Kansas City Boiler Room - part 1

After a great time in Sherman, TX with friends Charles and Laurie Hilliard, I headed north on Thursday morning for an 8-hour drive to Kansas City, Missouri. (I keep thinking I am in Kansas).


This is the Kansas City Boiler Room building in an older part of downtown.

The building next door is empty and badly in need of someone to take it on and redo it for housing for something other than pigeons. There were LOTS of them flying in and out of the windows when I went up on the roof. 

The community uses part of the ground floor for church services (as does a West African church that meets in their space). The second floor houses living space for some guys, some offices, a music studio (next to my room), a prayer room, and a common kitchen and living area.

Upstairs on the 4th floor are several art studios and living space for a few women.
I've always thought it would be fun to live in a loft, but I think I pictured more the really cool high-end ones you see in the movies. This one is a bit more basic - and cold. Lows in the 30s and highs in the 40s this week! I was surprised.
But then, hey, I was originally planning to sabbatical in a trappist monastery.

Above is part of the prayer room which is the namesake - the boiler room that gives heat to the rest of the building.

So far I have met most of the folks here. All of them very friendly and with that passion you have in your twenties to change the world. (Where does THAT go?) They are all "honored" to have me which makes me a bit embarrassed but also it is nice.

So far I am wondering a bit what to do with this time. Yes, I know, make space for God to speak to me. Be quiet.  Fit into the community.

Dayn, who has kind of been the one to show me around, shared a nice verse with me today which fits in so nicely with my theme verse - in fact, it just seems like a paraphrase of it, right down to man's rejection of God's rest (see yesterday's post).

The verse is Isaiah 30:15:

"This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:
Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved.
In quietness and confidence is your strength.
But you would have none of it."

Thanks, Dayn.