Mission Week (cont.)

I could type paragraphs (similar to my last post) about the last few days of Mission Week...when we visited the Mobile Inner City Mission, heard Rev. Algood share his stories of the people who have walked in and out of the doors at the Mission through is various programs and homeless shelter, played with kids in a frustratingly unstructured "summer program" at Taylor Park, etc, etc, etc. But...

I think what I found most amazing about mission week was how I was present with the teenagers and the children and the youth volunteers and was participating in the activities, but I also had the sense of watching a true miracle unfold. I saw teenagers playing with children who looked, talked, played, and lived very differently from themselves, which doesn't seem like a big deal when I try to describe it. What was more miraculous was the way I saw the light in the eyes of these teenagers change from one day to the next, and through their actions, I could see God opening their eyes and hearts to something bigger than themselves. I literally watched as these teenagers began to see something bigger than the lives they saw themselves leading even hours before we arrived at Taylor Park.

At more than one moment during the 2 days we played with kids (totally unstructured, FREE, and exhausting play), I looked around the gym and saw teenagers lives changing, hearts opening and pouring out love to children they would never see at their schools, at our church, or at many of the places around out community where they find themselves playing. These teenagers participated in Mission Week, made themselves available, and allowed themselves to be used as hands and feet for sharing the love of Jesus. They struggled through frustration with the things of this life and opened their eyes, mouths, and arms to be vulnerable with each other before God, who in turn showed them the love and peace that transcends our understanding and turns our lives upside down with true freedom that makes our lives messy, dangerous, beautiful, and Christ-like. And they aren't stopping with this isolated experience. Thanks be to God.