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...

Pops, Promises, & Sparkle

Dad has been here keeping me company the past few days. We have been having a lot of fun together. Saw the Cubs play. They won. That was so sweet. People are out of their minds about their cubbies. I took him downtown and we had fun eating at random resturants you would only see around here. He came to church with me and got to meet people in my new community! I was really excited about that. So, it has been really awesome getting to share what's been going on with me with him. School is chugging along and I can't believe it's already the end of September! Time is flying by!


THOUGHT OF THE WEEK
God remembers. In the Old Testemant God comes through over and over again. Right before He takes action in a situation the Bible says, "And God remembered." And then something huge happens, God moves. He fulfills His promises. He is always faithful. And this same God has come through for me. He has remembered me. He has remembered us. He sent His Son, the only one He ever had, to live here with us. To walk and breathe and start His Kingdom here on earth. Through Jesus, God's Spirit lives here with us. We can not only tap into, but live through the Spirit of God everyday. I am in awe of the faithfulness of God. His Spirit here is a sign of this convenant between us and God. I am made complete before God through His Spirit. I hope in these promises daily and put my life in His hands so that I might be redeemed. A dove has been a symbol of this faithfulness. It represents God fulfilling His promises through His Spirit living here with us. It reminds me that there is more. That I am forever God's and He is always faithful to remember, even me.


(Just as a sidenote her name is Sparkle)

Building C-C-Community

Community is an inherent characteristic of God. Being made in the image of God leaves me with this same ache for community. Relationship with God, relationship with people around me, relationship that runs deep. Apart from other aches I feel as a human, this one is a result of perfection not imperfection. This is so great, what a concept. Things that I deal with like shame, grief, hunger, pain, and the list goes on, are all because of sin, my sin, my brokenness. But not lonliness. This is unique because this comes from the ache for community. No one wants to be alone, and that is because we weren't created to be. Before sin even came into the picture God said that it was not good for man to be alone. This is in the midst of perfection. Community, integrated into who God is, is integrated into who we are. We are meant to live life together, alonside one another.

I became a part of a church community this past week. God has called me here to this church (Westridge...the one I was telling you about) and I am so stoked to be a part of what is happening there and what is going to happen. I have made some awesome friends and just can't wait to build more on these new relationships. I also entered into a few other communities this past week. One being a homeless community that is found on a street underground down in the city. Being around these, just awesome people, I was instantly taken in. There are genuine, long term relationships going on down there. (and as a side note - who doesn't want friends named Gus, Squeaky, Big Joe, and Footsie?)

School is moving forward and that means I get to learn more about a person then their name, hometown, and major. Woopee! This is for sure an exciting thing! (I happen to be sick of telling everyone those three things too by the way. I was starting to get creative.)

All this to say, I am beginning to embrace community around here. It's so relieving. God is bringing friends. I am getting to spend quality, authentic time with people. People who I get along with, people who I can learn from, people from different cultures, people I can encourage. And all of these which are searching for genuine community, just like me.

Miss You

It has been 24 days since I left home, and I miss it. It being family and the community and Mesa. I pray this feeling pushes me forward rather than keeping me back. But to whatever degree, as of yesterday I am officially homesick. Which I know is where God wants me. At a place where I am totally dependent on his strength instead of my own. He is in control, and I am not.

School is going well. I really am enjoying most of my classes. Math I could do without, but that's life. I am in a communication class that is really interesting to me. Learning about theories and more theories about why we have theories, it's good. It intrigues me. Which I think is a good thing, since I am a communication major. That's probably a good sign. I have great Professors. They all seem down to earth, except for math of course. Poor guy. I have had more work in the past two weeks then I have had in a long time. At first this was somewhat of a downer, but my perspective changed when I realized how much time I had to do it all. The ridiculous amount of extra time I have is still new to me.

I am in love with the city. The diversity is so awesome. People from every culture, every background, every ethnicity. It is great. I have been down there any chance I get. There is a train stop 2 blocks from my school, and on that it is about a 20-30 minute ride downtown. My friends are beginning to realize that if they can't find me, I'm downtown. (not by myself...don't worry mom.) The Chicago Jazz Festival was last weekend, checked out the Art Institute a few days ago, and the next adventure is Shedd Aquarium, which is supposed to be a blast. In between those things I have been checking out all the great Chicago food and shops. All of it is music to my ears. Something about the city that makes my heart beat fast.

The weather has been beautiful the past few days. Sunny, but still a breeze, high 70's, green grass everywhere, I could dig that for a while. But I am told to embrace it now...because there is a cold winter ahead of me that won't be as beautiful. Hopefully the nice days last longer than everyone is anticipating.

There are a few things I am starting to get involved in surely but slowly around campus and around the community. An after school program for elementary refugee kids is the first stop. This week I will have my orientation and then next week I will get started with that. From what I know without experience is that we hang out with the kids, play games, get to know them, and then get assigned to two or three specifically to help with homework. Most to all of the kids are refugees of immigrant families who are trying to build a life for themselves here in America. There are also some homeless ministries that I will be a part of downtown. A group of us from NorthPark go down to a well known homeless community in the city and get to hang out with them, hear their stories, and eat food! There are some great people down there to learn alot from. I should be starting up a small group here anytime, just waiting to hear back from the coordinator on which one I will be a part of. That should be a great way to go deeper in relationships with girls on campus. Also, I will be helping out with the chapel planning team and getting to be a part of what they are doing there.

The big news is a possible church to start being committed to. Westridge Community Church. It is a church plant about 15 minutes from campus and is turning out to be pretty legit. There are some awesome people there and God is doing really exciting things through them. There is a possiblity of me leading worship with the band there - which would be more then I could ask for. It's all still in motion and not any solid decisions have been made yet. Please join me this week in praying for what God might be asking of me. The worship pastor is a student here at NorthPark and we will be meeting this week to talk more about the vision he has for worship and for the church. We will see! I will keep you posted on how it all plays out. I am just excited to be a part of what God is already doing in this community.

Miss you guys!