{"id":3243,"date":"2015-12-21T00:03:00","date_gmt":"2015-12-21T00:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shalominthecity.com\/?p=3243"},"modified":"2015-12-21T00:03:00","modified_gmt":"2015-12-21T00:03:00","slug":"a-tale-of-three-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/shalominthecity\/2015\/12\/a-tale-of-three-cities\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tale of Three City Benches"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

You\u2019re here, I\u2019m pleased. I really dig your company!<\/em><\/p>\n

Your style, your smile, your peace mentality.<\/em><\/p>\n

Jill Scott, \u201cA Long Walk\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hi there,<\/p>\n

My name\u2019s Osheta and welcome to my blog! My digital city bench, if you will. Some of my favorite moments in my life have happened on a city bench not unlike the one in the picture. So, come here and sit beside me, Friend.<\/p>\n

I want to know everything about you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let me start the introductions by telling you a tale of three benches:<\/h2>\n

I fell in love with my husband and the city on a wooden bench on the West Bank of New Orleans.<\/strong> We met on a short-term urban missions trip during Mardi Gras.\u00a0His first words to me after a day of ministering to kids in a housing development in New Orleans were,<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope you don\u2019t mind me telling you this, but I think you\u2019re beautiful\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Three years later, I married that man. I mean, wouldn\u2019t you<\/em> if he was both good with kids and good with words?<\/p>\n

\"wedding\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After our wedding (which we pulled off for under $3000- honeymoon included), we moved into an under-resourced neighborhood called, \u201cHollygrove\u201d. Our apartment was in a drive-by. We had drug dealers around our kitchen table for dinner. I knew we were exactly where we should be. \u00a0When I was eight months pregnant with our middle boy, Hurricane Katrina drowned our beloved city, so we evacuated to Boston for seminary.<\/p>\n

\"familykissing\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When I could steal away from the kids and the studying husband, I would go to Harvard Square and rest on a bench underneath\u00a0a tree covered in fiery red, vibrant orange, and muted green leaves. There,\u00a0I fell deeper in love with Jesus, his teachings, and the word \u201cShalom\u201d. Shalom, is God\u2019s dream for our world that includes harmony, wholeness, and beauty-\u00a0a state where nothing is missing and nothing is broken.<\/a><\/p>\n

In those nine years in\u00a0Cambridge I started a women\u2019s ministry. Hubs built a mentoring program. Eventually, we planted a church.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just when we thought we\u2019d settle down in New England for good, my husband got a surprising invitation from a pastor in Los Angeles:<\/p>\n

\u201cApply to be my associate pastor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, I asked my\u00a0friend to meet me for a walk, where we stopped to pray\u00a0on a bench overlooking the Charles River. <\/strong>We prayed for confirmation that this amazing opportunity to serve in a church that meets just blocks away from Skid Row, whose community is made up of the homeless and the loft dweller was for us. \u00a0He did and a month later we moved.<\/p>\n

\"familyHollywood\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us. We need hours of aimless wandering or spates of time sitting on park benches, observing the mysterious world of ants and the canopy of treetops.<\/p>\n

Maya Angelou<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Now\u00a0that we\u2019re in L.A, I try to spend one morning a week on a park bench facing the Foothills of La Crescenta. <\/strong>Sometimes I nap. Sometimes I pray. Sometimes, I journal about what\u2019s next. \u00a0The big questions right now are:<\/p>\n

What does a girl with all this city experience have to offer the suburbs?\u00a0 Do I even belong here?<\/em><\/p>\n

Three different cities, three different circumstances, three different benches\u2014 the same calling- listen, learn, <\/strong>and love.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Be a peacemaker. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Seek wholeness right where I am with exactly what I have in my hands.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here on \u201cShalom in the City\u201d\u00a0\u00a0we\u2019ll sit down together on this digital city bench, watch what\u2019s going on in our world and share our thoughts.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll talk about hard things with grace, annoying things with a sense of humor, and occasionally, I\u2019ll share my earbuds with you so we can listen to my favorite playlists.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure you have lots of words too, so subscribe, and feel free to comment.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m so glad you\u2019re here.<\/p>\n

Osheta<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 You\u2019re here, I\u2019m pleased. I really dig your company! Your style, your smile, your peace mentality. Jill Scott, \u201cA Long Walk\u201d \u00a0 Hi there, My name\u2019s Osheta and welcome to my blog! My digital city bench, if you will. Some of my favorite moments in my life have happened on a city bench not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3037,"featured_media":3275,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[278],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-slider"],"yoast_head":"\nA Tale of Three City Benches<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"  You're here, I'm pleased. I really dig your company! Your style, your smile, your peace mentality. 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