Reconciliation

My mind has been flooded with new ideas this past week that I have
never before explored. I began my first couple units of CASA (court
appointed special advocates) on Tuesday and through the training
process, my heart for at-risk children and youths has been even more
inspired. Before this experience I never once gave enough thought to
foster care, the child welfare system, or anything else of that sort.
Learning about the dire needs of these foster children, I felt God
guiding me to have a closer look into their hearts. Although they may
have been abused and neglected by their parents, they still long for a
relationship with them. That reminded me of how we were created and
meant for relationships. But being in an institution all their lives,
many suffer the loss of meaningful relationships. Judges, social
workers, therapists, foster parents, and teachers - these are all
people that care for them, but unfortunately they do not remain as
consistent relationships.

The important thing for me to realize is that even though I am not a
foster child, neither abandoned nor deeply hurt by my family, I am a
human being and I have a deep emptiness as long as God is not present
in my life. As a part of training, a teen who had been through the
foster care system shared her experience of having been assigned a
CASA volunteer the past two years of her life. She explained how just
by having someone there that she was able to learn to grow to trust
and love made the biggest difference in her life. Although life was
constantly changing and moving, she felt that her relationship with
her CASA was and will remain unchanging. Those last few words trails
my thoughts to the unconditional and unchanging love that God has for
us, and the reconciliation and intimacy that He desires for us with
him and with one another.

-Madison Hur

Community Walk Down Eucalyptus Street

This week, I had been really blessed during my community walk down Eucalyptus Street with the other interns. We were conducting surveys in order to try and understand the opinions, desires, strengths, and issues that the neighbors voice about their neighborhood. In order to hear the opinions of the neighbors, we walked through different apartment complexes, houses, and condos for the first hour and 15 minutes with only 4 neighbors interested in answering questions on the survey. As one intern returned back to the office for a meeting, the other two interns and I stayed behind to see what other opportunities we could have in our encounters with neighbors. We walked into an apartment complex right across the street that seemed quiet on the outside but was (to my surprise) lively in the inside. It was filled with kids running around, a young couple talking outside, mothers walking in and out of their homes, and the smell of lunch still present in the air.

As two of the interns were conducting a survey on the second floor of the complex, I sat with a group of about eight boys who were playing Mario Kart on their Nintendo DS. One of the interns brought his baby toy Chihuahua who grabbed the attention of the boys who were waiting their turn on the Nintendo DS. We laughed when the Chihuahua licked one of the boys on the nose, had a conversation about the status of who was winning the race on Mario Kart, and talked about how long they had been living on Eucalyptus. During our conversation, I asked them whether they came out to the homework club at the Kingdom Causes office and they had never heard of it and they did not know where the office was. I told them about some activities that we had there such as the soccer event, movie night for UNITE!, and the summer art classes which I am currently planning with another intern. They seemed really interested in showing up to the art classes so one of the boys offered me his e-mail so that I could e-mail him about the class days and times. I couldn't believe that these boys did not know that minutes down the street, there is an office and an amazing staff who were running events and activities that were planned and readily available for these kids to participate in. From this experience, I was blessed that God allowed me to encounter these wonderful boys, I felt blessed in our conversation, and I felt blessed to connect to a portion of the neighborhood kids that I can now recognize by face and will hopefully soon recognize by name!

-Eun McFun

Excuses

A few days ago I accompanied Adam and two other volunteers down to Harvard St. to pick up some Neighborhood Block party questionnaires. About 75 questionnaires had been delivered to each household on that street the previous day. Adam, the neighborhood volunteers, and I eagerly looked forward to what we hoped would be an overwhelming response from the people. 

Our first encounter was with a middle aged man who was not excited by our presence. He repeatedly referred to Adam as “homes”. Adam kept his composure the whole time. We encountered two other men who conveyed a genuine interest in having a block party on their street. We finally neared the end of the street, when I spotted two hispanic ladies barbecuing with their children. I was already bummed we hadn't had much luck because out of the 75 questionnaires we had only retrieved 4.

I hesitantly asked Adam If I should walk over to the ladies and , hoping he'd say “no lets go back”, but he fortunately encouraged me to go ahead and talk to the ladies. So I hesitantly approached their front yard and asked them, in spanish, if they had received and filled out the Neighborhood block party questionnaire. One of the ladies kindly replied “Yes I got it, what is that all about?” I answered her question and she replied “I don't have much money but I'd like to contribute a 'sopita' (soup) and a salad.” 

I left thinking this lady has very little yet she's willing to give. It reminded me of when God commanded Moses to go before Pharaoh and demand that he let the Israelites go. “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?” Exodus 3:11 Moses' response to God is typical of how I tend to respond to God. “I don't have much money” or “I don't have time”; any excuse to make me feel good about recusing myself from God's plan I've already used. But this lady being able to excuse herself, as the other 71 people did, committed to give from what little she had. God uses ordinary people like you and me, only when the excuses cease.

God's response to Moses was “I will be with you.” A promise He has promised to each and every single believer. 

-Edgar Guzman

Matching Grant Opportunity

Thanks to our amazing supporters on Facebook, we have an opportunity for a matching grant for the next 48 hours. In order to take full advantage of the grant, we need 50 people to donate $50 each-and the Vivint company will match it dollar for dollar!

Would you consider helping us reach our goal?

All the money that we raise will go toward housing 12 of Bellflower's most vulnerable homeless neighbors. To learn more, check out this video.

If you would like to give, click here. You will have to log-in to a valid Facebook account. If you don't have Facebook but would like to give, please contact our office ASAP.

This opportunity is only open for the next 48 hours, so don't delay!

Getting to Know People Right Where They Are

The words from Matthew 22:37-40 that stood out to me as I read it was this is the great and first commandment. Without loving God with all of our heart and all of our soul and with all of our mind, there is no way that we could love our neighbors (or in some cases, ourselves). I can try to with all my human abilities, but without God working through me, there is nothing I can do in my own power. With this in mind, I read this piece on Reconciliation where the writer proposed an interesting question: "Can a gospel that reconciles to God without reconciling people to people be the true gospel of Jesus Christ?" Of course the answer is no, and then he provided practical methods to reconciling people to people.

One method that I thought would be useful during my time at KCB is the felt-need concept. This concept is about "getting to know people right where they are at." This means hearing their story as they tell it and seeing what their concerns, hopes, hurts, and longings are. By doing this, there is a deeper sense of connection that we can make with that person and most importantly it shows our love. It shows that we care about the things that they are concerned about, we care about the things they hope for, we care about the things that are hurting them, and that we care about the things that they long for. I think that as the weeks progress and I spend my time doing community walks, I want to be able to walk down Eucalyptus St. and get to know the neighbors by name and by their stories. I hope to be able to hear their struggles as undocumented workers and see what their greatest fears, hopes, needs, and concerns are. I want to be able to work from the ground up as I eventually become a lawyer or professor so that in my work with helping other undocumented immigrants, there will be a common hurt and a common hope that I could work for. Most importantly, I want to work on my growth with God so that God can do great works in me by His power and not in my own doing because I know that His power will yield far greater effects. 

-Eun

Reconciliation at Breakfast

How often do we become so concerned with our own needs and wants that we forget about the needs and wants of others? How about the needs and wants of our homeless neighbors? I know that, personally, I am incredibly guilty of this. Although I am passionate about caring for the homeless, there are STILL times that I simply say “no” and give a passing glance when I am asked by someone if I have any change to spare. I don’t always have the courtesy to look the person in the eye, smile, and acknowledge their existence. How does this make me seem, as a Christian, and how many bridges have I burned with my lack of consideration? This is why Reconciliation is one of the core aspects of Christian Community Development. It’s a needed basis for all other progress to be built upon.

This last Saturday, I was able to attend my first Saturday morning breakfast with some of the homeless neighbors of Bellflower. It was here that I was reminded what reconciliation among groups of people can look like and how powerful that relationship can truly be. I was so impressed by the Kingdom Causes employee that I was shadowing on that first day, because she was such a great example of person-to-person reconciliation. She brought her entire family every single week – all four children and her husband – to be involved with the breakfast and cultivate relationships with the homeless individuals in our community. To her family, this is a norm. Somebody at the breakfast remarked how the one-year-old daughter had likely been held by every person who was in the room that morning. Their lives are so naturally integrated with one another’s – how many of us can say the same? Because of reconciliation, there were no “us” and “them” groups at the breakfast. I heard this family say to the homeless neighbors, “If you need a ride later, call me, you have my number” and “I’ll call you later to check on you and see if you’re still feeling sick.” At one point in the breakfast, a woman was telling a story about how her bike had been stolen that week for the second time. As soon as they heard this, I saw the volunteering couple consult each other for less than one minute, and then say to the woman that they had a bike that she could have. In fact, the husband went and retrieved the bike from their home almost immediately, for her to take. This breakfast reminded me of the life that I want to live – a life of reconciliation, generosity, and genuine care for everyone.

-Bianca