It was such an honor to be able to lead my fellow Evangelicals in a prayer during the Inter Faith Prayer Service at Immigrant Day 2011. Here is what I shared. It’s an honor and a pleasure to be here with you all today representing the Evangelical community. We are all here because we have a burden. We have a burden for justice either in our own life or the lives of our friends and families. Today, I am burdened... Read more
May 1, 2011. Osama Bin Laden is dead. The world is celebrating? Let me start by saying that I, as the wife of someone who lost his grandmother in the 9-11 attacks, know full well the devastation this man has caused. He did many evil things and was responsible for the loss of many innocent lives. Our society tells us that he most certainly deserves a torturous death. Our Americanism tells us “justice has been served.” But I have to... Read more
When I was 17, I went on a trip to Ukraine with youth from my church. We spent a week and a half in a little town called Novovolynsk and although most of the time is a blur, there is one day that is ingrained in my memory forever. It was a Sunday and we visited the church we were partnering with. After the service, the pastor took us on a tour of the city to show us all... Read more
I held a one week old baby boy tonight. He is perfectly beautiful and I was instantly in love. He’s just a little guy, weighing in at just over 6 pounds. He has all this hair and likes to pucker his big lips. His name is JJ and he is what many sadly refer to as an “anchor baby”. You see, his mother is a 15 year old girl from Central America who upon finding out she was pregnant decided... Read more
As crazy as our Christmas break was, it was a good opportunity for me to reflect on how God has shaped and grown my idea of family. My husband and I are among the few blessed with parents and siblings who have our backs no matter what. It’s all we could ever need in a family. I’m not sure why, but we are also among the even fewer that have experienced the blessing and challenge of welcoming others into that... Read more
Mark 12 tells us that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength AND love our neighbor as ourselves. I have been trying to love my neighbor as myself for about 5 years now. As I have cried with my neighbors as they share the struggles of being undocumented, I realized that the call to love must go beyond comforting them in their darkest hour. I have to look at... Read more
The DREAM Act. What is it, officially? It’s a Bi-partisan piece of legislation that would provide paths to citizenship for young people who meet a specific list of requirements. What is it to the thousands of undocumented youth working their butts off with little to no payoff? It means a future. It means opportunity. It means hope. Let me break it down for you. Over the last 2 decades, when migrating to the US became the response to poverty and... Read more
There is a large, purple bead by my bed. It was given to me by a 7 year old and it reminds to pray for all of the girls at the shelter. Tonight, at the shelter, I met a 15 year old girl. This 15 year old was arrested when her youth leader was pulled over (without breaking any traffic laws) while driving her and other students home from youth group. When asked to show ID, the undocumented youth leader... Read more
So what happens when you have an undocumented family living in a poorly kept apartment complex owned by a greedy and lazy landlord? Well, this is what happens…. The other day, a girl from our teen center, whose family rents the apartment pictured above, came into our office telling us about how their toilet backed up and flooded their entire apartment. An awesome way to start the week if you ask me. We went over to talk to the family... Read more
There are few things that make me happier then when things in my life overlap. I love when old friends meet new friends, when my parents come to visit my neighborhood or when friends celebrate holidays with my family. Since the day I started going to the shelter, I kept thinking how awesome it would be for some of my neighbors to come and hang with these kids also. Well my dream has come true in the form of a... Read more
Bethany Anderson
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