A Change of Scenery

Things in my life have changed in big awesome ways over the past few days. I recently took a job in Las Angeles California working for an organization called Center for Student Missions. This job, like most ministry jobs, encompass a variety of roles. I will be mostly working with youth groups who come to CSM LA to serve in the city. CSM works along other non profits in the city to serve the people of LA. I can not wait to explain later this week all of the different ministries, experiences and first impressions I have of LA.

For now I have taken a few pictures to document a little packing before hand, my new house, and few glimpse of the city this far. More to come! (after all I've only been here for two days)

Packing was one of my biggest challenges before leaving, along with saying bye to my friends, and hugging my mom good bye at the air port. I took one suit case, a backpack, and guitar. As you can see here I had to make the most of my packing room. Believe it or not its really hard to fit your life in a suit case, mission minded or not.

I live in a revamped ware house in the middle of South Central LA.
I have three girl roommates and one boy .
This is our hang out room! Perfect for movie watching!

Graffiti is a major staple around the city, you see it on nearly every street. Some represents gang territory, other represents art and the feelings of the people who live in that area. These two pieces of art are on the group room walls. The group room is where students get to hang out during free time, and a place to build community while not at their different cites. 

This mural was done by one of the former CSM staff members.
It depicts the different iconic city images, different culture, as well as the vibrant color of LA! 

This is our wonderful staff kitchen. It's a little different then our kitchen at SIFAT...
 It's inside, it has a working oven, it has cabnets. Not better just different :) 

The first morning I woke up in the city, it was 78 and sunny.
This is a picture from right out our front door.
The gate is for safety, however it has not stopped CSM staff from building relationships with the neighbors that are surrounding us. I can not wait to learn, love, and be loved by the neighbors God has given around us!

Again art is a plays a major role in city life. Above is the outside wall of our house.
 It faces the street and hopefully gives off a message of hope and freedom. Not being very artistic by any means, I love the fact that art is surrounding me all the time. I also love that people view this as art and not destruction.

Maybe a little glimpse of how God sees our hearts with different eyes, even when they may seem to look like destruction to the untrained eye. 

This is Compton Ave, a street pretty well known to those of us who don't know much about California.
"Straight out of Compton" Will Smith used to say in his Gettin' Jiggy with It stage of life.

The other edge of our graffiti wall. 

These are two views of the down town area sky line from a near by park. If I have learned anything so far its that the city for many represents hopes and dreams. But it also for many represents oppression and injustice. I look forward to seeing the ways God chooses to use me during my time here.
I continue to pray, and ask that you pray for me:
For God to give my team and I his eyes, heart, and vision for this place.
That we can adequately BE LOVE to all the people we serve. 

"If you want a love message to be heard, it has got to be sent out. 

To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it."Mother Teresa

"I'll be doing fine... I made it to the cost line."

Earlier this afternoon while sitting, no... standing, no... moving all around to pack, the overwhelming, nerve shaking, finger trembling, feeling of one million tiny butterflies flapping two million wings (yes, two million because if there were one million butterflies each has two wings, therefore that makes two million wings) inside my belly hit me like never before. This wasn't like I ate some bad chicken, or I was trying to get out of a test kind of tummy ache. This was deeper inside of me then most feelings, it was hidden so far down inside that light had only barley glimpsed over this place one before, but not for long, and now it was like someone took a giant spot light and was shinning it directly into this place down in the pits of my inner self. And it scared me, because at first I didn't know what this strange feeling could be.

So I went on with my gathering of stuff, trying to pack to move to a place that I have never been before. And it's not like Im going for week so if I forget something its ok...nope I have a one way ticket to California, I can take one suit case, a back pack and a guitar. Some how I have to squeeze my entire life (not to mention clothes) in just that!

As I started folding and putting pictures aside that I wanted to take with me, it came again... the feeling. The more pictures I looked at the larger the feeling grew. What the heck could it be. It finally got to the point where I had to break down stop packing and cry out to the only person who can see deeper inside of my soul then anyone else. While laying on my face...

not so much out of reverence (although I wish I was that devout) more out of the fact that when I felt the need to cry out to God I was in the middle of reaching for something under my bed that required the full flat stomached stretch...

God reminded me of a quote I had read not too long ago.

"The spiritual life is first of all life,

it is not merely something

to be known and studied, it is to be lived."

- Thomas Merton-

I believe the deep feeling inside my inner most self was the eruption of change. Not only is my location about to change but my entire life is going to change. The people, my day to day activity, even the time zone. And not only is my life about to change but most of my friends lives are about to change as well. As people graduate, move to their own cities, pursue their own dreams, a generation of my friends are about to fly towards their dreams of changing the world! The more and more I thought about that fact the more the feeling of change switched from fear, terror, and sickly to joy, excitement, celebration and pure happiness! My friends, my peers, people my age are about to all head into this big big world and do something to impact it in ways that will undoubtedly change the face of this earth for ever!

Some will get married, some have children, others will move to cities to pursue dreams of music and acting. A couple will become doctors, physical therapist, even high powered lawyers. Many will inspire another generation to do something with this gift of life, and a few will move to the ends of the earth to BE love to people different from them. But one thing rings true through each souls dream...CHANGE. Their change now will cause an effect of change on this world that will then in turn cause a change on another soul and then inevitably cause a change to the future.

I got really happy thinking about the idea of this chain reaction happening all over the nations, but still one thing was so unsettling. I have had numerous conversations with each one of my friends searching to figure out their dreams and each ends in the sentence... "But how do we know what God wants?" And then as clear as the rain dripping down my window pain it hit me. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT GOD! WHAT WONDER IS IT THAT WE DON'T UNDERSTAND? IF WE UNDERSTAND THEN IT'S NOT GOD.

God may be a mystery in many aspects of who He is but one thing we can take tremendous hope in is that through all of our inevitable change, God remains the same...Faithful, love, mercy, power, holy, true, king, father, grace, righteous, joy, patient, bold, zealous, justice, glory, perfect, refuge, teacher, light, good, hope, peace, comfort and the list goes on and on, forever and ever...Because He is God.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0IDiVQxZYg