Lasting Gifts

Our tutoring director Lauren celebrated her birthday on Monday, and last night she joined our family for some late-night birthday cake. Following the rituals of candles, party hats and presents we turned our attention to the large stack of boxes on our living room floor. Lauren, Richard and I, and our housemate Heather each took a pair of scissors and started joyfully cutting through Amazon packing tape. We have had ONE HUNDRED books donated, as well as $250 in cash and gift cards. Praise God for the generosity of his people!

As we opened boxes last night we quickly fell to reminiscing about our own childhood and teen favorites. The ones we didn't think much of at first but later came to love, the ones that inspired us to collect the entire series, the tattered and yellowed ones we have passed down to our own kids, and the ones we miss because they are lost in our parents home somewhere. What a blessing our full bookshelves provided over the years!

Please pray for our Christmas Booksale on Saturday. Pray that all of our Adventures Ahead families will be able to come and that they will find just the right book for each of their children, from the babies on up to the teenagers. And pray that someday our students will sit in a living room with their own adult friends and reminisce fondly about some of these books you all have shared with them!

One of our partners shared a poem with us that captures the longterm blessing we hope these gifts will become. We hope you enjoy Diana's verse as much as we did!

Lasting Gifts

(A Tribute to Robert Louis Stevenson and Hans Christian Andersen)

by Diana Axelson

For Christmas nineteen forty-two,

Gracie got a Toni doll

From Macy’s downtown flagship store,

For in those days there was no mall.

A Davy Crockett coonskin cap

Delighted Gracie’s brother Ed,

Although it soon spent far more time

Upon the floor than on his head.

Though Santa brought more games and toys,

He also brought some books,

But fairy tales and poetry

Got only cursory glancing looks.

Decades later, a different tale:

Ed and Gracie, old and frail,

Drank their tea and reminisced

About the gifts that now they missed.

“That ‘Garden of Verses,’” Eddie sighed,

“’The Little Match Girl’—how I cried,”

Said Gracie, and they both agreed

Of doll and cap they had no need;

What each now wanted for her-/himself

Was Stevenson, Andersen—on the shelf!

The faddish toys will soon grow old,

Become uncool and leave us cold.

No matter where or how you look,

The best gift always is a book.

So for holiday season zero nine,

May you get great books and nothing swine.

Adventures Ahead Christmas Bookstore

One of our goals at the Adventures Ahead tutoring program is help kids develop a life-long love of reading. Not just an ability to decode and comprehend, but a LOVE for reading itself. All kids are challenged by the mechanics of reading, skills that must be practiced and learned over time. But for our students, many of whom are learning English as a second language, these challenges often overshadow the fun and joy that a good story offers. This Christmas we want to help our kids' families to enjoy books together!

On December 19th our tutoring center will open for one day as a "Christmas Bookstore" where Adventures Ahead parents can purchase fun, engaging books to read with their kids. We will be selling donated new books at a very steep discount for parents to give their kids as gifts. We hope to collect at least 75 books at a variety of reading levels, including many titles in Spanish.

Would you like to participate? You can donate a book by having it shipped to the address below, or sending an Amazon gift card via email. We have published a wishlist that you can view online for ideas.

Please pray that God will provide a great selection of books, that our booksale will be a festive event, and that our kids will indeed grow to love reading.

If you would like to donate a book, please have it shipped to:
Adventures Ahead Christmas Bookstore
2706 Brighton Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90018

Or you can email a giftcard from Amazon.com and let us know what book you'd like us to order. Just make sure it gets to us by Tuesday, December 15th.
email address: anna@redeemercp.org

Worth a Thousand Signatures

For anyone reading blogs on this fine Saturday morning, please pray for our Take a Walk photo shoot. Stephanie Yu, one of our summer camp teachers from 2008, is a senior photo-journalism major at Cal State Fullerton. She has taken time out of her very full schedule to spend the day walking down our sidewalks, camera and tripod in hand. We have a full lineup of neighbors who have volunteered to pose on some of the least passable stretches. Our subjects include senior citizens, families pushing strollers and, of course, wheelchair users. On the 2600 block of Brighton Ave., just north of our home, a large community of adults with disabilities live in a wheelchair accessible apartment complex. The building manager has helped up collect signatures from almost all of her tenants and has recruited many of them for today's photo shoot.

Yesterday, the South LA regional administrator called Richard to arrange a meeting to discuss the CRA's budget. We expect they are preparing to tell us that there is no money for the repairs and that we cannot have all the sidewalks fixed. Let's continue to pray that God would go before us and prepare the way for all this work to be completed to his glory in and through the church.

One of the ways we hope to win support for repairs is by putting a face on the hazards our broken sidewalks pose. It's one thing to scan long lists of names and signatures. It's another to look into the face of actual people who can't get to the grocery store, have been injured by falls or have found themselves physically stranded. Please pray for God to guide Stephanie's work today and for this series of portraits to have strong emotional and moral impact.

Fire Station Adventures Continue

Near the corner of Western and Adams sits a vacant fire station owned by the city of Los Angeles. It's a beautiful historic building that has been unused since 2004. Three years ago, Redeemer Community Partnership submitted a proposal to purchase and renovate it for community use. The building has space to house our tutoring program, weekly youth group meetings, rehearsals and performances by Streetlamp Studio, community group gatherings and accommodations for work project volunteers. It also has a small parking lot and a beautiful patio shaded by sycamore trees and a wisteria-covered arbor. After a lengthy and (frankly) exhausting process, the city eventually turned down all three of the leading proposals, of which ours was considered the strongest. The building was boarded up and became an agenda item for neighborhood groups concerned about drug-dealing, prostitution and vandalism occurring around the property.

Yesterday the city released a new Request for Proposals to purchase this property. The original asking price of $760,000 has been reduced to $316,000. The process will be managed by the Community Redevelopment Agency. Proposals are due December 14th, following a Pre-Submittal Conference on November 18th.

We have many, many questions about whether to pursue this opportunity. Purchasing and renovating property poses challenges under any circumstances. The current economic climate, the historical nature of the building and city politics add extra complexity. But our programs are experiencing more and more growing pains at our current facility. Since RCP's September board meeting we have been praying earnestly for God to provide us with a more stable, physical "home." Could he be leading us back to this beautiful but complicated possibility?

Would you pray for God to guide our steps over the next couple weeks as we decide what to do?

Unless the Lord builds the house. . .

With only two days to go until the Harvest Carnival, many of us are busy with logistics and last minute planning. Many details have yet to fall into place. There are volunteers who still need a task, vendors who still need to return a phone call, diagrams still to draw. As I write, I am surrounded by 84 pounds of beans that still need to be cooked.

In the midst of all of this, some of us gathered to pray last night and were reminded that

¹ Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.

² In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves. (Psalm 127:1-2)

I smiled at "rise early. . .toiling for food to eat" because early this morning Lauren and I were at a restaurant supply store toiling over large packages of meat and vegetables to make tostadas for the carnival. We had fun, and I felt pretty accomplished, crossing a major item off my to-do list. But -- the Lord says that this is in vain if he doesn't come to the carnival to do something powerful and even unexpected.

The volunteers and police officers who will be standing guard are in vain unless the Lord watches over the street. There is so little we can really do to prevent violence, especially on a night that is often about demonic activity. But, the Lord can protect our street.

We can labor and labor, plan extensively for excellent follow-up, but we can't make anyone come to know God or even make someone connect well with a new friend from our church. But, the Lord can bring great change and redemption.

So it is good and right and critically important for us to devote ourselves to prayer these next few days. Pray that God would do a new thing and use this event to build many relationships, even build a new core of believers from our neighborhood who could be pillars of our church in the future! Pray that God will powerfully protect our street from any destructive person or spiritual influence. Pray that everything will come together, not because we labored in vain, but because the Lord built the house.

Pursuing Kingdom Priorities

This is the theme of the Christian Community Development Association's annual conference this year. As I write, Richard and I are settling into our Cincinnati hotel room. One child asleep and one still tossing and turning, victim of the three-hour time difference. The third is back in Los Angeles with Juan and Stacie, his substitute parents for the week. If our goodnight phone conversation is any indicator, he's having a great time so far.

Tomorrow we'll attend a pre-conference institute, then meet up with eight other Church of the Redeemer members who arrive tomorrow. We are so excited to spend a week learning and being challenged together! Please pray that God will use this conference to strengthen and guide the work he is doing in our neighborhood.

Pray also that God will specifically bless each of us who are here: Elliot, Lauren, Jen Chi, Sarah, Sierra, John, Amy, Scott, Anna, Richard, Isaiah and Abigail. Each of us serves in a unique capacity within our neighborhood, bringing unique questions and challenges with us into this time. Please pray that God will direct us to workshops, relationships, resources and conversations that will help us grow in all the ways we need.

More Harvest Carnival Prayer Requests

Thank you for praying for our Harvest Carnival! As we prepare we are excited, and seeing how even the process of planning can be joyful.

At the same time we are aware of the potential for spiritual and even physical violence. Please continue to engage deeply with us in praying for peace on Raymond Avenue!

We would also like to ask you this week to pray specifically with us for some logistics. Let's ask God to work in concrete ways and thank him as we see his power.

• Ask God to bring 200 volunteers by this Friday. While many people have already signed up, God will have to move to reach this goal!
• Pray that vendors who are bringing the stage, lights, jumpers, and dunk tank would be reliable, arrive on time, and come on time to pick up their equipment.
• All the logistics and details would fall into place with food, entertainment, games, and raffle prize donations

A Father to the Fatherless

We had a great time at Catalina Island together last weekend. Here are some praises:

- All 11 youth and young adults who signed up came. There was a little drama, however, as one of the girls in our group lost her bag at school earlier in the day. One car stayed behind to wait for her and left over an hour late – they narrowly arrived to the port in time to catch the boat to Catalina. Whew!

- Many 18-24 year olds affiliated with our church have fallen away from God and gotten into a lot of trouble – pregnancy, homelessness, incarceration, etc. With this in mind, a young adult ministry was birthed earlier this year in hopes of better serving youth transitioning out of high school. With this, it was encouraging for me to see our youth, young adults and adult staff form deeper relationships during our weekend away.

- Youth, young adults and adult staff alike enjoyed a weekend of fun. Whether it was hiking, snorkeling, skipping stones or playing group games, everyone had a blast. Philip, a high school sophomore remarked, “I wouldn’t mind getting stuck here.”

- God provided enough money for all 11 youth to attend! Thanks for your generosity.

During our time at Catalina Island last weekend we also experienced God doing the unexpected. First we discovered an awesome new game called “Ninja.” After learning it for the first time on Saturday evening around 9:30 pm we continued playing until 1:00 am. The next morning, more “Ninja.” On the boat ride home, more “Ninja.” As we waited at the dock for our rides, “Ninja.” At our YG meeting last night, again, “Ninja.” I’m not sure if the youth or adult staff enjoyed playing more.

Beyond “Ninja” God had some more surprises, particularly through our times in the scripture. Unexpectedly the main scripture and theme for the conference was switched at the last minute to Luke 15:11-32, the parable of the lost son. I was a bit surprised and actually didn’t find out about the change until we had a leaders meeting on the boat ride over to Catalina.

Turns out God knows what he’s doing =). Over the course of the weekend the speaker pointed out the way in which our experience of our earthly fathers affects our ability to believe and receive the perfect love of our Heavenly Father. This really hit home with our group. 9 out of the 11 youth/young adults on the trip do not have father’s actively involved in their lives. The two that do are part of the same family.

By God’s grace, many for the first time began to process the pain of having absentee fathers. Through tears, prayer and physical healing God ministered to us. Here’s one of our adult staff’s account of praying for one of the youth:

When I asked him how he felt about the talk, all he just said, "Pain.” And then he had a headache and his whole back was hurting. It was clear that the pain he had from his dad was manifesting physically, so I just prayed in the name of Jesus that God would reveal himself as J's true father and heal him to increase his faith and trust in God. And he did! Praise God!

I asked J how he felt about what happened and he gave an honest answer that he was scared. But as we talked about it, he came to really see how good it was and he said he'd like to continue meeting up and dealing with his father issues. I asked J about testifying at church about God healing him and he didn't feel comfortable but he said I could on his behalf. J definitely took some huge steps in openness to God as his Father this weekend!

D, one of our youth student leaders, also grew up without his father in his life and had a more tumultuous response. He wasn’t ready to forgive his father and struggled with connecting to the speaker throughout the weekend. He was unusually distracted and rebelled against my authority in ways that took me back to when I first met him 3 years ago. It all came to a head Saturday night.

After playing “Ninja” for 3 hours, at about 1:30 am, I told our youth it was time for bed. Unexpectedly, D was furious and refused to go. He felt like he was being treated like a child. He didn’t feel like I had his best interest in mind and said defiantly, “I can take care of myself.” After frustrating and failed attempts to talk through the situation, I went to bed angry and disappointed.

By morning I felt a conviction to wait and see how God would move. Through breakfast and as we packed to leave, D had said little. By the time we boarded the boat to head home, nothing but superficial chit-chat. About 20 minutes into the boat ride home, D approached me and asked to talk. Plainly he asked for forgiveness for the night before. I forgave him, we hugged, went back to the top deck, and played some more “Ninja.”

D still hasn’t forgiven his father or dealt with all the pain that comes along with being abandoned. I anticipate that this will be a long journey for D with Jesus. He did, however, ask for his own forgiveness and in that I find hope. As he grasps the Father's love for him in his own forgiveness I am hopeful that D will experience the healing and wholeness he needs to forgive his own father. Would we all know the Father's love more truly in the days to come.

City Kids off to the Island

Dear Friends and Family,

Next weekend our youth and young adult ministries will be taking a group of 15-20 year olds on a retreat to Catalina Island. We will be joining with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship chapters from several Cal State University campuses for a time outside of the city and in the word of God.

Some of you may remember that we went on this retreat for the first time last year with a handful of our youth student leaders. Not only did our youth get a chance to spend time with college students who come from inner-city neighborhoods like ours, but they experienced Jesus in personal and profound ways:

- One youth had just come off an incredibly difficult 6 month stretch. His stepfather had passed away, his family was struggling to make ends meet and over the summer he got involved with the wrong crowd on the street. By the end of the summer he had seriously contemplated suicide.

During the last evening session of the retreat, Jesus spoke to him in an intimate way, providing a vision of himself with Jesus and his stepfather who had passed away. It was a moment of healing and clarity and, as a result, he re-committed to following Jesus as Lord and Savior.

- Another of our youth, through the influence of his mother and friends began to consider converting to Islam. Uncertain of where he stood, he came to Catalina Island and received an invitation to commit his life to Jesus. Though he felt something stirring in his heart he couldn’t get himself to publicly commit.

In the next 12 months the seeds of faith planted at the retreat were watered and God grew a beautiful life of faith for this young man. He is committed to our church youth group and has grown into a leader for other youth. At home he has been a peacemaker between his mother and sister. Personally he has made faithful efforts to turn away from drugs and alcohol. He has seen Jesus move in his life and testified to others about this.

I stand in awe of God’s work in the lives of our young people and am excited for how God will use our time together this year. To make it out there, however, we need your prayers! Here are some initial prayer requests for our time this coming weekend:

- At least two of our youth who are attending have not made an initial commitment to follow Jesus. Please pray for their conversion this weekend - their names are Jnye and Dillon.

- The other youth and young adults who are attending have made a decision to follow Jesus. Pray that God would speak to each of them really clearly and personally and that this would inspire deeper lives of faith.

- In youth group we've been doing a series on "Becoming Young Heroes" and taking a look at young people that God has chosen to do great things through: David, Josiah, Joshua, Esther, etc. The weekend retreat has a theme and by God's providence, it is "Heroes: How God Changes the World." Our church had no input into the conference theme and the original conference speaker had a different topic in mind (she is no longer to speak to do a family situation). It feels like God wants to speak to us about this so I pray that our youth would be inspired to do great things in their schools, streets, and families with, through and in God.

- Pray that our youth and young adults would relate well with one another, develop friendships with each other and increase in their trust with the adult staff

- Finally, please pray that the youth and young adults who have decided to come would follow through on their commitment.

Grace and Peace,
Elliot Ling

Light the Night: A Call to Prayer

Preparations are already well underway for this year's Harvest Carnival. Members of our church and community are coming together as we have in the past to host a huge block party on Raymond Avenue, where hundreds of neighbors can come together on Halloween night to celebrate not darkness or death, but light. Our neighborhood is not a safe place to walk around at night, and families who want to trick-or-treat often have to drive to wealthier areas to do so. More importantly, as we bring in bright lights and bring families out into the street, we are creating a safe space for our community, declaring that at least for one night, neighbors can come together safely.

Although we take many precautions, we cannot actually create a safe space on our own. Last year we planned to hold the carnival on Raymond Ave., but a week before the event, there was a shooting just around the corner. Because the young men involved lived in the area, retaliation was a very real possibility. The carnival was moved a few streets down to Brighton Avenue, and took place without incident, but this reminded us how fragile our sense of safety can be.

Each Sunday at church we have a testimony time when people can stand up and share what they have seen God doing during the past week. Yesterday several people shared amazing stories about real, tangible ways that prayers have been answered and lives have been changed. Two people also shared about two different shootings that occurred in the last week. I was struck by what sometimes appears to be a connection--as spiritual headway is made, violence often seems to intensify as well.

For all of these reasons, it is vital that we pray intensely for the Harvest Carnival. Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the . . .spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." As we plan this year's event in the midst of a particularly violent season here in South Los Angeles, would you commit to interceding especially for the Harvest Carnival this month?

Please pray above all for safety and for peace, for an end to this season of violence. We are also praying that God would prepare people spiritually to meet our church at the carnival. In this time of logistical preparations, we are also asking that he would bring many of our neighbors to volunteer, and help us to build relationships as we serve together. Check back for more updates as we get closer to the big day!

The power of 332

Yesterday afternoon I noticed helicopters circling Loren Miller Park again. Isaiah had stayed home sick from preschool, but I felt a kind of virtual dread at how often we are still playing on the slides and swings at this hour. I wondered if any of his preschool buddies were present when whatever the incident was occurred. And how could we possibly be having another incident already?

The helicopters were still circling when I left the house around 2pm. At 6:30pm, when I returned, patrol cars were parked throughout the neighborhood and the sidewalks were crowded with bystanders. It turned out that a group of gang members had opened fire on some people they had just robbed. Again, God's shielded our community from harm. No one was hit, and an LAPD patrol car happened to turn the corner just as the first shots were fired. Officers arrested 5 men who will be charged with attempted murder.

I rejoice in God's mercy that no one has been harmed. But I also feel how precarious life is in a place where bullets fly. The families who live on the corner of Dalton and 27th feel it even more, and one friend has told me, "I don't know if I can live here any more." I would say the same if it were happening in front of my house.

There are some steps that can be taken, ways that neighbors can decrease and prevent this kind of activity. But such work requires time, effort, teamwork and a degree of risk. Last Sunday, the day before the first shooting, Richard and I hosted a block party for community members interested in forming block clubs. This group shared a potluck meal and talked at length with our LAPD senior lead officer. Attendance was 25 adults and 12 kids. About 10 more are interested in block clubs but couldn't make the party.

After our guests left, Richard and I did some fancy junior high math to figure out how many new relationships our block club gatherings have produced. Not counting people who knew each other previously, we estimate the number is about 332. That's a lot of relationships, and could be the foundation for some powerful work in our community!

Would you pray for these new relationships to continue growing, and for trust to develop across the barriers of language and culture and background? And pray that God will lead us in how to address the violence of the last ten days.

New Beginnings at Adventures Ahead

Amid what has been a tumultuous week for our neighborhood, it is a joy to report that Adventures Ahead has launched it's fall tutoring program. Today was the first day of the middle school math class, where Lauren is using a fun new curriculum that leads students on a quest to find pirate treasure -- treasure that can only be unearthed by multiplying and dividing negative numbers! Tomorrow begins Week #2 of the reading and homework-assistance classes for elementary school students. God has already brought together a group of 29 students and 15 one-on-one reading buddies to work with students who are reading below a third-grade level. The students who read at a higher level are excited to begin reading a novel in small groups.

As a newcomer to this neighborhood, I am struck by the consistency of Adventures Ahead -- Lauren's leadership, committed volunteers, and some students who have attended for a number of years allow this to be a program that families can count on to begin its classes every fall. In the midst of budget cuts and even violence and death, Jesus is bringing new life to the corner of Normandie and Jefferson, breaking generational chains of poverty with education and opportunity. What a testimony of God's faithfulness and steady presence with us!

Would you join us in interceding for this powerful work? Please pray for

• the logistics to work out to hold a parent meeting sometime soon
• children to come every day, on time, and ready to learn
• new teachers as they plan, prep, and get comfortable with their classes
• a few more college students or church members to serve as volunteers
  

How we roll

Last night a small army gathered at the Parks home. Twenty-five members of Church of the Redeemer shared a meal, a backyard fire and stories of our experiences with the "Take a Walk Campaign." If you haven't heard, this is a campaign to make our sidewalks accessible to wheelchairs so our disabled neighbors won't be forced into the streets as they are currently. Our team spent the summer surveying the damage, and mapping out the many problem areas. Our next project is to systematically gather petition signatures from the community and record personal stories from our neighbors who use wheelchairs. A very talented friend has offered to create a photo essay of both the sidewalks and the people whose wheelchairs can't get over them. We intend to put a very personal face, as well as specific narratives, on the abstract problem of "accessibility."

We divided up blocks for signature collection, and prayed for God to use our efforts in far-reaching ways. That we would become better listeners of, better friends to and better advocates for our disabled neighbors. That many of those we approach would offer not just a signature, but partnership in this cause. That we would find favor with the city agencies we approach. That our neighborhood would become a safer, more welcoming place for those who use wheelchairs. That sidewalk repairs would stand as a monument to God's love and power, and to his Spirit at work through our church. That this project would help our neighborhood come together in the future to solve even bigger problems!

Would you pray for these things as well? We plan to come together for brunch in three weeks. May we have many great stories to share!

If you would be interested in spending a Saturday or Sunday afternoon gathering signatures with us please contact Richard Parks at (323) 377-9686.

Weary Moses seeks Aaron and Hur

The night of September 14th our neighborhood was wracked by violence. In the previous post I described a shooting in our local park that terrorized everyone in the vicinity. One of the men playing on the basketball court described watching bullets collide with metal poles, and feeling amazed that not a single person was hit. The preschool director testified this morning, "You know, I pray. I walk the perimeter of this park all the time, and I pray." I believe her prayers make a difference. As do the prayers of Church of the Redeemer members who walk that same perimeter and pray. As do your own prayers, whether local or at a distance.

The shooting at Loren Miller happened at about 7:30pm. No one was injured, and the gunman was not found. Later in the evening, two homicides occurred. One was in front of the doughnut shop at Jefferson and Normandie. The other was on the 3700 block of Ruthelen Street, about one mile away. It's striking to me how intimately each of these locations are linked to the life and history of Church of the Redeemer. The doughnut shop sits across the street from the Adventures Ahead tutoring center. I've spent many late afternoons there sharing a treat with Adventures Ahead families or friends on their way to the Spanish worship service that meets there. The address on Ruthelen Street is just one block away from where Church of the Redeemer's pastor lived for several years.

The police force is seeking leads in all three incidents. Please pray for the families and friends of these two homicide victims, and for those whose sense of security was shattered by events at the park on Monday. And would you pray also for God's people here...Parks and Rec employees, Church of the Redeemer members, and everyone else who loves our Lord...to persevere in praying? Just as Aaron and Hur held up Moses' arms when they grew tired, you can hold up our sometimes weary hearts in your prayers.

Worst Case Scenario

This morning I walked Isaiah to Loren Miller Park for his first day of preschool. On our way across the basketball court we stopped to chat with our friend Sergio. As we neared the playground Isaiah's classmate Sirena called out his name excitedly. After some initial hesitancy he settled back into the classroom routine, and reconnected with his old buddies in that awkward, three-year-old way of his. Our boy even shared a bag of Cheetos with his former nemesis, a boy who incurred his wrath last spring by calling him "small." It looked like a promising start.

But sometime around 8pm tonight we heard a series of gunshots coming from the park, followed by helicopters. Jordan overheard our housemates talking and asked me, "Mommy, what's a drive-by?" Without really answering his question, I let him conclude that it had to do with running a stoplight. It turned out the incident was not a drive-by, by any definition. A friend of ours witnessed the whole thing. A man on foot had pointed a gun into the park and started firing at random, roughly twelve shots. A small group of families and soccer players were there, but we're pretty sure no one was injured. Miraculously. I called Sirena's mom whose house faces into the park. She was shaken up, but calm. And relieved that her daughter went to bed early so she didn't have to explain.

I have played with each of my kids at this park since they were babies. It's been a place for playdates, birthday parties and church outreach events. Jordan learned to ride his bike there. And now Isaiah spends three mornings a week in the park's preschool. My biggest concerns are usually the lack of shade and how long Isaiah will insist on me playing the troll under the playstructure bridge. But I am also always on the lookout for trouble in this place, and I don't like babysitters to take the kids there without me. Because every so often something crazy happens.

Please pray for the peace of God to cover this plot of land. Pray that violence would be pushed back and families would play together in safety. And thank God with us for his protection this evening.

I will say to the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust." Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge. Psalm 91: 2-4

Isaiah's shows Abi just how good the preschool corndogs are.

Answered Prayers: Adventures Ahead Celebration

Thank you so much for interceding for our End-of-Summer Celebration! It was amazing that night to watch your prayers and our plans come together and see God at work in the neighborhood. Logistics went smoothly, attendance was great, and relationships were built and deepened in a way that felt both surprising and genuine.

The Celebration was part awards ceremony, part barbecue buffet, and part family get-together. The younger children sang and danced to a song "Teresa the airplane," explaining in simple terms how thrust, drag, lift, and gravity affect flight. The older students gave short presentations about science experiments they had done and displayed their science-fair boards for everyone to see. Each child received an award, and there was an opportunity to invite families to continue participating in Adventures Ahead and other projects in the fall.

After the program everyone ate carne asada and parents sat around talking while the kids ran around and played in a blow-up jumper. We were especially grateful for this time, as it allowed families to deepen their relationships with each other and with volunteers from the Church of the Redeemer.

We were very blessed to have these church volunteers help us plan and put together the event, doing everything from spending hours roasting 40 pounds of carne asada on two backyard grills to putting together the perfect playlist. This reminded us what a joy it has been all summer to see Church of the Redeemer partner so closely with Adventures Ahead and Redeemer Community Partnership. Church members prepared lunches, decorated the classroom, prayed, and volunteered both inside and outside of class times. In all this, many of them began to build relationships with Adventures Ahead families as well. Praise God!

In closing, please continue to pray for follow-up from the summer. Let's ask God to bring the same families that participated this summer back to Adventures Ahead when classes start in the fall, and to continue to build ongoing relationships between participating families and church members. And take time to thank him for the great work that he has done this summer, too!

Last Chance to See "Next Door"

Streetlamp Studio's two act play premiered last weekend to very receptive audiences. Tomorrow night (Saturday, 8/29) is the last public performance. A local newspaper reviewing the play described exactly the kind of tensions and questions it was written to help us think about, as well as the hopes it was meant to kindle:

It’s a set-up: White guilt, Black anger and Latino regret, that seems predictable at the outset but Vaughn Hall crafts the interlocking stories with wit, verve and ultimately pathos.

To quote Rodney King: “Why can’t we all just get along?”

For cynics it might just be a utopian dream, but there is considerable evidence that a majority of us believe in a society where different races and classes can peacefully co-exist.

You can read the entire review online at The Los Angeles Wave and you can still purchase tickets at the Streetlamp Studio website.