Hooray!!!

Today my runaway came back! I was so excited to see him, although he definitely thinks that what he did was kinda funny, and feels like he mentally has started the program over from the beginning...I'm still glad that he came back!

Prayer

I'm really bummed right now. The hard part about being so immersed in ministry is that you really start to feel like a parent. Not that I know what's best for these kids, or have all the answers, but I really do care about them. Which is why when kids make dumb decisions it's really hard to stand by and watch. It's a great picture of Christ, but right now, unfortunately, that doesn't really make it feel any less sucky.

On Saturday night a student that I have been close to for the last 6 months, a student that I love a lot, that loves me a lot, decided that he didn't want to be in the discipleship program anymore, so he RAN from church... just left. I know it sounds a little anti-climatic but you have to understand that running away from the program is the same thing as deciding to get back into the drugs and alcohol and gangs and girls that he has been able to stay away from for the last 6 months. It makes me really sad because he was doing SO well. It was very much like he just gave into the attacks of the evil one. If you could join me in covering this little one with prayer I would appreciate it.

Blessings!!!

Bri and I on the roof of the Dream Center with LA in the background.









Making breakfast in Ro's kitchen.









Fun times at a rodeo with the best friends a girl could ever ask for!


Blessing #1

Two weeks ago my good friend Bri drove all the way down from Portland to visit us and experience our lives here in LA. We were so honored to have her come all that way to see us, and I was especially blessed by her presence. We didn't do anything extravagant, we just spent time together. It was so refreshing to be around someone I feel so known by and that I know so well. There is depth to our friendship that I do not experience here with my friend yet. Bri and I have shared so many dreams and passions, intimate times in prayer that it just feels safe and comfortable to be around one another. It truly is a gift to have friends like her.

Blessing #2

We got to go to Oregon for my father's 50th birthday party!! We weren't there long, so we didn't get to see many of you that we miss so dearly, but we did get to see most of the family, including Cami's side. Ryan and Nelle (who live is Japan) flew to the northwest the same day we did, so Cami's parents picked them up and then we all went down to Salem together to hang out with Ro. It was a quick day, but so wonderful to be with family. Sorry we didn't have more time to see the rest of you. :(

Blessing #3

There is a young lady I want to tell you about. For the sake of this story I am going to refer to her by her street name, "Sad Girl". Sad Girl is a 19 year old mother who has had a life you would not wish upon your worst enemy. When I first began at the Dream Center, I think it was her mission to make my life as difficult as possible. So I just hugged her all the time, continually told her how much I loved her and just lavished her with affection. She never really hugged back, but I know she enjoyed it. Unfortunately, do to a whole bunch of things, she was kicked out of the school in April. In the last few weeks that Sad Girl was in my classroom, every day she spent the majority of the day at my side. She was so depressed and suicidal I couldn't even trust her with staples. We had many conversations about the fact that hurting herself hurt me, I don't think she fully understood how true those words word but she definitely hoped they were. Anyway, back to the blessing. After Sad Girl got kicked out of school she talked of entering our women's discipleship program . She wanted to join the teen home, but being 19, she was too old. The women's home is a year long commitment and Sad Girl really struggled. At times she would tell us she was going in the next day and then text a teacher, "not doing it, dancing with the devil." Or "the devil has got my heart forever." But it finally happened!!!! Two and a half weeks ago Sad Girl checked herself into the program!! She is still in her orientation period, so we cannot speak to her yet, but I see her around a couple times a week. And the most amazing part is, she smiles!!! Not just a little grin, but a full on smile, teeth exposed and all. I have prayed so may times that she would experience joy and freedom and I can see the joy all over her face!! Sad Girl is no longer sad!!!!!!!! I wish I were better with words. I wish you could understand what a victory it is just to she her smile. I am speechless. What else can I say.
Please do pray for her. Discipleship is not an easy program and many back out. She is close to her neighborhood, which sometimes makes it more difficult to stick with the program. She needs everyone on her side, fighting for her heart. I truly believe she is a conquerer and we will continue to have great stories about the changes that God is doing in her. Thank you for rejoicing with us.

so, for those of you who like American Idol, you should check out Nashville Star and support our boy Coffey. he is a member of our church and just an all around great guy. check it out mondays at 9pm on nbc and don't forget to vote for him.

here is a video of him with our worship team.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMmM0jBk1Zw&NR=1

A few issues i have been wrestling with

Milk vs Steak
During my years at bible college, especially my senior year, my fellow students and I were continually warned by our professors not to become snobby bible college grads. And I fear that I might not have heeded that warning so well.

Cami and I are so blessed to be a part of a church that is truly transforming lives. Every time we gather all I have to do is talk to the person next to me or look up to the balcony and I see at least 100 people who were hopeless but are now finding hope here. My church is an odd mix of extremely wealthy (not to mention extremely generous) people and those at the bottom end of poverty. The whole mission of our church is to bring in those the rest of society has given up on, give them a place to belong and a place to get back their feet and hopefully find Jesus in the process. That is why I love my church so much. But that means that the sermons are milk to the spiritually immature. Sundays often tend to feel like motivational meetings. I just feel that we could be giving more substance to our people. But perhaps this is my selfish desire to be fed myself. How much meat do you bring to the immature?

I guess I have just found myself in a place where church is no longer a time to be fed, but a time to encourage those around me. It is a time to come together and make sure we are still all on the same page - knowing that everything we do is for the hopeless. I must continually remind myself of the youth pastor's words, "Why don't you every find steak on a kids menu? Because if you want it, you need to be able cut it up and eat it yourself."


Wealth and Poverty
Cami and I recently watched an episode of the show 30 Days. It was created by the same guy who did the movie Supersize Me. The premise of the show is to spend 30 days in the life of someone else. In this particular episode, the main character and his fiancee move to Columbus, OH and get minimum wage jobs to discover what it is like to be amongst the thousands of working poor in the USA. For 30 days they lived in a dumpy apartment in a dangerous part of town, relied on public transportation and were without health care. The man ended up get two full time jobs, spending an average of 18 hours a day away from home and his fiancee walked to work to save the 2.70 it would cost them in bus fare.

In addition to the harsh reality of how difficult life in the shoes of the working poor actually is, this episode also brings up some rather disturbing statistics. From 1997 to 2007 Congress did not raise minimum wage a single penny, but received cost of living increases of their own, to the tune of $27,000. How can we live in the richest country in the world and have so many people struggling from day to day. I live in a city full of people hoping to survive from one day to the next, when less than ten miles away live people who have abundantly more than they could ever need and continually gain more. Why is it that the rich just get richer and the poor never seem to get a break? Greed is so ugly! And I wonder how much of it is in me. Why can I not be more like my friend Andrea who gives everything she has away? Why do I need a nice home and nice clothes? Is it wrong of me to desire to own a home some day? Do I really need to own a home, could that money help turn someone's life around, give them the break they have been waiting for?

Now I know owning a home is an exercise of financial wisdom, but what about all the other things I so desperately "need", like my new indoor soccer shoes. When does it become greedy and selfish ambition? Do any of you ever ask these questions? Lord, am I faithful with all that you bless me with?

A Quick Update

The last couple of weeks have been a little unusual around these parts. Here are a few of the not so exciting things that have been taking place.

1. I have confiscated two packs of cigarettes, a bong and quite a bit of weed from students in my home

2. A kid got shot 50 feet from my front door.

3. One of my students was standing less than ten feet from the incident mentioned above.

4. Another student missed two days of school to "take care of his beef" (i.e. shoot the people who are out to get him), but apparently this is freeing him from his ties to his gang

5. The FBI has been using my boss's office the last couple of days, so he has been wandering the halls (he wont really tell us anything about who they are talking to or what they are investigating)

6. I cannot remember the last day I did not hear a helecopter circling.


And now for the uplifting things:

1. My dear friend Andrea came to visit for a few days (we went to the beach, saw the largest religious painting in the world and hung out with Jay Leno, etc. etc.)

2. One of the above mentioned students has been sober for 11 days!

3. A couple of weeks ago we had three boys over for dinner and then went to our church's Thursday night service together. Last week 8 students showed up and roughly 15 are planning on joining us tomorrow for lasagna before church.

A Little Bit About My Cousin Damion

Damion Marx didn't do things small.

He got engaged under a fireworks show on the Fourth of July, was married in Chile on a reality TV show and once spent five straight days in a sleep-optional Texas birding competition.

And so when he was "bitten by the birding bug," as he says on a Florida Atlantic University Web site, the 35-year-old Ph.D. student did that big, too, writing his dissertation on wading birds in Lake Okeechobee and reveling in research that sometimes had him waist-deep in Florida muck.

Or on small airplanes.

During a routine aerial nesting survey, he died Thursday morning when a Cessna Skyhawk crashed in western Martin County. Also killed were fellow FAU graduate student Phillip Heidemann, 43; lab technician Gareth Akerman, 36; and pilot Jeff Rozelle, 36.

"It's tragic, absolutely tragic," said Gary Perry, dean of FAU's College of Science. "They had done these trips so many times before. It was just standard operating procedure for them."

Marx's wife, Luli, is a professor at Palm Beach Community College.

A video the couple made in December during a trip to the Bahamas ends with Luli standing next to a Christmas tree, where she announces she is pregnant. On the screen, "We're so excited" and "Happy 2008!" appear.

Thursday morning's trip was one of the final flights in a three-year study on how the water levels of Lake Okeechobee affect bird nesting habits.

The sky was blue. The sun was shining.

"This is what biologists love to do, get out in the field and experience it first-hand," Perry said.

"We're devastated," Perry said. "We've just lost three of our people."

Marx "was one of the smartest guys I knew in Dale's lab," he said.

Marx earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Oregon. His first job was with the National Audubon Society at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Collier County.

Marx and his wife were married in November 2006 in Santa Cruz, Chile. The wedding was captured on the Style network's Married Away.

For their anniversary, Luli Marx made a gift for her husband — a video with photos of the smiling, sometimes goofy couple, accompanied by the song Better Together.

It ends with a message from Luli to Damion: "I can't wait to spend the rest of my years with you. All my love, forever."

The above text are excerpts from an article in Friday's edition of the Palm Beach Post.

I don't really know what else to say at this point. My cousin was one of the smartest people I have ever met. He was kind, compassionate and full of passion. Although Damion had a little bit of a temper, he always had a smile on his face. Damion loved life and he loved the outdoors.

My whole family is really shaken by this tragic loss. It is just hard to believe that we will never see his face again, feel his love as he hugs us or delight in the sound of his contagious laughter. In some ways it is comforting to know that Luli is carrying his child and come August we will have a tangible part of Damion to hold again, but that poor child will never be held by their own father. Damion's younger sister, Danielle, is also pregnant with her first child. I only hope that these two births will help my family find joy in this time of extreme loss.

Thanks for you prayers,
Deidre