Fall is here...

Well, I'm back to the blog. School has started again and I'm back to sharing my random thoughts. Here is one that I don't know the answer to... I consider myself a modern-day abolitionist. What does that mean exactly, what does it look like. For all the heart and passion I place in that title I have acted very little. I am vocal about human trafficking and try to stay educated and up to date in the topic, but that's not enough. So what's the next step for me? I'm not sure...

almost the end of April...

It's near the end of April and I have not posted- in an effort to continuing my goal for more consistent communication this year I must! I rake my brain to consider anything deeply profound, but I've come up empty. I'm not sure if I was overcome with fighting the grey and rain of April or the insanity of work and school...but May is nearly here the flowers and trees are blooming and I'm now sneezing. I am always amazed how much the sunshine affects me- I love the sun!

If you have not heard Jon Foreman's solo project- a must listen!!!
(you can sample it on his myspace music)

Thankful for sunshine and good music!

Loving the Least of These in Rwanda

So often you hear stories of need. Those stories usually end with little hope of tangible response. Tonight was different! I had the privileged of listening to a Pastor from Gisenyi, Rawanda. Pastor Simon shared about his church and their response to the needs of their community during the genocide, the aftermath, and the continuing battle with HIV/AIDS and orphans. His church of about 200 people ministers to/ cares for 624 orphans. They know each child by name and their situation. Many, many in the church offer their homes, families, and ultimately love to these orphans. Love, God's love and the people that extend it are what keep these orphans coming back to this church.

Pastor Simon's story captured me on so many levels. The thing that resonated in me so deeply was recognizing God's Kingdom. It may sound strange and I'm not sure that I have the words to explain. But, I saw it, I heard it... the reality of a present and tangible God moving among and through His people. A people that are open to His movement and living it, even in moments of great sacrifice and uncomfort. Even as Pastor Simon spoke Bill Hyble's words range in my heart, "the local church is the hope of the world." That's what I saw tonight in one man's story, in his church, in his part of the world. The least of these where being loved and through that the "up there" of God's kingdom was being brought "down here." I can't think of anything that excites me more!

Easter Jet-lag

Yesterday was Easter and what a great day it was! I love celebrating Jesus' resurrection and am striving to do that in the everyday life this year. During this Holy Week I was reminded how much we focus on the cross, yet the true miracle and life came in Jesus' resurrection. I'm not sure why with all the great things from the last week that I find myself so tired. It reminds me of jet-lag! That strange feeling that comes after traveling. You've done nothing and yet you are so tired.

If you've traveled by plane, train, or automobile I'm sure you know what I mean...
I'm too jet-lagged to say anything more. Look for something more deeply profound in April :-)

~for now the jet-lagged bloger

New thoughts for vacation...

With snow and ice all around my mind is thinking of warm places and vacation. I was reading one of my favorite blogs, when I heard for the first time about Faceless International (facelessinterantional.com). It is an organization that helps raise awareness on social issues throughout the global community. They have recently opened a trip to Guatemala to learn more about and experience some of the issues surrounding Fair Trade. They have taken trips to India focusing on Human Trafficking. From the itineraries and pictures that I have seen Faceless looks like they are great at learning about the reality of the focus issue and doing something tangible in the places that they go. Just one different way that you could spend vacation time.


A business that I purchase from TOMS shoes (tomsshoes.com) also opens their "shoe drops" for the general public to apply to attend. Last November they went to Africa and placed 50,000 pairs of shoes on kids feet. Pretty Cool! Someday I would love to be part of such a tangible act as fitting a child on the other side of the world with a pair of shoes.

These are just two examples of hundreds of organizations and ways to do something a little more purposed with your vacation time in the years to come. Well, back to work and snow.
~the dreaming "vacationer"

New Years Resolutions...

Ah, the New Years resolution. The small things I plan to do that fall through about the time the clock hits twelve. This year I didn't make a resolution, but if I had it would be to stay in better touch with friends. Thus the blog. All of this nothingness to say, I will be posting a blog a least once a month. If you have any brilliant ideas on what to blog about I'm open. Otherwise I'll just refer you to my favorite blogs. Speaking of favorites- I love this background, it was used at 7//22 check-out more 722.org

~the reluctant blogger

Jack-o-lantern

Fall has been crazy with recreating nearly everything about Kid's ministry at Real Life Church, vacation, and life in general. I wanted to pause and share with you an article that I received this past May at the Orange Conference. Orange is a conference that focuses on family ministry in a whole new way. At this point I could write pages about my time at the Orange conference and the philosophy of Orange, but instead I will say I will share more later or check out www.orangeleaders.com

This article addressed some different issues and made me ponder somethings. It was written more for church or ministry leaders, but I think that it is good for us all to read. I hope that you enjoy:

"'Jack-o-Lanterns': What are you doing to ENGAGE the family?
Oh, oh. Can we actually use that word in this book? Maybe the problem is we have thought so much about what is WRONG with Halloween, we have never considered what might be RIGHT about it. No, we are not asking you to dress up like a witch. We are not trying to make any kind of statement about Halloween. We are not even going to tell you if we think Halloween is right or wrong. If that bothers you so much that you miss this point, then you have a different kind of problem.

Before you judge too quickly, consider a few Halloween stats:
-An estimated 47% of household consumers are expected to decorate for Halloween.
-Halloween is second only to Christmas in decorations sold.
-Over 790 million pounds of jack-o-lanterns and pumpkin pies will be bought.
-Candy sales will exceed over 2 billion dollars.
-More than 93% of children go trick-or-treating every year.
(I wonder how many of those families go to your church?)
The point is that most families love Halloween. Right or wrong, there is something about October 31 that stirs the imagination of children and engages the hearts of parents.

Watch your neighborhood closely this fall. Listen to the laughter. Take a look at the generosity. Taste the sugar. See the glow in children’s eyes. Notice the parents walking with their kids. And how families connect with other families. It seems kind of…can we say magical?

Why can’t church be more like that? Don’t you want to create a shared experience for the family that captures their imagination and incites a relational revival in the home? Then maybe you should think ORANGE. Halloween orange! Start thinking about the family, and what it takes to create the kind of shared experience that results in quality time for parents and kids. What would happen, for example, if you started acting like what happened at home might be more important than what happens at church? What if you decided that one common goal throughout your children’s and student ministries would be to actually enlist parents to reach their own kids? Be careful. There is a critical difference between trying to complement the family and actually partnering with the family.

Oh, and just for fun, make a list of the people you know who grew up to become witches, warlocks or Satanists because they went trick-or-treating as a child. Then cross-reference that list with the names of people who you know that grew up in church and quit when they became adults. Maybe we should worry less about who goes trick or treating, and more about how the church is reaching families.
Orange Issue # 3 Reactivate the Family: Engage parents to take initiative in the spiritual growth of their own children."


Thank you people at the Orange Conference and ReThink Group for bringing such things to light and helping many of us being to see things from another perspective. Thanks for adding words to the things I've observed and a strategy to my thoughts and heart beat for ministry.