Hannah and I are moved into our new house now, and this week Moriah and Richard are visiting us from North Carolina. Richard was with our mission team that came up last year, when every day of the week was planned and structured to pack as much work in as possible. This trip is a little different...
Yesterday morning, our little family had Bible study together and were reading Psalm 92, where it says we will proclaim the love of the Lord in the morning and his faithfulness at night. The more I ponder this concept of beginning "organic ministry," the more this verse seems to make sense... what better way to serve the ministry of the gospel than by sharing His love and faithfulness all day and night? We began our morning with no idea what the day might bring, but our skin tingled and our hearts skipped with the excitement of anticipation. We prayed together that we would be ready and eager to serve the Lord, no matter where we ended up or who we encountered, and that He would keep our eyes and ears wide open to the opportunities he gives us... may our lives bring glory to Him, and may people know more of his love and faithfulness.
We decided to take a walk in the afternoon, and just see where it took us. We invited our friend and neighbor, Todd, to join us, and he suggested we invite some of our teenage friends along too. Two of the guys came with us and we followed the sidewalk about a mile or more into downtown Fort Wayne, played in Headwater Park a while and met some homeless people who were in search of a cool and quiet place to rest; we walked over the new Dr. MLK Jr. Memorial bridge and read his quotes about love and hate, peace and life; we swung from the rafters under that same bridge and potentially scared some passing cyclists and runners in the process; we watched the kids at the skate park in awe and explored the Fort and decided the fastest way home was by canoeing down the river. Then we walked home and enjoyed freeze pops, Cheerwine pop, and potato chips, and speculated about the neighbor who lived at the big creepy house across the street with the cat in the upstairs window, and then went over to meet him. It was a fun, impulsive, adventurous day, to say the least! By just wandering, observing, and striking up conversations, we got a good feel for our new community and how we can pray and serve and love here.
We will continue to live out and proclaim God's love and faithfulness all day and night, and see what exciting things He will do with it!
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Significant Mentors
There are some people who come into my life for a season, and I am blessed and forever changed by my encounters with them. And even when our paths take us in different directions, whether to different cities, states, or countries, I get this feeling that we will meet again in this life, to bless each other again. For me, some of these people are Lou and Kendra.
There was a time in my life, from about 2005-2010, that I called "The In-Between Years." I was out of college and had no idea what the next big step was going to be. Little did I know what God would do with that time!
My summer of casually hanging out with the teenagers from my home church developed into a full-time leadership role, and Kendra (who was a full-time youth pastor at another local church) became a mentor and friend, and included me in a community of youth ministers who prayed together and collaborated to reach out to the youth in our city. She also took me to a huge youth leaders convention in Charlotte where I heard incredible speakers like Shane Claiborne and Phil Vischer. Her wisdom and experience, and her patience with me and my insecurities and immaturity, was very significant to my growth as a servant leader.
Lou helped me get my first job out of college, tutoring students at a private school where he worked. As that job progressed into a ground-breaking ESL program, Lou offered his educational insight and experience to teach me about program development and personalized care for ESL students. Kendra and Lou encouraged me in the persuit of my Masters of Art in TESOL, too.
Kendra and Lou also had (and still have) a passion for adoption. I got to witness the whole exciting process of their first domestic adoption, remember the exciting insanity when they got the call about a baby that was about to be born, that could be theirs, and getting little Eleni in less than a month after they were approved as adoptive parents. Seeing their joy and commitment to her enhanced my own desire to adopt, and made me more aware of the children in my own country who need a family.
This dear couple moved five years ago to Lou's home country, Cyprus. They built a house with a fully wheelchair accessible apartment, and told me I must come to visit one day. Lou teaches GSL - Greek as a Second Language, and he and Kendra do "organic ministry" from their home and in their neighborhood. They have a biological little girl now, and another on the way, and they said that they still plan to adopt another older child when their girls have grown a bit. We stay in touch through Facebook, but I have missed them so much since they moved.
They are in my hometown this month, and today, they came to visit! The two hours we had together flew by in a flurry of stories and laughter. They are just as I remember them - so full of life and love. I'm so thankful for the years we shared, and the valuable lessons I learned from them. It's amazing to realize how much the sacrifice of time and energy can affect another person's life; it's amazing to realize how much Lou and Kendra's discipleship and investment in me has impacted who I am today. Thank you, my friends! Ευχαριστώ!
There was a time in my life, from about 2005-2010, that I called "The In-Between Years." I was out of college and had no idea what the next big step was going to be. Little did I know what God would do with that time!
My summer of casually hanging out with the teenagers from my home church developed into a full-time leadership role, and Kendra (who was a full-time youth pastor at another local church) became a mentor and friend, and included me in a community of youth ministers who prayed together and collaborated to reach out to the youth in our city. She also took me to a huge youth leaders convention in Charlotte where I heard incredible speakers like Shane Claiborne and Phil Vischer. Her wisdom and experience, and her patience with me and my insecurities and immaturity, was very significant to my growth as a servant leader.
Lou helped me get my first job out of college, tutoring students at a private school where he worked. As that job progressed into a ground-breaking ESL program, Lou offered his educational insight and experience to teach me about program development and personalized care for ESL students. Kendra and Lou encouraged me in the persuit of my Masters of Art in TESOL, too.
Kendra and Lou also had (and still have) a passion for adoption. I got to witness the whole exciting process of their first domestic adoption, remember the exciting insanity when they got the call about a baby that was about to be born, that could be theirs, and getting little Eleni in less than a month after they were approved as adoptive parents. Seeing their joy and commitment to her enhanced my own desire to adopt, and made me more aware of the children in my own country who need a family.
This dear couple moved five years ago to Lou's home country, Cyprus. They built a house with a fully wheelchair accessible apartment, and told me I must come to visit one day. Lou teaches GSL - Greek as a Second Language, and he and Kendra do "organic ministry" from their home and in their neighborhood. They have a biological little girl now, and another on the way, and they said that they still plan to adopt another older child when their girls have grown a bit. We stay in touch through Facebook, but I have missed them so much since they moved.
They are in my hometown this month, and today, they came to visit! The two hours we had together flew by in a flurry of stories and laughter. They are just as I remember them - so full of life and love. I'm so thankful for the years we shared, and the valuable lessons I learned from them. It's amazing to realize how much the sacrifice of time and energy can affect another person's life; it's amazing to realize how much Lou and Kendra's discipleship and investment in me has impacted who I am today. Thank you, my friends! Ευχαριστώ!
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Introducing Svante the Svede!
I am currently sipping a celebratory iced raspberry mocha at my favorite coffee shop, and do you know why? Because I am now the proud parent of Svante the Svedish veelchair! He is new and hip and rambunctious, with a spicy hint of mischief and adventure, like his momma. :)
I had originally planned to name him James Bond - not for the dashing action-packed 007, but for the stout wheelchair man who first took measurements and detailed notes to create him way back in January. I also considered a green-based name like Kermit, because I ordered a green frame. But today the green frame proved to be really too dark and subtle to be worthy of an iconic green name, and James Bond was absent in the delivery room, and I learned he actually had very little to do with its development.
Do you know who was responsible for the development and deep green-ness? The Swedes! And so, since the Swedes get overlooked and underappreciated so much, I decided to pay tribute to their excellence in wheelchair building by giving my chair a Swedish name. "Svante" is a common Swedish boy name, and it means "holy." I had not planned on my first adopted international child to be green and have four wheels, nor for him to be from extreme Northern Europe, but of course, God's plans are often not my own!
Svante and I are entering a new and exciting season of my life, with less focus on busy-ness and more focus on deeper relationships. I'm stepping away from the programs that have structured my life so well, moving into a new house in a new neighborhood to be in community with some brothers and sisters and be closer and more accessible to the kids I love so much. More on that piece later, but I am praying that our ministry can look more like an open door, an open Bible, open ears, and open hearts. I want my house to be a drop-in place where people always feel welcomed and safe, where they can talk and learn and snack and play and rest as needed. I want my life and relationships to be all about Jesus and his love, grace, peace, and power. Here is the prayer from Ephesians 3 that Svante and I have chosen to strive to live out fully in the next weeks and months:
"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
So Svante and I humbly ask for your prayers as we strive to pace ourselves to the rhythm of God's grace, and follow closely in his footsteps.
Do you know who was responsible for the development and deep green-ness? The Swedes! And so, since the Swedes get overlooked and underappreciated so much, I decided to pay tribute to their excellence in wheelchair building by giving my chair a Swedish name. "Svante" is a common Swedish boy name, and it means "holy." I had not planned on my first adopted international child to be green and have four wheels, nor for him to be from extreme Northern Europe, but of course, God's plans are often not my own!
Svante and I are entering a new and exciting season of my life, with less focus on busy-ness and more focus on deeper relationships. I'm stepping away from the programs that have structured my life so well, moving into a new house in a new neighborhood to be in community with some brothers and sisters and be closer and more accessible to the kids I love so much. More on that piece later, but I am praying that our ministry can look more like an open door, an open Bible, open ears, and open hearts. I want my house to be a drop-in place where people always feel welcomed and safe, where they can talk and learn and snack and play and rest as needed. I want my life and relationships to be all about Jesus and his love, grace, peace, and power. Here is the prayer from Ephesians 3 that Svante and I have chosen to strive to live out fully in the next weeks and months:
"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
So Svante and I humbly ask for your prayers as we strive to pace ourselves to the rhythm of God's grace, and follow closely in his footsteps.
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