my day started out on a high.  you know those kinds of days when that unexpected and rare experience happens and you suddenly feel like you’re floating & filled to the top?

that was me yesterday.  i dropped the kids off at school and stopped in the chapel where moms were gathering to PRAY for our kids.  but to me, this was even more powerful than just that because we were BLACK and WHITE moms coming together as one.  it was incredibly moving and i think i maybe even heard god smiling :].

following this, i stopped in on the ‘plungers’ - a group of about 30, mostly white, suburbanites from our church taking ‘the plunge’ into inner city memphis by agreeing to a immersion mission trip lasting from thursday-sunday.  the experience is deep and lasting.  they were touring manassas high school where we work w/ their teens.  the group was a blast.  i chatted w/ several of them and regretted having to leave, but i was headed to the hospital to see a friend.

however, as i left the school i got a text from a teen mom, that her baby had a high fever and was lethargic.  she was heading to the ER where i decided to meet her.  it turned out to be just a bad case of the flu, but the experience was gripping.  the baby’s daddy (about 19?), also arrived despite he and the baby’s mother not being together anymore.  i felt totally crushed watching his body language SCREAM ‘i don’t give a stinking RIP about being here today.’  when we got the green light to go home after a few hours, i left there feeling grateful that the mom had thought to call me … that i’d apparently invested enough in her life for her to know that I’D CARE about this situation.

but i left the children’s ER & headed directly to a different hospital to go visit another friend.  on wednesday she was 24 weeks along w/ her 3rd baby and ended up having an emergency c-section, bringing her baby into this world at 1.9 pounds.  that is about the size of my hand!!!  each hour is obviously immensely critical for him as he fights to live.  while i was there, the room -phone rang and as my friend talked to the person on the other end we instantly could see it was hard news to hear.  the baby had a scare … his lungs had blood in them and there were issues w/ his heart … he’d been moved to intensive care … but he was presently stable.

i watched my strong, positive-thinking friend gripped w/ unspoken fears.  the roller coaster these next few months is easily going to include terrifyingly unexpected highs and lows continually.  her quiet tears told me she GETS this … but who can prepare for such life-changing challenges??

after sitting on my friend’s bed, rubbing her legs as we talked, and sharing some verses and tears, i had this thought:  god has allowed me to LOVE someone else who looks so differently than i, and to cherish her as a very true and wonderful friend.  what an HONOR.

i left there preparing w/ extreme excitement for her other two kids who are 6 years old and 9 months to come stay w/ us indefinitely, thanking god for the opportunity to deeply and proudly realize that i GET to be involved in their lives … and that despite the colors of our skin, we call each other friend.

so, despite my own rollercoaster ride of emotions today, i ended my day, like i had started it … on a high.

last week i stood up in court as a character witness for a kid who was being charged in a drive-byshooting.

i stood there along w/ his mom, his brothers & sisters, and his friends waiting nervously for his sentencing.  it was incredibly intense and both lawyers drilled back and forth recalling the painful details of what happened the day of the shooting.  to think that i had the radical opportunity to stand up and say ‘YES!  i am here FOR this kid!!’ continues to blow my mind!!

i can honestly say god has done something amazing w/ my heart to allow me to feel a deep compassion for these kids who grow up in the black community … and how anger management is often solved by grabbing a shotgun!!  this is the model kids grow up under!!!  kids are TAUGHT THIS!!  so - how do we UN-teach it???  anger, hate, violence … it’s a nearly impossible cycle to break free from!!  but this guy has been a pretty good kid … he got mad … he grabbed a gun.

thank god no one was shot or he’d be here for murder one.  maybe we have a chance here.

but what i especially LOVE about this is that i got to do something jesus would ABSOLUTELY have done … and absolutely would have been criticized and misunderstood for doing.  this thought gives me incredible drive to keep getting INto people’s lives here & to show them ‘I WILL STAND FOR YOU.’  it feels like doing so might mean life or death for someone & being allowed to be the hands & feet of jesus is so INVIGORATING and purposeful!!

before we entered the courtroom, our entire group held hands & prayed.  i bet you didn’t really even think about what i just wrote.  we all HELD HANDS and prayed.  picture our circle filled w/ big black teens & twenty-somethings holding the next guys hand, heads bowed reverently, listening to the quiet white voices asking for god’s guidance and help that day.  i don’t mean to make this a racial thing … but a RADICAL thing!!!

the sentence ending up being 2 months on probation and it will be my commitment to follow through on saying ‘this kid has my support.’

although it was my first experience at the jail, i’m sure it won’t be my last.  but to think … this was ‘just another day’ for  most kids on that stand.  sighhhhhhh.  wow.  i’ll never forget it.