3.16.2012

Don't worry, I'm still alive.

Dear Guy at the Bus Stop,
I'm trying to figure out exactly how you got to where you are today, and what prompted you to respond the way you did. When you put your drink cup down on the ledge of the shop to answer your phone, I assumed you intended to pick it back up once your call was finished. Surely you weren't littering, because there was a trash can not ten feet from you. But no, you stepped behind me in line and continued talking.

This city can be such a pretty city, so I never understand why people leave their trash all over it. Really, it mystifies me. So I thought, Perhaps he didn't notice the trash can. I was giving you the benefit of the doubt. That's why I asked if you were done with your cup and then pointed the can out nicely. I didn't intend to interrupt your phone conversation, but I wanted to give you an opportunity to throw it away before we left.

Silly me. I'm not sure why that prompted you to yell at me; I certainly wasn't trying to embarrass you, and I might have thrown it away myself if my hands hadn't been full. I didn't deserve to be yelled at. And I didn't deserve for you to use curse words to describe me to whoever you were talking to on the phone. You really should have just thrown your cup away, like a person with some class.

Yours truly,
-Jennifer

P.S., to all of those other people standing around: you're all huge cowards.

- - - 

So I'm not dead; I just haven't updated el blog in a while because I haven't known what to say. I have a lot going on right now, and am having to make lots of little adjustments that tend to add up. I've just come from a long meeting this morning and several hours at our new center. It seems like it's going to be a really neat place. We had a party there on Wednesday night, and nineteen people came. Nine of them were a team from Mississippi, but even so. It was a good time; we had lots of food, I did henna, and it culminated in a dance party, which is pretty much always awesome.

Tonight the Mississippi team is coming back over for debriefing and pizza, so that's where I'll be.

Praises

  • Praise the Lord for a good time with the team, and for quite a few fliers handed out. We need all the publicity we can get, and they really helped.
  • Praise the Lord for His ongoing provision.
  • I've gotten to share stories with several people because of henna designs on my hands.
  • I've gotten to spend some good time with people from Young Adults, and it's been very encouraging.
  • God has been sending me little things, over and over, to encourage me. I am so blown away that He thinks about me and notices little things that will cheer me up.

Prayer requests

  • Please pray for our new center. We have many, many needs. Rent and other expenses are going to come to almost $3000 per month, which is actually cheaper than most places in this city, but is still pretty hefty. We need to see God's provision here. We also need a refrigerator and a nice set of chairs for the entrance to the center.
  • Please pray for wisdom in advertising and networking. Pray that God would give us uncanny favor with people.
  • Pray for open doors for the gospel, and people with open hearts to receive it.
  • Pray for our ongoing relationships. As I transition from spending my time at one place to another, it is going to be very difficult to sustain some relationships I've had around the Friendship Centre, and I'm just generally tired and having trouble keeping up with people. The prospect of maintaining relationships is kind of daunting right now. 
  • Please pray for a heart full of love for the people here. Interactions like the one documented above make me want to hate and avoid people. Pray that God would give me grace to maintain a soft heart even when bad things happen.
Thank you for praying! You don't know how much that sustains me.
-Jennifer

ETA: I was washing the dishes and still feeling pretty mad/hurt, and I remembered a story my supervisor told a couple of months ago, about when Matthew Henry was robbed. One of the things that he was thankful for was that he was the one robbed, not the one robbing. I'm grateful for the grace of God that I was the one yelled at and not the one yelling.

1 comment:

Iva May said...

You rock, Jen!