A few weekends ago The Hub enjoyed a time of restoration at The Mission House in Madera, California. We are thankful that the Kinabrew family opened their missionary retreat home to us for a short stay. Our weekend consisted of plenty of rest, laughter, breaking of bread, singing, fellowship, prayer, reflection, devotion, worship, breaking of more bread, and watching episodes of Scrubs. We shared stories of how God has changed us in the passed year and how he still continues to work in us. There were stories of conflict and chaos with each other, stories of internal struggles with ourselves, and a lot of jokes. We explained how we can continue to help each other grow and exposed what was hindering our community from growing. Ahead of us is a continuation of loving thy neighbor and only good things if we follow Jesus example.
As of today, we are 60% of the way to the end of The Hub experience. However, I know that this is only the beginning of our lifestyle of intentional community with our neighbors. All of us entered the program knowing that we must love God and we must love our neighbors, but God has revealed to us how much He loves us and our community, and how we must see Jesus when we look into the eyes of our neighbors. It was not easy to get to this point and I don’t think it will be easy until our time on earth is complete. I am still learning every day and even in close quarters I still occasionally fail to love our neighbors. But God is gracious!
Josiah Mariano
About Me
- HCCD_THEHUB
- Fresno, California, United States
- The Hub exists to develop young adults into urban leaders through incarnational training. We understand that the continued growth of urban areas and the urbanization of rural and suburban areas require an empirical and experiential method of training up individuals who can help bring health and wholeness to the urban areas typically resourced for a myriad of reasons. We recognize that Biblical community is a process that we open ourselves to sharing our lives and having common commitments. We are committing ourselves to transparent relationships, pursuing consistent practice of honest and loving communication and confrontation. Knowing that major differences exist based on ethnicity, culture and gender, we pledge ourselves to a climate which facilitates reconciliation. In light of our calling, we believe that we are to be stretched beyond our comfort zone and be bold for the sake of the Kingdom. As leaders we seek to embody integrity, discipline, and the courage to do what’s right in the midst of conflict, spiritual warfare and unjust systems. We intentionally open ourselves up to the influence of more mature leaders, wanting to be faithful, available, and teachable.
Showing posts with label Stone Pine Apartments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stone Pine Apartments. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Loving Your Neighbor Isn't That Lovely
This evening was "supposed" to be an evening with some friends sharing God's work in our lives, prayer for one another and lifting up the name of Jesus with songs of praise. The evening started well, sharing stories about our weekend, sharing exciting books that have been recently read, and dining on some homemade bean soup. How could it get any better than this? Church of Acts was happening in our apartment and it was awesome.
It was wonderful and it was only going to get better as the excitement building with anticipation to lift up my God in song!
Unexpected but to no surprise a small complaint from a extra large messenger asked if we could lower the noise above their heads. In respect to our neighbors down below we decided to cut out some instruments and noise in order to keep the peace between our two houses.
Our evening progressed with a time of reflection on the Word and prayers for each other as an alternative to give God praise and our worship.
A couple quite songs wouldn't hurt...right?
We sang one song silently and sang it like a breath of fresh air as a release from our longing desire to sing to our Savior. Then we sang another hoping to continue with songs of praise as we closed our evening.
Just one more song...
One more just to end the night. We sang one more and it was beautiful. It fit right into our understanding of our God who is with us and will meet us where we are.
But it was one song too much for our neighbors down stairs.
"KNOCK, KNOCK" communicated enough that patience had run dry.
As I walked to the door trying to come up with some kind of excuse or apology with the split second I had left before the door fully opened it was already too late. Slowly the door was open wide and eye contact with a pissed neighbor was locked. Scrambling for words to say he beat me to the punch. (Don't worry I do not mean that literally, just in case you wondering their was no brawl at Stone Pine this night)
With a cigarette at hand hoping that the nicotine would be enough to keep him calm my neighbor's words with exhaust from his smoke, "Look man, I f!$^=# asked nicely. My baby is trying to sleep. I asked for you guys to f!$^=# be quiet!"
My response, "sorry man."
Well, there was really nothing I could say to fix what happened but if I can be honest there were plenty of words I was fighting with to say. But we decided to end their and relocate our time at another place. I said my good nights and gave hugs as people left to find myself in front of the computer just to share what God put on my heart.
Living at the Hub has shaken all my preconceived notions of what Jesus said to be the greatest commandments: "loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength" and "loving your neighbor as yourself." The first part of this commandment aligns our hearts, restores our souls, gives us theology, and the means to put our faith into action. The second part gives God permission to break our hearts in order to earnestly listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, challenges our theology and surrenders our will be done to His Kingdom come.
It was wonderful and it was only going to get better as the excitement building with anticipation to lift up my God in song!
Unexpected but to no surprise a small complaint from a extra large messenger asked if we could lower the noise above their heads. In respect to our neighbors down below we decided to cut out some instruments and noise in order to keep the peace between our two houses.
Our evening progressed with a time of reflection on the Word and prayers for each other as an alternative to give God praise and our worship.
A couple quite songs wouldn't hurt...right?
We sang one song silently and sang it like a breath of fresh air as a release from our longing desire to sing to our Savior. Then we sang another hoping to continue with songs of praise as we closed our evening.
Just one more song...
One more just to end the night. We sang one more and it was beautiful. It fit right into our understanding of our God who is with us and will meet us where we are.
But it was one song too much for our neighbors down stairs.
"KNOCK, KNOCK" communicated enough that patience had run dry.
As I walked to the door trying to come up with some kind of excuse or apology with the split second I had left before the door fully opened it was already too late. Slowly the door was open wide and eye contact with a pissed neighbor was locked. Scrambling for words to say he beat me to the punch. (Don't worry I do not mean that literally, just in case you wondering their was no brawl at Stone Pine this night)
With a cigarette at hand hoping that the nicotine would be enough to keep him calm my neighbor's words with exhaust from his smoke, "Look man, I f!$^=# asked nicely. My baby is trying to sleep. I asked for you guys to f!$^=# be quiet!"
My response, "sorry man."
Well, there was really nothing I could say to fix what happened but if I can be honest there were plenty of words I was fighting with to say. But we decided to end their and relocate our time at another place. I said my good nights and gave hugs as people left to find myself in front of the computer just to share what God put on my heart.
Living at the Hub has shaken all my preconceived notions of what Jesus said to be the greatest commandments: "loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength" and "loving your neighbor as yourself." The first part of this commandment aligns our hearts, restores our souls, gives us theology, and the means to put our faith into action. The second part gives God permission to break our hearts in order to earnestly listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, challenges our theology and surrenders our will be done to His Kingdom come.
Outside my balcony at O-223.
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