ORPHAN

Nov 20, 2009

"Religion that our God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress adn to keep oneself from being polluted in the world." -James 1:27

On campus, we decided to recognize AIDS awareness day by raising awareness and money for orphans by selling bright orange t-shirts which reads "ORPHAN." The money goes to World Vision to support orphans, and it provides them with shelter, medical care, food and clean water. This, combined with "Lives on the Line" will hopefully make our student body more aware of the needs of other people in this world.

"Lives on the Line" is referring to the five hundred cards we hung on clothesline across campus. There are ten different stories of children from around the world. People were encouraged to grab a "life" off the line and pray for them.

We do all of this because Christ gave his life for us and longs for us to stand with those who are treated injustly. (Hebrews 10:32-39) 
 

Check out the "One Life" video on World Vision's web page! We showed this in chapel right before we spoke.

http://www.worldvision.org/aoa.nsf/aids/resources_video_1heart 

Pauper Palooza: Take Two

Nov 18, 2009

Saturday morning, we woke up after sleeping on our bed of cardboard and concrete. When Megan woke me up, I asked her why she woke us up when it was still dark out. She and Erin were really confused. Then I pulled the flap from my box up and realized the sun was shining. It was very disorienting to wake up with my head in a cardboard box. (I never thought I would write that.)

We got ready for the day, using the small sinks in the Student Corum to quickly wash up. I wasn’t sure how I felt about sleeping in all of my clothes, knowing that I had to wear them for the rest of the day. When we got back to our cardboard haven, we broke all the boxes down and recycled them. Then we emptied some of water out of our small plastic pails. The water in the pails signified all of the water we were allowed for the day; every time we used or drank water, we had to take some out of the bucket. We did this because many people in the world do not have easy access to water. It really made me think about how amazing it is to have clean water right at our fingertips.
 

Our first stop of the day: SECOM, an organization in South East Grand Rapids. They operate a large food pantry, host other organizations in their building, and run educational programs for families. Cher, our guide, told us that their educational programs were only in Spanish, because so many Spanish speakers live in their area.
 

We saw this tiled on Division Street, near the Heartside District.

For the afternoon, we hung out downtown Grand Rapids, walking, sitting and praying. I never realized that having nothing to do was so exhausting. The public library was one of our first stops. We went up a couple floors to the comfortable seating in the Youth section. Both Megan and I decided to sleep. Before I fell asleep, we looked at the clock and saw that it was 12:10. Ten minutes later, a security guard walked up and knocked on the table. He told us we couldn’t sleep there. We went outside and kept walking.
 

Later, we ran into Esther, a woman we had met at Degage the night before. We sat in the park, surrounded by several other people who were homeless, and just hung out. She had rented a locker at Degage that day and was very excited because she no longer had to carry all of her possessions on her back. Her joy and laughter bubbled out at this. It reminded me of how we ought to feel when Christ takes our burdens. They no longer are ours to carry around. What joy and peace we can find at this! She told stories of her childhood in Africa and how she came to the states. At one point, her eyes filled with tears. Yet, we spent most of our time giggling about other stories she told. People stared at us as they walked by, unsure if we were homeless. We did look pretty rough. They just couldn't figure us out.
 

We ate one large bowl of rice with beef broth for dinner, as we sat outside of the apartments on campus. Most people thought we were having a picnic and waved as they walked by. Exhausted, we waved back. It was such a relief to walk into a warm apartment at the end of the day and say goodbye to poverty.

I wish that more people could say goodbye to poverty.
 

Pauper Palooza Take One

Nov 15, 2009

This December, I am taking a trip to the Urbana conference in St. Louis. I have had to raise the money in order to go. God showed up in a miraculous way through my fundraising. I was able to raise all $500 by talking to CU staff, fellow students, friends and family and having them sign up to sponsor me to live in poverty for 24 hours. Ten dollars for every half hour, I had several people sign up for more than one slot. It was truly wonderful to see all the support I received from people (not just monetarily!) and share in my excitement for this experience.

Urbana is an International missions conference that happens every three years. I can’t wait to see and meet all sorts of different people this December! There are over 20,000 people from all over the world who participate in this conference. The Lord is working all over this world and I can’t wait to understand his work in a deeper way.
 

So, from Friday at 5:30pm to Saturday at 5:30pm, Megan, her sister Erin, and I lived in poverty to raise money. 

Friday night, Megan and I went to Degage ministries on Friday night. We met Marge, the director, who gave us a tour and told us all about what Degage does. Their ministry is absolutely phenomenal. They are passionate about building relationships and restoring dignity to people who are far too often overlooked. This includes people who are homeless, the poor, abused women, and others who lack basic necessities.
 

Megan and I ate there, paying $1.50 each for the special (fries and chicken strips). Then we sat with a few different groups while we ate. It was marvelous to just sit and chat with people. We met Zachery whose leg was messed up when he fought in Vietnam, Esther who came from the Red Sea in Africa to Grand Rapids, and Rob (he told us to call him Blue Eyes). Rob told us that he sticks around Degage and sleeps at a local mission. He talked about the importance of treating others as he would like to be treated, no matter who they are. It was as though I were hearing the Bible come alive, right out of Blue eye’s mouth.
 

Me in the box, thinking outside the box

When Megan and I returned to Cornerstone, we were a bit wiser, a bit greasier and a lot more humble. Erin arrived soon after and we unloaded the cardboard from Megan’s car. We were off to find a place to sleep. Walking from west side of campus to east side a couple of times was really tiring, so by the time we settled in next to Keithley Hall, we were ready to rest.

However, restful is not exactly how I would explain the night. Many people stopped by to chat and ask what we were doing. Our cardboard refuge was not heated and the concrete and brick wall didn’t help. We thanked the Lord for the beautiful weather, but we still all woke up several times, chilled in our jeans, sweatshirts and sleeping bag, disturbed by random people walking by.

And this was only the first half of pauper palooza!

Dragons, Heroes and Books... oh my!

Nov 12, 2009

As an English major, I have a lot of really cool classes like Roots of British Literature which I’m taking this semester. We just finished reading Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene in British Literature and now we are starting Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. For class, we are even going to watch the play on the Cornerstone stage as its fall production. To finally begin to understand the history of English literature is such a thrill, though perhaps difficult to understand at times. Here is a short excerpt from Spencer’s Faerie Queene (canto 11; lines 118-126). This passage is describing the eyes of the terrible dragon, which the hero, Redcrosse, defeats at the end of Book One, to save the kingdom of the woman he loves.

His blazing eyes, like two bright shining shields,
Did burne with wrath, and sparkled living fyre;
As two broad Beacons, set in open fields,
Send forth their flames farre off to every shyre,
And warning give, that enemies conspyre,
With fire and sword the region to invade;
So flamed his eyne with rage and rancorous yre:
But far within, as in a hollow glade,
Those glaring lampes were set, that made a dreadfull shade.

Before I took this class, I never would have known that “eyne” was the plural of “eye” or that <y> was often pronounced as <i> back then. The pictures that the writers presented then are so foreign today, but they still formed the English language we speak and read today. A lot of things I have learned from college can be taught, including the chilling stories of dragons and heroes!
 

Top Ten Moments of My 22nd Birthday!

Nov 10, 2009

Yesterday, I celebrated my 22nd birthday! My birthday was filled with classes, meetings, service projects, and awesome friends who made me feel special despite how packed my day was.

Sunday, my dad and I went to Crossroads Church, and then he took me out for a birthday lunch at Olive Garden. It was great to see my dad and fill him in on everything going on in my life. Sunday night, two women who live next door, Anna and Lindsey, brought me a caramel apple and an (unlit) birthday candle in a bowl. They even sang happy birthday for me! Living in the dorms definitely has its advantages. Let the festivities begin! 

Top Ten moments of my BIRTHDAY included:
 

1. Walking in my dorm room after Advanced Grammar to see the walls plastered with pictures and streamers hanging from the ceiling, courtesy of my roommate and my suitemate.

2. Hearing eleven people singing “happy birthday” (okay, four of those belonged to my
parents) on my voicemail.

3. Opening my mailbox and actually finding cards from people who care enough to send me something. (You will understand the momentous occasion getting mail becomes when you are a college student.)

4. My roommate telling me that she is going to take me to the Nutcracker Ballet in December! (Okay, she was going to surprise me, but I guessed what it was on the first try.)

5. Wearing my beautiful new scarf on my birthday.

6. Listening to a beautiful rendition of “Happy Birthday” at my service project sung by my Terra Firma group and the men who have mental handicaps. Possibly the best thing ever.

7. Returning to my room at the end of the day to a pile of presents and cards. My friend, Mara, even dropped off my present just so I could get it on my birthday!

8. Receiving a shelf that hooks on the edge of the bed. (I sleep on the top bunk and now I will have somewhere to set my glasses and cell phone. Hopefully, this will stop my fumbling in the dark and dropping things.)

9. Being wished a happy birthday from people all around campus.

10. Getting a free Black and White Coffee at the school café, made by my beautiful friend, Tori, especially for me.
 

Though my birthday might have been crazy busy, I have never felt so valued by my fellow students before. Thank you, everyone who made my birthday the special day it was.