What Do God and Jack Bauer Have in Common?

Before I answer the question proposed in the title of this blog, I wanted to mention our first service project :) So far, this week has consisted of meetings. Up until today, we've been working out the 'nuts and bolts' of CSM and learning exactly what our job is going to be this summer. I'm sure that halfway through the summer, sitting in an air conditioned room for a meeting will sound appealing. But my eager, youthful mentality is just antsy to start right now. Our service opportunity was at a location called Martha's Table. It serves to provide emergency dinners to homeless people 365 days a year, offers a daycare, after-school program, and clothing/thrift shop. Basically, it's the over-achiever of ministry sites. It blew me away with all that they do. I had a blast and honestly, I can't wait to go back.

As for my question, let me preface it with this. 24 was one of my favorite shows growing up. One of the only things better than growing up and watching 24, was growing up and watching 24 with Dad, Josh and I. For some reason, we all felt that we were called to work as commentators to Jack's every move. The best commentaries always came when Jack was in the worst position possible. Whether he was about to be tortured, tied up in the back of a truck or all of his communication with CTU was cut off, Josh or Dad would always chirp in with, "He's Jack...obviously he has them right where he wants them."

What does Jesus have to do with this? We had a little bit of time today to breathe. During that time, I was thinking and I realized that in a (maybe cheesy) way, Jesus' attitude towards me must be a little like Jack Bauer's attitude. I can't even think about how many times he's told me to do one thing, so out of stubbornness, I've done the exact opposite. Regardless, though he hasn't given up on me.

The best part about it, is that being in DC this summer, I'm so confident that God finally has me, "right where he wants me." I've definitely put up a fight, and I've most certainly made his life difficult. But, despite all the obstacles and defiance I've pushed against God, he somehow made sure that he got me to DC this summer. The peace I have being here, the energy that I have in my eagerness to serve, and the way that I have been able to wake up confident that God has a plan for my day all attest to that. It doesn't mean I know where I'm going. It just means that I know that right now, I'm where I'm supposed to be :)

Thanks God :)

Most of my entries have been relatively factual up until this point. The others have been an opportunity for me to recall a significant time during that day when I really saw God show himself to me. Today, my entry is a bit more light-hearted, with 2 main points.

1.) It Rained :) The rain is my FAVORITE weather. I was absolutely thrilled to experience my first summer rain in the city. The rain came during our car ride to dinner, which absolutely necessitates singing in the car and lots of laughing. Both were accomplished :) My laughing scared our driver at first, and the car might have swerved, but everyone is safe right now :) It was so nice to feel the joy that I have every time the rain comes.

2.) I had the BEST frozen yogurt I have ever had. It was from the dessert shop shown in the picture. This place is legit. It has almost every flavor you can imagine...I decided on red velvet soft serve...who knew?! To top it off (pun intended), there is every side and topping you can imagine to go on your ice-cream. The President of CSM was visiting DC for the day and asked if he could treat the staff to dessert. Needless to say...we were all very appreciative.

During our time at ice-cream as we were talking, I ended up crying from laughing. All that I can conclude is that I absolutely love the people I get to work with this summer, and laughing until my stomach aches only proves my point even further :)

Today's blog isn't very serious, it's more a "Thanks God," for the great day you gave me and the laughs I was able to enjoy :)

My Urban Plunge

Today's challenge for our staff was easy to understand and difficult to practice. The formal title of this challenge was "The Urban Plunge." It was a staff experience that will allow us to warn our groups this summer that the Urban Plunge is possible to live through.

The objective? We were in 4 groups of 2 people. Each person was allotted $2 ($4 per group if you joined your money together), and one round trip on the Public Bus to our separate destinations where we would have 3 hours. During the 3 hours, and with our collective $4, we were supposed to feed ourselves dinner, feed one more person, buy them a pair of socks, discover how we could obtain medical aid if we were homeless, and figure out the closest shelter to our given location.

Just reading the directions/limitations can help to understand the challenges we faced. Essentially, the plunge was as difficult as it sounds. However, we accomplished our tasks, ate a hardy meal, fed 5 homeless men (with the aid of a mobile soup kitchen), and found the medical aid. All I can say is, I have it easy.

A lot of this experience can't be placed into words, however, I want the blog entry so that when I read this posts after the summer, I can jog my memory of the experience that I had this evening :)

An Educational (Non-School) Bus Ride

My 'wow' moment took place on a public transportation bus today. This is the picture that I took from my seat in the back. Let me share :)

Our staff was faced with a challenged today called the Urban Plunge, and I was partnered with a girl named Lauren. In order to get to our location, Lauren and I had to take the bus. When we first boarded, we were some of the first people on the bus so it was pretty empty. Logically, as our bus route increased, the population on the bus increased as well. At one point, I looked up from my seat and I noticed that everyone standing in the middle of the bus was male, and almost everyone sitting down was a female. I thought it was odd, and didn't know what to think but I didn't make much of it.

A couple stops later, a man in a wheelchair was trying to board the bus. When he tried, the entire bus moved towards the back so that he could make his way on. This meant that I was going to have to stand in the aisle. As I moved further towards the back of the bus with a lot of the other women, I noticed that the few men who had been sitting started to stand in the aisles, to make the seats near them empty. None of the men sat back down, they all made sure that woman and children occupied their previous seats.

This shouldn't seem like a big deal. But for some reason, I started to tear up. When I had first boarded the bus, I noticed that I was a white minority in a poorer area than what I am used to, who is accustomed to taking a car to drive anywhere I need to go. I immediately (and unknowingly) had judged all the men I had been near as a possible threat. I guarded my purse and kept to myself. Little did I know, regardless of my poor and judgmental perceptions of these men, each of them would stand to offer his seat so that I could be comfortable and sit. They treated me equal to their wives and the other women around me.

Essentially, I received an act of love today that I didn't deserve. I, unknowingly, projected my socio-economic stereotypes onto a group of people in a public bus, and I had no substance to my stereotypes. After taking a simple 15 minutes to sit on the bus, all of the stereotypes that I had were broken, and I was the one in the wrong. Admitting this is a bit embarrassing. However, being able to share the love that I experienced through my bus ride far outweighs the embarrassment that I faced.

My challenge for tomorrow? I would love to show someone loving mercy who doesn't deserve it. After having experienced it today, I know the benefits that come through this grace. I was embarrassed when I was proven wrong, and I was filled with sorrow when I realized how judgmental my background has made me. However, if I can let someone experience the selflessness I saw when I was given a seat, I would be absolutely thrilled to be a part of that :)

1 Day of Training, 3 Highlights

Today, just like the past three days has been absolutely fantastic :) Rather than a detailed play-by-play of everything we covered today, I'm write about my three highlights of the day, with pictures I took from each location.



#1: Ben's Chili Bowl
I've been to Ben's before, and just like their staff t-shirts say, Ben's should be another Washington monument. The picture of the bear is taken right outside of Ben's. Their history is amazing. Ben's has played a large role in the Civil Rights movement in DC, and has served a number of famous individuals. Everyone from Bill Cosby to Paula Deen to President Obama has participated in the "Ben's experience."...and now, Stephanie Laurence can officially be added to that list :) To top it off, their milkshakes are ridiculously delicious.



#2: The National Arboretum
For lunch, the whole staff ate at the National Arboretum. However, it wasn't the destination that makes the Arboretum the highlight of my day. Over lunch, each of us shared how we have gotten to where we are now. This lunch helped me to begin to slowly fall in love with our staff for the summer. Each of us comes from a very unique and different background, but it only served to make me appreciate each of my coworkers even more. The fact that we can all share the same passion for the inner city, yet come from such drastically different backgrounds only proves that God has been at work in each of us. Needless to say, this lunch was such a blessing in my day, and I'm so glad that everyone was able to make themselves more vulnerable with each other so that we can understand one another even better.



#3: A Night on the Mall
After we hit up Ben's for dinner, the staff was given free time for the night. Since we're all still feeling the excitement of being in the capital, we decided to go down to the mall for the night. One of the most amazing parts of DC is that in one night, we were able to go to the tidal basin and see the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Memorial, the Reflecting Pool, the WWII Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, Korean Memorial, drive by the White House and see the Capitol Building in a distance. It's insane!! :) Aside from the sights, I loved being able to build friendships with the people I'm working with, and just enjoy our free time together. Nothing ground breaking took place during our time, but I loved being able to enjoy the small moments :)

That's all for today...it's bedtime for me now. Sweet dreams :)

Making This a Habit :)

My second full day in Washington DC is winding down, and it has been beautiful :) There's no profound "God Moments" as of now, but I am trying to get into the habit of making my blogging regular. My thoughts are that if I form the habit of recording my days and the memories that come along with each day, I'll be more likely 'blog' at the end of days when I'm exhausted and may not want to.

Up until this point, I have absolutely nothing that I can complain about (except that the coffee here is a bit bitter :). I have been so blessed to meet the staff I'll be working with. Over these next two months, I will work with Jason (our city director), Kristen (our Associate City director), Brenda from the DC area, Ashley from PA, Lukas from NH, Shaina from IL, Rita from CA, Lauren from NYC and Craig from OH.

To say we're diverse would be an understatement. Yet, somehow our personalities blend quite scrumptiously and I love each of them. I know I'll be maxed out at some point and tired at some point, but as of now, I'm so happy to be working with them and I'm appreciating all of their company, as well as everything each of them brings to the table.

As for what we've done...it's been wonderful so far :) I went with most of the staff to a mega church yesterday (yes, it's in the name, but it was HUGE!), and lunch took place at Five Guys. Last night, we went on the prayer tour as a staff, and it was beautiful. We were lucky enough to pray over the entire city...everywhere from the Capitol Building to an after school program we'll be volunteering at this summer in Southeast. I have seen the contrasts that exist in DC before, but they will never cease to amaze me. It astounds me that such discrepancies can exist, and such different people can live next to each other, yet God loves each of them the same. I don't know how he does it.

Today was lots of meetings, getting to know each other and enjoying the mall. We got to take our pictures in front of the Capitol building (how cool is that?!), and the Washington Memorial. We also got to put around the Museum of Natural History, and we wound up eating at a great Middle Eastern restaurant that we'll frequent during the summer. The night was given to a Target run (who could pass that up?!) and relaxing with the staff.

Hopefully, this blog was longer than most will be. That sums up the past two days, and catches me up to the present. I'll be posting when I have time, so I can keep these memories as the summer continues. Sweet Dreams :)

Give It the Old College Try

My mom is an avid blogger. She maintains a blog on this same "blogspot" website, and is extremely faithful in her maintenance of her blog. The people that follow my mom's blog are lucky...she is creative, inventive and continually finding new topics to blog about.

Unforutnately, I can't promise the same for my attempted blog this summer. I can credit my efforts to my mom, but that's the only promising parallel I can account for between these two blogs.

I'm currently sitting in a makeshift living room in the Star of Bethlehem Church in Northwest Washington DC. I couldn't be happier :) I'm taking a Step of Faith (hence the site name) and I'm venturing to call Washington DC 'home' for the next three months. I can't promise daily updates...our schedule is packed. However, I can promise 'the good ole college try' and say that I will be attempting to update my blog as frequently as possible without losing my sanity.

My hopes for this blog are to have a sort of 'online journal' so that after my time in DC has concluded, I can still maintain my memories of this summer to carry them with me as I move into my next journey. Because of this journal format, my blog may be set up a bit different from some of the more 'mainstream blogs.' That is only because it is personal and close to my heart, and this will hopefully serve as a way that I can sort through my days, one step at a time :)

As for this first post, training starts today and hopefully I'll have more to share tonight after we've concluded :) Happy day!