Thankful?

Am I really thankful? In listening to a Thanksgiving Eve service at a local church it really got me thinking. As I sit and look at the year past I have so much to be thankful and yet deep down am I really thankful for the little things? John Ortberg in his book It all goes back in the Box said “Having to much can make a person ungrateful.”.

Today as I prepare to go to a Family gathering in which we will have way to much food of everything on the table and I am reminded of an article I read a while back called “Crumbs from your Table”. Find it here http://www.neueministry.com/2008/08/crumbs-from-your-table/ this talks about how much food we in the US waste. The numbers here are staggering. As I think about that spread that is going to be on that table today, my eyes swell with tears about how grateful I really should be with what I have not only today but everyday. This is how I should live my life each and everyday not just on a day called Thanksgiving. Why do I need a holiday to focus on what He has given me? I should focus everyday on Him and praise and give thanks to Him for what He has done in my life.

The picture posted here are of boys I think I could really learn from when it comes to giving thanks. See in this picture these boys definitely look joyful as they sing, clap and give praise. What boggles my mind is what they are giving thanks for. See they had just gotten done walking around the desert for about 2 hours in the midday sun gathering firewood so that they could cook their meals. Now do I give thanks for the fact that I can turn the dial on my stove and have heat to boil water or push a button to turn on the stove? I know for a fact that I don’t. Yet these boys are praising him through a song over firewood to cook their meals. This picture has definitely challenged me over the years.

I am currently sitting and thinking about this and what comes to my mind is that I think I really worry more than I give thanks. This is really kind of sad when I think what the bible says. See this morning I read Matt. 6. In reading this I sat and just kind of meditated on it. I started to think if I am really thankful for all He has done for me or all He has given me would I really be worrying? With this in mind I think I am going to do something a little different this Thanksgiving. I am going to make a list, a list of everything I am thankful for. I am going to lay it all out for myself to see. This will be an ever growing list as the weekend goes and I am hoping that it will make me truly realize what I have in front of me each and everyday and really how truly blessed I am.

"Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. .......... Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Sacrifice?

A couple of weeks ago at church they talked about sacrifice. This stirred some thoughts in my head and actually really got me mind going. Now this isn’t a new topic for me I guess and that is what was a little more difficult. See upon returning from Ethiopia in 2008 this is something that I really struggled with and have over the past year or more. The reason for this struggle and thought process is that I guess I feel that I don’t really fully understand what a sacrifice is. Now yes I understand the whole sacrifice in the Old Testament but what I struggle with is sacrificial giving. I can never fully match that of the Lord giving His Son to die for me and much, much more.

I will try to explain my thoughts here.
These verses are what really sticks out in my mind is 2Cor 8: 12 Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have. 13 Of course, I don’t mean your giving should make life easy for others and hard for yourselves. I only mean that there should be some equality.

Now I get the whole give eagerly and fully agree with that with out a doubt but this is where I struggle.

See the man to the left in this picture? I believe this is a man of God who understands this definition of sacrifice way more than I do and what really makes me think I don’t understand is verse 13 tied to what I have seen in this man.
So first off I will tell you, his name is Iticha and a missionary to Junior High boys and girls in the Borana/Sidamo region of Ethiopia. In 2007 on our trip stayed where he was working. He was not only a gracious host and servant to us in every way. In fact I believe he and his wife played a role in serving us meals and carrying us water multiple days. Then to add to that he brought us all gifts? Not just any gifts though, gifts that pertained to who we were and what he had seen in us or knew we wanted. Here I was there to serve them and help build a hostel for them in a region in which they may have an income of 1 US dollar a day and he is giving us gifts.

Now I return to Ethiopia the following year to serve again and this amazing man invites us into house small living quarters for him and his family and goes on to serve us this huge meal with meat, veggies and coffee afterwards. It was way above and beyond anything I could ever have anticipated.

The thing is it wasn’t just him that did this for us that week. Each one of the missionaries that we visited or came in contact with did something for us this past year. From making us coffee in their home, to coffee, pop and an ethnic treat called Kolo (an Ethiopian version of trail mix) . We were treated amazingly well, in this country by those we went to serve along side.

So here is my thought process and where it goes. Some people in developing countries including Ethiopia and many more may be lucky to have 1 meal a day. Yet I sit here and have 3 full meals plus much more. That doesn’t even touch the fact that I have a car, a house and way more clothes than I know what to do with. Yet they maybe have 2 sets of clothing if they are lucky and the one is their Sunday best. The whole view is just earth shaking to me. So where do I draw the line? Where is that equality? What is enough and what do I feel I need to give up to really be living sacrificially? People range from all different ends of them spectrum on what is really a sacrifice and I am just trying to figure out what this really means to me and put it into action.

I will give you a little something more I have been chewing on for at least a year now.
The lyrics to the chorus of Todd Agnew’s Mercy in Me
And I don’t know what You want
What You see in my life
And I don’t know what You mean
How You could be glorified
And I’m not to sure about this idea of sacrifice
What You mean by mercy, mercy in me
Your mercy in me

A Challenge within me.

This past few weeks have been pretty crazy with everything going on as of late but this week I was away on business and had a chance to do some extra reading and thinking.
On Friday I was trying to spend sometime preparing my heart for the World Vision Experience going on at Colonial Church in Edina, MN. Check it out here www.wvexperience.org . In doing this I came across a verse that definitely got me thinking about who I am in Christ and what the Lord is doing in me (1John 3:18). I have included the surrounding verses a little more context and thought.
1 John 3: 16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

These verses really got me thinking because of how things in the past week have really come together and a lot of them can all be tied in some way to these verses.
First off in v16 I had heard this week or read this week somewhere the question possed would I be willing to lay down my life for one of my friends? This could be anyone from a good friend to an acquaintance. The sad thing here for me is that I don’t know that I could say a resounding yes right away without thinking about it. In my heart I would want this to be an immediate yes no matter what but instead it took some time for me to think and evaluate and really why would one friend be any different than the other. Jesus didn’t think of one person better than another. I am a sinner and no different than a person who has committed any other sin no matter what it is.
v17. is something that has been on my mind for years and is always good to be reminded off.
V18. Is the verse that got me to this section and this is why. I have been reading the book True North by Bill George as of late and Tuesday on my flight to Maryland I read this. “Think of your life like a house, with a bedroom for your personal life, a study for your professional life, a family room for your family, and a living room to share with your friends. Can you knock down the walls between these rooms and be the same person in each of them?” Now this to me ties directly to verse 18 how I was thinking these past days. Could I really knock down the walls and if I did am I the same person at work as I am at say Bible Study, hanging out with my Christian friends, at church or with my immediate family or extended family. Do I say one thing and do another? Do my actions represent who I say I am? Is this a real life a life of integrity focused on the Lord that I lead? I guess I just want to be able to answer all these questions in a way that is pleasing to the Lord without one ounce of hesitation.

Changing my Pace

I was sitting here trying to figure out what to write, where to go with this blog entry and what the passion was inside of me today. Well, I started multiple blogs and ended up deleting them all and just decided to start reading some of the sites and short articles that I enjoy and ya know I found something. Something actually convicting to who I am and who I have been over the years as I have grown in my relationship with Christ. There is a devotional in a book called Extreme Devotion that says "Instinct is interested in self-preservation. Conviction is above our own interests." My world I think is filled with a lot of Instinct and I need to challenge myself to live with conviction.
Please take some time to read this article and see if it moves and challenges you as I know if did me.
http://www.neueministry.com/2008/10/the-simplicity-of-justice/

See in my opinion I think this guy gets it. I read this article and I wonder who I am. What would I do in these situations? Would I really care enough to turn right and continue to turn right? I have talked about missions overseas before but they just as real here in the US amongst us. It could be helping with hurricane Katrina or Ike or even just helping a neighbor for the Joy of it. Not because I want something in return but that I really care about them as a person. There is a song by Seven Day Slumber that I am listening to called Matt. 25. The words are amazing and go directly with this article.
“I call myself a man of God
While laughing at my brother
I crossed the heart of a hungry man
Instead of giving him some bread
And what I say
And what I do
Are not the same anymore
And who I slay, who I betray
Lord have mercy on my soul
And you were hungry
And you were thirsty
You were lonely you were cold
And you were hurting, you were dying
I just left you all alone

I watched a mother who had her children
They all three crying out for help
But know one heard them
And I just passed them and
I screamed "Lady get a job!"
She took her own life
Under the bridge that day
While her children sat and cried
I could have told her about my loving father
Instead I spit in Jesus face, when I heard her voice
What you do unto the least of them
You do unto me
And when you see one of my hurting children
I want you to snee
Cause I was hungry
And I was thirsty
I was lonely I was cold
And that was me hurting, that was me dying
And you just left me all alone
I call myself a man of God
While laughing at my brother”

A side track from BWCA

This weekend at church we sang the song “Jesus paid it All” an old hymn and a very good hymn. We also sang this song a while back and there is one line in this hymn that has struck me more lately than maybe any other hymn in my life. “He changed the leper’s spots” Now these are the first two times that this line has ever caught my attention and really I guess I never knew or ever paid attention to it. I really didn’t know what the complete meaning or understanding of that line. I didn’t know what leper’s spots really were and never really cared to look into it as I thought it was something from the past and didn’t really exist anymore. Well, while in Ethiopia we were able to visit a Leper Siam. This is a village or area within the capital city Addis Ababa where lepers can live and work. Now I still fully don’t know or understand the spots and everything leprosy can do to a human being but what I do know is that these spots on this Ethiopian man are unmistakable. To think that when I look at myself as a sinner, I am also unmistakable without His saving Grace to wash away my sins. That He came to pay that price to take away those sins and to wash them away and make me whole and complete again. I guess the visual here makes this song oh so much more real now that I have a better grasp on the realness of the possible thoughts of the artist.

Now the impact this man had on my life didn’t stop there. I saw him two years in a row sitting there on the cement making rugs like shown in the picture with his hands that don’t really have fingers but the leprosy spots and missing fingers. I am assuming from leprosy is not what caught my attention. What caught my attention was more about his joy his happiness in life. So I think about how I sit at my desk at work in my cushioned chair with a back rest non-the-less, behind a computer, in an air-conditioned building and yet I still find a way on some days to complain. Yet this man has greeted me both years I have seen him with a smile from ear to ear in shear happiness and joy. Makes me evaluate my perspective on life as he is such an incredible man and I don’t even know his name. I hope to see him again some day in the future and bring him this picture and hopefully talk to him about how his joy and happiness has affected my life in this past year and thank him for that. I wonder if he is a Christian? What his story is? Where he has come and just information about him?

BWCA_3

It is now onto 1 Corinthians chapter 1 where I found my first challenging thought of this book while in the Boundary Waters. Most of these verses I have read many times and even spent times thinking about them multiple times but am going to share mot of my thoughts for the first time.
1 Cor. 1:25
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.

The foolishness of God? First and foremost I don’t ever see it possible that God could be foolish in anyway, shape or form. So to me this is kind of mute or maybe just needed for my understanding here. Cause really in no way can I see God being foolish no matter how hard I think on this. When I think of those thoughts and then think of the fact that even to that point He is still wiser than I am or even the smartest man out there. It makes me realize that I need to stop trying to figure out why and what and all the in betweens in the bible. Some things that were done or happened I may never understand and I have to be ok with that. I think of times when I am talking with some of the smartest people I know and how there are things they say or may even be trying to explain to me that will just fly right over my head without even a chance of me understanding it. Now I turn and think of God being much wiser than even that person and it sheds a little light on the whole complete and ultimate wisdom of God.

Now I think of His strength. In the boundary waters the last couple years we have seen some pretty strong winds and interesting storms, but nothing really bad. It is just a different thought process when you are out in the middle of no where. To hear trees falling from the wind and finding out that there are were multiple fires started out there all around where you were staying and it didn’t even seem like all that powerful of a storm really makes me think of His ultimate power. If those storms didn’t seem like much but yet we have down trees and fires burning all around, what could He really do if He put His mind to it? Well, create Heaven and Earth. Not a very deep thought I know this but you think of the Old Testament also and just wiping entire nations out and much, much more. I feel I have not even seen a glimpse into His true almighty power.

BWCA_2

Some more thoughts of the boundary waters.
Romans 15: 11
So I have reason to be enthusiastic about all Christ Jesus has done through me in my service to God.

My train of thoughts were a little different here. Enthusiasm, joy and or passion is some thing that I think can rub off on others. A joy of something, say a joy for serving the Lord, for serving others, for seeing people grow and for seeing lives changed or transformed are some examples that came to my mind.
In the picture above you see this enthusiasm in these boys during a teaching illustration. This was something that was amazing to see through there face through everything that they did. Such an enthusiasm for life no matter what they are doing, weather it is running a race, gathering wood, hauling blocks or most importantly worshiping our Lord and Savior.
The questions that then pursued were how do I actually spread enthusiasm that I have for something? How do I spread a passion a joy I find in an experience or in something that I have seen in someone else. Also how do I get that enthusiasm that those boys have in that picture? An enthusiasm in all things and one that radiates through everything I do. This is the enthusiasm that I long for in Christ at all times. So how do I ensure in myself that this joy overflows in my life that others know that there is something different about who I am as I do in those boys.

Processing in the BWCA_1

I am going to break this down a little different this time and just share the questions that I pondered and asked myself on this.

Rom. 10:14
“But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?”
Who am I to hold back my experiences? Hold back what the Lord has taught me as I have been walking through life. I definitely haven’t been perfect in life that is fo rsure and if others can learn from my mistakes or by me sharing what I have learned who am I to hold it back. I may never know what they Lord may use in my life or the lives of others. As an analytical this verse hits home. Job 36:26a Look, God is greater than we (I) can understand. Even though I may want to know and understand I need to accept that I may not ever fully understand His ways. In my reading this morning it talked about being ok with saying “I don’t know” then focusing on what you do know. I often apply this at work so I should learn to apply it more in my walk with the Lord. He has definitely taught me a lot and I still have a ton to learn.

Rom. 10:15
And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”
Senders are very important as no missionary or person doing outreach can go without being sent by someone? I definitely learned this in the past years with being more involved in missions. They wouldn’t have been possible without out loving support of prayer. Seeing the amazing work through prayer first hand is a great experience. Feet…… huh beautiful? Most people think of feet as dirty but here they are beautiful, but could you even see myself kissing the feet of someone I know. Say my pastor or a mission team member before they go. I know I couldn’t but after seeing someone talk about the feet as in the word here it definitely is an amazing and humbling experience to see them kneel down and kiss the feet of four people in the room in the middle of the evening. To think how humble and greatful others are. Where do I stand here and that is a tough question…….

Psalm 46 and the BWCA

So I know everyone knows and frequently is pointed to verse 10a of this Psalm. “Be still, and know that I am God”, but I am going to say that I am really at fault of actually doing this at most times in my life. It has been something I have been working on and something I strived to do on this trip to the BWCA. It is amazing what the Lord will teach me when I actually do this.
Now I did just that and I have to say that it was completely amazing to see how blessed we were on this trip. In the midst of his wonderful creation we were completely blessed with weather, safety of travel and the surroundings of animals inhabiting the area with us.
A deeper look into Ps. 46 led me to an amazement of how much it truly applies to our trip. One instance would be to look at verse 8. “Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth.” Here we are in a completely amazing place in Minnesota that has been totally destroyed by fires over the years. As you look around you can see the complete and utter power of fire. Now I don’t know if these were caused by lighting or a human, but last year while we were in the BWCA there were multiple fires around where we were staying all started by lighting. So this is what came to my mind at the time. Amongst this though there was the complete power, strength and freedom of a Bald eagle if you look closely.
While there I was reading and journaling through Romans and 1. Cor. it is amazing to look back at my journal and see what verses stuck out to me those days and the impact they had on me. Journaling though I may initially have not wanted to do it has proved itself invaluable over the past couple years in my walk with the Lord.
I have decided that over the next few entrees I will share some of these verses and my thoughts on this trip in these blogs and use this as an intro to that.

A fish

First off I was going to write about this on Friday night but decided to just relax do my bible study and read my magazines that I was behind on. In doing this I came to a little paragraph an Article called “Leading by Social Network”. Now it went into a bunch of ways next generation leaders are doing ministry. What happened was crazy, I went to this site only to find the topic for the day, to be exactly what I was going to write about. You will see an exert from this below. Check it out. Also church could pertained to this in Christians being the light of the world.
One night a few weeks ago I ended up having a random conversation with some random people at Granite City while have a quick dinner. While sitting there watching a tennis match on TV I some how got a conversation going with this girl about Christ and that I was a Christian. What I thought was a going to be a good conversation quickly turned not so good. As what was stated as Christians are those people with the Fish on the back of their cars who drive crazy and cut you off and won’t let you in. Next thing I know the bartender joins in also ( I was sitting at the bar eating my dinner as I usually do when I run in by myself). Now, not really a good thing as I am becoming pinned here. Well, I manage to turn it away from that and lead them to an understanding that not all Christians are like that and that we all make mistakes and in fact that is why I don’t even have a fish on the back of my car. Side track, this leads me to think this is funny from the site above.
“. Can your kids revoke your fish if you drive like a maniac? If you cut someone off or swear at someone in the church parking lot, can they say, "Pull over mom, I'm gonna need to put that fish in the glove compartment for a few days."”
It is so true as a Christian I feel that I can be really hypocritical at times as no one sees me get mad or annoyed or the things I say, want to say, or even think about that person that just cut me off or is driving really slow or even flies by me going way over the speed limit. This verse strikes me and makes me think about when I speed or am driving. Rom. 2:15 They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right. 16 And this is the message I proclaim—that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone’s secret life.
This story also goes with church this weekend in Matt. 5: 14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
How I act is exactly what others see and like my pastor says this weekend when I am careless the light goes out (or gets covered up) and the world gets a little bit darker.
Back to the story though, I don’t ever know what happened to that girl or the bartender but by the end of the night I think I had finally convinced at least the girl to give Church and Christ a try and she sounded if she would visit Willow Creek in Chicago where she was from as there was one fairly close.
All in all this really made me think about the impact I can have for Christ without evening knowing it just by my actions.

Inflation

Ok so how many people have complained about inflation over the past year? I know I myself have on Chipolte Burritos and Gasoline to name a few. Now Chipolte ok was only 10 cents but Gas that has jumped a dollar or more depending on they day seeing it was $2.50 a year ago Labor Day. Now that is a lot, but is this real a lot. I have heard about corn, rice and some other grains going up and even hay. I received a letter in the mail from an Organization that buys rice in 2000lbs. bags. They have seen the price jump from $340 a bag to $700 thus the cost of the meals they make have jumped from 15cents a meal to 17 cents. Now multiple that by the millions of meals they make. I think you get the idea. This led me to contact a friend and ask him about the price of corn. He has seen the price of corn in the last two years go from $2 a bushel to as high as $7 a bushel to where it currently sits at about $5.74. Now here is a quote from him, but I am not going to use his name for privacy sake “Because of the government ethanol mandate, global demand and a weak dollar corn prices have gotten higher than ever in the last two years.”

So my thought was this is kind of affecting me but I knew more because of past experiences and trips. See the boy in this picture? Well, he also has a type of inflation in his life. It is his stomach. Now I doubt this is because he ate to much like I did in the Boundary Waters this past weekend. No it is probably the start of Malnutrition. I met with a couple very smart people the last day or so to probe and find more information on a problem I already knew existed in a country I care about greatly. Well, this is what I found out. Corn in the Borana region of Ethiopia where I have visited both in 2007 and 2008 and where this boy is from, usually ranges from 50-150 Burr (their currency about 9Burr to 1 US dollar) depending on the drought and production and such. This guy has lived there for years and said this is the norm. I take him as a creditable source for this information. When he left Ethiopia this year corn was at 600 Burr. Now granted I don’t know the units of how much for this but I don’t care as of now. I thought about this, my gas that I complain about going from $2.50 a gallon to $10.00 a gallon or maybe even $15.00 a gallon that is 6 times as the corn in Borana is. Now this gas problem for me is an inconvenience if it got worse and would probably change some of my living habits to riding the bus, carpooling and other extra curricular activities would go away, but for the Borana people group and others like them it is a life or death sort of problem as they can’t afford to eat three meals a day maybe not even two some maybe four a week who knows.

So I asked more questions and probed farther. Like how do to support this region to prevent this and reach kids the kids for Christ? The options and answers are out there we just need to find them. Other areas of the world have problems also and you can see some on my links on the right of the page of projects and ways to help. I particularly have a passion and a heart for the Borana because I visited there and have friends there and maybe many of you do also or would like to hear more. Just contact me and let me know and I will go deeper into what I have learned. I am extremely blessed to live and be given what I have to this point in my life.

Here is some information and articles I have read as of late.

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1834334,00.html

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-08-17-ethiopia_N.htm?loc=interst

http://www.compassion.com/sponsordonor/global-food-crisis/default.htm

This is a new one. Check out some of the articles really made me think.

http://www.neueministry.com//onesabbath/

Faith

1Cor 13:2b if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.

Could you imagine having enough faith to move those mountains. There have been times that I have thought my faith was strong only to have my world shaken a little to make me go searching and even doubt at times. This is an amazing growth and learning experience even though it surely isn’t fun. In the end it is all that much more worth it when I look back. Lee Strobel says “ I knew that my fundamental trust in Jesus would be stronger, surer, more confident, more steadfast because it had been refined through the purifying fire of doubt.” Now think of this. How powerful fire truly is and yet how dangerous it can be if it gets out of control. Lee Strobel also says in the next page of The Case for Faith “If doubt and faith can co-exist, then this means people don’t have to fully resolve each and every obstacle between them and God in order to have an authentic faith.”
I find great comfort in knowing that I don’t need to know all the answers but that I just need to have faith in Him and Him alone.  Now this also is not always easy so I don't want you to think this is just like a simple walk in the park. 

Tough Lesson

Ever been slapped up side the head by a verse that you have read or been given from God’s word? I have. Before I left for Ethiopia in Feb. 08 we had a prayer night for the team. This evening I received a verse given to me by an amazing prayer warrior.

The verse was Is.40:29-31

29 He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. 30 Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. 31 But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

Everyone knows verse 31 but that isn’t what got to me. It was verses 29 and 30. For at the time I looked at this verse and being young I was like great this is perfect verse for me. I am going to trust in Him, focus on Him, stay strong in His word and in Prayer and I will do great, I will have power and strength as I do these things. It was actually motivating and kind of pumped me up. Well, little did I know what he had in store for me at the time. I head over to Ethiopia and things are going great except for the fact that I didn’t really drink a lot of water one day on the job site. Now seeing it was 120 degrees and extremely dry not paying attention to it through out the day was not a good thing. I was so task oriented and focused on getting the job done and ensuring that everyone had tasks and no one was bored or looking for something to do. That night and the following morning was a hit to my pride, my ego and who I was. The Lord had broken me. As I laid in bed that night with a headache and just in pain from being dehydrated and all the other fun things that go with that (I’ll spare the details). I drank lots of water, tried to sleep and went to my bible at which time I found this verse glaring at me. That was a wake up call….. It isn’t on me to lead this team as the Lord had humbled me and taken that from me by forcing me to my bed both that night and the following morning but it was me having the privilege to be used by God to serve these amazing people in the Ethiopians and our team.

As I returned to the US and had more time to think about this and post process the trip it was amazing to learn this, but also scary that I had to go that far away and those lengths to learn such a lesson. On top of it all. My parents had given me a shirt with the verse Is.40:31 on the front. What is scary is they did this without knowing anything about this lesson. This now serves as an amazing reminder of what I learned those days.

 

Whatever the Lord wants

Encouragement to grow in my faith comes each day when I look at the picture of the Ethiopian boy with a toothbrush/stick in his mouth.... Why? When asked what he wanted to do after school he said "whatever the Lord has planned."  This is amazing. Why?

Well I wasn't even close to being that strong in my faith when I was a high schooler yet this boy yet in High School and a very young Christian really truly has so much more when it comes to an eternal perspective. Seeing him and knowing his heart brings joy to my heart each and every day to see the work the Lord is doing through the work of others in the town of Yabello, Ethiopia.

To add a little more to this story this young boy was doing exactly what the Lord wanted him to do. That weekend when we went to a very small village to have a rural church service, guess who was one of our translators? You got it. This High School boy was doing the translating from Ahmharic to Oromo of the lessons shared by some of our team members. It is just amazing to see it all come together. The question I need to continually ask myself each and everyday is am I really willing to do whatever the Lord wants with my life like this young boy was at a much younger age?