Burdened Heart in a God way

My heart wants so much for my community. I love the people. I want the hopeless to find hope. Now they only dream for such a thing, but it could be a reality. I want the bored to find purpose. I want the trouble-makers to use their creativity and boldness in a positive way. I want the poor to know success God's way (not necessary to have riches, but just to have a contentment in having what God desires for them).

But most of all, I want them to have a relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ. Many have a ritual or a religion, but no relationship. That's sort of like saying you are a student because you go to a school building or because you have been assigned a locker. But you aren't a student unless you really learn, and you aren't really a Christ-follower unless you really seek Him.

I guess this is a strong thought today. A passion. Because of today's events. We have several friends who say they want something more in their lives regarding Christianity, and they are seeking, but they aren't ready to get invested into a spiritual decision yet because of what is clouding their minds and confusing them. Religion can be really confusing, but a relationship is so clear. Either your relationship is growing...or it is stale...or it is stagnant...or it is non-existent.

What we are finding here is that you don't even have to have been brought up in cultural or religious traditions to be steeped in them. It's just part of their being much like eating rice and beans every day. So, to them, it's about a ritual, such as asking when a loved one can be baptized or making the sign of the cross after praying. But a ritual isn't there for you when you feel you don't have a friend in the world-Jesus is. A tradition doesn't show up to visit when you've been given bad news, but God can comfort from the inside out. Baptism just gets you wet if it isn't symbolic of a transformation that has already happened inside.

Sunday night when we left our evening service, it was still light outside-at 7 PM. And we discovered at least six cars had been tagged with a magic marker with the sign of the North Side Latino gang. While we were inside studying about pre-believers (disciples before they met Christ) outside in broad daylight some members of a gang were marking cars. On some they wrote on the glass and others it was on the paint. We called the police, who knew exactly who did it. This is at least our 4th report of destructive behavior in the past 2 or 3 months. Interesting, one of the cars tagged was that of our county sheriff (his personal car). We aren't sure if others were tagged because some left before we discovered the graffiti.

We don't want to hate the ones who did this...it's just an outward sign of an inward problem. The best part of last night was seeing our people smiling and finding a way to be lighthearted even though it was a serious situation. I told one, Brenda, with a beautiful smile on her face even though her car was hit the worst, how much I appreciated her attitude. She said, "I'm not going to let the actions of someone else affect my happiness. Only I get to choose that!" What a beautiful response.

It's a true calling and mission to be here. It's a LONGTERM investment of time because most will not enter a relationship with the Savior before they enter a relationship with us. Most won't trust the God we talk about until they know they can trust us. The changes won't happen overnight, but I have no doubt they will happen!

I Spy!

This past week I've had opportunity to observe people and demographics (statistics about people). What I want to report, is "I spy with my little eye..."

And it is BIGGER than a breadbox!

We traveled to Dallas this week to the Baptist General Conference of Texas orientation. There we could have sung the children's song, "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow black and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world." Not really children, but adults of all the colors of the rainbow met to discuss the resources available to us by the BGCT. Russ and I were encouraged by the diversity and refreshed by the mind-share that happened when we all sat down to share stories and ideas.

We spied another people group...this time at the airport. We traveled one of the busiest times of the year in Rio Grande Valley (near South Padre if that tells you anything). Yes. Spring Break. Every flight was full. In fact, overbooked by 10 passengers each flight. That plus Southwest Airlines being grounded on Wednesday due to flying airplanes that were not cleared to fly (some sort of noncompliance issue that was being addressed). Well, you can imagine, this created the perfect environment for unhappy people! Add to that the already drunk college guys who used colorful language and had very few goals other than satisfying their more baser desires. Helped us realize just how many are out there who are willing to sacrifice any sense of life purpose to fulfill instant gratification.

And finally, I want to leave you with those demographics. The BGCT gave us the stats for a 5-mile radius of our church. This gives us so much to pray about and to figure out ways to help our community.

In 2007:
Population: 13,274
Anglo: 7.8%
Hispanic: 88.5% (97% in the schools)
African American: 3%
Asian/Pacific Islander: .1%
Median Age: 30.3
Of adults 25+ years, 49.9% with no high school diploma, 24$% are high school graduates, 16.6% have some college, and only 9% have a college degree or higher.

Households by Income Level:
Less than $15,000, 32.4%
$15,000 to $24,999, 17%
$25,000 to $34,999, 13.1%
$35,000 to $49,999, 14.7%
$50,000 to $74,999, 12.8%
$75,000 to $99,999, 5.5%
$100,00 to $149,999, 3.2%
$150,00 and up, 1.3%

Keep in mind, those incomes are by household, not individuals. And some households are holding down 3 to 4 jobs (between husband and wife, and either an adult child or a parent living in the same house).

I spy a people who have a love for family and a strong work ethic. They are loyal and enjoy life. But there is a large section of the population who is looking for something MORE. And a lot of children and teens who are bored and scared. They align with a gang early for protection and affiliation.

We have our work cut out for us, and we're grateful for the resources available through the BGCT.

This summer we hope to offer 3 different children's weeks at the church: Vacation Bible School, Soccer Camp, and Music/Band Camp. We are looking into offering some sort of after-school tutoring program, and computer lab, as well as getting a computer program that helps equip those who want to test for their GED. We have something like nine active teachers in our church, and about five retired teachers.

One word? HOPE!