Hitting the Books

Monday, (yes we worked on Memorial Day, however it was a short day) was a "set your own schedule day" so after prayer we went to Retreat. Gary's talk was great. We talked about prayer, but the main thing I took away was just how I so often think and talk about God, and serving and loving him. But how rarely am I just overcome with passion, with "agape" for the Lord! I speak of great love and surrender but do I feel or show it?

After the talk J.B gave me a note from Steven, which made me really excited that we can continue to communicate while we is going through rehab. He just said he wanted to keep talking to keep having positive influences in his life. So I wrote him back a little note and verse.

I spent most of the morning talking with (or rather listening to...I think I got 3 words in) Walter. He talked about his nephew and his high school friend that he helped turn her life around and get back into the church. Gary brought to our attention, us female interns, that we should really be intentional about seeking out women and building relationships with them, rather than mostly men. This is fairly hard for me. Besides the drastically disproportionate numbers of men and women, I find the woman to mostly be either very bitter and difficult to talk to, or just very quite altogether. But, I have been keeping that in mind and tried my best today. I talked with one lady, who didn't seem to interested but was pleasant so we talked for a while. Then I sat down by Rebecca, whom I have met before. She is sweet and clear headed. She is not all that forthcoming, but she also just looked tired so who knows.

I also talked to J.B. for a while. He told me a lot about his life: about high school and partying with the jocks, and then his addiction and sleeping on the street outside the church, then eventually meeting Gary and turning things around with the help of his dad and the Salvation Army. He is a great guy and an beautiful example of how God works in people.

I left pretty early to go read in preparation for our discussion Tuesday (today).

Today, we started late (because Jenny had a great interview to go to!). We ate lunch and had some really good discussion about the book and some about ministry in general-- asking the right question before you just start doing something. We spent pretty much the rest of the day at Atlanta Mission (and walking to and from there). We got a tour and got to understand more about their programs and mission. It seems like a great place for people who are serious about changing. The guy who led us around, Aaron, kept saying how important relationships were, and though they do offer tangible services, that really the relationships and at the end of the day treating these guys as fellow human beings, not just as homeless crack heads, is really what matters.

After the Mission we went to the lot. I met Frank and talked to him for a bit about different things including his daughter who went to Tech. Then we, as interns, had a bit of a run in with a woman who is always at the lot and always angrily cussing people out. She just went off on us today. It's hard to deal with some one who is so inexplicably angry all the time. None of us were even talking to her. But I don't know her story. I would like to...I'd like to talk to her, but she will have none of it for the time being.

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