I've Got Some Good News

What if you had never heard of this Jesus? What if you had no idea who God is? What if you hadn't ever heard of the Bible? We have GOOD NEWS to share. Don't not share this life changing story. We are called to go out and spread the news!!

Flipping the Lens, A Look Back So Far...

            Before Urban Life, I was halfway through my junior year of college down at UNC Charlotte. I was struggling to find how to fit my new-found faith and fervent passion for Jesus Christ into the life I had just worked so hard to build up with worldly things. I had the friends, I had the social circle, I had the grades, I had the latest party invites, and I found my self having been hurled into a life of lies and deceit and trying to develop and grow my faith among all that.  I struggled to find a happy medium of trying to know who God is while still holding onto everything I had worked so hard to create for myself; after all, this was fun, wasn't it? I walked upon shaky ground for a time. I yearned to hear God say, "This is the way, walk in it" yet when I came to a fork in the road I continuously chose to go off-roading somewhere between right and wrong. I was trying. But my double life was consuming me and any chance I had of really living out my calling and walking with Christ Jesus. So the Holy Spirit led me to begin to search for alternate routes. 
On August 15^th I got an email that turned my world upside down. I got an email telling me I was officially an Urban Life intern. The bold prayers and audacious faith I had begun to discover the power of in the weeks prior led to a door opening to a lifestyle that I didn’t even think was possible. God gave me what I had believed and trusted Him for - a chance to change the world, starting in West Charlotte. Talk about grace! Now here I stand, only 3 months later, feet taller than I was on that first day when I stand up against the spiritual growth yardstick. 

            Urban Life for me has been an incredible whirlwind of answered prayer, challenges, provision, indescribable joy, surrender, learning, wooing and growth for me so far, and a few weeks back when I had an opportunity to return to University, and revisit the life I came from, that growth was apparent. As I was blessed to get to spend the day on my old campus seeing all my college friends, I had the opportunity to reflect on all that has changed .

            I started the day doing my old job, being a tour guide at UNCC; only this time I was leading a group of inner-city middle school girls from my outreach partner, Right Moves For Youth, around. Instead of droning on about academic programs I was sharing my passion for the importance of education, giving tips on financial aid and watching these 14-yr-old girls’ eyes light up at free movie theaters, on-campus salons, and an all-you-can-eat cafeteria full of more food choices in one place than some have ever seen in their lives.

            I also brought along one of my fellow tour guides, Alexis, who comes from a similar background as the girls and could relate to them in a way that no one else could. She was only there by grace as she had dropped a class that morning which made it possible for her to be present. Thank you Lord!  By the end of the hour we spent with this amazing group of young girls who had so touched her heart, Alexis was ready to sign up to volunteer with Right Moves, start a student organization centered on mentoring kids in the university area, and declare a concentration in youth upon her social work major. This girl was on fire! And I was just watching in awe as God displayed her calling out in front of her on a campus tour and all of a sudden the path it took to get her here this morning made so much sense. My friendship with her was so crucial, her job was so essential to His plan, and this chapter of my life is still affecting the relationships I established in the last chapter. Praise God! This is what Urban Life is about, and yea it might take a while to see it play out that plainly in Wesley Heights; but today, its all laid out – the goal of what we're doing here– and its amazing.

            That same day, I met up with one of my best friends from UNCC who hasn’t been the best about staying in touch since I started Urban Life. Our conversations used to be so surface level, and this time I knocked on the apartment door, told him the Holy Spirit had directed me to come talk and pray with him and got right down to it. My heart was touched by how open he was to my clumsy request and after talking through some things with me, we ended the visit by praying for each other. I loved how comfortable I was initiating prayer and leading it and letting the Spirit speak through me and call him out on some things – I recognized the growth within myself then because previously I would have taken a note in my phone and brought to God quietly alone, not daring to hold someone accountable out loud. But I’ve learned here that there is so much power in prayer, especially corporately, for Jesus said where two or three are gathered in my name, there I will be also, and I was affirmed of that when we said Amen and my friend turned to me and said, “Wow, Meg. That was a pretty powerful prayer. You have come such a long way. Thank you for caring about me enough to pray like that with me.”  

          
 I’m experiencing life change. I could have never fathomed the ways that God is pouring out his never-ending grace on me in this community and in this ministry. Urban Life is transforming me. And I’m doing my best to transform those around me. This opportunity is a once-in-a-lifetime deal, and I’m so grateful to you all for playing a role in making this possible.

#HeySandy

I had the opportunity this weekend to travel to NYC to aid in the disaster relief efforts that were being coordinated by the New York Dream Center and Hillsong Church. We left on Thursday night and traveled in a van through the night squeezed in between stacks of non-perishable food for those without power, case upon case of bottled water, all kinds of sleeping bags & blankets and our own possessions on top of all that. It was a tad crowded, but the joy we got from knowing we were going to bless people and get our hands dirty serving all weekend, coupled with the rush of adrenaline we had from our theme song mashup,  was no match for a little discomfort. We began our serving partnering with @nycdreamcenter in the projects of Chelsea, Manhattan where all the power was out for days and elderly people and others with small children were seemingly trapped up in thier apartments, some as high as 20 stories high with no heat, no water, and no way to get down due to the pitch black and occasionally puddly stairwells and non-functioning elevators. We packed food bags and brought water bottles up to all the elderly and the families that hadn't been able to get out from their homes yet all day on Friday and then offered them hot food and supplies if they needed them. Check out some footage from the afternoon!

We were incredibly blessed by the attitudes and gratitude and honor of all those around us and I felt God's abundant grace just pouring down on me as my heart and soul were refreshed from service. I used muscles I didn't know I had hauling two 5 gallon buckets full of heavy wet sand a good jaunt to the street to get it out of people's general house vicinity. I talked to people whose homes were half ruined with water, who saw their neighbors go through terrible things right before their eyes in the storm, whose entire house of possessions and years of memories sat piled in a soggy mountain out in street that used to be so quaint in Rockaway, Queens but was now ruined and ransacked and piled 3 feet high with sand from the beach and ocean. And through it all, they smiled. And they lifted each other up and they didn't dwell and they were sleeping with no heat in the same bundled up clothes they'd been wearing for days and they were inviting neighbors into the top level of their home that was still sort of okay to provide a refuge. It was insane. But it was awesome. Check out a video of us working in Rockaway!

http://urbanlifeclt.org/blog/hey-hurricane-sandy/  <-  A wonderfully articulate account of the trip

Recap: October's Fall Festival!

Urban Life hosted our 5th block party today in our neighborhood of Wesley Heights- and it was a smash hit!

We welcomed countless neighbors, mentees from our outreach partner Ashley Park Elementary/Middle School, and volunteers from Elevation Church and The Movement Foundation to come together and enjoy community at our fall festival.

We’ve been planning and preparing all month to bless our neighbors with a comfortable and welcoming environment for the festival. This week, the Urban Life apartments at The Summit House were abounding with fall themed decor ready to be used at the festival!

We made decorations, booked vendors, organized crafts and games, and devised a prize system all in the weeks leading up to today.Then we were blessed with some very talented volunteers who helped bring all our ideas into reality!

We had pumpkin donuts, kettle corn, a Green’s Hot Dog cart, cotton candy, and apple cider to sustain our neighbors as they went around the festival playing games and earning tickets to redeem at the prize table.

We even made a photo booth for families to have the opportunity to take family photos and be silly with props and costume pieces.

Watching kids run from game to game, take turns jumping in the bounce house, creating beautifully painted pumpkins and redeeming their tickets for prizes today was awesome. It was also great to be able to spend some time with the familiar faces from our neighborhood that we have established relationships with already! Isaiah came and played the hanging donut game with his friends from Ashley Park who asked as they were leaving when the next block party would be.

Looking out over the field today, as I saw games being played, heard laughter ringing loudly, smelled whafts of hot dogs and sugary cotton candy,and felt crisp fall air and warm sun shining down over all of us, I could so palpably feel Christ’s love for this community and His presence in these streets. It is such a blessing to get to do this work, and getting to spend time with our neighbors today exemplified exactly what we are all about here at Urban Life – creating relationships and loving spending time together!

I'm Rich

I'm rich!!
Today I am filthy rich.
I am not wanting.  


James 2:5 says, "Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?"

My financial situation right now may not be one to envy, and by the world's standards, I am poor. 

But tonight my heart tells me otherwise

I have the capacity, I have the resources, I have the ability to give. 

I am relationally rich. My heart is full. There is nothing more that I want than to sit and reflect on this crazy day and have my heart burst and break at the same time. 

Thank you Jesus for this day. Thank you for your grace that you pour down upon me without ceasing. Thank you for my family here and for choosing me to do this work. Thank you for a light heart burdened with injustice. Thank you for being so so good in hard times. Thank you for shining through the tough situations and the trying days and loving through it all. Thank you for opening my eyes to embrace the struggle that is so real. Thank you for never giving up on me, and drawing me nearer even when I want to turn and run from You. Thank you. 

We woke up this morning and worked out and prayed and we got ready for work, packed lunches, and prepared for the day in 28 minutes. Lord knows that a month ago I would not even step out of the house if I only had 28 minutes to get ready. Thank you for perspective changes and bad business casual outfits thrown together, and frizzy hair and smudged eyeliner and chipped nail polish and a smushed pb&j in my purse all for the sake of doing greater things.

We walk to Right Moves for Youth and on the way I recognize the 30 minutes as an opportunity to keep up some relationships from my life prior to UrbanLife. I've got to get better at that. I'm seeking those few spare minutes every day, trying to stay connected with those in my life that still love me and that I still need, while maintaining the new relationships here and creating even newer ones every day. Relationships are hard work!

We get to the school this morning and meet with the middle school girls group and one troubled girl, who usually acts tough and doesn't cooperate well acts okay in my group. Thank you Jesus. We talk about organization and how we organize our closets and then lead into the "boring" stuff - how to organize our school work. They get it, they laugh, and I walk away from our morning together feeling rich. I hit the jackpot in spending time with these girls who all have walls up and all relating to each other over how we stack our jeans and hang up our shirts. I'm ready to take on the day and pour my riches out over everyone else I encounter. 

I head in to mentor my class for the rest of the day, a 4th & 5th grade math class taught by Mrs. Morris. Her home room, "Eagles Nest," is in the room. And my heart rejoices. These are my kids, the ones who can't sit still as soon as I walk in the room, the ones who I receive 23 hugs from on their way out the door, the ones who have told me snippets of their lives and their hobbies and their families. The ones who I go to lunch and recess with and play ball and do the "washing machine" on the swing bars and tell to eat their vegetables off their lunch trays.  I love these kids. And again, I am so overwhelmingly relationally rich. Who gets to come into a school with kids this awesome who learn so quickly, whose eyes light up and smiles stretch across their entire faces when they grasp the concept of rounding?! 

Thank you Lord for your grace. Thank you for raining down these riches in relationships with incredible world changers into my life. Thank you for choosing the poor and the weak to do your work. I am continuously amazed by you Father. Thank you for giving these kids a chance, thank you for placing me in a position to speak words of life over world changers at a young age. Thank you for your guidance. 

I write a letter to Jayden who is having a bad day because he has to read at lunch due to the fact that he didn't do his literacy homework last night. He is so upset, pouting all through class almost to the point of tears. I hide the note in his binder and on his way out the door, he pulls my sleeve and smiles shyly and says, "Thanks for the note Miss Meg, I'll try." My heart. $$$$ I'm rich!!

I walk out of the school that day fulfilled. And as if my Father hasn't already poured out enough on my in this one day, the newly elected president of our middle school girls Right Moves for Youth group comes up to me with a piece of paper that she thrusts into my hands. Her progress report (interim report card) has all A's and B's and nothing but stellar comments on it. I couldn't be more proud of this girl that I barely know. Praise the Lord!

God's Working, Bringing the Light

We sit around the kitchen table after a particularly tough morning workout eating our breakfast of eggs and bagels and apples.  We are blessed to have this “family” time with each other before we each head off to our first day working with our respective outreach partners. Dionte, Madison and I are headed off to Right Moves for Youth. Rachelle is going to Crisis Assistance Ministries and Michael will be at 2xSalt for the day. 

            For those of us going to RMFY, it’s our first day of middle school all over again. I am hesitant about this placement, I don’t want to experience the pain of knowing what these kids are going through. I don’t know how to interact with middle school kids who had seen more in their lifetime than I have in mine. I don’t feel like I have enough wisdom, enough knowledge, enough skill with kids to be a leader in this school. I’m uncomfortable. I’m uncomfortable for Christ. My heart breaks for these kids. And as I step through the doors of Ashley Park Elementary school, I feel the prayer I’ve prayed so many times not realizing what I was asking for come true- Lord, break my heart for what breaks yours. Use me Lord to bring glory to Your name. You have my life, use it to make changes in this world.  

            We lead a group of 18 middle school boys into a classroom for their RMFY meeting time. School has just started, thank you Lord for allowing us to be the very first thing these kids encounter today. Thank you that though pain may come in the night, joy comes in the morning. May we be a source of joy here.  Help us show these kids love and set a tone in our meetings for each boy to have a great day at school today.  Dionte, Madison and I introduce ourselves to the boys and break into small groups of five students each. We begin with the facilitation of conversations about the best players currently in the NFL to warm the kids up to us. My group argues over whether Tom Brady or Aaron Rogers is the better QB to add to our fantasy football team in order to beat all the other teams. They start to talk amongst themselves and ask me joking questions about my preference of players that I’ve never heard of.

            We then move on to discuss who the boys think the greatest role model of their generation is. We hear everything from Martin Luther King Jr. (not exactly your generation, squirt) to Lebron to My Dad to Michael Jordan and everything in between. The end result - after many arguments over various athletic superstars - is Barrack Obama “because he was the first black president.”

            His contributions of “lowering taxes” and “giving money to the shelters” also make him a stand-out candidate in the eyes of the students.

            The boys meeting is coming to a close, the final activity today is arranging themselves in alphabetical order by first name without speaking. They take turns going down the line telling us their names and one fact about themselves. Most cop out and share the number of siblings they have, or which street basketball team they play on. One kid is courageous and unapologetic as he steps up and tells us “I love to clean. I’ve got that ODC,” to which we all burst out laughing and let him know that the disorder is in fact, OCD. The bell rings and the boys are given a brief opportunity to ask Dionte, Madison and I any questions that they may have for us.  

            “Yea, I have one – are y’all coming back?”

            And there it is – the confirmation that we are right where we are supposed to be. We know we are here to bring about restoration. And we’re here to be consistent sources of light in the lives of these kids.

Meeting the Outreach Partners

It’s 6:05 AM and my iPhone alarm is going off. Why are we awake this early?

We stumble out of bed and downstairs still trying to wipe the sleep out of our eyes as all the Urbanites arrive on the scene down in the parking lot of The Summit. The city is still asleep – darkness blankets these streets that God has chosen us to impact. We run around a block and shuffle and squat and stretch as part of our first SOUL (Strength of Urban Life) workout together. We encourage each other. As we follow behind David, our leader who plays so well his role of leading while living among us, I’m struck by this illustration of our dynamic as a group. We are family, we work hard together, we lift each other up, we follow after David who sets the bar high for us yet he is one of us, we challenge each other, we are vulnerable with each other, we laugh together, we are not ashamed – we are stronger together.

We’re meeting our outreach partners today. A whirlwind tour around the community to visit the strategic organizations we will be pouring into this year. Our first stop is Beds for Kids – I don’t know what to expect walking into a warehouse with a small sign in front. We are immediately welcomed by Bryan, Jess and Alan - three men that are walking in crazy obedience to the Lord and trusting wholly in His provision. They just keep being blessed. Over and over and over, because they trust that it will happen, they know they can't do it on their own so they are just letting God do His work through them. It’s an amazing environment. They are amazing men of God. I love it! I would be so comfortable here.

            Our next outreach partner that we visit is Right Moves for Youth. We walk into an all white office and meet some amazing people who have a passion for seeing inner city kids succeed and graduate high school with a plan for their futures. We are blessed with cinch sacks and water bottles and stickers and handbooks of curriculum that they have prepared for us. Shannon Hames the Development Director at Right Moves gives us a run down of a day in the life of these students. They are desperate for mentors. She shares stories of some of the kids’ situations and she is passionate about giving them opportunity "It’s a privilege to get to do this work,” she says. These kids need role models in their lives. They need consistency. They need a face that’s going to know their name and care about their day – we have the opportunity to be a driving force in motivating these middle-schoolers to graduate.

            Next we stop by 2xSalt, a ministry focusing on getting busy showing the love of Christ through mentoring, music and sports ministry.  The ministry campus and facilities are beautiful and the vision is on point. There are stages and recording studios where kids can perform or learn how to produce. There are dance classes, soccer games, and basketball games here all helping to cultivate talents in children and provide a place for these kids to go after school to be in a safe and Christ-centered environment. Ria and Alan and Bart take us on a tour through the entire facility and there is so much here for the kids in our city to be involved in, we can see how this place is going to lift up lives and get the next generation on the right track.

            We’re tired. We’ve been on tours and meeting with outreach partners all day. Our minds are almost to full capacity with information for one day and my legs are tired from standing all day and touring these amazing places that we get to come to this year to reach our community and our city – we pull up to Crisis Assistance Ministries and we need to be refreshed.  We are introduced to Susan Neal who is bops through the halls of Crisis Assistance with a true passion for what she does. She laughs and giggles and delights in sharing with us her heart’s work here in this place. She gives us loads of information and cracks jokes and hammers home the analogy of CAM being an emergency room with triage patients being served first.

           

            She is doing what she can with what she has – Susan is living and serving every single day. We pray for her and lay hands on her and I’m thankful to have met her – the Lord knew that she was exactly the right person to end our day visiting these amazing partners that we are blessed to serve.

Retreat

I’m thankful. Thankful for the breeze from the ceiling fan blowing my hair around slightly and putting me at ease. Thankful for my tight and slightly burnt skin that soaked up the sun today on the lake on one of the last days of summer. Thankful for this unlikely family that surrounds me. Thankful for the opportunity for retreat and for bonding with these amazing people that were hand chosen by God to be here at this time for this purpose under this vision. I’m thankful for the jokes we already have together. And for our dynamic that works so well to take any situation and easily transition it into a deep talk about faith or an impromptu worship session. I’m thankful for the blessing of this beautiful house we’re able to stay in this weekend and for Michael’s parents’ generosity in that. I’m thankful to see the relationship he has with his parents – I strive to one day have a relationship like that with mine.

I’m thankful for this setting, thankful that I can see God’s hand in all things so easily – that I can look out across a lawn and some woods and see a sparkling breathtaking lake with picture-esque clouds in a brilliant blue sky and trees of all kinds all around me. And beyond that: rolling mountains with shadows of clouds moving from valley to peak as the day progresses.

Our faith is a journey across mountains. There are valleys, and there are peaks. I’m at the top of the mountain these last few days. I can’t stop praising my God who pours out graces on me daily, undeserved, just because He loves me! My Father loves me.  I was richly blessed by God and received a miracle a few days ago. God provided for me in a very real and AWESOME way; right on time. I needed rent money or a subleaser for the apartment that I moved out of in the University area to join UrbanLife. I struggled to trust in God fully, I still gave in to a few anxiety attacks over money even when He led me multiple verses in Scripture that told me He would provide, He would help me, and that If I asked in faith, that He would give it to me. My rent was due on September 1, and that day came and went without an answer to my fervent prayers to God for financial help. I retreated to a quiet place to pray that day, and I pleaded to God to provide for me. I surrendered to Him, and I got a response a few days later: “Not yet, my child.”

God’s timing is perfect – and just like I learned from Christine Caine in the message preached when Jesus saved me – God’s appointed time is often after man’s due date. So I trusted. I trusted that God had my back. And I prayed, I prayed with the Urbanites on the morning of September 5^th (the last day to pay my rent) that I would have a miracle. That God would hear my cry. That the exact amount would be provided for me that day, and sure enough, at about 5pm that day I was blessed with $530, the exact amount. I had words of life spoken into me by an incredible spiritual mother who loves me as I received the blessing and was overwhelmed with praise for MY GOD WHO PROVIDES. Thank you Jesus. I praise you Lord!! I had time to get the money back to the university area and paid my rent on time thanks to an amazing man of God who always has my back and helped me get there. And thus, my confirmation that I am exactly where I need to be came. And UrbanLife had its first miracle in the first week.

This weekend we are at Michael’s family’s lakehouse. We’re celebrating miracles, we’re bonding, we’re casting vision, we’re brainstorming, and we are creating an atmosphere of expectation as we go forward in this year. We went out on the lake today. We jumped off of docks and my finger was smashed between the ladder and the dock within the first 2 minutes of lake fun resulting in a very swollen, purple pinky that was assuaged by Michael’s ancient remedy solution: a bowl of ice water for soaking. We then went out tubing on the boat and hung on until our arms felt like Jello and our legs couldn’t kick hard enough to get back up on the tube. The view was breathtaking and more than a few times I was struck by how richly blessed we are to be here, to be a part of this family, to be Urbanites, and to get to do God’s work. We had a blast.

Tonight we sat around playing board games, ate a barbeque dinner graciously prepared by Rachelle who honors us by cooking for the whole house so often. She’s amazing at showing love with her little notes and her meals and her hugs and the way she comes up to you in the middle of the day and says “I love you.” so sincerely.

After dinner most of the family went down to the campfire to cook and eat s’mores and look out over the lake at night as Mike played a soundtrack on his guitar. (There are stars way out here and the moon hung half full and bright and yellow in the sky. ) Dionte and I stayed up at the house and he read some of the book of Ecclesiastes out loud to me and we discussed what we read and some of what God is currently teaching us. I am so thankful for the way we communicate – no need for small talk we just dive right into such personal things as what God speaking to us now. Its amazing, and I’m grateful for this unencumbered conversation that binds us close and keeps us here, united together.

When Dionte and I made it down to the fire, everyone was quiet and staring out over the lake, up that the stars, sitting together in community with the ones we love around a blazing fire, for Our God is a consuming fire, with stars and the moon above us and the trees around us and the dirt beneath us its beautiful. And this moment is here and God’s grace is real and I feel joy in my heart all together. And suddenly, David is asking us what’s on our hearts. And Dionte responds with a shout of praise, and Rachelle’s heart is breaking for the world, and I am having a revolation among the heartbreak and the thankfulness and the uncertainty and the worship and the praise that is occurring out on this lake tonight. Around this fire. Under this sky. With these people. And the revolation is real – and I need to share.

I’m okay. I’m moldable and I’m new to my faith and I don’t know all the bible stories and I don’t ask as many questions as I probably should and I haven’t read the entire bible yet and sometimes I don’t know the words to the worship songs. And that’s okay. And yes, sometimes I have faith that looks easy, juvenile even. But its okay. God knows where I am, He knows who I am, and He knows what He’s teaching me. Its okay for me to be the grateful one – that I can contribute the praise to my Father in Heaven. It’s okay that I take things God teaches me as truth without questioning it. And its okay that I’m still learning and growing with the Lord as our own pace, independent from others’ faith walks. Its okay. Just like its okay that Natalie is in school right now and can’t live in the Summit, and that David is in his first leadership role and feels ill-equipped to lead us, and okay that Rachelle asks amazingly well thought out questions about things she sees, and Madison is the youngest at 18 and that’s okay because God is here. And he knows where we all are and He placed us here, together, right where we are in life, to share this year together. He knows exactly what He’s doing. And it’s a good work that He started in us, and he will bring it through to completion. As we sit around the fire I’m struck by how blessed we are. How thankful I am to be here and to get to be a part of this move of God. We will NOT take this for granted. We are blessed to need God, and to not be able to live without Him.

And I feel that now. I can’t live without Him; I can’t go a minute without thanking Him for who He is. And even though I’m about to head into uncertain territory on Tuesday by diving into Right Moves for Youth, my outreach partner, with 2 feet, I’m going to be okay. And I’m going to thank the Lord through it all because I am honored and humbled and blessed to do His work here. Honored to spread His love throughout this neighborhood, among the students of this school.

So Lord, bring on the broken hearts, and the valleys of my faith walk, and the incessant tears, and the nights when I come home with righteous anger at the injustice of the world. Break my heart for those things that break Yours Lord, and give me the nerve to do something about it. Give me the power to change the circumstances for Your glory, let us be foolish enough to believe that we can change the world under the banner of Your Name. Thank you Jesus for being right here with me, and thank you for never letting go.

We are family

We say Amen and our goodnight prayer is over for the night.
We look around at each other and unspokenly agree that we aren't ready for the night to end.
As David heads off into the kitchen to conjure up a batch of sweet potato fries, Dionte reclines on the couch making a phone call, and Rachelle, Michael, Madison and I sit around the living room laughing and having easy conversation over the food network.
Life lessons are being taught.
Dionte and I share a joke across the room, he is having a self-proclaimed "moment" watching his favorite family show - The Fresh Prince of BelAir - with his new family. (awwwwww)
Community is at its best here.
Cups of coffee are offered and we are all high on the spirit, laughing and loving so easily this family that God brought together just 5 days ago.
This is not normal.
Tonight was not normal.
This UrbanLife family - is not normal.
We are part of a move of God through our city. And I am so grateful to be a part of this ministry that I could have never fathomed to have even asked for.
We've certainly had a day today.


The entire house erupts in "you are, my fireeeeeee, my one desireeeeee...tell me whyyyyy ain't nothing but a heart ache" and who knew that 6 strangers could come together and mesh like siblings so easily and so quickly.

Be the Church

I’m staring out a window pane of a house-turned-starbucks reflecting on this day and this place and right now and how God is interwoven among it all.

And cars are turning right. And bushes are lining the streets, and bichon frise’s are wagging tails reigned in from over-sniffing their welcome by older ladies’ leashes. And it’s so Sunday Morning.

This coffee shop.

This atmosphere of sunny outside – early morning coffee and A/C and macbooks inside.

Roommates helping each other begin blogs to document this year of our lives. Learning and laughing and sipping flavored coffee drinks in a corner filled with 3 leather chairs just for us. 

Its just soo Sunday Morning!

We walked to church this morning. All through the city and Uptown Charlotte.

We must have seen 60 CMPD officers stationed there for the DNC. And we said hello to most of them.  

We’ve got a love the world is desperate for (especially this early in the morning).

Seeing our city in the morning is breathtaking. Walking the streets of this city that is yours Lord, it was so very powerful.

We felt it.

We were expectant. We are hungry for your Word.

And Larry and Joel delivered.  

The message challenged us to be the church and not to just go to church.

Isn’t that what we are?

Isn’t that what UrbanLife is all about?

Being the church in this neighborhood and establishing relationships to be able to go out and love these people on the West side? So applicable right now. 

 Thank you Jesus for this opportunity. Thank you for bringing me here. Thank you for choosing me with your amazing grace that I won't ever earn or deserve. Thank you for blessing me day after day.