Stop to Start

If there isn’t a God, we better fret and worry and expend all our energy figuring out what to do. But if there is a God, perhaps the most important thing we can do is to stop and listen.

In the “Upside Down Training” we do at Graffiti, we sometimes share this important community service principle:

Don’t just do something–stand there.

In times of stress, developing the habit of stopping and being attentive may actually be the most practical, and, well, active thing we can do.

In Isaiah, God makes a remarkable promise. “And when you turn, whether to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it'” (Isaiah 30:21). We are flooded with potential information to our cell phones, televisions, radios, and we have to make some choices.

In the same way, perhaps it isn’t that God hasn’t sent out a signal. Maybe we just haven’t stopped to tune in properly.

Walk Up Not Out

“Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.” Ephesians 5:2

To this day I still remember my biggest regret from my days at Oak Grove elementary school. This isn’t regret that I realize now, that I didn’t know then. Instead, I knew then what I didn’t do that I should have done.

Here it is: I should have been a friend.

I had a lot of friends and for the most part I think I was a good friend. But, there was a girl that I intentionally kept at a distance, simply because she smelled.

Her odor made her an outcast.

This girl from my childhood came to mind recently when our children in our afterschool program were encouraged by our children’s director to “Walk Up, Not Out.” Here is the poster from our program that explains the idea:

At a time when activism is encouraging people to speak up and walk out, I doubt either of those things would have made a difference to that little girl sitting alone in the lunch room. Then again, writing and reflecting now does nothing for her either. But maybe, I will see a person this week, walk up to them, take them to lunch, and treat them like a friend. Whether it does anything to change their life doesn’t really matter. The point is to change mine.

Choppin' It Up

“If you let a person talk long enough, you’ll hear their true intentions! Listen twice, speak once.” Tupac Shakur

The burger was good—a flat patty with crispy edges, crunchy lettuce, a glistening tomato, sriracha aioli, all between two sides of a toasted, buttery bun. 

Neither this meal nor the company sitting across the table were planned at the start of my day. 

The young man, who in conversation disclosed he was now twenty-two years old, had texted me earlier that afternoon. He remembered we had met when he was twelve. He came to a basketball camp. Since then we’ve had many fist bumps and hugs as we pass on the street. He’s never been in our building, never been to church. He’s a rapper. Most young men in our neighborhood are or at least aspire to be. However, he actually is. He’s performed at the Apollo, has tens of thousands of followers on social media, and is excited about signing a deal with a prominent record company. His music reflects his experience in life, an experience very different than mine.

Yet there we sat—talking, listening, or in his words, “choppin’ it up.” Perhaps as you get closer to the end of this paragraph you’re expecting to find a point, a moral, a conclusion. No, it’s not here, just as I don’t have a conclusion to the end of my story. When we got back to the block, we parted ways with another fist bump and a hug. I’m not sure the point of it all, but I look forward to more opportunities to chop it up.