Heaventrain Through the Eyes of One Four Year Old

Terrified! Big eyes, each muscle in his little body was tense, he was crying and yelling "No"

I met this little four year old last time we were out with the Heaventrain at one of our stops. His friend who has grown up on Heaventrain, was trying to pull him to get into line. He wasn't going anywhere!

I kneeled down and asked him if he was going to get on the bus? He said, "No"

Usually if I talk to them or even ask if they would like for me to go on the bus with them they will say yes. He wasn't having it.

So now I try a different approach, Well ok "I'll stay with you outside the bus while your friends go on the bus,"

He barely nods ok.

So I start telling him what door the kids will be going into and what door the kids will be leaving the bus from. Kind of walking him through the whole process. After the kids get on the bus.  I reach out my hand to him and we walk hand in hand to go get some food. I can feel the tension in his little hand as he walks with me to the food truck. He was holding but just barely and I gently held his hand. I could sometimes feel his trying to pull away so we would stop walking until he relaxed it and then continue walking towards the food truck.

Then as soon as we get the snack he wants to go and stand right next to the front door. So we walk slowly hand in hand to the exact spot where we started at the front door.

I suggest we could go and sit on the curb.

He barely nods ok.

We sit on the curb outside the bus and wait. We sit for 20 minutes quietly. We talk about football in one word responses.

What do you like to do? Football. Do you play football? Shakes his head no.

So quiet, then not another word.

All around us there are kids playing football, soccer, and face painting. On the bus the Columbus Heaventrain teens were singing and the bus started rocking. I knew they were at the part where Julie was teaching the story of Jesus when he calms the storm and they were singing Row Row Row Your Boat and swaying as fast as they can back and forth. His eyes got even wider. The kids were doing puppets on the bus.

But we just sat still.

He is so quiet and sits real still. Holding his big red apple from his lunch bag.

When the bus back door opens he stands quietly waiting for his friends to get off the bus. As they leave he walks away, turns around and gives a tiny wave goodbye to me as he leaves.

Ok so I think, "Well maybe he survived the whole first time experience on Heaventrain and will be back again."



So this week, he comes back and he is a different kid. Big smile and comes running up to me, "I'm getting on the bus this week." I can't believe the change in the little guy from the last time I saw him. He is running around laughing and having a good time outside the bus.

The difference between the two weeks...Last week first it was a friend that was trying to get him on the bus, then me a stranger who tried to get him to go on the bus and then sat with him outside the bus, this week he is with someone he trusts his big 7 year old brother.

He gets in line hand in hand with his brother and climbs on the Heaventrain, turns and smiles back at me before taking his seat.

It's good sometimes to look at the Heaventrain through the eyes of this little child. It's easy to forget that sometimes that Big Blue bus with all the strange people around it can be terrifying. It's just like you've been taught at school. Don't talk to strangers and all the other words of warning that parents teach their children.

We do background checks and child safety training for all our volunteers, so they aren't strangers to the Heaventrain and the ministry.

But...

When we drive into the neighborhoods we are strangers to some because they might have just moved into the neighborhood, and here we come blowing train horns, playing music and You, the families of the Central neighborhood, welcome us each Saturday. Some of our volunteers have been coming for up to 10 years faithfully and many more each Saturday. I'm so thankful that 35 years ago Pastor Phil started the Heaventrain.

We treat the Heaventrain kids as part of our extended family.

So for all the brothers and sisters, aunts, and uncles, grandma's, and grandpa's thank you for welcoming us each week by running to the bus, riding bikes, pushing baby strollers and bringing your children, new neighbors, cousins, and friends to come.

Creating space for us to find love, belonging, and together we share in the love of Christ.

Forgiving Sorrow Gives Life

Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure-not to put it too severely-to all of you. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 

2 Corinthians 2:5-7

Forgiveness came from one person, Jesus Christ. He is Forgiveness. If everyone in the world asked for forgiveness, He would give it. He is abounding grace unlimitless, unending, and overflowing with love.

Forgiving can happen in community. Forgiving is all about life. Christ died so that He could forgive all our sins. He doesn't condemn us, He doesn't only forgive and then remember later, He doesn't make us pay for it, the one thing to remember is, He lets it go. 

As in He remembers it no longer. If we are in Christ we are a new creation, the old is gone and the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17) We can too!

Our challenge today decide on one person that we are going to forgive today...and let it go! 

For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 2 Corinthians 1:5

Update

I've been absent from the blogging world for a couple of years. I've been writing a book, the title currently is Trust Waits For Promise. I hope the manuscript will be finished soon. I'll keep you updated on the process, from queries, to submission, to publishing it on this blog.

Here is my thoughts from my Bible reading on Abraham and Isaac.

The conversation began. Genesis 22:1-9.14

Abraham! And he said, "Here I am." He said take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there on one of the mountains of which I will tell you."

Imagine if Abraham would have said no I won't sacrifice my only son how would the story have changed?

But Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father and said, "My Father" and he said, "Here I am, my son." Genesis 22:6

When we respond to God's call with "Here I am", as Abraham did with Isaac being willing to sacrifice all. Christ responds with "Here am I" and is the Resource and provides the resources. Are you in a moment where God is calling you to a "sacrificing life"? Where He is revealing things that need to change. He is drawing you closer to Him. Don't stop now, take the next step. 

14.Abraham call the place "The Lord will provide." 

1. Recognize and walk with the Lord to hear the voice of the Lord, since we don't usually hear audibly, we read the Bible and pray. Noah walked with God and was protected from a flood that destroyed all of mankind.

2.Willing to sacrifice our desires, For Abraham it was his only son Isaac. It might be your deepest longing that God tells you He has something better if you will let it go. Remember He sacrificed His only son on the cross for you to live a life where sorrow is removed and the fruits of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control can live. Then it can all be sown and reaped and sown and reaped again. 

3. It cannot be accomplished without Christ. He provides the resources and sustains them. 

4. Remember the place and thank Him. Abraham called the place "The Lord will provide"

Where are the moments in your life where you recognize it was time to let it go because God had something better? When it took faith and trust, and listening...

Leaders of Today and Tomorrow

Be the best leader you can be today, so that those who come after you can be even greater! 

We all had a dream bigger than what we could accomplish, greater than we could see, and reaching higher than we could achieve-if we did it alone. This week I've been apart of the Aspiring Leaders Academy in Central. A partnership of Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA), Solomon Movement, 4 Kids Foundation, Lighthouse Inc./Heaventrain, community parents, and the youth from Cleveland.

I've had an amazing week thanks to all the youth in The Aspiring Leaders Academy. It's a group of youth from 5th-10th grade simply learning, working, and being leaders in their communities through activities, games, and field trips for five weeks during the summer.

I've often thought if I only had known then, what I know now how much farther I could have been. That's what we are trying to do with this camp for the youth.

 Leaders are guiding and influencing our youth everyday-whether positive or negative, they are watching and learning by examples.

Circles of Influence

Teamwork

The craziest spaceship game ever, from my friend Lashunda that taught about effective leadership and achieving goals.

We are going higher!!!!

Waving the Magic Wand

On June 10th our 2nd Neighborhood Circle Meeting took place in the Central neighborhood. In this meeting our goal was to find some common ground with our "magic wand survey" and come up with the first step in our action plan. 

 On the table was a black magician's hat, some sticky notes, markers, and smiley face stickers. Not the usual items for a magic show. We were missing the deck of cards,  scarves, and of course the rabbit. 

The neighbors wrote on a sticky note what they would change in the neighborhood and put it in the magician's hat. Each person took their turn. Then the hat was passed around and the notes were read. 

Then the magic happened. The neighbors started talking about the possibility of what the neighborhood would look like and what they would do to help out. We voted on each slip of paper with our smiley face stickers the most important item of change.  

Now this is the sad part: I recorded the entire conversation on video but forgot to press play. I couldn't believe the mistake I made. 

Some of the neighbors were unable to atttend so the next meeting they will share their ideas and continue the discussion.

Neighborhood Circles

The first step in getting to know our neighbors is through our Central Community Survey. The goal is connecting neighbors gifts, finding the best part of each neighborhood, and finding what neighbors would do to improve their communities.

After the individual fills out the survey, we follow up with a phone call and an invitation to attend a Neighborhood Circle Meeting.

The goal of a Neighborhood Circle is to bring neighbors together but keep it small and multiply the circles in a neighborhood. When I think of what we want to accomplish it's listening to the voice of the community, sharing talents, meeting neighbors, and creating new friendships.

We invited between 6-8 people for our first Neighborhood Circle Meeting.

We stamped, cut, and pasted hand-made invitations for all attendees. Part of the fun of being a host of Neighborhood Circle is all the planning and preparation. Not really work when you are having so much fun!

Finding a place where everyone would feel comfortable was very important.

The Neighborhood Circle met at the Cleveland Public Library Sterling Branch.

Three weeks before the meeting, each of the attendees received a hand-made invitation in the mail with the details of the meeting. Everyone RSVP'd for the event within two days!

Another important part is making sure that the individuals were welcomed with good food. Since we didn't have time or a kitchen to make food we decided on ordering a take out from Hot Sauce Williams.

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together- African Proverb

This quote was our theme for the meeting. Everyone participated in the "mapping of our lives." Looking for common ground and sharing the impacting stories that brought us to where we are today. It was important that we shared something that was personal to us-to establish trust between each other.

We found common ground: most of us have moved a couple of times, experienced different neighborhoods, and been challenged in some kind of way to make us grateful and stronger and part of who we are today.

One of our friend's sharing his story

Brandy and a friend looking for her birthplace in Cleveland.

The lady in the blue t-shirt is a good friend of mine I've known for about 2 years. Through our conversations on that day we both found common ground in one of our dreams, "we both have aspirations of being teachers."I look forward to sharing more of her story in another blog post. She is pretty amazing!

 The next meeting, we'll share a potluck meal together and continue our conversations.  

Bunnies, Worms, and Chocolate Frosting

Happy Easter...this post is way late!

On Easter Sunday, it was cold and rainy. Not the kind of weather you want kids running around the yard looking for hidden gems-eggs filled with candy and goodies. The easter egg hunt was postponed instead we brought the party inside at Cedar.

Mike and Ike Candy, Brite gummy worms, and sugar wafers

Stamps, colored paper, stickers and stamp pads for cards

Making our bunny planters...

 The Glue for the wafers-chocolate frosting...yummy!

Stamping and coloring cards for family...

They were so creative! They became rabbit family cars, worm farms, and even a rabbit house!

 Cleaning off sticky-chocolate fingers !

 The kids were great and we had a lot of fun :)

When it was over the children went home with a bag of candy, easter eggs, and a couple of bologna and cheese sandwiches.