reblogged: reversing the foster care waitlist in dc

I know what you're thinking. "Hold up - it's Tuesday, why is there a new post here?" I do what I want. And this is posted before Wednesday. And it's timely. And it's reblogging, which comes with it's own set of rules which I make up as I go.

Actually, before I reblog, I'm going to do a little writing, but feel free to skip my hot air and go straight to the links at the bottom.

I wanted to share a couple blog posts from an organization called DC127, a brainchild (maybe heartchild?) of some folks from The District Church, an awesome faith community in DC of which I'm a part.

The name DC127 is based on James 1:27 and the mission is uniting to reverse the foster care waitlist in Washington, DC. In other words, we want more families in line to care for a child than there are children waiting for a family.

As a sciency/mathy kind of guy, to me, the idea is as intriguing as it is joyful. It's like a chemical reaction. Reactants A (kids waiting for care) and B (families who are willing to provide care) combine to create Product AB (a full family). Right now, we have an excess of Reactant A, so we need to mix in more of Reactant B if we want to eliminate A and arrive at the desired product AB, hopefully with a stoichiometric excess of B.

With me?

Ok, maybe that brought back nightmares of high school chemistry for some of you. But trust me, it's a good idea.

My purpose for reblogging this is twofold.

One, I want to raise awareness of the issue. Kids need a stable place to grow up if they are going to recognize their true worth and have the best shot at all the good things that God has created and planned for us. 400,000 kids are in the US foster care system, and about 1,300 of those are in DC. That's a lot of people, but I'd say the DC127 mission is realistic. What do you think?

Two, DC127 is in a campaign to find 46 regular donors to support the work. Why 46? The average child waits 46.7 months, almost 4 of their most formative years, to find a family. If you feel called, I hope you'll reach out and see how you could support, even for $10 per month.

So take a peek at the following well-written articles and let me know what you think.

Exactly where we should be

The cost of doing nothing

a faithful response to the evolution debate

Resources:
Bill Nye: Bible doesn't tell the Earth's true history (Washington Post)
Science, faith not incompatible (Faith in Action)
Social Principles, ¶160
Psalm 19:1-4 

of plants and prayer

Over the long weekend, a plant in my coworker Susan's office got a little fried in the closed room with the heat on. Its dry, heavy leaves weighed down its pale green stems so that it looked more like a salad that someone dropped in the dirt yesterday than a healthy, vital plant.

Mark said, "Put it in Dave's office! It's sunnier in there and the plant needs sun!" So we did. A couple days later, still wilt-y salad.

Susan did what, to me, seemed like putting the plant out of it's misery. She cut off all of the leaves, except one particularly small, vaguely healthy looking one.

Here's the crazy thing -- literally within hours, the plant perked up! The stems were standing almost vertical, pointed right to heaven. I couldn't help but think about Jesus shouting, "Lazarus, come out!"

How can cutting leaves off a plant revive life? Leaves are the powerhouses of a plant where photosynthesis occurs in earnest. I'm no biologist, but I am an engineer and I understand conservation of energy. My best guess is that the dried up and whithered leaves were consuming as much energy as they produced. Cutting a few things out of one's life, even those things like leaves which should be able to give life, could lead to an invigoration, even a resurrection, if those things are just consuming as much as they produce.

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For a while, my prayer life felt dried and withered. It just didn't feel like I got as much out as I was putting in.

I went to a leadership retreat with The District Church over the weekend, and that sparked a change. Through worship on Sunday after we returned, especially singing "The Summons" at Capitol Hill UMC, I received new vision. I've decided to spend 40 days in prayer about my call. 40 days is a special time frame for God -- Noah's 40 days of rain while in the ark, Jesus' 40 days of fasting in the desert, and the disciples' 40 days with Jesus after the resurrection to name a few. To me, the major thrust of this year will be discerning where God wants me next and how, if possible and God willing, I can locate the intersection of engineering, faith, and the good of creation and humanity.

With this new vision, I think I succeed, at least in part, in cutting out some my normal patterns of prayer that I easily fall into, and instead replaced it with focused, intent prayer on something that is intensely personal and important to me. What areas of your life are your pouring yourself in, and not getting an abundant return? Will you be able to make a cut and revive some life?

Prayers:

• Through March 6, I'll be focusing on prayers over calling. Please join me! Let me know how I can be praying for your call. We all have one!
• There have been many setbacks for my young adult brothers and sisters in mission -- placement sites collapsing, visa problems, and difficulty getting plugged into community. They need stability so they can do God's work and live out their calling.
• I'm just joyful (and privileged) to have a supervisor, placement site, and community which I've really grown to love. I thank God for it and hope I can steward the opportunity well.