Reflection On My Time In Tampa, by Lucas Pulley

It’s honestly a daunting task to even begin to reflect on such a life-altering experience as my days at the Lake House, living in Ybor City and experiencing The Underground.  I’ve put off this reflection for almost two weeks now, strictly because every time I sit at my computer I don’t even know what to type.  I want my words to justly describe the joy I discovered there in such a short time, and the deepening of my relationship with Jesus due to a better taste of the Kingdom, and I’m afraid words just can’t do justice.  You may as well be asking me what my first drink of water was like after spending the last 22 years of my life in the desert. 

It’s only waste when we waste it….

           

Let’s start with day one.  It was a bit of a shock to the system to walk up to the Lake House for the first time.  Bags in hand, I walked through the yard, witnessing a compose pile, chickens, rabbits, gardening, and St. Oscar Romero chillin’ on the back fence.  There was an irrigation system, Tilapia pond, tool shed, and even a bar set with sky lights all costing almost nothing but a few dumpster dives to create.  I was greeted by Matt, Natalia, and Jon, as well as two dinosaurs that Jon promised were dogs, but still to this day I’m not sure.  It was a heavy scene for me to take in.  Growing their own food, building from others ‘waste’, keeping a compose pile to enrich their soil, this was all new to me.  I thought I was following Jesus by separating the recycling, but these guys knew and lived in a form of light I’d never scene.

So without visiting the Hub, or meeting anyone at The Underground, or even dropping my luggage yet; I was dealing with conviction.  How wasteful of a person am I?  Do I realize that everything that comes through my possession is from the Lord?  Am I really using the land God has provided for me?  This way of living was so new to me, that I had to sit in this conviction throughout the week and still today, working through my part in all this.  I had a pinnacle conversation around this issue with Robby while we were running.  He informed me of how our systematic consumption and waste of resources in the U.S. is directly linked to the poverty raped lands of the third world.  I’ve lived in mud huts in Romania, walked through tent cities in Port-Au-Prince, and built outhouses in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Ecuador, but never have I come to a place of owning personal responsibilities for their situation.  That’s a hard pill to swallow, and I avoided swallowing it before due to my own ignorance, but now I have no excuse. 

Sharing Life with the Weak…

            One of the major reasons I wanted to live at the Lake House was to learn more about walking with the poor from some guys who have been doing it for awhile.  Our homeless ministry in Carbondale was really growing, but I was becoming uneasy that we would eventually walk into some serious mistakes if I didn’t seek wisdom from somebody experienced.  Come to find out, ministry to the homeless, weak, and marginalized is just as messy as I had come to understand, and there really isn’t a magic formula or five-step program to success.  Honestly, the first thing I learned from the Lake House is a redefining of the word ‘success’.  I was sitting in the paradigm that taking people from homeless to home was the only definition of success, or from unemployed to employed.  My time in the Lake House opened me up to the ideology that relationship is the goal, true relationship is success.  Employment, finding a home, and quitting addictions are all amazing and should be sought after, but none of those options are possible outside of relationship, because relationship is power. 

            This approach has completely morphed the way we do ministry here.  Actually, this afternoon we are taking three of our homeless guys bowling, and all the girls are going out for manicures and pedicures and talking about Jesus over dinner (ladies night).  Next weekend, the entire ministry is coming to my place for a Super Bowl party followed by Bible Study.  The Lake House put me in a completely new mode of thought, instead of asking the question “How can I move these people to a more comfortable future?” I ask the question “How can I empower, love, and restore human dignity to my friends right now?”  I think Jesus would ask the second question, so that’s why I’m asking it. 

            One of the most eye opening days of the whole trip was when my main man Tomas took me on a tour of the city.  I was floored by two scenarios:  1)  The sheer amount of intentional communities that had been formed throughout the neighborhood, this is truly the groundwork of a movement.  2)  How the homeless community responded when we connected our identity to The Underground.   As we passed out flyers for the Conscious Party, some of them became hostile and wanted to pick a fight, mostly due to my appearance and thinking this was just another heartless charity.  The moment I would tell them we were from the Underground, their demeanor would change, and the conversation would take a turn.  It was as if they all knew these people are different, they care, they represent hope.  I couldn’t help but speculate the similarities between the Underground network and the early church.  How would people in Antioch have responded to these ‘Christians’?  Early Christians actually operated on the gospel, and offered love, hope, and Kingdom to the weak, oppressed, and marginalized of that day.  I really believe I grasped a taste of what that would have been like while walking by the Salvation Army that Saturday afternoon.

True Community….

            Another area of real conviction for me was the way the house lived in community with one another.  I’ve never experienced that kind of a community before, not even in my own family.  Over the last three year, I’ve been leading somewhat of an Intervarsity guys fraternity house.  We live together, lead a couple different Bible studies and prayer meetings in our place on different nights, and then throw outreach parties all the time for people to bring their friends to.  However it feels like every year, in the midst of doing so much ministry together, there always seems to be a bit of a distance between us in the house, and I’ve never known why.  I’ve realized over the last few weeks that in swamping our lives with pouring out to other people, we’ve never really taken regular time to pour out to each other, and every year it causes a natural separation. 

            Even the small things, like sometimes praying in the mornings, and weekly house meetings, and monthly house days, are aspects of community life at the Lake House that really challenged me.  We’ve never had a house-anything here at 3D (our house name).  It’s actually extremely rare for us room mates to ever be all at home at the same time, with no one else around, because our home serves as a hospitality house on steroids for the Intervarsity chapter.  Baby steps I’m taking now to try and develop a stronger intentional community here in the house is weekly house meetings, and prayer boards in everyone’s rooms, so we are all praying for one another all the time.  I’ve already seen some growth and bonding, I’m just waiting to get to the confrontation, reconciliation, community based on vulnerability aspect of things soon (that should be fun).

All in all, I came to Tampa for a small spoon fool of reasons, and I walked away with a heaping truck load of conviction to deal with.  I came to see and talk to real people who thought the way I thought, and had the same ideas about church and ministry as me, but had joy.  That was the real question for me coming into Tampa.  Are there really people out there who follow Jesus willfully into a sacrificial life, picking up crosses for the weak, and still have joy?  I found my answer.  My other questions had to do with future possibilities.  Is this mode of church where Jesus is leading me?  Is Tampa my home, or is He calling me to develop this kind of movement somewhere new?  The first question, yes, the second question, still unclear.  However, the answers I’ve received to the questions I never asked are really what cut me deepest, because now I’m aware of the questions, and just like me, no one is asking them.  My purpose now is to reveal the truth behind our Bible belt ignorance here, so we no longer have any excuse, and have to straight up deal with Jesus.  Pray for my ministry here, that we continue to be discontent with our structures and establishments that are neglecting justice and the love of God, and pray for me as I continue to wrestle in prayer for future leading,

Phil, Drew, David, Ryan, Matt, Jon, Nat, Robby, Tomas and of course Mama

Miss and love you all,

Lucas