A monthly message from Fred Lynch. Fred is the founder of GodStyle Productions, a ministry committed to changing youth culture. For more information on Fred, visit his website or check out his latest project, The Epic (the gospel of John translated into rap).
May 2006
You can probably call me a 'renaissance type' or at least I try to be 'deep' in my search for what really matters. As I rummage around through the worlds of our post modern definitions of life I often find some of the coolest things in the strangest places. You can almost say that I like to find treasures in places that Angels fear to tread; but you and I know that when it comes to the streets, if the poor were not encamped about by the angels of the Lord society would have swallowed them up a long time ago.
I was just in San Francisco about three weeks ago doing a huge youth conference in the 'safer part of town'. Actually I must confess we weren't even in the city! We were over 30 miles north of the bay and I was feeling pretty empty. I desperately craved something from the city that I grew up in so after the event, I asked a dear friend to take me to the nearest BART station and just drop me off and I'll find my way. So I set off on my adventure past the conservative confines of Concord, beyond the pleasantness of Pleasant Hill; forget about the founded safeness of Rockridge baby I'm headed for the hood!
I finally make it to my destination (the Civic Center downtown) and I feel like I could breathe again! There was so much that this city taught me, so much to still learn so as an attentive student I begin a new class of searching through the barren wastelands of the outcast to find those little things that are so precious to God that he'd send His only Son to redeem. I caught the bus and began my ascent into the forgotten territory of our so-called culture wars. I smiled so big when I passed through all of these familiar streets: Market, Waller, Hayes, FILLMORE (that's the 'Mo' for you locals), Divisadaro and on and on till I finally landed on Haight and Ashbury. I'm back where it all began. The tour guide within my mind reminded me that although this place looks pretty 'preppy' now, this used to be the hotbed of strangeness and non-conformity and I used to live a block from this corner. I walked up the street and found my old house. I touched the building, smiled and had to look up to the sky and thank you Jesus! I made it back.
I never thought that I'd see these streets again, but the wonderful thing is that coming back I was able to identify the pearl of great price hidden within the junk of business and traffic. It was hope. See when I moved to San Francisco as a kid I hated it. I was originally from the south and this new loud place really scared me as a kid. I remember walking those dirty streets as a shorty and saying one day I'm gonna get out of here! I remembered hanging out, playing on the scaffolding because it was our only 'jungle gym' and wishing that I could leave this place. See there was much more hope within me than there was around me. Not too much on the outside could convince me that I could make it out but this handicap introduced me to a style of living that has helped me get to where I am today: Faith.
Like the Just, the poor must rely on what they hope in as opposed to what they see (2 Corinthians 5:7). Maybe that's why the Bible says that God loves to hang out with the poor (Psalm 138:6). It was hope for something better that responded from within me when God called me to him. It's hope that lightens the eyes of the kids that you work with when God uses you as his instrument of his love. This month I do not have any cool resources to share with you. I just want to encourage you to comfort those with the comfort that you've been given from above (2 Corinthians 1:4). You never know, you might just discover the greatest treasures of life lying right in the middle of the street.
Sharing the gospel from 'Street to Street',
Fred Lynch III
GodStyle Productions
Fred Lynch is the founder of GodStyle Productions, a ministry committed to changing youth culture. For more information on Fred, visit his website or check out his latest project, The Epic (the gospel of John translated into rap).
