Six days in June

Tonight, I write to you to say this:
If you think all hope is lost and that our neighborhoods are too far gone..if you think people just don't care or have no decency left, I implore you to go take a walk along East 21st Street in Erie, Pennsylvania.

I'm not sure if I've ever been so moved by anything as I was today as I helped out with the Extreme Makeover side project that Grace is so privileged to be a part of. As I walked up and down that street over and over again, and I met the people who call that neighborhood home, I saw God's awesome hand all over that place. The smiles of the people who are just so thankful that somebody cares about them. The tears of joy that they are not forgotten after all. The sense of wonder and awe that these people have that somebody wants to do this for them.

Yes, Clara Ward and her home may be the focus here, but away from the cameras and out of the public eye, an incredible story is unfolding before our very eyes. A story I pray - O dear God - I PRAY, will have many chapters and that Erie, Pennsylvania will be a city transformed forever.

And it all will have started because of six days in June 2009.