I was sitting on my couch at 7:58pm on a Sunday night recently when I heard semi-auto shots in rapid succession.
The next morning, my heart sank as I realized a human had seriously injured other people just around the corner. I'm not the type that could even kill an animal, and this was people we are talking about.
3 weeks before this, a random murder happened that took the daddy of one of my students. They had just gotten to the USA 4 months before this. This victim had sat in my office.
Over Christmas break, I fled south to be with family for Christmas. A friend messaged me to say that our mutual friend was moving out of state before I would be back. Again, my heart dropped. I have the Good News in her language, and I hadn't gotten around to having the perfect time to share it with her.
I got home, and luckily she'd stayed in town one more week. That last time I had with her, we went shopping like normal, to the laundromat and I made sure she had a functioning link to the Story. My last memory is of her watching the link as I left. Within a week, she is living hours away.
This week, I saw the Free Burma Rangers movie with war scenes from Burma and Iraq, followed by an Alice practice drill at school the next day. This is prepping for an intruder at school.
God is looking for people who are not afraid to step up and into hard situations because He wants others that He loves to know Him, too.
Most of the time, there are no bullet ridden cars around. It's called loving the person in front of me. It's defending a child. It's helping a family. It's being a friend. It's normal stuff that anyone could do. But it's being intentional with where I put myself.
Most of my world has little contact with Jesus followers because they are not going out intentionally even though this city is known for churches. Churches who have heard about volunteer opportunities and aren't willing to step up to the plate. I'm not talking about any certain denomination here. It's across the board...
For some reason, there is this big fat lie that floats around the pews that people who go out have to be special, called, holy people. It's like a friend said recently, the stories of missionary people sound super amazing in church, but get them in your home, and you hear it's not all glorious. Sometimes I am shocked that God would use even me with my issues. But I struggle to talk about my issues cause I am supposed to be a good person.
This lie has to be replaced with a bit of the truth. Everyone is called. From Genesis 12 on, the heart of the Father is clear. The blessings we have are given for one reason. To be a blessing to all ppl. It's not just the Great Commission. It's practically the concept of the whole Bible. If you believe the cross was necessary for your sins, what about everyone else's?
Do you have to travel across the world? No. Travel is one of the best experiences ever, but across the street is just as ripe an opportunity as I observed my neighbor going on a "witch Hunt" with a 2x4 after an argument at their house where a car took off.
Let the bullets remind you of the urgency. God doesn't give the spirit of fear, but power, love and a sound mind. 99% of the time, you likely won't be dealing with guns, but with people. Love them well.
Thursday, February 27, 2020
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Embracing the Color
Years ago, at the Bible School in Arkansas, we all had to introduce ourselves with our personality color. Mine is not the perfect Mennonite shade for females, to put it simply. And the journey of embracing my color (who God made me to be) began.
Over the years, God met me on this, and even sent the color of butterflies to me that He wanted for me, not what I wanted. But as I looked at them sitting literally on my bare toes in Thailand, I couldn't argue.
Culture dictates so much in our lives. That's a global problem. Are we going to rise above what they say, and do what God created us to?
For example, you should be married by 22 according to culture. Are you going to wait for marriage to start your life, or get on it now? I'm closer to 22x2 then the original digit, and still single. But I know that the opportunity to speak into the lives of the children and adults around me is exponentially greater than the amount of lives I would have touched if I had gotten married at 21.75 years. I chose to embrace the story God has, and make the best of it. It's been beyond anything my wild imagination could possibly come up with!
I'm not bashing marriage, and if that is the story God has for you, I am sure it will be just as good.
Whether you are 17.95 years old, or 22, 35 or 95, are you asking God what He had in mind for you, and working with Him to develop the giftings and character He has placed in you?
Do you know what your personality is on the Disc or Myers Briggs test? Are you self aware enough to know what your response is to different personalities?
Do you know what your spiritual gifts are? You can study Ephesians 4, Romans 12, or 1 Corinthians 12. There are also tests online.
Gary Thomas talks about the way we relate to God in Sacred Pathways. Not all of us hear from God the same way. Are you aware of how He speaks to you?
What are your interests and hobbies? Development of those can bring a lot of glory to God.
Think about your story until now. What are significant themes? Sometimes God uses our painful pieces to connect with others. Once I felt like God really wanted me to talk about the dark suicidal thoughts I struggled with a decade before this in a camp on the other side of the world. What I didn't know was that a girl had attempted suicide the year before that sat in my class. A few years later, I was visiting Asia again, but was hours away from this village when I ran into a man from there that told me she was now married and had a child. God might have redemption stories like this one for you.
My prayers for all of us is that we embrace the story God has for us. Accepting our personality, culture, giftings, hard pieces, and what ever our story hands us is one of the best ways we give God glory as we let Him use all of it.
You may not be the same color as I am, but are you accepting the color you are?
Over the years, God met me on this, and even sent the color of butterflies to me that He wanted for me, not what I wanted. But as I looked at them sitting literally on my bare toes in Thailand, I couldn't argue.
Culture dictates so much in our lives. That's a global problem. Are we going to rise above what they say, and do what God created us to?
For example, you should be married by 22 according to culture. Are you going to wait for marriage to start your life, or get on it now? I'm closer to 22x2 then the original digit, and still single. But I know that the opportunity to speak into the lives of the children and adults around me is exponentially greater than the amount of lives I would have touched if I had gotten married at 21.75 years. I chose to embrace the story God has, and make the best of it. It's been beyond anything my wild imagination could possibly come up with!
I'm not bashing marriage, and if that is the story God has for you, I am sure it will be just as good.
Whether you are 17.95 years old, or 22, 35 or 95, are you asking God what He had in mind for you, and working with Him to develop the giftings and character He has placed in you?
Do you know what your personality is on the Disc or Myers Briggs test? Are you self aware enough to know what your response is to different personalities?
Do you know what your spiritual gifts are? You can study Ephesians 4, Romans 12, or 1 Corinthians 12. There are also tests online.
Gary Thomas talks about the way we relate to God in Sacred Pathways. Not all of us hear from God the same way. Are you aware of how He speaks to you?
What are your interests and hobbies? Development of those can bring a lot of glory to God.
Think about your story until now. What are significant themes? Sometimes God uses our painful pieces to connect with others. Once I felt like God really wanted me to talk about the dark suicidal thoughts I struggled with a decade before this in a camp on the other side of the world. What I didn't know was that a girl had attempted suicide the year before that sat in my class. A few years later, I was visiting Asia again, but was hours away from this village when I ran into a man from there that told me she was now married and had a child. God might have redemption stories like this one for you.
My prayers for all of us is that we embrace the story God has for us. Accepting our personality, culture, giftings, hard pieces, and what ever our story hands us is one of the best ways we give God glory as we let Him use all of it.
You may not be the same color as I am, but are you accepting the color you are?
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