Do Something!

I live in a context where some people judge me because their assumption is that I’m all about enabling and not about empowering. (You have to be involved with urban inner city work to understand the terminology :) I understand that regardless of our circumstances anyone who chooses to be involved in another person’s life because of their passion to serve God brings lots to the table. There have been many books written on the personal side of what it would be like to live in real poverty and brokenness. The challenge is that for most we look at this topic from the sidelines. When was the last time you went without a meal, had to walk everywhere and didn’t have utilities because it was towards the end of the month?

I will confess that I at times react to those who are quick to be criticize without having ‘hands on experience’ with generational poverty, brokenness and gang violence. This last week an upcoming potential Olympic boxer was murdered in my neighborhood. He was a senior in high school. What made this unusual was that the murders actually broke into this individual’s house and literally beat him to death. I don’t know the whole story so I’m not going to say anything. The outcome was that a few in my group were literally devastated the whole week and could do little besides cry. What struck me was that over 75 high school students did a car wash that overtook a McDonalds and Walgreens for 10 hours this last Saturday. The generosity of many saw these youth raise over a $1,000 to go towards a funeral for their friend.

I do admit to reacting to many that want to analyze everything to such an extent that the likelihood of being involved with doing anything is slim. I totally understand the need to step back and see whether in the long term what we are doing to empower our marginalized youth to own their lives work. The challenge is that this is something that is very difficult to do and see results that will fit into some type of statistical analysis. I know that in the midst of this suffering and heartache one of my teens got a job working at one of the cooler venues in downtown Phoenix. The job wasn’t anything glamorous because he is a dishwasher. How do you weigh the initiative of the students that did a continuous carwash over the weekend and my teen who has been job-hunting for over a year and now has his first employment opportunity?

My wife and I have personally chosen to live life on the edge where we are willing to help almost anyone who is in a tough situation. We don’t necessarily weigh whether the circumstances are totally they’re doing, family’s fault or who knows what. I would rather error on the side of grace then performance. Most that are experiencing brokenness and failure are not able to do much beyond existing. So the first step to helping is by choosing to establish a relationship that becomes the basis for trust to be gained on both sides. I know that best way to influence and help someone become self sustainable isn’t through lecturing or threatening but by walking with them through life’s bad times and being willing to listen first before saying anything. 

I know that most of my friends won’t be able to relate to one of my single moms who has three kids. She is almost paralyzed from being not able to help herself from the attacks of her siblings over the death of her mom almost two years ago. My hope is to help a few to see how fortunate they are and then be more understanding of those who don’t have much and become friends in a way that empowers some of my single moms to keep going and not give up on life.