thestorynextdoor

Flower Power

2011-07-15T07:43:00.000-07:00

I have been reading one thousand gifts by Ann Voskamp about daring to LIVE fully right where you are. It is about living a life of joy and waking up to God's everyday blessings. It takes awareness and slowing.

The other day, I saw this daisy coming up next to my mailbox. I slowed and I noticed. Do you see how it is not quite completely in full bloom? Just beginning to stretch out its "fingers."

It took me back in my mind to one of the first sermons that I heard when we moved to Atlanta. The pastor told a story of a little boy that was trying to "open" a flower. When he tried to do it, the petals just fell to the ground. He asked his mom why and how God did it.

Later, he told his mom, "I know...he opens it from the inside out!" Yes, that is how God does it with flowers and with us, he opens us from the inside out.

Another Audible...

2011-06-18T09:03:00.000-07:00

Scripture: "This is what the LORD says: Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. Jer. 6;16

Last Sunday, our Sr. Pastor said, "The whole Christian life is an audible." That sentence literally brought me to tears. I feel like audibles are how God directs me. I am not saying that I hear God's audibles like I hear my childern's or husband's voice, but I hear God's voice as audible in my heart.

I recently had another audible from God.

Back up a few years. When I lived in Chicago, I had a dear friend, Jennifer Mote, that was in my Listen to My Life neighborhood group. During that process, she felt lead to enter in to the Spiritual Direction program at North Park. She convinced me to look into the program too. It was about listening to God, listening to God with another, and listening to God in community. It lined up with what I do with Listen to My Life perfectly, so I applied, got accepted and completed the first year of the program.

Then we moved to Atlanta. When it was time for me to go back to Chicago for the 2nd year of the program, there were a dozen reasons that it didn't make sense for me to attend - mostly financial and some scheduling. So, I sat that year out. When I found out the week that I was to attend this year, I almost had a heartattack. It was the same week that I was to be in Florida for my daughter's national softball tournament. I couldn't miss that. I only have three more years with her, before she goes off to college.

My thoughts were - God, are you closing this door? Should I just give up finishing the program? Is there something else for me? So I watched and waited.

Since I moved to Atlanta, I have been seeing Gary Moon for Spiritual Direction.   He helps me to listen to God in my life. I was connected with him through a friend from the North Park program.

In one of my meetings with Gary this year, I asked Gary for his input about other Spiritual Direction programs, etc. He said, "Well, I am biased, but I think Renovare is one of the best things out there...." He told me to read some Richard Foster and Dallas Willard's books to see if they connected with me. I then said, "I'll know in the first two chapters whether I connect with it or not." Why did I just say that?

I came home and looked up Celebration of Discpline on Amazon and previewed the first page or so, and this is what it said, "We must not be led to believe that the Disciplines are only for spiritual giants..or for those who are contemplatives who devote all their time to prayer and meditation. Far from it. God intends the disciplines of the Spiritual life to be for ordinary human beings: people who have jobs, who care for children, who wash dishes and mow lawns. In fact, the disciplines are best excercised in the midst of our relationships with our husband or wife, our brothers and sisters, our friends and our neighbors." I was in tears....

I was getting ready to leave on a trip to Costa Rica with a few other church members, so I hurriedly found a copy of Richard Fosters' Celebration of Discipline to take with me. My church bookstore had one copy...I'll take it! Next, I have an email from our Sr. Pastor and he is quoting Dallas Willard, then on Sunday, another Pastor has another Dallas Willard quote up on the video screen.

Next, I go to my Sunday School class, and we begin to talk about books that we might want to do, and someone says - Richard Fosters' Celebration of Discipline is a great book. You have got to be kidding me, really? Two Dallas Willard quotes and a Richard Foster book mentioned all within about 48 hours.

We arrive in Costa Rica and one of the church members says that he is staying for an extra couple of days for some solitude and reading. I asked him what he brought to read.   The first book out of this mouth was Richard Fosters' Celebration of Discipline.

A week or so later, I am driving around Atlanta, and I had the thought that I had "wasted" a year of going through Spiritual Direction at North Park. Then I realized the circumstances that lead me to Renovare - Jennifer Mote, then North Park, then friend at North Park connects me to Gary Moon, Gary Moon connects me to Renovare. As these thoughts are streaming through my head, a song entitled Walk Down this Mountain by Bebo Norman is on. Something in this song (which I still don't know exactly what) just completely confirmed for me that Renovare was my next step.

I applied to Renovare and was accepted about two weeks ago.  So the next two years, I will be studying Spiritual Formation with Dallas Willard and others. I will be in the deep end and in over my head.  Just an ordinary human being who has a job, who cares for children, and who washes dishes excercising the spiritual disciplines in the midst of my relationships with my husband, children, sisters, parents, nieces, nephews, friends and neighbors.

Questions to Ponder

Are you listening for audibles from God?
Are you taking any next steps?
If you aren't hearing audibles, can you schedule 10 mins a day just to listen for God?

All In

2011-04-19T11:36:00.000-07:00

Neale & friends in Chicago

This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." Jer. 29:4-7

My husband and I had lived in SC for 40 years, and then almost out of the blue, God called us to Chicago. When we moved there, I literally felt like I was going into exile. During our stint, the verses above in Jeremiah jumped off the pages at me, I felt like God was saying - invest here, right where you are! So we did, and 6.5 years later, he called us to Atlanta.

We moved from Chicago to Atlanta about 1.5 years ago. When we were first interviewing here, we met with the Sr. Pastor, and I remember him saying how he always let his children go back and visit their friends as they moved from place to place. For some reason, that just stayed in my head.

My daughter, Neale, has been begging me for months to take her back to see her friends. So after much hesitation, I booked the trip - 3 round trip airline tickets to Chicago - about $900. I so hated to spend that much money, but I knew that I needed to honor our kids & their friends. After all, we had moved them there and invested all of ourselves there for 6.5 years. You know...bloom where you are planted. And then we pulled them up by the roots again and moved them to Atlanta.

A few days after I booked the trip, we received a $1000 check - an unexpected gift. Enough to cover the cost of the trip. I felt like God was affirming this trip for our family.

As we began to land in Chicago, my son, William, began to cry. And then again, when we drove in our old neighborhood, tears again. The move was extremely difficult for him. And it was evident again how hard it really was even 1.5 years later.

Neale had decided to surprise her friends with her visit. We had conversations with all of her friends' parents to make sure everyone would be home. At the first house, she jumped out of a box. Literally. Her friend screamed and seemed thrilled to see her. The screaming continued as we went from house to house visiting old friends. It was fun for me to see how glad they were to see her.

William also went from house to house. Spending hours with each friend playing video games, hanging at the baseball field, spending the night, and eating pizza together. Some moments were awkward, but most of the time, it was good, very good to reconnect.

During the visit, I realized that the 6.5 years we spent there we were "all in." As a Pastor's family, we never know what will be "next." We had to choose to invest completely in where God planted us. And because we decided to do that, we have friendships there that have eternal significance - to us and to them.

As we left Chicago, William had no tears. I think he realized that we were "all in" while we were there, but now we must turn our attention to being "all in" here in Atlanta. Build homes and plan to stay. That is really what God calls each of us to do. Invest right where you are...where he has placed you....right now.

Questions to Ponder:

Are you 'All In' where God has planted you? If not, why?
What steps could you take to be more invested and present to where you are right now?
Ask God for his help to take those steps.

Food for the Tummy and Soul

2011-03-24T07:23:00.000-07:00

Rebecca, Lynn & Carla
Georgia Ave. Chruch

Our church is promoting not just Giving Up, but Giving Back for Lent, so they are offering a chance to serve the under-resourced each day in many different places for 30 days all throughout Atlanta.

Carla, my adventure friend in Atlanta, and I decided to serve at Georgia Avenue Church's food co-op. So we went this week, but we didn't know what to expect. When we arrived, Brian told us how their church serves 250 families per month and brings in groceries from the Atlanta food back. They only have to pay $3 to get about $80-90 worth of groceries.

A truck arrived carrying 1 ton of food that would serve 50 families. So, we began to unpack the truck and sort the groceries with some of the co-op members. The groceries included meat, fruit, and canned goods. The boxes were arranged based on how many members were in each family - 1-3, 4-7 and 8 or more. So the more people, the more food they received.

After the food sorting was done, they read scripture from Ecc. 3, sang "I Am Somebody," and prayed with passion - thanksgiving for the food, for those that came to help, the sick, the mayor, the government. I was in tears. It was without a doubt a church service for me!

As I left, I thought about the food and what had taken place. Part of my story is that I don't have a good relationship with food. I was teased as a child for being overweight, and as a child and young adult, I was on every kind of diet that has been developed. I realized that food as been the enemy of sorts. I realized that I have never needed for food. It was in plenty as I grew up and in plenty throughout my life. I have always had it in abundance.

On this day, I realized that food is a gift and a necessity. It is not the enemy. Food provides energy to go to work and to nourish the little children that were running around at Georgia Avenue that day and their parents to raise them.

As Brian at Georgia Avenue said, the Co-op provides food for the tummy and soul. That day it did for me as well.

F.T.T.

2011-01-06T08:52:00.000-08:00

Then those 'sheep' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about?When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.' Matt. 25:37-40 MSG

A few days ago, I dropped off my daughter at a restaurant to have dinner with some friends. As I left the parking lot, I noticed a very tall, hunched over man carrying a plastic jug of OJ (or something) as he walked down the street. He was dirty and looked homeless.

I wondered about his story. Was he ever loved? Did he have parents that cared - ever? Where is he going? Where does he sleep at night?

The next day, I was driving to bible study, and I saw him again - same busy road. This time going a different route. During the study, we talked about the term, F.T.T. Failure To Thrive - the subject is part of John Ortberg's book, The Me I Want to Be. He describes it as languishing - the condition of someone who may be able to function but has lost a sense of hope and meaning.

As we discussed the term at our table, this "homeless" guy came to my mind, and I mentioned him and how he is looks to have F.T.T. As we continued to talk, my mind wandered from the conversation and back to him, and then I remember a ziplock bag in my car that had toiletries. It was put together at Vacation Bible School by my son. He was to give it to a homeless person, and it is still in my car. Oh, I could give it to him! And then I thought, I'll put a $5 bill in the bag, and then I thought that I should get a gift card to McDonald's instead.

While I am having these random thoughts and not speaking them aloud, the woman next to me hands me a McDonald's gift card. She told me to give it to him. Are you kidding me? She had no idea I was having those thoughts! She just said that someone had given it to her to give to homeless person and that she just hadn't given this one away.

So now as I travel around Atlanta, I am watching for him. One bag of toiletries and one gift card will not fully restore his sense of meaning and hope, but maybe it will give him an ounce of hope to get through another day.

Question to Ponder: Who around you is F.T.T.? How might you be able to give them hope for another day?

UPDATE: A few days after I posted this, my husband and I went out for a breakfast - that is a rare thing for us to do! As we left the restaurant's parking lot, we saw the guy walking down the other side of the street. We turned the car around, so that we could get close enough to hand him the bag. He asked us something like - you got any money? And I said, "No, but I do have a gift card so that you can have lunch at McDonalds." He came, got the bag and smiled. My husband said, "God Bless You." And down the road he walked. Now I know my small offering will not change his life, but maybe this was about God changing my life and my heart.

UPDATE JAN 2011: About a month ago, I had dropped my son off at the church gym for basketball and as I sat in my car, my homeless friend passed in front of my car headlights. He had a nasty, old blanket covering his head, and he was just walking down the street. He is a very tall guy, so I was sure it was him. As the days went by, I continued to get a visual of him in my head.

As Christmas approached, my family and I were doing a Jesse Tree devotional, and it said something like how could you help God bless someone today. And the homeless man again crossed my mind. So I asked my family of ideas of what we could do for him. My 11 year old son, William, said, "Mom, why don't you make him a fleece blanket like you made us?"

I had made them the "no sew" fleece blankets for Christmas a couple of years, and they have used them almost daily since then. I decided William's idea was perfect. So I went to the fabric store and purchased a camoflauge & brown fleece. I thought it might camoflauge the dirt overtime.

So on Sunday, we knew we might see him coming or going down Roswell Road. We were looking everywhere for him. He was no where to be found. We went to church and had several things to do before we could leave, so we were later leaving then usual. We road the bus back to the parking lot to get our car. As soon as we got off the bus, he was DIRECTLY across the street.

We all raced to the car and jumped in. My husband quickly drove out and went into a parking lot across the street. so that he would pass us by as he was walking. I rolled down the window and told him that we had a Christmas present for him. We had included the blanket, new hat, gloves and a little money. He said, "God bless you."

God bless me? I don't know why him saying that to me was such a shock. He believes in God even though he lives on the street and has virtually nothing. That is hard for me to take in.

The past few weeks, I have been watching for him and seen him several times. I just was hoping to see him carrying or wearing my blanket around, but I have seen no sign of it. I have seen him with a sleeping bag and other Christmas bags near his outdoor shelter. I have seen apple sauce and canned goods that others must have dropped off to him. So cool to see that others are giving to him as well.

As I discussed this with my husband, he said that it was ok that I haven't seen the blanket. I just need to remember that I following through on what God prompted me to do through my son, and that is all that is He is asking of me.

Breathless Haste

2010-06-17T06:36:00.000-07:00

"...At a destined hour it will come with breathless haste. It will not fail. If it delays wait for it, for when it comes there will be no time to linger…” Hab. 2:1-4

In the early part of 2009, Jay and I were sensing that our season at Willow Creek was drawing to a close. We had had an amazing six year run there, but we were feeling restlessness in our souls. In April 2009, Jay and I decided to do a 30 day challenge with a scripture in Habakkuk 2 that my Spiritual Director had read to me. We were both going to read it each day and then discuss what we were hearing or learning from it. We had never done anything like that.

One day I read it and then read the sidenotes in the bible on Habakkuk, it said that he was on the watchtower (with an attitude of expectation - not fear), because he wanted to be in the best position to hear God's word.

One day, I read and reread the scripture, and I noted, "I will stand...I will climb...I will take up my position." Habakkuk acted while he waited for the vision.

It also said, "write down the vision." Jay and I decided it was time to write a resume, so that it was "ready to be carried."

At one point, Jay and I began taking turns on the watchtower. One night, he would be up at 3 or 4 AM and then another nite, I would wake up, and it would be my turn. One of those early awakenings, Jay journaled until he got to his "resignation letter" that he had written earlier in the back of the journal. He had written it, more as an excercise to express what words he would like to say, not necessarily something that he would send to anyone. He said that he felt like God was asking him to resign before he had another job.

In this economy, quit without another job?

I told Jay that I thought he should not quit before our upcoming trip to Africa. He had put a great team together and that was what he was passionate about, so we agreed to hold on a little longer.

Another day, I read the scripture again, For WHEN it comes (the vision), not if, but WHEN. Ok, God has a plan. Hang in there.

On another day, I was reading from Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership by Ruth Haley Barton. She said, "The discernment process involves a major commitment to listening with love and attention to....those who will be most deeply affected by our decisions." In my spirit, I heard that we needed to talk to our kids about what was happening inside our souls.

So, we told our 13 year old daughter and our 10 year old son that we felt like God was up to something, but we didn't know the details - not when, not where. The conversation was holy ground. It was another confirmation that God was moving.

I began to see in my mind a trapeze artist - one that has to let go of one bar, before he can catch the next. And God was asking us to be in that place of letting go of Willow before the next bar was in sight. Frightening for sure. At one on my nights on the watchtower, I was reading John Ortberg's book, If You Are Going to Walk on Water, You Have to get Out of the Boat. And there I read the story about a trapeze artist. Confirmation again.

Jay decided to make a few phone calls to make some connections about other job possibilites. He talked with Reggie McNeal who is leader in the missional movement. Reggie suggested several places for Jay to check in to and several places for him to stay away from. Always good to know someone on the inside!

Reggie mentioned Vic Pentz at Peachtree Presbtyerian and the Peachtree Global Fellowship, PGF. That night, Jay and I looked at the PGF's website and we both were astonished at how much their vision lined up with Jay's vision. Jay decided to email Vic. Of course thinking that his email would fall into the bit bucket. Within a day, Vic emailed Jay and asked for his resume and his story.

As we prepared for our trip to Africa, we had a strong sense that it would somehow mark the finish line for us.

On July 2, Jay’s first day back at work after Malawi, he was contacted by Peachtree Presbyterian about a role that really fit his sense of calling. Over the ensuing weeks, God has made it clear that He is not just releasing us from Willow, but He is calling us to something new.

In August with breathless haste, we put our house in Chicago on the market, packed our personal belongings and moved to Atlanta - just four months after we intently sought God's will for our family with four verses of scripture.

Questions to Ponder: What trapeze bar is God asking you to let go of? What would it feel like to fall into God's will for you life?

Memory Book Video Clip - Malawi 2009

2009-07-05T18:53:00.000-07:00

Click here to see George and Jill of World Relief introduce the Memory Book project to HIV/Aids families in Chitipa, Malawi in June 2009.

Memory Books in Chitipa, Malawi

2009-07-05T15:00:00.000-07:00

oneLife at a Time

2009-07-03T19:09:00.000-07:00

I was sitting on a mat outside of a one room mud brick home in Chitipa, Malawi – thousands of miles away from my two story, 4 bedroom home in Chicago. The husband and wife both have HIV/Aids, and they have a six-week old daughter.

We had arrived there to do a home visit to encourage them, pray for them, and deliver gifts of sugar, oil and soap. We were asked to take pictures of us giving the gifts to the family.

It felt like a photo-op – white, rich girl gives to poor. I was overwhelmed and uncomfortable with the poverty, sickness, and sadness of all that I had seen. I just wanted to run back to the comforts of my home – far away from all of this.

The next day, we were helping HIV/Aids families make memory books. (I have been scrapbooking since I was seven years old, so I was thrilled when I was asked to be a part of this project!) We brought instant cameras and film to take pictures of the families. We also had scrapbooks, supplies & questions to answer that would help them capture their family history, traditions and desires. I also found out that these books would also help by serving as a “will” that would help them to preserve their land and home after death.

We had about 20 families to show up to do their books. One of those was the women with the six week old baby that I had visited the day before. I had no idea that I would ever see her again. We greeted and hugged each other.

We made progress with each of the family’s books, and then we told them to return the next day with other family members that they would like to have pictures made or to bring photos that they might have at home, so that they could add them to the books.

The next day, my lost luggage arrived, and it contained all the extra scrapbook supplies – including alphabet stickers. All of the participants wanted to put their name in their book using the stickers.

At one point, I walked over to the women with the six week old baby, and she was spelling out her name in stickers: R-A-B-E-C-C-A. How many women in Africa have my name? I can’t imagine very many. I felt like God was saying to me…I know that you are overwhelmed with all you have seen, but I am asking you to bring hope to one person at a time, and I am confirming that by connecting you with someone else that has your name. I don’t think that she will forget me, and I certainly will not forget her.

I (we) can't individually tackle the global or continental or even country-wide problems of AIDS, poverty, or lack of drinking water that exist in our world, but if we all help one person, we can make a difference - oneLife at a time.

Redemption?

2009-02-01T06:39:00.000-08:00

In Power of a Praying Wife, these were some of the words I read back in 2003, "God has called you (me) to something too. But it will fit in with whatever your husband's calling is, it will not be in conflict with it....the timing to do what God has called each of you to do will work out perfectly, if it's submitted to God."

At that point, I knew that we were being called to Chicago and I knew that God was definitely calling my husband into full time ministry, the Willow internship and seminary. I had NO idea what He was calling me to - other than to support him and my kids.

Soon after we moved, I attended Willow's Small Group conference. Dan Allender was speaking, and he said, "Your whole story matters to God."

At that moment, something deep inside me shifted. My WHOLE story matters? Even the dark, & ugly parts? The parts that I had buried deep in my soul? Is it possible that those parts matter to God?

At that point, I began to dig into my life story. I wrote it down, and I spoke about the details with my small group. I began to wrestle with the bad parts. I even signed up for a six week class at Willow Creek to bring one especially dark & dreary part of my story into the light.

I had heard the word redemption many times, but I had never experienced it. Never really understood what it meant. On two seperate occassions, I felt lead to share a part of my story with an "almost" stranger and at another time with a friend. My story struck them deep in their stories and over time, it helped them to began to work & wrestle their darkness into the light. That's what redemption is - God using all the parts of our story - good and bad - to bring healing and restoration to the world.

Months later, I began to have a sense of being "overwhelmed" - by life, friendships, & raising kids. My husband, Jay, suggested that I was building into many people and that I should have someone to build into me. He suggested that I contact Sibyl Towner. For days, I talked myself out of really needing any help. One day, Jay called and said that he was praying for me and that he didn't want me to dismiss the idea.

That gave me the courage to send an email to Sibyl. She emailed back to say that she would meet with me. She was "Director of Spiritual Mentoring"! I had no idea that I had gone straight to the top. We met. I discussed my overwhelmed state. She listened or at least, I thought she had.

Within a week of our first meeting, she emailed me that she was working on a project with Sharon Swing, and she asked if I would be interested in meeting with them. Did she hear a word I said? I don't need a project. I have enough of my own!

When I met with them, their project was about writing a book with visual maps that would helping to process their life story - the good and the bad! Without hesitation, I jumped on board. I couldn't believe that I would be on the ground floor on this amazing project.

I have now been working with Sharon and Sibyl for 4 years, and the book is called, "Listen to My Life." We are on quite an adventure now with the distribution of the book, doing retreats, teaching classes, etc. and I know that this was God was referring to in Power of a Praying Wife - God had called me to something to, and it fits in with my husband's calling and it is not in conflict with it. (Check out www.oneLifemaps.com for information on Listen to My Life.)

Go to Chicago! January 2003

2009-01-25T12:33:00.000-08:00

In 2002, my husband, Jay, sold his business and began to work at our church as an interim pastor. He LOVED the job, but he was told that he would only have the job until they found a qualified seminary graduate. During his time at our church, they sent him to Willow Creek Community Church for an Evangelism conference. He heard about the three year Internship program that they offered - a seminary degree, ministry experience, and inner journey work. It sounded good, but we lived in SC and this was in Chicago. Not possible.

Jay returned home to tell me about it and it lodged in my heart. A few months later, he got the call that our church had found the perfect candidate and that his job would not last very much longer. He decided to call Willow Creek again to learn more about the Internship. They said that we should come to Chicago in a couple of weeks for the Internship training weekend. Jay mentioned that to me and I said, "NO!!!! You check out all the other seminaries and other opportunties. If after a few months, you still are interested, I will go with you."

Right after that, Jay went a way for a previously scheduled hunting trip with some of his friends. The first night that he was away, I woke up at 4:30 in the morning. This was highly unusual for me. I had very young children at the time, so they were typically the only reasons that I would wake up in the middle of the night. I rolled over and went back to sleep.

The second night of his absense, I woke up again at 4:30 in the morning. Not 4:25. Not 4:32. Again, I rolled over and returned to sleep.

The third nite, again a 4:30 AM wakeup. I finally tossed back the covers and said, "OK God. What is it?"

I sat in my red chair - the place where I most often read and pray. The Power of Praying Wife was open on my chair to Chapter 9 - His Purpose. So I began to read, " Everyone has purpose. It's the reason we exist. When he discovers that purpose, and is doing what he was created to do , becoming what he was created to be, he will find fulfillment. This can only contribute to your happiness as well." I kept reading and began sobbing. As I continued to read, it was as if God was writing with a black Sharpie on the pages of this book, "Go to Chicago!"

Jay called me later that day, and I told him what had happened. A week or so later, we left our little children to attend the Internship training. Throughout the weekend, we felt very sure that we were to continue to pursue this option - all the while praying that God would close the door.

A few months later, we packed up our 40 years of life in South Carolina. We left our families, our friends, our church and our home and everything that we had ever known.

We have now been at Willow Creek for 5.5 years. My husband, Jay, is on staff at Willow Creek and I have been blessed to work on Life Story materials with some amazing women for the last several years.

It has been a hard journey, but an amazing journey too. We wouldn't trade all the money in the world for the blessings and opportunites that we have had following God down this path. More than we would have asked for or imagined.

Scrapbooking in Africa?

2009-01-19T12:14:00.000-08:00

Since I worked on getting balls, bibles and t-shirts for the kids of Chitipa, Malawi in the Fall 2008, my heart has been thinking of Africa. For so long, I have said, "God, please don't send me to Africa." Probably not what most people fear, but my Aunt Neale (my given middle name and my daugther's first name) was a missionary there for 42 years, so I guess that the idea has always been in the back of my mind.

Recently, I asked my husband, Jay, about the idea of working in Africa and he said that we are of more help to them here, because we can mobilize people and resources here to help them there.

Last weekend, Jay & I had dinner with Stella, who works for our church in Malawi. I told her that I as considering being apart of the serving trip in June. Jay asked Stella how she might want me to serve. Stella said, "Do you like arts & crafts?...Would you be interested in helping AIDs families do scrapbooks?" She continued by talking about how the children are left with nothing once their parent(s) die. They have no pictures to keep and nothing to hold on to.

Well, I could have just fallen out of my chair. What Stella didn't know was that I have been scrapbooking since I was seven years old. It is part of who I am and who God made me to be, but I have never dreamed that it could serve a kingdom purpose...until now.

Balls and Story...

2008-10-15T11:59:00.001-07:00

In May 2008, my husband returned from Malawi, Africa with this picture of a precious little boy holding two "balls" - made of plastic bags and string. My husband said the back of his shirt was completely missing. His shirt was only being held together by the collar.

A few months later, my daugther tries out for a travel softball team and she makes it. The team asks us to raise $1000 for her, so that she can have two uniforms - with her name and number on the hat, batting bag and shirt.

A few weeks later, Stella Kaisyre had dinner with us. She lives in Malawi, and she is supported by my church to attend to the many needs of the people there. She had hosted my husband and the team while he was there.

During our conversation, I was just chatting about my daugther making a travel team and that we had to raise money for her. Stella says, "How much money?" I could hardly speak. I wanted to crawl under the couch or throw up. "A thousand dollars", I said.

A week or two later, it was my nine year old son's football "homecoming" weekend. He wore a clean, crisp navy and gold uniform with this name on the back of his shirt. The parents brought paint to paint the cars, team tatoos for our faces, matching scarves for each mom, cow bells painted with the team logo and then we decorated a rented trailer with streamers and ballons. And of course, we already have photo buttons to wear too. The football team gets to ride in the trailer for about 5 minutes and then we tore off the streamers and ballons. The trailer had to be returned. And then we went to a large football feast party afterwards.

I just felt sick. Look at all we have. Look at the waste. Look at how over the top it is. The little boy with plastic bag balls continues to flash in my mind.

OK, my family is over blessed. I have to do something. A friend of mine says, "Blessed to Be a Blessing." I emailed Stella and told her that I would like to buy soccer balls for the kids of Malawi. Could she buy them there? Would it be helpful or would it just be more than she wanted to add to her plate?

She responded by telling me of a upcoming youth camp in November. Two kids would be chosen from 100 churches. They would love to have t-shirts, bibles and balls for each child that attends. The balls would be used by the youth clubs to prepare for the annual " Msungamoyo Trophy ", sponsored by World Relief Malawi. "It means Preserve Life."

I got to work. With one phone call, I was able to get 50 free soccer balls donated by "the soccer family" of Chicago and money was given to cover the cost of 50 netballs ordered from India. With more emails and phone calls, t-shirts were donated at cost and the money for the bibles was donated. Wow! I couldn't have planned this on my own. It has to be God moving.

A week or so later, I was showing the picture of the African boy above to a friend and as I stared at it, the face of the little boy (on the right) popped into my head. This is the little boy that I played with every day after school on the farm that I grew up on. His name is Pookie, and he was my best friend. We played Dodge ball everyday, and we danced liked crazy too!

Then I realized that God's story (the upper story - meeting the needs of kids in Africa) and my story as a child had just collided.

God can use all of our story for kingdom purposes.

Here is a picture taken in November 2008 of the kids in Chitipa with their new soccer balls! God is good. He wants us to have the thrill of doing his work of bringing heaven to earth.

Infinity and Beyond

2008-04-24T11:39:00.000-07:00

Last week, I had a list of errands to run. Before I got started, I decided to slow down, read my bible, think and pray. I left the house and ran by the Jewel to get some strawberries, but they were too expensive. So I ran by Home Depot and then Joe Caputo's grocery. (Yes, I am going somewhere we this...) As I left the store with huge bag of strawberries, I was leaving the parking lot and noticed an older women pushing her cart through the parking lot. She was looking around everywhere for her car. She reminded me so much of my 85 year old mother - petite in size. She was dressed very well.

I decided to do a u-turn in the parking lot, so that I could ask her if she needed help. She did. She was looking for a 2 door gray Infinity. I drove up and down each car aisle and found no Infinity with 2 doors. I drove back to her and told her that I couldn't find it either. I then asked her if she wanted to get in and ride around with me. She said that she would, so we loaded her groceries in my car. A minute after she got in, she said that her husband had died six years earlier. I could tell her heart was still broken, so I asked her how long had they been married. She replied , "54 years." She also told me that she lived at "Sun City...you know...where the old people live."

We continued to drive around, but nothing of her Infinity could be found, so I drove to the Home Depot parking lot and nothing there either. We began to think that her car might have been stolen. She did say that she remembered seeing the flowers in front of Caputos and that she had gone first to the granite counter store, but that they had been closed. So I headed up to that strip shopping center with the granite store...quite far from Caputos, and there the Infinity was parked. We loaded her groceries and she hugged and thanked me.

When I left the parking lot, I was in tears. Most of the time, I never slow down to see a need or hear a prompting from God, but this time I did. I slowed down to read the bible, to think and to pray and shortly after that, I was going slow enough that I felt a prompting to make a u-turn in the parking lot to help out a precious lady that needed a little help.

How many other times have I hurried past Infinity moments like this and missed on what God has for me? Do you fly right past those moments too?

My "Rock"

2008-02-06T11:06:00.000-08:00

Samuel took a single rock and set it upright between Mizpah and Shen. He named it "Ebenezer" (Rock of Help), saying, "This marks the place where God helped us." 1 Sam. 7:12 (MSG)

My "rock" story begins with the birth of our first son, Brock. He died at 6 months old after heart surgery in 1994. Our church and Sunday school class prayed us through this horrible valley. A couple of years later, I was expecting again. The doctors were concerned about this child's heart as well. While in the womb, we were told that the baby was a girl and that she had Hypoplastic left heart. A heart defect far worse than what our son had. She would need a heart transplant at birth or 3 heart operations before she reached the age of 18 months. We were devasted. We traveled to Boston and Atlanta for 2nd and 3rd opinions, and each doctor had the same devastating news. During the months leading up to her birth, my husband and I could barely function, but hundreds of prayers were being brought before God on our behalf.
My husband, mother, mother-in-law and I flew to Michigan in August 2005, so that we were at the best place in the country for her delivery and heart operation. I delievered her on August 15, and she was taken immediatlely to the NICU. A couple of hours later, a pediatric cardiologist showed up in our room and said, "There is nothing wrong with heart....". It was an amazing miracle. At that time, my husband said, "Life will never be the same." And it hasn't. We have been sold out to our faithful God ever since that day.