In search of one word....

Did you have fun?  Did you have a good time?  This is the most frequently asked question of me since we returned almost two weeks ago from Guatemala.  And I find myself increasingly frustrated trying to find an answer.   There is not one word that seems to really convey all that we experienced.

Members of our team were challenged at the end of each day to think about one word that would help them remember what they had experienced.  One word.  They could write in in their daily journal pack or they could write it on the "word wall" that we kept for the week.  Something to encompass the day.  But to have one word for the entire week is a bigger challenge.  These are just a few that come to mind - in no particular order:

Heart-wrenching 

Compelling

Powerful

Exhausting

Exhilarating 

Uplifting

Joyous

Bumpy

Nauseating

Convicting

Motivating

Enlightening

Delightful

Challenging

But even these seem inadequate.  Guess I will keep searching.

The day I took a homeless man to lunch. (almost)

It was, decidedly, a bizarre day.  I was already sporting a mighty-sized headache after an emotional morning.  But the seat in my car was loaded with returns, and I just wanted them gone.  With one stop done, I headed out to the next place on the list.  I pulled up to the light and came to a stop.  Eye to eye with the homeless man holding a sign about his current state.  I sighed.  My window was already open.  Seriously.  I flashed back to the previous times I have dealt with this - (and even written about it here and here).  I knew what I had to do.  or so I thought.  

I asked the man how he got to be in this place.  He admitted right off the bat he had gotten himself into some legal trouble was fresh out of jail.  The family he had in the area pretty much refused to acknowledge he existed.  He was clean enough and well spoken. He said he was looking for work.  I asked him what kind of skills he had.  He did day laborer jobs where he could find them, but lamented that no one wants to hire the guy that checks the box on the job application that admits conviction of a crime.  “I guess I need to lie to get a job”.  

Yes, all this took place while at a red light.  It’s a long light.  I told him I would pray for him.  He said he knew God was leading him in the right direction.  I was encouraged.  I gave him $20 bucks.  I asked him his name.  "DJ.  DJ Collins.”  

I drove away, glad to pray for DJ Collins.  I was so impressed with myself that I remembered to ask his name (when this has happened before, I have always forgotten to ask).  I was pleased at the “growth” I had shown since my last encounter of this kind.  You know.   Because it's all about me.

My next stop, ironically, was the bank.  And while sitting at the ATM, I could not get DJ out of my mind.  How easily I took greenbacks from the machine, replacing in a second what I had already handed over.  I found myself thinking about heading back across the street.  "Just give him the the rest" is what a voice was saying.  "CRAZY!” I said back!  SO, I didn’t go across the street.  I went to do my next return.  But, about half way there, the voice got louder. GO back.  GO take him to lunch.  GO find out his story.  My head was pounding - but so was my heart.  What kind of crazy idea is that?  Yes, let’s have this middle-aged mom in the mini-van  go pick up some random homeless guy and take him to Chili’s for lunch.  

Yet, somehow, my van made a u-turn and was heading back to DJ.  I had it all planned out.  To minimize the risk, we’d sit outside at the Chili’s with lots of public exposure.  I’d pay in cash.  Never tell him my last name.  Maybe I would have an idea for his employment. It would be great.

Alas, by the time I got back there , DJ was no where to be found.  Frankly, my heart kind of fell. I scoured the parking lots on both sides of the street to no avail. 

I have no idea what to make of this experience.  I am not that person who talks to strangers on the street - frankly, I spent years ignoring them when I lived in DC.  I don’t do things like this.  And yet, here I am disappointed that I missed out on a opportunity to have lunch with a homeless man.   Honestly, I wondered at some point today if aliens had taken over my brain and control of my car this afternoon.  The whole experience has left me feeling very unsettled.  Which usually means God is up to something and I’d better pay attention.

So, I will pray for DJ.  DJ Collins.

Mother and Daughter on a Mission

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good"  (I Cor. 12:4-7)

As a high school youth, I went on several mission trips.  I will never forget - the first trip was to a spot in Maine - we were quarantined for a few days because one of the participants got measles - unheard of at the time!  However, I also installed a faucet, used power tools and hung sheet rock - also previously unheard of at the time!  In the ensuing years our group traveled to western Pennsylvania and South Carolina.  I helped put a roof on a house, pushed wheel barrows full of cement for a sidewalk, and helped build the foundation of a home that would house a victim of Hurricane Hugo.  It's been 25 years and the memories from these trips are still vivid in my mind.  I remember the elderly woman who did not have running water - and the mostly toothless smile she gave us when we turned on the faucet in her new bathroom.  I remember the small child who ran around the Habitat for Humanity worksite while his parents worked with us side-by-side on the house that would some day be their own.  They were life changing moments - faith in action that led to a leap in spiritual growth with every trip.  We were young and unskilled in every way imaginable - yet God still used us for the "common good".

Twenty-six years later, my teen age daughter and I will take a slightly bigger leap and take the same Spirit of mission to a global level.  We are off to Guatemala in July with an intergenerational group of fellow church members to begin what will hopefully be a long-term relationship with the village of la Cumbre. As the world has changed, so has the need increased for us to seek opportunities to connect face-to-face with people in different countries.  Technological advances have brought us pictures of conditions in which many people "live", but the overload of information can de-sensitize us to those conditions.  

Last summer, one of the women at our church gave a sermon where she asked "Who is our neighbor?".  My hope is that, after Kimberly and I present our physical selves for service and mission for La Cumbre, we will be spiritually changed in a way that upon our return we can bear witness to others to an increase in compassion for our neighbors, both near and far.

We'd love to share our journey, so we'll be posting updates here as we prepare for our trip.  Perhaps Kimberly will guest blog!  In the meantime, you can see details of our trip, the organization we will partner with, and the fundraising goal our team is hoping to reach here

We'd love your support as we seek to follow where God is leading us!

Worms, Anchors and Encouragement from Beyond the Grave

It has been a rather mundane kind of a day.  Up early, kids and hubby off to work.  Exercise done.  Breakfast (grapefruit and yogurt. again).  Then to work attacking the list of goals for the day.  We have a busy weekend and, despite no one being home much of the week, the house looks like something exploded. Laundry cleaned on Monday still sits in the middle of the family room, unfolded and waiting in the basket for someone to show it some love.  That was today.  Filling my role in this house as the one who eats the leftovers, folds the laundry no one ever got around to folding, and picks up the loose ends.  Some days I hate this role - but today it was OK.  

It was also a day to make more progress on the great purge of 2014.  After years of things piling up, we are taking a good look at what we really keep and parting with much of it.  On cutting block today was 7 years of completed bible studies.  I have kept every single study I have ever done.  I guess I thought if I ever did that topic again, I'd go look up what I wrote and see how time changed my thinking.  Today out they went - with the thinking that if I do again come across that topic in the future, I should not be bound by previous answers, but seek to find the answers I need in that current time frame.  And, (bonus!), I freed up an ENTIRE shelf on the book case to properly store my growing resources related to special needs ministry.

It has been a season of reflecting, cleaning, letting go.  Not doing anything new till we clean up what we already started.  Earlier this week I gave a devotional about worms (yes, really).  I was struck by the way they move.  First they shrink up, and when they do tiny bristles stick out and grip the area around them to hold them in place.  Kind of like an anchor that holds them in place while they get ready to move.  They anchor themselves before they move any further forward and stretch themselves.  I compared this to our journey as Christians.  After a season of growth, we need to shrink up a bit, make sure our anchor is in place before moving forward and taking the next step.  

I keep wondering when this current season of anchoring will be over. I have felt the slight rumbling in the soul that it's almost time.  SO, I got chuckle today from something else I stumbled across.  A card - from a dear gentleman who has since passed into the arms of Jesus.  It was a thank you card for a visit to him - but it's the last words he wrote that were the reason I kept the card.  Really, they were the last real words he said to me as he passed away just a few months later. 

"You are one who does things, not just thinking about them."  

I guess it's time.
Thank you, Charles.