the refuge… an outreach opportunity…

Today, I had the opportunity to volunteer at The Refuge, a renovation of a former crackhouse in Downtown OKC. It was an opportunity for K-Life students to join in and do some outreach/social work/community service/authentic faith… we packed 3 carloads of Jr. Highers and Leaders after packing some sack lunches, and drove down from the wealth and privilege that is Edmond, OK, down to where the homeless and abandonded hang-out. After a great tour/storytime with the founder, we got to work, painting walls, cleaning old appliances, laying wood floors, and making trash runs… I am hopeful that the kids we took this morning will be able to comprehend what went on today, my prayer is that the bigger picture is seen…

On the way home, I asked the gals (five 8th grade girls) in my truck, there reactions and thoughts from the morning of work, many of them were surprised that a crackhouse existed in Oklahoma… not to mention that there were gangs and prostitution, running amok in the building. They thought only NYC or LA or even Chi-town had these types of problems and these types of people. It was as if they had seen reality. That their only link to this type of evil was from television and the reality of it being this close to where they live was shocking. They couldn’t believe that the police hadn’t taken cleaned up the streets of downtown, as one of the gals said, “Don’t the Police do anything about that kind of stuff?” To which my answer was… “Well, I hope they do, but sometimes things are never as they should be.” Weak retort, but it was all I had.

Authentic Faith, carries with it an action, and today though only for a few hours, my prayer and hope was that these gals caught a glimpse of a world without God, and then realized that today, they helped bring the Kingdom of God back into the heart of OKC. Click on the pic so see a few more, from the day (we had some fun, too!):