BGU Journal 7/16/09

This morning I went to a neighborhood in San Jose that is infiltrated with drugs and crime. I played a game of soccer with children right next to two houses that are a front for the Columbian drug cartel's operations in Costa Rica (I scored two goals in case anyone is wondering if the soccer skills came back to me). I was not permitted to speak any English while I was there with our group because people would assume I was associated with the drug trade. Also, I was not permitted to take any pictures. We were only able to enter this neighborhood through one entrance, a rickety bridge of wood planks crossing a polluted river, with the presence of a pastor who was respected in the community. Our group served meals to children who are being supported by an organization called Food for the Hungry International in Costa Rica (FHICR). They have partnered with a local church to deliver social services, including food and medical attention, to children, single mothers, and drug addicts living in this part of San Jose.

I learned a lot about the power of calling and perseverance in urban ministry while we were here. The drug cartel has expelled every other church that has tried to make inroads into this community over the past thirteen years. The church we visited has had a presence here for the past thirteen years in two old abandoned drug houses and one former brothel. The congregation was intimidated and persecuted for the first three or four years in this community, and now they have established intense credibility to the point that they are the only organization allowed to operate in this community. They are transforming this community, and they offer services that impact all levels of family life, such as career training, addiction counseling, medical attention, food, education, and much more. They intend to be an integral, or holistic, church aimed at meeting the needs of the community. The pastor told us that she did not pick this calling, but God chose her and she would be disobedient if she did not follow through with these responsibilities even when she is persecuted.

Calling has greatly impacted my life in Pittsburgh. Early on, I felt called to provide leadership for LAMP at North Way. Currently, I have been called to move my family to Homewood. I do not think I could compare my calling to that of the pastor serving in this community in San Jose, but I definitely could connect with the feeling that when God calls you to take risks there is no way that you can ignore him. Anything else would be disobedience. We don't choose our calling from God, God chooses us for his purposes. Although it is an active process that involves our ongoing obedience, calling is definitely central to us as humans finding our place in the roles that God has for us during our lifetimes.