hiking

Today, I helped lead some of our kids on a hike in New Jersey. We took 19 kids, almost twice as many as have ever volunteered to go before. I must say, it was very interesting to see these "tough" kids outside of their element. When encountering different aspects of nature almost all of them were uncomfortable and a few were scared, even terrified. At the end of the day, though, the trip was a huge success. Each of the kids conquered the mountain, and each will have stories to tell their friends. A great experience for both them and myself. Peace!

a good week

These are a few pictures I took at the Metropolitan Museum of art yesterday - pretty cool place all in all.

As always, I've been staying busy. Wednesday was our "community night" - all of my housemates get together Wednesday night for either business, social activities, etc. This week happened to be a social-type night. We walked the Brooklyn bridge which gave us a great view of the city at night. Then we stopped in at city hall park where we had our prayer/reflection time in the middle of a sidewalk - and where Clint, a housemate, decided to take a dip in the public fountain (for which he was verbally reprimanded by a security guard. Then we went downtown to have pastries/deserts - it was wonderful.

Thursday night I went to a comedy play called Boeing Boeing. It was very funny, and I stuck around afterwards to get autographs so that was cool.

Friday at the crisis center we had a youth group from Katy (outside of Houston) Texas come in to share. They had about 10-15 kids, and 10-15 of our kids showed up as well so it was a pretty good turnout. We basically just opened up for people to share their story. A girl from Texas told her story first, and another girl from Texas finished up. In the hour between those two, our Covenant House kids shared. It was very moving, and powerful as they they told us about abusive, drug-addicted parents, about addictions and gangs, and about their faith journeys. A Texas girl summed it up well when she said "its amazing that you guys have been through so much, and you still believe".

Its been a good week. I'm looking forward to another good one -hopefully a hiking trip with some of the kids will be a part of it. Also, my family is coming to see me next weekend - so I can show off how well I know the city to them! Peace.

im selfish

I was at the Covenant House Crisis Center and I had opened the chapel for use by the kids. As I explored a bit I found a prayer book - in this book the kids can write prayers or prayer requests for Father Placid (or whoever else) to pray over. As I flipped through the book, here are some things that I read from various writers:
- I want to make it in life
- Please help me get my kids back
- Please help me. I'm lost and would like to be found
- Please pray for my family, we are in need of a home
- I'm lost and scared. I can't find myself. I don't know who I am any more. Everything is lies. Help me find myself please.
- Please Lord help me. I cry to you for help because I need help. Please hear my cries please.

As I read about the things these kids are going through and the types of things they were prayin for, I could only think one thing....I'm selfish.

other recent things

I keep remembering other things that have happened in the last couple of days that I haven't mentioned. First is 4th of July and fireworks. We watched the fireworks from our roof and it was awesome. There were at least 10 sets of fireworks going off at any given time around us. The Macy's fireworks (64,000 pounds worth) were huge, but lacked much of a grand finale. Most of the shows were a long ways off except for the guys that were setting off their own right down our street (illegally, of course). I've decided that I like being close-up at fireworks show, like at home in Ohio - I believe the Orrville fireworks are my running favorites. I like "feeling" the booms.
Today I went to church at the Times Square Church. It was a very large church, and I was kinda sceptical at first with the music and such - the whole thing was very TV-like. I was wondering how authentic the service would be. Then came the message - and it was a great one. The minister preached about "Knowing the Mind of Christ". The first part of the sermon was about how to go about finding God's will for your life and the types of things people do that keep themselves from hearing God's voice in their life. The second part of the sermon focused on using God's calling and sharing it with others. I think that I shouldn't judge churches on their size, or denomination, or anything else for that matter. I think that's where I, along with a lot of other people, get into trouble I think. At any rate its something to think about.
Also, today I saw a man on the sidewalk. This man was walking with his cat standing/sitting on his head. The cat seemed to enjoy it, because it was wagging its tail. I was impressed, but wasn't close enough to get a picture. Sorry. Peace!

great couple of days

At the time of my last entry I was a bit discouraged - but its amazing how God seems to always have everything figured out. On Friday I spoke with Father Placid about what my opportunities would be with pastoral ministry. He left me that night with the keys to the chapel and told me I could open it whenever I wanted. So after he left for the night, I opened the chapel and went around to a couple of the floors to let the kids know that its open and I would be there for a couple hours. I was happy when my first two guys walked in. The one had a very strong faith background and was not afraid to challenge me about what I believed, and I loved it! Others came just to see what the chapel looked like, and to see what pamphlets and things they could get for free. A group of girls came at one point and decided that we would read stories about Jesus together out of a children's book. I took these opportunities to introduce myself to the kids and say a short prayer with some of them. It was a great start - just what I needed. These kids know a lot more about the Bible and what it has to say than I thought they would - I was impressed, to be honest.
Outside of work, I've had a great couple of days. I discovered this thing known as "standing tickets" for Broadway shows. When the shows are sold out, they sell a certain number of these standing tickets to people who don't mind standing in the back of the first floor of seating to watch the show. Its great for a person on a budget (like me) because a regular seat to a show can be anywhere from $50-$150 (sometimes less, many times more) but you can get these standing tickets for $20-$25. So Thursday I got home from work and I went to see if I could get standing tickets for Phantom of the Opera but they were sold out - but very close to that theatre is was showing Spamalot - related to the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I got standing tickets for this show and it was pretty funny, a nice way to spend an evening. Today a few of us tried to enter a drawing to win some front row tickets to another show called Wicked, but failed - so we went and got standing tickets for Phantom and it was wonderful! (The picture above is me in front of the theatre) We may try to win tickets to Wicked again tomorrow - if we do, its a front row seat for $25 - that's hard to beat!
To finish off, I must thank my friends Dr. and Mrs. Metz for their assistance in helping me enjoy Broadway! Peace.

lunch break

I'm on my lunch break at work right now. I got to meet briefly with my supervisor yesterday to get a better feel for my schedule. I will be working with Father Placid in pastoral ministry on Monday and Friday evenings. I will be working for the recreation department Tuesday thru Thursday on afternoons.
So far I haven't had a whole lot of interaction directly with the kids, which was getting a little frustrating. Last night I realized that I came into this summer wanting to "help". During my interviews I told them I wanted to do whatever I could to "help". A lot of my recreation job is going to be trying to get free tickets to events, games, theme parks, etc for the kids to have fun with while they're here. I've realized is really important even though I don't get direct interaction with them that way. I guess it will make me enjoy and take advantage of the times I do get to spend with them either with the pastoral ministry or while doing on-site things for recreation.
During our training, one of the teachers asked us why we thought we were here - why we thought God led us here and what he was going to teach us through this experience. We all gave our answers, then he told us that we were all wrong. He said that we wouldn't know why God brought us here or what he wanted to teach us until the end of the experience.
I think God is testing me a little bit with humility and patience, helping me understand the importance of behind-the-scenes work. I've decided to try to make the best of it, and put as much effort into that part of my job as I do when I'm spending time with the kids.
So I feel good about being here and doing what I can to "help". Peace.

good morning

Today marks day three of work. So far its been.....interesting. My main supervisor has been gone for the two days I've been there, so I haven't been doing what I would usually do. Monday I started on the older females floor (18-21 year olds) where I read some case files and basically observed what happens on the floor. I was in the floor's office most of the day, but boredom got to me so I went and hung out with some of the girls in the lobby. Then I wandered upstairs to the older males floor and talked to some of them. All in all it was a good day - I met a lot of people and got a chance to hang with some of the kids so I can't complain about that.
Yesterday I decided that I wasn't going to just sit and observe. I needed to make myself useful - I don't really care what I'm doing as long as I'm doing something. So I started in the clothing room. People can donate clothing to covenant house for our kids. There is one lady in charge of the clothing room she does everything from sorting (because some people send stuff that an 18 year old kid would never wear) to cleaning the clothes. So I helped her out for a few hours until lunch. Then I went to the older males floor and cleaned out their AWOL closet. If a kid doesn't come back to Covenant House and leaves his belongings, they keep them in a big room for a certain amount of time before throwing them out. After this I went to the females floor and monitored the computer room for a while.
At 5 Father Placid (my supervisor for the pastoral ministry part of my job) took me to the mother/child covenant house building a couple blocks away to hold a prayer/discussion before their dinner. This was the first glimpse of something I will actually be doing, so I was happy to join him with that.
That's all for now, I need to be at work soon. Peace.