Last week, I spent some time in Cincinnati, Ohio at the National Youth Workers Convention. I had the honor of helping out with registration, so I went a day early as it took over six hours for me to drive there.
On my way out to Ohio, most of my drive was gray and rainy. About four hours in to the trip, the sky opened up to pockets of sunlight. The light streamed in beams upon 271 South to 71 South for the remainder of the drive. My mood was lifted by the sunlight as I drove through the places they touched down. I began to forget about the chill of the long rainstorm I'd driven through. The sunlight helped me to begin thinking in the realm of possibility and promise.
The whole convention had the theme of "time". It encouraged the youth workers that attended to be sure to allow for the care and rest of their own souls, as well a the motivation to not take the present moment for granted. Each day seemed to settle into its own theme for me as well.
Getting started:
Thursday and Friday were registration, so I had the pleasure to meet many other youth-workers and see some old friends. I was nervous when learning the registration computer program that checked people in as they arrived, but person by person I began to settle my heart on the possibility of what was to come in the next few days.
Friday night:
Friday rolled into the evening quickly and my friend Libby and I headed to a local burger restaurant in Fountain Square. Our server Brandi, was so friendly that we started chatting with her each time she passed by. Eventually she asked us why we were in the city and we let her know about the convention. As it turns out, Brandi was a founder of a local after school mission project for homeless children in the area of Over the Rhine. We listened to her story of how a community service project to help maintain her scholarship for the school she was attending at the time. Eight years later, Brandi still is helping in the neighborhood of OTR. She's received some help from other peers and ministry workers, but she still carries a burden for the people who are the largest population of homeless in this country - children. Brandi invited me to stop by Fenton Market on Saturday to get a better perspective of the neighborhood she had been working in. I took down her information and tried to think through the commitments for the upcoming day to find a way to make a tour of this neighborhood possible. While our meal was fantastic at Rock Bottom Brewery, the conversation with Brandi was the most memorable aspect of Friday.
Saturday:
I woke early Saturday morning to join a prayer walk group. I was amazed to find that our prayer walk was heading downtown, to city hall and was eventually to lead to the historic area of Over the Rhine. This was the same location that Brandi had told me about just the night before! We saw the sexton at the Catholic church setting out the sandwich sign at 8am for mass times all weekend, we saw the groups of homeless folks standing in huddles for warmth, getting breakfast a the soup kitchen, and telling us which kitchen was the best one to visit in the neighborhood, we say shotgun houses in all kinds of conditions: burnt out, leaning over, and beautifully renovated as well. There was a garden that Brandi and the kids used to plant vegetables last summer, there were murals all over the place, and finally at the end of our walking prayer we found the Findlay fruit and food market that I'd heard about. It was such a place of contrast, this area of OTR. If I could come up with a word that described OTR, I'd say it was paradox. There was despair, but there was hope. There was homelessness, but there were revitalization projects to restore the old buildings into hip loft apartments. There was so much need, but at the end of the street there was a market with so many sources of nutrition, I was overwhelmed. In this unique neighborhood, there was depression and sadness, but then again there was joy.
The beams of sunlight break through even in the neighborhood of OTR.
Later Saturday night, I listened to stories of other teens that have helped with various mission projects around the world - mosquito nets for people living in countries over-run with malaria, change for change to end modern-day slavery, and shoes for people who have none to wear and suffer physically because of it. The frosting on Saturday's cake, was the Children's Choir of Africa. These children have been helped by Compassion International and have the resources they need because of sponsorships worldwide. Apart from the help they have received, their lives in Kenya are very difficult. The walk to school is dangerous and many of them are orphaned but these children expressed a joy that beamed through the concert hall. These children danced and sang, in spite of their circumstances, and revived the joy of Christ in my own heart.
Sunlight beams where it chooses, thankfully the sun is generous with it expression and placement; from the highway, to Brandi's story and work, to the OTR, to Kenya and the convention center of Cincinnati. The sun still shines.
Comments
In all of this, in all of these......hope.
Thank you.