THE BACKSTORY

My husband and I live in the Everett Neighborhood of Lincoln, Nebraska. This is a racially diverse, high poverty neighborhood. It has challenges. Police cruisers and emergency vehicles don't drive past this neighborhood on their way to "somewhere else". This is not the neighborhood where two law-abiding, white, protestant, conservative, naïve country types might be expected to feel at home.

Or is it?

Somehow, our hearts have been captivated by this place and these people. Possibly, it's all the colors of skin we see. Or maybe the different languages spoken by people walking by our house. Or the fact that there's a lot of foot traffic here, and we get to meet people simply because many don't have cars. Maybe we just can't resist the little kids that come by to use our sidewalk chalk and Legos.

Not everything enchants. People's addictions, character issues, anger, pain, and mental illness are visible. There is so much brokenness here that few people bother trying to hide it. Need is everywhere, and even we can see it.

For a long time, we've attended church at Lincoln Berean on the other side of town. It is a radiant, Christ-honoring church.  The services are deep, powerful, and well-planned. At LBC, we are continually challenged to have a strong, real faith that affects every aspect of our lives. We feel at home there. The people seem a lot like us.

However, each spring there is a marathon in Lincoln, and one Sunday in early 2015, the race's route sort of walled us into our neighborhood. When we realized we weren't able to drive out to Berean, we decided to park the car and walk over to F Street Neighborhood Church. We'd been meaning to visit sometime anyway.

“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” -Frederick Buechner

The F Street community awakens a deep gladness in me, and certainly there are needs here that I believe God is inviting us to help meet.