leilani and the world of social work

the greatest news i have these days.... i got my loan for school! sure, we'll have to pay for it later, but at least there are funds for school now! that makes me very happy. you should have seen me the day i learned about it... i was shaking with joy! i even had to call chris regardless of the the fact that he was sleeping. it was a very happy day.

but of major importance: i had my internship interview. the place the great. they work with foster kids in the la area. it's a legal help agency, so i'll be working with lawyers, law students, and the infamous, DCFS (dept of family and children services). it was a really great place that did a lot of good. the only thing was that it caused me to cry my whole way home from work. mostly in anger. i'm sure people with think i'm crazy for thinking these things, and feeling these things... but, i was angry with Christians after interviewing at this place.

every office i walked into was all about over-turning Prop 8 and how a family is a family regardless of how many moms or dads there are. and, at first i thought, "God, why am i always in places like this? why is this the community i'm working with?" and it isn't even that this is the target community that this agency is helping, it's that those are the people working there.

then it dawned on me that it was the nature of this field in the US, and most of the world, i'm sure. these are the people that promote social welfare. then it occurred to me... where are the Christians? where are we to show Christ's love to those less fortunate than us? why are we so caught up in our "conservative" boxes that we think helping other is somehow too "liberal" for us to do? why are these people who don't love Christ doing all the work that we should be.

it was this that caused my heart to ache. i mean, really. i just don't get it. we're in our churches crying about gay marriage and abortion when there are children without parents that need us, when there are elderly who have no money and no where to go. we're afraid to go down to skid row because there are people with major problems out there. we're willing to learn all we can about theology (not that it's a bad thing, bc i think we could all use it), but we're afraid to put these things in practice.

i've always said that Jesus was a radical man... and we all know that He was here to reach the sinner. but sometimes i wonder how willing we are to reach the sinner. to help the poor, to clothe the naked, to feed the hungry. we are His hands and His feet, but where are we??

please pray that we will all have this ache, to really reach those less fortunate, so that the world will really see Christ and His love.

*besos*