Pressing the Enter button...stepping forward

All of us type using keypads and in doing so hit the Enter button several times during a session in front of our screens. But at various times during our lives this mundane and seemingly unimportant task takes on much more significant meaning.
I was able to witness one such press of the Enter button as Erika and Pastor Nancy purchased our plane tickets yesterday. March 9th...departing from Los Angeles International Airport----arriving in Nairobi, Kenya. January 1st marked a New Year, January 3rd, 4th, and 9th mark a new year for each of the kids (15,14,11) and March 9th a new chapter in our lives as Followers of Jesus, one that will take us to Kenya. We haven't left yet and have a ton to do before we can, but the purchase of the tickets for a March departure (God willing and barring any major political upheaval) seems like a big deal.
First, for those of you who like a good deal. We are paying less than we have every paid for tickets and leaving out of LA we save $400 per ticket. My Chinese half is really proud of that (thanks Erika).
Second, for those of you in similar positions. Not similar in that you are waiting on the Lord for timing to move to a different country (though that might be a few of you). Similar in that your 'finger' is hovering over the next step in whatever God is asking you to do. Maybe it is talking to or sharing the love of Jesus with someone, offering your dreams up to Him and changing paths, letting go of something or someone dear to you, committing yourself to something, saying yes to Jesus' invitation to follow Him. I am not sure what the Enter button represents for you, but I'd encourage you to push it. It does signify an increased surrender, but if you think about who it is to, you really wouldn't want anything else.

I sat on the deck of my parents place over Christmas and in the dark of the night saw the moon light shining and illuminating the trees and clouds as the breeze pushed them around. I knew the moon was out because its light made it possible to see everything. And as I took a couple of steps and leaned forward to peer around the house to see where the moon was, I felt this truth being impressed upon me: sometimes in life you can see the results of God in creation, the beauty of His handiwork and the light of His goodness and you don't have to know exactly where He is or what He is doing. But sometimes it takes moving to where you think He is to see Him face to face, to see the one who gives light to all mankind and whose powerful existence gives meaning to all of life, purpose to ours and gives us the privilege of representing Him in this broken world.

In Him,
Trenton

Dissonance

Sometimes as I go about my day I will sit, pause and think about how people are doing around the world. How are they feeling? What are they experiencing and how hopeful are they that their situation or life or troubles will improve? Inevitably I picture children being dragged away and imprisoned, sold; people being abused and hurt; hungry children who are alone and having to fight to survive. Then I look around to the comforts of my own surroundings, immediately sense the contented feeling of a full stomach and the clean, almost sterile and serene life of the suburban Northwest. The dissonance is almost unbearable. The disconnect between my life here and other people’s needs is palpable. 

The world, near and far, is not the way it is supposed to be. Is my life really about laying it down for my brother and sister in a way that gives life and hope? Or is my life about living it the way I was going to anyway and then trying to justify why it is just too difficult to bother with what is transpiring on my watch?

We can’t go everywhere and we can’t do everything. It isn’t us that does it, but God who works through us. So what is the answer? How am I to respond? Am I willing to respond? What should I do?

I believe He has asked us to personally go to those who are hurting, in need of hope, in need of Jesus to love and care for them.

1 John 3:16  

Songs the Kids Shared

I thought you might enjoy listening to the original songs the kids sang yesterday during our sharing luncheon.  Their heart in choosing these songs was powerful even if the end result may not have been. :)  I love their willingness to pour their hearts out with their voices.  It is reminiscent of how the Kenyan people share through song as well.

"I Was Here" by Lady Antebellum

"You're Beautiful" by Phil Wickham

Street Ministry Video from Made in the Streets

I think this is the video I meant to share yesterday at our sharing luncheon. :P

Brennen's sharing from luncheon Sept. 30, 2012

KENYA SHARING 

I think God has given me many gifts, of which I can use to serve him, such as soccer, music, and singing.  Although, I don’t want to use those talents to make myself popular; I want to use those talents to serve Him.  While we were in Kenya, I had the privilege to play the guitar at the Comido School in front of a lot of kids.  I think people usually respect you for what you wear, what you drive, or what house you live in.  I don’t want to be known by that, I want to be known by what I do for God. I think that will help me spread the word of God in Nairobi.  My soccer abilities could help tell people about God in Kenya as well.

I want to be an example there and use my sword, verses that I memorize, to ward off the temptations of this world.  When we were in Kenya, I felt like I had been slapped with the reality that not everyone lives like us-always having enough food, enough money, and family. Since I never experienced this, being in such a blessed family and having a safe community bubble, this really sent me reeling and stricken with pain for those kids and adults who are so hungry, at times they can’t sleep.  I’ve never felt that before, hopefully I never will.  I just thank God I get to move to Kenya not just go on mission trips, that way I can’t get mad about thinking about how the time seemed to fly because I’ll be there for longer than I ever thought I could.

I feel a longing to leave, to adventure beyond what I know best and yet the other side of me feels like I’m pleading to stay, to not leave my comfort zone, to stay in comfort and in safety.  I will not enjoy leaving my family and friends, but I will enjoy making new ones in Kenya.  I feel sad to go and I will miss you all. I have email so I can keep in touch with you and we have blog so you guys can see how we are doing.  God bless you for your support emotionally and financially.  Also pray for us as we wind down to the few months we have left with you all.  God bless you all.    Thank you.

Sydney's Sharing from our Luncheon Sept. 30, 2012

Kenya Sharing

Knowing that in just a few months we will be leaving for Kenya has been difficult, but when I am sad I just ask God to help me get through the pain. Some of the things God is telling me to help with is maybe volunteering at The Nest halfway house or at other orphanages.  I think God has put these children of Kenya on my heart and I want to help them. When my family and I went on our vision trip it was difficult seeing all the children because I would look at them and see there ripped clothes and then look at mine that don’t have any holes them. I would look at their shoes and their toes are sticking out but mine didn’t. It was hard to see the slums and the mud that the kids played in. I could also see in my mind all the playgrounds that kids in America played on and how they were always getting remodeled and how nice they were; and the kids in Kenya were playing in their own waste and playing with other things that I don’t even know what they are. I am so glad that went on the vision trip because I could see all the wonderful things that my parents talked about and I could see all the stories in real life by going to all those places. I am excited and sad to go; sad because I am leaving all that I am comfortable around and all that I am used to but I am excited because I can go on a new adventure and I am going to trust God to help me through everything like school and feeling comfortable.  I know that he will be with me through all the hard times and that he will keep me safe, and I hope that when I get more comfortable that soon I will call Kenya my new home and I can’t wait till that day comes. Now I just have to pray and hope that we will get enough funding money so that we can actually go. THANK YOU

Where Does Your Value Come From?

This is Mary, aka "Sheesh" as she is known at the Made in the Streets residential program called The Farm in Kamulu, Kenya.  From first glance, she looks like any normal teenager you might see walking the local mall, but Sheesh was homeless not too long ago.  And not the kind of homeless we see down in Pioneer Square or under the freeway ramps; the kind of homeless that brings shivers down your spine and an ache in your heart for the dangers that face a girl on the streets at night.  The kind of homeless that leaves you nothing more than an object to men and lower than the trash you sift through looking for anything of value that can be sold for a measly bite to eat to the people that she lives nearby.

It made me ask this question: Where does our sense of value come from?  Does it come from the person that looks down at you and calls you trash. your parents who beat you and kicked you out, the man who offers you safety but at the price of your body, or from yourself as you believe the lie that you are worthless?  Or is there a   commonality where all our worth and value lies?  

Psalms 139 says:

13 For you formed my inward parts;

    you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

    my soul knows it very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

    the days that were formed for me,

    when as yet there was none of them.

In Genesis it states:

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 

How can anything made in the image of God be trash?  If we understand the awesomeness and power of our God, then we must also recognize that a God who desired for us to reflect His image sees us a valued treasure, high above all the rest of creation.  Our value is intrinsically given by the maker of the universe and  no one can take truth from us unless we let them.   This is not something many people know, not the homeless street kids or even some of us.

Our value comes from the one who gives us life(God), our worth is invaluable no matter what the world says of us.  

I will end with the opening lines that Elisabeth Elliot always used to open her radio show, "You are loved with an everlasting love and underneath are the everlasting arms."

This is trash

This is not