Tuesday, November 2, 2010

The Deep End

I have been thinking about sometimes we are completely thrown into the deep end and expected to swim. I came to America , expecting to be helping out at an after school program, only to learn that I was going to be both planning and teaching at the ASP. Then two weeks ago, at the Urban Promise Banquet (this is the major fundraising event of the year), I was asked to help with organising people backstage, just before they go on stage, this despite not having any experience in theatre work at all.


Being thrown into to the deep sends many questions and thoughts racing through my mind. I don't really need to ask who is doing the throwing. I doubt that it is just coincidence. The only thing that makes sense to me is that it is God who is pushing me (or allowing me) into the deep end.

The important question is why? Why are we thrown when we could ease slowly into the situation. Probably if I was given the opportunity to ease into some situations, then I would back out citing lack of experience or confidence. I believe that God throws us in the deep end because it is the only way in which we are going to grow into the person whom which we are to come.


It talks about in the Bible how God will never test us with more than we can cope with, but I think that usually we can cope with a lot more than what we believe we can.

Albert Einstein once said "I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” In my experience God rarely just teaches as if like a teacher at the front of the class, but it is through the trials of life, that Gods teaches us. So it is up to God to put us in the situations that we learn the most in in order to become the people we are to be.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Volcano

This weekend has been a learning experience - This is because of these little things called Bed Bugs. These things will get into many different hiding places, and strike when your asleep and are notoriously hard to get rid of.


This resulted in me and my housemates leaving the house that we were living in, but not before spending my long sought after day off cleaning our house from top to bottom, and washing and drying every item of clothing that my house mates and I own. Needless to say that this made for a tiresome and stressful day.


In the TV program Firefly, there is a quote from a man called Xian Yu (not sure if he is made up or not), which says "Live with a man 40 years, share his house, his meals, speak on every subject. Then tie him up and hold him over the volcano's edge, and on that day, you will finally meet the man." This in my opinion, could also be applied to how one views themselves - You live with yourself but it is only when you are in a situation which is testing, that you find out the real you, all the rubbish comes to the surface and rears its ugly head.


To be honest, I was not even close to being hung over a volcano's edge and i found myself being a jerk to people who really did not deserve it.


In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul talks about how love is patient and kind and not irritable or rude. Here I understand Paul to mean that this is not primarily about loving someone when it is easy to do so, but when it is hard to love, when people are getting on your nerves, or when you are tired and stressed. For me to be like this is long way off, but maybe, just realising my faults is the first step on the route to fixing them and becoming an imitator of Christ. 

Thursday, September 30, 2010

What I am doing

          I figured that I should give you a bit more information about what my role is in Camden. My main task is as an After School Program teacher. From 3pm to 6pm me and another person are in charge of 24 1st and 2nd Graders. There is also another classroom with the same amount of kids in this camp, with a few more camps around the city, so quite a lot of kids are attending After School Programs. During the program we have homework time, making sure that they are  getting their homework done correctly. We also teach lessons on literacy or Bible.

          We have been on two field trips with the kids, one last Friday, to a nature reserve (which resulted in one of the interns falling into a lake, and some of the kids trying to 'adopt' a fairly large snake) and on Wednesday, when we went to a insectarium

Some of our kids on the trip to the insectarium 


            The Interns also have to do some work in the wider community, so from next week I will be helping out at a place called the Romero Center which is a center dedicated to social action.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Hope

In my three weeks in Camden, it has come clear that Urban Promise is about Hope. Hope for a city and its residents that has been neglected throughout the years .

In the film 'The Shawshank Redemption', Andy Dufresne talks about how "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and no good thing ever dies"- With true hope in God, people cannot help but believe there are better things to come. Hope is the best of things and cannot be conquered.

This is the Hope being shown by the people here at Urban Promise.