Crossing Over and Midway Through

Today, the Community Redevelopment Agency unanimously adopted a motion to spend $300,000 to begin sidewalk repairs and curb cuts in our community! The other great piece of news is that the repairs will begin on a street with a large apartment building owned by the United Cerebral Palsy Foundation where numerous wheelchair-bound residents live.

Yesterday, felt as though we were standing on the Jordan River’s roaring edge ready to cross over after a yearlong effort. Today, we are about mid-way across the river bed. The motion now needs a City Council committee's approval and then ratification by the full L.A. City Council before repairs can begin.

It was striking to travel to today’s meeting with my friend Diana. I saw first-hand her difficulty in navigating broken and raised sidewalks. We were at the front of the line when our bus arrived, however, a dozen other passengers cut ahead filling the bus before we could board. Turned away by the bus driver, we boarded the next bus. The wheelchair lift broke at our destination leaving us stranded on the bus. A Metro mechanic soon arrived and eventually freed us.

Even more striking was how transformative the experience seemed to be for Diana. She told me several times on the way home how much she had enjoyed the experience and how good it felt to be making a positive difference in our community. The Apostle Paul wrote, “…we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph 2:10). Walking in these prepared works is exhilarating—a fulfillment of what we were created to do.

Our conversation turned unexpectedly to God and church and her desire to re-connect. I told her that our family sometimes walks to church and she was welcome to join us. After making sure she would not need to dress up she said, “Well, you may have my vote there too”.