Daring God…
Posted: Friday, February 19, 2010 Filed under: 2k5 and before | Tags: Jesus, Lent, mission, Northside Missional Community, Richmond, Southern Barton Heights, Urban 2 Comments
Psalms 25
4. Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths;
5. guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior and my hope is in you all day long.
I began looking in the North Side of Richmond…specifically in the Battery Park, Barton Heights and Highland Park area. Ginter Park, the Fan, and other areas of the city that were deemed by many as ‘more acceptable’ for a single, white woman from the West End of Richmond, were just out of my price range. I just couldn’t see spending that much money on a house! My friends, both African-American/Black and white, were discouraging me from looking in that part of Northside…because of the crime…and because I am white and would be considered a ‘target’. So I stopped looking in that area.
God had something else in mind. That’s when my good friend Cindy Mims talked me into coming back to the area to look. You see, she and her husband Billy just purchased a home that was under renovation in Southern Barton Heights. She shared with me the story behind the area and the work that was taking place to revitalize it. After a tour one day, Cindy gave me a packet of information that explained the Neighborhood in Blooms program and offered floor plans of 3 different models of a new development that was being built around the corner from her house. An open house was scheduled in the upcoming weeks. So…I agreed to go.
I pondered those floor plans….and prayed to God for guidance, again. Is this where He wanted me to live? A lot of street crime – mainly prostitution and drug dealing were taking place on the corners. There was virtually no diversity at all…everyone seemed to be African-American/Black. Much different from the life I had lived up to now. After hours reviewing the floor plans and praying, I (and God with me!) pictured THE house…down to the color, corner lot, floor plan, exterior, etc. but in the existing neighborhood. I said…if THIS house is on the market, I will take it. Considering it almost a dare to God….just knowing that there wouldn’t be a house to match it. These houses were in a new neighborhood!
What little did I know! Cindy and I went on the tour. The ‘model home’ was the floor plan I was most interested in. Falling in love with it from the minute I walked in…I began to almost whine internally. Why did this house need to be in this neighborhood? Cindy and I went on the walking tour, ending back at the model home. While speaking with the real estate agent, I expressed my interest… ‘If only this house was in the existing neighborhood…’ I dared the Lord, as I was secretly relieved. I was walking away when Graham (the real estate agent) stated….’take a look at 2101 Barton Ave”….
in the beginning…
Posted: Thursday, February 18, 2010 Filed under: 2k5 and before | Tags: Jesus, Lent, mission, Northside Missional Community, Richmond, Southern Barton Heights, Urban 4 Comments
This is my story. But, really it is HIS story. God’s story. He wrote it, but allowed me to live it…and to tell it. He is the author of my life. I pray that the Holy Spirit will guide me as I try to put words to my experiences over the last few years. My success can only be measured by my obedience to the Lord. Where do I begin? There’s so much I want to share as an inspiration and encouragement.
It started in May of 1963 when I was born to Alvinia and Milton Michalec. I am the youngest of four children born between 1958 and 1963. Mom and Dad raised us in the church. Sunday morning and night, Wednesday night, youth functions, church friends to the house, trips cross-country for Teen Talent, and Summer Camp in Buckingham. If there was something going on in the church, the Michalec’s were there! But, there was a secret that remained at home. Mom, a daughter of an alcoholic father, also married an anxiety ridden man, Dad, who also turned to the bottle to escape the physical and emotional pain of life. Happy memories are hard to resurrect and it seems that the pain sometimes remains in the forefront. I am happy to report that Dad, by the Grace of God, has been “on the wagon” for decades now, and our family continues to work toward healing and reconciliation. I am working on replacing those painful memories with new and positive ones with my Dad. Mom and Dad worked hard to provide for the family, but it was often tough to “make ends meet”. But, in spite of all of that, the four of us, to quote Dad, “never caused him a bit of trouble”…meaning that we did well in school and never ended up in jail.
I am a white woman, who was raised in the white-West End, a suburb of a racially divided Richmond, VA…in America…growing up watching the Brady Bunch, Archie Bunker, I Dream of Jeanie, Sanford and Sons, and the Jeffersons. Oh yeah…and Hee Haw! It wasn’t until I went to VA Tech that my eyes were opened to the beauty of diversity that different races have to offer. My high school graduating class had no more than 10-20 non-whites in a class of about 525.
My journey had only just begun. Now, 4 decades later, is where I pick up the story. It’s the early 2000’s and we made it through y2k. (Does anyone even remember what y2k was all about anyway?) I began to take my relationship with the Lord a lot more seriously than I ever had before. I grew up expected to follow a long list of do’s and don’ts…almost a checklist religion. Can’t wear jewelry, no pants for quite a while, painted nails were considered to be Jezebel-like….just to name a few. Now, I was experiencing and learning about what it was like to have a relationship with the Lord.
I began attending a Tuesday Night Bible study, where women of all races, ages, and backgrounds gathered to spend time in the Word and in fellowship. Unlike the years of Jonah and the Whale, Moses and the Ten Commandments, etc. that you learned in Sunday School, I was now experiencing what it meant to really study the Bible…not just learn it. It became alive for me…like never before. I was participating in our Youth Group as a youth leader and was mentoring a high school student. I shared with one of the break-out groups about my desire to do more. Not sure what that looked like.
In 2004-2005, I started looking to purchase my first home. The housing market in Richmond was a bit out of control…and costly. I had been looking throughout the Richmond area, placing bids on houses…with escalating clauses up to 9%, but someone always out bid me. I was beginning to get really frustrated.
I prayed for guidance from the Lord. My small group of women prayed right along with me.
Miss Marti's House 