Jesus With Skin On

I don't really have the words to describe the kind of love I saw in action the past two weeks in Ethiopia.  I've heard the term "Jesus with skin on" tossed around, but I'm not sure I ever really grasped its full meaning until I watched my two friends Yemamu and Sisay in Korah.  God has uniquely positioned them to minister to this community.  They both grew up in Korah.  Yemamu's parents both suffer from leprosy - his father can't see most of the time and his mother lost her leg to the disease.  Sisay lost his father many years ago to sickness.  They can relate to the pain and the suffering that exists in Korah because they have lived it.  They have scavenged at the trash dump from the age of 12 for food or metals to sell.  You might think this would harden them, but in fact, the opposite has happened.  These men care deeply for the community they grew up in and have chosen to stay and help the people in Korah.

The people in this community are oppressed by disease, death, hunger and poverty. Korah literally means "cursed". These people are outcasts in their own city because of their poverty and disease.  But through their actions, Yemamu and Sisay are helping to break the power of the label that has been put on this community. They are breathing life into dead things, bringing beauty from the dirt, filling emptiness with love and hope.


I was in awe of the humility and gentleness that Yemamu and Sisay exuded.  They were never in too much of a hurry.  They crossed busy streets to greet people, taking the time to ask how they were.  They stopped walking when a little one pulled on their arm, wanting their attention.  They bent low to look the children in the eyes.

They carried with them any leftover food they had and gave it to the beggars on the street - always.  They wrapped their arms around the suffering. 

They gently led blind women to chairs.  They cleaned gaping wounds day after day. 

They looked a young, raped girl in the eyes and offered her hope when everyone around her offered her judgment.  They rolled up the hem of my jeans to protect them from the mud. They walked through a garbage dump to find boys who needed food. 

They gave shirts off their backs and belongings out of their own home to those who needed them.  They went straight to the people who no one wanted anything to do with. 

In a community full of outcasts they were present and engaged.  They radiated love and spoke value and worth to hearts who were convinced they were garbage. 

I witnessed Jesus with skin on.  Again and again.

Before I start sharing stories I wanted you to know where it all started - with two men dedicated to sacrificing for the least of these...giving all they are for the sake of the vulnerable, that the "cursed" would have hope and live in the abundance of joy they were meant to have.  Simply beautiful. 

Together, they run a feeding program (and so much more!) called Hands for the Needy Ethiopia.  What God has done in just one year to bring this organization into being is beyond words.  There have been so many hurdles and difficulties along the way, but last week they received the final piece of paper they needed to officially begin feeding the children.  I am amazed, humbled and privileged to be a part of the work they are doing in Korah.  And I know the best is yet to come...

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor...to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve — to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God. Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance.

- Isaiah 61

I remember...

I'm back from Ethiopia...well, at least my body is back.  I'm quite sure I left most of my heart there.  I find myself immediately hit with the reality of my life here...work emails to catch up on, grocery runs to make, kids to spend time with, bills to pay, a calendar to manage.  But in the all the scurry and madness that marks our lives here in America, I remember. 

I remember the faces of children being fed more than one meal a day for the first time...

I remember the dirty dwellings falling apart that house people full of joy or in deepest pain...

I remember the garbage dump where people scavenge for food...

I remember the face of a handicapped girl playing soccer with one foot...

I remember the young girl raped and her son who held the dirty bottle that his grandma had found in the dump for him...

I remember the the face of the man who grew up scavenging in the dump, caring for the young orphaned boy who lives there now...

I remember that hope springs up in the most unlikely places...

I remember that I find my life when I'm willing to lose it for someone else. 

I have a lot to share about this last trip to Ethiopia.  A LOT.  But, I'm going to take my time.  I want to do justice to what I saw and experienced, so I'm going to slow down and allow myself time to process and then share my stories with you.  I can tell you that the past two weeks have been the most humbling weeks in my life.  I have seen what God looks like when He puts on skin and walks around loving people and it has stirred me in ways I didn't anticipate.  Can't wait to share more with you guys...thanks for being patient with me as I process.  Much, much more to come!

Live Your Story

I'm an emotional wreck today...but of the best kind. I'm not sure what it is about today, but my heart is so full... so expectant. 

Two years ago on September 7th I flew to Uganda - my first time setting foot on African soil. Next week on September 7th I will fly to Ethiopia. It's impossible to describe what has happened in the past two years in my life and in my heart. You might call it revelation or awakening. Whatever you call it, it has changed my world, my faith and my desires. It has made me more alive than I've ever been and has brought me into a fuller understanding of who God is. These are not small things. I am not who I was.

I listened to my friend, Tom Davis tell his story last night and was struck with the redemptive beauty of what God creates out of our stories. You and I are stories in progress. "The End" won't be written on our lives until we meet God face to face someday. He is writing our stories. The God of the universe is authoring our lives. Through conflicts, valleys, mountaintops, the mundane...He is writing something amazing with us. And all of our stories are a part of a larger volume that is shaping the direction of the world.

It's been said many times before, but it bears repeating: We are not meant to live our lives on the sidelines, watching a great event unfold. Our lives are to be part of the action, part of the story. We weren't designed to sit in a seat shoving our faces full of foot longs and nachos while the people on the field sprint, kick, push and score. We are not meant to be onlookers! Even Adam and Eve at the beginning of creation were given a purpose! I have been an onlooker most of my life...thinking that what other people were doing was great, but it wasn't something I'd be good at, or it wasn't anything I had a desire to do. So I stayed glued to my seat while the excitement of participating in something important blew right past me.

The past two years have shaken me out of my idleness. There is absolutely nowhere else I'd rather be than in the middle of the action...in the thick of the story. Because God doesn't just write a story to write a story. He writes stories with our lives because He does things through them - through us! He draws people to Him, He brings people out of darkness, He feeds and clothes people, He fills them with joy, He shows people their value, He redeems broken, ugly things and makes them beautiful.

At the crux of being a willing participant in the story God has for us is surrendering. I have had to set aside all of my ideas of what my life should look like and say "God, I want YOU and what YOU want for me more than I want anything else in my life. There is nothing else I desire - just You." I don't want to settle for ordinary, when God is calling me to a crazy, wild adventure with Him. Does it scare me? YES!!!!!!!!!!!! When we look at the people in the Bible who were close friends with Jesus, it didn't end too well for most of them...beheadings, prison stays, beatings, hanging upside down on crosses...being stoned to death. As they walked with Jesus they often didn't know where their next meal was coming from or where they would lay their head or what a single day would hold. BUT. Their willingness to be a part of the story Jesus had for them changed the course of history. A band of 12 men started the spread of the gospel all over the world. They healed the sick. They spoke boldly and did miraculous things in the face of danger because they believed living out God's story for them was more important than anything that could harm their physical bodies.

I want that. Even when the world may look at me and think the way I live my life is crazy and doesn't make sense and that I'm more than a little "out there". I want God's story for me more than I want my own comfort. More than I want safety and security. More than I want the American dream. More than I want to be liked.  More than I want the things that make me happy. My happiness and joy is found in living out the story God is writing with my life.

This trip to Ethiopia is just another chapter in my story, but I have this unshakable sense that it will be a defining one. I have a high anticipation of how God is going to show up...I'm not just excited about the trip - I am expectant and hungry for what God will do and how He will reveal Himself. I just want more of Him. I want people there to experience Him in profound and real ways that leave them no room for doubt. Heck, I want that for myself!!

So, I'm embracing my story - the one that has already been written (despite some of its ugliness and darkness) and the continued story that I have yet to experience. God is good, guys. Even when our circumstances are not, God is. And He's worth everything. It's all trash apart from Him.

Praying that we not only embrace the story God is writing with our lives, but that we pursue it, that we seek it, that we run after it with all that we are.

Psalm 107
Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story— those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things. He brought them out of darkness, the utter darkness, and broke away their chains. Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, He sent out his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave. Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love!

Bending Low

"Our only real Home is Christ and Cross, and the cross is endlessly raised where the poor bow. The poor give us this — turn us from the illusion of climbing ladders and never invite us to go higher, but to come lower — to where Christ is — to the lonely, the lost and the least.

It’s our burden of stuff that blinds us and the real danger of wealth is that it causes us to lose our vision — our vision of Christ.

 

The poor might release the rich and the rich might release the poor and only Christ can release us all from blindness to really see — and it is contemplating the love of Christ that makes us act out the love of Christ."

 - Ann Voskamp

Shedding This Skin

"Some of the impossible things we're believing God for will never happen in our lives if we stand in hope instead of walking in faith." -Steven Furtick

I'm typing these words while I'm smiling and shaking my head at myself.  Why do I doubt God's care and provision?  What is it that sometimes makes me think that His words are for everyone else but me?  1 John 5:14 says "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.  And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him."  But, I've got to fess up...I don't live like God has heard me.  Often, I live a "well, wouldn't it be nice if this would actually work out" kind of life...a life of small faith.  My small faith protects me from disappointment when things don't go the way I thought they would or should.  My small faith keeps me from having to face hard questions or do scary things.

How sad.  Because I love and serve a HUMONGOUS God who desires that I have a humongous faith.  And slowly and surely, I think I just might be taking baby steps towards a faith that does more justice to the faithfulness and character of the God I serve.  I think that at the root of my small faith is fear. Big, ugly, nasty fear. Fear that God might not come through and so I don't want to risk anything just in case. My friend, Cozette shared something a few nights ago that struck a huge chord with me. Do I live under an orphan mentality or an adoption mentality? Orphans are alone...they cling to what they have because they don't know if they'll get more. They have no one to trust and no one to care for them. But as an adopted daughter of the ultimate Father, I can trust His love for me. I can know that at His very core he is Daddy...full of love and goodness. I know that He only desires my good. I can trust that if He removes something from my hand, it's only so that He can fill it up with something better. He is not a taker. He is a Giver...every good and perfect gift comes from Him.

We talked at church on Wednesday night about Isaiah 41 where God says that we don't have to fear because He is our God and will strengthen and HELP us.  It seems like a relatively simple truth when you first read it:

God wants to help us.  GOD wants to help us.  God WANTS to help us.  God wants to HELP us.  God wants to help US. 

Suddenly, what is simple becomes beautiful and somewhat unbelievable!  And yet it is true.  We have nothing to fear because God always gives us what we need.  He always provides.  I have seen it time and time again.

...Growing up my dad was laid off for months and we didn't have money to pay the bills.  So, as a family we  prayed together and asked God to provide for us.  People anonymously sent us money to pay the bills just when we needed them...over and over again until my dad got a job.

...I lost a college scholarship due to funding issues and my tuition was due...I faced having to drop out.  One night while vaccumming at Eddie Bauer where I worked, I found a loose diamond among the dust bunnies on the floor.  I turned it in, but since no one claimed it, it was given to me since I had found it.  I sold it and paid my tuition.

...After being awakened to the orphan crisis in Africa, we felt like we were supposed to go to Uganda to witness it firsthand.  We had no money for the trip but people donated their sky miles to us for free tickets and God provided the rest through amazing people who just gave us the money.

...We knew we were supposed to adopt, but had $1,000 out of the $25,000 needed to start the process.  God said to start anyway.  So we did and little by little money showed up out of nowhere to pay all our expenses. 

...We got to the point in our adoption where it was time to book our tickets to go to Ethiopia to get our son.  It was so expensive!  We booked two roundtrip tickets but only the charge for one ticket showed up in our bank account.  I called the airline to tell them that we weren't charged for the other ticket.  After hours on the phone, the lady said "I don't know what to tell you, ma'am.  Your ticket has been paid for." Well, okay then!

...And then it came time to go to Ethiopia again to work with a feeding program.  Financial hurdle after financial hurdle was thrown at me.  Three weeks ago I had zero dollars for this trip.  Today I am almost fully funded.

...We wanted to take water filter straws to Ethiopia for the 150 kids in the feeding program so that they can stick their staw into any dirty water and have it enter their bodies as clean water.  That's $1500 to raise in the next two weeks.  I got an email last night from someone saying that it was no problem and they'd write a check and fully fund all 150 kids with clean water straws!

...I mentioned the need for used clothing for the kids and it looks like I'll have 4 suitcases worth to take.

...My church just talked about generosity on Wednesday night and challenged us all to choose one thing that is valuable to us and sell it.  The proceeds from these items will be given to me to take to the leper colony when I go for needs that arise on the ground for these people.

Yes, indeed.  "Do not fear, for I am your God....I will strengthen and help you."  And He has.  Over and over again.  He is always moving...always working...always willing to help.  We need but ask.  Asking propels us forward out of our small faith into the realms of possibility that exist with our humongous God. 

Get me out of this skin that keeps God small and me safe! I want to shed it and leave it far behind.  His love is so wide, so high, so deep...no one can fathom how He desires to move on men's behalf!

An Afternoon Well Spent

Today wasn't unlike any other day off work for me.  I had bills to pay, a grocery run to make, a house to clean, laundry to do, children to spend time with, dinner to get ready, emails to respond to...you get the idea. But for the past few days since writing my last blog post about how compassion is ultimately about relationship, I just haven't been able to shake something. 

Bear with me as I try to put to words what is even difficult for me to identify in my own heart.  I am passionate about orphans and issues of poverty.  My heart is especially drawn to Ethiopia, where my son came from.  I spend a significant amount of time trying to advocate and develop relationships with people in Ethiopia who are doing great work to help those in need.  Sometimes people will tell me how great it is that I'm doing these things.  And it IS great!  But, guess what?  It's easy for me in so many ways.  It's what I'm passionate about...it's where my heart is...it's how I want to be spending my time.  It's not really hard for me to do because I LOVE it!!  Many of these interactions and relationships are with people across an ocean, which is fine, BUT what about the people right here where I live? 

This started me thinking about how God says to "love your neighbor as yourself".  I've done a great deal of soul searching in past years that has lead me to realize that my neighbors are in Africa, but they are also right here.  I feel like sometimes I'm so busy with what I do in Africa that I forget to open my eyes and see what's right in front of my face. And sometimes, to see what is right in front of you, you have to be intentional.  

So, today, the kids and I decided to go downtown to Acacia Park, where many homeless people hang out, and take them lunch.  I was going to just make peanut butter sandwiches and take down bottled water, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt like I was supposed to do something more.  So, I packed up the kids, hauled them to Subway and bought $50 worth of subs.  I know I'd prefer a Subway sandwich to PB&J any day, and I just felt like I was to sacrifice for the people we met.  On the drive downtown, the kids and I talked for 15 minutes about what we were doing and why.  Really, the only exposure they have had to homelessness in the U.S. was about a month and a half ago when we were eating downtown on the outside patio and a homeless man named Ron came up to us and struck up a conversation for 15 minutes.  We gave him some cash and explained the basics of his situation to the kids afterward.  So, when I started explaining what we might see, Ella said "Oh!  You mean like that man, Ron we met?".  Yep.  

So, we pulled up to the park and I took a few minutes to pray with the kids before we got out of the car.  Tariku prayed and asked God to help us show love to the people we gave food to.  Precious, considering his own personal history with hunger.  We finished praying and I was strangely not nervous at all.  I was excited to see what the afternoon would bring.  So, we got out of the car and started walking down the street. We got to the corner to cross over into the park, and guess who walked around the corner at that very moment? Ron.  I almost started laughing out loud at the opportunity.  I called his name and at first he didn't answer, so I called it louder, realizing it's probably been a very long time since anyone has called him by name.  He looked up and recognized us instantly.  I gave him a hug and told him we were so glad we ran into him.  I asked him how he was and he started telling us how he had gotten jumped a week ago and was in the hospital for four days with broken ribs and other injuries.  The guy who jumped him stole his backpack with all of his belongings so now he is starting over.  We hung out for a while with Ron and gave him a sub and a cold water.  He just kept talking with us.  As our conversation drew to a close, I asked him if it would be okay if we prayed for him.  So, my three little ones and I put our hands on him right there on the corner and prayed for God to provide for him, protect him and help him get back on his feet.  He had a tear in his eye as we all said Amen together.  We all hugged him and told him we'd be praying for him and that we'd look for him again soon.  

How cool is that?!  Not even 60 seconds out of our car and there was Ron.  The kids and I talked immediately about how God answered our prayer to be able to bless someone and how important it was to take time to spend with the people we were bringing food to.  Sweet little Tariku said that what we should have done was take him to buy a new backpack.  DUH!!  How come it can be so obvious to children what needs to be done?!  

Anyway, we spotted an elderly man curled up on the ground in the shade napping with his arms tightly around his pack.  I gently tucked a sandwich bag under his arm and we left.  Tariku said I did a good job not waking him up. :) Then we walked over to a group of guys who were hanging out on some rocks.  I just told them that we had some extra subs if they were interested.  Their faces lit up and of course they said yes. So, we sat down and talked with Sam, from Southern Arizona and Connan from Colorado Springs.  They kept saying how nice it was of us to give them subs.  I told them that as a family we were learning together how to care about the people around us, whether we know them or not and they kindly affirmed that we were doing a good job. :)  We hung out for a little bit while they ate and just talked.  

After that, all 10 subs were gone, so we walked about 100 feet to the fountain and the kids ran into the water to play.  Not long after that, I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I turned around to see Connan.  He was eating the rest of the sub that I had watched him put in his pants pocket for later.  He asked me my name again and I told him.  Then he just said that he couldn't get over what a nice thing we had done for him.  He said we were like angels. :)  I asked him to tell me his story. It was then that he said how rough things were for him.  He showed me the scar on his throat from where he had a tracheotomy.  He said that he was 31 and had had a job before he was diagnosed with a certain disease (I'm blanking on it right now) and had spent an extended period of time hospitalized.  He now is mildly disabled due to his illness.  He told me that life had just been very hard and that he was a hard worker but no one would hire him due to his disability.  I told him that I was sorry he had encountered that kind of hardship in his life, but that I firmly believed God had plans for his life and that he could count on that. I told him that I believed in the love of God and that He hears us when we pray and that I would commit to praying for him.  I gave him a hug and he thanked me again for taking the time to talk with him and feed him.  

And there you have it...he thanked me for taking the time to talk with him.  It's exactly what I was getting at in my blog post a few days ago.  People want our presence.  And today, I took the time to give it.  Why in the world don't I do that more often?!  It was so great to do this with my children and have them be an active part.  I am so thankful that God is showing me it only takes willingness and intention to live compassionately toward the people around me.  I can't wait to do this again and again with my kids and teach them how to look for opportunities wherever they are to stop, listen and give of themselves.  

I'm so glad God puts up with me. I can be so slow to see the obvious.  I'm so thankful for my experience with my kids this afternoon.  Praying that I can see those around me who could use some time and attention.  Praying that I'm willing to give it, no matter how uncomfortable...no matter the cost.  Because it's beautiful.

Just Be

When among the suffering we find that they do not so much need the skills of our hands or the knowledge of our minds as they do the compassion of our hearts. It is as if the suffering person extends an invitation to us saying ‘Before you do anything FOR me, please come alongside me. Enter into communion with me so that you can BE with me in my pain. Walk alongside me as my friend and companion.’ – Trevor Hudson

I love this quote because I think it houses a very important truth for us: Compassion is ultimately about presence. An outflow of compassion can be giving of our finances, resources and skills, but at the end of the day while those things might help display a compassionate heart, compassion is really about relationship. Compassion is about coming alongside someone in the midst of their pain and struggle and just being there. Pain involves discomfort. Entering into someone else’s struggle IS uncomfortable. But, it’s how life is meant to be lived. It’s how we know that love is genuine…we intentionally enter the murkiness of someone’s situation because that’s what love does. It gets dirty. It is willing to suffer with someone.

I don’t know about you, but my instinct is to fix whatever situation is causing pain. And sometimes, we CAN do things that help fix a problem. But I have come to realize that there are just some situations that I can’t fix (yeah, I’m a little slow on the uptake sometimes!). There are many difficult circumstances in which I can’t offer anyone anything but myself. Problems caused by extreme poverty like I’ve witnessed in Africa can send me running to put my head in the sand because they are so overwhelming. But it’s precisely my interactions with people in some of those extremely difficult situations that have helped me to see that Trevor Hudson is right on… People in pain want our presence. They want to know that someone cares. More than they want us to DO something for them, they want us to BE with them.

I saw this played out in Africa so many times. I would visit with people in impossible situations and they wouldn’t ask me for anything. Not a penny, not a drop of water, not a bit of food. Nothing. They would simply thank me for coming and spending time with them. It was so humbling…so astounding to me.

I find myself again about to go back to Africa. A leper colony called Korah in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia has captured my heart and I can’t get back fast enough. Most of the trips I have gone on in the past have rushed me from one community to another, and I’ve tried to take in as much as possible in as little time as possible. These trips have left me with crucial glimpses into the realities others face in the world, but with little time to just “BE” with the people that I met.

So, that is what this upcoming trip is all about. Just being with the people. I have no intention to run from once place to another trying to fit a bunch of stuff in. Aside from providing some clean water filters, doing some fun activities with the kids in the feeding program, and providing some basic medical attention, I don’t really even have big plans to be “doing” things for the people I spend time with. This time around I just want to be present. I want to hear their stories, share meals together, hold their children, laugh with them, cry with them, pray with them. I want them to know they are valuable. I want to KNOW them.

Yemamu and his father

My friend, Yemamu, is Ethiopian and runs a NGO (non-government organization) called Hands for the Needy in Korah. He grew up in Korah with his parents who both have leprosy. His father begs in the city and his mother embroiders trying to make a living. Yemamu has chosen to stay in Korah, despite opportunities he has received to leave it. He wants to help the people in his community. He has just started a feeding program in Korah and so we are going to serve alongside him and get to know the people he is helping in hopes of establishing long term relationships. I hope to come back with some very practical ways that we can help partner with Yemamu in the work that he is doing in Korah. I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to spending an extended period of time in one place with one group of people.

So...who, you might ask, am I going to Ethiopia with??  Well, I wish my hubby could go with me this time around, but he'll be getting back from a trip to Swaziland the day before I leave for Ethiopia.  So, not this time. But, I am going with some GREAT people!

Meet Lindsey.  She's a fellow adoptive mama to two precious little Ethiopian angels (and soon to another girl from Thailand!), a children's author, an attorney, a blogger, an orphan advocate, an Africa lover...and I could go on and on.  While all those things are great, I just love her because she knows how to love God, love people.  We are lucky enough to have her fireman hubby, Le, come along with us too! Poor guy...the only male among us crazy women! I am so glad he will be joining us!  Hope he feels the same way by the time it's all said and done!   

Meet Abbey.  She just moved to Colorado Springs about a month ago and she is a nurse who wants to use her skills in Ethiopia with me.  I truly can't tell you what having her along on this trip will mean! Medical help is invaluable!! I met her right after she moved here and asked if she'd be interested in joining us and she willingly jumped right on board! Love that!  I’m not going to go into all the details, but suffice it to say that we both have some unforeseen, crazy, God size financial hurdles to overcome in the next week.  However, this past week I have seen God provide in some really cool ways, which is so encouraging!

My church has set up a way for funds to be donated that are tax deductible that will go directly to my Ethiopia trip. It’s really humbling and frankly more than a little embarrassing to be an adult fundraising for a $2,000 trip to Ethiopia but I feel like I just need to humble myself and put the need out there. These people are worth it!!  If you feel so inclined, you can click HERE and donate online, being certain to note “Amy Savage Ethiopia Trip” in the notes section. If you prefer to mail a check, please indicate “Amy Savage Ethiopia Trip” in the memo section and it can be sent to:

The Movement Church
PO Box 62891
Colorado Springs, CO
80962-2891 

Oh, and just in case you come away with the wrong idea…we can practice the gift of presence anytime, anyplace and with anyone. You don’t have to go to Ethiopia to find someone who needs you to come alongside them (although I highly recommend it!).  I’m learning that if we just slow down and take the time to open our eyes, we’ll see that there are lots of people in need of a little presence. They may be in our families, down our streets or through the doors of our workplaces. They are there. And they need compassion in the form of companionship and presence.  I hope we choose to see them.

Mamba

Sometimes there are no words and I know that my feeble attempt at them right now will not do justice to a sweet, seven year old boy named Mamba who died in Swaziland yesterday.  But bear with me, because I think there is a message for us to hear in the midst of this.

If you don’t know, my husband Ben works for Children’s HopeChest, which is an incredible organization working to care for and protect vulnerable children around the world. While he works with multiple countries, his main country of focus due to HopeChest’s large presence there, is Swaziland. Swaziland is a beautiful, heartbreaking little country in the southern part of Africa. HIV/AIDS is so prevalent there that it’s estimated if something’s not done soon to curb the virus that the country itself will be extinct in a matter of decades. Can you imagine? Almost an entire generation has already been wiped out due to the virus as well as other factors.

That said...Swaziland’s terrain is stunning.

Its people are beautiful inside and out.

Hope is springing up.

But sometimes hope must be clawed at and fought for. That's what the Thulwane community in Swaziland is doing today - fighting not to lose sight of hope.  

This week a spunky little boy named Mamba died. He was a sponsored child through a HopeChest Care Point who came for meals, laughter and love. He was played with, held and adored…most recently by his sponsor who was just in Swaziland a few weeks ago visiting him and working at the Care Point.

A few days ago, his step-father was heard telling Mamba’s mother that he was going to kill her and her children. Yesterday, when Mamba was missing, Hope Chest staff searched for him.  They horrifically found him hung from a tree.  He was seven years old. 

The precious little guy you see at the top of this post was senselessly murdered.  As I was listening to Ben on the phone telling me all of this, I was undone. This act was horrific and evil at its core. He was an innocent child.

I cried for Mamba, who must have been so full of fear and confusion in his last moments of life.  But now I'm angry.  Not at God, but at the enemy who loves to keep us from remembering we are in an all out war on this earth.  It's a war between good and evil, hope and despair, justice and injustice and love and hate.  I immediately thought of 1 Peter 5:8, which says "Be self controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."  And it's true.  Jesus said it Himself - "the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy" and he will stop at nothing to do it. He will use disease, poverty, hunger, anger, war, relational brokenness...anything he can get his ugly hands on to bring devastation.  This doesn't mean we just give up and live in fear. He doesn't get the last word. Ann Voskamp says that "the enemy is a lion on a leash", and he is. There will be a day where none of this pain and senseless violence will exist.  Until then, God has given us hearts to beat as His, feet to run into the thick of battle, arms to throw around those who suffer, and voices that shout aloud for the mighty power and justice of God to come down.

My anger over what happened to Mamba must drive me to my knees.  When things like this happen it can make all that we labor and long for feel so futile.  But I think of Jesus' words in Matthew 16:19 that say "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.  Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Our prayers matter, which is why the Bible tells us to pray without ceasing.  We have a responsibility to do battle on our knees and with our lives for these children who are so vulnerable to the enemy. When we pray, territory the enemy thinks he owns is taken back.  When we pray, Light arrives on the scene.  When we pray, God answers and things change. 

HopeChest's staff and the community of Thulwane in Swaziland need our prayers as they grieve and process this loss.  I can't imagine the trauma and despair the staff must feel at what they witnessed yesterday.  As we pray for the children who are vulnerable in this community, let's also be sure to pray for those who are working on their behalf and serving them...that they would not grow discouraged and weary of doing good. 

God, may You stir anew in the hearts of your people a desire to pray and intercede on behalf of the vulnerable and oppressed in the world.  Help us to get outside of ourselves that we might be mindful of what our brothers and sisters face and be compelled to help change things, both through prayer and through action.  Give us eyes to see and hearts that respond.  Awaken us, O God! 

Whirlwind

I love Ethiopia. More specifically, I love Korah...a leper colony full of beautiful people in horrendous situations.  It has been over a year since I've been in Ethiopia and I've been patiently and not so patiently waiting for the right time to go back.  A few months ago the time was right to set a date and so we did.  September 8-18.  It's no exaggeration to say I think about this community of people many times a day and dream about them at night.  God has carved out a deep, special place in my heart for them and I literally ache to go back!  It looks like I may be taking a friend of mine with me who is a nurse!  How awesome is that?!  These people can lose limbs or die from even a simple cut that they can't afford to treat, so the prospect of being able to take someone with some medical expertise excites me so much and will be such a blessing to the people in this community where open wounds and sickness run rampant.

And then...

I received a few thousand dollar medical bill in the mail a few weeks back and then just  yesterday a notice from the IRS saying that the refund we received from them months ago was miscalculated and now we owe them close to $3,000.  I feel like the wind has been knocked out of me.  What??? Why, God?  Really?  Why NOW??  To be honest, I've shed some tears over this today.  What are we supposed to do when our plans seem to fall to pieces?  But, I really believe that the timing is right for me to go.  I have seen God provide when things looked literally impossible.  So, I would love it if you would join me in praying for provision for this trip to Ethiopia.  I need to book my airfare in a few weeks so we'll just see what God will do.  I was reminded of Job's story today as I was starting to complain about my circumstances.  I love how God answered Job out of a whirlwind in chapter 38:

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone— while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt'.  Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle? What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?  Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm,  to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one in it, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass? Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew? From whose womb comes the ice?  Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?  Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth? Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water?  Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’? Who endowed the heart with wisdom or gave understanding to the mind? Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens when the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together? Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket? Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?"

Wow.  Okay, God.  I'm not going to question You in the middle of my circumstances.  I am going to rely on the One who "provides food for the raven when its young cry out".  So, I'm going to trust in the goodness and provision of the God who did all of the above and say with everything in me that He is good and will never disappoint.  My circumstances may disappoint, but not Him.  Not ever.   

I can't tell you how much I appreciate your prayers right now.  I am willing to lay down this trip if that is what I am supposed to do, because I just want to be where He wants me.  But I also can't shake the strong sense that I am to be in Ethiopia in September, so thanks for joining me in praying for some miraculous provision!!  The God who laid the earth's foundation is surely capable!  Thanks, guys!

Freedom?

I couldn't make up my mind about what to write about this July 4th weekend so I started with this...


On this Independence Day I am very mindful of the fact I walk around freely today because people have fought for the freedom I enjoy. The fact of the matter is that while America celebrates her freedom this weekend, there are an estimated 27 million people in the world who are slaves...more than any other time in history.  Did you catch that??  MORE THAN ANY OTHER TIME IN HISTORY.  In this day and age, how is that even possible??  


People throughout history have raised their voices to declare that slavery is an injustice and must be done away with.  I wonder what Wilberforce and Lincoln would think today if they knew 27 million people are enslaved.  The people who stood up for and defended the freedom I enjoy today didn't know me personally.  They didn't take a look at my life and deem me worthy of fighting for.  They intrinsically knew that human life was not property to be sold...that each person was valuable and should be given every opportunity to thrive. 


So, why is this any different for us today?  Why do we have a license to sit back and say "Oh, those poor people who are slaves. That's just horrible.  Who could do such a thing?  Well, I sure hope something changes soon...that's such a tragedy."  Do we not see that WE are the ones who must raise our voices just as the people who fought for us did many years ago? Don't we know that if we all just sit back and say "What a pity" that nothing will change?


After I wrote all that I changed my mind about what I wanted to really say. :) If you read my blog you likely are attuned to the issue of human trafficking, what causes it and what you can do to help stop it.  What you may not know (or not like to think about) is what keeps YOU behind bars so to speak. What are the things that keep you enslaved?  Are there chains in your life that only let you run so far before tripping you up and making you fall? 


Do you carry anger and bitterness around?  Maybe a poor self image that has sent you into an eating disorder. Are you ate up by worry?  Could be that you are plagued by a secret addiction of some sort.  Maybe you are locked up in your own cell because of fear and anxiety.  How about insecurity?  Or maybe good old fashioned guilt and shame?   


I think it's worth being said that there are many of us walking around enslaved by something that we were created to be set free from!  My top two beasts have been guilt and insecurity.  I struggled for years over things that had happened in my past.  I couldn't get over them and felt like I didn't really deserve to be rid of the guilt I carried.  I'll never forget what an eighty year old man named Jim Downing said one night.  He said that in ancient times as a punishment, an offender would have a dead body chained to his leg.  Wherever he would go, he would drag around the dead, stinking carcass and everyone around would flee.  Taking in the stench and the sight of a decaying body was enough to make anyone run the other direction.  Jim likened the offender to us and the dead body to our guilt and shame (insert whatever beast it is that you tend to haul around).  One big difference though...we carry the key in our pocket to unlock the chain and leave the dead body behind.  But do we???  Why do we continue to carry around things that Jesus came to set us free from?


Do we think that when we read in scripture that Jesus came to set the captives free, that that's only for the 27 million slaves in the world?  It's not just for them.  It's for us too.  Galatians 5:1 says " It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."  In other words, Christ didn't die a gruesome death on a cross so that we could enjoy our freedom for a day and then turn around and walk right back into captivity.  That is not how we are designed.  We are created to be people who walk about in FREEDOM, unencumbered by chains.  Our chains are GONE.  They have been broken.  


One of the biggest deceits of the enemy is to keep us thinking we are still chained when we are not.  Our past and our present do not hold us captive.  The labels that have been slapped on us do not define us.  What happened to us when we were young and innocent does not make us guilty.  Our physical appearance is meaningless because God looks at our hearts.  Our fear has been driven out by perfect Love - there is no place for it any longer.  Our addictions CAN be broken.  Our insecurity is a trap straight from the pit because we are children of God, sons and daughters of the King.  If we take time to really digest this it is life changing for us.  The lies that we believe can be dismantled. 


There is no dispute that we all carry around some amount of baggage.  Some of ours is heavier than others. But have we come to believe that this baggage will never go away?  That it will always rear its ugly head? If we have believed that, as Beth Moore says "we're going to have to let truth scream louder to our souls than the lies that have infected us."

There is no time like the present to break the chains of wrong thinking and to recognize that the life God has designed for you to live is one of FREEDOM and GRACE. 


He is good and He will walk you through letting go.  Some of these things we may have carried for years and our chains have become more like comfort blankets that we don't know how to live without. Maybe there's a lot of fear involved in what life looks like if we're not always getting tripped up by our chains.  But I am confident that the One who came to set you truly free will give you whatever you need to walk right out of your chains and into the life that you are meant to live in Him. He's done it for me and I am so grateful.  I am FREE.  

Our Confidence (Sun Stand Still Part 2)

If you missed my last post, I am sharing a bit about what I'm learning from a book by Steven Furtick called "Sun Stand Still". When I think about Joshua's boldness to ask God to make the sun stand still on His people's behalf it more than challenges me.  How many times have I prayed prayers where I don't really expect God to answer?  There have been times when I've felt like praying about a certain thing was the right thing to do, but I didn't really have any confidence that God would actually do something.  Or often, I'll qualify my prayer with "If it's your will, God", when really that's a cop out. All it does is keep me from having to pray with real faith because if it's His will then I don't have to really bother believing what I'm praying for.  FAULTY LOGIC!!  Bill Johnson says "What is vital for us to learn is the role that humanity has in bringing about the activity of the sovereign God into the affairs of man."  Prayers offered in faith change things.  I feel like God is prodding me with Joshua's story.  He was a man totally surrendered to doing what God wanted.  He knew the character of God and what God wanted and so he believed and prayed accordingly for God to move here on the earth. I love what Steven says about this...
   
The posture of surrender will result in radical steps of faith and a confidence that flows from a heart that's fully devoted to God's plans.  The key is getting a clear and correct view of God, believing that God is actually who He says He is.  And that He can do what He says He can do.  I could write story after story about men and women who asked God for the impossible.  I could cite endless examples of people who dared to believe they were created and saved to do more than settle for the lowest common denominator of faith.  Hebrews 11:33-34 says that these were people "who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies."


But until we have a right picture of God, this is all just a history lesson.  Without an accurate vision of God, we cut ourselves off from the very One who enables us to have audacious faith in the first place.  You see, great men and women of faith don't have some special spiritual DNA that God injected into them.  What makes them unique actually has very little to do with them.  Because when you get right down to it, they are no different from you and me: full of fear, plagued by sin, and riddled with insecurity.  What makes world-changing people unique, audacious and powerful isn't their perfection.  It's their understanding of God's perfect nature and purposes in the world.  This God is someone worth taking risks for.  This God is someone worth praying Sun Stand Still prayers to.  What these men and women of faith believe and experience firsthand about God drives them to settle for nothing less than extraordinary faith. 


Knowing God is great enables you to dream, pray and live beyond your means because you know He is able to respond.  But you must also know that He wants to respond.  Until you believe God is with you and for you, fear and hesitation will characterize your life.  While you may believe God is capable of accomplishing the impossible in and through you, you will not necessarily believe he desires to work through you. 


When Peter gets out of the boat and walks on water to Jesus...it's not until his foot hits the water that his faith is demonstrated.  It's not until he risks failure, embarrassment, and physical harm that the supernatural power of Jesus starts working on his behalf.  Audacious faith is based on who God is, what he's already done, and what he will continue to do.  He is faithful.  It is HE who will prove that He's got what it takes.  The unfailing faithfulness of God - not our capability or performance - is the ground of our journey in audacious faith. God didn't encourage Joshua according to Joshua's faith. He encouraged Joshua according to His own faithfulness and ability...


"No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life.  As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. " - Joshua 1:5 

I think the bottom line is this.  If we really KNOW the character of God and believe that He's out to set all things right and make all things new...that He longs to heal the broken-hearted and bind up their wounds, to set the captives free, to bring abundant life, to heal our diseases, to give sight to blind eyes, to bring us out of darkness and deepest gloom and break away our chains, to turn our mourning into dancing...if we really KNOW this is the God we love and serve then it changes everything.  It gives us confidence to ask boldly for these things in prayer because we KNOW it is His very nature to do them. 

I don't want to sit by anymore uttering half hearted prayers of "God, if you wouldn't mind...".  I want to approach God boldly and confidently according to WHO HE IS and what He longs to do on this earth.  God is responsible for the outcome of my prayers, not me.  But, I am responsible to pray...to ask...to believe that I am asking things of God that He desires to answer! 

I think this is especially important as we consider the least of these in our prayers.  Is God a God of death?  NO. He came to abolish death.  Is He a God of disease?  NO. We see Jesus healing every person that came to Him in the New Testament.  Is He a God of hunger?  NO.  He fed the people who were hungry.  Is God a God of slavery?  NO.  He came to set the captives free. 

Again, the magnitude of these issues in our world today can make the boldest person of prayer shy away from asking that they be demolished.  What is God really going to do for the 27 million slaves in the world?  How is God going to address the 160 million orphans in the world?  What is God really going to do for those who are starving?  We know that there will always be darkness until Jesus comes to set things right once and for all, but that does not mean we are to sit idly by twiddling our thumbs waiting for Him to come back. We are to be people of fervent, bold prayer and of equally bold action, who believe that God desires we ask audacious things of Him because He WANTS to answer us.  He desires to transform our world through us if we would just ask. 

If you're going to have the audacity to ask God for something, you'd better be ready to act.  Audacious prayer must be tethered to practical obedience or else it's not faith.  It's just wishful thinking and positive mental energy.  No wonder so many of our prayers aren't answered.  We pray for a miracle but fail to make a move.

God, may we be people who pray and LIVE audaciously.

Sun Stand Still (Part 1)

"The tragedy of our time is that we've taken what was meant to be ordinary and made it exceptional.  We've declared audacity off limits." - Furtick

I picked up a book at the bookstore a few months ago sort of accidentally.  I went to get another book, but they didn't have it and somehow I ended up with "Sun Stand Still" by Steven Furtick in my hand at the checkout counter. That might be one of the happiest accidents of my life.

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the story tucked away in Joshua 10.  For those of you who aren't or are a little rusty like I was, here's the gist as Steven writes it:

"From every angle this story showcases the kind of audacity we're after.  And it all hinges on a preposterous prayer.  As the chapter opens, we read that five opposing Amorite armies were planning to attack. Having decided to strike first, Joshua led his entire army toward the Amorites on an all-night march.  Sometime during that march, God spoke to Joshua.  He told him 'Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand.  Not one of them will be able to withstand you.'

At dawn, the Israelites unleashed a surprise attack, and right from the beginning the battle went well.  When the enemy lines broke, and the Amorites started to flee into the valley, Joshua's men chased them down.  And God got personally involved.  'As they fled before Israel,' the account reads, 'the Lord hurled large hailstones down on them from the sky.'  Then, as the sun sank toward the horizon, Joshua faced a decision.  The victory wasn't complete, and once it got dark, the rest of the Amorites would slip away.  But Joshua was determined to fight on.  Perhaps he realized that if he didn't destroy the enemy now, Israel's conquest of Canaan would grind to a halt.  Maybe he knew that anything less than total victory would conceal God's presence and glory.  Besides, he remembered God's promise in the night.  

Most of us would have called it a day.  I've done all I can do.  I've exhausted every option.  I've given it all I've got.  But Joshua wasn't most people.  He refused to go out like that. That wasn't the way it was supposed to end.  This was where his audacious faith began.  Joshua sized up the situation, summoned all his available courage, and delivered one of the most gloriously unorthodox prayers in the entire Bible:

" O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon." (verse 12)

Joshua had the audacity to ask God to make the sun stop in the sky.  To freeze time on behalf of His people.  According to scripture, God gave Joshua exactly what he ordered.  Just when the Amorites were hanging on for the cover of darkness, darkness never came.  Just when they thought the curtains were about to drop on their day from hell, God came out for an encore.  

"The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.  There has never been a day like before or since...surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!" (verses 13-14)

The skeptic in me has all kinds of questions: Did God actually stop the earth on its axis?  I don't know the answer to how He did it.  I choose to believe that the same God who intervened to bring his Son back to life intervened on this day in history to help His people.  He chose to answer Joshua's outrageous prayer.  Maybe instead of trying to figure out the technical answers, we should be asking a more relevant question: could it be that God intends for us to have the same kind of audacious faith - the kind of faith that dares to believe God for the impossible - as a normal way of life??"

I love that last question. It gets to the heart of the matter for me. Throughout scripture I don't see people of God praying wimpy "Dear God, if you could, please would you...". I see them praying prayers where seas parted, the sick were healed, the dead were raised, teenagers took out giants with pebbles. What I see in scripture is that these so called "radical, audacious" prayers were not the exception, they were the norm. Every time someone prayed something bold, crazy things happened!  God answered.

As I look at the way that I pray and live out my faith I must ask myself "What have I reduced God to and more importantly, why??" These things have been stirring in my heart for a few months now and I want to take the time to process them here.  But to prevent this from becoming the world's longest blog post I'm going to break it up into a few. :)

As we look at the broken world around us, the magnitude of the problems and issues can seem huge and impenetrable.  But here's the deal.  God didn't just put us here to survive...He put us here to transform the world around us.  And that transformation occurs as we come to trust and believe in the very nature of who God is,which then compels us to walk in deeper faith, praying audacious prayers and EXPECTING God to show up and do what He says He will do, just as He did for Joshua.  Joshua was nothing special. He just knew who God was and prayed accordingly.

Are we even praying boldy and audaciously?  Do we expect that if we pray and believe for the audacious that God will answer? What keeps us from praying the types of prayers that Joshua and many others like him prayed?   Are we afraid He won't come through? Do we fear looking stupid?

More to come...