A Ragtag Collection of Surrendered and Transformed People

Dear Seed-throwers and Fire-starters,

It is Sunday morning and I cannot sleep. I keep thinking about Mel's reflections on light and darkness. Though I did not know this young man who has taken his life, I hurt. Because the darkness permeates and I see it every day.
Yesterday I was informed that Clarence Cooper, a sixth grade Dakota House kid whom I have loved since he was in kindergarten, had a gun pulled on him in the bathroom at school on Friday. And another little boy, Jordan, whom I am just beginning to love, witnessed it and went for help, putting his own life in jeopardy in the weeks to come. This is elementary school.
Nothing may come of this. It will probably blow over and be just one more incident in the ghetto. But I can't stop thinking about what this does to the hearts of young boys, who are looking to their future, and perhaps wondering if they will even have one.
The last few lines of Psalm 139--where Mel and Jesus led me--say this:

SEARCH ME, O GOD, AND KNOW MY HEART;

TEST ME AND KNOW MY ANXIOUS THOUGHTS.

SEE IF THERE IS ANY OFFENSIVE WAY IN ME

AND LEAD ME IN THE WAY EVERLASTING

So I go back to where God keeps leading me: looking at my own heart and working there. Because when we all do that it is what will change the world.

My friend showed up at my door unexpectedly one afternoon after hearing a speaker at her church. She handed me a piece of paper with these words scrawled upon it:

"Imagine a ragtag collection of surrendered

and transformed people who love God and others.

They're mesmerized by the idea that

this isn't about them but all for Jesus.

They're transfixed by His story and His heart for their city.

They are seed-throwers and fire-starters,

hope-peddlers and grace-givers,

risk-takers and dreamers, young and old.

They link arms with anyone who tells the story of Jesus.

They empower the poor, strengthen the weak,

embrace the outcast, seek the lost.

They serve together, play together,

worship together, live together.

their city will change because God sent them.

They are us.

We believe that small things done with great love will change the world."

Grateful to link arms with you,

Jamie