A Tiny Ripple Of Hope

I had the privilege of sharing the story of some of the women I met when in Atlanta at the National PA Conference in Vegas. Click the youtube link to watch.

Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope... and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. ~Robert F. Kennedy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rvg0ObudvBk

It Is Worth It

I had to literally force myself to slow down, sit down, and write this blog post.
I equipped myself with some La Croix water, popcorn and pandora radio, I'm set.
I confess, I forgot I even had this blog for a time. I was reminded I had it the other day and read a post I wrote on 2/28/11....

"I have numerous moments where i pause wondering why I am doing this... why I live where I live. Especially in really hip/quaint neighborhoods like Oak Park... The anthem "be careful" constantly sings its chorus in my head. I feel a little crazy at times and often ask myself... "are you really going to make a difference, is it worth the risk...????"
To be honest.... I'm not sure yet. "

God is so faithful, because almost 10 months later I am convinced that it is absolutely worth it! You know, I can't even believe I saw it as risky. God's grace has transformed my perspective here, I feel 100% certain that being here is safe in the sense that being obedient to God is the best place we can be at any given time. The anthem "be careful" that rang throughout my mind has transformed into a different anthem.. "be faithful".

I was recently reflecting on Paul's words in his letter to Thessalonica... he said

"Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us"

I could write something to that effect to best explain the past year of my life but borrowing Paul's words is a little more divinely inspired. My life is a beautiful interwoven knitting of people.

I spend a the majority of my time in clinic half a mile from my house serving the beautiful people of this community. I am so greatful the Lord has allowed me to use my love for medicine and critical thinking in a way to love these people and meet practical needs, my patients have become very dear to me.

I have developed deep and genuine relationships with many friends here through church. Not only do we have a lot of fun, but a couple of my friends really continually encourage me to walk in a way that honors the Lord. These relationships are extremely life giving and I'm excited to continue living in community with these friends, my friends and church family have become very dear to me.

God has placed the call to mentor young women on my heart for a long time. I have loved being a part of a group of mentors with Urban Life Skills who have similar hearts for youth in this neighborhood people would otherwise render hopeless. I have met two young women and started to live life alongside them. These two women have become very dear to me.

My family has been extremely supportive of my move here and have provided much encouragement and support during this transition. They are patient with me when I don't answer my phone as often and their indelible love blesses me beyond belief, I love and miss yall in a super intense way, you guys are very dear to me.

My friends from home/PA school/college, I miss yall so much it literally hurts sometimes. I carry with me sweet memories of each of you and even though separated geographically I think and pray for you often, you guys are very dear to me.

Note: pictures of mentees used with permission... I have some clinic photos but can't post them. I do actually work as a PA though :) Also the quality of photos are subpar.


27th bday celebration with amigos

One of my mentees and her little girl


My roomates :)

Another mentee :) Getting her to smile in a photo is challenging so this pic is golden

thoughts on long distance running

A year and a half ago when I signed up for my first half-marathon, I did it in an attempt to challenge my body in new ways. In high school I was super fit, and I wanted to put as much effort into the edification of my body as I was putting into learning and the edification of my mind.

I sit here in a Starbucks in Nashville one day out from finishing my 2nd half marathon. I finished this one 4 minutes faster than my first, which is exciting to me. I don't run these things fast, which is hard to swallow because I like to do everything with excellence, but my pace is the best I can do right now in my life, and I aspire to eventually become must faster, but back to the point I'm trying to make......

In reflecting how I have developed as a person 2 half marathons later, sure, my body is stronger and fitter, but surprisingly my mind is what has developed the most. My journey in long distance running has revealed to me the power that my mind has to fuel my endurance, the ability for the mind to overcome any bodily pain or fatigue and tell your legs to keep moving. I used to have a frequent episodes of psychosomatic symptoms, mainly anxiety would manifest itself through chest tightness and pain, which has not happened since I started running long distances, I honestly think my mind has been conditioned to overcome my body in its most effective way yet.

Additionally, I think I'm more laid back of a person since I began running. There are plenty of confounding factors to this.... time, spiritual maturity etc but I just feel more "chilled out" as a person. If you know me well, you know that I am laid back about 90% of things in life. There are a handful of things that light my fire and I am all but laid back... but most of the time, against my first-born nature I really enjoy to go with the flow because I have learned that life is just much much more enjoyable this way, I think running as made me even more so this way.... again a certain mental endurance to overcome not only physical pain but emotional irrationality.

So there are my thoughts, ironically when making the decision to start running long distances I thought my body would be the main recipient of positive benefits, but I think my mind has won out on this... it has come out the strongest in this new endeavor.

To God be all Glory.
Thanks for reading.

To be honest... I'm not sure yet

The bank teller at Chase confirms my address with me as I get a roll of quarters for my laundry. I'm up in Oak Park, a quaint community about 15-20 minutes away from my neighborhood. Today I'm going to do a run along a road filled with homes designed by the famous architecht Frank Lloyd Wright. I have to admit, I didn't know who he was when I first prepared to move to Chicago, but apparently he is a big deal.

Anyways, back to the bank teller....
"You live in Lawndale?" (an aside: Little Village is also known as South Lawndale).
"Yes" I replied back... she looked at me, a little confused then proceeded with her work.
A couple seconds later she looked up and asked "do you work there?"....
"yes".... I replied...I'm a PA in family practice"
She then quickly remarked "oh do you work at that Christian clinic?"
"Why Yes! I replied, "do you know of it??"
"yes" she replied... but the confused look returned... "you work there but don't live there do you?"
"Yes I do, I live and work there"
She then proceeded to say the same 2 words people have said to me many times over the past couple of weeks.....
"Be careful"

I have numerous moments where i pause wondering why I am doing this... why I live where I live. Especially in really hip/quaint neighborhoods like Oak Park... The anthem "be careful" constantly sings its chorus in my head. I feel a little crazy at times and often ask myself... "are you really going to make a difference, is it worth the risk...????"

To be honest.... I'm not sure yet.

But I will share with you some thoughts about this idea of relocation and the theory behind my decision. The Christian Community Development Association a group with a mission to restore Under-Resourced communities. They believe that a couple of principles are essential to the process of restoration of broken communities: Relocation, Reconciliation, Redistribution. It would take a while to go into each of these but I'm going to chat a little bit about relocation.

There is a Chinese poem that reads:
Go to the people
Live among them
Learn from them
Love them
Start with what they know
Build on what they have
But the best of leaders
When their task is done
The people will remark
"we have done it ourselves"

Bob Lupton, a man doing this very thing in Atlanta with FCS Urban Ministries says
"Common sense tells us to protect our families and our investments from people of detrimental influence. Yet God's desirability quotient seems weighted toward becoming neighbors to people in need. In fact, Jesus, giving the same weight to loving one's neighbor as to loving God, described for us those who needed neighbors- the ill-clothed, the hungry, the homeless stranger, the wounded and the broken.... What is more sobering is that our withdrawal from neighbors in need causes schools to decline, real estate to depreciate, crime to spread, hope to dwindle, communities to collapse, and despair to reign."

So here I am... and I don't know yet if me being here will make a difference but I am praying it will. I don't want to waste my time here and I hope to be able to do a small part in loving this community as I would any community I would have been a part of.

There is a theoretical harmony in my mind that exists when people of different colors, economic backgrounds, educational histories and cultures become neighbors. I will let share with you when I "hear" this harmony manifest itself, I'll also share times when it sounds more like fingernails on a chalk board, but I'm excited to share part of this journey with friends and family that I care for.

Thanks for reading.... I have included some pictures from my day in Oak Park

One of the Frank Lloyd Wright houses I passed on my run

Another Wright house



A hot dog from Tasty Dog.... mmmmmm cucumbers and tomato on a hotdog = yummy

Hello Chicago

Hello there everyone,
Greetings from Chicago! Its currently 12 degrees outside but feels like -3. I'm sitting in a coffee shop in Lincoln Park, which is about 20 minutes or so from my neighborhood, but I had my hair cut down here today and decided to explore a bit and settled in this coffee place called Lincoln Perk. It is small, and I'm the only one in here but there is a sweet Reggae song playing in the background. My belly is full after having a delicious Caprese sandwich (Pesto, tomato and mozerella) and a delicious soy chai tea latte. There is so much to talk about that I don't even know where to begin.

I guess I'll start with my living space.... as you seen I live in that cute building pictured on the left. We are on the first floor (not the basement). I love it. The space is great but even more I have really awesome roommates. It is really neat to see how God provides, even in the details. Having found them was even more of a confirmation to me that Chicago and specifically Little Village was where I was supposed to be for this season of my life. Amy and Emily are the names of my roommates. I met Amy very briefly when I interviewed back in November (actually met her on her birthday!) and emailed her later when I decided to move to Chicago to see if she knew of anyone looking for roommates and she was looking for one. Bingo.
Emily works at New Life Church (Little Village location), I met her when I moved in. She is super cool as well. Both of them are really friendly and I know I will learn a lot from each of them as we share life together in Little Village.

Next, a huge shout out to my parents. The journey to Chicago included my mom and aunt driving to Atlanta and helping me pack. I am organizationally challenged and they came in and really blessed me with their time and service. Amazing if you ask me. Then my dad came down and helped me move all my stuff and did an amazing job packing the Penske truck. He also did a rockstar job driving that thing from Atlanta to Chicago, including the last leg which included ice covered roads. We stopped in Evansville, Indiana to stay with the Keller family (they belong to my great friend Lauren Keller from college) They took us in and really blessed us with their time and food during our pit stop.

Then the big day, the drive into the city.... we unloaded the truck... then about 10 minutes later, the blizzard started. No joke, the timing was perfect!! My dad made it home (probably exhausted) and then my mom flew in and helped me organize. This included multiple target and home depot runs but we got the job done. It was so nice to have her here. i love that both of my parents got to see where I live and meet the people I will be living amongst. I think they are both have a peace about me being here which is great and yet another confirmation.

On Monday I start work. I don't know what to expect really but I'm expectant that God will enable me to serve His people in this community well. My prayer is that I have a good balance of servanthood without burnout. That I take care of myself well but also give of myself well. I know that I will learn how to do this and through grace and wisdom I will somehow learn and grow into this balance.

If you pray, please ask God for safety, growth, wisdom, and the ability to practice good medicine. Pray for Little Village.

Love each of you. Miss each of you..... Thank you for walking through this life with me.