Who do you trust?

The church at which I work is in a rather nice neighborhood. Homes are expensive, and the pubic schools are considered some of the best in the city. It takes a big chunk of change to live in this zip code, and it's full of children playing everywhere.

But right next to this church at the highway underpass, there's a community that might not be expected in a neighborhood like this: the homeless folks of Austin. Everyday, I pass many people who sort of rotate around to the different lanes with sometimes humorous signs indicating that they'd appreciate food or money or both. The faces are familiar, and I even know some by name. Several frequent our church family meals and sometimes even take showers in the church bathrooms. Many people come by each week asking for help, and we hand out food, provide shelter information and do all we can to serve this group of people. It's a good relationship.

But then we had two DVD players disappear. No one's blaming anyone specifically, but a few not-so-familiar faces have been caught wandering the halls of the church...and these faces have not taken the time to check in at the front desk, which the regulars know is the rule. Losing two DVD players is a big deal, but it's not the end of the world. Nonetheless, the latest topic of conversation is all about locking doors.

It bothers me. Shouldn't a church be open? Should we really live in fear? When people are in the offices and walking around during the day, shouldn't this be a welcoming place?

The office in which I specifically work is upstairs and at the end of the hall. We're the only office upstairs, and three of us work here. Shouldn't our presence be enough so that if we're all around, we can leave the door open? 

It bothers me that we're being asked to keep it locked at all times. When there's a noise down the hall or someone using a classroom, now there's a cloud of suspicion and doubt. What if someone comes in with a weapon? What if someone steals a purse? What if someone gets violent?

What happened to giving the people the benefit of the doubt?

I know, I know...safety first. But there's never been a problem with violence. And it's not like I'm up here alone late at night. I don't want to live in the fear of the "what if..." or "worst case scenario." That's ridiculously paralyzing.

How do you claim a climate of trust and compassion while not having your stuff stolen?

 

  

Valerie

Valerie's one of my favorite two cousins. She's 16 years older than I am, so growing up, she was the cool adult who didn't seem like a real adult in her 20s when I was a middle schooler. I was the flower girl in her wedding at age 9, and she was the flower girl in my parents' wedding at age 7. Valerie's daughter, Allison, started asking when she could be in my wedding sometime when she was in preschool. She's a junior in high school now and has claimed the position of bridesmaid, articulately and often letting me know that I didn't get married in time for her to be a flower girl because now she's too old. But that's a whole other Oprah; this blog is about Valerie.

Valerie has cancer. And cancer sucks. It's stage three leukemia. She starts some sort of experimental treatment today in Washington, D.C., so could you please pray for her and her family? Allison's 17-years-old next month, and she has three younger brothers - Jack, Steven and Scooter - who are 9, 14 and 15. Also, please pray for her fabulous husband, Tom. 

Thank you!

  

 

 

I crack me up.

In attempt to explain to someone why I love one particular summer camp so much...

"It's my most favorite camp, ever...and yes, I'm biased. Some of my best life-long friendships have begun in Gunnison, including mine with Jesus when I was 11-years-old, wore pink plastic glasses and had a painfully horrible hair cut with bangs that looked more like a claw coming out of my forehead than anything resembling hair. But Jesus liked me anyway, and that was cool."

   

Italy! The arrival

Blogging about a trip like Italy feels overwhelming. There are so many stories and memories and pictures....oh, the pictures! My mom took almost 600, and I collected 1647 memorable shots. In an attempt to share some of these on my blog, we're going to try one post per location, including pictures, of course.

The arrival: Our trip over was rather uneventful, which I suppose is a good thing for connecting flights in figuring out buses and trains in foreign countries. Basically, we flew from Chicago to JFK in NYC and then New York to Milan. We bused it downtown, caught the train heading south to Genoa for a transfer to the Cinque Terre. We met a fabulous woman from Venice who convinced us to definitely keep that magical city on our itinerary and spend as much time there as possible. She was right; Venice was fabulous. But you're going to have to wait for Venice - that was the last stop on our adventure. 

Here are a few pictures. And yes, this will be the most boring blog entry of the entire collection, so please bare with me. It's a tedious but fun project to sort through all these pictures and relive the travel memories.

Oh, and my mom's turning 63-years-old this year. She might be mad for me telling you this, but c'mon - for 63, she looks fantastic! It explains why I still look like a teenager. And yes, her hair is natural. 

I'm back!

After three fantastic weeks, I'm back. Galveston Mission Trip for one week. Austin for one night. Chicago for one night. Italy for nine nights. Chicago for one night. And then, back to Austin. I'm starting to filter through all 1647 pictures taken with my camera and the almost 600 taken with my mom's. Some have been posted on Facebook - traveling to Italy, The Cinque Terre, Lucca and the markets of Florence. If you'd like to see them, become my friend on Facebook. There will be more to come...Florence, Sienna, Rome and Venice!