We Will Stay.

In my camp nurse adventures this spring I had the distinct pleasure of hearing this spoken word presentation - written by InterVarsity staff and good friend of mine, Jonathan Walton.  It is direct, powerful, challenging, and triumphant.  Be blessed and encouraged, as I have been!

- My name is hopelessness
But you can call me misery, despair, depression or any other term that pops up when you
Press shift F7 on your pc while writing your paper about Darfur, Gulu, Xinjiang,
Chechnya or….Haiti from your climate controlled classroom far, far away from me.

I live in the foundations of fallen buildings, in the cracks of
concrete, and just left of the air pockets under the rubble.
Reside in the front of supply trucks after all the pallets have been
removed, and the empty space under the  Parachute where the
helicopter supposedly dropped more food. I love the bottoms of
bottles of water, formula, canned and baby food and whisper
there’s not enough to families, and say to  aid workers, there’s
nothing you can do.
I love the phrases irreconcilable differences and hang out at
negotiation table in NGO’s board rooms and come up with
conflicts of interest and difference of opinion.
All you can see is me when you can’t see a way out. And if I hang
out long enough my family comes around.
My brother is poverty and my cousin is exploitation and as soon as
the sky stops raining or the earths quits shaking they are sending pimps to find sex slaves and johns to exchange services for donations. Traffickers snatch up cheap labor and victims are abducted, taken for slavery.

I inhabit that space in your brain that makes your question your
donation, the conartists are my kin because they capitalize on these
situations.

I will be here long after the Washington Post and the New York
Times. Long after I’m not mentioned in the headlines. Still here,
when NBC and CNN are gone and Anderson Cooper’s chopper has lifted off. I’ll be here until you come and chase me away but based
On history, me and my family  have no reason to be afraid.



=====
Dear Poverty, hopelessness, misery and the kin of exploitation and any
other unnamed power or principality driven apathy, distraction and our
propensity  to escape.

My name is Jonathan and my Father is God and he whispers in the
stillness of morning, noonday and nighttime that He is there and we
are coming. Those  that sing  freedom songs and write love poems with our lives for those that we can't see and those we have never met.
Seeking justice, lovin mercy and walking humbly into suffering with a steadfast peace
that screams quietly, we shall overcome.
We will not be like those before us turning people into projects and
individuals into interests, names into entries on a to-do list.
oh no, we will build roads and relationships, rebuild ruined city
streets so that children can go to school and find a path to peace
because the reality is we are coming so you must flee, we will stay so
you must leave, because where light is the darkness can never be.

I'm tired of what I see, and it's time to turn my dreams into reality so with every breath that I breathe, with every
word that I speak I'll bring a gospel of equality with my words and
strap good news to my feet -- and you best believe I'm
dangerous by myself but I'm bringing an army with me. Those who are
free from expectation, guilt and shame and past mistakes, not looking
to capitalize on capitalism and post-colonial exploitation. A people that don't lower their standards for low prices
compromise convictions for a great value and look past the price tags,
to contemplate true cost and are striving to be sure that because they have coffee, sugar, chocolate, and clothing -- not one life was lost.

We are coming from five boroughs and fifty states, from all ages and every race with our two fish and five loaves and a faith to feed and free all nations.

We are coming and when we get there, we will stay. You have good reason to be afraid.

Sincerely,

Us.