Build something tangible

"What do you do?" I get asked on planes, trains and in rental car agencies. I get asked in polite company, and in the heart of the 'hood. My answer is always something like: "I mobilize and train students to follow Christ by moving into high crime, high poverty neighborhoods, and make a transformational difference there." Sometimes it ensures a quiet flight, sometimes elicits a blank stare, sometimes entices a genuine conversation. But the conversation inevitably leads to the question of our product. What kinds of outcomes are we seeing? How do we measure success? After all, success is everything in America.

Even my sabbatical has to have outcomes. Here they are as I described them three months ago: 1) Decompression. 2) Discernment. Now at the mid point I have added: 3) Demolition and 4) Design. Its because after three months of contemplating, writing, reading, thinking, watching, walking -- I need to DO something; I need an outcome I can point to. A wall removed between our kitchen and back office, new ceiling fans in both rooms, the range repaired, the plumbing fixed, a writing desk designed and built with my son. We NEVER have time for this stuff, and we are on a roll. Next month it will be the stairs that have fallen down and the back deck that has suffered under the feet of a thousand neighborhood kids.

FUNNY THING about fixing stuff. With my mind relaxed and my body engaged in physical activity my thoughts are freed to chew on all the lessons we were taught during the first three months. And now that we have a table in the kitchen, I have a place to sit while thinking.