Change is on the Way

Ok, so this week has been filled with meetings! Meetings. Meetings. Meetings. I am not a huge fan of meetings, to say the least, but it is safe to say that sometimes, these meetings are a necessary evil. These particular meetings have been exceptionally excting. You see, our church is getting ready to make some pretty cool and important changes to our weekend services.

See, we realize that God intends for us to not only be in relationship with Him, but in relationship with each other as well. And, to be honest, we just aren't providing that kind of opportunity at our church right now. But soon, we will! And that is very exciting!

I don't want to get into all of it right now, since we are busting out the good news this weekend during our services, but suffice it to say that it is going to be an amazing time for the people of New Hope to really connect with each other. I am very much looking forward to seeing how this will impact our church and the Kingdom of God! It's gonna be awesome! :)

Well, off I go to meeting number 3 of 4 for the week. Wish me luck! :D

Como Esta!

Well, we're back. And what a great journey it was. I wrote before we left about hoping and praying that we would be able to show the people at the Casa what it truly means to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God, and in my humble opinion our kids (and amazing sponsors) did God proud.

From the moment we stepped on the bus at New Hope on August 25, our students proved over and over again that they are willing to get their hands dirty for Jesus. Whether it was sitting in the parkinglot at Maid Rite for 2 hours waiting for a new bus because ours broke down, or holding a child who had recently peed his pants; whether it was painting the same stinking flours for the fourth time just to make sure, or filling holes til the ground was once again level; whether they were walking around with their buddies in the middle of Mexico, or holding a child who was on the verge of falling asleep, our students proved that they are willing to love with the love of the Lord. I enjoyed watching them worship Jesus through song, of course, but even better than this was watching them worship Jesus by tying a child's shoe, swinging them around for the 100th time or just holding them when they skinned their knee.

As we were saying our goodbyes to the kids at the Casa, I was moved to see God at work in the lives of our students. It never ceases to amaze me when God works His way into a semi-hardened heart and helps them see that with His help and love, they can do anything he asks of them. The tears rolling down the faces of our students (both guys and girls!) was a friendly reminder that God uses small children to break our hearts for what breaks His. I am reminded of a song by Brooke Fraser called Hosanna. The lyrics to the bridge go like this:

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me
Break my heart for what is yours
Everything I am for your kingdom's cause
As I walk from earth into eternity

I feel like our kids really lived out the words of this song as we moved through this week together. Their hearts were broken; their eyes were opened; they learned what it means to love like Jesus; all of this for the Kingdom of God.

Thank you, Jesus for teaching our kids what it means to love and be loved. Thank you for showing them that they can do ministry for you. I pray that these students would not soon forget the things that they saw, heard and experienced at the Casa. I pray that the faces of the Casa kids would filter through their minds and their hearts and be imprinted there forever. Break their hearts for what breaks Yours, Father, and all for Your Kingdom's cause.

Thank you to the sponsors who took a week out of their very busy lives to not only love on the kids at the Casa but the kids from New Hope. Your examples and leadership will not soon be forgotten and your time spent with the Casa kids will forever be something etched into my memory. You are an example not only to the Casa kids and the kids from New Hope, but to me, as well. Thank you for allowing me to look into your lives as you interact with your own children and those that God placed in front of you to love.

I love you all! :)

Over There, Over There

So, have I ever told you how much I love doing missions things? I mean, there is just something about flying half-way across the world and putting your own wants and desires on hold for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Earlier in the year, I posted a blog about God of Justice from Micah 6. At the risk of being redundant, I would just like to say a few things.

Our youth this year did a project called "Teen Arts Project." It's all about the arts. They do video, dance (slow and fun!), singing, playing instruments, painting, drawing, acting, etc. It is so much fun to watch them take a theme and really work it out in these different ways. The purpose is to teach them that worship is more than just singing, it is serving God in your area of giftedness--whatever that might be.

This year our theme was "God of Justice." It was amazing. I love to watch the youth of today talk about helping those that have been less fortunate in life than they have been. And then to watch them live that out at High School week of camp as we went into nursing homes, weeded rockbeds, painted buildings, scraped buildings, washed windows and cleaned out toilets was amazing. But then, to be able to travel to a foreign country and watch them yet again love on people? Well that is just the best summer ever! I cannot wait to watch eighteen teenagers and eight adults love on children who don't have parents, give people food for their hungry stomachs, and teach them about Jesus and His love for them. It is going to be AMAZING!

I am proud to say that I am a Youth Coach at New Hope Christian Church. The teens that we are privileged to work with challenge me to be a better woman of God, a better Christian, and a better person all around. They stretch me day in and day out. The keep me accountable without even knowing it. They make me laugh, cry, yell, smile, and dance (stinking running man!). They really are a joy to be around. I am very excited to get to spend a week with some of the most amazing kids to ever walk the face of the earth (Too much? I don't think so!). Thank you, NHCC Youth for allowing fallen, mistake-making, less than perfect people like me to work with you and minister with you. May we truly show the people we are about to serve what it means to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our Lord.

Do you validate?

So, have you ever had one of those decisions that you have to make that you just know is going to be the utter and complete demise of your life as you have known it? Ok, so maybe it wasn't quite that bad, but still...it can be a pretty big decision. And in the midst of those moments when the decision making is at it's worst, all you need and all you want is someone to tell you that you are doing a good job making that decision. That you are approaching that decision with maturity and logic, with just the right amount of faith. All you want is for people to recognize that the decision is stinking hard and give you a hug on a rough day.

Well, I would like to take time to encourage both of my readers to validate. Take a few moments and tell someone you know is struggling with something like this that they are loved. Tell them that they are doing a good job. Tell them that you are proud of them. These words may be the thing that gets them through the hardest day they have ever faced up to this point in their lives.

Please, oh please, take these words I have typed to heart. Share with someone you love how important they are. Share with them how much you love them. You just never know what it might mean! :)

Let's Go Campin'

Ok, so I have to tell you that I love camp. Now, please understand, I am getting older, so the late nights followed by ridiculously early mornings are getting, um, tiring to say the least. But I also have to say that I love camp.

I love that at camp kids can leave all the crud they live with all the time in their everyday lives behind. I love that at camp the kids who never have friends at school are all of a sudden some of the most popular kids. I love that at camp the kids that get everything they want all the time at home all of a sudden realize that the world does not revolve around them. I love that at camp students are confronted with who Jesus is and fall in love with Him more and more with each passing day. I love that at camp adults and students have opportunities to connect with each other as they connect with Christ. I love that at camp kids get plunged into the depths of Jesus' love and grace as they follow Him into the water of baptism.

I love camp. I really do. It will make me quite sad when some day I have to not go to camp anymore. It will make me sad to know that I will miss out on these amazing things. But I will rejoice in knowing that someone else will be blessed by seeing the things I have seen.
I love camp. I love sleep....but I love camp SO much more! :)

Let's Fly!

"Sometimes we choose to be a worm; at other times, our preference is to hide in the cocoon, but every now and again we choose to engage in the difficult struggle of breaking out. It's painful; it's frustrating; it's hard work. We might even wonder why God would make the cocoon so hard to escape from, never realizing it is the process itself that strengthens our wings and prepares us for flight."

This quote from a book by Erwin McManus has really been making me think these days. I'm not totally in love with the book in and of itself, but this quote really stuck out to me.


I want to escape from the cocoon.

I want to fly.

I know it will be painful. I know it will be hard. But I also know that once I have escaped, it will be the most amazing thing ever.

I am reminded of the character in the movie "A Bugs Life" named Heimlich. He is a gigantic caterpillar that dreams of being a "beautiful butterfly."

That is my dream.

I want to fly.

God of Justice

Micah 6:6-8
With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

I just can't seem to get these words out of my head. To act justly. To love mercy. To walk humbly with your God. They seem so simple. Yet, when I truly look at them, I am humbled because I know that these three things summarize all that I am to do in my walk with Jesus.

Every year for a week during the summer we get as many of our 7th-12th graders to help out with an event we have dubbed "Teen Arts Project." They prepare all week long and then lead the weekend services. Each year we use this event to teach the kids that worship is more than just singing on a Sunday morning or playing an instrument in a praise band. We do our best to teach these students that worship is a lifestyle. Worship is forever.

This year our theme is "God of Justice" based off the verse above but also from the lyrics to a song with the same title. Our goal this year to is to help the students see that God does not want their goats; He does not want their firstborn; He wants them. And He wants them to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with Him.

What does that even mean, though? How can you teach someone something like that? How can you teach them to act justly or to love mercy or walk humbly? The only answer I can come up with is to teach them about the One with whom they are to walk. For He is the ultimate example of justice, mercy and humility.

So, God, I pray that you will fill us up and send us out so that we may go and live to feed the hungry and stand beside the broken. I pray that you will keep us from just singing words on a screen but instead, Father, I pray that you will move us into action. God, reveal yourself to us as leaders and as students, so that as we stand on stage and proclaim who You are, those in the seats will be moved into action as well. Fill us up and send us out, Lord.