Most mornings I wake up, thank the Lord, get ready for my day and off I am towards the office. If I am not in a hurry I usually take a stroll around the community. I let the sun rays beat on my face and sometimes a breeze will company the heat that will cool the sweat dripping from body. Ewwwwe you think… yeah I say that same thing but its part of living in Miami, which I really don’t mind!! I love the heat and most of all I am falling in love with my Community. Let me tell you a couple of stories for those of you who want to know my community.

Example of Community #1
A couple of weeks ago Laurie came over to for dinner and to keep me company because my roomie, Kristy, was at a conference in Chicago. We sat on our infamous front porch that Kristy is always talking about and discussed BEATS, life, community, and as ladies we talked about guys, LOL!! It was a great time. I drove her home and on the way there I ran into a guy I met when I first moved here, I will call him CW. CW waved came up to the car and I introduced him to Laurie. CW is a young man who hangs out at the corner telling the “gits” (young kids) to stay out of trouble. His family has been in the Grove for over 40 years in the same house. His grandfather is one of the oldest men in the Grove. We chatted, I explained to him that Kristy was gone and I was home by myself. Most people would think you never tell a guy that you are home alone, well CW is different he may be a young man but he is well respected in the community and “everyone” knows him or someone in his family. He told me he would be coming by every now and then to check on me. I thanked him and left. After I dropped Laurie off and I went home, CW was on my front porch. He said he came by to talk to me and to make sure that I got back to the house ok. We talked for about 2 hrs that night and it was interesting to hear what he had to say about growing up in the Grove, he told me stories of people, drug busts, killings and in the same breath told me how everyone looks after each other and how it is a real community. I felt like I was talking to an older man who has seen everything. But CW is an old soul he has a wisdom that is beyond him. Before he left my porch he asked me several times if I was going to be ok and he told me to call him if I needed anything. He was so sincere and kind with me!!

Example of Community #2
On my way to the office I saw three older gentlemen sitting on their porch, I waved and they stopped me. One of the men said, “Hey pretty lady what’s your name?” I told him, he said, “Ok, we’ve seen you walking through the neighborhood and we wanted to know who our neighbors are especially the ladies so we can make sure we look after you.” I said look after me? He said, “You’re our neighbor right! Then we look after you!” I got their names and thanked them. Now I’m sure you are thinking well they were just being older frisky men, but really, I felt in my spirit and heart that they were being very genuine. I have seen them since then and they are always asking me if I’m ok or if I need anything! I love it, they really look after me and Kristy. No worries mom!!

Example of Community #3
I love going dumpster diving or in Miami side walk diving really!! Kristy and I have found a DVD rack, front porch wicker chairs, and most recently a table. When I was looking at the table and trying to figure out how I can bring it home I ran into a man that I often see around the neighborhood, I will call him James. James stopped looked at me and laughed. I said hey James can you help me take this home. He laughed and said, “no I gotta be some where,” he started walking off, I said ok. He stopped again and said just leave it there and I will bring it to your house. I said really wow James thank you! Part of me didn’t believe him but I figured that on my way home from the office I’ll ask Kristy to help me. Well when I went by I didn’t see the table so I just figured that someone else took it. I walked up to our porch and low and behold there was the table nice and neat in the corner of our porch. I was shocked and thankful at the same time. James came over a few days later and got on my case for allowing the table to get wet from the rain. I thanked him for the table and he started talking to Kristy and I about his life and how he knows God. Sadly enough James was drunk but he was saying things that didn’t make sense until he started talking about the Lord in his life. He told me and Kristy that he needed something from us but he already knew our answer but he still wanted to ask us. He beat around the bush then finally asked us for $6 bucks!! We explained to him that we really didn’t have any cash on us, Kristy offered him dinner but that’s not what he wanted. He left and said he would see us around! My heart sank I didn’t know what to do; I mean we really didn’t have any money on us. As we watched him walk away Kristy and I did what we knew best, we prayed! We haven’t seen him since…we continue to pray!

Example of Community # 4
One night when Kristy and I were coming home from Learning Community a lady yelled out to us. We stopped in the road and she came up to the car asking what we wanted. We were a little confused and said we are going home! She said you smoke weed? We laughed and said no, and then she started to pour out her heart to us telling us that she is living on the streets and all she wants to do is have a home but she is using and selling to make ends meet. Without us even telling her we were Christians she asked that we pray for her and started saying that she knows she needs a relationship with Christ. We asked her name and she told us, I will call her Angie. After that she walked away quickly!

The next week at our Learning Community we set out to prayer walk through the streets. As Kristy and I were walking down Grand Ave. we ran into Angie really upset on the side of the road. We walked up to her and said our hellos, we could tell there was something bothering her and we asked if we could help her with anything. She explained to us that she was waiting on a guy to give her money so she could get something to eat. The man apparently was in an apartment with another female and was ignoring Angie. She started to run across the street and yell out that she was going to kick the door in, I yelled back be careful. Once again we prayed!!

Today as Kristy and I were walking the community we saw in the distance Angie. She was combing her hair, looking up at us and trying to “fix” herself as she said to be presentable in front of us. We stopped and talked to her she was telling us that she is trying to get clean, get a job and it was her daughters’ birthday. She explained that she suffers from depression and bipolar. With tears in her eyes she thanked Kristy and I for always taking the time to stop and talk to her. She asked if we knew anywhere she can go to get clean and we told her we would find a place for her when she was serious about it! I told her where our office was and if she was serious then Ill see her at the office! Before we could even finish talking to her, the cops drove up stopped where we were talking and she got nervous and started to walk away. As she was walking I told her where our office is again and I told her when she is serious we will help her as much as we can, but she had to come to us! She needs to want the help! Once again Kristy and I did what we knew, we prayed!
When we started walking away the police drove off!!!

So what is community? To me it is the stories of my life from above! It is people loving, crying, praying, believing, helping, talking, spending time with and looking after each other!! Community is action!! It is being intentional with your neighbors and the people around you whether they use drugs, abuse alcohol or are that elderly woman or man that sits on the porch and knows everyone that walks by!

What is community to you? At URez it is building relationships with the everyday people we see!! I love it! What is Community to you? I pray that you to will be able to experience community!