Good News at Noon...

I’m in Gainesville, GA visiting Kim and hanging with some of the other AIM crew. I always forget how much I love this community as a whole! They are great people and have the same heart and passion that I do. It’s fun to hook up with some of the people I lived with in Kenya and some that I just know from different times I have been here. I have only been here 36 hours and I already wish I didn’t have to leave! : )
Kim is co-leads a ministry called Community life. She lives in a house with 10 other girls, while they do intensive discipleship and community outreach. It’s a pretty crazy house, but it’s been fun to chat with the girls individually and get to know their stories. They are all at different places in life and once the program is over in August, will be heading off in different directions around the globe. I wish I had more time to spend with them!
Tonight, their outreach project was to cook and serve dinner at Good News at Noon…a ministry for the homeless in Gainesville. What a privilege to be a part of this ministry! I had such a great time with them today and it was fun to see them love on some of the outcasts of society. They gathered donations from local businesses and we had a great pasta dinner for about 200 people. It is a shelter for men, but tonight was family night so there were many women and children there as well. The place was packed as we served up the meals, hymns were sung and God was glorified. There was another church helping, along with some community service “volunteers”…so many people in fact that we waited in line just to help the people carry the boxes of food to their cars!
At the end, we sat with a man named Ray. He played his broken, old guitar and sang some songs he had written. Apparently, he was part of a successful local band as recently as 1991. I have no idea the story behind him being homeless, but he was clearly a very talented man. One of the program staff told us they were praying for a hearing aid and a nice guitar for Ray. As I looked around, I wished I could hear the stories of some of the people. They were grateful and had built a community there. A little bit of kingdom on earth right here in Gainesville!

Leia Mais…

Girls with Guitars Roadshow

Last weekend, I went with 3 friends to Semiahmoo resort in Blaine for some R&R. Two of the girls (Rana and Kristen) play guitar really well and Holly and I wanted to learn all they know in one weekend. Both Holly and I have been "playing" for a couple of years but haven't really gotten anywhere. We really have the desire to play, but it just takes a lot of discicpline and time. So we thought a weekend trapped in a hotel room with them might speed up the process.

We titled ourselves "girls with guitars" and really took off with it! We actually spent more time taking goofy pictures of the "group" on our "roadshow" than playing guitar. We have plenty of album cover shots for once we become famous. But really, after playing for 2 1/2 hours, my fingers were done for the day anyways.

Turns out, we didn't grow much in our guitar playing skills, nor become famous but we sure did have fun! I laughed until my side hurt ALL weekend! I love those ladies and laughing is never a waste of time in my book!

Leia Mais…

Blessed are the poor in spirit.....

Later next month, I’ll be talking to our youth group on poverty right before they participate in the 30hr famine. I’m not sure what that is going to look like, but I’ve been spending some time trying to figure it all out. So far, it’s been a stretching experience and I look forward to how the Lord will manifest it all into something useful and hopefully impactful. I’m also getting prepared to spend the entire summer with the poor, which is also stretching. The combination of the two has challenged me the last couple of weeks….. to define who the poor are, what my role will be and how I can learn from them.

The poor know they are in need. They are unlikely, mostly forgotten and usually humble. They are hungry, dependant and desperate. That makes them different than me. I am none of those things…I should be, but I’m not. They have nothing by the hope of Jesus. Less means less distraction. Full devotion…their poverty actually makes them rich!

“Religion that our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from bring polluted by the world” James 1:27

So what’s my plan? What’s my purpose there? How can I be of impact this summer? Honestly, I really have no idea, but this is what I came up with:

1) Serve God; not for my own agenda or adventure but a towel yielding servant.
“…Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Mt 20:26-28

2) Walk by faith; Believe in the grace and power of the Lord before I see it. Expect the unbelievable.
“In Lystra there sat a man cripples in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, ‘Stand up on your feet!’ At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.” Acts 14:7-10

3) Be the hands of Jesus extended to the poor.
Mt. 25:40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”

4) Grow in compassion
“Jesus went through all the town and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Mt 35-36

Along with my “plan”, I can learn from them humility and full dependence…the kind where you are emptied of everything so that you can be filled up by God. I can learn to believe without always seeing, to have faith like a child that is not shaken by a bad day, to be quick to give away but receive slowly without forgetting. These are some of the riches I can attain from the poor.

May I become poor….fully yielded, fully dependant and completely desperate for God alone.

Leia Mais…

Summer plans

My summer plans are starting to all come together! It's getting really exciting as airfare is purchased, logistics are arranged and we are starting to make specific ministry plans and goals!

At this point, the schedule is:
June 22nd - July 6th Intercultural nursing trip to Ecuador
July 13th - Leave for Nairobi, Kenya
August 7th - Meet the LSCC team in Johannesberg, South Africa
August 8th - We all head to Harare, Zimbabwe
August 20th - The team heads back to the U.S. and I'll head to Swaziland or stay in South Africa.
Sept 3rdish - Head home via Nairobi and Amsterdam.
Sept 10thish - Return home

The last leg is still being worked out, and we are still working on support raising for Zimbabwe, but it's going to be an exciting summer!

Leia Mais…

Plan "G"

When we are making plans for a missing trip, we always have plan A and B...just in case. And there is always this running joke that neither of those will happen because plan "G" always works out.

Right now, Nursing school is plan A. This morning I finished #2 of 3 finals for the quarter. To say it is/was the toughest one is an understatement. The content was hard, time is always short and it was just a lot of contnet to know. I've heard it is the worst of the entire nursing program. Let's hope so! Going into the test, I was sitting at an 82% in the class (we need 80% to pass)so feeling a little nervous about not having much room for error. I never thought I would be happy with an 80% in any class, but I will rejoice if I manage that! That 80% will keep my hopes of becoming a nurse alive!

I left the test feeling pretty discouraged and trying to list plan B in my mind. Nothing. I could not come up with a single thing. If I have to repeat this class next year, I have no idea what I will do until then. Plan B does not exist. I think that was a worse feeling than the possibility of a 79%! I am not typically a negative thinker and certainly always have a plan. The uneasyness was overwhelming!

About then, a guy on the radio said (regarding what, I don't know) that he was trying to teach his children to praise the Lord in all things and all circumstances. I had to stop in my tracks right there! Why was I thinking this way? What happened to thinking on what is true? What happened to surrendering my plans and life to the one who actually holds the plan? Why was I choosing to be so prematurely upset rather than praise the Lord for the hope I have in that plan?

It took a while, but I think things are back in perspective. God is in control and I knew that yesterday. He didn't change...I did. I love the comfort of that! The Lord is unchanging, regardless of what else changes around me!

I'm going to get that score sometime soon, but in the meantime (and after) I trust that the Lord already has plan "G" in the works. In fact, He likely sent the caravan months in advance just as he did for Joseph as he was sold as a slave rather than killed by his brothers.
Praise the Lord for Plan G!

Leia Mais…