Agape House UIC

This morning, I was out to brunch with some members of the AGAPE House community when one of our smart phones went off. It brought the first reports from Connecticut about a mass shooting at an elementary school.

Being home now I have seen a broad range of reactions on social media, some blaming permissive gun laws, others saying that if someone else had been armed, they could have stopped the shooter. The same arguments, over and over.

So, the holiday weekend is over, and as is the case every year, our focus shifts from things we are thankful for, to the things we want in our lives. I know Christmas shopping is at hand, and with finals week also approaching, it’s easy to forget to be thankful while in the midst of studying, shopping, planning, wrapping, etc. However, please be patient with me as I try to bring focus back on being thankful, since I didn’t get a chance to write this earlier in the weekend. So…without further ado, my list of things I am thankful for in my life.

So last week was a huge and exciting event for the Agape House. In collaboration with the UIC Gender & Sexuality center, and many other UIC programs, we were able to bring in Wayne Besen from Truth Wins Out, to talk to us about the dangers of “Ex-Gay” therapy.

Today, this week, I give you permission to just breathe.

Breathing is one of the most central, most important, and most vital activities our body performs all the time without us having to be completely aware of it. For the most part, that is quite fortunate so that we can concentrate on other things like voting, and paying bills, and arguing with people we do not understand. However, since it is involuntary, that also means it is easy to take for granted.

Hello folks,