"What to Do?" by John Geiger

When my cell phone alarm wakes me, I think over what all I need to do to get ready this morning, I also try to decide if I have time for a snooze or two. After my snooze I stumble into the kitchen and start to boil water for my French press. I hear cars honking, which tells me Sondra is out on our busy corner waving at motorists, hoping to make their morning a little brighter. Sondra has led a very rough life and has, in the past few years, found love, joy, and freedom in Christ. She has made it her mission to take back her corner for Christ from the drugs and prostitution she once used it for.

While I grab my pocket contents I look at my phone and realize it is 8:28. I have to be at work at 8:30… no problem. I rush out the door and shout "good morning" to Sondra. As I drive past, she always tells me to have a blessed day. I pull into the parking lot at the Binghampton Development Corporation at 8:30 and open our office door by 8:32. I am the first one here, besides our director Robert, who most likely gets to work at the same time that I am in my fourth hour of sleep. As I wait for my dinosaur computer to boot up I hear footsteps coming…in long strides. I turn around to see my boss duck his head under the doorway. He is VERY tall with a smile to match. He tells me good morning in his booming voice and lets me know he is taking an early lunch today because of a meeting. He asks what I have planned for the day. Just as I am telling him what is on my to-do list, I hear much quicker footsteps. Steve walks in with his phone to his ear telling the person on the other end that he'll be right over. He hangs up with news about a furnace that he has to go re-light for the third time this week and a plumbing problem which I need to get materials for. Robert just smiles knowing that anything we had planned that day just got scratched. It did not take me long to realize our "to-do" lists are nothing more than "what we hope to do in the next month" lists.

Steve sets off to handle a few problems at the apartments, a newly renovated apartment complex for seniors. It is a nice complex that the BDC purchased from a slum-lord, evicted the drug dealers and prostitutes, and turned into The Hope Apartments which is rented to senior citizens.

I leave the office and drive a short distance to Hull Street, where our Job Trainees are working, to grab a couple of tools. The job training program is designed for young guys from the neighborhood to learn the construction skills needed to get a job in the industry. I always get caught up talking at this point. Chris and Gill, who teach the program, are always in the middle of a quick lesson so I stick around to gain knowledge from these guys who really know a lot about construction. We then always chat for bit. Just as I am pulling away from "the Hull House", Steve calls wondering where I am (though he knows why it is taking so long).

After I drop the tools off he sends me to one of the properties to do a couple repairs. The lady who lives there is very nice and talkative, which I enjoy. She talks to me about all sorts of things. She even tells me about some issues she is having with bills and living arrangements. It is so hard because I feel like it could be a great time to witness, but there is no way to do it without being blunt. I don't want this poor woman to think that if she needs repairs done; it has to include a presentation of the Gospel.

As I finish up the job we are talking about my past and how I dealt with my drug addiction. She tells me about a family member who is a user and needs help. I share briefly my freedom through Christ and how I could not have made it without Him. She does not really seem open to my thoughts. Oh well, seed sown. I break for lunch and go home for about forty five minutes.

After lunch I go to "the container", BDC's storage tank located at The Hope Apartments, and pick up Terrance, (our small tractor with a mower deck). I set out to mow some of our lots. I mow a small jungle in the middle of our neighborhood and move on to a rental property next to the highway. As I mow, I hit a large rock hidden in the semi-long grass. On my next past I notice one of the mower blades in the grass. FAIL! I call Steve and tell him about it and he says he will look at it later. By the time I get back and drop Terrance off, it is four o'clock, time for football practice.

I rush home, kiss my wife, change my shoes, grab the water cooler and walk across the street. I get there in time to hear the guys grumbling because they were late and now have to run. Practice starts out fine, Kyle and I have the boys run some pass routes. (Kyle is another academy member who is also heading up the new SOS114 in Orange Mound). The frustration comes when we try to teach them something new and they just want to goof off. Some days are worse than others. One day we canceled practice midway through because we couldn't get control of the guys. Today, Kyle tells them he is ready to cancel it again. He gives them the option stay or leave, but if they stay they need to get their act together. Some leave. The ones who stay are much more focused and understand what happened. The rest of practice is quiet and solemn but good.

The sun is going down when we call the guys in. We share a little scripture and discuss the problems of that day. As they walk off they start to mess with each other, goof off and get back to normal; I turn the other direction and walk home. As I get inside, my senses are overwhelmed. It is warm in the house and it smells great. Melissa (as if she knew it was a rough day) has dinner ready. We sit down and pop in a movie. We both realize we are putting off writing our academy assignment for another day and we spend the rest of our evening together.

December, 2008

"God, the Poor, the Church and You" by Ashley Leary

God’s heart for the poor is revealed throughout the entire Old and New Testament in many ways. I will choose a few of the numerous passages that stick out to me that best reveal God’s heart for the poor. First of all, I think that the psalms reveal much of God’s heart and as they are covered with laments on behalf of the poor. Psalm 40:17 says, “I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer.” Psalm 41 calls the person who considers the poor to be blessed. Psalm 69:33 says, “For the Lord hears the poor, and does not despise His prisoners.” Also Psalm 140:12 states, “I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the poor.” In proverbs 14 it is expressed that if someone oppresses the poor they will reproach their Maker (vs. 31). Moving away from the psalms and proverbs into the New Testament, much of the ministry of Jesus surrounded the poor as he always sought to heal the crippled and spend time with the lowly. God’s love for the poor is revealed in the parable of the great supper in Luke 14 as he invites the poor to the supper and denounces the rich for not coming because they had other more important obligations. A constant theme through Jesus’ teachings is a backwards reasoning in that the least shall be the greatest. In Luke chapter 9 Jesus takes a little child and says that, “For he who is least among you all will be great.”

God’s heart for the poor is also revealed in how much scripture is devoted to His methodology concerning serving the poor. He loves the poor so much that He set up laws to make sure that the poor would not be overlooked, such as the law of the Sabbath in Exodus chapter 23 where the servants get rest and the strangers get refreshed. And of course the year of jubilee as explained in Leviticus 25 where debts are forgiven and property is returned. Also in Leviticus 25 a law was set up that if a brother becomes poor you shall take him in to live with you and not charge him interest. Going back a few chapters to Leviticus chapter 19, God shows one method of serving the poor by telling the people to not keep all of their crops for themselves. Instead He asks the people to leave some of the harvest in the fields for the poor to harvest. I like this method because it moves the rich away from hoarding while also giving the poor a way to work the fields themselves.

Going away from the Levitical laws I believe that God’s greatest methodology for serving the poor is through God’s people. God values the poor enough that He calls God’s people to fast for the poor as recorded in Isaiah 58: “Is this not the fast that I have chosen; to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor that are caste out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourselves from your own flesh?” A great Old Testament example of someone serving the poor occurs in the book of Ruth. Ruth was a widow and Boaz protected Ruth from the young men, took her in and fed her, and finally took her to be his wife. Finally, there are many New Testament examples of God using His people to serve the poor, many of which are intertwined with what was and is to be the church’s responsibility to the poor. One individual example that I will highlight is the parable of the Good Samaritan. A wounded man stripped of his clothes was lying half naked on the road when the Good Samaritan came by and took care of the man by treating him like a brother without regards to his own needs. Jesus says that the Samaritan had mercy on the man and commands his disciples to, “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:37.

The church obviously has a role in transformational development among the poor. There are many charges in the Bible for the church to take care of the poor. One example is the Acts 2 church as there were no poor among them because the believers shared all that they had with one another. Another example of a New Testament church taking care of the poor is in Romans 15 when the churches of Macedonia and Achaia take up an offering for the church in Jerusalem. This is a good example showing that all of God’s people are one and that we are to care for the church in other parts of the world, not just the needy in our own gatherings. Paul says in Galatians 2:10 when charged to go to the gentiles that “they desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do.”

When talking about the church’s response to poverty I would agree with the book (“Walking with the Poor” by Myers) that poverty is a spiritual matter and that true transformation needs to come in word and deed like James calls us to do. Obviously, from Biblical examples and from examples that we can see today in our world, God is working among the poor and we need to be obedient to join Him there. He came that the gospel might be preached to the poor.

I believe that my role in ministry among the poor is to be a part of the Church’s role of ministry among the poor as I am a part of the church. Therefore, I must preach the good news, the gospel of the kingdom to the poor as I believe that true transformation is only going to come through Jesus Christ because He is the Redeemer. I also believe that I need to live a life of simplicity so that I can give to those in need around me. I must act for justice and mercy for all so that I will not become spiritually impoverished by having too much or being too selfish. In Micah 6:8 God tells His people that He requires them to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with their God, which I believe is also a call for my life. Therefore, the call for us to walk humbly with God is also a call to act justly and to love mercy as God acts justly and loves mercy. So I think that as I try to walk humbly with God, search His Word, and pray to be changed by it, that I will hopefully have more of God’s heart which is a heart full of love for the poor and I pray that the Holy Spirit will guide me in how to serve and love the poor better.

November, 2008