The Kickoff

I've been at Urban Life for a day. This is such an incredible mission and incredible people and just a revolutionary environment.

I'm currently sitting out on my porch in an elevated wicker bar stool with my feet up on the balcony railing having a solitary moment surrounded by trees and rainkissed leaves and listening to the hum of the highway and the city right beyond this green covering in my own little corner of the neighborhood that God is going to transform in the next 11 months. 

A huge storm just rolled through here and washed everything clean. It captivated us – well, me. Rachelle, my beautiful roommate and fellow urbanite from Burbank CA came up behind me as I gazed out the window at the storm and asked “do storms have a significance to you?” and then shared with me a story about her friend and the wind.

Little instances. Little stories. 

Brief mentions and recaps of amazing ways in which God has moved. 

Little sentences and encouragements. 

Pearls of wisdom that depart from Rachelle’s ever so wise lips.

  Not without her carefully reviewing and selecting each word she allows to pass through.

 They're such a blessing to me already.

 I have so much to learn from her through this year.

Beginning with the way she encourages and imparts wisdom with such grace and consideration.

The thing is – I couldn’t tell why I was so captivated by a storm blowing through. Was it how close I was to the rain, just a drop away? Able to stand on a porch and watch it pour down on the world, watching the wind blow sheets across this building called the Summit where incredible people have come together to live out community how it should be? Was it this place? Or was it the city? The skyline looming in the background through the storm, such an incredible view of buildings – just buildings, but buildings that represent a population of people that are hurting and in need. Could it be that a mere change of setting could stir up emotions and draw me to this storm that easily? Why was I drawn? Why was I captivated? Why did I have the urge to go out and stand in the rain and witness, just to witness the rain and the thunder and the storm?

I think it was symbolic for us. The washing away of everything we’re coming from. The washing away of the past and stresses and of everything we’ve been through to get here. To be in this sweet spot where we have all, in some way or another, been called to.

We got up this morning at 6:45am and went on a hike to the top of Crowder's Mountain and it was 5.something miles and I'm out of shape.

But we got to the top as a group and we sat around sharing our testimonies and looking out over the city and the surrounding area and sharing our stories and learning about each person’s Come-To-Jesus moment. Little girls playing in the background. Hikers scaling cliffs below us. Snacks being consumed among us.  And it was beautiful – this – this is beautiful. It was such a time of family and of learning and of wanting these people to love me and wanting to love them and to know them too.

This rain, this storm – its cleansing. Its allowing us to starting anew. Its washing away what has been and making everything new and fresh and allowing us to start over. And I’m thankful that I serve a God who leads me according to His plan for my life, holding me close and walking with me every step of the way. Thankful that He is Forgiving in every instance that I doubt in, thankful that He would use me to impact entire neighborhoods. I’m thankful that I was chosen for this ministry. Lord, You’re making all things new – and we are free.

            Free like my vivacious roommate Madison from Wesley Church here in Charlotte. 

Free from summers and seasons of hardship where she fell away from God,

 and free from influences that she rose above. 

Madison has an incredible story of faith at the age of 18. 

She has fresh wounds and she is still processing and learning lessons from those wounds.

 And she’s here, at Urban Life.

 With her radiating love and energetic spirit 

& beaming smile and incredible sense of humor and sillyness.

And I can’t help but blurt out how I love her already as Rachelle and her and I sit on couches in our apartment talking about video blogs and laughing over chips and salsa. I have so much to learn from Madi and so much that I want to impart on her – things I wish someone had told me even though I know she’s nothing like I was when I was that age.

                                                                 (Madison, Rachelle, & I)

This – these girls, this apartment, this community – this is it; this is just where we all need to be. 

It's crazy how God can speak through relationships. Even in a day and a half these beginnings of relationships - they are so different. They are so purposeful. And intentional. I can see how these fundamental internal relationships are so important. How God is working within each of us to allow us to connect with one another. To create a unit of unity to be able to reach this neighborhood. To reach these people and this city through relationships we must first have amazing relationships among ourselves. And God is here, He’s working in us and through us. And these relationships that I’m forming are going to be treasured. I’m not going to take this for granted. I’m going to count these for what they are – pure and undeniable grace as the spirit works through us to bind us together as a family of Urbanites. This is it. It’s here. And I’m so blessed to be a part of this.