Yesterday the Gathering at UMD met two other campuses, American University and George Mason, in the downtrodden publichousing/projects neighborhood of Lincolen Heights in DC. We were there to serve and volunteer with the ministry Daybreak, an innercity ministry serving the families and their children of this community. There were about 30 volunteers there, crammed into this tiny liitle apartment building, eager and excited to just hang out with some kids.
I won't go through the whole say, but just an overview is that we played games with them, taught the kids a bible lesson, did arts and crafts, and memorized the verse James 4:8 (Draw near to God and he will draw near to you).
Daybreak is a bright beam of life in a community that otherwise seems so dark and lonely. This ministry provides these staruday outreach vacation bible school days twice a month for the kids, as well as a tutoring/afterschool program Monday through Thursday, as well as a mentoring program. It's awesome that God has provided this ministry to Lincoln Heights community.
I had the opportunity to go on a prayer walk through the community and hear about just a few of the hardships they have experienced. It's such a huge burden on my heart to hear these stories and get a sense of the hopelessness this community experiences daily. Since this was the first time I served and Daybreak, I haven't really seen or heard how the ministry is benefiting the community yet, but I know that giving children a safe, welcoming, and most of all loving place to be able to come and hang out and hear about God is such a blessing. Even when I was walking the sidewalks, peering up at the decrepit building and their barred windows, I coul still sense that God was there, loving down on that neighborhood, whether the community could feel it or not. And since his love is without restrictions, is a love thousands of times more fervent and powerful than any earthly love we could ever experience, God loves this community without restrictions.
The coolest thing about this is that God calls us to do the same thing, to join in with him on his force of love, not just for Lincoln Heights, but for the world. We are given this great calling, this amazing and righteous task to abandon ourselves and push away our wordly desires so that we can join with God in his love, and only through his grace and strengh we can actually come to love without restriction too. So I challenge you this week, find God'e furious love in your life, and then use it to love others without restrictions. Because what is a world that is devoid of love?
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