Stitched

Yesterday may have been the best day I've ever had fundraising.  It has nothing to do with an amount (because I don't know one yet).  It has everything to do with vision.  I was invited, a few weeks back, to attend a "supported ministries luncheon" by a church that, at the time, didn't support me yet.  Yesterday was the day that happened.

What that meant, is that in 10 or so rooms, groups of 5 or 6 consisting of a mixture of ministry representatives and church members had lunch together, shared about the types of ministry in which we participate, and prayed together.

In Hillsdale, my only line of support, my only bit of community, was an hour away in Lansing.  There were at least 50 people (and I do believe quite more) there yesterday.  Just looking around, the message was clear: we're all in this together.  We all do something different, but the idea is the same: the renewal of Cleveland, Ohio.  I felt alone so often in Hillsdale, and largely, I was.  That, however, will never be the case in Cleveland, and for that, I am so grateful.

Cleveland has so bad a reputation, but I was reminded yesterday, as I have often been in the past 5 years, that Cleveland has so much hope.  I'm a part of that now proactively.  I can't wait to see what God does via the chapter at CSU.  It's so cliche to say we can change the world.  But we can, and to believe otherwise is to believe less of God than he warrants.  His love transcends sin and his love transcends how low Cleveland may be or have become.  There are and will always be problems in Cleveland.  But even more than that, there will always be a God in heaven who loves each and every one of the residents in that city so incomprehensibly much.

Perhaps the best part is that you can be a part of it too.  As much as all of us who were there yesterday are in this together, we all, everywhere in the body of Christ, are in it together even if we can't see it or feel it as tangibly as I did yesterday.  But you can't stand on the sidelines forever and leave it for everyone else.  We really are a body, and you've got as much a role to play as I do, no matter how different it might be.

-Zack

"This is love, this is not treason"
-Flobots