Laughter

Laughter is good medicine and laughter is often the tool that I find most helpful in working with easily frustrated youth. Jamal is 12 and often begins his day with us very moody and upset. Anything and everything we have planned for the day is in opposition of what he wants and that He isn’t even sure about. With every passing instruction is mood often sinks to a put where he hides his face away and sits motionless.

Homework time is something that causes frustration for a lot of the youth, let’s face it, no one wants to leave school and come to camp for the purpose of doing more homework. The other day one of my interns cleverly tricked them into a writing a story by first getting them to write a word on a page, then to write 6 words that come to mind when they think of the first word. Then to finish, write a story including all of these words.

Jamal avoided the work as much as possible till I sat down with him and he continued to make up excuses. Finally one stuck, his right hand was still slightly swollen from hurting in on the weekend and he figured this was a good enough excuse since he couldn't write. I dramatically told him that I would give of myself and do the writing portion of it for him, but he had to tell me what to write. He thought this was great and we began. “Orange” he said, “How do you spell it?” I asked. Bursting out laughing at the fact that I didn't know how to spell orange he helped me out. “Round, orange, sweet, tree, delicious and green” he said. I asked again “how do you spell that?” His laughed spilled over and he got the words out slowly between his laughter, “r-o-u-n-d, o-r-a-n-g-e”. This continued on as he spoke his story out to me. By the end he was lying on the floor laughing when he realized and I written everything that had come out of his mouth including his laughs creating a very humorous story.

Laughter so often can change the course of a day! 

The best moments are the ones unplanned

Wednesday's tend me be a bit of an unstructured day for me, sometimes it's a day to catch up on paper work and all the tedious things that get pushed to the end of the list, or being involved in the Mom's Uphold program while other times it's means walking through the community with no plan just waiting for opportunities for relationship building.

This past Wednesday was one of those days. I went to the Warden public school to run into some of my kids, to maybe meet some new faces and to just be present and see what would come from it. After wondering through the hallways and catching up with different kids, figuring out why some of had been missing from program due to being grounded and such I wondered outside to find two of my super loyal girls complaining about having to walk home. I told them I was going that way and would love to walk with them and so we started on our way trekking through the snow.

It wasn't long before they both began chattering away telling me about the latest cutest boys, their first kiss's and all the drama and so and so dating so and so and then that other person and so on. The whole way home they talked and talked. I told know if reading this you understand the significance of how happy this made me. You see I don't always have these moments and the kids don't always want to talk or share whats going on in their lives. You can't plan something like this, but the fact that I had no where to be except walking them home just because created a time of openness and relationship building that I treasure greatly.

A normal interaction as I hang around the public school on at random times such as this my kids will run up to me whether they are 5, 8 or 14 saying "Jello, what are you doing here", to which I love to respond, "I'm here to see You" whatever that means in that moment, whether it means we talk for a few moments of I spend the next 1/2 hr walking them home, it's exactly what it should be.

A dream

It was day number two of being in this home, this time a young girl stood on the coach and confidently program, "one day I'm coming to camp"! She continued on "when kids leave and you get empty spots, that's when i'm coming to camp", her little sister chimed in "me too".

I slowly made my way to the door as I had to be leaving when the youngest rushed down the hallway after me, as I looked up the stair case her big eyes opened wide as her hands nervously played with the edges of her dress. She swayed back and forth and ask, "what do you do at camp anyways?". 

Camp to these girls is a dream, a wish of something grand. Camp is like a magical word meaning something better then this. It is their goal, the thing they reach for, dream for and hope to achieve some day. This does two things to my heart, it grieves it and it warms it. It grieves it because they shouldn't just have to dream of this, they should be living within it and second it warms it because even in the midst of the chaos of their life they have a goal, a focus and a direction. My prayer is that they will achieve it and come to camp and that in achieving it they will reach for higher goals and good goals, goals that will help to model and build them into wonderful woman who know what it means to be valued not in a flitting way but in an everlasting, understanding of the Father's great love for them.

Hungry for love

It was cluttered with boots and coats in the tiny entrance as we entered the apartment and were welcomed up stairs to the kitchen table. We sat on two of the three chairs to discuss with the 9 year old boy about the struggles he was having at camp obeying the rules. Asking him if he knew about the 5 rules at camp he confidently began listing them, “respect god, respect leaders, respect property, respect yourself” and then he stopped trying to jog his memory for the last one. The one they all struggle with, respecting others.

As we spoke with him talking through things that could help him, how we could work with him in controlling his anger on the other side of the kitchen was a man carefully preparing pancakes for dinner. Every few minutes a little girl would enter the room and he would apologize over and over as he quickly told her to leave because we were talking.

As our discussion with this young boy came to an end I slipped away from the table leaving my coworker asking him questions about school. I walked into the next room where three little girls sat on the floor. I asked them their ages and names, seven, five and four they said. They were each eager for attention and I sat down on the gritty floor and joined them in a game of Janga, the only toy in the room. They instantly became upset with each other as each of them wanted my full attention. I asked a lot of questions going from one to the next to the next doing my best to help them all feel engaged and valuable.  It was far too soon when I gently told them that it was time for me to go, the youngest quickly moved in for a hug as if we had known each other forever, so hungry for love.

This family has been on my heart for a while now. They have no mother in their lives and the man who cares for them as a father is actually only a biological father to one of them. I have only begun to learn of their story but it is one that has left these kids very hungry for affection and any form of attention which sadly leads them to a lot of misbehavior in pursuit of gaining attention because bad attention is sometimes better than no attention. 

Please pray for this family and pray for doors and opportunities to continue to know them and walk alongside them and that as we do that doors would be open to share the love of Christ which knows no end.

Prayers interceding on behalf of others

If you’re a parent I am sure you will quickly be able to relate to the thoughts that come to mind when you bow your head in prayer over your child. Thoughts of their strength and abilities that you desire God to use in their life, whether it’s the boldness in the way they speak or the strength of their simple faith. Thoughts of their greatest struggle that you plea for the Spirit to be at work in bringing patience, humility or joy into their lives. As a parent interceding and praying over your child whether a new born or an adult is something of great importance but also I think requires great strength and dedication.

In recognizing my own personally tendency to busy myself in the things that I do, I fall into great danger of forgetting the power and call we have to pray and intercede on the behalf of others. As a missionary to the Warden Woods Community, I can busy myself in running program but so easily forget to pray for individuals. Last week I took some time, set aside to pray through each youth that comes to the after school program. That’s 15 youth. An hour later after I had prayed over their strengths and their weakness and asking God to be at work individual things and ways my heart was filled with much more love for each of them then I had previously experienced. I also noticed that later that day as they arrived the way I interacted and responded to them was also filled with greater purpose and intention.

Something I often forget is that very few people are praying for these kids.  Growing up my parents siblings, grandparents, church community and friends prayed for me. Prayed for me in specific personal ways, my parents prayed that I would walk closely with God, for strength to overcome struggles and for my future spouse.

The kids and youth I work with do not have parents or families who pray for them, they don’t have a church community lifting them up; they have no one interceding on behalf of their salvation. 

If you would like to more specifically know how to be praying for the kids and youth in UrbanPromise Toronto programs please email me at Janelle@urbanpromise.com and I will be able to provide you with more specific needs.

For this week please be praying for our streetleaders as we begin a Thursday night bible study for them. Pray that they come out but also for open hearts and futile soil for the truth of the word to land on. 

A shift as we move forward

I wanted to take some time and share some of my personal convictions over the past few months about sharing the gospel and how we approach even the task of doing so. In my frame of reference sharing the gospel often takes the form of a bible study that we call wordup. Understand first that dynamics of the programs we run are not anything like a Sunday school, catechism class or youth group. The needs and the approach is different, we are not a church but rather a Christian organization seeking to share the love of Jesus Christ through the lens of after school program and building relationships.

Often times the approach we gravitate towards is to teach on life topics that are very relevant to the kids and youth we work with. To talk about the real struggles they face daily and to bring the bible into it teaching them how Jesus cares about all these things as well, or to teach the principles of what Jesus taught about loving your neighbor, or not to steal or hate, to forgive and to ask Jesus for help.

The problem I have faced though is that without Jesus first transforming the lives and hearts of those we seek to reach with the gospel these principles will not take full root in their lives without the Spirit first dwelling in the hearts. As I wrestled through what this meant I knew we had to go back to the scripture first and see what it says without first resolving on a topics to teach on and fitting the bible to what we have already decided on. Then came the struggle of how to do this but also how to lead others to a place where they are as well.

The more I thought about it the more I realized the great inability we have as humans to teach anything, let alone the bible without the Spirit first teaching us. The great need of being taught through the guidance of the spirit  was very evident!

Coming back from the Christmas break as we began planning and dreaming up ideas for the new school year of after school program my team spoke together about this wrestle of how to approach the bible. I was greatly encouraged through our conversations of the excitement and eagerness we all had to change our approach while at the same time not being fully sure of what that meant. We lifted it up in prayer. The next day we decided on committing to reading the book of Joshua and asking God what out of the live of Joshua we can teach the kids as well as relate it to the gospel of Christ's life and death.

The shift if crucial! The results as I sat this morning reading through the lessons planned for next week where vastly different! The focus has shifted from our agenda to God's message of His mission written and revealed to us through out scripture!

I am very excited and encouraged as we prepare to go into this new season. Please pray for our team as we complete are plans. Please pray for a boldness as we seek to love the kids and families well and in so doing reveal to them the heart of God. That their hearts would be convicted not by our words but by the words of the scripture.

Thank you for your own going prayers for me, my team and the community of Warden Woods as we serve and love this broken community.

The true light

“The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to come children of God. Who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh nor the will of man, but of God.”  John 1:9-13

All I heard was silence.

What is normally a very loud group of four 12-13 year old boys were sitting in silence.

The consistent chatter of talking over each other was stilled as they sat and focused on the video being shown.

The video started with a man stumbling through crowded streets carrying a cross as people cried, scoffed as the soldiers escorted him outside of the city.

The video played on with no words besides the music playing, the lips of the characters moved showing conversation as Simon offered to carry the cross and later as the thief on the cross besides Christ asked Him to remember him when he came into His kingdom.

As I sat and watched my 4 young men take in this video as well as my two 17 year old streetleaders my heart prayed for an understand of the truth of what all of this meant for their lives. I prayed that it would not just be another time of hearing this story, that it wouldn't just be a story being told but rather it would be about lives being restored.

As the video ended Stevie their leader stood before them and simply said, “That is why Jesus was born at Christmas.”

He spoke about how the cross bridged the way between us sinners and God and finished in a prayer.

When he finished instead of everyone getting up eager and ready to play a game the boys all remained in their seats.

They were quiet.

Not quite knowing what to say, I acknowledged the sadness of this video but reminded them that Christ birth can be a celebration because He came to die but not to remain dead but rather to die in our place and to raise again to defeat death.

Within seconds their hands began to rise with questions.

One at a time they started asked questions, really good questions.

We pulled the Bible back out and read together the story of Christ’s death.

These boys spent the rest of their time at camp asking questions and reading to find the answers.

My pray for these young guy is that this Christmas they would understand the very great importance of Christ birth into this world but that they would understand the importance of it in their own lives.

Please join me in praying for this in the lives of these four boys as well as for my two streetleaders.