You are my Joy, You are my Joy, You are my Joy, You are my Joy....

You are my Joy, by the david crowder band.

(one should really check out this song because often when things are repeated they create a connection, and they always seem to get me excited and want to dance around. check out this song.)

so. for the next week i have promised myself to blog everyday. it is holy week (at least in the episcopal tradition) so i will be blogging every day of holy week, starting now. my blogs also are going to get a little more organized in thought (only for you r. wingle, since you are the only one i know who actually reads my blog, regularly)

this weekend was quite fabulous. after making a hard decision and enjoying a week of relaxation, i had a group friday-saturday, just for 24 hours. it was weird not having a group for a whole week and then all of a sudden having a small group for less than two days, but it was rejuvenating. they had a fresh, awesome outlook on who God was and who they were in Him. it not only filled my spirit, but really got me thinking about the city, and how different people from different backgrounds relate to the city.

everything about this group spoke Jesus to those they encountered, especially me. they had decided to do this trip after spending time at urbana (a conference) and realizing a need to do urban ministry. since they were local, they found csm and wanted to serve in the city and get a glimpse into what is happening, what is really happening here in d.c.--as they left the group realized d.c. is more than the national mall or the yearly cherry blossom festival, and there are so many opportunities to "love their neighbor".

when they did the urban exposure experience,(urban exposure/plunge= the students are given $2 each for a meal, and are split into groups to learn and experience homeless culture in d.c.-they do this on their own so the city host gets time to just hang out & relax/plan a great debriefing) i got a chance to relax and hang out in union station chatting with a homeless lady that i have seen at pretty much every ministry site we go to that gives food. (she is such a sweet heart) immediately she recognized me and came over to hug me right after i took my first bite of my cheesy gordita crunch. (shout-out to taco bell) we talked for awhile, i was able to help her edit a case she is trying to present to a judge, and then we walked to eastern market. i had a great time hanging out with her. after wards she walked towards ccnv (very large homeless shelter sleeps 1350) and i headed back to union station.

on my way back to union station i saw some of my other buddies who were homeless, and they were just carrying on...telling jokes and what not. i had so much fun with them. they were thrilled that i remembered what their names were and a little about each of them. they even remembered my name and what i did. five minutes into our conversation they were asking me 'do you have a group coming around today...we loved that hotlanta group'. (last time i met them they ended up meeting my group who was doing urban exposure) i could have broken down in tears of joy when one guy, pulled out his phone and there was a picture of the atlanta group as his screen saver. he said 'i had to take a picture of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ because they took the time to pray for me the other week'.he went on to say that by the grace of God his needs were met and that God had heard their prayers.

we hung out some more, they even gave me an express newspaper to sit on so my butt wouldn't get cold on the cement divider we were sitting on. we also rocked out to stevie wonder, i even got to share a few of my dance moves. (want to see some of my dance moves? check out ytyouthgroup)

fast forwarding to what has to be the best part of my weekend. today. i was debating whether to go home to my church, or to hit up the national cathedral, because it's palm sunday and for some reason i wanted a palm. it eneded up working out. because i could not get myself moving earlier this morning, i ended up at eb's national community church. it was a not an accident that i was there. there is nothing like worshiping our Lord between to of your favorite homeless men of d.c.. not only was it humbling, it was just a beautiful taste of the kingdom. God just looks at our hearts. just our hearts. both men i had met numerous times. one of which remembered me very well.

we got to talking before the service and he said that he had in fact met my group just yesterday. he said he loved how they were so willing to listen, and he said that they made him feel special and reminded Him of how much God loves Him. he was a really cool guy. we even chatted about guys liking pink. He took a strawberry doughnut from our church's refreshment table and he quickly turned it over. He said" don't judge me because i have a pink doughnut". i laughed and told him that it really is okay for guys to like pink things and it just makes them more man-ly. he laughed and then we went down to service which was in fact amazing!

it was pastor mark who preached the last sermon on our tears series today. He preached on so much, but my favorite quote was sometimes 'God has to hurt us to heal us.' which makes so much sense especially when he used sheep as an example. he talked about shepherds who break legs of their sheep so they won't wander away. if the sheep were to wander it cold get eaten by wolves so when the sheep is being stubborn a shepherd would break the leg of the sheep to keep it safe.

i thought about this for awhile this afternoon. To that sheep it probably seems so harsh that the shepherd breaks your leg, but to the shepherd he is doing whatever he can to keep from losing that sheep to the wolves. reminds me a little of God going to great lengths to try and win our hearts like pastor heather talked about.


i could keep going but staff meeting is coming up followed by a large group for the next week. i will be writing more tomorrow. happy palm sunday.

You are Joy.

Tasha