This week was Mighty Oak’s mid winter break. One of our breaks throughout the school year that gives both students and educators time to rest and come back refreshed and ready to create the best possible educational time during instruction. It was a cold, snowy break but a lot was still accomplished.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” It is the question that can throw someone on the brink of graduation into a spiral and one that has sparked plenty of quarter-life crises. It can be overwhelming for young adults transitioning into a new phase of life, whether that is graduating high school, earning a degree, or entering the workforce.
This week, our after school programs for this semester kicked into gear. Every school day has after school programs of various types, some days even have multiple options for kids to attend! Now, we have more options for students than we have had in years. It has been awesome to see our team step up to lead these programs and the excitement it has created in students.
I think people may not understand how community driven Love City is. Not only is everything we do based on what our community needs, but we also will pivot at a moment’s notice if those needs change. We have done it before with food distribution during CoVid, with the creation of Mighty Oak Academy in the fallout of NTI in our neighborhood, but also in smaller moments.
We all know a gym rat, someone who seemingly cannot get enough time in the gym. They love shooting ball, or lifting waits, or doing anything active. At Love City we seem to have two of these gym rats: Sebastian and Santana. Some of you may have heard Sebastian’s story before, but he has a twin sister Santana who is also on our team.
With the winter weather this past week, many people’s lives hit pause. School’s were called off and businesses called for remote work. One great advantage of having community based education, is that the weather was not as big of a hindrance and if anything, only helped in bringing the community together more.
A few weeks ago a young couple came in. They were from Portland, I had seen them around before but had never really talked to them before. But they came in and said “we need some help, we’re getting married and are still looking for some stuff”. Over the next couple of weeks they made multiple stops in, each time getting some things they needed, dresses for their flowergirls, a shirt for the groom, shoes for the bride.
With Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Thred Up, it has seemingly never been easier for somebody who has something they don’t need to give that thing to somebody who does need it. The concept in its simplest form is amazing, letting resources flow where they are needed, but it can often get complicated when the giver begins to ask “what can I get out of this?” Greed can take hold and lead neither party to budge, preventing the resources from getting to where they need to be
Yesterday we got to celebrate Thanksgiving at Mighty Oak before the school went on their holiday break. This year we decided to have a more intimate meal and instead of doing the whole school at once, we did one class at a time. Parents were allowed to attend lunch with their children and sit down and enjoy a meal with them. We were blessed to have Lou Lou in Middletown provide the food as well as many helping hands from their team to serve food to our families.
In September 2023, I had been studying for my Master’s in creative writing and teaching as a graduate assistant for the English department at my university. After spending a week in the hospital, I knew the best decision for me was to drop out. My choice hinged upon one crucial factor– I hated teaching… or at least I thought I did.
I generally don’t get too involved in holidays but it is hard to not have a lot of fun at breakfast as all the kids come dressed up in their costumes. That fun was not the only bright spot in the week. In the week of the holiday that celebrates death, the Love City community has had three babies born.
When nothing seems to be going right, when chaos seems to surround you every step you take, when you seem stuck in a rut. Where does your mind go, what do you do to get things back on track again. A lot of times when things seem to be getting too chaotic around Love City, whether it is issues in the neighborhood or feeling like there is not enough time in a day, the famous phrase “every little thing is gonna be alright” tends to pop up.
It never ceases to amaze me the amazing generosity that people have towards our community at Love City. This can express itself in many different ways whether people donate fiscally, with their time, or through other resources. This has only become even more tangible as we now get to see 5-10 people a week coming to donate goods to Merriment.
There are so many beautiful moments that we get to be a part of at Love City. Many of these moments are interactions that we have, relationships that we build, or events that we take part in. But sometimes, there are moments that we get to just be witnesses to. I got to witness one of these moments at Porkland a couple weeks ago. An amazing Kingdom moment that I got to just watch unfold in all of its splendor before me.
I had just decided not to return back to college in person. I wanted to stay at Love City and finish my degree online. Shawn said he had the perfect role to make sure I could manage work and my homework. All I had to do was sit at the front desk and check in students for open gym. A week later, ballroom construction began and the checkout and open gym entrance moved to the back cafe.
If you track the journey of Jesus and his sayings throughout his proclamation of the Kingdom, you can see how they adapt to his crowd. In the rural hills among the working class of Galilee you get parables about farming, carpentry, and common life. Then, as the narrative approaches Jerusalem, the parables begin to switch more towards wealth and religious tradition.
It can happen anywhere, at any moment. It can be scheduled, unscheduled, done with a lot of noise or silently. Sometimes people don’t even know that it is going on, they just know that something is different. It is difficult to explain to people because it is normal at Love City, but some people may only truly experience a few times in their lives. It is being in the Spirit with others, in the body of Christ, the Church.
