It is interesting when you live some place for 11 years and then all of a sudden you change and all of your daily habits will have to change. For me it is now getting up and taking Cosmo for a walk so he can relieve last nights food. For Patty her commute to work went from 10 minutes to 10 seconds. Even today Patty said the move doesn't seem real.
Last nite we took Cosmo out for a walk around the hood. Lots of kids saying hey Pete, hey Patty. Being somewhat dark and the yelling coming from windows, I couldn't even see who it was! Then 3 gals from Patty's small group from a few years ago joined us. So we walked further and then they hung out with us on the patio til 11 (Ronnie, a neighbor kid joined us too). (Less tv watching and book reading for me!)
One of the gals said that if she runs away from home she can come sleep at our place outside on our swing. Hmmm. Safe place?
So how did this idea of moving here get started? I have been thinking about that for awhile because I don't remember it all. I'll start with what I remember.
About a year ago Patty and I went to the Center one Saturday eve to pick up something from her office which she needed. While we were there about 5 kids just showed up. It made me wonder what would happen if we would open the Center one evening and just hang out and play. So a couple of weeks later we did just that. For about 2-3 hours we played street hockey, basketball, pool, etc. and had about 20 kids come by. We did it a few more times and tried to invite others from church to join us. This is the part I don't remember to well. But Patty and I started talking about what it would be like to live here in the hood. At that time we were reading Irwin Mcmanus' book Chasing Daylight and in it he talked about deciding if doing something was God's calling for you or not. Most christians wait and wait for God to show them something. Irwin's comment was just start doing it. God will open or close the doors if it is to be or not. (I would look up the particular part of the book and get the wording more exact, but who knows where the book is!)
So we decided to just go for it and see what happens. Go through that open door and see what happens. The journey has been amazing. Jon gave us a book by Shaine Claiborne called Irresistible Revolution. In it he shares about how they started a community of christians that lives in a poor neighborhood in inner-city Philly. Then shortly after that, I was listening to a Rob Bell podcast one Sunday and a gal was interviewed by Rob on how she and her family was asked by the church to move into a house in downtown Grand Rapids.
Our next big step was to ask Betty the Director of Farm Drive and then the landlord of the apt. building about our moving in. They were very excited about the idea. What surprised me and at the same time encouraged me was the fact that they totally supported us, were excited for us and even helped us think through the next steps. They totally supported this move! That made us feel all the more that we were moving in the right direction. I think that was the clincher for me.
There have been some minor roadblocks that came up but none that couldn't be resolved or removed. The door has been wide open throughout this whole process so we've continued to walk through those doors and move ahead.
We've already seen Gods blessings from ..... (ahh, that's another post!)
Last nite we took Cosmo out for a walk around the hood. Lots of kids saying hey Pete, hey Patty. Being somewhat dark and the yelling coming from windows, I couldn't even see who it was! Then 3 gals from Patty's small group from a few years ago joined us. So we walked further and then they hung out with us on the patio til 11 (Ronnie, a neighbor kid joined us too). (Less tv watching and book reading for me!)
One of the gals said that if she runs away from home she can come sleep at our place outside on our swing. Hmmm. Safe place?
So how did this idea of moving here get started? I have been thinking about that for awhile because I don't remember it all. I'll start with what I remember.
About a year ago Patty and I went to the Center one Saturday eve to pick up something from her office which she needed. While we were there about 5 kids just showed up. It made me wonder what would happen if we would open the Center one evening and just hang out and play. So a couple of weeks later we did just that. For about 2-3 hours we played street hockey, basketball, pool, etc. and had about 20 kids come by. We did it a few more times and tried to invite others from church to join us. This is the part I don't remember to well. But Patty and I started talking about what it would be like to live here in the hood. At that time we were reading Irwin Mcmanus' book Chasing Daylight and in it he talked about deciding if doing something was God's calling for you or not. Most christians wait and wait for God to show them something. Irwin's comment was just start doing it. God will open or close the doors if it is to be or not. (I would look up the particular part of the book and get the wording more exact, but who knows where the book is!)
So we decided to just go for it and see what happens. Go through that open door and see what happens. The journey has been amazing. Jon gave us a book by Shaine Claiborne called Irresistible Revolution. In it he shares about how they started a community of christians that lives in a poor neighborhood in inner-city Philly. Then shortly after that, I was listening to a Rob Bell podcast one Sunday and a gal was interviewed by Rob on how she and her family was asked by the church to move into a house in downtown Grand Rapids.
Our next big step was to ask Betty the Director of Farm Drive and then the landlord of the apt. building about our moving in. They were very excited about the idea. What surprised me and at the same time encouraged me was the fact that they totally supported us, were excited for us and even helped us think through the next steps. They totally supported this move! That made us feel all the more that we were moving in the right direction. I think that was the clincher for me.
There have been some minor roadblocks that came up but none that couldn't be resolved or removed. The door has been wide open throughout this whole process so we've continued to walk through those doors and move ahead.
We've already seen Gods blessings from ..... (ahh, that's another post!)
3 comments:
I love that you guys are doing a blog. I look forward to keeping up. I am so excited that I found you guys, when I was moving to san jose I asked God that I would meet people who have a passion for community, and living life after Gods own heart. I am so blessed! I look forward to learning from you and coming along side Farm Drive and seeing what God work!
Pete & Patty, Welcome to Farm Drive. I am very excited about having you living at the Center and look forward with great anticipation to what God is going to be doing here in the future because of your walk of faith. God's blessings on you both and your family. Love 'ya, Betty
Welcome to blog-o-sphere.
Post a Comment