We are all here

We rushed into the hospital. What a strange mix of emotions as we went inside. We told the man at the front that we were having a baby. He asked, "how far along?" We said, "39 weeks." But he heard 29 and everyone thought we were in early labor. As soon as we got into the room I was glad to have such an awesome nurse. She took charge and I am glad because I had no idea what to do. She wondered at first if we should really be there. She heard that we were first time parents and seemed to say, "well I will check things over but I am sure nothing is happening," After taking one look at Becky she turned to us and said, "This baby is coming right now!"

Earlier that afternoon, I was golfing with my brother-in-law Chris. We had a great time. We won't mention any scores but we had a lot of fun. It was the first time I had been golfing since Don, Becky's dad, passed away. We went to the coarse that we always had. After we played we stopped in for a chedderwurst (the only hotdog worth eating). What an awesome way to start the day.

We jumped in the car and headed for home, at least what Becky and I had been calling home. We had been house sitting. When I would come back from Omaha this is where Becky and I would live. Becky's mom was right next door. So I felt a little better, but still not awesome, about leaving my 9 month pregnant wife to work in Omaha during the week. We all stood out by the street after we got home. Chris puffed on his cigarette and we laughed and talked for a while.

After we went back inside I remember Becky looking at me and saying, "somethings different today." Right then I wondered if today would be the day to meet our first baby. We had a little time so we walked around the block with Jake. We had cautiously agreed to baby sit for some friends around 5:30 that evening. Becky and I talked about it and we said, "what do we do if we go into labor? Do we take the kids with us to the hospital?" But it all went fine. I played with 3 year old Eli all the while thinking that someday soon my son would be here and I will be able to play with him. Becky hung out with new born little Sarah. I think the boys had more fun!

We had supper plans with another friend that evening. We pulled up to the old brick building that was a college dorm. You could hear the ring of cicadas in the air and feel the dense August heat. As we were pulling up to park Becky was way more serious. She was feeling uncomfortable. She was not sure if hanging out here was such a good idea, but she had to pick up her new cloth diapers. Plus we had not seen our friend and her little daughter for a long time. We stayed about 10 minutes. Becky was so uncomfortable. Chrissy tried calming us down and offered us spaghetti. Becky was not able to eat but I gladly had some. We left. Becky had called her midwife who told her that she should try and go to sleep and to call her if it got worse. She told us later that she did not think anything would happen tonight.

Once we got back to our house, Becky was still undecided. Was she having labor pains or not. People say, "you will know." Well she didn't. Although judging by the blank stair she had as she sat in the recliner and gazed out the window, I think deep down she knew. She tried tracking the pain and it was all over the place. Your supposed to try and measure the distance between the pains, that wasn't working. Some were 10 minutes some were 2 minutes...I was getting a little nervous. I had heard the stories of Becky's mom almost giving birth before arriving at the hospital. I was trying not to think about that. We would know when to go, right?

Becky's mom came over and I am glad she did. She sat through one contraction and while trying to stay calm but yet clear, she said, "honey...I think you should go in." That was good enough for me but Becky needed a bit more convincing. Until finally, when she was away in the bathroom her mom and I decided to force her out the door when she came back. It worked! We arrived at the hospital at 9:30. Ian Lee was born on Tuesday August 10th at Avera in Sioux Falls. He was born at 10:18pm weighing 8lbs and 1 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. Becky pushed 6 times and he was here. Chris, who I had golfed with earlier, made a guest apperance by jumping into our hospital room like Uncle Leo off of Seinfeld (sorry I know its an old show). He did not stay in the room long as they asked him to kindly leave. Thanks to Becky's mom we made it. Someone said "we should buy a house near the hospital." I have since been really thinking this might be a good idea.

City Hall

As we gear up for this internship and look for ways in which multiple groups are interested in blessing their city, it seems that God is at work all over the place (including outside the church). It has always been a wonder to me that in the bible when things happen it seems to cross the lines of all different sectors. Whether politics, religion, social or familial, God crosses all these barriers constantly. Why would it be a surprise that God is working all over in our world and not just inside the church building? He is interested in every single sphere of human life and in every single human life.

Sitting in a meeting at city hall there were multiple different faith groups at the table with the mayor. One major topic in this meeting was gang violence. In the city of Omaha they are realizing that we all need each other. Faith groups can do things that city groups cannot. But faith groups also rely on the same services as everyone else--police, fire dept. etc. As a whole we are much stronger. We can all agree that gang violence is something that ruins our communities.

We don't hide out in our churches we get involved in living. If as the church we simply would come to the table we could go much further with our witness. We realize that there is more to the great commision than making disciples. But it also includes what makes up our discipleship. It includes what we are teaching those coming into the Body of Christ. If we actually lived by the great commandment we would have a stronger witness. Matthew 28 says, "Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you." The greatest commandment is that we love God with all that we have in us, and that we love our neighbor as ourselves. By coming to the table over tough issues our neighbors see that we actually care about them. If we live in neighborhoods plagued with gang violence and we get involved in keeping our neighborhoods safe we show our love. As we pray to God that "His kingdom come" we must be willing to point to that kingdom that has taken root inside of us.

Things fall together

As we went about our work of planning and seeking a new place to live, we spent weeks narrowing down the options. We have really developed a desire to become part of a neighborhood that has God's kingdom work in mind. While we lived in Sioux Falls we were part of a neighborhood in which there was all kinds of great work happening. We were hoping that in a couple years, after doing the proper planning and networking that we would become part of neighborhood in Omaha that had a similar goal. So we settled on a nice apartment. It was sort of close to downtown and it was a decent place but we just were not aware of any kind of work being done in this neighborhood.

Sometimes things just fall together. I am not sure why we doubt that they will. Granted there are times in our life when no matter how we feel about our relationship with God, things never seem to work. One of the basics of The Way, as it was referred to in early Christian life, is that we walk based on faith in God. Faith is a part of everyday life. We live by faith in all sorts of things we just don't realize it. We live taking for granted that the sun will be there everyday. We rely on people and organizations to make our world work. We rely on plumbing and electricity and live by faith believing that we will always have those things. Becky and I have stepped out in faith that God has called us to a new city, to start a new family, and to live in a new neighborhood. One of these prayers was answered in an unexplainable way and we have been amazed by it. I want to share this story about God showing up in the small details of our life.

We had decided that we were done looking at apartments. We found a place in our budget, close to downtown and they would take our dog Jake. It was settled. That is until Sunday night when Becky found another place that she liked. Instead of turning in our lease agreement for the 1st apartment I held off until looking at the new one. Little did I know that God had other plans.

It was Tuesday morning. As we sat at a local diner I was really intrigued by what I was hearing. The man we met with very plainly laid out what it was that he was up to. He was buying property and hiring out of work people in the neighborhood to help him. He also was part of a group of Christians that met in the neighborhood to have church together. There was a sense that there were many that joined together in partnership. As we talked further he said that he wanted to show us around to some of the 14 properties that he had restored. We drove around the neighborhood in an old blue volvo. We saw some of the different groups devoted to this neighborhood and ministry to neighbors. The last stop we made was at an apartment. It had all wooden floors, and all the character of an old apartment. There were two large bedrooms and a nice dining and kitchen area. He mentioned what he charged for rent. He said that the people had just moved out and it was available to rent today. This was huge.

Becky and I have really been working through this. We have a baby on the way and needed to be out of our place soon. We were not sure what we were going to do. A friend of the family decided that she needed a house sitter at exactly this same time so that solved the problem of where Becky would stay during the transition, but we could not find a place open until August 1st. Where were we going to move so fast? Well, I called on this apartment and it was perfect. It was in a good neighborhood with a strong community, it was a good price and close to some new friends interested in living the life Jesus has modeled. This tells me a lot about our God. When many feel that our God is distant we have a God that is so close with us. We hope that we can find ways to be good neighbors to those around us and that we can have an impact on our city that lasts forever.

Looking into the future

Staring into the face of a six year old is just like looking into the future. This six year old was a strong, and confident boy, as he would throw the football across the fence dividing yards. He would shout out insults if the ball was dropped. His confidence shown through when he challenged the adults to play stating, "I could beat all of you at once." As my new friends and I grilled out I was invited into a scene that caused me to really think.

My new friends have decided to live their lives a bit differently. Instead of joining most of the people in exiting the city they have decided to become part of it. They have used what is probably one of the biggest decisions that we make, that is where to live, to move to a place that may be off limits to some of us. Do we think that God wants to be a part of our life decisions? Does this include the place that we may live?

As we talked about the family across the street a sad story was told. The parents of the kids are not there much. The only time that my friends heard the voices of the parents was to yell at the kids. Ruby Payne has done studies about this. Children in poverty rarely receive affirming words of encouragement. Those children that grow up with wealthy parents receive five forms of encouragement for every one prohibition. As my friends told stories about the parents it made me think of this. Shifting the blame to the parents is not what we are after. We should be after a way to bless this whole family. What better way then by simply being good neighbors to their kids?

Before I left for the evening, my friend stepped in from outside closing the door behind him. He had a mixed looked on his face. Mixed between joy and a bit of sadness. He said, "He told me that I was the nicest man he had ever met, he said he wants us to live here until he is a man." Would our neighbors kids say the same of us? What if we simply started blessing our neighbors again? Loving them not to convert them, just because that's what we should do. Let's spend time thinking about how we can bring some light into our neighborhoods. Even better let's spend some time finding where the light is already shining, even in the face of a six year old boy.

Spiritual Battle

I looked around and saw new faces everywhere. The speakers were faith leaders and city leaders. The people gathered to pray against the violence in a city. They were cries saying, "together, we're better," and "if you see it, say it." The homicide rate in North Omaha has caused many to come together. The answers of only one group are not strong enough. I saw city leaders coming together with Church leaders. Police officers gathering with the people they serve. Day 1 in Omaha and I could already see that God was at work all over the place.

This group was a result of many different groups coming together. One of those groups is called First Responders. This group gathered several years ago to commit to praying at the scene of every murder in the city. They go to each of these scenes and offer to pray with neighbors and families, that have just experienced tragedy. Instead of combating violence with violence they acknowledge that prayer is a weapon against the powerful forces of violence.

After the prayer rally the people gathered for a celebration together. They went to a block party with 400 of their friends and neighbors. What an experience to start my first week of working with Christ for the City.

How'd we get here?

Who would have thought that asking the question, "Why not have an Urban Plunge in Sioux Falls," would have started a relationship that moved us to the city of Omaha? I had been on Urban Plunge in Omaha when we went with our church, The Ransom. It was an awesome experience. We visited several ministry groups in Omaha, that were engaged in helping many different people. These people struggled with issues that many of us in our group had never dealt with. Because of this trip, I had the privilege of being a part of a major life change that took place in a friend of mine. As we visited an Omaha ministry group, that had moved into a very high crime area, we saw what a group of dedicated people could do. My friend saw that he could use his gifts in wood working to really make a difference in the world. As followers of Christ we were grappling with the issue that God wants to use everything that we have for good in this world.

When we came back to Sioux Falls, we were excited to see what God was asking us to do in our own city. I was privileged to be a part of a group that wanted to raise awareness about issues of poverty in Sioux Falls. By asking, "why not start an Urban Plunge in our own city," we would become closer to the leaders of this ministry. This would lead us to Omaha to work for Christ for the City International. Through this work we hope to work closely with the churches in Omaha. As a believer in Jesus I know that He is asking us to look more like himself in this world. This means that we should be concerned for the cities that we live in. Just as Jesus himself wept over Jerusalem what could he be asking us to do in our own cities? We are looking forward to being in Omaha and working for an organization that is involved in working for the good of cities around the globe.