Reasons for Detroit

Year ago from now I was living in the small hometown of Morgantown, Pennsylvania. Morgantown is 40 minutes east of Philadelphia and 10 minutes south of Reading. I was working at a retirement community, and was approaching my one year anniversary at this lack luster job. I had about 3-4 semesters of college under my belt, but I had left because I wasn't sure which direction my life was taking. During my time at college, at Shippensburg University, I became close Mike, to one of my current roommates now. Michael and I got to know each other as freshmen. We didn't live in the same dorm, have any classes together, but we met through

a Christian Fellowship organization on campus, commonly known and abbreviated as CF. Through Christian Fellowship and the bible studies lead on campus Michael and I became great friends. We also went on two missions together, both during Spring break during school. The first year we went with a group that traveled to Baltimore and worked with Habitat for Humanity. The next year Michael lead a group of students to Atlanta to work with

Safehouse Outreach (A Shelter for the homeless)

Throughout my relationship with Michael he motivated and encouraged me to take my faith

seriously and to question what I didn't know in order to find the answers. However, after my college duty had finished, I didn't get to see Michael much. Michael is from the suburbs of Pittsburgh, approximatively 4 hou

rs away. Shippensburg University being in the south central part of the state was the only way we would have had a chance to meet. After going on missions trip to Cairo, Egypt with Luke and Jon (two of his hometown/high school friends) during the last year of his college, they decided that they wanted to live in an intentional Christian community after they graduated from college. It was during that trip that they also meet Matt, another roommate, who felt that God was calling him to live intentional as well. They did some research and visited some places and eventually it was decided that Detroit was the place that they felt God calling them to. Michael then gave me a call and asked if I would interested in living with the four of them in Detroit.

I prayed and asked God what I should do. I felt him telling me to go. Things back home were getting a little stale. Aside from my beautiful girlfriend Samantha, I didn't feel like my life would progress if I continued living back in my hometown. I noticed that some doors were closing, but living in an intentional community had opened other doors that I hadn't explored yet. I've always wanted to live with some college

buddies after college and this was my chance and I felt that this might be the only opportunity I had to get out on my own and live with people I knew. I didn't know much about Detroit at the time. I didn't know much about Jon, Luke or Matt at the time either. Samantha and I were still fresh in our relationship. I wasn't sure if we would break up or stay together. I was scared and eventually made my decision to move to Detroit without talking it over with Samantha first. I finally told her and her love and support helped encourage me to go and change the world. I was currently driver a small dodge neon, so I had no idea how I was going to transport most of my belongings 500 miles. A U-haul would cost a ridiculous amount. In the end, Samantha graciously volunteered to follow me the whole way there in her pickup and load my larger things into the back of her truck. On September 15, after saying my goodbyes to my family, I headed out to Detroit with Samantha. I didn't know where or how I was going to get a job, or how often I would be able to visit my family and girlfriend back home, but I knew that God was going to take care of me, and he allowed me to be bold.

Its now the middle of June. Many things have changed since last September. Matt is getting married in a week and Jon is heading to Peru during the summer for a year to do missionary work in the jungles of South America and minister to the tribes there. Soon it will be just Luke, Michael and I. What we've done is a story for another day. What I know is that I wouldn't be here without the love my family and friends, and the support of my roommates. My life has changed significantly since I moved here and I'm being molded in a more Godly man each day. In a few days I am flying back to Philadelphia airport and getting picked up by my mom and Samantha. The excitement is almost overwhelming since I only get to see them once every 2 months. But here I am, living in Detroit. We live in the suburbs, just 4 miles from Downtown Detroit. We've connected with local missions and churches and I'm loving every day more than the next. Detroit has a bad rep right now. Hopefully I can change some people's opinion. I've learned that Detroit has the most passionate group of people and cultures I've ever experienced. Together, we can make change.