Birmingham... Quickly...

Birmingham was awesome. The first day (Saturday) we painted two people's houses, and Chris and I fixed one lady's computer. Then we ate greek food and went to Five Points. There we walked around to talk to some homeless people. My group initially had a difficult finding people to talk to, but I think this was part of God's plan. After walking around with no luck, we went to this fountain (with running water, unlike ATL) and sat down. Less than 5 minutes later, a man sat down on a little wall by a church across from us. We went over and talked to him for the rest of the time we were there. He recently got out of a maximum security prison and was living in a halfway house. I don't know how much we helped, but i feel like we mattered. I know we were there for a purpose and I pray for him daily.

Sunday we went to David Platt's church, Brook Hills. His sermon was on the rich young ruler. It was an great sermon and completely biblical and I agreed with every part of it. However, I don't know if it's his style or that I didn't go to Confluence, but I haven't seen anything really special about him. It just seemed like everyone except me was obsessed with him on our trip, and I felt a little awkward. Anyways, after church, we planned a church service for "people living in some apartments." What we weren't told (at least I wasn't) is that these people were patients waiting for organ donors living in UAB apartments. The idea was to "preach about joy" and to inspire these people. I've never felt so humbled in my entire life. They weren't feeling down, they didn't curse God and they certainly didn't act like people low on joy. If anything, by the end of the "service" I felt like I was being preached to by a bunch of people who seemingly had no reason to be happy. They were so thankful for us, for getting organs, for the community there, for churches donating supplies and for a cheap place to stay. They literally lived each day as if it could be their last. And I don't...

Monday we either painted or fixed up a soup kitchen. I stayed and fixed up the soup kitchen at Urban Ministries (the ministry we partnered with for the painting). Just working there in this little church in the heart of Birmingham was eye opening. These people receive no recognition or fame for their work. They've got every excuse to be lazy and just "bury their treasure." But they have used what God has given them and used it to completely bless the entire community. I think Mark put it best when he called the people he saw at Catalyst "superstars" but he described
Michael as a "hero."

Do we want to be superstars or heroes?

after painting, we ate bbq and went back to atlanta
the end.