Several years ago, I visited my friend, Sarah, in San Diego. Sarah worked as a Social worker with Catholic Charities at the time, and was aware of the resources that the city had to offer. One sunny day we were driving downtown with the windows rolled down. We stopped at a stoplight, right next to a man who was panhandling from the median. Photo Credit The conversation went something like this: Man: Can you help me out? I need money for food. Sarah: No, I’m not going to give

Photo Credit The following is a repost from 2008, updated. I’m still asking the same questions, but my questions have more depth and experience within them. Am I the only one who asks these questions, and do you think there are answers? In my process to figure out my calling I’ve thought much about becoming a full-time social worker. Although I’m realizing that social work takes many forms. So what is social work exactly? It is the same as social justice? Just last week I hea

Several years ago, I visited my friend, Sarah, in San Diego. Sarah worked as a Social worker with Catholic Charities at the time, and was aware of the resources that the city had to offer. One sunny day we were driving downtown with the windows rolled down. We stopped at a stoplight, right next to a man who was panhandling from the median. Photo Credit The conversation went something like this: Man: Can you help me out? I need money for food. Sarah: No, I’m not going to give

In May, I posted the following Facebook status (which my friends so lovingly teased me for), “weekend recap: fly, cry, hug, love, work, hurt, fun, run, sleep, eat, glad, grad, fly, guy”. Although the year wasn’t even half over at the time, when I look back to my third year of living in Nashville, this status summarizes the year beautifully. That particular weekend I returned to Nebraska to attend my youngest sister’s high school graduation. While those words were tailored for

Every Tuesday this semester, the Scarritt Bennett center has hosted “Tuesdays in the Chapel”, a thirty- minute, Interfaith (ok, Methodist) worship service. These services welcomed me into the presence of Christ each week, through a focused, beautiful service. The beauty of the building and format of the service each week allow me to step out of United States religious culture and into the greater Kingdom of God. I thought I would share today’s prayers with you in hopes that y

Tonight I was looking for a song that I heard earlier this year, about how faith isn’t faith until it’s been refined with fire. Well, unfortunately I couldn’t find a video to that song to share with you, but I did find this video by the same artist. Nathan Lee writes from his soul, songs that ask big questions about life and faith. He isn’t afraid to “go there” wherever that may be at the time. He’s been through fire and chooses to keep walking forward to get and give the mos

NASHVILLE — In May, we announced that a group of people in Nashville are dedicated to providing direct services to victims of human trafficking. Today, we are no longer “that group of people”. While we cannot claim official 501 (c)(3) status, you can now call us by our name: Underground Justice & Aftercare Movement (UJAM). The Underground Justice & Aftercare Movement will be composed of a short-term, emergency shelter, a long-term restorative home, and a legal clinic. No smal

Alright! If you have not read the previous post, you would benefit to do so now. Here is how we need you. We want to get moving on starting this shelter. Much has already been done, and even more is already in the works. Meeting are taking place, documents are being created, things are moving, people. In the long term, I’m compiling a list of those who are already involved in the Nashville area, and those who want to be involved. If you’ve been looking for something to fight,

If you’ve kept up on this blog, you’ve seen hints that things are changing. Over the last year, I’ve invested myself into Nashville and into my community, because I decided it was time in my life to stay in one place and work through “the junk”.  The last year has been incredible and I can say with confidence that I am content. Content, but not satisfied. Meaning: I’m happy where/what I am, but there is no way I’m going to stay just like this forever. I think, as a Christian,

I really don’t know where to start, hence the lack of posting. This could be a little jumbled. At the Opryland Hotel a few weeks ago I am working with two organizations to help them apply for 501(c)(3) status. Not that I know what I’m doing, but I really want to learn and I am am truly enjoying the process. I thought that I was going to be taking someone else’s joy away by stepping in and doing all of this paperwork, so I was originally hesitant to jump in and help. It turns

For the last several months, I have been training to run a 1/2 marathon. Yes, that’s 13.something miles. I’m shocked at how much I’m enjoying training and how short 13 miles seems. Every Saturday (well, except for the day I accidentally overslept) I have joined a team to run and prepare for the big race on April 24th. It’s been amazing. We run. We walk. We laugh. We talk. We complain. We sweat. We cheer. If you have been reading this blog for a bit, you know that I’m a huge f

If you know how to maneuver WordPress to make my blog fancy, feel free to offer your expertise. I’ll be glad to tell folks about you, but I won’t be paying you. I have spent a lot of time wandering. Trying to figure out my “place in this world”. If you’ve kept up with this blog at all, it’s mostly journaling my time in the great city of Nashville. This has included my quest for employment, volunteer opportunities, travel, and relationships. If you plotted a map of my life

If you read that word enough times, it starts to look misspelled. Yes, I have lived in Nashville for two years.  For as long as I lived in DC.  I feel significantly older. The last year, has been, well, weird. I really can’t come up with another word. Weird. Yes, that describes it. My old professors would cringe. 2009 in review: Thanksgiving with family in Mississippi, where i read all but the last 2 chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird Christmas with my family and a cardboard c

Part 5: El fin y el presente. Todo es nuevo I hope you enjoyed the catch-up story over the last few days. I stopped blogging awhile back for many reasons. There were so many new things and transitions going on in my life. Everything was changing and uncertain. In the midst of that, I was in year 1.5 of culture shock after moving to Nashville. This tends to be the time in a move for me when I want out, am not sure what to do, and feel desperately empty and alone. When I look t

Part 4: Home? Yesterday’s post was on homelessness and my wandering over the last few months. Now I get to tell you about part 4 of my transition. The last update that I sent before starting this 5-part..um..series, I was headed out on a road trip. After spending several months of stress and jobless/homelessness (sort of), I really needed a break. Well, more truthfully, I had no idea what I needed but I needed SOMETHING. So in steps our hero of the story (uhm, that would be t

Part 3: Homeless When I left the country in February, I also moved out of my residence in East Nashville. Although I would only be gone for six (ish) weeks, I knew that I could not afford to pay rent, and I had no idea what I would be doing when I returned. When it was time to make a decision, it was clear that I was to move. Fast forward to April 15. Upon returning from South Africa, I had no job, no place to live, and little money. What I DID have, was exactly what I needed

Part 2: Work This summer was one of the best times of my life to date. With no steady employment, I was forced to depend daily on Christ and rest in His great love for me. My faith grew immensely as I knew that I was a loved child of God who wanted to care for me. Along with that, I had to acknowledge that His idea of caring for me and my idea might be a little different. While fully knowing there are millions that are unemployed and struggling for every bite to eat, I was fo

It’s been awhile since I’ve written here. Partly out of being busy and experiencing an overabundance of transition, partly from a desire to focus on community outside of the www, and partly from just plain not wanting to share any of my thoughts. Although I’m still debating on how much I want to re-enter the blogosphere, I felt that I needed to post the following. Through various job/volunteer opportunites, I have become familiar with a program called Magdalene.  The Magdale

Alright people, here’s what’s going on in my life. Still no job. I’ve had a few interviews, but I’m still waiting. So, in the meantime, I found some things to do. Tuesday morning I’m going out on the road with this lady. Final stop: Los Angeles. From there, I will fly to Nebraska to spend some much needed time with my family. My brother will be home on leave for a week, and my grandparents will be there to see him also. It’s like Christmas, in July! The first weekend in Augus

Last week I was crazy-busy with work. I worked several odd jobs and loved it. I kind of would like to be self-employed forever and just do random jobs. It’s great. And completely unreliable.  But last week it worked fine. This week, I’m not working but I do have two job interviews! There is a possible part-time job for the remainder of the week as well. So many people have heard of my jobless plight and have sent information my way. Not only do I have two interviews this week