Busy Tuesday turns sweet

Typically my Tuesdays are swamped. I wake up around 6:50ish in order to make it to my first class at 7:45am. Then my next class right away at 9:30am. Then work at 11:15 till 1:15. Then class at 2:00 till 3:15. Then more work from 3:15 till 5:15. But today I was also asked to teach a course, whose material I have learned in the past, for the internship I am doing. So I thought the class started at 7pm and that I had to be there at 6 (one hour earlier). I come to the place, Yosemite Middle School, out in the rundown, mad ghetto part of Fresno. Nobody is there. I walk around the dark school grounds and it looks like the school janitor is closing up for the day. After asking around, I found out that the lesson already took place from 4-6pm. Unfortunately, I was in work at the time. So its 7pm, dark, lonely, and I'm walking around poverty-stricken Fresno.

I decided to go to church because my supervisor for my internship called and said that we have been warned by the city to take down our signs advertising our lessons (it's basically a class that teaches communication/reinforcing Marriage skills. very good thing). And I remembered I put some signs up by our church.

So I drive up to the church (another poor part of town) to take them down. When I got there, I felt the strong urge to take a walk... which I did. It's funny the things one notices when one walks. It reminded me a lot of Ukraine. Not only the walking part, but also the poverty, tight quarters, smells of kitchen preparations, dogs barking, etc. It really reminded me of Ukraine. When I got back to my car, I realized that this is what the church needs to do. Atleast our church. I know I have experience in repairing roofs. I know a lot of roofs need reparations in that part of town. Should I do that? Can that be my ministry? Maybe have the owners pay for materials, and I work for free? I wonder what that would look like. The more I walked, the more I realized that we as people (human race) are similar than dissimilar. Hispanics remind me a lot of Slavics. Community, family, food... I just wonder how much would change if our church just decided to talk a walk around the neighborhood for one of their sunday services... instead of listening to a sermon, watching it take place. No words. No music. No sounds. Just life. I wonder how much more that would speak to the people.

As I got back to my car, I turned on "Came to the Rescue" by Hillsong United. The chorus in the song says, "I called. You answered. And You came to my rescue and I want to be where You are." I wonder how much would change if we sang, "You called. I answered. And I came to the rescue and You want to be where we are"... maybe it's time for Christians to not ask for rescue, but rather be the rescue everyone is looking for.