Thriving in the desert.

What a strange, alluring neighborhood... There is one particular girl here who Colleen and I have known for almost five years, initially came off as a kid who didn't have any respect or willingness to learn. We first got to know her on the soccer field, then a couple years later she joined Starfish, and recently she is one of the girls who has been stopping by our house with her friends. Well tonight, I pulled her tooth out for her!

A friend in urban ministry who has been a mentor to me always says that "you know you are starting to have an impact when a kid's parents call at three in morning with a crisis concerning their child and needing your help." Well a reluctant kid who is fearful of pulling a tooth out is hardly a crisis worthy of a three am phone call. But I just thought how interesting it was that over the years it has come to a place where Colleen and I and a group of kids can be huddled in front of the mirror laughing as we are pulling teeth out together. It's never happened in other places.

I recently meet a couple down the street who were holding a young baby out on their porch. I chit chatted... then the great grandmother walks up behind and says hello to Elodie "she is so beautiful!" she goes on about how wonderful children are and how lucky I am to be a dad... I reach my hand out to shake hers.. she becomes embarassed because she reaveals a pack of smokes and lighter, and almost forgetting what is in her other hand she holds it out only to show two strips of crispy bacon in it, so she quickly puts it in her mouth, and extends her hand back out. Laughing she realizes her manners when she sees her greasy fingers, so finally with a big toothless grin she turns her elbow to me and I shake it with a smile.

Looking out the window we saw kids having a dance off in the intersection where they just installed a Chicago Police blue light. Seriously, a dance off!

There are the deaf people across the street who are always signing over to me, I don't understand but the countenance is always so good...

There is this kid who every single day walks by at the same time in the morning with his white collared shirt and navy pants, with his little brother in tow...

There is a rogue garage behind us with ten or so shirtless guys who, serving as the mechanics, charge you the rate of "well what do you wanna pay?"

The Pastor in a head to toe red zuit suite who promises to give me a copy of his gospel album when it comes out, any day now...

The fact that this is the first time since my youth, that the person who delivers our mail knows us by name, and even asks about Elodie...

Even the boarded up houses. The one that was just torn down... the other one where they took out half and patched up the side to where you can see where the stairs used to be... the trash and litter, the empty lots... They play stick ball on those empty lots, I saw it with my own eyes.

Even the gun shots are a celebration of the lives that are thriving despite the circumstance...

They somehow create a vibrance and beauty all it's own that isn't available in the pristine cut lawns and cleaned streets of other areas.

It amazes me how resilient humans are...

That girl who's tooth I pulled, now she could be a leader, she's learned so much and grown so much...

Tonight, Colleen completely filled with the spirit, had the girls blushing at the prospect of someone who desperately wanted to marry them. She introduced them to a Lord and Savior who calls them his bride. We stood in a circle hand-in-hand. Elodie was in my arms, as Colleen prayed for the girls. I felt the Lord's presence. At that time, I thought that there is no better place to raise this child than right here in the midst of all this beauty....