Living in "The Wack"

Starting blog posts is weird, so I’ll skip the intro and just get to some sort of point! (hopefully)

Exciting news—I declared my major last week! I am officially a Pre-Social Work major at Baylor. With this major I intend to work in non-profit aiding victims of slavery, sex trafficking, and abuse, and women in prostitution, etc. Reaching, serving, and loving people who do not and possibly have not ever experienced love and Jesus is my biggest passion.

This is week 3 on campus!

As I’ve explored more of both the University and Waco these past three weeks, I have been made keenly aware of the vast difference between the two. Baylor is a rather expensive private university with a beautiful campus and basically anything someone could need (food, grocery, shelter, stores, gym, church, medical center, etc.) Waco, however, is sitting at a 27% poverty rate, while the national average is 13%. The streets are run-down, and there are people in tattered, dirt-stained clothes walking/sitting along sidewalks and street corners almost everywhere. Of course, there are nicer parts of Waco, but so far, I have discovered them in little pockets between older neighborhoods.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about how Baylor came to be in a town like Waco. Of course, there’s the historical explanation that Baylor tells the freshman quite frequently their first few weeks on campus, but for me there’s a much more personal reason. I believe that God placed Baylor in Waco for many reasons for many different people. For me, I know that Baylor is the beginning of an incredible journey that God has planned for me, and Waco will be an important first step. The people of Waco are desperately in need of service, in need of love, and most of all, in need of Jesus. Alone, I have nothing to offer, but through Him, I can be a difference in someone’s life.

The church in America has strayed so far from Jesus’ intentions with the poor. They build multi-million dollar buildings and preach about giving money to the less-fortunate. They donate to/volunteer at shelters apart from the churches, but do not invite the “less-fortunate” into their homes. When it comes to actually living and serving in the midst of them, most churches draw the line in the name of “safety.” They have forgotten that our safety lies within faith in Jesus. It’s ridiculous to refuse to serve the prostitute or the drug addict because “they live in unsafe, unclean conditions. Gangs, pimps, etc. are everywhere, and it’s just not safe to be there.”

When Jesus came to Earth, he didn’t just go hang out with the rich, clean people living in big homes (not that he ignored those people). He went and befriended the tax collectors, the lepers, and all of the “unclean,” hated people in the areas he visited. When He met the Samaritan woman at the well, she was surprised that He would even speak to her. Zacchaeus almost didn’t believe Jesus when He told him that He was going to eat with him at his house. Other people were appalled at the places Jesus went to, and the people He spent time with.

I imagine that’s how a lot of people would react today if someone were to reach out to them that way in the name of Jesus. They’d expect to be called out for their sins, to be chastised and disapproved of for the choices they’ve made in life. The overwhelming voice of Christianity in America today is the group of people who are constantly calling out the sin, demanding that we refuse others rights in the name of religious law. Anti-gay marriage and abortion groups can be found so easily. Where, though, are the Christian support groups for the women who have had abortions? Where are the people who recognize that God’s work does not come through force, but through love? Humans have free will. No one will ever choose Jesus if the message they hear is all about how wrong they are. It has to come through love and support.

Can you imagine being 30 years old and applying to a college that sent you letters and emails about how lazy and stupid you were? If they constantly put you down for not going to college right after high school, would you even want to attend at age 30? Of course not. That’s why colleges encourage adults to go back to school. Billboards say ‘It’s not too late!” and “Anyone can succeed.” Radio ads say “find the career you belong in! Love your life and work!” because they understand how to reach people and change their lives. You may say that the issue of salvation is more extreme than education, but humans come to change the same way for any situation—they have to want to change, and wanting to change comes from feeling encouraged and welcomed into the new lifestyle.

The truth is, we are not the judges:

So where does that leave you when you criticize a brother? And where does that leave you when you condescend to a sister? I’d say it leaves you looking pretty silly—or worse. Eventually, we’re all going to end up kneeling side by side in the place of judgment, facing God. Your critical and condescending ways aren’t going to improve your position there one bit. Read it for yourself in Scripture: “As I live and breathe,” God says, “every knee will bow before me; Every tongue will tell the honest truth that I and only I am God.” So tend to your knitting. You’ve got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God. (Romans 14:10-12 MSG)

 It will never be our job to tell someone about their sin, to judge them for it, or to try to force them to change. We can’t play God and follow God at the same time. Jesus came in love, with grace and mercy for anyone who would receive it. The cross is a beautiful story of redemption; God who loved the world so much that He gave his only son to die in the place of every human that would ever walk the Earth. A God who would sacrifice something that immense is surely a God of abounding love and mercy that has no end.

I can’t say that I have ever been so close to such obvious poverty as I am now in Waco. I have been so privileged and blessed in my life, but I’m so glad that God has placed me here now. I don’t want to live oblivious to the need that is so prominent in our nation and world; there are people who sleep in trash bags and eat rotten scraps out of dumpsters, women who were never given educational opportunity, and now can’t find jobs outside of strip clubs. They are treated as subhuman by everyone around them. There are parents who have no idea how to raise their children, and no way to provide for them. There are children with no parents—no one to teach them, protect them, or love them.

My family has never been wealthy, and there have been times we’ve lost a home or had to face the hard fact of my dad losing his job. We’ve been on government assistance, and we’ve squeezed our family of four into a tiny two-bedroom apartment. But we have never been homeless, never gone hungry, and never been without clothing. Though my clothes as a child may have been hand-me-downs from cousins, they were nice clothes that fit. I remember a time when my mom and I passed a homeless man on a bridge just outside of town. He had a sign asking for food. When we got home, my mom made a huge pot of ham and beans and took a large container of it back to him.

When my parents served as young-adult leaders at a local church, our home was constantly filled with teenagers and 20-something’s from all walks of life. The love and service that my parents poured out to them changed both the people’s lives and mine. I grew up with the understanding that it didn’t matter how much you had to give, you gave it with the knowledge that the God you served would be faithful in fulfilling your needs. And He was, over and over again, all throughout my childhood and still today.

Thinking about my own childhood compared to that of some of the kids living in Waco, I could never say that my family was poor or underprivileged. I am so grateful that my parents raised me in an environment that was surrounded by Jesus and his true calling for His people—sacrificial, limitless, unending love. Love that does not have borders, or restrictions, or guidelines. Just pure, honest service to anyone who had a need, big or small. It has shaped me into who I am today, and prepared me for the life that Jesus has called me to. Waco is my home for the next four years, and it’s not a coincidence. I have been called to love these people and serve them, to change and save lives of those who the world has forgotten. There are already so many people doing that in Waco, at Baylor, and I can’t wait to join them.

 

 

 

-Thanks for reading! You can continue to follow my journey here. Prayers are always appreciated. Feel free to send me a prayer or some encouragement, too! Kelsey_Phipps@baylor.edu

"You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, His generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Christ Jesus. Our God and Father abounds in glory that just pours out into eternity. Yes." -Philippians 4:19-20