The ugly beautiful....

The ugly beautiful.....

Why are we so scared of the unknown…? Of the ugly…?

This site was the favorite part of my walk around town... An old beautiful farm where I used to talk to the cows as I passed by... Now it's under construction to build government housing for an impoverished community that lost their homes a few years ago due to an earthquake. Everyone I've talked to about it is really upset... Scared of "these people" moving into our neighborhood.

"Why?" I ask....

Is it because they're different? Just because they're poor? Because they could bring crime to the area? Why do people respond this way to the unknown? …to something that’s different? Why do I respond this way?

Why did my youngest brother at 5 years old plug his ears and scream when he heard another language because he can't understand it...? Why are we so terrified of different? 

When living in the states, I worked in some underprivileged communities with the Latino immigrant community and received similar responses to people when I told them where I was working... Everyone was fearful for me to be in those areas and with "those people."

Why though...?

Why is it we fear the unknown? Fear "these people" like they're some other species from another planet or something...

Why do we fear what may look ugly or poor or scary on the outside without really taking a look?

Aren't we all just human living the lot we've been given... Why do we fear the different and look down on it as if it’s something ugly and unworthy?

Aren't we all just humans created in the image of our Creator? Then why is it that we can't see each other as equals or just as another reflection of our Creator?

I want to challenge you to take a deeper look.

….to pray for God’s eyes to see people for who they truly are. 

Why do people respond to this construction in anger and fear, instead of joy and excitement that our brothers and sisters are going to have new homes finally after three years....?

Why can't we take a deeper look at Lonsdale as a place where other humans are living and striving to live the best they can in the life they've been handed…?

Why can't we look at Upstate South Carolina and see the hundreds of families working hard to make enough money to send home to their families, so they aren't starving…?

These areas might look a little ugly from the outside or even the inside and there might even be higher crime rates... But does that mean that we're not called I love them...? Because isn't that all they're doing is crying out for love? For life? 

So I want to challenge you to take a deeper look and pray for God to give you his perspective on whatever your "government housing construction site" is, whatever it is that seems ugly, unworthy, scary, unknown to you, and see the beauty in it... 

“Because somewhere, underneath the grime of this broken world, everything has the radiant fingerprints of God on it. Seeing the world with Jesus’s eyes, we have the astonishing opportunity to daily love the unlovely into loveliness….” – Ann Voskamp (aholyexperience.com, author of One Thousand Gifts)

See that God’s making it lovely!

Choose to be thankful and rejoice...

 As I sit here looking back over the past two years and knowing what today brings, I find my heart aching, but my soul resting in a deep peace.  I’ve learned so much the past two years that I will never forget.  It’s so strange how you can love someone so much and then one day you wake up and they’re just gone, not part of your life anymore.  And then there are times where we have the chance to say goodbye to people we love, knowing that they will still be part of your life, but also knowing that it will never be the same.  You might still talk to them here and there, but daily life will not be shared.  My heart aches and even feels like its ripping apart telling so many people goodbye this week, but I’ve learned how to remain at peace and content in these times….

      Because it’s our choice in how we handle these situations and closures.  We can either be sad in regret that the time is over and that we did not make the most of it, wishing we’d only said this or done that….  or we can rejoice and be thankful that we had the time that we did together.  It’s all in how we choose to look it.  So I choose to be thankful for each moment I’ve spent with these people I love and cherish. We can be thankful for the way we’ve loved each other and shown each other more of Christ’s love.  We can be thankful for the depth of our time together and for how even the challenges and struggles will forever change us.  We can be thankful that we’ve played a role in molding and transforming our characters that will never be the same.  

        So today, I sit with a deep sadness in my heart knowing what this week holds, but I rejoice in the gift of the time I’ve had with each of these people and what they’ve brought to my life.  I rest and trust in the Lord’s truth that He’s the one who carries us, will heal our broken hearts, give us peace and contentment that surpasses all understanding.  I found this Doctor Seuss quote that says it well, “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” 

             So I challenge you to join me in rejoicing for what we’ve had, instead of being sorrowful for what we’re losing, because it’s up to us to determine our attitude and how we will face these times.  People will come and go from our lives, but its our job to look at each relationship and see what we can gain from it and be thankful for each moment as it comes in the present.  It is the Lord’s joy as my strength that’s carried me through these years.  I claim this verse today,  “Always be joyful.  Never stop praying.  Because this is the Lord’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

            So claim His joy and never stop seeking Him.  Rest and trust that the Lord is with you and has called you to where you are and what you’re doing for a reason and that He will carry you through it. 

Service Project 2013 and Cross Country AASCA!!!

Singing our way to Talamanca!!! 

Young Life Club on a concrete slab! 

Day One of work!! 

Carrying rocks and rocks with Erin 

Digging the outline for the court 

Picking the perfect sized rocks

My buddy Miki 

Kent the rock specialist! 

We have an outline! 

Kent and Mr. Gamble bonding 

Mixing concrete- 4 wheel barrels rock, 3 sand, 2 bags concrete, and 8 buckets of water!!! Go go go!!!

Playing games at night! 

My cabin of girls- Miki, Erin, Leila and Sophia (front) 

We finished the basketball court!! 

Stopped at the beach on the way home! 

Cross Country AASCA!!! 

All the team!! 

Add caption

Sarah and I with Will, Mere's brother, our captain! 

After winning many awards!! Merica!!! 

 So blessed to be part of all of these lives!! 

Beautiful Things Out of Dust....

"Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man's nostrils, and the man became a living person."  Genesis 2:7

It's been a while... Something that's been a theme in my life the past few months is God's redeeming work... It's hard to imagine that He can turn ashes to something beautiful.... But He surely does!

This season of life I have encountered by far been the most difficult and challenging times in my life  and I won't go into all the details, but I need you to know that I've experienced a great deal of brokenness over the past year or so for the rest of this to make sense.  Although it has been tough at times, I am more and more thankful everyday for this season of life.  I have come to know deep within my soul my need for the Lord's redeeming touch.  

Please press play and listen while you continue reading 

This summer I read the book, "Shattered Dreams" by Larrry Crabb, and what great truth.  The basic idea is that God "shatters our dreams" in order to draw us to Himself, so that we will experience true joy and salvation.  In these shattered dreams, God continues to be present and use them for His good.  It's so amazing to look back on this year and how many relationships and situations in my life were truly broken and how God's fully redeemed and restored many of those places.  He really does make "Beautiful Things."  I have clung to this song throughout the year as a reminder of how great our God is and how He is bigger than any circumstance we will ever encounter and can always turn it for His glory and good plans.  God wastes nothing... He makes everything work out according to His plan.  He is sovereign and in control.  

Just to list a few areas God's redeemed just this year... 

Beginning of school year 2011, my YL team had closed school gates in our faces and were not allowed on campus.... 

Then we were given a time during the day to teach a Bible study and I was allowed in the art room to meet new kids.... It gets better!! Then beginning of school year 2012, I was given a Cross Country coaching position that's allowed my teammate Sarah and I to be in kids lives on school grounds every week and put me in many meetings with the same administration that kicked us off campus just a year before!!!  

"You make beautiful things...."

Last year in YL we faced some low numbers at club and had some kids stop coming to YL all together... This semester those kids have randomly reached out and said they want to not only be part of YL again are interested in going on our Service Project in March!! They are returning and bringing friends with them as well!! 

"You make beautiful things out of dust...." 

So whatever your broken places are, I want to encourage you to keep seeking the Lord because He will heal you!! He will redeem those places... relationships... hurts... wounds.... situations... and make them for His good!  Remember He doesn't waste anything! 

He let's us come to these dark places so we come to know how much we truly need Him and His redeeming touch... 

His ways are far beyond all we can think or imagine...  He will turn our thorns and nettles into strong tall trees of LIFE!!! 

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.

    'And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways

    and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. “The rain and snow come down from the heavens

    and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word.

    I send it out, and it always produces fruit.

It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands!

Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow.

    Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up.

These events will bring great honor to the Lord’s name;

    they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.”  -Isaiah 55:9-13 

He turns them into His creative beauty.... 

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." -Romans 8:28

And out sprouts a beautiful creation... Flying living in Freedom! 

"This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!"  -2 Corinthians 5:17

This is what we are praying for you and for our kids!  Please join us in praying that kids in Costa Rica would come out of the darkness they are living in and be drawn to the Light of Life.  Pray that God would breakthrough their harden hearts, Exodus 3, and draw them to new life- freedom in Him!! We are praying that 40 kids would come to know what New Life is during our Service Project March 23-28th where they will hear the Greatest Love Story the Earth's ever heard!!