Happy Happy Orange and Black

Sometimes you just have to leave your pride aside and dance around like a crazy person. Last Friday night we had a costume party at the church, and I'm pretty sure I creeped out everyone there. It was hilarious. You see the group of us who have been starting small groups around campus and a young adults group during the week decided we could not play the "cool card" at this party, but we had to be the weird ones. You see, then no one would be intimidated by what we had to offer. And therefore, would come hang out with us for future get togethers. I am pretty sure I accomplished this goal with flying colors. The pastor's wife (Savannah) and I were matching, creepy, awkward, dorky, old men. And the costume did not end there. Along with the ridiculous outfits we went ahead and got 2nd place in the costume talent contest. Yes, the talent contest. Impressive, I know. We choreographed a dance to "Everybody Dance Now" and pretty much blew everyone away. (Just to clarify, we should've gotten 1st but the contest was rigged. We were mature enough to let it go. We know we really got first.)



Things are going really well around here. Midterms ended well. I got to go home for a few days and see my beautiful family. We had a blast together. I have already registered for classes next semester, and am looking forward to that. I look forward to tutoring each week (the after school program with refugee kids around the neighborhood). The girls I get to hang out with are so beautiful. They bless me and teach me so much. The girls I work with are from Burma (right above Thailand), Guatemala, and Mexico. They are between 10 and 13. Anyways, I love them. The people downtown on lower Wacker are also a huge blessing and I always look forward to the intriguing conversations with them. West Ridge community is growing. Like I mentioned earlier, we are building small groups that are pouring into the church. Really exciting to see. We have started guy and girl small groups and then a young adults group during the week where we all get together and have a good time. I am also on the creative planning team for services and have gotten to be apart of the worship on Sunday mornings. God's Spirit is really being seen! Keep praying for all the changes we are going through as a church restart. Some are still reluctant to all the change. We are really starting to move forward though because the launch date is getting closer! So, we are beginning to put things in place and starting to see them function!

Being the church has brought on an even newer meaning to me in the past few weeks. Seeing what it looks like for me to live and breath as a church outside of any building has so many implications in my world and it impacts the way I do life. Really it means that the church I bring to people I encounter everyday needs to be pouring out love, giving community, and full of grace. It is really liberating and I know it is what God is calling me to, to be the church. (you too actually)

On that note, I will talk to you guys soon! And update you on any exciting news. Happy Halloween :)

Rich or Poor

The fall days are beautiful here. Leaves are falling. (Cactus don’t do that.) I love it.

I went down with about 20 other students last night to a street known as Lower Wacker. This is a place where most park their cars, throw their trash, plug their nose, and drive through as fast as possible while not making eye contact so they won’t be shot (really a very irrational fear). What is rarely seen is the really beautiful community of people who call it home. I was blessed this week by a new friend named Lonzelo, a 58 year old man who lives on the streets of downtown Chicago. Lonzelo and I had a divine moment last night down on Lower Wacker, he touched my heart, and made an impact on my life. He stirred in my mind this question: What does it really mean for me, someone who follows Jesus each day, to be poor?

Let’s start at the beginning. Lonzelo brought up a question, and asked me why it is that nobody wants to die, but everyone wants to go to heaven? Really great question I thought. He wasn’t wasting anytime for sure. Well, before I could actually give an answer, he had one for me, which was good news because all I could think of was a David Crowder song that goes “everybody wants to go to heeeeeeaven but noooboddy wants to dieeeee.” Really great song, but probably wasn’t what he was looking for. Anyways, Lonzelo’s answer to his question. (Kind of an advantage to being homeless I think is having the time to think about very profound things in this life that no one has time for.) He started with the conveniences. How no one wants to die because they would have to lose all their things. And people like their things more than anything. The conveniences that so many are consumed by. The emails, the cars, the shoes, the phones, and the shelter. Things I rarely take a second look at. And it’s true, I would be very reluctant to give up any of those things at any given moment. And then what seemed to be a pretty light-hearted conversation took a turn when he said, “Brittany, would you rather be rich or poor?” (sort of implying that of corse my answer would be rich, which it wasn’t.) And in my head, there was a split second of ‘don’t kid yourself Brit, be honest’, but really the bottom line was that I would rather be poor. And my heart said to me, ‘You are called to something so much more than being rich.’ And in the very moments of putting an answer together that deserved a lifetime to figure out, he was very shocked to hear me say, ‘You know what Lonzelo, I would rather be poor.’ He looked at me and laughed, ‘You are crazy girl, who are you? Did your momma teach you anything?’ (Don’t worry mom, I defended you :) But it’s true, I would rather be poor. Against all human desires in me, I desire more than anything to be poor and humbled and simplified and content and broken and needy. Because I know that in this life, living for anything that is seen will die, but living for the unseen, that is eternal.

So right when I think I have some sort of basis for why I am choosing to be poor, Lonzelo hits me again. He looks at me with his very heavy, deep, and tired eyes and points over to a dirty corner on the sidewalk, and he says, “Why would anyone choose to lay on the concrete?” At that moment something in me felt very heavy. Because in some sort of way, I could feel Lonzelo’s hurt, I could see the weight of his loneliness, and I felt sad. I wanted to fix it, but I couldn’t, and I felt helpless. The words that kept flashing in red letters through my mind were - POOR IN SPIRIT - POOR IN SPIRIT - POOR IN SPIRIT - over and over. But here’s the thing, all of a sudden I had no idea what those words really meant. I know that Jesus said to be poor in spirit, I know that He was poor in spirit, I know that I want to be poor in spirit, and I know that it isn’t the first thing my spirit jumps in line for. So what do I do?

Matt 5:3
Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Proverbs 22:2
Rich and poor have this in common: The Lord is the Maker of them all.

2 Corinthians 8:9
For you know the grace of our Lord that though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

At this point I am left in the arms of God’s sovereignty and humbled by His love. Because I think in a sense, we all deserve to be on the concrete. Jesus took my poverty, and bared it in place of me. What makes Lonzelo different than me? Well, a lot physically. Because as I drive away to go home, his night in Lower Wacker never ends. He made really crappy decisions (he actually told me that himself), but so do I. In a mysterious crazy way, last night I felt equal with Lonzelo. As a human being, and in God’s compassionate eyes, I am. Lonzelo holds the same desires, the same needs (physically and spiritually), and the same broken heart that I do. So we both are in equal need of God’s grace on our lives. We both desperately need Jesus to take away our poverty. And that is so beautiful.

Whether I physically ever sleep on the concrete, we will see. But I know that in my heart, I want to sleep on the concrete every day.

Midterms & Others

"Personal liberation is inseperable from becoming turned outward to the liberation of others." - Stanely Grenz

I am in awe of the things God is teaching me from day to day. While I am adding to my story with God, adding to my experiences in God, and adding to my understanding of God, it becomes clear that it has much much more to do with others. I get smaller each moment. Lately, God has been taking me to new places and then giving me endless opportunity to share. The second I learn something, someone walks past me who needs to learn the same thing. And I get to tell. It's so beautiful to see God's kingdom in movement.

Midterms are here. Crazy, crazy.

Lecture & Dreaming

Woah, it's October. God is moving here. I am writing to you in the middle of a lecture about irrelevant data - just to clarify I am not saying this lecture is irrelevant - it is actually titled "Irrelevant Data". But I wanted to check in and say hi.

I have been thinking about what cool things I could tell you guys about. There are a lot, by the way. But, instead I am going to share a little something right from my journal. It's raw. Nothing fancy, just authentic conversation with God. It is what's on my heart. I hope that it can stir you to press on.
Love you guys, I'll post again in a few days.


October 1,2007
... God, I dream. A lot. I think of crazy things, think through endless possibilities and I think I have
started to do it alone. Dreaming alone scares me. I start to feel inadequate and begin to fear my own
ideas because they seem ridiculous. You dream too don’t you? I have been dreaming on my own and
then presenting my ideas to you and hold them against Your Word, Your Spirit. But what if you want
more than that. What if you want to dream with me? You want to think of crazy ideas with me, crazy
scenarios. And that means, that I am not inadequate to dream, but ridiculously powerful to. Because I
am not doing it alone, I can dream with you. Next to you. It’s the only way...