Houston: Exhausted and Blessed

Hey friends. My weekly chore for this week was to write a blog for the CSM website. What follows is my submission for it. After this paragraph I will tell you more of whats going on in my mind and my heart.

I'm sitting here thinking about how thankful I am for a couple days off between groups. We just finished our first round of hosting and it wasn't without tears, sweat and lots prayer. Our first group was from Grace Fellowship Church from Katy, TX. If you can imagine 96 middle schoolers in a tiny church building, its crazy. They arrived Sunday and we have been on the go since then. I have to be honest, I didn't think my group liked me very much at first. This was pretty much my first experience working with middle schoolers, let alone 10 8th grade girls. They were a handful and wore me out often but I always come back to Jesus at the end of the day and say "Yea that was worth it." We city hosts get the special opportunity to serve Jesus in a unique way. We get to be His hands and feet at the ministry sites as well as working along side our groups. It was really cool to see lives change and stereotypes shattered in these kids and their leaders, especially during the prayer tour. I think my favorite part about being a city host is that I get to lead a group of people who often come in not really knowing much about urban missions. Sometimes Christians (I included) settle comfortably in a suburban middle class life and never really get to see what God is doing in the cities where much pain, poverty and oppression fester. When I first came to Houston for my very first CSM trip, I saw Jesus in such a raw, beautiful way. I saw men and women dedicating their lives to setting the captives free and preaching good news to the poor in the name of Jesus. I saw Jesus in the face of a homeless man. It was in my first CSM trip that I realized that Jesus was calling me to a deeper relationship with Him and that meant that I needed to escape my comfortability. You see it is in the times when I'm sitting talking to person on the streets or a under-priveleged child that I see what it means to take up my cross and follow Jesus. Now as a city host, I get to see this transformation happen in young and old lives just like it happened to me. This week in my group we got to hang out with people living with Alzheimers and other dimensia related disorders, deliver lunches by hand to little children whose family struggles to get by, teach adults how to speak english and lots more. The week went by so fast, I can't believe it is already saturday and my next group arrives tomorrow afternoon. One night during my nightly shower I asked my self "can you do this six more times?" and I can say yes only by the grace and strength of God.

Ok so now here are some more things just for you all:

I honestly was super exhausted after this week even though it was a great experience. I struggled a bit with keeping patience with one of my leaders. After the first night I was pretty discouraged because this group leader complained alot and threw me a few curve balls that I wasn't expecting. Ask me in person when I get home. In the staff room after the first night, we all kinda just told stories about our groups. Some hosts loved their groups and some struggled a bit (like me). But the story doesn't end there. I began to see this particular leader's heart for the Lord. In all the ministry sites we visited, she and the others in my group showed me why I'm doing this job. Its not about having easy to get along with leaders, its not about how annoying middle schoolers can get, but its all about Jesus. He is still showing me what this means but i've definitely seen the Lord work in me this week. He showed me that I can't do this without Him as much as I try to sometimes.. so anyway here are the highlights of the past week..

1. I got to help a woman named Maribel learn english at READ Comission. It was a beautiful experience. She was so eager to learn.

2. I got to spend time with my boss/mentor Paul Randall who is an amazing man of God. He picked me up at one of my morning sites and we got away and grabbed some coffee and just chatted. He told me that no matter how much someone rubs me the wrong way or how annoying someone is, find the beauty in everyone. It was the Lord speaking to me through him.

3. At Sheltering Arms, there was music playing so I got to dance with some old ladies. They were so joyful and happy despite their challenges with Alzheimers..it was such a blast.

4. Found a random woman at a shelter named D, she shared her struggles with homelessness and confessed her sins while still proclaiming that Jesus is Lord of her life. She is so desperate for the Lord's direction in her life. I got to pray for her. It was a beautiful experience.

Please pray for my schedule and my free time that I would use it to be with the Lord. With this job it is so hard to get away sometimes. Pray that the Lord would teach me how to love others like He does.

Thank you all for being my brothers and sisters in Christ. I am so thankful for all of you.

Blessings,

Tyler