Joining Journeys

Last Wednesday was the 2nd gathering of "Faith Cafe," the Bible Study that my high school students and I are working through this semester. The course comes with a DVD with different clips on it. Last week's clip was an interview with Dr. Larry Crabb.

During the course of his interview he said something that really hit me. He was talking about how most of us don't go to a professional counselor when we need to talk to someone, we go to a friend. He talked about how there's usually some desire on the part of the listener to fix the problem of the speaker.

He then made the point that "we don't need to be in the business of fixing problems, we need to be in the business of joining journeys."

wow.

I really like that. He also talked a lot about his desire to see the church - i.e. REGULAR PEOPLE step up to the plate and join the journeys of other REGULAR PEOPLE. That's not exactly super hard homework.

It's made me think this week about how many people have joined my journey and how many journey's I've joined. Lots, in other words. I only hope that I've been a good addition to most people's journeys, I for one feel incredibly blessed by all the people who have been placed into mine.

I apparently don't care...

.... about making money.

Because all the jobs that I really want at the moment aren't really jobs at all. They are volunteer positions or educational opportunities that offer extensive travel.

And the job that I eventually want to have will have me working at a camp for the rest of my life. Not exactly high class living.

But I can't complain. My life is going to be more exciting than most.

The joy of summer

Last night I went to my cousin Zach's graduation party. There were people there from both sides of his family and a bunch of friends and church people. So I only recognized a third of the people there. But it was a good time anyway.

There were a bunch of people playing in the pool last night and there were also a fair amount of water balloons floating around. As I was sitting in a ridiculously comfortable lawn chair watching the party I kept being drawn to one particular little girl. I don't know if she was a cousin from the other side or a neighborhood kid, but she couldn't have been more than 7 or 8, if that. She was wearing water wings and a little kid innertube around her waist.

At one point she got out of the pool, ran to the back corner of the backyard and got a water balloon, all while wearing the water wings and trying to keep the inner tube around her waist. After getting the water ballon she ran back to the pool while letting go a screetch of pure delight. And she had a look of pure joy on her face while she was holding that water ballon.

It was a good reminder that while I may not be at camp full time for the first time in MANY summers, summer is still a magical time of year, filled with surprises, adventures and joys of all kinds.

Even if this summer is starting out with taking care of my brother who currently has a temp of 103* and wondering if we'll even leave for our first family vacation today. (Prayers appreciated)

Oh! And my cousin Zach's girlfriend asked about my Stop Sex Trafficking tshirt so I got to educate a few more people about the devastating reality about modern day slavery. Go to www.oasisusa.org if you haven't yet already!

If I am so blessed

If I am so blessed as to have children they will be going to a school like this one.

STOP THE TRAFFIK!

This morning I had this email prayer request sitting in my in box:

Dear All

Tomorrow, Oasis India will be conducting a raid to rescue young girls who have been trafficked into prostitution. Please join with us to pray, especially for:
- The logistics will go smoothly and we'll be able to rescue the girls
- Safety of the team
- Good cooperation with the police
- Those we rescue will trust Oasis and work with us

Thanks so much
God’s peace
Andy


For those of you inclined to do so, please pray that this operation goes smoothly. This human traffiking has got to STOP. Let's be the generation that brings about the end.

If you'd like more information take a few minutes and go check out the Oasis Website.

Death by Nutella

Nutella is delicious. It is. I really enjoy it.

Today, however, my Nutella committed a crime. It killed.

Actually it was kind of amusing. I needed a snack halfway between lunch and dinner and made myself a piece of toast and then spread Nutella on it. (If you don't know what Nutella is, stop reading this, go buy some, eat a spoonful and then come back. I can wait.)

While I was eating my Nutella I decided to go and ask my dad if there was anything he needed me to do. Since he was in the back yard grilling the ENORMOUS turkey we were going to eat for dinner I took my Nutella goodness out back with me.

As I was walking down the driveway a moth or something flew full force toward my face as I was taking a bite of my snack. At first I was startled and then very afraid it had flown into my mouth. As I was making sure I hadn't eaten the bug I pulled the Nutella bread away from my face and immediately noticed that the bug was stuck to my toast. Wings stuck with the body out, legs flailing trying to get free.

So I did my best to try and free the poor thing. Transferred it from the toast to the grass and then tried to clean it up with the napkin I was holding. Which was difficult because that stuff is STICKY.

However I went back to check a while later and although at first I thought it had survived due to a bug-sized Nutella track I found it motionless a few inches away, still covered in Nutella.

I'm sorry little bug for your unfortunate run-in with my midday snack. I have a feeling you didn't enjoy the Nutella today as much as I did.

Accountability

Tonight my mom and I went to an event to bring awareness to modern day slavery. There were speakers, musicians, and a small market selling fair trade items. You should probably check out Stop the Traffik: http://www.stopthetraffik.org
and Oasis: http://www.oasisusa.org/ for more information.

The entire event was moving and informational and thought provoking.

One of the musicians spoke at one point about how he came to be involved in activism toward informing the public about this tragic reality. He said something that really struck me. He mentioned how at the beginning he always turned away from the information. That although he knew a little of what was going on, he tried to avoid finding out too much. That might sound awful, but then he made this really good point: He shied away from the information because he knew that as soon as he heard it he would then be accountable for it.

Wow.

What an amazing point. And how convicting.

How many times have I heard something and then thought "gee, that's really bad, and it needs to be stopped," or "geez, that really needs to get done." But then instead of doing something about it, instead of jumping in with both feet I turn away and hope that someone else will just take care of it.

How many times have you?

Now, I know it's unrealistic to think that I can go ahead and jump into total activism on every single huge issue I hear about. I mean, how many are there? World Hunger, Modern Day Slavery, Cancer Awareness, etc, etc, etc, and so on and so on. You get the idea (I hope). No one can do it all. But there are small things that I can do. For each of the causes.

That statement also just hit me on a personal level too. There are things that have come to my attention in my own life that I need to acknowledge and attend too instead of walking away from or turning my back on. They aren't going to go away, and I am accountable to them.

He also made the point that these things will just keep tugging at you, or that they will keep coming back into your life over and over until you have no choice but to acknowledge them.

What have you walked away from or turned away from recently?

Let's hold ourselves accountable.