Five days at headquarters

Driving through Iowa is more fun than most people realize. There's a great deal of sky that you don't see when you live in a river valley, and if you drive over half the state in one day, you get to see the sky a variety of colors. I passed an Amish event (the farmyard looked like a sale lot for carriages), I got stuck behind the slowest Missouri driver I've ever seen, and I saw a set of crosses with an empty, open tomb below; a statue of Jesus standing in front of it with his hands raised to heaven. This was in southern Iowa, arguably the top of the Bible belt.

I feel blessed to drive through Iowa on my way to and from Missouri this week, and not just for the beautiful sunlight and scenery. I got to visit my grandmother on the way down, and she seems to be doing well, despite the health difficulties and chemotherapy treatments. My grandfather I didn't get to see. He's back in the hospital and I don't know if he'll be out for Thanksgiving. It's starting to hit home for me that their days on earth are not long, and what they have left is going to be difficult for them and all the family around them. I cried much of the way to headquarters after that visit, which means that (yay for pale skin!) my eyelids are STILL puffy and darkly circular three days later.

Admittedly, it wasn't the best way to start my week at missionary candidate school, but the first official day was still excellent. I met a couple of my fellow candidates at breakfast, and we got to chat during prayer card photos. I've seen our former state director at meals (she now works at headquarters), and a couple of friends who are working here now have stopped to talk with me in the halls.

My new catchprase?

Next month I'm heading down to CEF headquarters in Warrenton, Missouri, to start some support-raising training!

But before I can do that, I need a new catchphrase uh, vision statement, in 20 words or less.

September

 I didn't complete this and post it last month because it felt a little personal, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to edit a lot of this out. Now that I'm looking at this at the end of October, this post is a perfect reminder to me of how far God has taken me in the last two months, as far as my financial situation is concerned. I never expected Him to take care of me during a financial crunch, and I certainly never expected His generous outpouring the last few weeks, thanks to my local CEF committee. But enough of now; here's my life from last month:

 Hudson Taylor was the "missionary of the summer" for 5-day club this year. He is also, in a Protestant sense if there is such a thing, the patron saint of having no money.

   I used to say to my friends with great jocularity, "Guys, I don't have any money." Then I'd, on occasion, take a sister to the movies or buy treats for a group of summer missionaries, because well, I had a little non-designated cash. Now, I can honestly say "I have no money." My bank account is almost empty.

   Why am I OK with this? I'll say one thing; I'm more than OK. I'm taken care of, I'm even satisfied. That sounds ridiculous; I'm even laughing at myself tonight; but it's true. Maybe it's selfish. I don't even know.

Things continue

My two comrades-in-arms, Faith and Kyla.
We got to work together at training, and since
then we've been running three different directions!

Now that summer is nearly over, I'm struggling to keep my eyes ahead.

All I really want to do is look back on the last few months and say, "Whew! I'm done!" But I need to plan and prepare for what's ahead, or else what's ahead will jump out at me like so many things this summer. I don't want that.

The treasure I've always had, but still missed.

   Last Wednesday I had a chance to go to a Good News Club where I had been the missionary of the year. It was their last day before school let out, so prizes were awarded and parents invited for supper and a presentation from their children afterward. The amazing woman who runs the club invited me to tell the story for the evening, and she said, “the kids would like to give you their missionary offering in person.” I thought alright, she must want to hand me a check for the money the kids raised. But, this lady being who she is, she had a very different idea.

Treating God as God

8/18/12
A few thoughts on...

Hosea 14:3
       We will never again say
       'Our gods' to what our 
       hands have made, for in 
       you the fatherless find compassion.

'Our gods' our hands have made - what I spend time with; creative time, relationship-building, loving time. What I invest my life in.
                     Turning in times of pain & distress to these things. Seeking advice or comfort when confused, love when I'm needy, direction when I'm aimless. Sacrificing for these things.

Ministry fail. You lose all your points.

"I'm sorry... I really didn't keep good records for my work last month," I muttered to the committee, feeling at first ashamed, then relieved when no one seemed to think this a yelling matter.

Amidst the sounds of understanding from the committee members, one joked, "Well we may have to fire you now."

I laughed, feeling like a weight had dropped off of me at their response. But the other committee members grew serious in an instant.

Not funny.

Weekend wedding

"So how was the wedding?" was the popular question at church today.

"Good," I said, qualifying that with "Nat and I are really tired."
Poor baby Natalie. She and I came home earlier than the rest of the family so we could work in the nursery this morning. We were both exhausted and a little sun-roasted, like July tomatoes. But Natalie came through like a trooper. As we walked out into the hot sunshine after church (and a VBS meeting neither of us had expected), I commented to Nat that at least neither of us was getting married today. "Or yesterday," she sighed. True that. One sister getting married yesterday was plenty!

Setting up tables under the grape arbor for the reception.

Manifesto

Christ has given me a purpose -- "from now on, you will catch men."

He entrusted the ministry of reconciliation to me!

Why do I doubt? I can't do his work -- obviously -- but he can.

I believe he will get me through school in his way, and that he'll educate me far beyond that.

I believe he will guide the people around me and draw my heart to the right person at the right time, so there's no reason for me to be concerned about it now.

I believe he will deepen my dependence on him. And I believe this one will be painful.

I believe he will heal my body and mind.

                      -- OK, I'm still having a hard time with this one. I'm still afraid he won't heal me and I'll mess            
                          everything up because I'm broken. But...

I believe he will use me for his glory even though I'm broken. His Spirit will move in me to touch others' lives.

I (in myself) am afraid. But I (in Him) am confident that He is not finished with me yet.

Spoiler alert: THE WAY = Jesus

So there Jesus was, about to die. He and his friends were finishing up some last-minute gospel teaching, but Jesus' message wasn't quite getting through to his friends.

"I will be with you only a little longer," Jesus said.

Simon Peter asked him, "Lord, where are you going?"

Jesus replied, "Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later."

Peter asked, "Lord, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you."

Peter wasn't the only one with questions: after Jesus told his disciples that he would take them where he was going one day, and that they knew the way to that place, Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"

Jesus didn't expect that his disciples had some sort of magical GPS that told them how to get to unknown destinations, but he did expect that they knew him, at least a little bit.

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Western Wisconsin, here I come! -- Oh wait. I'm already here!

I've just come on staff with Child Evangelism Fellowship.

This is crazy exciting!!

Keats, Harry Potter, and the Matrix. Because I'm not a Poet.

Who was it who said, "a thing of beauty is a joy forever?"
Ah yes.
It was John Keats in his poem Endymion, and I think he was wrong.

Exciting Stuff!

265 children were reached during the La Crosse Interstate Fair with 85 professing faith in Jesus Christ. Exciting?? Yes!

One more exciting thing: they were reached by teenagers from Western Wisconsin!

When you put those two things together, you may see what I see...

Teen Mentorship

A study by the Barna Group indicated that 6% of teens listed “pastors or other religious leaders they know personally” as their top role models, while 6% listed “entertainers (including musicians and actors)” - an interesting similarity in statistics.
But even with parents excluded from the role model survey (they had been the top response at first), a "close relation" to the teen came out at the top (37%).

Unfortunately, as the president of the Barna Group pointed out, "teens rarely identified spiritual mentors" in the survey.
 

Teach Me to Breathe

I had never thought of this before today, but perhaps... perhaps I've looked at my relationship with God backwards.

In my Sunday school class this week, our teacher mentioned how our brains eventually learn how to multitask, so we can walk and chew gum and talk on the phone all at the same time!

But while we are conscious of doing all this things, on a deeper level, our brain is controlling the function of our heart, lungs, eyes, and nerve endings. We aren't conscious of it, but our heart is beating and we are breathing as we walk, talk and chew.


So.
Instead of consciously thinking about God all the time - impossible to do; I know, I've tried - I need part of my brain to automatically think of Him when trials come or I see something beautiful. I need, in short, a sub automatic mental function that connects to my spiritual consciousness.

But I never had to train my brain to make me breathe on its own. I have had to strengthen my lungs to gain a greater air capacity, but my brain already knew to make me breathe without my help. But don't you think the same God, who made my brain keep me alive automatically, could make me able to run to Him automatically?