Day 5--March 14, 2007

Well this morning I came in and mopped again. Finished the stairwells and then mopped the gym. What I got from this was joy in doing service. We should always rejoice in doing work; serve with a happy and cheerful heart. Doing the “low, menial, blue collar job” allowed me to practice humility, but also to practice it with joy.
After mopping, Major introduced me to Hector. I was introduced to Hector so that we could maybe work something out with me taking some homeless out to eat. Hector is the SA’s social worker so he knows who is going through what and who needs what. I expressed interest in taking a big group out to eat somewhere nice, but unfortunately I was too late in addressing this desire because, as he explained, homeless do not have addresses and are basically transient and hard to find them! However, he did know of one who could really use it and said he would get in touch with her (though she is homeless, she did have a phone—she’s homeless because though she has a house, she lives with someone else and she does not own it; basically, she’s in extreme poverty). I hope it works out… That’s one thing I would correct if I were to do this again—get in touch before I even get there so that something can be planned (and more than once).
Around noon, I took Luie out to lunch at Burger King to present my thoughts and my concern about what will happen when I leave. I found out he hasn’t been back to Franklin in 11 years because he was shot 6 times in the leg by a BB gun. 11 years! He lives blocks away now, the SA is 1 block away, and he hasn’t been in 11 years! I encouraged him to go back with me, but also told him that if he really felt like the park on Richmond St. had a lot of potential (he had told me that yesterday) then I would buy more gatorade and him and Luke could go there while I go back to Franklin. At first he said he really didn’t want to go back there (but more so because of the place, not the people). But then he said pretty clear, “Jeff… we are here to support you and what you’re doing. If you want to go to Franklin, I’ll go.” Awesome! What a huge step for Luie, which will surely take him further in his faith. Even if nothing big happens today, at least I will take comfort in knowing that when I leave, Luie, who lives in the area may find himself ministering there and leading them in a Bible Study or something. So, on to Franklin we went.
Franklin was different today. I couldn’t get a hold of Mike and he wasn’t there. The guys I had been playing with were my age, these guys were younger (14-17). Still, it was awesome. Here’s what happened. I pull up and walk to the courts and see one guy who played yesterday. He calls me “Duke” because I put some “Duke moves” on him. They had about 12 guys out there just shooting around so when he asked if I was playing I said, “Yeah, you all go ahead, I’ll get winners.” He replied, “Nah man, we were waiting for you!” How rewarding was it to hear those words! He had told all these other guys (his friends) about me and brought them to the courts to play. Because they had heard about my moves from their friend, some of them wanted to play against me—some wanted to be on my team and throw me oops (I did throw one down). It was great. I had a lot more confidence in sharing the gospel. This time I brought a box of gospel tracts (Book of John) that Major gave me and was able to pass them out and share the story. I also went ahead and told them about this “McDonald’s” thing I was planning. This had been in my mind, but I was unsure of how I would do it. At first, I thought I would just bring all this McDonalds out to the court tomorrow, but I heard it was going to be a little chilly and raining. So what I told them was, “If you don’t see me tomorrow, go to the SA at 6:00 and we’ll have McDonald’s and then open gym” (and I explained where the SA was). After I left, I thought about it more and decided to do it at the SA regardless; that way they could actually step inside a church and get acquainted with the place, meet guys at the church, and feel more comfortable. And what happened later that afternoon definitely reaffirmed this decision. Luke and Luie brought me to the park on Richmond St. which is a middle-class Polish neighborhood.
Right as we parked and got out of our car a whole group was leaving. “Well that sucks,” I thought, “we just missed our chance.” But, great things did happen. We saw a couple younger teens still at the court, so Luke went to go get a ball from the SA while Luie and I sat down. Once Luke had gotten back, a bunch of Polish teens came just minutes after him. We got to play a few games with them. After the first game, I told them there was Gatorade for free. They went over and got some. As they got some, I got a gospel tract for the kid who dropped the “F bomb” 500 times and gave it to him saying, “This story changed my life and this is why I’m doing what I’m doing. I’m not even from around here. I came all the way from KY to tell you this story.” Before I continued, I noticed that at least 6 guys crowded around me to hear what I had to say. They all listened and when I said there are more tracts by the cooler, they actually jogged over there to get one for themselves! People were wanting to get their hands on the story of Jesus! Seeing this made reminded me of a verse in John when the Pharisees said, “Look, this is getting us nowhere, see how the whole world has gone after him.” I know 6 or so guys isn’t the whole world, but that’s what it felt like. I was so pumped and already felt a friendship connection with them, like I could joke with them (and I did). Luke, Luie, and I proceeded to invite them to open gym at the SA tomorrow. This is when I absolutely confirmed my decision to have McDonalds at the SA… I told them, “Yeah, and McDonald’s at 6:00!” A few said they would definitely come. This could possibly be a huge breakthrough here in Philly. You see, the first day here, Major told me that each neighborhood is distinctly cut off. One block this way you have the K&A with poverty and violence and 4 blocks this way you have a purely Hispanic neighborhood, and 6 blocks this way you have a middle class, well-off neighborhood (or however it is). These guys, especially in the K&A do not leave their territory. They don’t cross into the other hood. These guys are just blocks away from each other and they have no idea what life is like on the other side! If both these groups come to the SA tomorrow, we’re talking about two neighborhoods and lifestyles within blocks of each other mingling for the first time! I text most people in my phone asking for prayers—this could be huge. He especially helped when Bill offered me 80 dollars to help with the McDonald’s and pay for my first gas fill-up. God’s ministry functions on people serving others, Christians and non-Christians alike!
One last thing worth mentioning: the Weather. Talk about God having a hand in all of this and making it perfect timing, just look at the weather aspect. I already said that if my Spring Break week had been the same as the past two years I would never have met Mike, who became my inside man sort of. Well the change in Spring Break dates also had an impact because of weather. Luie jokingly told me he doesn’t want me to leave so that the weather will stay nice. The reason he said this is because the day I got here was the first day Philly had nice warm weather in a long time (I guess this year)… All four days I’ve been here the weather has been in the upper 60’s and Friday, when I leave it’s supposed to drop to the 30’s and snow! They’re going to have a snow storm this weekend! How crazy… and I was worried about coming here a week earlier than my usual Spring Break for fear that it would not be as warm as it could be. Shame on me for not trusting God in that area.