Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.”- Luke 20:34-36

This week I met the nicest boy living in the streets.His name is Luzival and he is 11 years old. He is relatively new to the streets; he has been homeless for two months at least.

Luzival wanted to play a game of badminton. He noticed that Mary and I did not participate because it was a game for four people. He did not want us to be left out and asked if there was a game where everyone could participate. Throughout our time together, we saw that Luzival was always making sure that no one was neglected and showed concern for those around him. When I asked him about his home, he just said that it was far away. He did not want to say anything else about his home. This made me think why a sweet boy like him would leave his home and live in the dangerous streets. I think Luzival believes that living in the streets was the best option for him. He was too nice and kind to be in the streets but it was the best option his reality presented to him.

Every Sunday, most churches in the world will hear the above gospel text read during the liturgy. Many will hear their ministers making this text alive and relevant in the context of their congregation. Luzival is a member of my congregation. The Hope of the Resurrection must speak to him in his context.

When we speak of the Resurrection, it is usually in the context of the afterlife. However, in the New Testament, the Hope of the Resurrection transformed the life of the apostles in the here and now. It is the hope that brings a new reality into our limited perspective of life. The Sadducees thought that the concept of resurrection was ludicrous because they were trying fit the Resurrection in their limited view of reality. The Resurrection is about New Reality. You cannot pour new wine in old wineskins (Mark 2:22). When Jesus said that we will become like angels, popular culture has distorted this important symbol and made it into something silly like people having wings and harps. Angels live in a richer dimension of reality and they pursue higher goals than we who are trapped in this materialistic aspect of reality. Angels in the Bible are purveyors of God’s presence in this world. We will become like angels means that our understanding of reality will be transformed. In the resurrected Christ, we see that the reality of the resurrection is so powerful that it is able to take the tragedies of life like the torture and crucifixion of Jesus and transform them into marks of eternal blessing. Most importantly, the power of the resurrection is not something we can induce but it is something that flows from the loving heart of our Father. It is a new reality that transcends all the limitations of the life. It is new reality that is present in the here and now and is able to take the tragedies of this life and transform them into opportunities of eternal blessings.

Luzival and the others like him do not want a better reality (better is not the same as new). Their reality is so bad that the streets are an improvement. They don’t need something better but they need a new reality. We do not have the capability to give them this new reality. Angels do not change our reality. They just point us to the One who is able.

How do we experience the Hope of the Resurrection? The reality of the Resurrection is a mystery. It cannot be explained. Jesus never explained it n the text above. Instead He pointed out to the Sadducees that God is not experienced in the afterlife but He is experienced in the present, or in the here and now. The power of the Resurrected Christ is not a theory we expect to experience after death. It is reality that comes with a true encounter with our God.

Every encounter with the resurrected Christ makes the new reality our only reality. Luzival should not be in the streets. None of these children and teens should be in the streets. However, their reality has brought them here and reality of street life is slowly destroying their innocence. We are the children of the resurrection. It is our role to bring the message of the new reality to these little ones. First we need to conform ourselves to this new reality and only then our lives can guide them to the Resurrected One who truly transforms their tragic stories into eternal victories in the here and now.

The past few weeks I have been mentioning various missionaries in my blog post and now is the time to introduce my co-workers in this ministry. We are a team of six and represent at least four different nations. We also each represent different missionary agencies and churches but we work under the auspices of Project 242, a Brazilian evangelical mission and church in the red light district. Below is a recent picture of the team but the dog whose name is Tango is not part of the team. He just wanted to be in the picture.

Left to Right Top:Mary, Stephen, Tim and Becky
Left to right bottom: Melanie, Caetano and Tango the Dog

I will start with the couple next me in the photo. Tim and Becky are from California and they are sent by an missionary organization called Solidarity which works mainly with the urban poor. Solidarity works mainly in the States and Tim is one of the first missionaries to be sent overseas. Tim worked in this ministry for almost seven years and Becky joined after they got married two years ago. Becky has a specific calling to work with victims of human trafficking and this coming year she plans to start a home for young female victims in the city of São Paulo.

The young lady sitting down in front of Mary is Melanie. Melanie is originally from Germany. She has been working in this ministry for six years or so. She is a missionary sent by Steiger Mission which works primarily in Europe. Melanie left her nursing career to answer this call and she is a great help in “Cracolandia” when we do first aid. She handles the complex cases and helps us look like we know what we are doing.

The young man next to Melanie is Caetano. Caetano is the only Brazilian in the team and he leads the team. He has been working in the streets for almost nine years and he is going to be a father for the first time in December. Caetano is presently in his final year of theological studies.

We work from Monday to Friday in the streets. The children are usually active after lunch and we usually go to the areas where they tend to congregate at some point during the day. For the time being we interact with the children and teens through games. Caetano and Tim are more athletic  and they tend to play volleyball, soccer and sometimes badminton with the teens. I usually play checkers or some other board games and sometimes venture out to play a little badminton. Sometimes the young girls like their nails to be painted and Mary and Melanie tend to excel at this more than the guys. All these activities serve one purpose only and that is to help us to build a deeper relationship with these little ones. It provides an non-threatening environment for them to interact with us comfortably or even not interact with us if they choose to do.

We would like to evolve in our interactions with them. Playing games is helpful in breaking the ice but we need identify ways to build stronger bonds with the children and teens. We have brought some of the children for a brief excursion to different places of interest. Usually only those who feel comfortable with us are open to going on these short excursions. Each time we are with the children we discover something about them. Sometimes it is something apparently insignificant to the rest of the world but it means something to them when they share with us. One of the boys, Israel, shared with us one day that he entered a Roman Catholic Church and saw an image of Jesus in the tomb. He was quite amazed by it. It was actually one of the few times he was lucid and looked alive. Something touched his soul. I believe that we will see and understand what it meant to him eventually. We have to be patient and persevere. God has sent us as healers but those who are sick need to recognize their illness first. This takes patience. These young children are proud and they need to trust us before they can reveal their illness to us. For now, we are waiting for God to teach us and guide us so that we can become effective instruments of His healing.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”- Matt. 19:14

We decided to take a risk. We wanted to take the children out for a day for an excursion.

We work in partnership with another mission called ABBA (not the band). ABBA has a half-way house for homeless children and teens that is due to reopen in early November. The house is different from most of the other houses. For starters, it does not look like an institution. It has a beautiful yard and swimming pool and the most important thing, it has a trampoline. The house is set up to operate as a family home. There is house mother working together with a team of missionaries. Our role is to help the children and teens who want to leave the street life to make the transition to this house. However, most of the children imagine a half-way house to have a prison-like environment. Before we could talk about leaving the street life, we needed to change their image of a half-way house. This was the purpose of the excursion. We were going to spend a day with them in this place. The risk was that we were not sure who would come and of course there is also a danger that those who actually go on this special excursion might be problematic and defiant.

We went early to the streets and most of them were sleeping. We managed to find some of the younger boys awake but these were the ones that were usually aggressive.  We decided to invite them anyway, secretly hoping that they would decline. To our surprise, they were keen on going with us. We set the ground rules first; no drugs of any kind and they need to be respectful. We loaded all five of them in the van and went away for a hour drive to the half-way house. On the way, we passed by the local international airport and immediately these young boys transformed before our very eyes from aggressive drug dealing street kids to children. It seems like God brought to us the very children that needed to go this place.

There were five boys from 10 to 15 years.  There was only one who was 15 and he is João, the very first boy we met in the streets (see post: First day, First Impressions). The rest were Jonas, Caesar, William and Gugu. William has always been a difficult boy in the streets. He always tried to provoke one of the missionaries and this missionary was the driver today. When we got to our location, they dashed out to the trampoline and everyone started going wild in a good way. They were laughing and playing. It was nice to see them behaving like children. I was going around exploring all the fruit trees and William asked me to help him pick some fruits. William got onto a swing and asked me to give a push but he wanted me to stay close. The boys asked if they could spend the night there. We told them that it was a home and not a hotel. They laughed but they understood. They understood that there was a decision to be made if they wanted to live here. 

The thing that touched me most was that these young children enjoyed our presence there and wanted to interact with us most of the time. For a moment, they had a glimpse  of what it means to be children in a family. William wanted the adult males to help get on and down from the trampoline even though he could easily do it without help. He wanted to have a father-like figure to help him. We were surprised how much we enjoyed being with these boys who would have been our last choice to take anyway. They were a joy to us this day.

At the end of the day, we explained to them what it means to live in this house. We told them that the reason we are in the streets daily is to help them see that it is God’s desire for them to grow up in a loving environment where they can be free to be children. When we asked them what they liked about the day, Caesar told us that it was a drug-free day and they were free to be children.

Our trip home was quiet because everyone was asleep. When we got to the red light district, William was the first to thank us and he hugged the missionary that he had always tried to provoke. Immediately after the children left the van, our friend the driver turned around and said that God surprised us.

It was miraculous day for us. We enjoyed ourselves and we enjoyed the children. We are happy that God gave us this special day. It is a day written in the pages of eternity. We pray for more days like this.

Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, `God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, `God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’- Luke 18:10-13

We go to “Cracolândia” once a week. I don’t think I can ever get used to this place. Each time I go there I am more aware of the filth and hopelessness that abounds there. I cannot get used to seeing people covered with dirt and completely oblivious to life. They hold to one thing that matters to them which is their tiny rocks of crack cocaine. Today, we met a young woman who had suffered a miscarriage and was bleeding as a result of this.  Yet she refused to go to the doctors because she wanted to smoke more crack. There was another young girl who had part of her intestine exposed from a previous surgery. She had lost the plastic bag that was protecting her intestine. She was in grave danger but she refused any help. She was too high to recognize her dangerous condition. People were sleeping where they went to the bathroom. No one in their right mind would want to be here. It seems like drugs have made them abandon their humanity. However, it was not just drugs, it was something else. Something had made them give up on everything. Something convinced them that they did not need anything but crack cocaine. Something made them give up their humanity. These are people who have lost something valuable and now they lose themselves in drugs. They don’t know if they can ever find their way back.

It is not hard to think that we will never be like these people. It is not hard to create a barrier between us and them. It is easy to understand why the Pharisee in the parable prayed like he did. The Pharisee was right about what he said of himself. He was different from the tax collector. We are different from the drug addicts. I think it is unrealistic to say that any one of us could be a drug addict in Cracolândia. Most of us are beyond that stage. It is more realistic to say that most of us could be like the Pharisee.

The reality is that we are better off than the people in Cracolândia. Well, let me say that I know that I am better off than the people who live there. If I wasn’t, then I should not be here. When we serve the poor or visit the prisoners or minister to the sick, we do it because we are better off than those to whom we minister. Maybe saying “better off” sounds arrogant and uncharitable; well, we could say that we have more than those whom we serve. This is the reality. It is not necessarily fair. There is no reason why I was given more in this life than those who lost in the midst of drugs and sickness. Some might say it is because sin and this is what the Pharisee would say. Even then there is unfairness in this; some people appear to suffer the consequences of sin more harshly than others. This is the brutal reality. Jesus reminds us of another aspect of reality which bears eternal consequences.

“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”(Luke 12:48) 

The Pharisee was not wrong about the things he said of himself but his failure was that he thought that having much is synonymous with being superior. Being great in the Kingdom of God is being a servant of all. We who have been given much cannot become servants unless we understand that our God is Love. Then we know how to use the much that is given to us. Only then having more is a blessing because it becomes an opportunity to share God’s love to those who don’t have much.

Much is given to us so that we can show the mercy and love of God to those who have almost nothing. The tax collector needed mercy but the one who had much was so consumed in himself that he misunderstood his privileged position.

We only understand our blessed state when we bless those who have nothing in this life. 

Cracolândia is a disturbing place but for me, it is a place where everything I have transforms into wine. It is the place where the much that is given to me becomes a blessing to me, so that I can bring God’s hope and mercy to those who need it the most. This is a disturbing place but I am glad that I can be here. I am glad that God has given me the necessary tools to be here. Life makes sense for me here. I have been given much and now God wants me to use this to show His mercy and love to those who have nothing.

And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? – Luke 18:7

No matter what we think or say, we usually pray as if we are trying to convince God to do the right thing. He usually does and He does not need to be convinced.

Our prayers reveal more about ourselves than about God. They reveal how much we trust God. It is not uncommon to hear someone give up on their faith because God did not answer their prayers. Most of the time, these are not selfish prayers.

Our average week consists of speaking to children who are perfectly happy using drugs all the time. There is one boy in particular, Israel, whom the missionaries have never seen without a bottle of paint thinner. He has been using drugs for so long that he is having tremors. He is really a very sweet boy. We pray for him but nothing changes. He is getting worse daily. Unfortunately he is not the only one. Weekly there are more children joining their ranks. They use drugs to escape reality. We pray to help us deal with reality.

The parable of Jesus about the unrighteous judge and persistent widow is puzzling. It appears to say that our persistent prayers will eventually annoy God into action. However, we know that this is not true. We believe in a God who is constantly acting. He acts even before we pray. However, Jesus admonishes us to pray persistently. Persistent prayer does something.

The point of the parable is not that the judge gave up and did the will of the widow. It is about transformation. Prayer is not a means to manipulate God. Prayer is transformative even when the people involved are not willing to be transformed. When we pray things do not have to change but we have to change. God does not change but we change. We are transformed to understand things in His way even though we might not be willing to see things His way. Prayer opens our eyes and ears to see the Holy Spirit in action. The action of the Holy Spirit is a mystery and our sense of justice is insufficient to understand the mystery of the Holy Spirit. We need to pray to be transformed. We need to pray so that we can continue to trust in God whose mercy is never-ending.

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them– Gen. 1:27

I had a bad fall. I was playing volleyball with some of the teens in the streets and I was trying to hit a high ball when I realized that I was on the edge of a flight of concrete steps. I fell backwards and my back first hit the steps followed by my head. As I was falling it appeared as if everything was in slow motion. I saw the faces of all the teens filled with concern as they shouted out in fear as I fell. I wasn’t sure what was happening but I remembered thinking that these teens were genuinely concerned. Strangely, my back did not hurt and neither did my head but my wrist was hurting. I had used the palms of my hands instinctively to break the fall.  The teens begged me to sit down and rest. Some of them asked if I was hurt and they watched me intently. These teenagers are actually drug dealers. They have never really spoken to us before. For the first time they wanted us to play volleyball with them. These young people are what they call the hardened street teens. They put up a tough front to survive in their world. As I fell down the steps, they allowed their humanity to come forth.

As I sat there trying to figure out if I had broken my wrist, the children started approaching me. They wanted to play checkers with me. They did not want me to be alone. Apart from the fall, it was actually one of our best days working with these dear ones. My wrist did not swell up but it still hurt. I went home thinking about the faces of the teens. They were really children trapped in a world of drugs and violence. Inside each of them there is child who wants to love and be loved. They dropped their masks when there was an opportunity for them to show kindness and love.

The next day, my wrist stopped hurting and the missionaries were surprised that I did not hurt my back or head. I was grateful that I did not have to go to the hospital. As we went back to the same spot, the teens came up to us and greeted Mary with a kiss. The barrier has been overcome.  It seems like they knew that they can show their humanity with us. At least, we hope that we have a step together to discover God’s image in each other’s soul.

My wrist is fine. I am typing this posting with it.

“And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”– Luke 9:58

We had been searching for an apartment for the past few weeks. We were beginning to feel a little lost without a home.  We were not homeless but we were without a home.

Our Living room

It has been an interesting few weeks; being without an address. People often ask us why don’t the homeless teens and adults try to get some form of employment. There is definitely no shortage of work but without an address, you are a nobody. We have been without a phone for the past weeks because we needed an address to get a telephone. We couldn’t complete all the necessary paperwork for our Brazilian identity because we did not have a permanent address. Having an address is part of becoming a somebody. You cannot get a job in this place if you are nobody. The problem with the homeless is not that they cannot get a job. They are nobodies until they have an address.

We finally got an apartment. It was not an easy task but we have a place of our own. It is a tiny one bedroom apartment. When you rent an apartment in São Paulo, it is completely empty. There are no stoves, no refrigerator, nothing. You have to buy everything. Rent is not cheap even in the red light district. No one earning the minimum salary can afford an apartment in the red light district. Unfortunately, most of the homeless can only hope for a job that pays the minimum salary.

Our Kitchen before any appliances.

Jesus was not homeless but he was without a home. He knew what it means not to be somebody in society. However, Jesus was a nobody in society but He changed the world. He invites us to be like him. He did not place his hopes what He possessed. He had treasures where moth and rust cannot destroy.

Now we have an apartment but we still to remember the words of Jesus. Our identity is not in where we live. We have a small apartment. It is spartan but it has everything we need. We live in the same building as our friends. We don’t all our furniture yet but there has been laughter and serious conversations in our house. Our living room is bare and empty but it is filled with conversations. I am glad that we live in a small apartment. I am glad that it took us long to find this place. It has become a special place for us. It reminds us that our Lord gave up even having a small place so that He could be a blessing. We want to use this tiny apartment to bless and be blessed by Him. By the way, we are still waiting for our internet. It might take a while but we have a home to wait for it.

“If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, `Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, `Come here at once and take your place at the table’? Would you not rather say to him, `Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, `We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'” -Luke 17:5-10

Sometimes I feel like I cannot do a good job unless everything is perfect. Unfortunately, in the real world, there is no such thing as the perfect situation. There are no moments in our lives where we can feel secure enough to know that nothing will go wrong. Something will always go wrong eventually. Faith is not an escape from reality: it is facing reality. It is knowing that what we do does not depend on the situation but on the One who transcends all situations and circumstances. Faith demands that we take a risk and trust the One who determines what is real in this world.

Faith is recognizing that we do not have what it takes to live in this world; I mean truly live in this world. Only Jesus truly lived life to the fullest in this world. He deliberately lived in an imperfect world to show us that abundant life was a living possibility. We don’t need a perfect world to live perfect lives. We just need faith and our faith only has to be the size of a mustard seed.

Our life here is far from perfect. Everyday we are confronted with a reality that seems to be overwhelming. I have encountered men and women who are in their thirties whom I met when they were in their early teens. They are still smoking crack in the streets. We meet new children coming to the streets. We are discovering that many of these children have no where to go except the streets. I just rented an apartment and downstairs where we live there is a group of homeless people who have been sleeping in the streets for so long that our neighbors consider them as permanent fixture in the neighborhood.  It is quite sad. Many of the missionaries have doubts about their capabilities. They doubt whether they have the resources to do anything significant. Most of us feel inadequate on a deeper level as well. We feel that we might not have what it takes to be God’s servants. We might not be worthy at all to serve in the red light district. Maybe we are right but it is okay.

The most comforting part of the gospel passage above is the second part. It seems strange that the harshest part of the gospel text is the most comforting. We are not the Master. We are just His servants. It is not our role to figure out whether we are adequate to complete the task before us. We don’t have what it takes to bring anything to completion. The Master does it. We are just His servants. Servants don’t wait for the perfect condition to serve but they just serve. We serve a Master whose essence is Love. Our joy lies in serving this loving Master. He is the one who takes our mustard seed faith and transforms it into something beautiful. We just have to remember that servants just serve the Master. We have what it takes to serve Him because He has given it to us. This is really comforting. It does not matter if we feel inadequate. It only matters that we serve Him despite our inadequacy. This is our identity and our joy.

How does this translate to our lives here? Well, yesterday we went to the streets without any games and activity material. One of the children asked us what we brought with us for fun and before we could say anything, Jonas, one of the younger boys came to our defense and said that we just brought love and that was enough.

We just have to serve our Master with what He has given us.

Jesus said, “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores.” (Luke16:19)

I have been meeting Lazarus in the streets. The biblical description is quite accurate. Most of the homeless have dogs as pets. The dogs are their companions and they also protect their owners from danger. They are in many ways their only friends. The homeless keep their dogs well-fed. It is strange but many times the dogs look better than their owners. I haven’t seen the rich man around until this past Tuesday. I met him face to face.

It was an usual day. We went to the streets and we began our work with prayer. In our time of silent prayer, I contemplated on this gospel text and then it dawned upon me: I am the rich man. When we are among the poorest of the poor, most of us are the rich man. The rich man in the parable is not the other person, but it is me.

Some times people like to say that we are blessed to have material possessions. I am not sure if blessed is the right word. In the parable, the rich man’s wealth led him to hell. Lazarus was just a poor man who had nothing and was a nobody in society and yet, he found himself in Abraham’s bosom. According to the gospel, Lazarus was really the blessed one (the evangelical paradox in action). Jesus did say, “Blessed are you poor for yours is the kingdom of God.”(Luke 6:20) Interestingly, there is no reference in the New Testament that claims that the rich are blessed.

Among the poor, I am the rich man. I am not well off or blessed. I am not even one step away from poverty. I can choose to be poor because I am a rich man. The parable is a warning for me to consider carefully how I should use the things given to me. They do not belong to me. They belong to God. They are given to us to understand the mystery of salvation. Many think that when we help the poor, we need to change their condition. God does not expect us to change anyone’s situation but He expects us to bring comfort to those who suffer.

We met a young teenager in the streets that was hurt in a car accident. Her right arm was seriously burnt and her bone was exposed. I do not have the words to describe the nature of her injury. She needed to be in the hospital but she was in the streets. The bandage on her arm was old and dirty. She asked if we would help her dress her wounds. However, she refused to let us do it. Her arm hurt too much and she was afraid that we might be rough with her. We just stood there and watched her slowly peel off the old and dirty gauze. She needed to be in the hospital but she refused to go. She was afraid. She was alone. We just stood there and watched her dress her wounds. We felt helpless but at the end she thanked us for just being there and giving her the attention. We felt helpless but somehow our presence comforted this girl. She did not want any medical attention. She did not expect us heal her or change her situation. She had simple expectations. She just needed some adults to be present with her. It was comforting for her.

This was what God expected the rich man to do. He wanted him to comfort Lazarus in his suffering. However, the parable is not about just being a good neighbor. It is about salvation. A missionary who has been working among the homeless and sex workers for 9 years shared that the mystery of salvation became clearer when she served “Lazarus” in the streets. It is not about working for our salvation. Today in the church, we hardly meet people who are working towards salvation. However, most of us can become like the rich man in the parable who is oblivious to the world around him. Lazarus was there to help him understand the mystery of salvation but he failed to see this. We need Lazarus as much as he needs us to understand our salvation. Salvation is a gift and a gift must be appreciated: if not, it’s meaning can be lost forever for us.

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes. For all the promises of God in Him are Yes.          2 Cor. 1:19-20

It seems like everything in this world comes down to “Yes” and “No”. We might be harassed by a maybe occasionally but “maybe’ is just trying to avoid the inevitable “Yes” or “No”.

In the past few weeks, we have been alternating our time here working in the streets and hunting for an apartment in the vicinity of the red light district. Why do we choose to  live where we work? Well, while we looking for an apartment one day, a group of homeless teens walked passed us. They did not recognize us at first as we are still new to them. However, one of the younger ones, Jonas, saw us and told the others. They turned around and called out to us and waved. They wanted us to know that they did not deliberately ignore us. I was touched by their action. This is the reason behind our choice to live here. We want to be visible to these little ones even when we are not working with them. Besides, walking to work everyday has its physical and financial benefits as well.

Renting an apartment in São Paulo is a complicated task. You have to have a guarantor  who owns property in this city which is very expensive and most of our friends are not wealthy. The other option is to have apartment insurance which is unfair because you have to pay a month and half rent in an advance to an insurance company per year and you don’t get the money back. There is the security deposit option. You pay three months rent for the deposit which you will receive back at the end of the contract. The minimum contract for rental is three years. We have only means for the security deposit but unfortunately most of the rentals are not willing to accept the security deposit.

We have seen and called about 12 apartments a week and have heard a series of “No” to the security deposit option. After hearing “No” so many times we are afraid to be excited about any apartment. Here we are: we are educated, we have financial means and we have a clean credit record and still we are having a hard time finding a place to stay. What about those who living in the streets? What chances do they have if they want to leave the streets and rent an apartment? What about those hardworking people who live in the slums and want to get out of the dirty and uninhabitable slums? Can their sons and daughters ever dream of renting an apartment in this city? If the answer has been “No” to us, I guess we can be assured that they already have their answer.

Whenever we hear the answer “No” for something that we need for life, a little part of us withers away.  This is why St. Paul makes it clear that in Christ, it is always a “Yes”. It is always a “Yes” to life and life abundantly. We continue our search for the apartment because Jesus wants us to be here. His answer to us is “Yes”. Jesus transcends the “Yes” and “No” of this world. He is our “Yes” even when we are faced with a “No”. This is our message of hope to those who think everyone around them is saying “No”. In Christ, it is always “Yes”. It is not about having a positive attitude. It is about knowing that we have a Lord who is alive and He is our “Yes” to life and life abundantly. Amen!!!