Nehemiah 1

When I read Nehemiah 1, it took a few readings before I started to connect to the text. On the third reading, it was 1:3 that started the picture.  As he talks about these people that have been in exile and returned to a city that was destroyed, I couldn't help but think of the places I've lived that have never been touched by war, but have been torn to ruins by internal forces.  I thought of the boarded up Brightmoore Community Center 5 years ago, and the Youth House in Mission that was burned down after a gang fight there in 2009.

I find myself thinking about how these things both bring feelings of despair to the people who consider them home, but also become iconic to people who are not from there. It is what people picture when they think of that place, and they draw conclusions about the people and communities from those icons.

Nehemiah's response to this icon of destruction and despair is to mourn for the city, to cry for what has happened in this place. But then his secondary response is to plead to God for mercy, to ask God to remember those people. I wonder if I spend enough time in prayer for the communities I have grown to love? I think my natural reaction to seeing that situation play out anywhere, is to want to get involved and try to fix things, but I wonder if in our "fix it" mentality- we lose sight of who actually has power in the situation.



I absolutely adore the last line of the chapter.

I was cupbearer to the King.

I think it's such a great transition into the next chapter, though I did have to look up what the implication of being a cupbearer was. Turns out, it's like being an adviser and confidant. I'm excited to see what becomes of that in Chapter 2.  

And so it began...

This blog is actually part of a gift for a very dear friend of mine.  I'm Kim, so as you might have gathered by now, that person is Anthony. (anthony-and-kim was already taken as a blog title) He is legitimately one of the greatest people I've ever known in my life, and I've known a lot of people so that's saying something.

Back in November, I decided that I was going to send Anthony on a quest. You see, I had just read the book 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson and I decided that there would be very few things more exciting than being sent on secret missions by someone you know and trust. Assuming that Anthony said yes to my proposed madness, he'll be finding this website inside first card. For the next few weeks, I'll be posting my responses and thoughts as I read through Nehemiah(which is the task inside Anthony's first card). Maybe Anthony will post back, maybe he won't, we're months too early to tell. After that, I don't know what this blog space will become, but I imagine that some great things will come out of it, because that's what happens when great people collaborate.

If you aren't Anthony and still some how stumbled into this blog, welcome- feel free to look around a little bit, and feel free to stay or post back.

This life was meant for living,

Kim