So this blog is really to share with you all what's been on my mind lately. And if you can't tell what it's about...then you're an idiot...but it's DETROIT! As some of you know, God revealed to me this past Easter that Detroit is the area that I need to be in. Prior to Easter I had prayed that he would break my heart for what breaks his...and he sure did. The Easter weekend that I went to Detroit I experienced some of the craziest things and God gave me this crazy vision for what Detroit could be. Needless to say, I was so broken for the youth of Detroit.
In the high school of Fraser, a suburb of Detroit, the use of heroin has gone up, not down.
There are about 84,000 students in Detroit's public schools (K-12). I don't know every single kid in the area of Detroit but whenever I talk with kids from there, there seems to be an element of hopelessness...whether they want to admit to it or not. A lot of kids come from broken homes. Their parents are divorced and/or doing drugs or are alcoholics. It's scary when you think about how many kids are involved in drugs and alcohol themselves. I mean literally it's like thousands of kids who use them regularly.
The unemployment rate is awful. The official statistic is just below 30% for unemployment but I just read an article that states that the mayor and city officials are saying the unemployment rate is somewhere around 50%.
It all seems like a downward spiral. A lot of kids are surrounded by struggling people. It seems like a hopeless situation. But there are some kids with hope. I saw that as well when I went to Detroit. And I saw these kids have hope when they listened to what the Bible had to say about their lives. It was incredible. My aunt and uncle run a bible study every other Monday night in Detroit in their dining room area around their table. It's nothing huge, at least from an outside perspective. There were 6 kids the night that I went, but man was there just this radiance in the room as my aunt and uncle taught from the Bible. I remember one kid specifically...at the end of the Bible study everyone went around the table and prayed. When it was this one kids turn to pray he prayed a very simple prayer. It went something like, "God I thank you for the strength to say no for one more day." I was a little confused as to what he meant. Later I found out that he was addicted to heroin and he was trying to quit. Even though his prayer was so simple it was so powerful and full of meaning. He realized that he couldn't do it on his own; that his strength came from God. That was the moment that my heart broke for this area. I saw those who were hurt, I saw those who were hopeless, and then I saw those who were reaching out for something more, who didn't want to be caught in this same routine of hopelessness but who needed to hear so badly that they were loved and accepted by the God who created them. This, my friends, is why my heart is broken. Many kids go to sleep every night thinking that they are not good enough. Many teenage girls go to sleep every night wondering if the guy they just gave their heart to just got them pregnant. Many teenage guys wonder how they are going to provide for themselves, much less a family some day. Many teens wonder if anyone cares as they cry themselves to sleep. Many teens...feel hopeless. This, my friends, is why I want to be in that city.
