November 15, 2002
Navigating the City Currents
One of my fondest memories as a young boy is of family vacations on the beaches of Brazil, South America. The beaches of Rio and Angra dos Reis were spectacular, but my personal favorite was a beach in a city called Caragua. It was there that I grew to love the ocean. I can recall my father teaching me about the wonders and the power of the great ocean – its tides, rocks, currents and undertows.
Years later my love for the water led me to learn diving. As I logged in several dozen dives I became proficient and comfortable with the waters. It was then that a good friend invited me to experience a night dive. As a group of us prepared for the dive, all was routine with the exception of the sunlight, for the sun had set hours before. The adrenaline was pumping as we suited up and journeyed across the Ft. Lauderdale sand.
The dive itself was fairly safe with maximum depths of 30 feet some 300 yards off shore. As we swam out, we enjoyed each other’s company reveling in the joy of the adventure. As we reached the dive spot we did a routine cross check with our dive buddy and began the final check before descent.
At five feet we adjusted our equipment and equalized our ears. At ten feet we began looking for the coral lying at the ocean bottom. At fifteen feet our lights revealed poor visibility; a violent storm was stirring the bottom of the ocean. The cloud of sand consumed our bodies and the currents were spinning us like rag dolls. In the darkness and confusion, I soon lost contact with my dive buddy and all sense of direction. A jolt of fear struck me. I swam to the surface as quickly as I could. When everyone had surfaced we agreed that the dive should be aborted. We looked to the horizon and the violent lightning confirmed our worst fear – a storm. We had failed to check the weather. The day had been beautiful. Summer storms were normally a late afternoon thing. We had assumed too much.
As we swam to shore the waters became choppy. We could see the lights on shore. As we swam we expected them to grow nearer but after several minutes of hard swimming realized that the currents were pushing us north. We were in trouble. It was then that I remembered Dad’s words from past vacations in Brazil, “Don’t fight the current. Swim with the current.” Later, exhausted, we landed on shore, thankful to be alive.
Much like the currents that night, living in the city has been about adjusting to a strong new current. In January, we will complete our second year of life in San Francisco. As we have embraced the urban plunge we have found the city to be much like the ocean. It is big and mighty, beautiful and full of power. Much like the ocean, we must learn to navigate its waves, rip currents and great depths.
While storms come and go, we know that God has called us to be urban dwellers. It is said that over 50% of the world now lives in an urban center. More than ever, the church must learn to live and dwell in the great urban centers of the world. Our family has personally embraced the urban life and made adjustments to its currents. We have grown to love cities and cannot imagine living outside of them again.
Would you join us in prayer as we continue to adjust to the urban life? Our family finds itself at a cross- road as we carefully evaluate the next steps to be taken. Our vision for the Heart of the City continues to form, as do the partnerships with others who share the same desire to awaken, inspire and nurture city dreams. We are carefully praying about the next phase in implementing all that we have learned over the past two years, along with how we might expand the Heart of the City vision into other cities. Above all the many needs, would you pray with us for a transformation of the hearts of the many neighbors and friends we have come to know and love? Would you pray that Christ would open the eyes of their soul and breathe new life into them?
Kayla continues to thrive in the Spanish Immersion program of Fairmount Elementary. Chase is beginning to speak full sentences. Watch out world, he has a lot to say! Hannah is four months old and she is making her presence known. Kellie just returned from Florida where she attended the funeral of her grandfather. Our hearts grieve, but we are relieved to know that he is with the Lord. No more suffering.
Most recently the house that we rent went up for sale. This was somewhat of a surprise, as our landlord had not planned to sell the house. He listed it for $550,000 (a bargain for San Francisco J), but the house never made the MLS since a family member bought it. While we are not pressured to move out immediately, we will need to decide on a new location in the next 6 months. This has been hard to accept, as we love our immediate neighbors and neighborhood, but we can feel God pushing us out to try new opportunities.
Our original vision for the Heart of the City Ministries continues to develop as we learn to better understand our identity in the city, and to join forces with other city dreamers. Much of our clarity about ministry revolves around the Missional Life. In reports to come we hope to share more about that kind of a life. We do want to invite you to check out a partner family, the Lantow family, at their web site www.lantow.com.
Much of our initial work here in the city has reached a point of completion or transition as we have completed two years of acclimating ourselves to the city. We have completed the building restoration work with Edward Paulino and the Free Methodist Church. Our work with Reimagine has transitioned to a broader network and we continue to learn about and improve the Faith Communities.
This past weekend I was invited to speak for the Campus Crusade Fall Retreat in Santa Cruz. Our theme was “Set Apart – A life of purpose.” We were blessed to be a part of such a dynamic group of college students. Please pray for them as they study in one of the darkest academic regions of the world, a challenge to any follower of Jesus.
This week we joined forces with Habitat for Humanity as we served a group of families, by way of a meal and childcare. These families are candidates for Habitat housing. What a wonderful opportunity to join hands with Habitat for Humanity in loving families who are working towards home ownership. There are so many wonderful people serving the city in so many unique ways.
Recently, I was reminded by the work of Oswald Chambers that God uses ordinary people as monuments of His grace. Each and every one of us has a place to stand. May we stand as great examples of God’s love for the world. Thank you for believing with us through prayer, finances and encouragement as we stand for Christ in the city of San Francisco. We stand in the city as one of God’s many monuments of His Grace.
Many blessings,
The McCords
posted by Ken McCord @ 4:58 PM
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