Pockets

All humans create pockets. I'm not talking about the ones you plunge your hands into when you're nervous, I'm talking about a space that every human can create that invites others to an action. There are lots of different kinds of pockets. 

While we had planned on sunning ourselves at the pool, the rain in Medford allowed Shirley's (Grammy's)  home to be a pocket of rest for our fatigued souls. I guess that's why intergenerational stuff is so good. We all create different kinds of pockets for humanity to sit in and every pocket of life has value. The 5-year-old pocket is full of wonder and play, the 15-year-old pocket is full of becoming and questioning, the 20-year-old pocket has semi-trained, inexperienced energy to take out on the world, the 30-year-old pocket is energy controlled by wisdom, and the 70-year-old pocket slows down the pace, asking for presence over product.

On the adventure God has called each of us to, He provides for the pockets we need along the way. He also calls us to create pockets for others. Don't miss an opportunity to sit in a pocket, or to create one for someone else.

Egg #8- Harambee

There's something about a child's excitement and energy that is contagious...and sometimes overwhelming. The moment we said TAG when trying to explain the rules to link tag at least three 1st grade boys barreled forward and latched onto Bethany's waist, screaming their Harembee cheer. Not deterred by their behavior, Bethany employed the tried and true teacher technique of "ignore the bad behavior" and continued explaining the rules; boys are still latched to waist and now leaping for the shoulders for a piggy back ride. At this point more of the children, excited by their Harembee cheer and the word TAG, have begun running around the room. Bethany, resourceful and gifted educator that she is, tries to use ENVoY techniques to re-gain their attention. Much to her dismay, the children are not responsive and continue yelling and running around the room. I stood to the side, mouth agape, brain frozen, unable to even conceive of the next step. At least Bethany was trying. All of our limited educator tricks had been used up! We finally just started running with them and yelling out the rules as we went. Fun times!

For adults it is so easy to forget what child-like faith looks like and it is only when we spend time with children that we can see why Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." I was not sure how all of these precious African American children would respond to us when we first walked onto the Harambee campus. I mean, we're white girls from Oregon whose drug knowledge is from DARE and have learned about prison from newspaper articles, not because daddy lives there...what do we know about inner-city life? There was a worry inside of me that they would sense our utter naivete and not want to play with us. But my worry was for naught. All I needed to do was say hello to the little girl playing on the playground and I was in. Children are so quick to trust, even if you're a white girl from Oregon who knows nothing about the city or the hard life. By the first half hour, there were children hugging us and hanging on us, begging us to sit next to them at "Family Time." As we played it was good to be reminded that God loves it when we trust Him that quickly, even commands it when He says, "Don't be afraid because I am your God. I will make you strong and will help you; I will support you with my right hand that saves you." 

Harambee is a ministry that has been creating a safe-haven for the children of Pasadena for over 20 years. The street corner where they are located is in a part of town that used to be called "blood corner" because it was where the most daytime drive-by shootings and failed drug deals occurred. Today there is still a struggle against gang and drug activity, but now it happens at night. God has blessed the work of Harambee and residents call the place where Harembee sits, "God's Corner."

One of the ways Harambee has been so successful is that they create a family within their staff. We were greeted by the receptionist, Ilene and we immediately became her "babies"...but by the way she was answering the phones, she must have had at least 100 different "babies." We were then led to Flo (in the picture below) who wears many different leadership hats at Harambee. She has an AWESOME Ghana meets UK accent and is clearly anointed by the Holy Spirit. The students respect her for the depth of relationship that she has with them as well as with her Creator. We also were able to spend some good time with Charlotte, the outgoing executive director of the whole program. She modeled leadership that is aware of what's going on and open to all feedback that will make things improve, an outstanding and often rare characteristic in a leader.

We spent our time there helping out with summer camp. The day was broken down as follows: academic time, recess, lunch, swimming, nap time, VBS. We got to spend a lot of one-on-one time with the kids which renewed my love for teaching and mentoring.

Every Friday is field trip day so today we went ice skating at the Pasadena Ice Rink. It was quite a task to round up 40 kids, get them sized for shoes, help them fit their feet into the shoes and then tie up their shoelaces. "Ms. Becca/Bethany can you help me?" was a phrase that was thick in the air for a good half hour until we had them outfitted. Those who got their shoes on first amused themselves by walking, wobbly-ankled on the rubber mat surrounding the rink. You could tell they felt pretty good about their skills in their new shoes. Then came the 10 minute skating lessons followed by the trek onto the ice. As they marched up to the rink, there was a confident and excited buzz, zinging through the line. But as they proceeded onto the rink the excited buzz quickly turned to yelps of terror as they tried to navigate wobble legs. One by one they moved onto the rink, desperately clutching the blue edge and trying to control their lower half. I know this is almost awful, but once they were all out, I couldn't help but giggle inside when I observed the line of once-confident but now terrified children yelping from the wall as the instructor tried to give advice. Some kids took on the challenge, falling flat on their butts from the get-go, arms flailing windmill style, exactly as they had been instructed not to do. Others cautiously moved along the wall. Still others wailed until a leader came to their rescue. Bethany was good with these ones as she herself is a wall-clinger who has recovered from her wailing ways.

The cool thing was that within 15 minutes all the kids were skating. Various levels, obviously, but they all found some kind of success. I couldn't help but think that as adults we approach situations in the same way. God gives us a new task and we run forward, guns blazing until we suddenly find ourselves outside our league and skill set and are instantly terrified. Somehow we age backwards about 20 years and cling to the blue edge of the ice rink, wailing for God to get us out of the situation. Or, we go for it too soon and go down extremities flailing. Or, we creep along the ice rink wall hoping God won't notice as we try to find another way to escape what He has given us to do. If we would just listen to Him, accept His belief in us and the help/direction He gives us from the beginning we would find in not much time we are more than capable of doing what He has asked us to do. The cool thing is that once we listen to His loving help and obey his direction, we are ice skating within 15 minutes, full of joy and confidence because He is the one skating with us.

Egg #6 Disneyland...or Hi Bob Goff

We realize this is out of order, please do forgive. Also, this post may be confusing. Please read the previous reflection on Love Does if you wish to fully understand.

http://everygoodlifehasaroadtrip.blogspot.com/2012/06/love-does.html

8:01am Hi Bob Goff, this is Becca and Bethany. Guess what! We are going to Disneyland today and just parked our car. Because of our wicked awesome touristy car top carrier, we got to park at the bottom level of the Chip and Dale parking lot. That means less walking which = less time to get to DISNEYLAND! We are hoping that if you have time that you would maybe be able to meet us on Tom Sawyer Island. Anyway, give us a call back if you get a chance.

8:19am Hi Bob Goff, this is Becca and Bethany. We are standing in line for our first ride in Disneyland, Peter Pan! This was the first ride that Bethany ever went on as a kid. Highlights of the personnel in line was the family that were wearing matching shirts. All the little boys wore blue t-shirts with with ninja Mickey Mouse ears, all the little girls and moms with wore gray t-shirts with matching Mini Mouse ears, and all the dads wore manly gray t-shirts with Mickey Mouse ears. Apparently they were all homemade... impressive. We know this because Bethany was so excited that she struck up conversation with almost every person we passed at the beginning of the day. Anyway, if you get this message we would still love to meet you on Tom Sawyer Island later today if you have any free time.

8:38am Hi Bob Goff this is Bethany and Becca. We just got done riding the Finding Nemo ride. We wanted to go on the Matterhorn but the line was basically double circling the mountain and we decided it wasn’t worth the wait. While waiting for our turn for Nemo Becca decided to be silly and stick her toe over the white waiting line when she thought no one was looking. Much to her surprise and dismay the pudgy line attendant yelled at her from behind. She yelped and jumped at least 2 feet in the air.

9:00am Hi Bob Goff this is Bethany and Becca. We just got done with Astro Blasters where I totally blew Bethany out of the water with my points. I got to a level 4 while Bethany only barely got to level 3. The ride stopped at least 3 or 4 times which is usually really irritating, but in this game it totally helped our pointage.

9:40am Hi Bob Goff this is Bethany and Becca. You’ll never believe this! We are calling you from the inside of Space Mountain! We were pumped that the ride got stopped and the lights turned on. The inner-working mysteries of one of the best rides of Disney were revealed to us! Hahaha (maniacal laugh). We also get to ride it again as a customer courtesy…whoops, they’re waving their hands in the air…I’d better put my phone away.

 

10:12am Hi Bob Goff  this is Becca and Bethany. We just got fast passes to Grizzley Mountain and are now in search of coffee. You see Becca is mildly addicted, she’s really dragging at this point and I can’t have my partner in crime out of commission on a day like this! We would still love to see you on Tom Sawyer Island later today. Give us a call J

10:43am Hi Bob Goff! Its B & B again. We just discovered that being young and attractive and female women has its perks. One of the cast members for the new ride Luigi’s Flying Tires started flirting with us and we ended up scoring free passes that led us right into the ride. You must understand that the line for this one was 75 minutes! We felt a little scandalous because we floated on into the ride with a handful of handicap people however, no one questioned us and before we knew it, we were bouncing on Luigi’s tires and throwing giant beachballs at complete strangers.

11:15am Hi Bob Goff. We are standing in line for the newest Cars ride and eating our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which we so diligently packed this morning. Because our hands are busy feeding our faces we make a ridiculous picture kicking our Tupperware containers forward as the line moves. It is hot here in the sun and we are trying to stand in the best position possible to get an even tan. Bethany is mostly focusing on her chaco tan line while Bec is working on burning a circle onto her back.

12:15pm While taking a survey (which we secretly hoped would give us more free passes, but instead gave us obnoxiously large stickers) about the new Carsland, we received a call from Bob Goff’s personal secretary letting us know that he was out of the country and would not be able to meet us on Tom Sawyer Island but was, however, enjoying our messages about Disneyland. She promised to send us his e-mail as he wanted to hear how the rest of our trip went. Even after this point we still composed voicemails to Bob Goff for every location we went to. They went as follows:

1:45pm HI Bob Goff. No need for any more introductions, I suppose. You probably recognize our number. We are standing in line for the Little Mermaid ride. Becca is contemplating her reasons for preferring Ariel to the other Disney Princesses. She has discovered so far that the connection she feels is because she loves to sing, has always wanted fins instead of legs, and seeks adventure, sometimes recklessly.

2:13pm Hi Bob Goff. We just got done with the Mickey Mouse Ferris Wheel where we met these people from New Zealand, an older couple who had been on vacation for almost a month! The best part of the ride came when mid-conversation our basket swung out over the park (we chose swinging baskets instead of stationary ones because we’re adventurous) and the husband started belly-laughing while the wife repeated, “oh goodness, oh goodness, oh goodness,” while maintaining a death grip on her seat.

2:55pm Hi Bob Goff. B & B here. It is so warm, Grizzley Mountain was wonderful. We met a group of 16-year-olds who had flown to Disneyland for a Sweet 16 birthday party. Would you give that big of a present to your kid for turning 16?! We both agreed to give each other a reality check if either of us even considered that when we have kids.

3:28pm Hi Bob Goff. We are at the Symphony Swings and met a cast member who was having  a long day … He said he put chips in our heads—“Can you hear me?” he asked. He was hilarious and slightly delusional.

4:04pm Hi Bob Goff. We just got done with California Screamin’—we decided our heads and stomachs are done with roller coasters for today. We are going to head over to Disneyland soon. We hope to visit your office on Tom Sawyer Island even though you will not be there.

4:23pm. Hi Bob Goff. Bethany and Becca here. We are at the dock trying to get to Tom Sawyer Island but there is this funny sign that says they will be closed until 9:00pm! We are pretty discouraged to maybe miss a chance to see your office, but we’re going to try to find a way to get there. Becca wants to try to sneak, off-road style, but I am holding her back until I get more information.

4:27pm. Hi Bob Goff. There is now a whole team of people dressed in black outfits crossing the river to go to Tom Sawyer Island. It seems pretty official and sketchy, although they say they have official business to do. We thought about trying to sneak on the boat with them but Bec is wearing a rainbow shirt and I’m dressed in plaid shorts meaning we wouldn’t blend very well. We also considered finding a back route and swimming through the canal but we aren’t wearing the proper earth tones to blend in with the foliage. I guess we’ll just have to see your office some other time. Thanks for listening to all of our messages.

Love Does

In order to pass the time away in the car, we have been reading this awesome book called Love Does by Bob Goff. He talks about how true love engages with every moment of life, seeing all experiences as an opportunities to put hands and feet to love. His stories have kept us laughing when San Francisco and L.A. traffic could have made us lose our minds. 

At the beginning of his book he talks about setting up office on Tom Sawyer Island in Disneyland. Then at the end of the book he gives his cell phone number and invites the reader to give him a call. Since we have loved his stories and the philosophy behind his book we decided to give him a call. The first time he did not answer but we left a voicemail. His talk of persistence in the book really inspired us and so we decided to practice what we were learning and call him persistently until we heard back. Sometimes his phone was off and we didn't leave a voice message so we figured if he couldn't see the missed calls we probably weren't pestering him too badly. 

But really. You should read this book. Its awesome. 

Peanut Butter

The beauty of this road trip is that when we visit these missional communities they often offer to feed us. However, there have been many meals that we have had to fend for ourselves. So far our staples have been the following:
- apples
- oranges
- bananas
- peanut butter and banana for breakfast
- peanut butter and jelly on the Great Harvest White bread Bethany's mom gave us
- peanut butter and jelly on the whole wheat english muffins we bought at the store
- peanut butter by itself

The common theme here is peanut butter. Good thing peanut butter never gets old.

Phil'z Coffee

Dear Portland: WHY HAVEN’T YOU THOUGHT OF THIS??????????????

Love, Becca and Bethany

Before heading out this morning, we stopped to see Sage at her bartista post at Phil’z coffee. The really cool idea behind Phil’z is that your cup of coffee doesn’t just have one kind of bean or roast in it, it might have up to SEVEN different beans or roasts. The creatie possibilities are endless. You begin with the barista, who really is more a coffee consultant, guiding you to the perfect choice of one of their 20 different blends. Each cup is hand filtered before your very eyes after you make your selection.

Having a unique product that draws people to the location of the dream has always been a part of the dream. The idea behind Phil’z Coffee could be that kind of product. However, it also made Becca’s brain hatch the following possibility: what if the coffee shop was centered around coffee art? The art of blending different beans and roasts together into the perfect cup, while the art that was sold at the shop used the medium of coffee grounds? Stay tuned to see how things pan out. In the meantime, please start painting things with your grounds as you sip your morning java. We welcome all submissions. 

Egg #4, Church of the Sojourners or CotS

Our time with Church of the Sojourners started later than we planned because we grossly underestimated California traffic, complete with failing to realize that we would be driving in at one of the busiest times of the day. However, we successfully crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, navigated HUGE hills in a stick shift (Becca would like you to know that her stick shift skills are nearly unparalled—she only needed the e-brake once), and arrived just in time for birthday cake at the end of service.

The word that best describes Church of the Sojourners is family. When we arrived at the birthday celebration, it felt like we had joined a family gathering. They welcomed us in, offered cake and ice cream and gave us a tour of the house. Church of the Sojourners (CotS as used in the rest of this post) is a community of people that live in 4 houses within walking distance of each other who do all of life together—sharing cars, meals, activities, and living space. They are diverse—the birthday was for a charming 3 year old, (who was thrilled about his football birthday present) and there are people who have been part of the community since its inception 25 years ago.

We were struck by how seriously and genuinely these people take their family life. There is set apart space for individual families, but they are in it together. There is a deep loyalty—this really is a family…it just happens to be a nuclear family that consists of 35 people. They describe it like family: this is who the Lord has given me as family so I will love them with all that I am. Everyone wasn’t just friendly with each other: they were friends.

Although we were bummed to miss out on church, we were very glad to chat with Renata and then join in on a hilarious game of Telephone Pictionary. Troy (who spent time painting in France) and Lee were quite the artists…. Others of us… were not. Katie was a master with words and definitely used her creative powers to come up with sentences that were nearly impossible to draw in the space of 2 minutes required for the game. Bethany and Katie found a kindred spirit in each other: they both enjoy saving the hilarious sequences created in the game. Katie, however, takes it a step further: she files the sequences. All in all, we spent the evening laughing, welcomed and included in this family’s life together.

Thanks Lee, Jody, Troy, Katie, Renata, Sage, Ben, Dale, Tim and Suzie (and everyone else) for welcoming us and laughing with us!

Egg #3, The Redwoods

When you tip your head all the way back, your mouth falls open. You can’t help it. (or at least, I can’t). This entire morning was a reminder of the awe of I AM. The sunrise over the hills and fog in the valleys. I AM. The curves of the road through the land. I AM. The height of trees that pulled your eyes ever upward. I AM. And I was when I planted them long, long ago. The awe is not forced. It is an invitation to be still, to wonder, to listen, to see beauty, to be awed.

As we walked through the Redwood forests, spiritual metaphors abounded.

--Fallen trees don’t die, they continue to live and other giant trees grow from them. Likewise, sometimes our dreams, our hopes, our desires must fall or be put aside for something bigger and better to come from them.

--Burls, seeming warts on the trees, are the places where new trees, new life can spring forth. How the burls form or grow is still unknown. Similarly, God is in the business of bringing new life out of pain, weakness and brokenness. We are seldom sure how He is going to do it and often initially want to just remove the “wart.” Yet He works in beautiful and mysterious ways. He promises that new life will come from those broken places (see Isaiah and the Psalms) and that new life will surpass even what we could have hoped.

 --Roots go wide, not deep, allowing interdependence. If you tread hard on the roots, they are damaged and the trees will die. In the same way, when one of the people we are connected to falls or struggles, we all are impacted. However, when all the roots are healthy, they help everyone be healthy, especially when those roots are in Jesus (see John 14).

--At any given time, you could see at least 9 different kinds of trees, not to mention all the other plant and animal life. In the body of Christ, our diversity is our beauty and strength: we could not function if everyone was a hand or a knee. Our diversity becomes our Achilles heel when do not value all the members for who they are and the role that God has called them to and given them. This drives us to prayer because without God allowing us to see His perspective of those around us, we will mostly be frustrated by how they don’t seem to be doing what we think their job is very well. When we were driving through the forest, it was hard to see all the different kinds of trees. But upon closer inspection from our sweet ride in the sky tram, they are all green and have needles, but they are different shades of green, their needles have different shapes and grow different directions. It is when we get to know others more intimately that we see the beauty and uniqueness that God has given them. From there, when we ask, He grants us the opportunity to see His perspective of the beautiful mosaic we all make together, all colored “green” in Christ.

We used sweet Gandalf staves on our hike back down. 

Egg #2, Medford

 I’m only starting this blog this way because Bethany insists that we must include all details of this trip which is going to mean admitting a bit of forgetfulness on my part.

Medford greeted us with a successful and speedy shopping trip to good ol Fred Meyers where we picked up some toiletries and a dress for the wedding we are going to later for Becca. You see, in her excitement and enthusiasm to embark upon the journey she had forgotten her wedding dress which she had strategically hung above where she was packing so she would not forget. Don’t even tell me you haven’t done the same.

We arrived at Grammy’s house and made quick work of the chores list she gave us. Becca magically mended her pants while Bethany meticulously washed the kitchen blinds and windows. After lunch and a brief trip to Food 4 Less, which mostly involved us chasing Grammy through the aisles, Side note! Grammy says she’s old and slow however, she moved through Food 4 Less with deft agility, passing through the collision-prone aisle intersections without so much as a glance with confidence that everyone would stop for the elderly lady…which they did! We enjoyed nap time and quiet time as the rain forced us to move our pool-side plans indoors.  We spent our dinner of take-out Chinese food wondering if watching our play in the rain would be worth it. In order to get rain vouchers, however, we still had to go to the play. So, dressed, as Grammy described it, like New York and armed with our heels, blankets, rain jackets, and towels, we drove to Ashland to stake out our spots. By the time the show started it was only lightly sprinkling making it difficult to decide whether we should stick it out or come again later when the weather was more cooperative. For the first 5 minutes we watched the action slightly distracted by our freezing toes and damp hair until Bethany whispered to me that I should check out other show times on my iphone. We took turns trying to navigate the less-than-helpful website until it started raining harder and we decided it wasn’t worth it. After a nice mug of rich hot chocolate we drove back to Grammy’s humble abode where she greeted us in her winter bathrobe. Is this roadtrip really happening in JULY!?

Despite our disappointment in missing As You Like It we are confident that the weather will be much improved in two weeks. We went took advantage of the slightly earlier night by going to bed promptly with the goal of getting up early so we could spend some quality time in the Redwoods before heading off to San Francisco.

Our Mission (what on earth are we doing?)

I hate it when I think I have a good idea and then when I share it with someone they shoot it down either by lack of enthusiasm or by asking me questions regarding details that I haven't yet thought through. I'll never forget the first time Beth and I talked about missional community. We were driving home from some event and she began sharing about people living together to create a better society and planet through the message of Christ's redeeming love. She was pretty jazzed about her idea and I hate to admit it, but I totally tried to shut it down. Two different families living in the same house!? Four families committing to living in the same neighborhood for 10 years?! Sharing each other's stuff?! Sharing each other's money and resources?! That's appalling crazy talk. Fortunately, Bethany was not afraid of my questions and completely embraced them even though my ulterior motive was to shut out her insane idea. She, in true gracious form, thanked me for challenging her with all my questions and I was left with an idea, a seed, planted in the back of my brain. Little did I know that that specific conversation would be one among many that would begin to stir a fascination with this idea of what it looked like for the Church to live in true, Christ-centered Community.

Fast forward four years. Here we both are, college grads, Masters in hand, two years of teaching under our belts, 25 and still single. We have taken our college education that focused on service and community and have begun to apply it to the real world. Let us just say right now that we don't really like the real world. It is full of broken systems designed by broken people who tend to break each other more. For both of us that has meant seeing that though we have the best intentions and hopes for our students, we fight against habits and thought patterns that are far from the way God intended the world to run. Where am I going with this?

We believe that God intended and designed much, much more for the human race than we are currently living into. As we have faced the brokenness, God has begun to dream in us how He could heal our fallenness if we claimed the power we have in Him through Jesus.

In college we both read a book called Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne who tells some pretty incredible stories of communities coming together to radically love like Jesus loved. We were both inspired and in awe and itching to get out into the "real world" and do the same. This has not been as glorious or easy a task as it seemed at the outset. For real, its been hard work. However, after three years of working, learning, and attempting to be adults, we decided that we weren't gonna let the man get us down. We'd seen the problems and it increased our conviction that it was going to be through community coming together, loving Jesus, loving each other, and loving others that would open the way for God to bring healing to our brokenness.

So what on earth are we doing? Well, at the end of Claiborne's book was a list of "missional communities" that were also intentionally living the love of Jesus to their surrounding communities. We decided what better way to learn about the community we want than to visit them and experience life with those who are already doing it? So we're going. Yup. (and now its late so Beth is strongly encouraging me to stop editing and turn off the light so we can both go to sleep...and I have to say that I strongly agree.)

1 - 2 - 3      SLEEP

Becca figures out technology

Aha! I have figured out how to post in this darn thing.

The most wonderful Couchs

Adventure run aftermath

We. Are. AWESOME. 

Egg #1-Roseburg

When I (Bethany) was growing up, my dad helped us measure how far we'd gone on family trips by having us count the number of "eggs" we cracked along the way. Main cities were "eggs" so we had to be on the lookout for certain cities as we drove. (We also measured time by the number of Ramblin' Rod shows that we'd driven/that we had left).
Our actual first egg was lunch in Harrisburg with the wonderful Bowers clan. They are always hospitable and feed those who come so very well.  Our first over-night egg of our road-trip is here in Roseburg, where Becca grew up, at her parents house. Currently our brains are both still out of commission from the end of the school year so its nice to have some down time in the hospitable and scenic Couch homestead at the outset of our adventure. More elaborations and explanations will come tomorrow when we are more articulate.

                                          We will take a picture of all our gear later. :)

                                                           With Nick and Donna

                                           And Dana. Closing your eyes is a Taft thing.

                                      With Dana and Brittany Bowers after a yummy lunch.

Lists

Today I, Bethany, made a tentative list of what I need to bring...on the back of an REI used gear sale tag. Obviously.

Wow.

We leave in 4 days. Holy Smokies.