It’s Party Time
Posted by Ben on May 21, 2011
It’s graduation season, and right now, across the street from my house there is a party going on that makes me smile. My street is full of cars, there is loud music, and a sweet smell of food that isn’t mine to eat, but I don’t care. This isn’t a high school graduation party. THIS party makes me happy. THIS party makes me smile. THIS party reminds me what I’m doing in New Orleans. This party is for Douda, a young man I met four years ago, in another neighborhood, while doing another ministry. I met him through a 5th grader named Josh. Josh was my most significant youth relationship during Mission Year. I saw Josh all the time. Douda was his best friend. Everyone called him Bug, and if I saw Josh the chances were high I would also see Bug. I remember him as a young man with big eyes who was always flying around the corner to see his friend.
Our year ended, and I made the short move to another neighborhood in New Orleans. We’ve moved around Hollygrove several times since moving here, and soon after our last move a kid that looked familiar showed up to the center to play basketball. It took me some time, but I realized this was the same Douda that I used to call Bug. Not long after that realized that he not only also lived in Hollygrove, but he lived on my block.
This is a party that lets me see a young man make one step closer to college. I never would have imagined that I would be able to watch him walk across a stage in 8th grade. It makes me excited to realize that this same young boy is attending the same school that I coached for during the winter (and hope to coach for next winter as well). My heart is filled with such joy to see how relationships that looked lost can come full circle, and how God can renew relationships formed years and years ago in ways that could only be organized by his hand.
Please pray for the future of these relationships in the neighborhood, in the schools, and through basketball. God is doing amazing things down here. It’s times like these that God reminds me gently that it is not my work here that is happening, but that I am doing His will, working to show others His love, and that His hand will gently guide us.
