Jesus Reality

Peer pressure has led me to write this blog. I'm about to give the world a snippet tidbit flashglance at what's been rolling along in my curly-haired brain these last few days.

God has me here in Lancaster City for a reason. To learn, to grow, to be humbled, transformed and renewed. And what I'm learning is that this is real.

Well, duh Kira. You're not in that imaginary city next to Lancaster that goes by the same name. You're not in dreamland. You have been here for 3 and a half weeks now. What are you getting at?

Following God is no small thing. The Bible? C'mon people, this is real. There's people living it out everyday. In a way, life seems more pure in the city. What you see is what it is. Whether it's the neighborhood I work in that has trash all over its streets and car seats on front porches, or the grandfather adorned with children that I pass everyday on my walk home, or a man walking by our porch one evening who after a mere greeting was sharing his life with us, showing us a picture of his beloved daughter and explaining how she was murdered Nov. 27th 2001.

And then he thanked us for being young people with vision and he prayed for us!

A young man at the teen center I work at lives with his sister. His parents are not around. He's a phenomenal artist and dreams of going to college for art.

I've met four pastors since I've been here who are former drug addicts.

I led a Bible study for the first time last week on one of my favorite passages, Mark 9:14-29. In it, I emphasized the plea of the desperate father of an evil spirit-stricken boy, crying, "I believe! Help me overcome my unbelief!" After asking questions aimed at getting the teens to imagine the circumstances of the passage and to relate to the father's plea, the director of the program, Pastor Wayne, took it a step further. He made it really real for those teens by likening the boy in the passage possessed by an evil spirit to the modern-day crackhead. He went on to say that we were made in God's image and we're all loved by God, but we're all susceptible to spirits overtaking us. So, we must take care to avoid the realm of evil spirits- of drugs, alcohol, pre-marital sex, and other fleshly desires that tempt their young souls.

The circumstances that these teens live in is opening my eyes and stirring my heart. God has placed me here to wake me up from my lala dreamland of suburban comfort and God-loves-me-everything's-great  ideology. He's confronting me with real brokenness and with the disturbing truth that he calls me to do something about it. Jesus wants me to sever myself from this world and take up my identity fully in him. I feel excited, frightened, and even mournful of what worldly comforts I will lose in my pursuit of Jesus.

So God, I pray that you will meet me in my fear and that you will help me overcome my unbelief. I'm learning what it really means to follow you, and Lord God, please give me the strength to accept it. For, I know that your plans to prosper me and not to harm me.