Community 4:12

Another School Partnership!

It's been an exciting week!  First after meeting with the principal and Parent Liaison at Bardwell Elementary, we've decided to start our Parent Mentor program there in January with 5 parents.  So, Parents United in Action is going multi-site in East Aurora!

And I couldn't be more jazzed about this other new initiative . . .in March, CCC will be launching it's 9th campus in Plainfield.  Campus Pastor, Brady Prunty, is committed to and passionate about making sure his campus is heavily involved in service right from the start.  So, he asked me what his campus might be able to do in East Aurora that would be their own initiative.  I immediately thought of Waldo Middle School.  I've been wanting to begin working at the junior high level since there is so much need there, and the principal at Waldo had actually approached me earlier this year about possibly partnering.

So, we met with Ms. Barnes this week and she said she had really been praying about the best role for our church to play in helping them transform their school.  And she said, "Our students need help learning, but even more than that, they need help learning how to behave appropriately."  Physical aggression and defiance are two of the biggest problems the school faces, and she thought what better group to help teach character issues than a church!

The school uses the PBIS system of behavioral management and our new Plainfield Campus is going to be working with staff and student leaders at the school to devise creative ways of teaching the PBIS "Cool Tools" of appropriate behavior . . . drama, video, all the stuff CCC does so well!   They will also be planning incentives to help motivate students to maintain appropriate behavior.  Brad has worked with Junior High kids at CCC for the past several years, so he is totally "in the know" about what excites and motivates that age student.  And Sandy Rosen will be serving as our Plainfield Community 4:12 rep, and she is a phenomenal planner and coordinator, so I just can't wait to see what this partnership is going to do.  We have 18 months before my oldest son will be heading off to Waldo, so I am praying for some serious transformation to happen in the next year.  And if anyone can help make that happen, it is Brad and his team! 

Worlds Collide

Had an uncomfortable experience this weekend.  We've been taking a couple of kids from Aurora with us to church in Naperville on Saturday nights.  Their parents have no interest in coming, but they sure are interested in having their kids go.  And the kids love CCC---pretty different from anything they've experienced.

This weekend we also took one of Brian's old friends from Naperville.  We had to drive him home after church on our way back to Aurora.  We drove past our old house, which our Aurora friends weren't too impressed with, but then we drove to the next subdivision over where Brian's friend lives.  I used to drive by those houses every day, but this time I felt very uncomfortable . . . almost embarrassed.  Both of the kids from Aurora got very quiet.  I saw in the rearview mirror that they were staring, almost open mouthed, out the window.  One of them said, "Mr. Strand, you used to live in THIS neighborhood?!"  They didn't say it, but I knew they were thinking, "You must be RICH!"

And we are.  We may have moved away from the neighborhood of luxurious homes, but we are still filthy rich.  As we drove back to Aurora, the little boy shared that his bike was recently stolen and that his dad said that if he saves up enough money to buy a new one, they will keep it inside in the living room so it doesn't get stolen again, since they don't have a garage to put it in.  I asked the little girl how many sisters and brothers she had, and she said, "I don't know.  My dad has kids I don't know."  And as we drove up to the pint-sized, very run-down homes that these two kids live in, I felt sick to my stomach. 

Within 20 minutes we had dropped one child off at a 5 bedroom, 3 car garage home (for a family of 4) and two others at 2 bedroom, no garage homes (for families of 6 - 7). 

Our old world and our new collided, and while the kids from both worlds played so well together, at the end of the day, they all went back to their own homes, which are worlds apart.   

Answered Prayers

Instead of the usual "What are we thankful for" Thanksgiving discussion, we sat around the breakfast table Thanksgiving morning talking about the prayers God has answered (either how we wanted or not how we wanted) in the past year.  Here were the boys' first 5 responses:

• He didn't give us the house we prayed for that we thought we wanted.
• He gave us a house with a big yard so lots of kids could come and play.
• He made my (Brian's) shingles go away.
• He gave us the perfect dog.
• He helped us "fit in" at school and make lots of friends---even more than we had in Naperville!

A year ago I would have predicted that their top answer would have been, "He didn't answer our prayer that our house wouldn't sell so we wouldn't have to move."  MY biggest answered prayer was that the boys have found this move to be far better than they ever dreamed, and that they love their new home, neighborhood, school, and friends.

We have been blessed this year, in so many ways!

Christmas Buzz

It's not quite Thanksgiving yet, but today I started to feel the Christmas buzz.  We tried a new approach to advertising this year, and we had teachers at Brady and Bardwell Elementary Schools hand out flyers about our annual Christmas Gift Mart during Parent Teacher Conferences yesterday and today.  I was at Bardwell for my sons' conferences today and I heard that 6 parents have already signed up to help. Scott said that he had a mom ask at the start of her conference if he knew where she could get discounted toys for her kids for Christmas.  And then he handed her the flyer about our event.  I wish I could have been there to see her face!

This will be our 5th year of collecting new toys and then selling them at very reduced rates to parents from the Brady and Bardwell communities.  By selling the toys instead of giving them away, we give parents the joy of picking out what they want and the dignity of not receiving a hand-out.  And the Gift Mart also serves as a fundraiser for the schools, because everything we raise from selling the toys gets donated to Brady and Bardwell.  Last year we raised almost $7,000 for them, which they claim is a huge help to their meager budgets.

We aim to collect 6,000 toys this year and need over 500 volunteers to pull this event off on December 15th.  If you live in the area and want to join the fun, click here to email Beth, our phenomenal event coordinator.  I guarantee it will be the most fun you'll have all season!

Love One Another. Just as I have loved you.

Day 13 of CCC's 21 Day Bible Challenge.  John 13.

John 13: 34 - 35  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another:  just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

Father in Heaven, if only we humans whom you have entrusted this world to would do this.  You dreamed of a world filled with love . . . not hatred or competition or envy or strive.  Forgive us for what we have done to your world.  Forgive me for my contribution to your broken world.  Help me to love the way you love.  Wipe all pride and judgement and selfishness from my heart.  Eliminate the rascism and prejudice that keeps me from truly loving my neighbors.

By this all people will know you are my disciple, if you have love for one another.

Tune in at 6:00 am

Thanks to a good friend and faithful C4:12 volunteer, I was interviewed this afternoon by Weez Stockton of radio station 95.9.  A Christ-follower herself, she loves to promote church based community events when she can, so she was excited to help us promote the toy drive for our Aurora Christmas Gift Mart on December 15th.  I've never been interviewed on the radio before, so thankfully this was a pre-recorded deal, so there can be lots of editing!  If you happen to be up at 6:00 am on Sunday mornings, you can catch the brief interview on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, November 25th.  If you do, let me know how it is, because that is the one day of the week I am NOT up at 6:00 am!  They also posted info on the community calendar on their web-site, so that is very cool.  We have 6,000 toys to collect by December 15th, so we'll take whatever publicity we can get . . . even if it is at 6:00 am!

A Different Kind of Birthday

I can't believe I have a 10 year old.  Wasn't it just yesterday that I was the proud new parent of a baby boy?  I'm still a proud parent, just not such a new one anymore.

Hitting the big decade mark is a big deal, so we did something we never do for birthdays . . . had a party at one of those places that you pay a bunch of money and they tell the mom that her only job is to sit and relax.  So, thanks to a generous grandpa, we took 10 boys to play Laser Tag.  But, the whole experience was way different than anything we would have had in Naperville.

Erik decided he wanted to invite only his new Aurora friends to the party this year.  We knew enough not to send the invitations home more than a week in advance, and he decided to write "No Gifts Please" on the invitations so as not to make anyone feel they couldn't come if they couldn't bring a gift.

We heard from a friend that it would be unlikely we would get any RSVPs and that if we wanted kids to show up, we better spend the day before driving around reminding kids.  Sure enough, we didn't get any calls.  So, we spent part of a day driving around reminding kids and talking with parents that we could about the party.  My dad, who was in town for the big celebration and the one footing the bill, felt like he was on a different planet.  He couldn't believe people could function in a world that is so spur of the moment.  But, as we heard stories, he began to understand why.  One mom apologized for not calling, saying that with 10 kids things get a little crazy at her house.  Another goes to work at Taco Bell early in the morning and goes straight from there to a factory job until 11 pm.  Seven days a week. 

We made it to every house but one.  Sure enough, the next day everyone but that child showed up for the party.  Everyone met at our house and we drove them to the Fox Valley area.  Some had been to the area before, but none to the Laser Tag place.  But what a treat it was for me to watch those boys have so much fun experiencing something they had never done.  Erik said it was his best birthday ever, even though there were no gifts (well, one boy brought a lolli-pop and another a card with a $1 bill inside, and one did bring a toy car wrapped nicely and the one friend from CCC spoiled him with a Target gift card that he slipped to Erik when no one was looking so they wouldn't feel bad).

It was a great day.  And then several hours after we got home, the doorbell rang.  Outside was a little boy who hadn't been invited to the party but showed up with a gift card to K-Mart and said, "I'm here for your party."  Ouch.  Erik handled it well and came up with three options he's considering for the gift . . . give the gift card back (probably not a good cultural move we are learning), use it to buy a toy for the Christmas Gift Mart CCC will host, or use it to buy him a toy when it is his birthday.  He never even considered keeping it for himself (at least that he verbalized to us!).

A simple 10 year old birthday party, enough life lessons to last all year, and one really proud Mom.  Happy Birthday, Erik!  I love you!! 

Looking at Jesus

Read this great meditation by Claudia Mauir Burney in "Justice in the Burbs" today . .

Jesus lives next door.  He's an eight year old girl and her three year old brother.  The Son of Man looks like those starving Ethiopian children.  He only gets breakfast and lunch at school, when he makes it.  His mama is a crack whore.  Nobody knows where his daddy is.  I heard his mama lets her "Johns" do things to him.

Poor King of Kings.

Jesus is two houses down and has six children.  Now he's pregnant with the seventh.  I don't know if he hasn't figured out what birth control is, or what, but how does he expect his husband to feed all those babies on that salary?  And you know with all those kids the Lord of Lords can't work.  That means hardworking taxpayers' money has to go for Christ's food stamps?

He needs to get fixed.

The Lord is a crazy man---paranoid schizophrenic.  If he doesn't take his medication, he walks up and down the street, cussing and spitting on everybody he passes.  He's homeless.  Nobody knows where his family is--if he's got one.  Digs out of the trash cans for food.  Somebody ought to get him off the street.

Jesus is nothing but a nuisance.

I'm starting to see the Son of God everywhere I go.  He's always crying or begging or looking pitiful.  Why doesn't he pull himself up by his bootstraps?  This is America!  Makes me mad.  He's ruining our neighborhood.

Somebody ought to do something about him.

Somebody.

Justice in the Burbs

I'm reading a great book .  . . Justice in the Burbs.  Here's a thought for the day from it . . . Perhaps this is a definition of faithfulness:  allowing one's dreams to be interrupted.

East Aurora Bike Ride

Thanks to Caleb's Triple Threat Sports Ministry and CCC's Montgomery Campus Mens' Group and StuCo kids, about 80 kids from East Aurora enjoyed a 15 mile roundtrip bikeride to Batavia with a cook-out and games at the half-way point on Saturday.  Scott and the boys went and said it was a blast.  Kids from Bardwell, Brady, and O'Donnell Elementary Schools participated and they are already gearing up for another one in the spring!  This was Triple Threat's first organized sports activity for the East Aurora youth, and I hear from principals at both Brady and Bardwell that they can't wait to get Caleb and CCC in to do more and more sports activities!