I will preface this entry with the fact that I am extremely new to Jacob's Well, but hope that my family and I can find a home here.

  I thought the Urban Hub was awesome!  Great message about the many faces of poverty.  It really made me think about my own experiences.

 Last year I did a home building mission trip to Guatemala. It was probably the best thing I have ever done, totally got me out of my elements and really opened me up to really see how God works in the World.  Staying with the families and living their everyday life was a challenge for me, for them it is how they live.  There was no refrigerator, no inside cooking or bathrooms and we couldn't drink the water. We were just visitors helping build houses so the poorest people could have a shelter and a place to call home. Everyday we worked and played with the kids around the houses, the people shared what little food they had with us, we couldn't say no because that may have been disrespectful.  We blessed the 4 houses on the last day and the families each told us how much it meant to have a home of their own. Proud men broke down in tears and the children gathered around for hugs, we all cried and prayed, it was a great moment for all of us and God was beaming with pride, he was proud of us as human beings, sharing our lives with one another and lending a hand when people are in need.

Urban Hub is a whole different element, the inner city type of poverty is so different.  I don't know if I really know how to deal with that because I don't see what these kids see everyday.  I see things as pretty black and white, if you want to change something about yourself or your surroundings, you work really hard at doing that and it will happen.  I know it is all about determination, I have had to work hard to get where I am, but many people have helped me along the way.  It isn't all about "I have this job and make this much money" it is about knowing who I am and how I can grow as a person.  When he talked about the "hurts" yesterday, it was a lightenbolt moment for me but I know about hurts, I know some of what these girls have gone through, the ones that have been forced to do things that no child should be forced to do and I know the concequence of those actions.  I have lived it and now that I am a healthy adult and I can see the behaviors that came out of those experiences, how it shaped my life and how my determination to live really saved my life.  I also know that as a teenager if anyone would have talked to me about it or tried to get me to "open up" I would have flown into a rage and probably pushed them as far away as possible.  That being said, I want to do something to help young women and girls that are victims of rape I just don't know how to go about it.  Probably a little scared about doing it, seeing myself in some others but I know what they have gone through I know the hurt, the behavior, and most of all the shame so maybe this is my calling.  Who knows!