The City Pulled Me Up
Talk to every one of our dedicated Here’s Life Inner City interns, and they’ll tell you they’re serving the urban poor today because of a singular experience from their college days: Summer in the City and/or Urban Immersion (spring break). Gripped by the need and energized by the experience, they took the next step — committing to our one- or two-year internship program. Meet Regina Markel. From a small town in western Michigan, she came to Chicago for Summer in the City — where she fell in love with urban ministry. Now she’s interning in inner-city Detroit. This past spring, she inspired a young woman we’ll call Andrea (not pictured above) to join the Detroit Urban Immersion project. Two days before the start, however, Andrea emailed Regina: "God and I are not getting along right now, and I’m really struggling." Regina encouraged her to come anyway. Once in Detroit, Andrea confided that she was taking pain killers and alcohol to numb her emotions — she had contemplated suicide. Regina offered an alternative: "I reminded her that God created us in His image, emotions and all," Regina recalls. "I challenged her to turn to God to heal her pain and refrain from her current solution." Finally the young women prayed together. Andrea’s written evaluation after Urban Immersion was stunning. "This week saved my life," she wrote. "If I hadn’t come, I would be sitting in my room going down a dark road. God renewed my strength.... Instead of me coming to the city to help it, the city pulled me up and helped me." Once back on her campus, Andrea dumped all of her drugs and alcohol. She also confided in a friend who agreed to keep her accountable. Andrea is on a new road today — and that road is leading back to the inner city. She will be participating in Summer in the City this summer! What an example of the multiplying impact of this vital program. |
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Look back on your life, and you can probably find a moment that changed your whole future.