I'm on letter number seven and my hand aches. ...I'm nearly finised with it though but I still have six more if I get to them all today.
I was thinking about last night. There are quite a few girls that are on the inside right now that are wanting to see God more active in their lives - or they want to see what God is doing in their lives - so the challenge for them is pointing out God working so they can see it. In the middle of all that too they want to grow. One girl said to me last night, "I want faith like yours, I want to do the things you do." Those are familiar words to me because I remember reading about Paul in my early years of being a Christian and saying, "I want that!" In fact, one of my favorite songs is by Big Daddy Weave and there is a line in it that goes something like "I want faith that moves mountains and sends them crashing in the sea..." It goes on and uses very vivid images to cry out for the longing for faith. ...The filling for the God-shaped hole in all of us.
Some of the girls who have been in there are gettng out in the next couple of weeks. Good for them, real good, they're going to good quality places that are going to invoke real change in their lives so as I continue to write them and visit them in coming months and weeks, be sure to keep them in your prayers so they can grow and see God moving, working, and changing their lives. This is exciting! Sad for me, I really enjoy seeing them each week in detention, seeing their blankets grow one color at a time, and most of all talking to them. I'll be okay, it is for the best.
Happy Thanksgiving. I'm sure there will be exciting stories after this holiday for me. I hope y'all haven't put up Christmas decorations yet!!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Thursday Posts
So if you've been following the blog for the past several months, you've probably picked up on the fact that on Thursdays I usually write about some incredible thing that happened Wednesday night at detention, small or bing, it will be some God-story of how the ministry is progressing. Well, today I'm writing about the struggles I've been having.
It probably will be no surprise to you for me to say that JJM is really struggling financially. Marv, at the start of the year, is starting to cut down on hours to alleviate some of the financial strain. There is a new director coming on board that is a good fundraiser, but no matter how good the fundraiser is, the reality is beyond our control at the moment.
There are certainly other things that are taking their toll on me. School, though very challenging, has been a release, an escape, and a healthy balance to work so it does not cause me a heavy burden of stress, it actually releases quite a bit of that stress. It is a blessing and I'm learning so much about our Lord that I am eagar to put to work in ministry more and more as time goes on.
For me personally though, I am struggling a lot to find a place where I can be fed: spiritually and emotionally mostly. It is a struggle because after not being in the area for six years, it is hard to rebuild or find new connections with people that I can really connect to. I have been really put face to face with the affects of this a few different times in recent weeks. I have strides in that area recently but I really need more prayer in this area which has been a huge blessing.
Pleasee keep praying about this. Specifically pray for a Steering Committee for JJM which will help me (and all the JJM Staff as Marv and I are very weary and tired) carry the load of the ministry to these kids in Grand Rapids. Specifically praise God for the volunteers who have been faithful in meeting with these kids at detention and one-on-one and those who make the effort to write letters, call, visit with, the families of these girls. I try so hard to enable them to feel loved and cared for as volunteers. Specifically pray for male volunteers. For the four units of boys, we need two to three volunteers inside visiting and we have one volunteer and one staff for all those boys. This too will help us carry the load for these kids and help them with the areas of their life and mostly it is just listening which is something we all can do. Just pray, for God's hand and his blessing.
Thank you.
It probably will be no surprise to you for me to say that JJM is really struggling financially. Marv, at the start of the year, is starting to cut down on hours to alleviate some of the financial strain. There is a new director coming on board that is a good fundraiser, but no matter how good the fundraiser is, the reality is beyond our control at the moment.
There are certainly other things that are taking their toll on me. School, though very challenging, has been a release, an escape, and a healthy balance to work so it does not cause me a heavy burden of stress, it actually releases quite a bit of that stress. It is a blessing and I'm learning so much about our Lord that I am eagar to put to work in ministry more and more as time goes on.
For me personally though, I am struggling a lot to find a place where I can be fed: spiritually and emotionally mostly. It is a struggle because after not being in the area for six years, it is hard to rebuild or find new connections with people that I can really connect to. I have been really put face to face with the affects of this a few different times in recent weeks. I have strides in that area recently but I really need more prayer in this area which has been a huge blessing.
Pleasee keep praying about this. Specifically pray for a Steering Committee for JJM which will help me (and all the JJM Staff as Marv and I are very weary and tired) carry the load of the ministry to these kids in Grand Rapids. Specifically praise God for the volunteers who have been faithful in meeting with these kids at detention and one-on-one and those who make the effort to write letters, call, visit with, the families of these girls. I try so hard to enable them to feel loved and cared for as volunteers. Specifically pray for male volunteers. For the four units of boys, we need two to three volunteers inside visiting and we have one volunteer and one staff for all those boys. This too will help us carry the load for these kids and help them with the areas of their life and mostly it is just listening which is something we all can do. Just pray, for God's hand and his blessing.
Thank you.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Good News of Great Joy
So that's typically said after the big day of eating (Thanksgiving) and usually we're talking about the birth of our Savior and all of that. Today though, Juvenile Justice Ministry is celebrating our own good news of great joy: We have recieved close to $6500 in donations which has eliminated half of our deficit. This is deficit for both boys and girls for separate numbers you'd have to email me.
For me personally, this means that Don and I can go above our normal end-of-the-year commitment to YFC Fiji and their Camp Safari (that camp has a special place in our hearts as it is where we met back at Camp Safari 2004)!
We also celebrate with our Campus Life program who last week saw two high school students commit their lives to the Lord and also two others who re-committed their lives to the Lord.
Last week we also had two new staffers start (good news of employment for those two!). Jim is our Director of Operations and Development and Jessica is a part time Administrative Assistant. Such sweet relief to our work load.
I will soon be posting more 'Good News of Great Joy' in the format of a testimony from the girl who is going to Fiji with Don and I next summer (save your dollar coins, this trip will cost the three of us roughly $8500, an additional $8500 that we'll have to raise above the budget).
Thank you for your prayers. Please keep praying because our deficit in JJM is still VERY real and is a huge concern in the ministry, for all those connected to these kids.
For me personally, this means that Don and I can go above our normal end-of-the-year commitment to YFC Fiji and their Camp Safari (that camp has a special place in our hearts as it is where we met back at Camp Safari 2004)!
We also celebrate with our Campus Life program who last week saw two high school students commit their lives to the Lord and also two others who re-committed their lives to the Lord.
Last week we also had two new staffers start (good news of employment for those two!). Jim is our Director of Operations and Development and Jessica is a part time Administrative Assistant. Such sweet relief to our work load.
I will soon be posting more 'Good News of Great Joy' in the format of a testimony from the girl who is going to Fiji with Don and I next summer (save your dollar coins, this trip will cost the three of us roughly $8500, an additional $8500 that we'll have to raise above the budget).
Thank you for your prayers. Please keep praying because our deficit in JJM is still VERY real and is a huge concern in the ministry, for all those connected to these kids.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Drop Dirty
L was locked up this past Monday. It is the third time I have seen her in detention since I started two years ago. All for the same reason: running away. So I ask her the obvious question: why do you run? Some days she says, "I don't like being home" yet moments later she cries because all she wants is to be home. Other days it's because "I'm going to get in trouble if I go home" yet she sits in detention in the situation she wants to avoid. And there is "I wanted to hang out with my friends" well, she has friends in detention, not an adult though that takes the time to listen, care, and act upon what has been told. So that's where I sat last night for nearly an hour and a half. Really though, she runs because she's scared (and she knows it, she admitted that to me last night).
Last night she was most scared about the fact that there are three hours of her life she cannot remember and about six to nine that she has reliable but vague bits of because that's the night she was drugged and raped. "All of them suck but this time was the most bearable." She went on to tell me the first time she was raped, she was fully sober and not on drugs and she remembers everything. The second one she was drunk and on drugs and though she remembers, she was numb at the time. This time, she's scared because though she didn't have to consciously experience it, and today she's (hopefully and not hopefully) going to drop dirty at her blood and drug test.
The blood test she wants because she wants to know if she caught something from this complete stranger. If she drops dirty (has a positive drug test) she's hopeful that maybe she'll be able to put the pieces together and find out what went on. Hopefully she'll turn negative so she doesn't have to face more charges of drug possession.
Why is it that our system would charge this girl for taking drugs she didn't know she took? This guy got her a drink (and it was non-alcoholic) and the next thing she knows she's feeling light-headed, dizzy, and a little loopy. She didn't take it, she didn't know it was there, yet she'll be charged. It may or may not be there because, as I learned from this former drug dealer, some drugs rush through your body faster than others. She's hoping that a spinal tap, if not a normal drug test, will show tell her what she wants to know.
That's just a part of this girl's story. And some may say that this isn't the worst, that there are more disturbing things that she told me last night. Pray though...pray that her pieces will come together, that her mom (a sex-abuse counselor) will treat her more like a daughter than a client, that she won't be charged, that truth will be known, and that someone (perhaps me) to be there for her to help her voice be heard.
Last night she was most scared about the fact that there are three hours of her life she cannot remember and about six to nine that she has reliable but vague bits of because that's the night she was drugged and raped. "All of them suck but this time was the most bearable." She went on to tell me the first time she was raped, she was fully sober and not on drugs and she remembers everything. The second one she was drunk and on drugs and though she remembers, she was numb at the time. This time, she's scared because though she didn't have to consciously experience it, and today she's (hopefully and not hopefully) going to drop dirty at her blood and drug test.
The blood test she wants because she wants to know if she caught something from this complete stranger. If she drops dirty (has a positive drug test) she's hopeful that maybe she'll be able to put the pieces together and find out what went on. Hopefully she'll turn negative so she doesn't have to face more charges of drug possession.
Why is it that our system would charge this girl for taking drugs she didn't know she took? This guy got her a drink (and it was non-alcoholic) and the next thing she knows she's feeling light-headed, dizzy, and a little loopy. She didn't take it, she didn't know it was there, yet she'll be charged. It may or may not be there because, as I learned from this former drug dealer, some drugs rush through your body faster than others. She's hoping that a spinal tap, if not a normal drug test, will show tell her what she wants to know.
That's just a part of this girl's story. And some may say that this isn't the worst, that there are more disturbing things that she told me last night. Pray though...pray that her pieces will come together, that her mom (a sex-abuse counselor) will treat her more like a daughter than a client, that she won't be charged, that truth will be known, and that someone (perhaps me) to be there for her to help her voice be heard.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
