Here I am, freshly exhausted, yet satisfied from another fantastic summer at Shepherd Community Center, working with kids from 8-3, running wild with all the Campus Crusade scheduled events, and yet I’m still here ready for, what I’m assuming will be, a just as full school year. I spent all last year cramming to finish both my junior and senior year at Utah State University to come back to Indianapolis. Something about the atmosphere, the people, and the family I built, drew me back and it all fell into place—the money, the plans, the work. I loved the utter dependence on God I was forced to have, for without it I don’t think I would have made it through 12-13 hour days running after fighting kids who could care less what kind of authority I “said” I had over them. No, it wouldn’t have been possible. There were times I was so exhausted, my alarm going off made me want to cry, but the good far surpassed those trying times.
My first summer introduced me to a living God who has His hand in every aspect of life, a God who, despite circumstances, shows himself through this Word and, more specifically for me, His people! These past summers I’ve really dug deep into who I am, who I want to be, and what I’m doing for God’s kingdom. Working at day-camps I saw kids who weren’t sure they had meals to go home to, kids whose parents were dependent on drugs or drinking, kids who were so hungry for attention, they’d take the disciplining just the same as a hug. I saw a need and despite my hesitation and doubt as to my abilities to make a difference, I saw so much change in my kids, I knew I wanted to do more.
Both summers I lived with 10-12 other college-aged girls in one house and it was through them I observed a true relationship with God. Don’t get me wrong, we had our issues but every group does. What made them different? They read their Bibles every day, there wasn’t a time I remember coming down the stairs and not seeing someone on the couch deep in their “quiet time”, we were constantly in prayer for whatever came our way, they were inline with God, there was a core that bound us and made us family—Christ.
Why’d I come back? I came back to submerse myself in just that. I came back to be a part of sharing what I had learned with the neighborhoods here. I came back to show these kids consistency and that there are people in this world who aren’t shady, who do love. I graduated with a BS in English, but I don’t know what I want to do with the rest of my life. I don’t know what lies ahead. But I do know, for now, I belong in the near eastside of Indianapolis. I’m following God’s call in my life and He has placed the inner-city and these kids right, smack dab, in the middle of my heart. I’m on a search for direction; I’m following in faith.
