This Road I'm On...

So I'm planning on getting my MAR in pastoral counseling from Liberty University...and here's why. I spent the summer in Buffalo, and...I think I've talked about this before, but it may bear repeating. When I was in Buffalo this summer, I couldn't believe what I saw. People sleeping in bus shelters and parks...begging for change in Lafayette Square. A woman and her two kids at the Boulevard Mall, all three of them looking like they haven't eaten in awhile. The West Side (and East Side) falling apart. Escalating violence. Cops guarding my church on Sunday mornings. Seeing all this makes me feel that my time at UB was seriously self-serving. Of course, if I hadn't gone to UB, I wouldn't be seeing things the way I'm seeing them (That's another note, guys, already written). Me getting a religion degree from Liberty University would be like Indiana Jones not being afraid of snakes.

So here's the plan. I did the application today, targeting Fall 2011. The program's going to cost me $6,600. I want to pay for it myself, without student loans (got a bunch of those already), but there is a scholarship I'm going to apply for. The program will take me 3 semesters. 45 credits, no project (Championship!!), and then...urban ministry. Somewhere. I'd personally love to be in Pittsburgh, but if I can't get there right off, it can wait. The homeless woman in the bus shelters of Delaware Avenue, the woman and her two children at the Boulevard...they can't wait. And there are people just like them in urban areas all over the place. Something needs to be done. But I, and anyone else...we all need to get our feet on the ground first. I'm getting my MAR in pastoral counseling. My friend Leann's going to the Police Academy. Places like Buffalo...Syracuse...Albany...Rochester...Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis...we want to turn them upside down. Who wants to join us?