Live 8

Let me just say that this weekend was amazing. I had the privilege to be able to attend the Live 8 concert in Philadelphia and spend the weekend with an awesome group of people who live in a community called The Simple Way in inner city Philly. Friday after work I picked up my friend Zach and we drove for 10 hours through a mini monsoon, got lost and ended up in New Jersey, but finally made it to Philly at 3:30 am. Needless to say I crashed and slept pretty well. The next day we got up and worked at a thrift store run by The Simple Way. It was fun to hang out with some of the people that live there and meet some of the neighborhood kids. I cleaned the store a little, sorted some clothes, and delivered some of the clothes they couldn't use to another organization that would sell them to make rags. At about 1:00 pm we went over to the Live 8 concert going on at the art museum on Benjamin Frankin Parkway. The concert going on in Philadelphia was just one of many going on across the world, their purpose was to raise awareness for the G8 Summit that is taking place July 6-8. Basically the 8 richest countries in the world are meeting to discuss poverty and the foreign spending, specifically in Africa. We got there about an hour after it started and it was packed, it was estimated that there between 600 and 800 thousand people in attendence. We made our way through the crowd and got reasonably close to the main stage. The concert was pretty cool, there was an ecclectic mix of performers. Linkin Park, Jay-Z, Keith Urban, Jars of Clay, Maroon 5 and many others were there. It was incredible to be a part of the largest lobbying event in the history of the world. After the concert we went to an exhibit on Iraq and ate dinner near Independence Hall. That night five of us slept on the roof of one of their houses, and as you can imagine, in the inner city on 4th of July weekend there were fire works going off all around us until 4am. It was just cool to lay there and watch them. On Sunday a group of us went to mass at Sacred Heart church in Camden, New Jersey. Afterward we ate lunch at a place called the Camden House, they were some of the nicest and most hospitable people that I have met in my entire life. We got back to The Simple Way around 2:00 pm and I packed up my stuff in my car. However, before I left I was able to juggle with Shane and Joe, two guys that live at the Simple Way. It was a lot of fun. So far this summer has been incredible, both through my trip to Guatemala and this weekend, God has been showing me so much. I am excited to see what God has in store for me as I look toward graduation next year and what lies after that.