FUI 2011 - is it really over?

In some ways, the response to the question posed above is yes.  Students have vacated and cleaned the pink house so that our 10 month internship students can move in.  A facebook group has been started, and stories and photos are being shared by interns almost daily.  Todd and I have welcomed a simpler pace back into our lives.

And yet...

It is our conviction that in some ways, FUI 2011 has just begun. During our debriefing times, we explained how the temptation is to look back at an experience like FUI and reminisce about the ways in which God and His purposes seemed clear and close.  Our challenge to the interns was to recognize that really it's the days, weeks, months and years ahead that are perhaps the most important to their FUI experience.

We run programs like FUI to see students transformed, campuses renewed and world changers developed.  We're excited about transformation that's deepened through the summer but the campus and world lay ahead of these young leaders.  Would you join us in praying for them???

• Pray for students to continue to engage with God in Scripture and prayer about all that was opened up to them this summer about the brokenness in the world, and in their own lives.
• Pray that students would find friends and mentors who will help them process and integrate their experiences back on campus.
• Pray that interns would look at their campuses and fellowships with their FUI lenses, and grow as multiethnic leaders that reach their campuses with the gospel.

Thanks to those of you who've journeyed with us this summer via this blog.  We're grateful for the ways you've prayed for and encouraged us along the way, and look forward to hearing more about how God uses these young leaders to bring kingdom impact to our world!

Sojourner

I am tired
I am tattered
I have not, they give not
I have my girl, she is three
My husband waits for me in an east coast city, I think.

I feel the wind it blisters my skin
she is cold her heart beats slowly.
I meet a wall, it is tall, it is dark and it is evil.
Eagles fly around raising dust, I no longer see.
White men surround me
They taunt me, they say please and thank you, and go back to your country?
My hands are scarred
My feet gave in
Yet miles and miles I left my tracks
I am a sojourner, a foreigner
I have not, they give not.

L.K.L.

City Beauty

When I first stepped into the Lowell neighborhood I did not know what to expect. I had the misconception that Central Fresno was a scary place not to be visited especially not alone. It did not help that during my orientation for Wise Old Tutoring (WOO) a man being chased jumped over the fence and ran through the back yard of the house! I thought Central Fresno was mostly abandoned dirty buildings that I overlooked while driving to North Fresno. This summer Fresno Urban Internship (FUI) has placed me in the exact neighborhood that I was fearful of. I am now walking the same streets, using the same stores, and building relationships with people who live here. I am realizing that that God is found in the city. He does not overpass it or ignore it like the countless times I have. God thrives here.

This summer I have had several opportunities to meet with some of the children that I met throughout WOO. We have played games, taken walks to the Splash Park, and enjoyed a week attending Vocational Bible School this summer. Walking with these children using both the streets and the alleys has helped me not to be fearful but watchful. I am striving to watch and look for God’s beauty. His beauty is seen when children see people they know and stop and talk to one another; when a mom offers me cold water after walking in the heat, and when a mom makes more food than needed in order for her daughters to take food to their neighbors. There is truly a sense of community and loyalty in Central Fresno that I would have never imagined existed here.

Two weeks ago while walking in Lowell I seen a homeless man walking down the Glenn/San Pablo alley. I recognized him from the Food Ministry that I have been serving at. I ran through the alley and called his name in order to say Hi to him and see how he was doing. After doing this I realized and laughed to myself that what I just did was something that I would have never dreamed about doing before. What was once the unknown is becoming clearer. I now realize that Central Fresno is full of individual people with their own stories. I have opened myself up to listen to these stories and pray for individuals living in poverty rather than grouping then under one kind of people. FUI has taught me about injustices individuals face. It has also challenged me to rely on God’s leading to build relationships and share the hope I have in Christ with individuals here in the city while learning what true community is from the city.

-Laura Gonzales

Stories Untold

The FUI program has a very, very full schedule. In the midst of classes, working with non-profit organizations, and community living, most people need some sort of outlet, some release for the torrent of emotions that comes with such full experience. Many interns use poetry as this outlet, and the following is one such example.

"Stories Untold"

An innocent princess,
precious as a flower
The schemes of a villain
darkly shadow our tale

In our fables, we know
goodness always prevails
Charming prince, tall and bright
Our happy ending is here

A quiet smile across
the face of a tired child
content in naive tale
safe within the stories

Yet the single mother
knows a truer story
Within the city walls
flowers lose their petals

Surely villains exist
but they rarely have a face
Rather some nameless force
or a demon within.

We don't write these villains
Darker than our tales dare
Deep in our very world
Sewn in our very self

For most with truer tales
there is no charming prince
No deus ex machina
No savior within sight

A prostitute without
any means to escape
A widower whose tears
wet the street where he sleeps

The same single mother 
working two jobs by day
weeps for her child by night
Theirs are stories untold

Father, be the light
Stronger than our villains
Mend the broken flower
Rewrite stories untold

A Watched Pot

A Watched Pot

By: Jason Chew

A pot of dirt

It sits still on the brown desk

My eyes glued to the ceramic pot

I dare not blink, I might miss it

Because I’ve seen what comes next

Those fast-motion videos

Show seed to flower in a snap

I need only wait for the bloom

After all, isn’t it my duty?

I, the seed planter

the water giver

the faithful sustainer

Shouldn’t I be the watchful guard?

No, not duty; that bloom is my right

But I suppose I’ve forgotten

Neither seed nor flower is mine

Though I may try to seize control

I cannot make that flower grow

To seek that glorious view

of the bright petals is no sin

but the Gardener has His plan

Pass the pot to fellow workers

They will see to the flower’s growth

Rest in the Gardener’s wisdom

Have faith in the Gardener’s plan

He cares, He gives more than you.

1 Corinthians 3:5-8

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.

Jesus and Poverty

Interns at FUI get the chance to hear from a variety of people in our Urban Ministry class. We are always challenged as we read scripture and articles about topics. Recently, we interacted creatively with the topic of poverty. Interns had the chance to journal, make collages, write poetry, and act out their responses and feelings to what they have been experiencing in Fresno. Here are some photos from that class:

Spiritual Blindness

At the Isaiah 58 & 59 manuscript study, God probed at my heart and gave me questions to be asking as I work at my site.

In his day, Isaiah had some issues with the people of God. But why? They were continually shouting out to God, confessing sins, praying, seeking Him and His will, delighting in the thought of His presence, and confessing sins. They were even fasting. Their actions seemed proper. But it didn’t matter. Despite their actions, they were still indirectly and directly oppressing others. They weren’t helping causes of injustice towards the powerless, the lowly, and the poor. They manipulated the system so they could do all the right things yet also maintain their selfish desires.

Am I doing things for God all too well? Am I convincing myself that I’m not going through the motions, yet ever-so-slightly twisting Christianity so that it works out well for my preferences, my comfort, my agendas?

These people also had instances of mixing elements from pagan religions into their worship, and God detested it. Is this me? Like a fish oblivious to the reality that he’s swimming, am I submersed in an ocean of man-made ideas? How much have I weaved American values or worldly thoughts into my practices? Where do I even begin with attempting to step outside myself and look at my narrow viewpoint, my biases, my preconceived notions?

These are some of the questions I’ve been asking as I go throughout the day. I’m praying God uses FUI and all else around me to chip away at areas of spiritual blindness in my life.

Mark 7:6-9
“‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain, teaching the commandments of men as commands from God.’ You have let go of God’s law and are holding to human tradition.” Then Jesus said, “You are experts at setting aside the commands of God in order to keep your own traditions!”

-Daniel F