Chicago Survey Reflections
Wow! What a world wind tour we’ve just returned from! That’s probably going down as record for the all-time longest Christmas travels this family has ever made! We went up to Chicago, down to Indy, up to St. Paul and back to Chicago all in a week and a half! Below is a report on the God-sightings on our trip:
Thursday 12/21 – We leave Texas! The biggest step is always the hardest, and most important! It was fun trying to pack as much as we could into one tiny little suitcase. Good memories with Katrina there. Once we got on the road however, we got to talking about the strange relationship America has with the words “authenticity” and “efficiency”. It’s almost as if these two words are the oaths we swear by, and yet to have one you must inevitably sacrifice the other. I’ll probably write more on this topic in the posts to come.
Thursday evening we flew out of DFW airport and made it safely into Chicago around 12:30am. We were completely exhausted (we had made it out of travel easier that the folks in Denver to be sure!) and stumbled towards a cab. We were staying at the Super 8 near O’Hare (never again) and basically zonked out the moment we hit the pillows.
Friday 12/22 – was a full day of TRAVELING THE CTA (Chicago Transit Authority), we hopped on the El (Elevated Train) and made it to Hyde Park, our first destination in the city. Hyde Park is an interesting neighborhood just south of the Loop, in that it holds an orb of luxury and intellectualism (the University of Chicago) amidst extreme poverty and crime. I was surprised to find out that the drug dealers and the police have a sort of “agreement” in that the police will not arrest people for doing or dealing drugs as long as it is within certain sectors in a neighborhood. So we spent a little time at U of Chicago and then hitched a ride up Lake Shore Drive (my favorite street in Chicago, for the view!) up to Evanston, one of the more northern neighborhoods and oldest “suburb” in Chicago. It holds Northwestern University, Katrina’s other graduate school interest. We had fun exploring all the shops and cafes Evanston had to offer, all the while keeping each other close on a cold and blustery day!
Saturday 12/23 – Friday night we spent in a home out in Plainfield, IL and the next morning had breakfast there with some leaders from a local simple church network called the Blessing Place. We had some great conversations about everything from life in the “organic” Kingdom of God, to how to raise leaders in this new (old) kind of church? We prayed over these new friends of ours and headed out for Indianapolis.
Sunday 12/24 – Sunday morning bright and early we headed to Southeastern Church of Christ in what would be our first time to “go to church” in several months. I had placed membership there as a senior in High School and my mom still attends there regularly. There are many people there that I love very dearly, and enjoyed seeing and talking with many of them that morning. Katrina and I held a presentation together on our dreams of mission in Chicago starting in 2008, and I think things went over fairly well. It was tough to give them all the details they wanted, simply because we are still figuring them all out. However, many came up afterwards with fire in their eyes and a smile on their lips as they said, “I share your dream.” It was so cool…
Monday…CHRISTMAS! - WOOHOO! Tons of time with the family! Tons of time to relax! Tons of FOOD! and unfortunately, NOT TONS of snow!
Tuesday, 12/26 and Wed 12/27 - After spending the morning with my family in Indy, we hopped in a car and drove up to St. Paul, MN to meet Katrina’s best friend Pam and her husband Billy. We spent most of the day on Wednesday hanging out at the Mall of America, which I was at first amazed at how huge it was, and then was quickly repulsed at the surge of materialism that ran through my veins (and through the veins of many others who were there). The consumerism was simply was too much for me – may the shock value of greed never wear off!
In any case, we had a wonderful time hanging out with two very wonderful people, and as we told them about our dreams for living in line with God’s story, their eyes lit up. We are praying for further conversation with them, and if God allows, them to join us someday!
Thursday, 12/28 - meant driving back to Chicago and dropping our stuff off at a hotel before heading out to town to celebrate our TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY! We chowed down to some delicious sushi, and walked the (now slightly warmer) streets, enjoying each other’s company. A great day to bond as a team (who also happen to be maddeningly in love).
Friday, 12/29 – We headed out to the Art Institute of Chicago and spent a good portion of the day there, enjoying the locals and some good art. Afterward we headed back to Hyde Park where we met up with Trevor, a minister at a local church who is working on a degree at U of Chicago. All throughout the trip Trina and I had been amazed at the incredible hospitality of those we had stayed with, or even met on the streets or buses (an Indian man tried to give us all his money to help us afford the train trip into town!), and Trevor and his wife Alana were no exception. They got us Chicago-style pizza *drool* and just let us shoot the breeze with them for an entire evening. We also bumped into Brandon and Amanda, who are former classmates of Trina’s, which was a bonus surprise! The whole night we talked about the obstacles of urban ministry in Chicago with some of brightest and most involved urban ministers I know.
Saturday 12/30 – Our last day in the City of Big Shoulders. We hung out awhile more with Trevor and Alana before hopping on the El up near Uptown, where we learned a couple hundred schizophrenics were let loose after Geraldo Rivera did an expose on some of the conditions of the asylums in the city and had them all shut down. Now they run loose! Thank Geraldo! We met up with a couple who moved to Chicago from Searcy, Arkansas (what a switch!). Dillon is from the Caribbean Islands and his wife Irene is from Russia. What a combo! They were a delight to talk to and what an interesting story they have to tell! They are working with a church planting resource organization called CDEA. I’d like to get in touch with them to learn more.
Before we knew it, we were flying out of O’Hare and back in Abilene. The trip went by too quickly, and of course even with such a long post there was SO much I had to leave out. We were fully “blessed by the best” (as a Chicago bus driver hollered back to us one afternoon), and are anxiously awaiting next steps with some of the new friends we met last week. It’s the beginning of a new journey!
Look at the Flickr bar near this post to see some of the pictures we took on our trip!
