Chi-Town...What's Goin On?

I love this town. Driving to church today, I was somewhat in awe as the Chicago skyline filled my windshield traveling east on 90/94. It was beautiful. Much different from the corns fields back home which posses their own unique beauty.


I attend Lawndale Community Church on the Westside of town. I was introduced to this church nearly one year ago. The first time I went I wanted desperately to go back. I told myself if I ever lived in Chicago that would be my church. Here I am and it certainly is. I never actually thought it would happen, but how blessed I am that it did.

The diversity and heart behind the church resonates with my passions. Especially when I walked past a youth class that was learning the books of the Bible in flow with a rap beat in the background. I would have been down with that as a kid.

You should come check it out. I would love to show you Christ fully alive in the same room as blacks, whites, Latinos, and many other races and ethnicities. I find myself, at times, looking around wondering how close Lawndale’s worship service will be to our experiences in heaven. All people of all nations worshiping our Creator, even those our nation currently fights against.

I had a lot of driving time this weekend since I traveled to Marion, Indiana for a wedding. It was my first time out of this environment for weeks. As I made the four-hour trip, my mind drifted off into deep questioning. I was reminded of a life changing experience that happened early in high school. This experience has and will affect me the rest of my life.

In 2000 I was in Toronto, Canada for a youth missions conference. I was extremely immature in my faith and certainly questioning the relevancy of Christianity, especially in my life. One night, our group took time away from the conference to clear our minds. We eagerly ventured into the city that night. We were all energized by the opportunity to experience new things and simply just get away.

We walked around the city creating quite a ruckus. I can just imagine what it must have looked like as fifty teenagers walked around laughing, yelling, and jumping on things we probably shouldn’t have been.

I remember being oblivious to my surroundings that night. Besides, it was my time to wind down, relax, and not think about a thing. I was yelling at one of my buddies behind me, then suddenly I stepped on something large and wobbly.

As I turned around to look and see exactly what I had stepped on my heart literally plummeted to the ground. Squirming from the pain that had just been afflicted, an old woman in a filthy light blue sleeping bag helplessly tried to cover her head as she sank deeper into her home. I was in shock!! How was I so senseless? Was I not paying attention? Where did she come from? Why was she in the middle of the sidewalk?

Then I did the most heartless thing I’ve ever done, I kept walking.

I can’t imagine how she felt laying on that sidewalk. I’m still ashamed to even think about it. The inhumanity of someone stepping on another human curled up on the street and then continuing to go about their business saying nothing. How worthless and unimportant she must have felt. Little did she know of being in the way of a Christian group spending time away from “ministry.”

Luke 10:25-37 tells the story of the Good Samaritan and those (a priest and Levite) who left the man naked and half dead on the side of the road. Jesus is obviously telling a parable, but for me, that verse has become a reality, a true-life experience, and I, I kept on walking.

Today I still see that weathered, light blue, sleeping bag on the ground. I can’t help but be changed by that experience. I admit that I still walk by homeless men and women with little or no thought. I wish that weren’t true, but to my shame it is.

2 Corinthians 9:10-12 (MSG)

God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you're ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it, He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out. This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.

As this verse states, I am throwing caution into the wind. I don’t have much to give except the love and grace that has been given to me. Tuesday night be in prayer for me. I can’t tell you what I’m about to embark on, however, I’m certain I’ll never be the same.

1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (NIV)

Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel ,that I may share in its blessings.