"The Lord has brought us a mighty long way..."

...these are the words that my new, nine year old friend spoke to me as she shared her experiences during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Her story brought me to tears in the van. She is a quiet girl who shows little emotion but in her heart there is a storm of fear, frustration, hurt, anger, joy, longing, hope, and dreams that are much heavier than most nine year olds have to bear. She has endured a lot in her past and her family is still struggling to get by from day to day. She is part of the summer program called Up2Hope that will be going on all summer here at the center. Her mom is involved in the typing classes and the weekly bible study as well. When she shared her memories of the storm with me, I got a clearer glimpse of what it would have been like to have your whole life covered by water and everything you had known to be changed in a moment. Everyone here keeps saying "Everything is different now...everything." The ride beside my new friend was precious to me because in that moment I felt that I was actually sharing her life. I am discovering here more and more that the Kingdom is all about relationships. Somewhere along the way we began believing the lie that this thing we call "ministry" has to be big to count but I believe that the Kingdom is quite the opposite. Everything starts small: a baby in a manger, a group of twelve simple guys, a small community of followers meeting in their houses. Christianity is a grassroots movement of one person loving another with a love beyond themselves, until that love takes over the world. This summer is going to be full of opportunities to share life with others. Our summer program gives us the chance to share life with a group of beautiful little girls who face many challenges but who deserve a safe place to laugh, play, and dance without fear. Living here with the families and the staff gives us a chance to share the day to day like laundry and dirty dishes and to encourage one another toward love and good deeds. And next week will be starting a bible study under the bridge in town, where we hope to build relationships with the community of the street. All of us are looking for someone to listen to our story. We all want someone to care for us, to share in our joys and our pains. Jesus shows us the way when He left His throne to come down here with us so that He could know what is to be a man, to share in all our struggles, and to show us abundant life. I pray that each of us can begin sharing that life together. The Lord has indeed brought us all from a mighty long way and He will continue to walk with us until He returns... Peace. Sarah *check back for pictures soon...first I have to figure out how to get them from the camera to the computer and then we can share them all with you