Unforced Life

I want to write something today. Yet I don't have any great ideas.

I'll just share what's on my mind today. I don't know that it has a real link to The Well Project except that it appears to me that whatever God is doing in our hearts here...it is all somehow connected to the greater good of his kingdom. Africa, Oregon, New York, or China.

I have been reading a book recently that has changed my way of looking at church and community. I have long time been of the belief that church happens less in a building than it does in real life...walking your dog, having coffee with a neighbor, talking to the check-out lady at the grocery, or connecting with a long lost friend on Facebook. The kingdom that the Bible talks about seems to be all around us, just veiled a bit.

Back to the book. There was a paragraph that spoke to me. I'm going to paraphrase a bit.

So many times we try to figure out what we are supposed to "do" to be followers of Jesus. Spiritual disciplines, service, fellowship...or any other buzz word you want to insert. What if, instead, we focused our time and efforts on connecting intimately with Jesus? Not worrying about anything but soaking in His love?

I can hear the criticism already... That would be self-serving. That would be sticking our heads in the sand. You have to have the disciplines to experience God. And many others.

I disagree.

I have a feeling that if we were so consumed, overwhelmed, and enraptured with the love God has for us...our life in Him would pour out of us. Our love would be so true and unforced that we wouldn't have to try to love. We would love without thinking. Our frustrations with the people around us would be burnt up with the holiness that the love of Jesus provides. I think all the other buzz words I mentioned would come into alignment at the right time and in the right way if our hearts were set on Him.

That is what is banging around in my head today. I'm asking God to expand this in my heart and life. I hope it is of some value to your journey.

And for the record...I am not anti-organized church. I just believe it is part of the pathway we live with Jesus, not the crux of it...

I love your comments. Please share your thoughts.

Rescue

My friend, Janet, recently returned from Uganda. She told many touching stories but the one that grabbed my heart was this.

Our church partners with Africal Renewel Ministries to sponsor children. The sponsorships include education, a free daily meal, and medical care. Janet was in the ARM's office while they were bringing parents in to let them know their child had been sponsored. These families wait on a list for long periods of time. Every parent was grateful to have a child chosen. But one woman was profoundly moved. When she was told her child was to be sponsored, she fell to the ground with her hands in the air blessing our church and blessing God.

That woman and her child experienced a rescue. It must have felt like a weight that wore marks in this mom's shoulders was no longer present. Like a hope and a joy came in like a rush, bringing her to the floor in relief.

When I write the word rescue, I think of many things. The times Jesus has rescued me from myself. The beautiful rescue of friends that I didn't think would ever understand his love. The raw rescue of the woman at the well. The rescue of my marriage by a Jesus who intervenes in our stories with intimacy and touching strength. The surprising rescue in the knowledge of a gospel that is more beautiful than I ever imagined. The way Jesus rescued Zaccheus while he watched life pass him by from a tree. I could go on and on.

So, I want to ask... how have you been rescued? What has brought you, body and soul, to the ground in relief?

It is a big question. Do you dare answer it?

Jesus, you are our rescue. Our only hope, our very sure future. May we consider how you have loved us and out of the overflow of that love, live out your rescue on this earth. In Uganda, at the grocery store, as we tuck our kids in at night. Amen.

(I recently found out that Amen means - So be it.)

Uphill

Janet Storton has created a ministry called Sisters of the Heart in Kapchorwa, Uganda. She left last Monday to meet with the U.S. Embassy in Uganda to recieve a grant she had been awarded to further her efforts. Sisters of the Heart is a ministry that teaches women to sew and gives them opportunity to provide an income for their family. They also create micro-loans to encourage people to create ways to sustain themselves. As I sat down with Janet over coffee to talk about her upcoming trip, I was surprised by a few things.







Christine, who I wrote a post about earlier, is one of the key women in the Sisters of the Heart ministry. What doesn't Christine do? She is amazing in my eyes. Sisters of the Heart was started because Christine begged Janet to teach the ladies to quilt. Janet agreed and the ministry morphed out of Christine's desire. Now Janet has recieved a grant to buy more updated sewing machines and she is applying for a grant to build a vocational school. To me this is breathtaking in several ways: Christine has a desire to create hope for her community. Janet has a heart that is available and hears their need. The government actually applauds Janet's efforts by giving her a grant. Here are two beautiful women living right out of their hearts where God is speaking to them. It is truly lovely. And the immense good God is accomplishing through them is stunning.







Christine and Janet are more alike than they know and they inspire me to live out of my desire, to love from my heart, and to follow God to where he is calling me.







What does this have to do with wells for Uganda? Christine is a woman affected by the lack of clean water. Christine and her daughter haul water 3 times a day to keep their family healthy...alive. If water were more accessable, their lives would be easier. And who knows what Christine might do? Probably accomplish more stunning things on behalf of the people in her community.





And the thought of Christine's daughter, Mercy, hauling water haunts me. Girls as young as 5 haul large containters of water uphill several times a day. I have a 5 year old little girl. I can't imagine her being responsible for hauling water on her head in the heat when she is most likely hungry and thirsty both. It feels hopeless to contemplate that for the rest of your life, you will be hauling water uphill. Try that on. How does it feel to you?





O God of the universe, who lets not a sparrow fall without his knowledge, create in our hearts a desire to impact the lives of little girls who haul water uphill. Give us the words to pray, the ears to hear, and the eyes to see both the need and the beauty.

Behind the Thirst

Ok. I am not a seasoned blogger. In my last posting, I reference cutting our athletic club membership and other financial choices we have been pondering. What I didn't make clear is that some of these choices we have made and other's we are considering for the future. I still go to the athletic club. I still love/hate it. I had this thought that if someone see's me at our small town athletic club, they could think me not very truthful. So I say all this for clarity. What I was driving at in the last post was our hearts. It concerns me that my heart is resistant to giving up the athletic club. I want to observe the posture of my heart so that I am not loving anything or anyone more than Jesus.





I was asking Michael what story I should tell next. He reminded me of a picture of him holding a native baby with coffee colored skin and round cheeks. The village men standing around Michael were looking at him as if he was very odd. It is unusual for men in Uganda to hold babies. The women were giggling behind their hands at this foreign guy and the men were shaking their heads. In their culture, men do not show affection and are not very involved in the lives of their children. To see a big white man holding a baby girl was not how they view the role of a man.
That is sad to me It is a beautiful thing to see a man hold a baby. It is a very strong picture of God to me. A contrast in strength and frailty.





Many people in Kapchorwa are becoming lovers of God. It has been a desire of our church to help them be lovers of each other as well. Marriages are often difficult because men do not know how to express love for their wives and children. Michael's hope in holding that lovely baby girl was to bestow honor on her and all children.





Often when we think of the needs of a third world country, we think of the physical needs. They are desperate. They should be addressed first. But is this where it ends? I have witnessed people in our community going to Uganda to attempt to relieve some of the physical needs. What I love is they keep going back and refuse to ignore the needs that are awoken behind the thirst.





And as I contemplate that last line, I wonder..what needs are awoken behind my thirst? And your thirst? For that matter, do we know what our thirst is? We all have a thirst for Jesus that we strive to satiate with people or things less satisfying. I pray this post will have us considering two things. 1 - What would it look like to peer behind the physical needs of those we seek to love? 2 - What is awoken behind our own thirst?





If you go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR_cLbx you watch a video and about 3 minutes in catch a glimpse of my hubby holding a precious baby girl.

Sorely Athirst

Let him who would know the truth of the Maker, become sorely athirst, and drink of the brook by the way - then lift up his heart -to the Inventor and Mediator of thirst and water, that man might foresee a little of what his soul might find in God.


George MacDonald



Notice the shape of the lakes in the above picture? I love that!

I was told by a friend, that I needed to blog about the stories behind The Well Project. It seemed wise. I'd love to get the word out...to build funds for drilling wells. I didn't actually go to Africa. Michael, (my husband and vocalist on the album) and our friend, Andrew (the lead vocalist and musician) were the ones who were able to live that experience. But the experience that I have been able to live...is watching Michael and Andrew come home changed men. Changed by the people, changed by the country, changed by God.

So here is one small story, relayed by these changed men.

We are priviledged to sponser a little girl named Mercy. Mercy is a spunky thing. You get that feel in her letters and Michael could tell by meeting her that she has an intelligence mixed with a strong dignity. We sponser Mercy so she can go to school. Her family cannot afford to send her to school. Mercy's mom is Christine. The stunning thing about Christine, is that in her poverty, she has begun a non-profit organization, Mercy Ministries, which provides milk to those in her village of Kapchorwa who cannot afford it. Christine and Mercy, along with the rest of their family, live in a hut with a dirt floor. Their clothes are clean but very worn. They have no luxuries. No luxuries. Barely enough to get by on. Yet they have something to offer. They provide milk to those who need it. I know I'm repeating myself. It is because I am truly in awe of such beauty.

In this economy, Michael and I have been talking finances - what can we cut? What luxuries do we afford ourselves that we can do without? There are some that are obvious. No more latte's, no more eating out, or buying clothes that are frivolous. But there are other things that feel like they have strings to my heart. Like, cutting the athletic club membership. Ouch. That hurts. I love that place. (Well, actually it is a love/hate relationship). Or not allowing ourselves to get a babysitter for date nights. These things I give up with a less than gracious heart. And the rub is this - I am only benefitting my family. I am giving up luxuries for food and necessaties so my family will not suffer. I am not like Christine who creates a non - profit for those in her community whose basic needs are not met. I do wonder, however, what do I have to offer? Needs are often physical, but at times it is poverty of heart that afflicts us more.

It may sound like I am beating myself up. I am not. God is not either. Thank goodness. But I am concious of the posture of my heart. As the above quote mentions, I want to become sorely athirst for Jesus. I know that what flows out of a heart athirst for Jesus is beauty like Christine's. I want the strings of my heart cut clean so that I willingly give up anything for Jesus.

O Inventor and Mediator of water that makes men thirst no more, come here into my heart. Flood me with thirst for you and teach me how to lift to you my heart. Let living your justice and being your Mercy be something that pours out me because I am in love with you. Amen.