Monday, January 31, 2011

Prayer is...

"Prayer is a nonlocative, nongeographic space that one enters at one's own peril, for it houses God during those few moments of one's presence there, and what is there will most surely change everything that comes into it. Prayer, its opal walls polished to transparency by the centuries of hands that have touched them, is the Tabernacle realized and the wayside chapel utilized. Ever traveling as we travel, moving as we move, prayer grips like home, until the heart belongs nowhere else and the body can scarcely function apart from them both. Prayer is dangerous and the entrance way to wholeness."



PHYLLIS TICKLE, Prayer Is a Place

I like this quote. What do you think?
Peace and Love, Krista

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

InsideToronto Article: Mosque, synagogue unite in effort to feed homeless youth

InsideToronto Article: Mosque, synagogue unite in effort to feed homeless youth


I found this article while trying to find information on how I might be able to assist homeless youth  anywhere within driving distance from my little town in Virginia. 

I get stuck on things sometimes. The brain just refuses to let go.  This is one of those times.

How did I get there? It probably has something to do with the fact that we are really cold at my house some days. There are times when the temperature hovers in the mid forties. I tend to operate from the "it could always be worse" perspective. I like to think of it as chilly, not cold. We survive. We do have some heat, and we can get a few rooms alot warmer. We have heated  mattress pads that wake me in a full sweat in the middle of the night when I forget to lower the temp. It isn't so bad.

I began to think of others who endure much colder weather. It isn't much of a leap. I work with kids daily. So runs the movie in my brain.

Homeless youth. If those two words don't make you cry, read them again. Homeless youth. Homeless youth.

There are an estimated 2 million homeless young people in America. 2 million. If you have a hard time visualizing that number, try this: the seating capacity at FedEx stadium is 91, 655.  Nearly 22 stadiums filled to capacity, not with Redskins fans, but with our sons and daughters. It is unimaginable.

Unfathomable. Insane.

Eight homeless young people burned in a fire over the holidays in an abandoned warehouse in New Orleans' Ninth Ward. If it made national news, I certainly missed it. Burned beyond recognition, beyond even the identification of gender. If you don't believe it, google it.

I want to do something about homelessness. I want everyone to do something to end homelessness for our nation's youth. If a mosque and a synagogue can work together in Toronto to be part of a solution for homeless Canadian youth, can we not do the same?

Yes, there are organizations who are leading the way. Check out Dry Bones in Denver, and StandUp for Kids across the country.  But, in these terrible, harrowing economic times that are putting families and kids on the streets daily, funding to support outreach also drys up. Staffed centers vanish.

2 million homeless youth. 2 million. Homeless Youth.

It isn't right.

Those homeless kids are not nameless.  They are not faceless. They are part of Our family.

Peace and Love, K
(I will update this when I sort out what I am going to do)

Saturday, January 1, 2011

New Year

Happy New Year. May the new year find you filled with wonder as you gaze upon nature's incredible beauty ...whether it be a snowy afternoon, a starlit sky, or the simple ripples on a sparkling pond after skipping stones. May you have peace in your heart, and generosity in spirit. Let dreams soar, and face challenge with courage. Remember that Love always wins. -K

Some of my favorite pics from the last week: