Reality

So we hear a lot about Hollywood on TV. As a kid I always thought that was the happening, cool place. I went there today to some of our ministry sites that we have there, and I quickly learned the reality of my TV Hollywood. Yeah there are the hundreds of stars for the famous, and the shops, and Capital Records. BUT there are also a lot of poor people in Hollywood. Hollywood is not just the sign we see on the hill, it is a community of living, breathing people.
Sometimes we get so caught up in what we think we know about a place, that we forget to look at the heart of that place. It relates to the story of David in the Bible. In the Bible God says that it is the heart that matters not the outward appearance. I have learned that that verse applies to a lot of places and people.
Sure I wasn't impressed with the Hollywood I saw, but I realized that there are people there with real life stories that we never hear about. There are people there who need Jesus and we should not stop short at the glory and glamour of the city, instead we should go beyond it's walls to the depths of it, and see what often hides behind the grand things and the fame.

-Amanda, CSM Los Angeles City Host Summer 2008