The Washington Monument and The Bureau of Engravings

Last week, my family came to visit me in DC. It was easily one of the biggest highlights of my summer. I didn't realize how much I missed them until I actually saw them. While they were here, my CSM staff was amazingly gracious. They did everything they could to let me spend as much time as possible with my family, and I am so grateful to them for that.

On the Friday afternoon that Mom, Dad, Bekah and Matthew were here, Rita and Ashley were particularly gracious to me. Ashley and I were co-hosting and were scheduled to be at a VBS site in the afternoon. Instead, Rita substituted that 'shift' (even though it's really not a shift because I LOVE my job) for me so that I could go and hang out with my family.

While I was with my family, we decided to do the 'tourist thing.' Dad was awesome and woke up really early to get us tickets to the Washington Monument, as well as the Bureau of Engravings. I have been to the Bureau of Engravings before, but this was my first venture into the Washington Monument.

As we took the elevator up the 555 feet to the top of the Washington Monument, I was antsy to see the view, to say the least. Once we were at the top, the whole family played out each of our personalities to a T. Mom got off the elevator to go and take some incredible pictures. Once she was done, she patiently waited for the rest of us at the elevator as we mozied around. Dad floated between Bekah, Matthew and I and was able to explain those little details that nobody remembers, but everyone loves to know. He is an endless fountain of trivia. Matthew stuck around with me and we talked and looked over the whole city.

When Matthew and I were looking around, he patiently listened as I told him all of the buildings I saw. As I was talking to Matthew, I realized that buildings that I were pointing out. I wasn't showing Matthew the Capitol, the White House, or the Smithsonians. I acknowledged them, but I didn't spend time dwelling on them in my observations. I pointed out Anacostia to him. I also showed him Saint Elizabeths (the retired mental institution in South East). I showed him where I go to church every week. I also showed him a couple of the ministry sites I work at with my groups.

Later that night, when I was thinking about the view that I had seen earlier that day, I realized that I actually SEE the city differently, and my time at the monument symbolized it perfectly. When I thought of DC in the beginning of the summer, I saw the White House, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Capitol Building and Capitol Hill. Now that I live here, and have formed relationships, it is the people that I see instead of the buildings. I see Anacostia because that is where Jawan, Travan, G, Faith, Destiny, Raven, Marvin, and Alex all live. I see Saint Elizabeths because it is across the street from my favorite housing site. And I see our ministry locations because those are the places that offer smiles to me that make my days better.

It is nothing against tourism. If anything, it is only a change in myself. But, this change is a change I wouldn't trade for the world. I love these places because they are so filled with life. And they are filled to the point that they overflow and have changed me enough that I will never see this city the same again :)

Junior High and Esther

One morning, I decided to do my devotions from the book of Esther. It was a little bit random, but I couldn't resist. When I was growing up, Esther was my absolute favorite personality from the Bible. I have always been drawn to Esther. I never tire of reading about Esther, her boldness, her strength and her silent courage. Because of this interest in Esther, I decided that I really wanted to read the story of Esther as a replacement to my regular devotions. I did not think that it would be very applicable to my day, but I went ahead with it anyway.

As I was reading, one verse in particular stuck out to me. Ester 2:20 says, "But Esther had kept secret her family background and nationality just as Mordecai had told her to do, for she continued to follow Mordecai's instructions as she had done when he was bringing her up."

When I typically think of Esther, I think of a beautiful Queen who got body massages, pedicures and spoke out to a King. I picture a hero, and the type of woman who walks into a room and everyone thinks 'wow.'

I don't typically think of Esther the way this verse describes her. This verse describes a woman who stripped herself of her identity so that she could become blended into a culture and she could show God's name, instead of hers.

As I was thinking about it, I realized that for Esther to live out God's plan, she had to strip herself of every identifying factor that she had previously used to represent herself. This verse demonstrates that Esther lost her culture, her religion, her name and her family in order to assume this position as Queen. If this were to happen today, she would be seen as crazy. But, clearly God knew what he was doing.

Because of this, I challenged my Long Island group to do the same. I challenged them that as they were serving that week, to strip themselves of their religion, their names, their culture and their families in order to not restrict God's plan. I told them to be willing to just serve as they walked in the middle of God's love. As they took on this challenge, they slowly understood. They began to serve throughout the whole week glorifying God because they had assumed his identity, as they slowly stripped themselves of their own. The more they did this, the more they understood the true reason of why they were here.

Needless to say, it was such a cool lesson, and it was even cooler to learn it from 'just a bunch of Junior High-ers :)'

Long Island and Junior High

This picture was my group from two weeks ago. Before they came, I knew two things about them. They were from Long Island, and they were Junior High kids. To say I was reluctant to be excited is a bit of an understatement. To top it all of, I knew that I was going to be staying with them in Anacostia. In any normal, rational person's mind, this would spell out out a recipe for disaster.

To say my group rose above and beyond my expectations would be a gross understatement. They were absolutely incredible. They pushed through their week with a determination that even I could not match. They were strong, grounded in their faith and so much fun. Not to get ahead of myself...there were a couple of times I thought about purposefully leaving a Junior High-er at a ministry site. But, they were amazing. I can go into more details on how incredible they were in a separate post. But for now, let me settle with: God and Junior Highers makes a GREAT combination.

I'm BACK! :)

I am very aware that I have (epically) failed at blogging for the past two weeks. I'm also aware that two weeks, when I'm only in DC for about 12, is a VERY large percentage of my time here that I have neglected to write down. Because of that, I am going to attempt to do some very intense catch-up.

I have not had internet for the past two weeks. And other than not being able to blog, it has been a huge blessing. I have loved the freedom that has come from not being able to waste hours on facebook. Not to sound too much like a mom, or a hippie, but it's been very nice :)

So, bare with me as I tackle the past two weeks. I'll try my best to hit on my high points, and record the things I want to remember for my own memories sake. :)