Due credit.

Recently I received an anonymous gift. It left me speechless and touched. And very much out of control. As far as I know, it was from nothing that I did, I cannot trace any of my own efforts that resulted in the gift. There's nothing I can do after receiving it. I don't know who to thank, I can't give credit where it's due.

 And yet I can, for in giving - and receiving - the greatest credit goes to God. My support level so far is due to God's work, not my own. Those who give do God's work as surely as the work I will be doing is His work. 

By nature, I want to give credit to someone - someone must be praised. Yet I am forced to give all praise to God. 

And this is how it should be.

High Schools and Lilacs

"Just Dance"  at youth event

I haven't had much chance to interact with youth lately. I look back on all I've done with ICI, and I look forward to being with them again, but currently my focus is all on support raising so I can get there quickly. My small group at church hosted a youth outreach - a video game tournament with guest artists, testimonies, and a presentation of the gospel. I'm not a huge video game person, but it turned out pretty fun! I went to the high school a couple times in the past week to hand out fliers and invite students. And boy, did it feel right! 

Being at the high school as throngs of teens surged around me made me so excited. I wished I was doing this for an ICI event, that I could actually get to know many of these kids long term. I could follow up and hang out and see them frequently. 

As I passed out fliers, I found myself seeking eye contact and interaction more with the demographic that I'll be working with in Logan Square and Humboldt Park. My gaze slipped over the primly dressed blond kid to catch the eye of a young latino or a lanky black teen. No, wait, offer fliers to the white kids too. I guess I have a bias!  

It made me so excited for when I'll be at Inner City Impact and get to do this every day. Interact with students. Bright, young, fresh, hurting, angry, excited, timid, insecure, cocky, imaginative, creative, lonely, lost students.  September, here I come!

But in order to get to ICI, I need to have 100% of my support raised. In order for that to happen, I need to share the ministry and invite people to join my team. To do that i have to get appointments to talk with them. To do that I have to make phone calls. *sigh* Therefore - make those phone calls! Tonight I get to talk with two different people about ICI. I'm excited!

In other news, my birthday was in May. The celebration of it stretched from the 21st to the 31st as I celebrated early with family who were going to be out of town (Edwardo's and Olive Garden), on time with a couple friends (brunch, late night swimming, and a conference call with my whole family!), and late for a weekend celebration with others (tacos at my place, cake made by my housemate Karin, topped off by the hat game). I am so blessed to be loved by all these people! And I am excited for another year of life. This past year was so eventful and life changing. I can trace God working and guiding me throughout the year as well as through years before that.

Also exciting: Lilacs are blooming! I brought some inside, and will probably go get more before they fade away. Lilacs are close to being my favorite flower, they smell so rich and sweet. If the whole world smelled like lilacs, violence would go down 85%. Let's get planting!

(The other thing we should plant is seeds of the gospel. That actually has a higher probability of decreasing violence).