Strangers in the Air, Angels Unaware

After a whirlwind trip to Seattle to celebrate the goodness of life I have been struck by the way the Lord provided for my every need. He held absolutely nothing back from me and spared no expense. 

Since the day I heard about people that would go on wild trips around the world without a dollar to their name and see God provide for them miraculously, I wanted to go on a faith trip and see those kinds of things happen to me. Little did I know what He was planning for me...

This whole business of me flying back to the mainland started in a rather odd way. After Jonathan and I returned from India, we found out that my brother was graduating from school a year early. I hadn't planned on being in Seattle until September. I had no idea how this trip would even be possible. There wasn't any way I could see to make it happen. But then I checked how many miles we had on our credit card.. and found out I could get a $10 flight to Seattle. Woo hoo! That kind of thing NEVER happens to me! Crazy!

The week before I left, I told God that I really needed some cash for the week I'd be gone as I didn't have any to spare for this family trip. To be honest though, He and I had been having quite a few conversations about the needs in my life recently, and how I was (once 100x's again) telling him that I did indeed trust Him, in spite of the doubt that kept creeping into my mind. The day before I was leaving (my last day teaching 2nd grade), a student handed me a sweet thank you card. Inside the adorably decorated card, a check slid out. $50! Thank you, Jesus! Spending cash for the trip! WHOA! Later on that day, another parent came in a handed me another card. Inside was more than enough to pay our phone bill that was due THAT DAY. No way! Our needs were met, in such a beautiful way, highlighting the blessings that we have in Christian community. At the end of the day, another student handed me a card, and a gift card for Starbucks popped out at me, like they knew I was just about to fly over to the land of Starbucks! Turns out I was able to use that for airport food, breakfast, and a coffee date. Let me tell you folks, about the goodness of the God I serve...

So the trip began, and everything, from our flights, to travel arrangements with 3 people sharing 1 vehicle, to traffic jams, sleeping arrangements, and crazy jam packed schedules went so incredibly smooth. There is just no way that our planning made any of that as smooth as it went. We experienced such joy and peace at every turn of our trip.

The last part of this story I'd like to recount is my flight back to Kona. 

I was blurry eyed and dizzy tired from everything that had happened in the past week. I just wanted to sleep and be home as soon as possible. Honestly, I'm not really one for talking with strangers on airplanes. However, if they start a conversation with me, I'll engage them. On my first flight back home I sat next to a local Hawaiian who had been visiting family for a graduation. He just wanted to be back home eating Hawaiian food and got really excited when I mentioned "loco moco." On my last flight from Honolulu to Kona I sat next to a guy that had an Australian accent and was on his way to visit his mom who had recently been injured and was in the intensive care unit in the Kona hospital. This man started sharing with me details of his work and where his travels have brought him around the world working with impoverished people. I was able to share with him my experiences in India. I had told God early in our conversation that I didn't want to share my story with him, just because I was getting tired of repeating the story over again. But of course when I mentioned that I had been in India, this man wanted to know what had brought me there. So I figured God wanted me to share about what Jonathan and I do. That naturally led into all the supernatural provision and answers to prayer we've seen. He then shared with me that he too works with Christian organizations around the world and was familiar with YWAM. Before we landed I asked him if I could pray for him and his mom. He said yes and we bowed our heads and prayed. When we landed we wished each other well and parted ways.

Jonathan called me when we were in the terminal to meet us with the vehicle. I found my dad and briefly mentioned my conversation with the gentleman on the plane. Suddenly I heard a man's voice trying to get my attention. I turned around and saw that it was the same guy that I had sat next to on the plane. He walked over to me and said "I want you to do me a favor." "What's that?" I replied. He reached out to shake my hand and said "Keep the faith." When I opened my hand, I couldn't believe it. I said "Bless you, sir!" and he turned to go. In my hand was a $100 bill.

This family trip was not just about celebration and reunion--it was about seeing the real life faithfulness of God at work in my life. I watched God take my worry and turn it into contentment and generosity, while giving me the desires of my heart. I felt him give me such love for my family, I never knew I could possess.

It's amazing to see how God is providing for our needs, even as we are currently living on less than $400 a month. I suppose I would be a bit more shy with disclosing that information, but that is $400 that God is giving to us through generous donors and He deserves the praise for this provision. Our hearts are full, and we eagerly await the next miracle that He will do in our lives. There's nothing like living on the edge of your seat seeing God move mountains right in front of your face. It's nothing short of an adventure, that's for sure!

Much love to you all!

Care to toss a pebble?

A woman was found in the arms of a man that was not her husband. Due to the laws of the people, she was to be put to death, immediately, by stoning. The few that found her called out to those passing by to advertise her shame as they dragged her through the streets. Suddenly the woman was thrown at the feet of Jesus who was teaching a crowd of people. Her shame deliberately exploited by her accusers, and they demanded that Jesus judge her right then and there. But did he?

 Something I’ve never thought about until this morning is that throughout Jesus’ life he faced the negative judgment of others. Usually I would put Jesus in a position of being the “judger” (being able to see the heart of man in its candid ugly state) but my eyes were opened this morning while I read in the book of John.  In chapter 8: 15 Jesus says “You judge me by human standards, but I do not judge anyone.” And bam. That hit me right between the eyes. I’ve liked to think that I don’t judge people, and I would be friends with anyone that would let me, but judgment is so much more deep seeded than that. Jesus just stated right there that HE DOESN’T JUDGE ANYONE, and here I am mentally dissecting people’s lives that I know because “if they would just change a few things, or think this way they would be a lot better off.” Wow, I’m a “judger”. He goes on to say in the next verse “And if I did, my judgment would be correct in every respect because I am not alone. The Father who sent me is with me.” So if it isn’t Jesus’ place to judge (even having the correct judgment due to his omniscience), do we have any right as Christ followers to look cock-eyed at a single person on this planet??? Absolutely NOT! So what did Jesus do instead? He showed absolute love and mercy in the most tender way even when he had every ability to point the hard finger of guilt when her accusers had all the evidence.

Jesus, to address the demands of the woman’s accusers, directed their accusations back at them.  “Let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” After her accusers had all slunk away, Jesus said “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” And you just know that every one of the accusers left that scene muttering to one another about the way he favored ill mannered women. The ones with sin. Casting judgment on Jesus. Our audacity as human beings. I’m still shaking my head.

When any person spends much time at all in a ministry of some sort, they generally encounter situations and people that would entice them to judge. Why? Because ministry involves people, and people with or without Jesus Christ in their lives make mistakes and fail, and as onlookers we always seem to know better than the person that was in the situation. Jonathan and I have been working with a group of friends at a local park. Every Saturday we meet to spend time with the kids in the neighborhood and get to know them, play games with them, share the Bible with them, and when possible get to know their parents. When one of the parents opened up to me and began to share what her life is like, it was so easy to mentally pull her life apart and “know” what she really needed to do to fix things. Wow. And I don’t even know her last name! But what would Jesus have thought while he listened to her share? What did He think about the woman that was thrown at His feet for adultery? Compassion. Being so moved he responded with love, and He spoke up for her This is exactly how I should respond; I should bring this parent to our Heavenly Father who created her and knows how she got the place she is, and let the Holy Spirit move in her life just as He is so faithful to do in mine. If only our hearts and minds would follow the way we know Jesus has asked us to walk. With love for all people in this world. After all, isn’t that what John 3:16 is about? That God so loved THE WORLD that He did something about it.

My prayer and hope is that from now on, we won't just pity someone's sad state in life, but we will respond with Christ's compassion and do something to show His love.

The Call to All

An overwhelming thought I’d rather push out of my mind than embrace is the other half of the legs on our faith chair. The first half was the acceptance into YWAM, but now it’s the finances. $10,000. That’s certainly a lot of zeros, and more than I saw when I bought Ruby (my 1990 Toyota Celica). Armed with the answers to prayer we’ve witnessed, and with the change in our perspective God has granted us this year, we stand confident that our need will be met. But again, NOT because of anything that Jonathan and I can do, but because of what He has promised us (Phil. 4:19). We can be bold because “God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” (2 Tim. 1:7) The Holy Spirit is at work in your life as much as He is at work in our lives. Isn’t that exciting?  I can tell you that He is working on our hearts to trust him, and this act of believing that He will bring the funds to go into YWAM is nothing short of a faith building event.

An interesting thought: YWAM wants to see their missionaries supported by folks that believe in them. Anyone can raise $$ at a job and pay off their debt by the sweat of their own brow, but there comes a certain attitude of entitlement because "I worked to pay to get myself here, so this is how I think things should run." That is what they don’t want to see in their students. Instead, YWAM want us to have the faith building and humbling experience of raising money through folks who believe in missions and want to see Jonathan and I follow God’s call on our life. In our interview, our leader suggested that we ask you all to consider supporting us for up to 2 years. We have no idea what is going to happen in our lives after our 6 months of training are over. That is completely God’s call. However, we are open to the idea of staying with YWAM longer, if that be God’s will. So we ask that you consider giving monthly gifts to keep us able to follow this call on our lives. This blog is here so you can see what you are supporting, and I hope to be very transparent.

You may ask, what have you done to prepare yourselves financially? We are prepared to answer that question. First, we have worked to pay of any debt we have with credit cards and with student loans. We have forgone birthday and Christmas presents to each other and instead celebrated by paying off our debt. It truly has been rewarding. Next, we’ve sold our all “stuff.” Our house is empty and we moved to our house sitting job with a few suitcases. All of that money is going to our YWAM fund. We also plan to sell my car and Jonathan’s mode of transportation.

So the question remaining is, do you believe in the call of God in our lives? If you do, please first pray. Pray for us, that we would remain faithful to the purpose He has called us to; pray that He would supply all our needs; and pray to see if God would have you give. And next, be faithful to what God has asked you to do.