Why I love Chicago

Because I was born into the tax bracket that is able to experience all the ‘good’ of the city while avoiding the bad.  Chicago is wonderful.  The part that I get to see.  But behind the beautiful facade it is a city of injustice, poverty, pain, and tragedy.  According to God’s plan, I would be one who got to live in the glitz and glam.

Is this ‘just the way it is’?  What’s wrong with this picture?

Questions

One of my friend’s dad asked me a question something along the line of this a while back.  Here’s what I came up with.

“What about the Gospel is particularly real to you personally? What part have you especially experienced?”

Redemption

Temporality of all else

Grace

Growth and discipleship

Service/involvement

Jesus

The harvest field

Late Shift

Almost 3 am.
Last time I was here, I was filling out applications. Now I’m working on prefield stuff: support, forms, etc. What a miracle how far God has brought me through this process. I’ve learned so much about my insufficiency and how sufficient God’s grace is. I’ve also seen it. I’m here. Looking back on the past few months of applying and even further, from the start of college it’s just unbelievable how much I’ve been blessed. With people. I thrive on interpersonal interactions and God has given me so much of a good thing. Yea, basically.

Failure

I heard it from two completely unrelated sources less than 12 hours apart.  Once from a family friend, once in a commercial.  One’s ability to succeed is directly related to one’s ability to fail.  And by that I mean their resilience to failure.  Failure is a part of life.  Sometimes it’s a direct result of our own actions, sometimes it’s not.  Regardless, we need to be able to move on.  Realize that His grace is enough.