day two and risk one

Day Two in Oakland. I awoke to the most gorgeous weather in the world (I think??). Who knew that the Bay Area was actually 60s-70s most of the time in the summer? I sure didn’t, and have been delightfully surprised. Josh gave me the tour of Oakland today. We drove up what I think was part of a mountain…or maybe a really large hill…to an incredible view of the city, from West Oakland, downtown, and East Oakland out to the bay and the islands beyond.

We had lunch with one of the IV teams at a homeless shelter/residential rehab program. The interns actually live in the building with the residents. They help with the shelter for the homeless in the evenings, work in the learning center during the day, attend AA meetings, and all sorts of other pretty amazing things. I love the unique way these students become meshed with the ministry they are working with. They don’t go home when their day is over. They minister IN their home. I imagine it can be challenging and overwhelming at times, but what a way to form trust and community. To say, yes, I’m going to live right here with you. I’m going to attend AA meetings with you, even though I have no idea what it is like to have an addiction. What an amazing testimony to God’s sovereignty when a black man off the street confides in a white college teenager, and the white college teenager can put his around the black man from the streets as a sign of commitment to relationship.

What a great picture of the gospel at work.

Josh has been trying to get his neighbor kids (who absolutely ADORE him) connected with the summer day camp that one of the UP sites is doing. Today, the camp took the kids to the beach, so Josh and I took his neighbor kids to the beach with them. It was fun to watch the faces of Diana, Lupita, Christopher, and Noe as they raced to the water’s edge and allowed the waves to lick at them! The beach was a fun experience for me as well as I have only been to one swimming in the ocean beach in my life. It was too cold to get in, but just dipping my toes was enough to satisfy my heart for this round of the trip.

I took my first out-of-the-ordinary risk tonight. Josh thought it would be fun to take a sunset bike ride. Josh happens to be a maniac cyclist…ya know, rides up mountains and such. After informing him of my fear of being hit by a car in the city streets and the fact I haven’t ridden my bike in over 3 years (not surprisingly due to the fact that I have a fear of city drivers), I made him promise to go slow and agreed to go. Josh rounded up some folk from him church and off we went. The first part of the trip was great. Side streets. Flat land. A beautiful lake in the city’s center. However, about halfway around the lake, I got stuck behind another bicyclist and eventually lost Josh and his companions. I happen to be good with directions so I wasn’t worried about being lost, but I was kind of surprised that they hadn’t looked out for me since I was the non-local. Just about the time that I was questioning what direction to go, Josh appeared and brought me back on board. Now I’d like to say that the rest of the ride was smooth sailing, but I can’t. While Oakland is not a hill-infested as San Francisco, it still has its share of hills, and I think Josh found a way to hit as many of those as he could. I really thought I was going to die.

It was all worth it though. I got to see a very beautiful sunset, take a peek at different parts of the city, and step towards conquering the fear of cars.