true dependence
By Sam Mohr
March 13, 2026
Wichita Vagabond missionaries enjoying some community time.
Sunday morning bright and early, I got ready for rides. My team mate, Jack, and I stood on the porch to discuss our routes then headed to the youth center to pick up the vans. Our gray 12 passenger vans sat on the corner of 13th and Waco, visible from the street. I pulled into the pot-hole filled lot, and hopped in the Ford E350. Shutting the door behind me. I turned the key, and the van roared way louder than it should. Sort of terrified, I turned off the van immediately, jumped out of the car and looked underneath. I saw that there was one less catalytic converter than there should be. Someone must have sawed it out overnight. Looks like picking up young people for Mass will be a little more difficult this week.
This was something I was never afraid of growing up. When I joined Vagabond, I moved to an inner-city neighborhood. I began to expect theft. It happens a lot more when you live in the neighborhoods, where the sneakers are on the power line, and the city never sweeps the streets. Doing mission with Vagabond, I found an empathy for the uncertainty that people in the inner city face. In many inner-city neighborhoods, theft is more expected than surprising. It’s just one thing to make you unsure. There are all sorts of uncertainties. Over half the young people I met moved at least once during high school. The number of times I meet people who have lost their social security card or their birth certificate in a move. Many times I heard, “I haven't eaten at all today.” The uncertainty pervades every day. Will I eat? Where will we stay? How do we keep what we have?
Chase Dorsett, missionary in Wichita, driving one of our vans.
Yet people make do. Sometimes, the love of families and friends shines brightest under the shot out streetlight. It's stunning the generosity families will show to each other. You start to hear things like “my car was stolen, but my uncle let me borrow his,” “I lost my rent money, but my buddy spot me $200.” or, “the landlord kicked us out but we stay’n with our granny.” Jesus over and over turns my expectations on their head, sometimes in the places where there is more crime, uncertainty and less money, Jesus makes his entrance. People who have faced uncertainty know how important family is. People who have no steady income know what it means to trust God.
In Vagabond I feel blessed to share with people about the saving work of Jesus. This is the fertile soil Christ talked about, people who know how to trust despite uncertainty. Will you let the inner city know it’s Jesus who provides?
