Looking for Sweet Spots

             “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:10-11

I got to do something exciting tonight. The New Mexico Breeze (the newspaper I write for) has teamed up with Dan Rosecrans of Family Life Radio to present a talk entitled "Culture Under the Lordship of Christ - living a life that matters". The central question of the talk is, "What might happen to our state if each of us got outside the Church and made a difference in our community." New Mexico needs a lot of help, and though Christians want to take action, most just don't know how. There's a terrible lack of information, and that's where our paper comes in. What if your main news source gave the same attention to anti-abortion efforts in New Mexico as CNN gives Charlie Sheen? Tonight was our trial run. I was there to help behind the scenes and handle new subscriptions.


To help people find a niche in which to get involved, we invited local organizations to come and set up a table at the event, so that they could generate interest for their specific causes and get people plugged in. Not all the organizations present were Christian. There was a table to sign people up to be trained as poll challengers, one for the New Mexico Tea Party, and one for the Center for Family Justice. I think they were surprised by the number of scripture passages in Dan's presentation, but no one seemed put off by it. Also in attendance were:

• Wings Ministry (an outreach to families of inmates)
• Concerned Citizens for APS Reform
• Family Lifeline
• 5 Stones (raising awareness of human trafficking)
• Goodwill 
• International Students, Inc.
• The Albuquerque Prayer Transformation Council

The turnout for audience was smaller than we'd hoped, but the responses of everyone who did attend were very encouraging.  People kept coming by my table and thanking me for my involvement in the New Mexico Breeze - saying something along the lines of, "We've needed something like this for a long, long time." I'm not sure what they meant by this. A newspaper that prints the stuff the Albuquerque Journal won't touch? or maybe by this, they meant tonight's event - Christians and non-Christians gathered together to do something!  It was very exciting to see the audience and representatives of all 12 organizations mingling, discussing their causes with one another and exchanging contact information. Those of you who know me know that standing around talking to strangers is probably my worst nightmare.


Strike that. Being eaten by giant cockroaches is my worst nightmare... Standing around talking to them doesn't sound much better.


But this I really enjoyed. I spent a good 20 minutes talking with Ann Sweet of Wings Ministry. Their goal (apart from the obvious assistance such families might need) is to keep the kids out of prison by providing them with life skills like literacy and manners, instilling confidence, and teaching them about Christ.  I came away with new a friendly acquaintance, a handful of brochures, and ideas about future events to be covered in our Community Transformation column. I was also told over and over by the people I met tonight that they'd heard great things about me from my boss (awesome!). Some recognized my name because they read my articles (more awesome!).


Years ago, I read a book, the title of which escapes me, by Max Lucado about finding your "sweet spot"- the thing that utilizes your talents and allows you to glorify God through your passions. There may not be much money in it yet, but I'm starting to feel like this job might be my sweet spot. Not only am I writing, but I get to write stuff I actually care about, for a paper that is not run by greed or manipulated by powerful corporations. At a preparatory meeting on Friday, my editor, Leslie, Dan Rosecrans and I prayed together that this thing would become what God wants it to become and that we would not be in the way. We all agreed that nothing would happen unless God moved. I think He will. I think New Mexico is crying out to be reclaimed.