Mission Houston Newsletter

Taking Next Steps

From Our Executive Director, Steve Capper

May, 2008

We have 3 grandchildren, and one that is due the day I'm writing this. My granddaughter in New York City, Addie, is 15 months old and has been walking since January. Our Houston granddaughter, Lily, is 18 months old. She climbs and crawls to play and explore, and she stands upright with ease; but in spite of instructions, modeling and encouragement from the adults in her life, she's been reluctant to move into walking as her principle means of transportation

Lily was at our house this past week. Every 1/2 hour or so she'd take a step or three on her own, ending by either grabbing something to keep her balance, or falling - always on her backside. Applause for trying would bring a smile to her face, but it didn't give her confidence to keep going. Mid-afternoon and the inevitable happened. Lily fell, only this time it was forward. She fell, face first, onto the corner of an 'island' in our kitchen that our stove sits on, and then she literally fell flat on her face on the floor. The scream of terror and pain was delayed as her mind raced to decode all the messages sent both by nerves in her face and whatever reasoning faculties she has so far developed. I reached her in less than a second and picked her up, but before I could cradle her in my arms the blood from inside her top lip appeared, as did the unmistakable swelling around the bridge of her nose. She cried for the pain of failing, hard, and she clung to me for the comfort from one she had come to trust really cared.

After applying simple first aid between kisses and caresses and out-loud prayers for emotional and physical healing, I phoned my daughter-in-law, her mother. She got to the house in 35 minutes. Lily smiled weakly but went eagerly into mom's outstretched arms. This was tag-team, collaborative caring. It turns out that, in fact, Lily broke her nose. She had risked, she failed, and she got hurt. Would she ever try again? Laughing and 'talking' before they got to the doctor's office, at home with her parents that evening she resumed her periodic attempts to walk

A number of people have asked me, "Why is Mission Houston putting so many eggs in the basket of calling the whole Church of Houston to work with elementary school students and staff? I thought you all were about unity and prayer and evangelism and things like that?¨ One answer is that we've always been about the both/and: both united prayer and demonstrable loving service on behalf of others that opens the door for God to bring all kinds of changes our co-citizens need... including evangelism. See Isaiah 58, Jeremiah 29, 2 Chronicles 7:14, and Matthew 5:13-16

Another answer is simply this: everyday in greater Houston there are thousands and thousands of kids that are falling flat on their face in spite of efforts by schools to teach and encourage them to learn. Experts tell us these kids become drop-outs in elementary school, even if they don't stop coming to class until they're teens. Unlike my granddaughter, for the majority of these kids, called at-risk, they don't have a family system whose economic status or values makes available a caring adult who conveys both the worth of the child and the benefits of education. And in spite of some magnificent programs, there are too few volunteers who are assisting the schools in practical and personal ways. What the students need are folks who will consistently 'be there' for the kids, saying and showing they care, praying for God to bring what we cannot, and together with Him compensating for the trauma and fear of failing, so that the students can and will try again to live into a future God wants filled with hope. If not us, who?

Imagine the escalating social and financial costs if no one steps in? Won't you join us and be one of those who brings the love of God to at-risk children in the elementary schools of greater Houston?

The people brought children to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus was irate and let them know it: "Don't push these children away. Don't ever get between them and me. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom."
Then, gathering the children up in his arms, he laid his hands of blessing on them.
Mark 10:13-14, 16 (The Message)