GUATEMALA

I spent spring break serving with my high school kids from Kansas in a small village in GUATEMALA. It was a rich blessing and refreshing reminder of God's encompassing plan for all nations. School (which I must remind myself is also a blessing) has kept me so busy since that I have yet to write about it! First of all, THANK YOU to the cloud of witnesses that labored with us in prayer during the trip. Your support was surely felt as we experienced God's blessing and protection. 

The best way to tell you about the trip would be through the 400 plus pics I took... don't worry I put a select few on Facebook (cinco albums). You can view my albums on my profile, see link. 

We were able to do so many different things during our stay: going into homes, painting at the school or church, digging trenches to lay a foundation for the clinic, playing with kids, playing soccer to reach the older kids, climbing a volcano as a group. It was a very filled week. I guess I can best break up the experience into areas, each one a fingerprint of God's loving grasp on all the earth. 

Walking in and out of a village with so many needs was hard. Yet it was a small taste of what Jesus did as he stepped down onto earth, into our filth, to bring us into the riches of relationship with him. Jesus took off his crown and took on our sins. In comparison, how small is our action of stepping out of our lives of absolute plenty and for a mere moment into a village of want, a village for which Jesus' heart breaks. And I praise God that the minute I stepped of the bus, my heart broke too. As Jesus walked on this earth, he was deeply moved for the lost. And that moved him to make the greatest sacrifice. What action will the movement in my soul prompt?

HUMBLED

Did I mention I'm a French minor? It didn't do me much good in the Spanish-speaking community. At times I felt completely inadequate trying to communicate with the people. My first walk down the streets, I desperately wanted to tell them of the wonders of my Savior. But an embrace and "Hola" carried more meaning than I could have imagined. I pray that my eyes, filled with tears, said more than words. Once I learned the words, I would say it as often as I could, "Jesus Cristo te amo." But as I was crippled from communicating, Jesus was empowered in action through me. Pretty sure that was a lot better than any human words. 

Not being able to speak Spanish very well, if at all, made me pretty creative. After I had asked the children their names and ages... I was clean out of Spanish words. So we counted rocks in Spanish, then English, played hand slap games, made faces and took lots of pictures. And the very best moments... reading the tracts and Spanish Bible with them. God, your message and Word is so powerful. All the complicated ways I pursue my faith in Christ... boiled down to a tract that shared the Gospel with colors: amarillo, negra, rojo, blanco, verde, azul. And the kids love reading so much that they ended up "witnessing" as they read the Good News in their language to the other children. I pray that as those tracts still float around Balcones, they would continue to be seeds watered by the Holy Spirit and falling on fertile soil in their hearts. 

CHILDREN: "el mayor en el reinos de los cielos" (the greatest in the kingdom of heaven--a chant I got to do with the children)

Words can't really describe the beautiful faces of the children of Balcones, the brightness of innocent love permeating the film of dirt that covered their skin and clothes. And they gave hugs, whether saying Hola or Adios, so tight they squeezed out tears. Their small frames contained a huge capacity for love. 

JESUS' FEET

It was a blessing to step into a ministry that has a legacy. People from my church have been pursuing Jesus' heart for Balcones for 25 plus years. So though my efforts seemed small, they were an extension of those who had served before and those who would serve after. Praise God for the leaders and visionaries he has placed over this village, who have truly pursued Christ's vision. What did Christ prioritize in his time on earth? Providing for physical needs, healing the sick, children, forgiveness and sacrifice. It was a blessing to see the church doing the same: providing paved streets, water, plumbing, electricity, food, clothes; a clinic for medical care; a beautiful school; a church where they can hear the message of forgiveness, and the example of sacrifice as they gave finances and time to serve. 

BLESSED

A village with so little, in many ways, had a lot more than we do.  They trusted Jesus for every meal, for every physical need, for every miraculous healing, because they had few other options. Their joy wasn't dependent on materialistic things, for they had few. As much as I wish I could free them from their poverty, I left wanting also to free myself from materialism... and I realized that Jesus promises to free us from both. That is exactly what He HAS done for us all. He has set us free from a depraved and wanting spirit, and granted us the Inheritance of His Kingdom. 

So as hard as it was to leave Balcones, I know I will see again those believers with whom I shared embraces and gazes of communion beyond words.  One day, in a Kingdom that knows no bounds, no borders, no want, no human language, no tears, no division. Only eternal love and perfect relationship with a God who longs for ALL to come to a saving relationship with Him. 

A blogger's meditation

It has been far too long. Blogging--like reading, journaling, or (at this point) sleeping--is a discipline. I'm learning through the book Celebration of Discipline that almost all things worth doing require discipline, especially living for Jesus. The chapter we read this week as part of a discipleship group I'm in (it's the best!) is on Meditation. It has convicted me a lot about where I am in my life and the pace of my life. Ironically, I think it would rock my world even more if I would slow down to meditate on it. One of the four forms of meditation Richard Foster suggests is "to meditate upon the events of our time and to seek to perceive their significance." That is what I hope this blog is about: considering the things of this world as Christ sees them so I can better understand the context in which I write as a journalist and live in as a follower of Christ. 

The book says "We have a spiritual obligation to penetrate the inner meaning of events, not to gain power but to gain prophetic perspective." Oh how deeply our perspective affects the way we live life! Most importantly, if we don't have a proper perception of God in His Greatness, we will fall into the lie that our circumstances are more than He can handle. A glance at the lost world we live in can certainly challenge our image of God as Just. When the news or reality of life seems unbearable or unmatched to my image of God, I want to react as Habakkuk did with a godly complaint: "Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?" To have this reaction, I must first understand who God is to claim that His character is contrary to what I see. I must also be informed about my society. This is an area in which I could constantly improve. I see other journalism majors who are news junkies, desperate to join the nearest cause. Lord, help me to open my eyes and to be passionate about the cause of Christ and all that entails. 

My meditation journal about the world around me can focus on the current or past events that challenge my view of God, that send me back to the word, seeking God's truth to trump what I see. In a class this week we discussed the Tulsa Race Riots. As an ignorant Kansan, I confess, I had no idea the magnitude and atrocities of this event. It is so important for me to understand the how's and why's of the past to understand the how and why of how people act today. Horrific events at the hands of humankind humble me, knowing that I suffer from the same Fall of Man as they. Knowing that God's grace is sufficient even for these actions. I want to take a stance of relevancy in my culture. My God and His Word is relevant to today: to the atrocities happening across the world, to a college freshman sitting in her dorm room this week wondering if that reason she's followed her family to church all these years is enough, wondering if maybe another religion's promises would suffice. My Jesus is relevant to the lives of emptiness around me that are filled instead with the deceptions of culture. He is a literal light in the darkness, a sweet picture reflecting on parts of my sorority that are literally dark with a certain lifestyle. He is the source of life for the past, present and future. 

Father may they see your relevancy lived out in me as I claim your Sovereignty over all I see and experience. Let no circumstance steal my peace, for no worldly thing is greater than my God. May the Peace of Christ in me show them that I believe you are relevant for today. And I'm trusting you. Colossians 1:17 - In Jesus, all things hold together.