Im just warning you I have no idea what I'm doing. haha
SOS or Service over Self is an organization in Memphis TN that wants to spread the word of God through urban home repairs. So when my church youth group decided to attend this in the summer of 2004 I was ecstatic. That was 4 years ago and every year since we have gone back. When you drive up to the building I can’t help but notice the area it is in. The city is called Binghampton, and the crime rate is high. My friends are I never had a doubt that we were in harms way because we knew God was with us and would protect us so we could do good deeds through him. Perfect I thought. The SOS building is surrounded by a metal fence to obviously keep everyone safe, as much as we could be at least. Once I got out of the car I could help but shout with happiness. This was my element; I loved helping people in dyer need. Most of the time I got my spiritual growth through working on roofs or rebuilding kitchens. The satisfacton I get from the look on the homeowners face when we are done is more than anything. I feel connected to God throughout this while helping the homeowner receive a sounder structured home. Sometimes I even got to talk to the homeowners (they were not always willing) I could see the beauty of God working in them.
One such summer I was hanging off the edge of a house replacing a wooden structure. This year I just happened to have my youth pastor in my group along with a multitude of other fellow youth, who were, of now help in this situation. Anyway my youth pastor was up on the roof as well which probably was not a good thing due to the fact that she is afraid of heights. While up there I was hanging over the edge and my youth pastor staring at her legs as to not freak out. Little did I know the event that was about to partake. All of a sudden I hear a shriek and cry from behind me. I was lucky that I had a grasp onto the house because I almost made a crash landing. I turn around to find my youth pastor flailing her arms and cry like nothing else. What the hell was wrong with her kept running through my mind. There was no way to get down and nobody else up there to help me try and calm her down. Shit. What was I going to do? I had never been stuck on a roof with a 50 year old woman having a panic attack. So what else to do but pray with her. For thirty minutes I felt God work through me and I sat there and talked to her about how God has worked through my life and the times when I needed him to get me through a rough patch like what she was going through at the time. It ended up working out, and she got down from the roof without a scratch. I knew right them that God was amazing and would never leave me without something to express with his glory.
That was 2 years ago and I will never forger it. But the main point of this piece is to express how I came to gain that fire and drive to grow again in my faith with the Lord. I had always been raised in a church and had a relationship with God but it wasn’t until recently that I realized I had never been trying to strengthen and develop the bond with God. So this past summer when my youth group returned to SOS for the fourth time I felt something was going to be different. The house my group received needed a wheelchair ramp to be built alongside her whole house and her front yard. There was not much for everyone to do so this summer I did not get much of anything out of working on the home. Instead I got my spiritual growth through Chapel. Chapel is worship time SOS has every night where we sing and listen to a speaker spread the word of God. It hit me this year. This is really personal but God is telling me that I need to share it. So, one night when we were singing, they began a song called Mighty to Save. I had never heard it before and was excited to sing something new. I started singing the song and something overcame me. It was like I was not in control of what did. Never before had I felt this feeling, I closed my eyes, and raised my hands. Raising my hands is something I have never really done. It was the most amazing feeling to have God be in control of my life. From that moment on I realized that I needed to work on strengthening my relationship with God. I had that fire, desire, and drive to live my life for God and do everything for his glory. Ever since then I have continued to try and glorify God through everything I do and say, which is not easy being a college student. Coming to college I was worried that I would lose my “Spiritual high” of being close to the Lord, but so far is hasn’t and I don’t plan on letting it.
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2 comments:
Being raised in a strong Catholic family and around church I understand the miracles that God, creator of mankind, can work. Therefore, I can relate to the fact you want to strengthen your relationship in Him. I think it is a very admirable thing that you choose to grow spiritually closer through volunteer work. Helping the less fortunate not only is a way to give back, but a way to realize how blessed we are with certain things in our lives.
I get the focus of your paper. You are trying to portray to your reader that through faith in God, all things are possible. You use wonderful examples in your work. Especially, the one about being on a roof with your youth pastor while she was having a panic attack. If it were me, I’d be extremely scared and panic myself.
To me, the organization was a bit bouncy. I know this is the first draft, and quite frankly I thought mine sucked! I’m not suggesting it sucked. I like how you give background on the SOS (Service over Self), program. That’s a solid starting paragraph. But, when you get into the history of your involvement with the program and some experiences that helped you grow spiritually, it began to bounce around. I felt as though I was trying desperately to find the light at the end of the tunnel. I sort of understand it, but not really.
Because your organization was a bit bouncy, I found the development quite sketchy. I couldn’t really see where you were trying to go with it.
The so-what factor is not that clear to me. I see the relevance of this program to you. But, as a reader, what would you like me to take away from this?
I'm not going to lie, when i first started reading your paper, i thought it was going to be the same generic "Listen to what happened at church camp" story. But you really surprised me and put your emotions out there for everyone to see. Your story keeps the reader at attention and wanting to know more. The only problem I had with your paper was the flow of your writing. There were little grammatical errors here and there, but no big deal. It is best to read your paper when you are through with it just to clear those things up. But besides that, you've got an awesome story.
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