blogs, and Grace Center

I read somewhere recently that blog sites are on the wane. People are moving more and more towards Facebook and other social networking platforms. This makes sense, because I suspect for many bloggers the impulse is to share and connect -- and if that's your plan, Facebook is more fun, less work.

I stopped looking at my Google stats months and months ago, though I still have a counter. I no longer get my kicks looking at maps of all the places my page visits originate. I'm no longer terribly interested which search engine or link brought you here. If you're reading this for the first time, welcome. I suspect you'll get more satisfaction out of following my favorite links than from reading any disclosures of my own.

If you've been here before, it's most likely because you know me. IRL, as we used to say.

All that having been said...

I'm thinking about this place I work. I have to think about it, to consciously process the interlocking events and dynamics of the place; to understand it better, to feel where it needs to go and how I can help it get there.

We run a busy food shelf.
We lease space to a charter school for children with disabilities and learning challenges.

We had a play here last week, offered by a friend of a tenant, called "What da'hood Made Me," written by Jennifer Howard. Ms Howard works with youth to bring them to God through theater, and to keep them on the right track while they work towards college. Ms Howard is black, and all the young people in her cast are black as far as I know. She left a script and a few notes about the production behind, when they packed up Saturday night. I've read some of it -- she writes well, and obviously has a talent that she uses in a blessed way. Center staff just stayed out of their way, and they stayed out of ours, by and large. I feel now like I should reach out to them. Even though Ms Howard doesn't need anything from me. We didn't promote the play really, in-house, and many of her guests may well have come over from North. But I'd like to find a way to support them, and have them back around. I hope to meet with Ms Howard this week yet.

We have another theater group using our space, Sounds of Hope. Their performance will be at the MacPhail Center for the Arts in March. Most of the actors are adults with disabilities.

We have AA. A homeschool group. A music school uses our building in the evenings. We have four worship groups of three different denominations. And after this I start to lose track ... there are always a few more, coming and going throughout the year.

It's easy to feel blessed, but more difficult to show the Sundays-only crowd how blessed we truly are.