Days 6 & 7 ~ Urgent Plea for Prayer
It’s one thing to pray; however, it is life-altering to pray to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. There is something peaceful about spending time with Jesus. It is about a deeper relationship and intimacy. It is about understanding His silence as pure intimacy.
Spent the morning with my parents talking about life and the neighborhood. It’s never a dull moment in the Pryor household. The moment we get together we reminisce on past events and share what it would be like if families would have stayed engaged on some level within the community. There were two topics for today. One was focused on young men leaving the neighborhood high school to play football for schools outside the inner-city hoping to gain an opportunity to be recruited by colleges, and being offered scholarships. I am all for going to college and young people receiving scholarships. However, why can’t this happen within the inner-city school system? The other topic was about gentrification in the near east side of Columbus, Ohio where I was born and raised, and where my parents still reside as homeowners.
Columbus East High School is the school I attended, my siblings, my father, and my grandfather attended. Many high profile individuals also attended this high school. I could not help, but listen to my father and wonder what happened. He shared that only twenty young men are on the football team and the attendance for the game is at an all-time low. Have we lost community?
Gentrification is happening in the area. The hospital has pretty much taken over much of the area. Low-income apartments were torn down so that the “hip” condos were erected for young doctors and medical students. The neighborhood which I knew is quickly changing to conform to middle-class tastes.
What do we do?
This is what we should do. We should believe that “all things work together for good to them that love God.” (Romans 8:28) We should ask in prayer believing that we receive it. So what are we praying? Should it be to stop gentrification? Do we pray to keep young people within the community while growing up? Do we pray believing that things will stay the same as they were years ago? Maybe it’s time to pray ‘God’s will be done’ and believe it. I’m not sure, but there is an urgency before us to pray.
People are being pushed out of their communities because they can no longer afford it. As gentrification is taking place there is a demand on the elderly who have lived in the area to update their homes and bring them up to current standards. And yet, there is a lack of resources and grants to help with meeting the new requirements.
There’s also a level of fear. While sitting with my parents laughing and enjoying the day I noticed someone going door to door in the community. When asked what were they selling I quickly learned it was a group targeting those considered less educated to sign away their property. Talk about my blood boiling!
Scam!
Scum!
Shyster!
There’s an urgency to pray. Praying for protection of individuals who are unaware of the schemes that are taking place and through intimidation they may be giving up the very things that they have a right to own and control.
I wonder who can help educate the community in times like these. ~ Tweetable @GailDudley #PoliticallySavvy #PrayerfullySavvy
What’s the urgency?
Look around. How can you pray for your neighborhood? How can you give back to your community? How can you pray for your local and neighborhood schools? Are you taking time out of your day to pray for educators? Have you committed to mentor a young student in your community.
Urgent Plea for Prayer! Now is the time.
The urgency is to begin praying for everything and everyone around your sphere of influence. This is where we start. ~ Tweetable @GailDudley #PrayerfullySavvy
So much more to unpack. Until tomorrow…
