey of following Jesus is not promised to be easy, in fact quite the opposite is promised. But God is with us, blessing us along the way.

One of my favorite quotes sums it up… “Hope is not resurrection in isolation from the cross; it is resurrection made necessary and possible by the cross. Hope is not a utopian future unrelated to the vagaries of the past and the ambiguities of the present; it is a future in which God redeems history, establishes justice, and brings peace. Hope is not a wholeness unacquainted with brokenness; it is brokenness made whole by grace. Authentic hope is always paradoxical: embodied by the risen, but eternally scarred, Jesus.”   -Guy Sayles

Summertime

Anyone else have Will Smith's "Summa, summa, summa-time" stuck in their head? I do. Summer time is definitely on it's way, and for some reason there is something about summer that tends to kick things up a bit here in the city.  We experienced similar things last year, and we are beginning to notice that apart from the normal excitement of vacations, beach days, and barbecues, there is something else that seems to brew in the city during summertime.  There is a type of anticipation, as if along with the rising heat comes rising activity.  The weather is hot, people are outside more often, some folks may have less to do. Summertime.  I struggle to put what this type of anticipation feels like into words.  I have a mental picture in my head of a little kid wanting to leave the house after a long winter, because finally they can get outside to play.  Although what we seem to experience isn't always play.  Summertime seems to mark a rise in violence across the city, and there have already been numerous instances in just one week.


While looking for apartments or houses, those of us who moved into the city have made jokes about where our location is in relation to a potential drive-by.  We have laughed over this at times, thinking about how funny it is that we now consider what would be the safest room, what our emergency plan is - it is funny but serious.  And after a week like this one it becomes less funny.  The reality of where we live sets in again, and while we have already seen such growth, change, and hope occur, darkness is still deeply imbedded.  Light still needs to break through in many ways, and we are reminded of why we are here.


Sometimes the challenge for us is simple, yet hard to carry out.  Choose not to fear.  Choose to take walks even when in my mind I have doubts and fears.  Choose to love.  Choose to love those who I would otherwise walk away from or even avoid.  Choose to trust.  Choose to trust that God is greater, and has each moment of my life in his hands, from beginning till the end.  Easier said than done. But this is the challenge for me, to choose these things on a daily basis, to truly put God at the center of my heart and mind, and to choose Him above all else. So as we are vacationing, and beach-daying, and barbecuing in whatever city you may be in this summer, let us strive every day to make the choice to choose Him.

Grateful

Wow... so much has been happening over the last few months! I again apologize for a lack of updates, but hopefully this blog will show a bit of where our minds have been lately.


I find my heart bursting with gratefulness these days at all the exciting things that have been happening.  Let me share a few.


1. THE HOUSE! We have been in the house for almost two months now, and while it has been a ton of work (and will continue to be for many years to come) we absolutely love being here.  It has been amazing to both of us how quickly this house has felt like home.  It is such a joy to have our own space, and it's some of the little things (or HUGE if you haven't had them in a while) like laundry machines, a backyard, and plants to water, that seem to make us happiest :)


2.  A DOG!  Chris and I knew that we wanted a dog but were not sure when it would actually happen.  Well a few weeks ago Chris and I got the opportunity to adopt an amazing 5 month old puppy named Lokey (I know, apparently the most recent evil character in the Avengers movie).  We seriously feel like Lokey is our child.  She brings us so much fun and laughter-- it is wonderful.  This little love bug loves to cuddle and give kisses like none other, and we gladly receive them.  Lokey is also great at meeting new neighbors! Leave it to dogs and children to bridge the gap, but so far because of Lokey's presence I have met multiple new kids on the block.  Take a look at this little cutie...

3.  GRADUATION!  My days in grad school are finally coming to a close, and I could not be more thrilled.  My time in grad school has been a tremendous experience.  I have learned so much, grown in many ways, and made some fantastic relationships with classmates and professors.  It has been a great gift and I value this education so much.  I am also grateful for the vision that God is beginning to stir in my heart for what might be around the corner and where he wants to place me next.  Pray with me as God leads my steps in this.  Chris also continues to be rockin' away at his MBA.  He is a serious stud and has been working so hard at being one of the top in his class.  He is a year away from graduating and is dreaming about what kind of business opportunities he wants to pursue in the future.

It has definitely been a time of transition as we adjust to new norms, a new street, and new work/school opportunities.  I am excited about summer coming up so that I can work on a few house projects, spend some more time out on the street getting to know neighbors, and becoming more involved in things that I have not been able to before, like reading for pleasure, blogging, and just plain having fun. It's going to be a busy summer, but stay tuned for more updates and stories about life in the CPT.

Moving!

As some of you may know, Chris and I have bought a house!  This really makes me feel like a grown up (and has me freaking out on the inside) but we are really excited about what God is doing. This has been and will be a big change for us, and a few weeks ago I needed to process some of what I was feeling and wrote the following.  I thought I would share it to give you all a glimpse of what God has been doing in our lives regarding this house...

Sometime early last year the Lord laid it on my heart that he was going to deliver a house to us.  This brought about great excitement and I began eagerly visiting and spying on every available house in our surrounding neighborhoods. We looked at houses, put an offer in, got rejected, and became disappointed.  I came to a point of saying, “OK, Lord if this is you then you will need to do this.”  At one point I was praying about this whole house business when I received a few words from the Lord.  One of them was “green” and the other was “next year.”  I found these curious but had come to a point where I was no longer interested in trying to figure out what God was doing, so I said OK and moved on.  

We continued to look at the house list emails we received regularly but nothing ever seemed to stand out or strike us much.  Then one day a 3 bedroom 2 bath house appeared on the market.  It’s exterior color?  Solid green.  It was in our price range (and on a street we had liked), so we decided to look.  It was not exactly what we anticipated, but it was small and spacious.  It was August and we decided to place an offer, even though the timing to move during the school year would be less than ideal, and left it at that.  Weeks and months passed.  We got word that there was another offer ahead of ours and that it was not looking good.  Chris was trying to prepare me to not be disappointed, but I flatly told him that I thought we would get it because of what the Lord had told me.  Chris just shrugged his shoulders.  A few more weeks passed when Chris received a call from our realtor.  The first offer was not responding, and if they didn’t by 5:00 that day, our offer would be sent in.  Chris laughed over the phone, knowing how I would respond to this news, “I told you so…”  Being that this is a short sale, weeks continued to pass with every now and then more paperwork demanded of us.  Thanksgiving came, then Christmas.  It is now just after the new year, 2012, and I imagine that very soon we will be approved for the solid green house on Pearl St., just in God’s perfect timing.  

The thought of moving from our beloved Kay Street apartments has given me so many mixed emotions.  As corny as this sounds, I feel a little bit like Frodo being asked to leave the Shire.  Though far from the Shire, this apartment complex has been our safety and refuge for the past two years.  We have developed beautiful relationships with a wonderful community that I do not want to leave.  When I think of how far these relationships have grown-- from unknowing glances to hugs, from silence to laughter, from mistrust to trust, I am beyond grateful at how much I have learned and been loved living here.  I think about our beloved Vlad and Flor, a couple who have truly become our brother and sister, whom we have been able to share apartments, vacuums, food, and dishes with, whom we have laughed and talked to throughout many evenings, whom we have been challenged and loved by, and I am so sad to leave the precious closeness that this little complex has offered.  And yet I trust my Jesus that He is calling me out, calling me to a new territory.  A new street where there will be unknowing glances, silence, and mistrust until the peace and presence of Jesus breaks through.  Here in Compton we know that a house is more than a house- it is ministry, community, family, koinonia.  It is our mission; and we trust that God goes before us as He guides us to this new place. 

Diversity

We are so blessed to live in a diverse community.  I am constantly learning about different cultural norms and values from my interactions with people here.  I love this about Compton- there is so much culture and history in this city.  But one of the struggles of diversity is the language barrier.  When we first moved in we realized that all of the families in our complex are Spanish speakers except for one- and in that one English speaking family both the parents are deaf.  Needless to say, Chris and I have been challenged to stretch our communication comfort levels to new territories.  Sometimes this looks like communicating with our hands as best we can to a deaf mom, sometimes it looks like utilizing my not-so-great Spanish skills to attempt to show my neighbor that I truly am interested in their life- even if I sound ridiculous.  And what I have learned is that no matter how much I botch a sentence or say the wrong word, my neighbors are thrilled when I try (and they usually say I'm not as bad as I think) and they show me grace as I stumble through.  We become equals as we both try to understand and communicate with one another.  I've learned that sometimes showing love looks like looking stupid, but it's all for a greater cause: the reconciliation of people across lines of race, socio-economic status, and language.

Joy

One of my favorite things about living in our apartment complex are all the kids we have around!! When we first moved in to this complex, we knew that God wanted us to love on the kids that would become our neighbors. Initially we would get shy glances, maybe a stare, and if we were lucky a hello.  Over time the kids started to warm up a bit. We would help them get a toy stuck out of the tree (Chris's height has helped us in this), bake some cookies together, or play a game.  


A few months ago we started a missional community gathering in our complex, led by our upstairs neighbors.  This is basically a family gathering where we come together to eat and learn about what it means to be a disciple.  Everyone is invited to this.  Well, once the kids found out, there was no stopping them.


Every Wednesday the apartment is full of almost all the kids from our complex.  At first they weren't sure what we were doing when we held hands and prayed.  They watched us greet each other with hugs, and they watched us be family together.  Now whenever we come home we are greeted by hugs, the kids are praying with us, and they even feel like we are family.  They share their struggles with us, and we get to love them and demonstrate what it looks like to love God and love others.  Even their families have started to come around to see what our times together are all about. These kids are an amazing joy, and I am so excited to see what God has in store for them! 

Rest!!

Such a beloved word I get excited just thinking about it...


Chris and I had the wonderful opportunity to get away and rest this weekend in Palm Springs. We Priceline'd our hotel (a great resource for those on a budget, Dave Ramsey anyone?), had to fight for a king size bed, refused to accept extra resort fees, and survived the heat. But more importantly-- we were refreshed.


We have been in Compton for a year and a half now, and there are certain things we have adjusted to like: noise almost constantly-- car alarms, parents and kids yelling, cars driving by, dogs barking, did I say car alarms?-- prostitution occurring on our door step, and plenty of police activity to name a few.  But it wasn't until we got away from those things that we realized how they impact us on a daily basis.  There were far fewer cars on our vacation, one police car we noticed, and we even visited the mountains where we looked out over nature in absolute silence.  What a gift.  My soul was invigorated as I witnessed God's beauty and his hand in nature.


Coming home I began to realize how things like traffic and noise wear me down every day. My thoughts went to my neighbors and friends that I have grown close to in our time here in the city.  Many of them do not have the ability to take a vacation.  Many are working hard just to survive and do not have the resources to get away.  They, too, are a gift.  My soul is invigorated as I witness their dedication, their courage, and their strength on a daily basis.


It's good to get away for times of refreshment.  It's even better to recognize the refreshment God brings to me every day at home.