My first two weeks at City of Refuge have been filled with new experiences, new people, and seeing new ways to serve those in need. I have never met people before who have such a heart for serving those in needs. You can tell as soon as you come here that everyone in the community loves Jesus and has a desire to show others Jesus’ love. I look forward to really stepping out of my comfort zone and helping people while showing them the love of Jesus.
-Savannah WWAM Student (Florida)
Wow! I’ve only been here five days and so much has happened.
I was thinking about it and at the City of Refuge about 20 people serve 1000!
I have 7 wonderful housemates. I am so excited to get to know everyone!! I get to interact with so many different people, I hope God gives me the discernment when and how much to talk about Jesus. I want to talk about Him all the time, but I realize sometimes too much, too soon can be abrasive. I believe as I trust God more, He will make it more natural. The Mission House is the bomb, Jesus’ love binds us and grow us in unity.
P.S. We all eat together (about 20 people) for dinner and that is just plain awesome.
-Lawrence WWAM Student (San Diego)
Beautiful, Messy and Full of Belonging
I stole this title from a true friend of mine, Anna Hull, who was able to sum up my life here in San Diego better than I could have hoped to.
Doing life with others…the painful parts, the funny parts, the parts that make you laugh so hard you look like a dork, the parts that make you wish you could just walk away, the parts that make it hurt to think of walking away, the parts that make you wonder why you ever did life any different than this—were ever scared of a life like this…All of that is beautiful. That broken people would find other broken people. That all our brokenness is in the process of being redeemed. And we get to share in each other’s redemption. Beauty.
Something so beautiful cannot escape being messy. That kind of beauty results in tear-filled eyes and snot-covered faces. That kind of beauty leaves me with a newly-developed and sporadic stutter as I fight to find the words to do it justice. That beauty makes me ache all the way to my soul. That beauty makes so many things not worth fighting for…and makes other things worth fighting harder for.
All of that beauty…and all of that messy…is something I get to be a little part of. We all have our niches in life…the spaces we find and do our best to fill. That is true of all relationships…and that is true of community. I don’t doubt that I, like everyone else here, has a role to play. We each have our own words to tell our own stories. We each have our own pain to share with others. We each have hearts that love in special ways. And we are each touched by things that don’t seem to touch others as much…and all of that makes us who we are.
One of the greatest gifts is to be given the chance to be a part of someone else’s life. Someone giving you space to be in their life, and you giving them space to be in yours. That space doesn’t dictate who they can and cannot be. It is space that says, “You’re more than welcome. You’re more than loved. You belong here. You as you and not as what I want you to be.”
If I have learned nothing in my time here but how to share life with others, I will consider this year beyond worth it. Because when I share life and love others, I’m playing a part in building community. And where community is built, healing comes. And where healing comes, redemption takes over.
-Hannah (W.W.A.M Student)
We were at Ibarra, City Heights, last Saturday. We had a great time there with worship from Mark Riley and his friends.
Every Saturday we offer prayer to people for healing, strength, their family or what ever reason they have on their heart.
So I made my way through the people to a woman who raised her hand for prayer. I prayed for her before, and know her from the
food lines. She was sad and I knew that there was something heavy on her heart.
So I asked her what she needed prayer for. She started crying and said that her cousin is in the hospital for awhile now with leukemia and some other
problems that aren’t known yet. I know how hard it is to have family in that situation and so I understood her pain.
She said the doctors said that they don’t have much hope.
I prayed for her cousin and for her and her family. Just a simple prayer, as good as it gets if English is not your first language. We said amen and I hugged her and her daughter. It was hard to let go, because I didn’t have a good feeling about the cousin.
Yesterday in the food line at Logan I saw her again and was excited to hear if there is anything new about her cousin. She smiled at me and said that her cousin is way better now, and that she is out of the hospital. We had a little conversation about her cousin and her family. Everything seems way better than it was. I was impressed that God did that.
And realized once again that it really doesn’t matter what we pray. It’s important that we pray and believe in the miracle of God’s work, even if it looks like there is no way.
- Conny (WWAM Student)
I was on the streets with our Thursday night team and met a man named Tim. Tim’s story is an unusual one in that several years ago he helped run a shelter for homeless men. He’d sought shelter there after becoming homeless himself, and was eventually put in a leadership position. After the shelter closed down, he became homeless again and has been for about a year now. This particular night, he happened to mention his birthday in passing. I simply asked him what day it was, pulled out my phone, and quickly put his birthday in. Birthdays are a chance to celebrate life — a celebration I don’t see very often on the street…and one I tend to undervalue.
However, I got with some friends of mine who knew Tim and we all agreed to go out that Sunday night with cupcakes and celebrate this man’s life.
We saved some donated cupcakes, fixed Tim a bowl of hot soup, scrambled to find a candle, grabbed some snacks for Tim and his friends, and finally piled in the car. When we got to Tim’s area, we couldn’t find him. Most people were asleep and he didn’t seem to be there. So after declaring defeat, we circled back to give the soup and snacks to a few people we’d passed. As soon as we stopped, the man we served woke up the guy next to him. And it was Tim! We all sat down, sang a slightly off-key Happy Birthday, gave him a cupcake, and got to share life with Tim as he shared his life with us. I’ve been learning those shared life moments — those celebrations — aren’t the small things…they’re the big ones.
- Hannah (WWAM Student)
