Doors opening
Since, I didn’t know what my housing options would look like after the summer, I started to tentatively look for options outside the state. I saw a posting for CLDI at my school and excitedly emailed my brother, “Look what I saw after having just said ‘no’ to Unum!” I read over the fellowship house description several times, resonating with every sentence, a place to “taste and see that He alone is good”, “to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God“- to have my heart burdened for the things that stir the heart of God. Yes, yes, yes.
I sent out an email to the internship director/executive director so I could call and find out more. After calling, I was even more excited about the work of CLDI and the Fellowship House program but I wasn’t entirely convinced that it was for me. The financial aspect, location, and not having a car were the primary roadblocks. I turned in an application though.
The phone interview was refreshing on many levels but a crucial element especially stands out.
To better understand the significance of this, I need to backtrack a few months back:
When I was interning in Denver last year I came across a unique coffee shop, called the Purple Door. The Purple Door is Christian non-profit coffee shop that employs and works with homeless youth. This encounter with Purple Door spurred a multitude of thoughts and ideas. I love coffee shops, not only for the coffee but for all the opportunities a common space like a coffee shop provides. However, I was also learning how much my love for coffee was a luxury and in my ways could be exploitative of the poor. Through the course of my last year at Covenant, I began to grapple with and form a philosophy of coffee and coffee shops and started to cultivate a pipe dream, modeled by other non profit coffee shops that also sought to strengthen the disadvantaged and foster dignity and community.
One of the questions in the application was what big things I would like to see and learn: Here is how a portion of my response, “Practically speaking, I would also love to learn more about how non-profits work and operate as one my recent pipe dreams is to be involved in the development side of non-profits, particularly one that I would like to see started”
For the interview, I had no intention of bringing it up, but my internship director/executive director prompted me to share. Bashfully, I gave my little spiel. When I was finished, he was quiet for a minute then began to tell me of a work in progress that was in beginning stages of birth and development. Katapheugo. It means shelter in Greek. A neighborhood cafe that provides job training, sustainability, and community. He asked me if I wanted to work personally for him, since he was also looking for an executive assistant.
I knew I couldn’t ignore this. At the end of the interview I was struck with his asking me pray for me and his prayer. CLDI was becoming a much more serious possibility.
I talked to my parents. And they were ecstatic. I looked up Billings on a map and saw it was only 2 hours away from where my Uncle and Aunt are living and couldn’t help thinking how God really likes to surprise us in ironic ways.
A wise friend told me how following God’s leading often meant just doing the next thing, taking the next step and seeing which doors God would open or close. So, I took her advice. And the checklist for coming here kept getting marked off. Everything kept falling perfectly into place. My parents told me I could take the college car (the car itself a gift from a precious family of God!). While I was worried about making the drive up to Montana by myself, my Aunt in Jackson TN, was planning to visit my uncle (her brother) in Wyoming. So, we made arrangement to drive together.
To the Present
It was neat to see how everything kept coming together. The transition process was more challenging than I expected it to be though. I think this could be in part because I didn’t realize how much I would miss Chattanooga and I also think that subconsciously I felt that if God really brought me here, then everything would come together easily and naturally, just like how I got here. But processes are processes for a reason-baby steps and living day by day are the way to move forward sometimes. Trusting that the God who brought me here is incapable of making mistakes and is entirely sufficient are encouraging reminders.
Since, I didn’t know what my housing options would look like after the summer, I started to tentatively look for options outside the state. I saw a posting for CLDI at my school and excitedly emailed my brother, “Look what I saw after having just said ‘no’ to Unum!” I read over the fellowship house description several times, resonating with every sentence, a place to “taste and see that He alone is good”, “to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God“- to have my heart burdened for the things that stir the heart of God. Yes, yes, yes.
I sent out an email to the internship director/executive director so I could call and find out more. After calling, I was even more excited about the work of CLDI and the Fellowship House program but I wasn’t entirely convinced that it was for me. The financial aspect, location, and not having a car were the primary roadblocks. I turned in an application though.
The phone interview was refreshing on many levels but a crucial element especially stands out.
To better understand the significance of this, I need to backtrack a few months back:
When I was interning in Denver last year I came across a unique coffee shop, called the Purple Door. The Purple Door is Christian non-profit coffee shop that employs and works with homeless youth. This encounter with Purple Door spurred a multitude of thoughts and ideas. I love coffee shops, not only for the coffee but for all the opportunities a common space like a coffee shop provides. However, I was also learning how much my love for coffee was a luxury and in my ways could be exploitative of the poor. Through the course of my last year at Covenant, I began to grapple with and form a philosophy of coffee and coffee shops and started to cultivate a pipe dream, modeled by other non profit coffee shops that also sought to strengthen the disadvantaged and foster dignity and community.
One of the questions in the application was what big things I would like to see and learn: Here is how a portion of my response, “Practically speaking, I would also love to learn more about how non-profits work and operate as one my recent pipe dreams is to be involved in the development side of non-profits, particularly one that I would like to see started”
For the interview, I had no intention of bringing it up, but my internship director/executive director prompted me to share. Bashfully, I gave my little spiel. When I was finished, he was quiet for a minute then began to tell me of a work in progress that was in beginning stages of birth and development. Katapheugo. It means shelter in Greek. A neighborhood cafe that provides job training, sustainability, and community. He asked me if I wanted to work personally for him, since he was also looking for an executive assistant.
I knew I couldn’t ignore this. At the end of the interview I was struck with his asking me pray for me and his prayer. CLDI was becoming a much more serious possibility.
I talked to my parents. And they were ecstatic. I looked up Billings on a map and saw it was only 2 hours away from where my Uncle and Aunt are living and couldn’t help thinking how God really likes to surprise us in ironic ways.
A wise friend told me how following God’s leading often meant just doing the next thing, taking the next step and seeing which doors God would open or close. So, I took her advice. And the checklist for coming here kept getting marked off. Everything kept falling perfectly into place. My parents told me I could take the college car (the car itself a gift from a precious family of God!). While I was worried about making the drive up to Montana by myself, my Aunt in Jackson TN, was planning to visit my uncle (her brother) in Wyoming. So, we made arrangement to drive together.
To the Present
It was neat to see how everything kept coming together. The transition process was more challenging than I expected it to be though. I think this could be in part because I didn’t realize how much I would miss Chattanooga and I also think that subconsciously I felt that if God really brought me here, then everything would come together easily and naturally, just like how I got here. But processes are processes for a reason-baby steps and living day by day are the way to move forward sometimes. Trusting that the God who brought me here is incapable of making mistakes and is entirely sufficient are encouraging reminders.