Post-Missions' Trip Update

I sit down to write this blog and it’s always hard to decide how to begin.  I know exactly what I want to say, but it’s hard to formulate it into language that will be understandable for everyone, rather than me just rambling on in Catherine-words.  There’s so much to tell about the past 3 weeks, but yet I don’t want to bore you with unnecessary details.  So I guess I’ll just start writing and trust that what comes out is what needs to be said.

First of all, a big, ginormous THANK YOU to any and all of you who supported me financially.  I have barely any money to my name so going on two international missions’ trips this summer could’ve been a big drain on my already empty bank account.  I physically could not have done them without you and for that I am extremely thankful.  Another huge THANK YOU to all of you who prayed for me during the past 3 weeks.  Both trips were physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually challenging and draining; thus, I needed an extra dose of Jesus to get me through.  Probably the cutest and most encouraging thing I experienced before I even left was getting to see my 3 littlest cousins (ages 4, 3 and 2).  I had dinner with them and they told me that they had been praying for me every night for the past week prior to my trip because they knew I was “going to Guatemala to tell people about God because they didn’t know God.”  My mom spend even more time with these boys while I was in Guatemala, and she said they continued to pray for me every night while I was gone.  What an encouragement that even the littlest in the Kingdom are praying for the missionaries.

Guatemala (June 9-15)

My heart was captured by this country on the trip last year, and I feel deeper in love during this year’s trip.  We spent most of the week preparing a road to be paved (which a team down there this week is actually pouring the concrete for).  This road leads into the property of Engadi Ministries where the boys’ homes will one day be built.  We were also able to go into a school in Zone 18 in Guatemala (one of the poorest, most dangerous areas of Guatemala).  In this school, we were able to paint a few of the classrooms.  The children that went to school there were so excited and encouraged that we were there.  Most of these children live in one room houses made from scrap metal.  Seeing paint on their school room walls make the rooms so bright and happy that they children are even more excited to be going to school.  As we left the school, all the students were lined up by their classrooms shouting “thank you, thank you” to us as we passed by.

 Painting in the schools...I guess I had a supervisor. 

 

Our team after the last day of work.  We widened this road by 2 feet on both sides.

Honduras (June 22-29)

Orphanage Emmanuel is not what you’d first expect an orphanage to be.  First of all, most of the kids have parents, but they have been taken away from them by the country because of abuse or neglect.  So it’s not technically an orphanage, and you can’t adopt out of it.  You can however sponsor children from the orphanage, which is how Emmanuel gets the majority of its funds.  The children go to school during the day and while they did, we would do some tasks around the property.  These included harvesting fish from their tilapia farm, working in the greenhouse, butchering pigs, and pouring concrete.  I personally only participated in the first two.  The last three days we were there, I spent a great deal of time around the toddler and infant house, playing with the children on the playground.  During the afternoon, after the kids came home from school, we would do a Bible story, crafts and play games with the “small boys” group (the ages being  around 4-9).  These children loved us and only wanted to play and cuddle with us.  You’ll see a few pictures of the children who touched my heart the most.

 Santos

 Josue

 Oscar

Manuel (braiding my hair) and Richard (sitting in my lap)

People have asked me which trip was my favorite. I can’t answer that because the trips were both so different.  My heart has been gripped by Guatemala and Engadi Ministries, but the children worked their way into my heart when I was at Orphanage Emmanual.  The real test for me is “would I go back?”…and the answer is yes for both trips.

  Isaac and me in Antigua, Guatemala (volcano in the background).

 

Isaac and me at Orphanage Emmanuel

Summer Missions 2013

A mini life update: I am currently in my last semester of classes at UGA.  I will be done in May, complete an internship in the fall, and graduate in December of 2013 with a degree in Health Promotion.  I currently work at Tribe Fitness (livetribefitness.com) as a personal trainer, hoping to continue in that profession after graduation.

So...last summer, I went to Antigua, Guatemala with my sister doing missions work with a group from Watkinsville First Baptist Church. While in Guatemala we worked with Nathan, a full-time missionary with Engadi Ministries. Engadi Ministries works to break the gang cycle in boys and helps them find refuge and growth in Christ by giving them a home to train them in the instruction of the Lord. Learn more about the ministry here. http://www.engadiministries.org/

The trip was life changing and the Lord put a burden in my heart for the boys in Guatemala.  This summer, I am returning to Guatemala during the second week of June (8-15) with Watkinsville First Baptist Church to continuing helping Nathan with his work in Antigua.  Our work will involve ministering to the children in the city as well as helping with the construction of the boys’ home.

Not only am I going to Guatemala this summer but I will also be going to Honduras during the last week of June (22-29) to work at Orphanage Emmanuel. (www.orphanageemmanuel.com) This ministry takes in unwanted children and gives them a chance at a life that they would not have had otherwise. During our time there, we will be helping on a construction project in addition to spending lots of time with the kids and showing them the love of Jesus.

So here’s the nitty gritty: the cost for the trip to Guatemala is $1300, and the cost of the Honduras trip is around $1100.  This is a lot of money that I do not have. However, praise the Lord that the cost of the Honduras trip is already covered, so all I need to do is raise $1300. It is with great faith and knowing that this is the will of the Lord that I have committed to these trips with full assurance that God will supply the money.  I ask that you prayerfully consider partnering with me in prayer and in finances.

                                                 *****If you can give*****
Send a check to 1061 Persimmon Creek Drive; Bishop, GA 30621.

Make the check out to "WFBC", and do NOT put my name anywhere on the check.

Please know that these trips are not possible without your help. The reason we are here on earth is to spread the saving knowledge that the only way to get to heaven is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. I am looking forward to sharing this good news in Central America this summer!  Thank you for partnering with me in sharing the Gospel!

Acts 1:8

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

a little more handsome

For those of you who know me at all, or even if you happen to see my Facebook page periodically, you know that there is a certain little boy who means so much to me.  I've been friends with Jess and Chris Fitzgerald since early 2010, and their first child, Asher Keel Fitzgerald, was born February 7, 2011.  I've spent a lot of time with Asher since he was a baby, have grown to love him so much, and we known each other so well that he even calls me "tatty."  About nine months ago, Jess told me she was pregnant with baby number 2, and I remember telling my mom, I don't think I could love another baby as much as I love Asher.  She responded, "love is not divided, but multiplied."

This weekend, on Saturday, September 29, 2012, Baby Fitz #2 was born: Graham Christopher Fitzgerald.  I held that baby and fell in love again.  He is so precious, and the world just got a little more handsome with this baby. I love this boy so much, and I'm not even related.  I can't imagine how much Chris and Jess and the rest of grandparents and family love him.  I am already looking forward to getting to know him and continuing to "nanny"/babysit him and Asher in the years to come.

The happy parents!

Graham Christopher Fitzgerald

With the birth of "Baby Next" (as I called him until he had a name), it meant that Asher and I got to spend a lot of time together on Sunday while Jess and Chris and family were at the hospital with Graham. I picked him up for church, he played in the nursery, and then we went home for lunch and a nap (well, study time for me while Asher slept).  Then we got to go to the hospital to visit Graham (he's having to spend a few days in the NICU for an infection...he's looking better and expected to be done with antibiotics by Thursday or Friday).

                             A little tired after church                                       Before church, hanging out with

                                                                                                                   me in the sound booth.

 Baby Graham

Because Graham was born on a Saturday, UGA football was being played.  This week was a home game; and it was a good one!  We played TN and we won, making us undefeated this season.  Kay and I got to meet Hairy Dawg (which is one of three things I wanted to accomplish regarding UGA football before I graduate).  Now I just have to meet/get a picture with Uga and be on the sidelines for at least a few minutes in a game.  I will love you forever if you can make either of those two things happen. 

In other news, I still love my job as a personal trainer!  And I made an A on a test yesterday that I hardly studied for!  The Lord is good and continues to bless me beyond what I deserve.

I'm an introverted extrovert

I spent a lot of time around people.  I'm in classes with 60 or more people at a time.  I live with six other people.  My job consists of spending lots of time with people.  And most of the time, I have evening and other extracurricular activities that require me to...yep, you guessed it, be with people!  And I love it!  I love being with people.  I'm very much a people-person.  I love talking with people, hanging out with people, spending time with people.  I am an extrovert (sometimes to a fault in that I am a loud person).  However, sometimes I just have one of those days where I get people overloaded, and I think, "if I see one more person I'm going to blow my head off."  Today was one of those days.

It's not that anything bad happened.  No body said anything to make me mad.  I didn't get in a fight with anyone.  It's just been one of those weeks where I've been with people so much and I've had so much going on (mid-terms are next week) that I need to not be with people so that I'm a much pleasant person when I am with people again.  So I cancelled all my evening plans and made new plans to do nothing.

Well, not nothing.  I got a work-out in, to rid myself of stress (see below if you'd like to try my circuit).  Afterwards, I made some tea for the stress-induced sore throat I've come to house in my body.  Then I spent two hours studying and doing homework.  This was all very nice "alone time."  But something was missing; my mind still felt "heavy."

Jesus was missing.  The one person who is THE stress-reliever, THE healer, THE rest I needed today had only been spent time with while I had my discipleship group this morning, and even that was with other people.  Don't get me wrong, we had an amazing group this morning, got through all of Luke 2 (which I thought would be impossible) and had corporate prayer and worship, but that doesn't substitute for a personal reading of Scripture and prayer.  What I needed was ALONE time with Jesus.

I opened to Psalms 27:1-6

The Lord is my light and my salvation;

whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid.

When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh,

my adversaries and foes,

it is they who stumble and fall.

Though an army encamp against me,

my heart shall not fear;

though war arise against me,

yet I will be confident.

One thing have I asked of the Lord,

that I will seek after;

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord 

all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord 

and to inquire in his temple.

For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble;

he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;

he will lift me high upon a rock.

And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me,

and I will offer in his tend sacrifices with shouts of joy;

I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

What a beautiful reminder of the power of Lord, even in times of distress.  I needed to be reminded that the one thing I should be seeking (more than good grades, more than a raise at my work, more than lots of friends and favor among my peers) is the face of the living God.  He is the only one that can sustain me.  He is the only one who can save me.  He is the only one who can defeat my foes.  And praise Jesus that he does!  I am glad that I don't have to do it, because I never could.  I will be confident, that my God can!

And on a completely unrelated note, my d-team worked through Luke 2 this morning, and this little verse about the prophetess Anna is completely amazing and inspiring to me. 

Luke 2:37

[Anna] did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.

What a role model for all of us!

September 27 work-out
rotation of 21-14-7 of each
     thrusters
     single leg lift to dumbbell (lie on your back with arms extended upwards with a dumbbell in hands, crunch up and lift your leg towards the dumbbell until the dumbbell touches your shin)
     burbees
     alternating bicep curls
     pushups

The One With The Life Update

So, 4 months ago, you heard from me...and here we are in Fall of 2012, when my last post in May felt so long ago.  I will try to keep this short and sweet so not to bore you with the non-excitingness of my life, but I was reading Jon and Katie Alligood's blog today and felt inspired to update my blog on my life.  So here it goes...

Summer 2012

It went by WAY TOO FAST!  I spent the month of May taking an Epidemiology Maymester class at UGA, which is basically fitting a semester long class into 15 days of 3 hours a day.  I was thankful to have friends in the class with me, but needless to say, I spent most of the class on Pinterest of Facebook and still made an A...so bam!  

 After class, my sister Sarah and I spent a week in Guatemala with a team (seen right) from our church (Watkinsville First Baptist Church) working with missionary Nathan Hardeman and Engadi Ministries.  It was such a blessing to go with Sarah on her first out-of-country trip.  Engadi is building a home for boys with the aim of breaking the cycle of violence and gangs by training them to be godly men.  We spent most of the trip doing construction on the property.  The picture of Sarah and I below is us in front of a large pile of dirt that we pulled from all week.  I have never been so captured by a mission's trip.  I have seen Nathan's heart for the boys of Guatemala and love his mission so much that I am already planning on going back again this summer.

After coming home from the trip, my summer consisted of a family vacation to Asheville, NC at the end of June and then a family reunion with the Holt family (see picture at left) in Folly Beach, SC at the end of July.  The beginning of August met me with the start of a new job and my senior year at UGA.






Fall 2012
School
I am a senior at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA.  Go Dawgs!  I am studying Health Promotion and Behavior, and if you don't know what that is, it's exactly like it sounds...I promote health.  I got accepted to my major for Spring of 2012, which means I am in my second semester of taking major classes.  After this semester, I have two semesters left...one semester of classes and then my last semester will consist of an internship. I am supposed to be graduating in May of 2013, but I may be pushing it back to December of 2013 (still praying about this).  I am taking 12 hours of classes which, unfortunately, have proved to be pretty boring, but so far fairly easy for me.  I am looking forward to being done with school, not because I don't like it (I am the nerd who actually really enjoys school, but because I am finally fell in love with a job and can't wait until I can do it full time after graduation.

Work

Last semester (Spring 2012), I took an elective for my major entitled "Intro to Personal Training."  This class was designed to teach you how to be a personal trainer and prepare to you take the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) Personal Training exam.  I took the class not because I was interested in a job as a personal trainer, but because I was interested in learning more about exercising for my personal fitness.  I loved the class from the moment my professor started taking.  And then halfway through the class, I realized "I could do this as a job, love it, and be good at it."  The day after my final in the class I drove to Lawrenceville, GA to take the NASM test and PASSED!  I have been blessed with two jobs as a trainer: UGA at the Ramsey Student Center for Physical Activities and Tribe Fitness.  I started working at UGA in August and with Tribe in September.  (the picture to the left is my profile that hangs in the gym at Ramsey)

I LOVE IT!  I have always enjoyed working, but I have never fallen so much in love with a job that I could actually see myself doing it the rest of my life, as a career...until now.  I've been working as a trainer for only two months, but I've already experienced the old phrase "do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life."  I currently have six clients between the two jobs and love spending time with them while working out, learning about their life.  Training is my mission field and each one of my clients is an opportunity to show/share the gospel with them. (the picture to the right is my personal training business care with Tribe and the photo below is of another UGA training and myself doing a foam-rolling workshop on campus)

Life etc
When I'm not in class or training my life is otherwise pretty busy.  I am involved with the technical team in our worship ministry at church and am also on the leadership team for the college ministry at my church.  One of my favorite parts of the week consists of my Thursday morning discipleship group with four other girls who also go to UGA.  We are currently studying through the book of Luke and, after 5 weeks of meeting together, have just finished chapter 1.  These girls have become some of my closest friends.  We studying the Bible together, pray together, and keep each other accountable by confessing sin and speaking truth to each other (even when it hurts).  We also "do life together" by going to dance parties and UGA games together. (seen below are pictures of my d-team; missing is a picture of Kalie Hall)

                Phi Slam party: (L-R) Meredith Holt, Kay Parker, me, Kimberlyn Wilson

UGA game vs Florida Atlantic University: (L-R) Kimberlyn, me, Kay

UGA game vs Vanderbilt: (L-R) Kay, Meredith (Redcoat trumpet player), me

Another favorite part of my week is my Tuesday afternoon babysitting date with my favorite little boy, Asher Fitzgerald.  I have know his parents (Jess and Chris) since Spring of 2010 when they led my small group. Jess wasn't pregnant yet and we used to take walks together weekly before he was born. I got so excited when she got pregnant with him (an answer to prayer), and after meeting him for the first time at the hospital when he was only 15 hours old, we have spent much time together.  I have been keeping Asher every week on Tuesdays since he was 4 weeks old so Jess can volunteer at the Athens Pregnancy Center.  We've also spent many evenings together so Chris and Jess can have a date night to themselves.  He is now 19 months old and expecting a baby brother any day.  Whenever he sees me, a big smile spreads across his face, he runs to me yelling "tatty tatty" (that's Asher-talk for "Catherine").  He brings so much joy to my life! 

If I could choose one verse that I have been clinging to these past few months, it would be...

Galatians 6:9
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

In the business of life, especially this "season" of my life that seems to be especially busy, I have a tendency to become weary of doing "stuff", even good stuff like church and ministry.  However, I know the work I do in Christ and for Christ will not be done in vain.  Even the seemingly mundane activities of life, if done for Christ, will spread the Gospel of Jesus by the Holy Spirit working in me. This is truly "glorying in the ordinary."

Last few pictures of some of my closest friends...

            Julie Hinson and me (we are both Health Promotion majors and have a lot of classes together)

 

Chelsea Jay, Kay Parker, me (girls from church)

painting...with mom

Memorial day was yesterday.  A time to remember all those who've served our country, fighting to keep us free.  Apparently, it's also "national BBQ day" and "home improvement day."  Whatever you want to call it, it's really a day to spend with family. 

This year, my family was scattered.  Daddy and Josiah are in Uganda for another week.  Sarah left for church youth camp at the beach.  Michael was working.  So that means, Mommy and I were left to our lonesome.  We decided to make a day of it.  Mommy has been in a painting mood, and after 3 years of living in our house with every wall the same color as the day we moved it...a surprisingly pretty brownish/tan color...it's about time to add some color!   Sarah's room got painted last week (teal blue with a black chalkboard wall and a pink bathroom).  Now, it's my turn!

After mowing the grass (which, if you know me this won't surprise you, I did barefoot) and dropping Sarah off at the church, we headed off to Home Depot for paint!  We started our just going to paint my bathroom, but after finding a color we really liked, the half-bath downstairs was soon about to get colorized.  The picture shows the colors.  The color for my bathroom is the lightest green shown (Green Shimmer).  The color for the half-bath downstairs is the coral color second from the top (Sahara Sun).  The lightest blue color is for my bedroom, which hasn't been gotten to yet.

But enough about meaningless paint (although, both rooms did turn out really well).  The whole point of this blog is to express how wonderful my mom is and how thankful I am to have her as my mother and friend.  We've never, at least not to my memory, had a big strain in our relationship.  Sure we've had times where we fight or disagree, especially since we're both opinionated people and I've been a stupid teenage girl with hormones, back-talk and just plain sin raging.  However, as I've gotten older (and hopefully more mature), our relationship has grown from just mother/daughter to friend/friend. 

We genuinely have fun together as we do this crazy thing called life together.  We talk about anything, and I seriously value her opinion and advice.  She worked her way through college (yes, I followed in both her and my dad's footsteps by going to UGA), worked to put both her and my dad through seminary in Chicago, stayed at home to be her husband's helper as he was a pastor for 18 years in WI and home-schooled us four kids most of our lives.  She has glorified God is the seemingly ordinary tasks of life, found great joy in ministering to women of all ages (which is one of her passions in ministry), and has raised us kids in the knowledge and love of the Lord.  From her example, she is the reason I myself desire to be a wife and mother one day.  She has shown me Jesus in ways I can't even begin to describe.

Our relationship is deep not because we share DNA and have lived together for 22 years, but because we share the common bond of Jesus Christ.  It is only by the grace and forgiveness of Christ that we can have the relationship that we do.  I have truly been blessed with a mother and friend that I can be real with, cry with, laugh with, and trust with my life.  She seeks Jesus with everything and prays always.  I am thankful for the legacy of Jesus love that both her and my father have given me.  I am blessed because of their lives!


"But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments."   Psalms 103:17-18

doing crazy life together

For the past 2 years, one of the things that I am most thankful for in my life is a community of women in my life that are at the “next stage” from me.  These women have graduated from college, gotten married, and have young children.  With a desire to one day be a wife and mother, I love spending time with them because they teach me so much more about life and godliness than I could ever learn in a college classroom.

I had the honor and privilege of spending time with two of these women and their children yesterday for an afternoon.  There was no plan, no schedule of what we were to do, but that’s the beauty of this relationship: it’s simply doing life with these ladies…and I love it and thrive on it!  I arrived at J’s house around 3:30 in the afternoon, during naptime.  Her two kids would be asleep for about another hour so we got to sit in the living room, sip coffee, and catch-up on life.  We talked about everything under the sun: Jesus, recipes and Pinterest, growing in grace, kids, confession, babies, the Bible, health, church, what would be for dinner, etc.  You name it, we probably covered it!  

About 4:30pm, after discussing how long the kids were sleeping (which was about 4 hours, for the record), L arrived with her 10-week-old baby girl. Baby Girl A had just come from the doctor and had gotten four shots that morning (ouch!).  Even though Baby Girl A was sleeping and J’s two babies were sleeping, the peacefulness was short lived.  J’s two babies (Toddler Boy A and Infant B) and Baby Girl A was soon to follow.  We moved to the kitchen where snacks were given to the three kids and me!  Dinner (which was to be homemade turkey meatballs with pasta, red sauce and broccoli) was soon to begin.

During dinner preparation, which, to my observation, becomes a much more difficult task when you’ve got two hungry children, the kids were stripped down to just their diapers, and put in a high chair.  The faces that they gave J, L, and me during food prep was precious as they excitedly awaited their meal.  Homemade turkey meatballs, pasta and red sauce, and broccoli was soon put on their trays, and I soon saw why they wore no clothes.  These two clean, hungry children soon had full bellies and red bodies (Toddler Boy A soon acquired something resembling a clown mouth…you can use your imagination on that one). 

After dinner, kids covered in sauce and all, we moved to the back deck where two naked children played so very happily in a bucket of hose water and J gave them a mini-bath outside.  Such joy was seen on these babies’ faces.  They loved splashing, playing, and throwing every toy into the bucket.  J would spray Toddler Boy A with the hose and a huge smile came over his face as he ran around the deck laughing and giggling.  It was a sad day to come inside and get dressed, which wasn’t exactly getting dressed at all, but rather changing the wet diapers and just putting a shirt on. 

Dinner was soon done, the kitchen had been cleaned up and Baby Girl A was soon getting fussy (I would too I had just had received 4 shots in my legs), and Infant B and Toddler Boy A were getting restless.  A WALK!  That’s the key!  Three kids, two moms, me, and a dog were soon out the door!  J put her two kids in a double baby jogger, in nothing but a shirt and diaper (which was too cute to even try to explain), L put Baby Girl A in her car seat with her own stroller, and I leashed Spotted Dog B.  These kids love to walk! Well, last night that seemed to be the ticket to content and peaceful children – a short little walk around the block.  Toddler Boy A had his sippy cup and puppy (a stuffed animal blanket that is essential for putting him to bed), Infant B (with paci in mouth) almost fell asleep in the stroller, and Baby Girl A was peaceful in the stroller even though she would whine every other second because of the pain from shots. 

Through all this and because of all this chaos (including an almost runaway stroller), I love to spend time with these ladies and learn from them interacting with their kids.  Despite the occasional fussiness of the three kids (which was actually more often than not last night), the love that overflows from the moms is complete evidence of Christ’s love flowing through them.   I only hope they know what a blessing they are to me and how thankful I am to them for letting me “do life” with them and learn from them.  These women are truly amazing.  Whoever says that being a stay-at-home mom is not a full-time job has clearly never spent an entire day with one such woman. These women are first of all their husband’s helper, and to their kids they are nurses, cooks, cleaners (both of the home and the children), chauffeurs, coaches, hug-givers, boo-boo fixers, and most importantly they are Jesus to their children. They are patient, gentle, compassionate, giving, and self-sacrificing.  Through them, I see no higher calling than for a women to be a mother.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.   2 Corinthians 12:9

"I've never heard Jonah that way before"

About two weeks ago, a thought was planted in my head (no doubt by God), about how I need to be more active in the community of Athens, especially this summer as I have a little more free time. Well, every Saturday morning during the month of May, my dad and some other men from our church have been going to the local prison to do Bible studies with the inmates there. Last week my dad mentioned that they didn't have a woman for this week to go speak to the women inmates.

So immediately, the Lord starting convicting me that this is what I have been thinking about, and that I need to do this. My flesh wanted to say no: "I'm so young" "What if they ask question I don't know the answer to" "I don't feel that knowledgeable spiritually" and "I'm not a very good orator, what if I can't explain the gospel very clearly". Funny how the very next day, during my quiet time, I read this verse...

"For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power...For consider your calling brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God...Therefore, as it is written, 'Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord'."
-1 Corinthians 1:17, 26-29,31

The Lord told me simply, "You have all the 'excuses', but really, you're just too scared." So I decided for once in my life, to not argue any more with the Lord, and do what he told me to do. I prayed and the Lord laid on my heart to go through the story of Jonah, and not just the part of the big fish eating him, but the ENTIRE book, complete with the gospel presentation.

Now, I would post my notes on the book, the 7 pages of notes that I took with me to the jail, but if wouldn't be complete accurate as to all I discussed. The Holy Spirit completely took over my words. I used some of my notes, sure, after all, I did plan some of what I wanted to say. But I covered the morning in prayer and was desirous for the Spirit to guide my words, and he did...it was incredible. I don't think I've ever given a more clear explanation as to the gospel, what Jesus did for us on the cross, and how to have salvation...why? Because it seriously wasn't me talking...it was all God. And I'm so thankful for that. Ephesians 6:19 became real to me. God gave me words to fearlessly open my mouth and proclaim the mystery of the gospel.

When I was done, one of the ladies said to me..."I've never heard Jonah that way before. All I've ever heard about was the big fish." How sad, but how true that is of most people. They never get past a big fish swallowing Jonah, or even worse, they try and try to figure out what the big fish was and they never dig deeper into the fact that Jesus says he's like Jonah in the fact that he will spend three days and three nights in the belly of the earth, and that Jesus is the one that is "greater than Jonah" (Matthew 12:40-41).

Right now, I can only count myself priviledged that God would count me worthy by giving me the honor of revealing the great news that is the gospel to those lovely ladies in the prison.

Mission: Brooklyn 2011

spring break trip
March 12-17, 2011

I don't like Valentine's Day

No matter where I was in life, no matter if I was "with" someone or not, I've NEVER liked Valentine's Day (and I'm not just being a downer because I don't have someone special to spend it with, I've just never liked the holiday in general). And I've never really been able to put my finger on why, until I heard this sermon excerpt from Matt Chandler. This describes perfectly why I've never been a big fan of this particular holiday. So here's what he says, and this is found before his third sermon in the Colossians series, if you wanted to listen to it... (http://fm.thevillagechurch.net/sermons)

___________________________________________________________

To be real honest with you, I’m not a big fan of Valentine’s Day. It’s not because I don’t
love love. I very much love love. But I think our culture has no idea what it’s
celebrating. It has no real clear definition of “love.” If you’ll pay attention to our
culture, our definition of love can’t be defined outside of self-seeking or “what makes me
happy. . .how does it work for me. . .” So that’s a really lame, weird thing to celebrate.
If the idea is that love is this kind of emotional, stirring, mysterious thing that can attack
you from out of nowhere, that is so powerful that you can’t control it, that’s a dangerous,
terrifying idea. It’s not to be celebrated, honestly. So for those of you romantics who
think it should, let me just say this. Right now, I’m very much in love with Lauren. But
let’s say I go to the store tonight to buy a bag of chips and the baby angel in the diaper
with a weapon pops me in the back, and now all of a sudden I see this other lady and now
she’s the beautiful one, she’s the one that I love. That’s a terrifying idea and not one that
I think should be celebrated.

So I’d like to read a passage out of Song of Solomon 8, starting in verse 6. “Set me as a
seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love [ahava] is strong as death,
jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD.
Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love
all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.”

I have been with Lauren for 12 years, and we’ve been married for 10 years. There have
been these moments in our marriage and in our relationship where I thought, “This is a
really cool moment.” And few of those have anything to do with some hyper-emotional,
romantic, violins in the background, good glass of wine, beautiful scenery. Few of them
revolve around that. Honestly, they tend to be a lot more painful than that. I’ll give you
an example from this morning. Our seven-month-old is extremely selfish. I don’t know
if you’ve ever had one of these things, but she’s decided to cut all four of her top teeth
last night. So there was not a lot of sleep happening at the Chandler household last night.
But when they do radiation, specifically in your brain, you only lose hair where they
shoot the radiation. So I’ve got this real weird head thing where this is bald but then this
still grows hair. And I can grow hair like a Chia Pet. I could strain right now and make it
grow. I didn’t shave before I went to bed last night, so I had to get up this morning and
shave. And there are part of my head that I can’t see or reach. So at about 6:45 this
morning, despite the fact that we didn’t sleep much last night, I’m waking up Lauren.
I’m like, “Hey Boo, I need you to shave the back of my head.” To which her response
was, “They can’t see the back of your head.” So I was like, “I know they can’t see the
back of my head, but this can’t happen. You’re going to have to get up.” So Lauren
comes into the bathroom exhausted and shaves the back of my head so I could be pretty
for you. Now, that’s ahava. That’s a love of the will. That’s not, “Oh isn’t this
romantic? I get to get up with my sick husband at 6:45 in the morning after only getting
a couple hours of sleep and shave his radiated head.” But that’s ahava. That’s love.

That is a foundational, deep, full of guts, “I’m not going anywhere” love. That’s to be
celebrated. If we could celebrate that, then I’d be all about Valentine’s Day. But that’s
not what our culture is celebrating. It’s so much more emotive, so much more silly, so
much more hollow, so much more “I like you today. Let’s celebrate that.” So I’m not a
fan. That’s the mini sermon. Now let’s get to Colossians.

______________________________________________________________

P.S. As long as we're celebrating Valentine's Day the right way, I'm ALL for it!