Making it.

Sitting here enjoying a little time of reflection and I am reminded of a story from about 4 years ago when I was working with the Matthews United Methodist Church youth group:

So I had been working for about a month and I was working very hard to get to know the youth and find that common ground. I was slowly learning more and more names and different hobbies that the youth had. One common hobby we had was certainly Ultimate Frisbee. I never was very good, but I loved playing.

Well one day one of the youth invited me to play with a group, of course I took the opportunity to hang out and enjoy a competitive game (AKA: the chance to run around and act like I know what I am doing, but really don't). I showed up at the field at 7 sharp and loe and behold, I did not know one kid out there except the couple that had invited me to play. Intimidating at first, but man then I thought about it later that night and I realized this was a game that was just with their friends and I was invited into that circle!

In my head, I had made it! I had made it past this awkward barrier of that goofy guy that puts underwear outside of his pants (dressed up as quail man) and has too much energy. I was a friend.


So the reason this story is so wonderfully relevant is what happened last night at the shelter I help serve a meal at on Thursday nights called My Brothers Keeper.

At this shelter I get to see a lot of the same guys and I am pretty sure most guys dont know my name, but they recognize me or know that I work at NOAH so they call me "Noah" (or one guy called me "White Lightening" for a while because of my bike, but that is a whole different story). Anyway, I walked in on Thursday saying the usual hellos to the guys that I knew and when I shook mans hand he just looks at me with a genuine look of compassion and says, "Was wondering where you were last week, were you sick? Are you alright?"

While I recognize that this man may not even know my name, he noticed I wasn't there last week! And on top of that there seemed to be a legitimate question as to how I was. We talked for a few more moments and sat together at worship, but man the only thing going through my head was "You've made it Brandon!" Little pleasures in life, and man this is one of them, may we continue to reach out and care about those around us!

Photos of the Week! -VEV

So this week's photo of the week is a little bit later in the week because I wanted the opportunity to post pictures from the Volunteers Exploring Vocation (VEV) put on by the Fund for Theological Education event I attended this Saturday through Tuesday in Decatur outside of Atlanta, Georgia! At this conference I met up with 53 other service volunteers from 18 different organizations and we discussed future vocations within our respective churches, denominations, or a ministry related position possibly and where people feel called. This was a weekend of exploring, discerning and  challenge! We were able to hear from several different seminary professors from Candler and Columbia and other leaders within the social service world, from a the executive director with the L'Arche community to one working with Mission Year, we were really poured into by many different people.

I must admit for me personally it was a fantastic time to step away from my placement site with NOAH and look briefly into how the stories I am hearing and work I am doing will continue to shape my life. NOAH will certainly have a lasting impact on me and I feel it is great to be able to sit back and soak up all that I am learning just for a few moments. It was interesting that as a US-2 myself and two other US-2s were the only volunteers in attendance working for greater than 1 year. Conversation after conversation made me more thankful that I do have this extra year as I am able to stay steeped in Detroit and continue to build community and learn about the people rather than decide what I am doing in 4 months! In addition to being poured into I feel it was a great connecting point to dive deep into the minds and hearts of those working extensively in other denominations and religions. I am so thankful for the experience, the time to make new friends and  take time to catch up with old ones, now back to Detroit with our Bowls of Hope event this Saturday it promises to be a busy week, it is good to be back in Detroit and back with my family here!

Fellow US-2s Sarah McKay (placed in Miami, FL) and Jerrica Becker (placed in Cedartown, GA) were also invited to attend and we were able to catch up, vent and just enjoy sharing experiences!

I suppose this picture doesn't have all that much to do with Atlanta seeing as it is Lake Erie, but I thought it was just a beautiful picture on the way in!

For those old Matthews United Methodist Youth reading, this space may look familiar??

In 11th grade the youth group took a mission trip to Atlanta and we visited this homeless shelter. Welp 6 years later it still doing great an actually expanded to having a worship service, an art studio and a friend of mine is working there now!

Boarding to VEV!!

Hey hey so I thought I would update some of y'all about an awesome opportunity I have this weekend! From Saturday till Tuesday I have been invited to be a part of a conference called Volunteers Exploring Vocation (VEV) put on by the fund for theological education! I don't know entirely what to expect but it promises to be a pretty awesome 4 day trip!

Here is a little schpeel (not so sure how to spell that word but I want to use it!) that was given from their website:

"Our Volunteers Exploring Vocation (VEV) program helps young adults explore the relationship between faith and work during their year of service in more than a dozen faith-based service programs. VEV participants serve in the places where they are called to embody love of God and neighbor, and connect with peers and mentors while considering the call of God upon their lives."

The conference has 50+ volunteers meeting for small groups, discussions, speakers and some awesome fellowship all with volunteers from several different agencies working all around the US. Not to mention I will have an awesome chance to see fellow US-2s Sarah McKay out of Miami and Jerrice Becker out of Cedartown, GA! More to come for sure about the happening and conversations, but just wanted to give an update!

So here we go! The plane is boarding from Detroit and it promises to be an adventure!

Photo of the Week!

Alrighty so this weeks photo of the week is a little late I sorry about that! But it is more of a serious conversation that has really been pulling at my heart strings for quite sometime now since August upon first looking into the topic. Below you will find photos from a documentary and panel discussion that I attended called "Broken On All Sides." It was a really informative and challenging discussion on mass incarceration in the United States. The Panel discussed everything from the privatization of the Prison system (including the new stadium by Geo Global in Florida), the conditions while in prison, the "prison pipeline" and what we as concerned citizens see and can actually do. I must admit I left the panel with a heavy heart after hearing testimonies and a motivated spirit to at least continue to talk about these issues that some of the most prophetic voices of our time are highlighting. More to come just with some thoughts!

There was a pretty great turn out where about 100 people piled into a basement theatre in Midtown.

I think it was the panel that was the most fascinating for me. From left to right there was the documentary's director, a man who began a nonprofit built to aid those transitioning from prison and a prior inmate, the Vice President of the Law Office Guild and finally a former detainee studying Social Work (with a perspective of what the prisons are actually like on the inside and highlighting the difficulties from a first hand perspective).

Photo of the week- Whitewater, Wisconsin

Well this week's photo of the week came from an awesome opportunity I actually am just getting back from! Mistead Sai (fellow US-2missionary serving in Chicago) and I were invited up to Whitewater, Wisconsin to speak to the youth group, a university group and anyone else who would like to join! It was so great for us to be able to share why the US-2 program drew us in and what our experience has been with it thus far! It was also a fantastic time to sit and discuss missions, the Methodist Church and hear more stories from different people! Mary Beth Byrne was the main mover for helping us to get out to Whitewater and actually hosted us by opening up her home to us for Sunday night! I am so thankful to Whitewater UMC, their hospitality (and very thankful for their delicious servings of chili) and their passion for missions, they have such a heart for service and it is so motivating! Great weekend, with great friends, and great times (yes I did get to have some stuffed pizza, possibly one of my favorite things about Chicago).

Me and Mistead with Mary Beth Byrne (former US-2 missionary) and Lisa (youth director for Whitewater UMC)

Awesome frozen lake in Wisconsin!

Not the best picture, but hey I think you can tell what it is right!!

Photo(s) of the Week!- North American International Auto Show

So I must confess these pictures are technically from last Saturday, but I didn't think anyone would mind!

Anyway, I had the opportunity to go to the North American International Autoshow in Detroit! I must admit I am not all that interested in the cars, but it was so awesome to see Detroit so busy and bustling. For the past two weeks 770,932 people came through for the show! For me this is really awesome not because that many people are going to look at vehicles from all around the world, instead that is 770,932 people seeing one of the awesome Detroit attractions and Detroit itself! May it serve as a reminder Detroit is not so crime ridden and scary as some would make you think. The event was very well done and I must admit I saw some bikes there that looked pretty perfect if I ever strike it rich! I think it was just another really good "Detroit" experience.

This was probably one of the biggest crowds of the night around the new Corvette, I thought it looked pretty cool, but I really loved the car on the wall in the background too!

Man, Hotwheels sure have changed since I last played with them...

In addition to the bikes that I found, this guy caught my eye too!

Emerge Detroit Interview!

So this was a pretty awesome occurrence!

I was recently interviewed by a local website called Emerge Detroit ran by a friend of mine! I am pretty excited about it, its suuuuper casual, but we talk about the gem that is Detroit, what I am doing here and his giant dog Moose eating cookies! So grab a coffee/tea, sit back, relax and check out this awesome ministry in the city of Detroit. And hey maybe you'll hear a little bit more about whats going on here!

The Emerge Detroit Podcast Interview