The Blessedness of Dependence (Jason)

Claudinho washes cars at a Volkswagen dealership by day and at night he takes a class to prepare himself to enlist in the military as an officer.  Adilio is in seminary, studies English and French, and is involved with his church.  Paulo works and is heavily involved in Sombra Road House activities.  Anderson currently lives at the rehabilitation center and visits every other weekend.  I look at the lives of these guys and see how they rely on others.  If Sombra Road left Rio tomorrow, the bottom would fall out for these four guys.  Anderson, no doubt, would feel the affects most poignantly.  He would return immediately to the streets as his only living relatives are homeless.  All four of these guys’ lives are built on dependence, especially Anderson.  

The natural human tendency is to move away from dependence toward self-sufficiency. Financially speaking, this is the American dream.  Our golden parachute can become a twisted fiber noose suffocating our ability to trust that it is God who provides.  Kristin and I are just as prone as any to trust in our own means.  In fact, I feel my attempts at self-sufficiency pressing in on me daily like a runner in the Peachtree Road Race caught in a massive wave of athletes.  However, Kristin and I consider it a blessing to live in dependence upon your support.  It is one more area in our lives where we can see God’s sovereignty in action.      

Anderson, whether he feels it or not, depends on Sombra Road.  He depends on Jeremy, Carol, Kristin and I being there for him on the weekends when he comes home.  He depends on Tom Carson back in Atlanta to help steer the ministry and to give counsel to Jeremy and I.  Like us, Anderson also depends upon you, our supporters, who give faithfully supporting this whole system.

Thank you.

Matthew 18:10-14 (Jeremy)



Paulo



Jesus once told the story of a man that owned a hundred sheep. When one of his sheep came up missing, he left the other ninety-nine in order to search for it. Eventually, he found the one that was lost, and Jesus explains that the joy he felt over the one recovered far exceeded his joy over the other ninety-nine safe at home. Now, this story offers a remarkable hope. But if you are anything like me, you really run the risk of missing it, and the reason for such is because you misunderstand your role in the story.


Paulo Ricardo joined us in December of last year. In his first five months with us, we saw some cool things happen in his life (as we’ve mentioned in other blogs). But in May/June of this year, he hit a rough patch. Without going into too much detail, his commitment to his job and girlfriend started to take precedence over his commitment to us. Both staff and student made a point to challenge this trend in his life (through words and discipline), but he continued wading further out into deeper waters. It was during this phase that I started doing some investigating and discovered that things were worse than I had thought. Now, my tendency in such moments is to come in and save the wandering sheep by interposing my will. After all, I am the shepherd who is responsible for the sheep, aren’t I? But it was at this point that a wise man encouraged me to see my own limitations in Paulo’s story. He pointed out that while I can love Paulo, walk beside him and even serve him by offering a structured environment in which he grows in accordance with his decisions to follow after Jesus, I cannot make his decisions for him. Through this conversation, the characters of our little drama fell into place. Paulo continued in his role as the lost sheep, but I suddenly found myself recast as one of the ninety-nine (one previously found albeit), which vacated the shepherd’s role for the only One fit to assume it, Jesus. Accordingly, my approach toward Paulo changed. I gave clear responsibilities and consequences as opposed to manipulative sermons or victimized pleas. Shortly thereafter, the day arrived when he had to choose between his job and the house. Staff and student alike shared their assessment of the situation and encouraged him to press on with us, but he decided to leave. That was in July. The next two months were excruciating for him and painful for us. We remained accessible, but we waited for the Lord to bring him back. Two weeks ago, He did just that. Paulo came home, broken and repentant. He’s now back with us and, in some tangible ways, more committed than ever. And I find myself left with both a lesson and a deep sense gratitude to the One who brought Paulo home and never tires of doing the same with me.

Hope for the Hopeless (Kristin)

(Aline is on the far right)

The first time I met Aline, we were both pregnant. I was 29 and pregnant with my first; she was 18 and pregnant with her third. After our kids were born, we lost touch. She drifted out of the project we partner with in the favela and I had no way to get in touch with her. That was 3 years ago. About 6 months ago I ran into her randomly in the favela. It was great to see her and I was grateful to hear that she hadn't yet added a fourth child to the mix. I set up a time to visit her in her home.

Aline lives alone in a very poor house with her 3 little girls. Her own parents died when she was 7 years old and she was raised by her older brother who was involved in drug trafficking. She's been living by herself for a long time. Her girls have different fathers who are not involved in their lives and she has no job and no prospect of one. I felt so overwhelmed and depressed as I left from my visit. The question ringing in my mind, "What can I possibly DO?" Her situation left me feeling helpless and hopeless, because I look at her girls and I see them, young as they are, already running wild with no structure or stability and I think will this cycle ever be broken?

Then I have hope, because I remember Him...the Great Cycle-Breaker. The One who changes families, changes histories, gives hope, and redeems. I thank God that He lives to intercede in our miserable lives. I thank God that he gives me hope and that I can pass along that hope to others. Please pray for Aline and her girls. Pray for her situation. Pray that God will interfere and redeem. Pray that I will be a light for Him in her life as I continue to visit her.

Selfless (Jason)

Kristin and I are home for a visit. It has been a great opportunity to reconnect with friends and family. Not long ago I was with two friends. One had the ability to help the other but chose not to. The situation made me frustrated with my one friend and sorry for the other. The long and short of it is that the one was not willing to put himself out there for the other. The whole situation left me with a feeling of injustice.

When I reflect on this incident with these two friends, I am reminded of Jeremy, our friend and partner in Brazil. Jeremy delights in putting himself out for others. I have seen a transformation in his life over the last four years because he decides to say “yes” rather than “no”. He gives of himself like no one else I know; he is an open hand, always giving. The best part is that if you were to tell Jeremy that he is a selfless person he would say something like, “I am glad that God chooses to encourage you in that way” reflecting the glory back to God.

I wanted to write this about Jeremy because more than being an organization that is about helping kids, we are an organization that is about shaping people to be what God wants them to be… starting with us.

May 22, 2010

When I look at people's wedding pictures, I prefer to be the one holding the album. In this way, I control the pace. I find that when a newly wedded couple is entrusted with the responsibility of flipping the pages, each picture becomes a story, and the album, in turn, a Russian novel. On this side of marriage, I understand the sentimentality of the images that capture this event and a couple's desire to share this. Still, I will allow you to peruse these few pictures at your own pace.

As for married life, at a month and a half in, I think we've got it down. However, it will take me another month to finish the book that I'm writing on the subject I'm right, I win, Just Listen. Seriously though, we are really enjoying our life together. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that we enjoyed our lives even before we met. This doesn't mean that we delighted in those solitary Saturday nights of scanning the Blockbuster aisles. I remember quite vividly returning to REAME's gates at night, knowing that no one was waiting for up for me. So, I won't belittle the struggles of my single friends by saying this glibly. I just feel it necessary to affirm the hope of a Saviour who doesn't always employ marriage or loving parents or wealth to communicate His severe love for us.

Baby, Baby, Baby, Ohh.

Paulo Ricardo was the first guy in the house to like Justin Bieber. He made us all sit down and watch the video “Baby” on Youtube. That was a Tuesday. Before the week was out, Claudinho’s ringtone had changed, Adilio was repeating the chorus ad nauseam and Anderson was singing his own interpretation of the song (one that desperately needed subtitles). The fact that these guys are Bieber fans cannot be attributed solely to his musical ability. I think they like him in part because they would like to be him. After all, he housesits for Usher, hangs with Ludacris and his videos clog the Favorites page for half of the girls in the States (their ages notwithstanding). But for all of his success, I cannot help but feel sorry for Justin Bieber. When I look at him, I cannot shake images of Macaulay Culkin, Lindsay Lohan or the Olsen twins – kids that are stars one day and social pariahs the next. It’s only a matter of time before the media starts tanking the affable character that they have created, and he starts sporting a moustache.

Claudinho’s story is on a completely different trajectory than that of Justin Bieber’s. Girls don’t line up to talk to him, his videos on Youtube don’t have more than 20 views (15 of them his) and, up until a month ago, he was making about 70 cents an hour. But, the cool thing about Claudinho’s story is how it seems to embody the truth “he who is faithful with little will be entrusted with much.” In life, Claudinho just plods along, doing what he’s supposed to. That could mean arriving early at church to clean up or opting to go to bed over watching a late night soccer match because he has to work in the morning. But, I trust that that steady plodding will pay off, just as it did when he recently landed a job with a great company where there is room for growth. There was nothing miraculous about the way he got the job. A guy from church recognized Claudinho’s faithfulness and recommended him for an open position. But, I am amazed with the way that God cares for this 19 year old man, using life’s seemingly normal circumstances to shape within him a character and perseverance that is anything but normal.

Surprises (Jason)

I never thought that I would be so happy to see excrement as when Jacob went “poopy on the potty” a few days ago. There are lots of unexpected surprises with parenthood. In a way we are not only parents to Jacob, but also to our boys in the Sombra Road House. For this reason I was surprised to discover that on Thursday night, after I left our Bible study, Claudinho, Paulo, Anderson and Adilio had made dinner for Dalton. On Thursday nights, we do a Bible study for the youth group at church, half of which consists of the four aforementioned boys that live in the House. So, why should I be so pleased by the fact that they made dinner for someone? The fact that four teenage boys were considerate enough to feed any mouth but their own is sufficient. However, once I describe Dalton you should be all the more impressed.

The Sombra Road House, as much as it is a shelter for these boys is an experiment in community. Our aim is that our core group, comprised of both staff and students, would so express the love of Christ to one another that outsiders would themselves be drawn to Christ. However, once you open yourself up to outsiders you never know whom you will attract. Dalton is one of these people - he is a unique fellow who is difficult to love. He is the guy whom you would try to go unnoticed by if you saw him in the grocery store so as to avoid a conversational assault. We all know the type. He is a Christian who has bounced around from church to church looking for acceptance. There is much to be said about Dalton, but the point here is that Claudinho, Paulo, Anderson and Adilio made themselves servants to him. Their act of making dinner for Dalton is an example of the type of service to which Jesus calls us also.

Please pray that these four guys would continue to grow in their love for Christ and that that love would manifest itself in acts like making dinner for Dalton.