I feel like Don Miller concludes his book very much in the same fashion that he started it with.  Throughout the whole book, he questions his faith and seems to doubt his and others true relationship with Jesus.  It was not until the very end that we see Miller truly become a lover of God.  "I don't find anyone more noble than Jesus.  He gave His life for me, in obedience to His fathe.  I truly love him for it."  Miller has become a great role model for me in searching for the true meaning of my faith and being accepting of those who may irritate you based on their religion or beliefs.

My favorite part in the whole book is the last page where he compares Christianity to jazz music.   "I think loving Jesus is something you feel.  I think it is something very difficult to get on paper.  But it is no less real, no less meaningful, no less beautiful.  I thought that was great. This is very similar everything I have learned from these two classes this year.  I have learned that you can not sum up God in a couple sentences.  Or Christianity.  Or Justice.  REligion is not something that is, in its entirety, written in stone.  It has to come from the heart.  Of course, reading the Bible and studying texts is very important to arriving at your belief, but in the end your faith and your love for God must come from the heart.  One it comes from the heart, it becomes so much more intimate, so much more important, and so much more personal.

Project Update

My project has slightly changed by redirecting my focus towards the homeless situation in Nashville and the people of the community's views and ideas of what njustices lead to being homeless.  I still plan on going downtown to interact first hand with people walking around and the homless.  I plan on doing an interactive powerpoint with pictures and sound clips from my experiences.

The last part of BReathing Space seemed to have a dark tone towards the beginning.  It was due to the combination of Heidi's lack of faith in the foundation of the church and the fact that she kept listing the names of many faithful church goers that had died for multiple causes.  However later in the chapter she lifts the spirits of the reader back up through the victories of life that she has seen uplifted after periods of great struggle and much pain.  Stories of Angie, Ben, Burnice, Nikia and her kids were very inspiring. 

The first thing that struck me as I read the last section of the book was the idea of burning patience.  "Only with a burning patience can we conquer the splendid city which will give light, justice, and dignity to all."  I think this is a message that can go way beyond the conquering of a fallen city.  I think this can translate into everyone's life.  I struggle with patience everyday.  Waiting in the sandwich line in the caf, patience in dealing with the daily stresses that this final project may bring, and patience with many people's actions that I see and disapprove of everyday.  However simplistic and unimportant these may seem when compared to the patience Heidi must have to endure, it still remains relevant.  Everybody in our world today is always in such a rush.  Everybody is in competition to succeed greater then those around them.  I think we've lost a sense of patience to let things unfold how they may, but at the same time striving to bring about the best in our lives an those around us.  "Burning patience" is a good way to put it because impatience always seems to overrule.  Even though Heidi admits that her patience runs thin very often, I think it is her patience that I am most inspired by in the book.  The daily stresses of struggles with the actual church building itself, the money issues, the deaths she witnesses, the tears she shed, the great people she lost.  Amidst all this Heidi is patient and knows that  justice will be victorious.  I really liked how the last portion of her book was called And Still We Rise.  This sums up Heidi's incredible optimism and how ones life can be at the very bottom of the well, but still we can rise.  It only takes some faith, the help of loved ones, and the passion to better oneself so we can live to see tomorrow.

Heidi's unrest and discontent escalates greatly in Part 2 of Breathing Space.  Whether its the Bronx Department of Buildings, lack of progress of their new Church, or the Mission funds, this could not have been an easy time for Heidi.  However, the relentless efforts of Heid is something so admirable and she has never ceased to amaze me throughout the readings.  The comments of  the people at the fund raising conference also didn't sit too easily with me.  No "shakers or movers"???  Here these people are putting down the very "nobodies" that are overflowing with love and compassion.  Heidi and the children's feeling of being rich was also very inspiring and many times people forget the little things that can make one feel so.  

The story of Danielle at McDonalds was particularly touching.  Left by her father to gambling and her mother to crack, it amazes me that a girl this young can still have so much love in her heart and thoughtfulness to bring back her brothers and sisters some french fries.  And it is acts like this as Heidi points out, that make one feel rich and deserving.

Reactions from Breathing Space

I was very intrigued when I began reading Breathing Space and I definitely enjoyed the first part we had to read.  Heidi's passion and relentless faith in her city, church, and community are very admirable and I couldn't help but to make comparisons to Shane Claiborne.  Also, similar to Claiborne, I felt her grass-roots movement and ideals behind Transfiguration were very commendable.  I liked when she said how church isn't just a place to find God, but "it was also a place to meet sing, laugh, and eat with one another.  Church was no place for private religious experience. Church was a community."  I liked this because I could relate it to the church that I have began going to where it really does seem like a solid community.  People don't just go there to worship God and as soon as the service is over they leave.  Instead, they get there early, they eat and talk among each other, they sing throughout the service, and there is just an honest feeling of love and desire to be there, while worshipping God.  

I never realized the turmoil that the Bronx was in during the 70's and 80s and I found that to be pretty eye opening.  It is hard to believe that at the time, more children were dying of asthma that anywhere in the world.  Even with the technology and advance medicinal capabilities of the US, it seemed, according to Heidi, that this area of the Bronx did literally turn into the waste disposal of New York.  

Lastly, I could relate to Heidi in the sense that retreats to nature were the best way to find yourself and find God (if one so desires).  There is something about nature that brings a certain element out of you that does not appear, say, in a big city like new York.  Im not sure what that element is but there is something soothing, something that touches the soul when you come face to face with nature in its purest form.  I liked when she said, "Cities seemed too chaotic.  I wanted nature. I wanted intimacy with creation." I liked that, "intimacy with creation."

My ideas for my final project have not changed a whole lot but I have furthered the idea and the preparation for the project.  My focus will remain on the injustices that the homeless face and I still plan on putting together roughly 30 full complete meals to distribute downtown.  I am really trying to stray from doing this with an already established organization because this is something I want to do firsthand.  My plan is to make around 30 meals, including a sandwich, fruit, chips, water, and a cup of soup.   I talked to the man who runs the cafeteria and he said he would be willing to help supply either the soup, fruit, or utensils needed.  Once the meals are prepared, I plan on going downtown with a group of friends, for safety purposes, and distributing them to homeless people.  Each meal I hand out will also be followed by a simple question to the man or woman concerning their personal experiences of injustice.  I think the question is going to be, "What is the one injustice you have faced that you feel led to you being homeless."  I plan on recording their responses on either my Ipod recording device or in video format on a Mac.  

The basis of this project is simply to learn firsthand what are some injustices in the world that lead to becoming homeless and at the same time provide a nice meal to those that can not do so for themselves.  My reflective piece would cover the process of making the meals, the distribution process, the reaction from the homeless recipient, and their views on injustice. 

Both MLK and Isaiah show the quality of being "nonaggressive physically but strongly aggressive spiritually" throughout the readings.  They both seek the people of their times in a world where none of them seem to relate with such an extremist such as MLK and Isaiah.  I think each go hand in hand with each other and I believe Kink and Isaiah would have kicked it pretty hard together if they were alive at the same time.  

Isaiah chapters 50-53 are, once again, pages of beautiful text.  My favorite line was "The sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary.  He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught. "  Isaiah continues throughout these chapters declaring the light of the Lord in between citing the actual words of the Lord.  The time of 2nd Isaiah was in the most crucial point of exile and it meant everything to Isaiah to try and get his people to "Rise up from the dust" and break the chains that keep them ruled.  This is similar to MLK because his political and social movement came at the most crucial moment of the civil rights era.  In his speech The Power of Non-Violence, MLK explains that nonviolence is not a method of cowardice.  He goes to explain how "the end of violence or the aftermath of violence is bitterness.  The aftermath of nonviolence is reconciliation and the creation of a beloved community."  You can't put it better than that. 

My favorite part of the speech is when he acknowledges the fact that there are many advocates of nonviolence who do not believe in a personal God.  Instead, among pretty much all people, we have some sort of cosmic companionship that will continue to unfold justice just as long as we stay true to ourselves and our peers and go about life living in a nonviolent manner.