Cha-leo (Rosalio, "Leo") and I met the first week after our move to north Littleton. He is the father of one of the kids on the local soccer scholarship team, which I'm apprenticing to coach this fall. After practice was over, we met as our kids played on the playground. In fragmented english he explained his story of having lived in Chihuahua, Mexico and being grateful to now living in America as a welder. It's been a challenging year for his family of 6, as the construction industry remains unpredictable.
I appreciated his vulnerability with me, as a complete stranger, and his acceptance of me as someone different than himself. As we ended our conversation, he invited me to join his friends and play some soccer each Sunday at 4p in Englewood.
I took him up on the invitation and arrived 15mins early that following Sunday to warm up and stretch. I hadn't played in years. Time passed and no one arrived. Was I at the right park? Did I understand his invitation correctly? It was now an hour later, and still no sign of any soccer players. I began to walk off the field, and then I noticed a few young men approaching the pitch. The game did end up happening, but at 5p. And it didn't end (or break) for another 3 hours until the sun set over the mountains. I was exhausted, and thankful. I realized I was minutes from missing an evening that enriched my week.
I was reminded that as I'm engaging something unfamiliar, I need to be sensitive to my assumptions. Even those assumptions as basic as understanding the words of another.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Sun rising
All of the pieces fell into place. Our bathroom project wrapped up. A great home in the perfect location came available for sale. Our house sold quickly in a hot sellers market. And our new home finally closed, after a long wait for financing. The direction of our lives was changing from upward mobility to down-sizing our self-interests. A new day was dawning and rays of revelation were piercing a fresh into our unchecked cultural norms.
We were relocating from a large finished house, into a smaller retro home. Our new location would allow us to live next to an elementary school made up of 95% ESL students on free and reduced lunch, just a block from immigrant apartment life. The new intent for our family is to walk alongside those for whom life is difficult, and in doing so, come to know Jesus to a greater depth.
After all, Jesus has always been found incarnate among the hurting, the broken, and those struggling in disparity. And a love such as that, covers over all creation and is acutely experienced by those in need.
Psalm 50
The Mighty One, God, the LORD, speaks and summons the earth, from the rising of the sun to where it sets. The Name, is full of awe and might. He speaks and his words become alive. He summons and creation changes. His breadth covers over all the earth and no place is unknown to Him.
We were relocating from a large finished house, into a smaller retro home. Our new location would allow us to live next to an elementary school made up of 95% ESL students on free and reduced lunch, just a block from immigrant apartment life. The new intent for our family is to walk alongside those for whom life is difficult, and in doing so, come to know Jesus to a greater depth.
After all, Jesus has always been found incarnate among the hurting, the broken, and those struggling in disparity. And a love such as that, covers over all creation and is acutely experienced by those in need.
Psalm 50
The Mighty One, God, the LORD, speaks and summons the earth, from the rising of the sun to where it sets. The Name, is full of awe and might. He speaks and his words become alive. He summons and creation changes. His breadth covers over all the earth and no place is unknown to Him.
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