{a light in the city}

one of my manifest spiritual gifts is missionary, and for the last 6 days i have been learning what that means for my life.

when people normally think of missionaries they think of the people that are over in Africa in a 3rd world country. we never think of right here in our own homes/neighborhood/cities.

i'll admit it myself. that is what i think of when i hear of someone being a missionary, or i think of a staff of a christian fellowship. i never think of myself or even the people i live with, or go to church with as missionaries. spending a week in st. louis on an InterVarsity urban project called "City Lights" changed this way of thinking for me.

i learned that i can be a missionary everyday right here in my own home, in my own neighborhood, at my own school and in my own city. City Lights has motivated me to be the light of Jesus in my city. i want to reach out to my neighbors and step out of the safety bubble we have all formed around Drake University. there are people right on the other side of the street that need someone to listen to their story. just listen.

i don't want to live here in this city without really living in it anymore. i don't want to go to a community church without the church or myself really being involved and apart of the community. i saw and heard of so many people moving into the rough neighborhoods in st. louis to become part of the community that their church was located in. why is it that i'm not doing the same?

this past week pulled at my heart strings and made me really question why we are so afraid of reaching out to our neighbors? is it because their skin is a different color than ours? or is it because they live in a house that is considered 'crap' to us? it even made me think why my chapter of InterVarsity after learning about the crazy love of Jesus these past 6 weeks isn't out there in our own 'Drake' neighborhood sharing that love?

as isaiah 58 says 6-8 & 9-10:

loose the chains of injustice

and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

and break every yoke?

⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe them,

and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn...

...If you do away with the yoke of oppression,

with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry

and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,

then your light will rise in the darkness

this is what we are called to do! so then why are we not getting off our butts and doing it? what are we so afraid of? what is holding us back?

i don't know about you but i'm ready for this. i'm ready to break the chains of oppression, to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. i'm ready to share what i have because we as the people of the Lord, are called to do this. what we have isn't even ours, so why are we trying to hoard it? as a wise man once said 'we must lay down our lives for something, we are all going to die, so what are you going to lay yours down for... your car? education? or for the needy and the call of the Lord?'

City Lights opened my eyes to see what the heart of God looks like. it showed me what truly living out the gospel means. thats what i want for my life. i want to be a reflection of the heart of God. i don't want my bible to just be a book i carry, i want it to be the story of my life.

im ready to be the light in this city!