Letting Go: Lessons from Church Camp

As a kid I was an avid church-camp-go-er.  And when I say avid, I'm talking full-time, over-the-top, teenage-hobby kind of avid.  Each year when school let out I began to feel the familiar excitement bubbling up at the thought of packed suitcases, familiar faces only seen during the summer time, lively worship teams, and challenging group activities.  I can't recall a single summer growing up when I did not attend church camp, and some years I even went to multiple weeks of camp!  Then when I was old enough, I started volunteering several weeks each summer, and when I was 15 I even worked as summer staff at Butler Springs Christian Camp. 

As you can see...I am a true church camp addict.  I. LOVE. CAMP.

If there is one truth I learned from all of my time spent at camp through the years, it is this:
Letting go is never easy. 

In all honesty...I'm sure I have learned many noteworthy things at camp from all of the well-prepared speakers, correlating breakout sessions, and counselors who volunteered their time.  And I'm sure many of those lessons are much more profound than what I am about to delve into (profundity is overrated anyway).  But for the purposes of this blog post, let us pretend that the above truth is, in fact, the one thing I have learned from my countless days spent at church camp.

Perhaps one of my favorite things to do at Butler Springs was the giant swing, which is a pretty good reflection of my love for thrill and adventure.  The giant swing is, well, a GIANT swing.  It sits on the side of a hill and consists of thick cables that are attached to massive trees high up on their trunks.
Here is how the whole process works:

Step 1: Get your shaky limbs securely into a harness. 

Step 2: Someone very qualified connects your harness and carabiner to cables attached to the trees mentioned above.

Step 3: Your harness is then attached to a thick, rope-pulley system and is held in place using...can you guess? YOUR HAND.

Step 4: Using the rope-pulley system, a group of super-strong thirteen-year-olds pulls you high into the air until you yell "STOP!!!"

Step 5: Let go.

This little guy had his group pull him to the very top.  Here is a picture just before he he let go! Can you find him way at the top?

After letting go, there is a second or two of total free fall before the cables catch you and you go swinging out over the side of the hill.  What an amazing view!  Of course, I always wanted my team to pull me high, high, high.  Always to the very top.  And no matter how many times I put myself through this process, I always felt a slight hesitation when I got to the top.  Thoughts like, "what if my harness doesn't hold?" or "what if I don't let go?" and even "holy crap, holy crap, HOLY CRAP!" would begin to race through my head.  Doubts crept in and knuckles whitened, a sign that I was holding that small piece of rope way too tightly. 

But you know what?  Every time I let go, I was firmly caught by the well-designed system of cables and harnesses.  It never failed!  Despite this perfect track record, I still wrestled with doubts and fears about what would happen if I let go, even though I ultimately knew that I was safe.  The ropes would hold.  I would live. 

However, our brains and our hearts are very distant relatives, don't you think?  Head-knowledge is an entirely different species from heart-knowledge.

In our lives we all have things we desperately hold on to: past hurts, missed opportunities, forgotten relationships, unrealistic goals, etc.  We all know that holding on rarely does any good, and that it is truly in our best interest to let go and move on.  But no matter how many times we learn this lesson, it never gets easier.  Why?

Because letting go sucks. 

Without fail, every time I let go of that rope there was a brief moment when, free falling through air, I doubted everything.  I doubted that my harness would hold.  I doubted that the ropes were strong enough to catch my weight.  I doubted that the trees were rooted deeply enough to remain standing.  My doubt, however, stood like a dwarf next to the giant, incontrovertible truth that I would always be caught. 

And despite my fear, what happened next made the whole process worth it every single time.  Once the harness caught, I would go swinging out over the trees with the wind whipping through my hair.  YES!  I remember now!  THIS is the very reason that I let go in the first place.  The freedom and the exhilaration of flying made me forget the doubts that had racked my mind only seconds before. 

So now, I challenge you to do it.  Let go.  You will only free fall for a second and I PROMISE God will catch you every time.  Only then will you feel the freedom that comes from being firmly held in the arms of the Savior, totally uninhibited by the ropes and tangles of this world.  I would not, no...I COULD NOT live any other way.

Check out the entire video where the above picture came from.  I found this video on youtube and it was perfect for my blog post! 

To Be Human Is To Sin

“Humans are amphibians - half spirit and half animal.  As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time. This means that while their spirit can be directed to an eternal object, their bodies, passions, and imaginations are in continual change, for to be in time, means to change. Their nearest approach to constancy, therefore, is undulation--the repeated return to a level from which they repeatedly fall back, a series of troughs and peaks.” 

-C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

To be human is to struggle.  Perhaps the one thing that is shared most by the human race, the greatest common denominator, is that of the sin experience.  This battle between light and dark, duty and desire, others and self : it is a battle fought by all, but conquered only by One.  

The above C.S. Lewis quote sums up this "human condition" perfectly, and it basically means that the one thing in life we can truly expect is that we will fall...again and again and again.  

To be human is to struggle.  To be human is to sin.

So how can we possibly hope to break this cycle of mountain top and valley low?  Well for starters, the Good News is that Jesus Christ has already conquered this struggle through His life, death, and resurrection. It has always been His desire to mold each of us into the perfect, sinless creation that He intended for us to be, and so He made it possible for us to walk away from our sin.

But what does this look like on a practical level?  The answer is simple.  Though we may never fully be free from the bondage of sin in this lifetime, think of how much glory we can bring to God when we lay down our old, sinful flesh one day at a time, one step at a time, one CHOICE at a time.  One of the most beautiful things our Savior has done for us is that He gave us the ability to CHOOSE who we want to be.  It doesn't matter what you've done, what mistakes you've made.  It doesn't even matter what you did yesterday. We can choose God every single day.  We MUST choose Him!

You see I believe that every step we take, takes us either closer to or further away from the person we want to be.  If you want to learn to play the guitar, then you must practice.  If you want to be a runner, then you have to first get off the couch.  If you want to deepen your relationship with the Lord, then you must start putting Him first in everything you do.  

So we must all ask ourselves, "who do I want to be?".  And then we must MOVE in that direction. Be intentional about becoming the person you want to be, the person God wants you to be.  And when you fall, don't be discouraged.  Just get up! Choose Him once again!! 

To be human is to sin, yes.  But to be human is also to be FREE.  Let's start walking in that freedom that Jesus Christ offered us when he hung on the cross.  Let's break this cycle of ups and downs!  

I want to start living as the woman that God created me to be right now.  

Don't you?

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

-Galatians 5:1

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

The last couple of weeks have been wonderful and crazy, or shall I say wonderfully crazy!  With all of this snow we have been getting, travel on these curvy, hilly Kentucky back roads becomes a bit of a challenge to say the least. On top of that, my apartment building didn't have water one day this week, so my roommate and I filled up our trash can with snow (well......if I'm being honest, her boyfriend graciously filled it up for us. Thanks Ben!).  We then began melting snow in pots on our stove and in bowls in the microwave so we would have water to flush our toilet!  Let's just say it was a great way to spend our Wednesday evening.

Through all of the craziness of the past two weeks, including working full-time and taking two fairly demanding Grad. classes, God has still managed to break through the busyness and quiet my heart to hear His calling.  Lately there has been a question at the forefront of my mind, so naturally...I would like to pass it along to you:  What is the one thing that you desperately hope God never asks you to do?  You may be thinking something like, "gee I hope God never asks me to give up watching Phineas and Ferb!", or maybe "God better not ask me to stop eating chocolate!"  (I may or may not be guilty of the second one...) I'm being slightly facetious, but I hope you're really thinking about this.  Most of you are probably thinking of something much more serious than the above examples.  What if God asked you to sell all of your possessions and move to Asia to do missions work?  Or what if, like Abraham, God asked you to give up your own son?  The last two questions are probably unthinkable for most everyone.

I'd like to ask you to look at the story of Abraham with me.  In Genesis 12 verse 1 God says to Abraham (Abram at the time), "Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you."  Then amazingly enough in verse 4 it says, "So Abram went, as the LORD had told him."  WOW! What an amazing faith.  When God said GO, Abraham WENT!

Later on, after Abraham's promised son Isaac was a little older, God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac as an offering to the Him.  So what did Abraham do?  He took Isaac up on top of a mountain and was about to kill him when God stopped Abraham, providing a lamb instead.  The father of the Israelites really did have a miraculous faith that most of us can only dream of having.

You all know the story of Abraham, so where am I going with all of this?  Well, let me ask you another question.  At what point in the story did Abraham "mess up"?  God told him to go and he went, told him to sacrifice his son and he almost did, but when was Abraham's faith in God's promise REALLY tested?

During the wait.

It was after God had made the promise and before it was fulfilled that Abraham took matters into his own hands and slept with Hagar.  God told Abraham he would have descendants as numerous as the stars!!!  But with no children, that promise must have seemed pretty bleak.  So during the waiting, Abraham and Sarah lost sight of the promise.  They lost faith that God would come through in His perfect time.

In my humble opinion, the only thing harder than going is waiting.  How nice it is when God has a plan and we know exactly what His plan is!  How relieving it is when we have something tangible to do, or to hold on to.  Our faith, however, is truly tested during the times in  between.  Will we hold true to our faith and trust that God will bring about fulfillment of His promises even when we can't see the end, or even the next step? Even Jesus had to wait until the proper time.  In John 2:4 He says, "my hour has not yet come".  You see, God will eventually call all of us to something if we have dedicated our lives to Him.  But I can guarantee He will also call all of us to wait.

Right now I hear God telling me to wait.  I had the time of my life in Africa, and I often wish I were back there because it felt like I was DOING something.  I just have to have faith and hold to God's promise that He will continue to lead me into His will for my life.  I want to encourage all of you who are also called to wait.  Don't lose sight of the promise.  Keep your eyes on the prize, and God will reward you richly in HIS time.

If you have a spare minute, please watch the video below because I know it will encourage you as it did me.

"Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD." -Psalm 27:14

Thanksgiving and Bush Sketti

When I look back on the time I spent in Africa, I can safely say that one of my fondest memories occurred on the 28th of November.  Some of you may recognize that lovely day as the one and only Thanksgiving!  Let me give you a little back story before I tell you why it was such a marvelous day.

It has occurred to me that most of you might not know what a typical day at the Harvest School of Missions would look like, and that is very sad indeed.  So let me enlighten you a bit!  We had class from 8-1 Monday-Thursday every week, and practical mission every Friday.  Monday's were known as village day because we would get out of class at about 11, meet up with our Mozambican pastors, and go out into the village to pray for people.  Wednesday's were known as cross-cultural class days because the Mozambican pastors would join us in the mornings and we would learn and worship together.  So needless to say, they kept us pretty busy throughout the week.

I got to be a part of the Friday practical mission in which a small group of us would go and build houses for widows.  I became especially good friends with Mama Julia, a 30 year old woman with 4 kids and no husband.  It was such a joy to sit around and laugh with her (mostly she laughed at me because Americans seem very silly and weak to African women).  She taught me how to grind up certain kinds of roots for cooking and also how to carry a bucket of water on my head from the well (mind you, it was extremely painful!).  I wish so badly that my camera was not stolen because I had so many wonderful pictures of me and Mama Julia together, but you will just have to imagine with me.

The staff of the school gave us every afternoon off to go and visit the villagers and get to know the kids and people of Pemba.  Then every weekend, different outreach groups would go out into various villages throughout Mozambique where we would live out of tents and minister to the people.

Towards the end of school, there were optional outreach teams that we could sign up for and I jumped at the opportunity.  So on Thanksgiving day, I was all packed and ready to leave with my team immediately after class let out at 1.  We got into the back of the camion truck and headed out to the village!  I am happy to say that this particular outreach team was full of some really amazing people.

I have trouble smiling for pictures...or even knowing when they're being taken!
Here is a lot of our outreach team.

Some of my absolute favorite people I met in Mozambique.  Miss them!

Once we got to the village we set up camp and immediately headed out to do our ministry time.  Here is a picture of my friend Jess and I after arriving at the village.

After a very moving time of prayer and witnessing to the Mozambicans, we headed back to our camp and had a late dinner of bush-sketti (African bush-bush spaghetti).  If you've never had bush-sketti then you can't really understand how wonderfully delicious it is!  After 2 months of nothing but rice and beans, it was a very welcome change. It consisted of spaghetti with bits of tuna and tangy mayonnaise (and the mayonnaise really was tangy).  So that has definitely gone down in the memory books as my favorite Thanksgiving of all time.  I spent it in the "billion-star hotel" eating bush-sketti surrounded by sweet Mozambican kids and some of my best friends from all over the world.  It really doesn't get any better than that.  

Here are some more pictures from the rest of the weekend.  Thankfully my friends have put these on Facebook and I have very gratefully borrowed them!

We spent part of the next day painting the Mozambican pastor's house
who had hosted us.

My friends and I resting after a hard day's work in the hot African sun!

Making breakfast!  It was a treat to have jelly with our breakfast rolls.

Here is the whole outreach team!
Along with some adorable kids who wanted to get in on the fun. :)

Thanks for reading and God bless!

Speak Life

Happy middle of January!  Lately there is something that has been on my mind and, strangely enough, it has to do with the children's book Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (nerdy librarian side of me coming out...).  If you have read the book or seen the movie, you will know what it means to be a Silvertongue.  In the story, Silvertongues were very rare and powerful people. To be a Silvertongue meant that you had a very unique gift in which your words have special power.  Power to bring the written word to life.  For example...if the silvertongue were reading a story about a fire-breathing unicorn eating oats, you could be certain that when you turn around that is exactly what you would see.  As you can imagine, this gift could either be extremely useful, or extremely dangerous (depending on what story you were reading).  I personally wouldn't want to be around while a Silvertongue was reading anything by Stephen King...maybe something more like Karen Kingsbury?  Anyway...the point is, their words have power and there is no denying it.

I believe this story can easily be translated into our Christian walk (at least, it should).  As believers, I think we often forget the pure, raw power that our words can carry.  Every single thing that comes out of our mouth has the potential to encourage or tear down, to create or destroy.  In fact, the Bible is pretty clear on this topic.

• "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits."
  
  -Proverbs 18:21                   
• "But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.  For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."        
  
  -Matthew 12:36-37              
• "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."
  
  -Ephesians 4:29                    

The Apostles, with the help of the Holy Spirit, used their words to do AMAZING things.  Guess what?  We too have that same Spirit!  If only we would use our words as we have been commanded to in the New Testament, I am certain we would see a major change in our every day life.  The song Speak Life by Toby Mac has been a sort of anthem to me the past few weeks.  It says:

"So speak Life, speak Life.

To the deadest darkest night.

Speak life, speak Life.

When the sun won't shine and you don't know why.

Look into the eyes of the brokenhearted;

Watch them come alive as soon as you speak hope,

You speak love, you speak...life!"

WOW!  Another part of the song says "we can turn a heart with the words we say, mountains crumble with every syllable."  This is serious business.  Our words really do carry much more power than we realize, and we need to be speaking words that bring JOY, not sadness.  UNITY, not discord.  LIFE, not death.

In Africa, I encountered people who knew the power their words carried, because they see good and evil very tangibly in conflict with one another every day.  Witch doctors use their words to bid evil spirits to do their will, and it really does happen.  But I also saw confident sons and daughters of the King use their words to break through the darkness.  Let me give you an example.

The house I lived in on the missionary compound just so happened to be right next to the 10-foot wall surrounding the base.  And just on the other side of this wall was the witch doctor's house.  There were many nights when my housemates and I were kept awake by the loud rituals and chants of the people just on the other side of the wall.  One night in particular I was lying in bed, and the darkness coming from the witch doctor's house was so heavy that I was trembling with fear.  There was a lot of shouting and I could hear eerie music that sounded as evil as it really was.  Then I heard my house mom jump up out of bed and begin pacing around the house, praying for the Spirit of the Lord to break through the darkness.  She SPOKE LIFE into our house and I instantly felt the atmosphere change.  The fear that had gripped me before was suddenly gone, and I felt an overwhelming peace settle over our house.

The bottom line?  Our words have power.  I have made a commitment to God in the year of 2014 to only use my words to bring hope, love, and life into the different situations I find myself in and the people I come into contact with, and I would like to encourage y'all (I'm in Kentucky now...haha) to do the same.  Let's all dedicate ourselves to only building up those around us.

"Look into the eyes of the brokenhearted, watch 'em come alive as soon as you speak hope, you speak love, you speak life."

I found this picture on tribute.ca's website at
http://www.tribute.ca/galleries/inkheart/16231/ . I added the Bible verse.

My Life, His Canvas

Happy New Year!  I almost cannot believe that it has been an entire year since I have graduated college (really starting to feel old!).  When you stop and really think, it is almost scary how quickly 2013 came and went, and how easily this next year can slip through our fingers if we aren't careful.  As we usher in 2014, I would like to make a challenge for each of you as opposed to the usual "New Year's Resolution".  I challenge you to ask God for a new set of spiritual contacts.  You may think that sounds a little funny, but let me explain myself.

While in Mozambique, I lived on the Iris missionary base in the city of Pemba.  Here is a picture of a VERY small portion of the village lying just outside of the city.

As you can see, the village goes right up to the edge of one of the most beautiful oceans.  The Iris base was even closer.  The house I lived in was a mere football field from the beach...which is enough to spoil any true Ohio girl. ;)  Here is another picture of just how gorgeous the Indian Ocean really is. (And how beautiful the children of Africa are.)

Right smack dab in the middle of the Iris base was a beautiful African-style hut that we used as a prayer hut.  It was elevated on a hill so that you had a perfect view of the rest of the base, and most importantly, the ocean.  The prayer hut was one of the only good pieces of shade to be found, which is the closest thing you'll ever get to air-conditioning in Africa, but that was not the reason I loved it.  Since the sun rises at about 4:30 every day, I would wake up around 5:30 and head right on up to the prayer hut for some quiet time with Jesus.  My mornings with the Lord quickly became my favorite part of every day.  One particular morning I decided I wanted to see the sunrise from the prayer hut, so I set my alarm for 3:50 and walked up in the cool morning. 

I sat down on the stairs of the prayer hut and waited.  As the sun began to rise, I noticed a huge wall of clouds blocking the sun from my view.  So the sky got lighter and lighter but there was still no sun to be seen.  I was instantly upset, thinking that the clouds were blocking my view of the sun on this morning I had gotten up so early.  Then slowly God began to change the way I was thinking.  He opened my eyes to something I had never thought of before.  Here is a little section from my journal that sums it up pretty well:

"The sunrise this morning is beautiful Jesus.  Unfortunately, much of its splendor and beauty is blocked by the clouds.  Something I noticed, however, was how the clouds served as a kind of canvas to display the beauty of the sunrise.  While I can't see the sun, I know it's there because I can see how it shines in, around, and through the clouds.  And the sun's rays reflect beautifully off the clouds in hues of gold, orange, pink, red, and yellow.  It is the same with me God.  It is the clouds in my life that truly show Your goodness, love, and mercy.  You shine on the parts of me that are impure and broken, and You are glorified in my weakness.

That comparison is so encouraging to me God because I have a LOT of weaknesses.  Please take them from me and shine through them that You may have ALL the glory.  Take my strengths too.  Just take it all..."

So let me ask you: what would a sunrise be without the clouds to display the many beautiful colors of the sun?  Similarly, what would a life be without the trials (clouds) to display the many glories of our God and King!  Thank you God that we go through both good and bad times that sharpen us and shape us to Your will, and thank you that you make us beautiful through it all. 

Now back to the challenge...I pray that God gives each of you new spiritual contacts, or a new perspective so that you may see your life as He sees it: cloudy, but so beautifully reflecting His son! You see just as the clouds are there to show the sun's beauty, so also our lives are to serve as a canvas for the Creator of the Universe.  And in case you didn't know, God is a Master Artist who loves to create masterpieces.  WOW!  What a cool thought.  I hope that this has made sense to you in some way, because it was one of the biggest ways in which God worked on my heart during my time in Africa.  God bless you and I pray you have a year of fruitful harvest! 

Picture of a beautiful African sunrise.

Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jog!

Well...I'm back!  It's been a little over a week and I think I have finally settled back into the routine of life here in good ol' Kentucky.  I arrived in Cincinnati last Friday December 13th and was very happily greeted by the most wonderful welcoming committee I could have ever imagined.  I could see my mom waving very dramatically a long ways off, but I was very pleasantly surprised when I rounded the corner and saw Matthew, Kassidy, and sweet Maylee Jean also waiting for me.  I was so overwhelmed with happiness at the sight of my precious family that all I could do was cry.  How silly I must have looked!  A couple of minutes later, my lovely sister Lauren came with her boyfriend Luke.  I am constantly amazed at how blessed I am to have such a loving family.

Here is Lauren and me with the fabulous sign she made for my return home!

 Lauren, Luke, and I

My beautiful family

Notice the blue suitcase in the background?  You wouldn't believe the miracle it was to see that suitcase there in the airport with me.  My plane left an hour late from Pemba, Mozambique on Wednesday the 11th. When we finally arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa, my next plane was already taking off...so needless to say I was not on it!  After speaking with the manager of the airline, I was pretty bummed to learn that they refused to accommodate me, although they did re-book all of my flights for the following day.  They said that since the delay was due to weather and not some sort of technical issue, they couldn't provide accommodation.  Little did I know, God had been providing accommodation for me all along.

There were two other girls that I knew from Pemba who were in the same boat as me.  So we banded together and began to search for somewhere to stay.  The airline had told us it would be easier to leave our bags there at the airport instead of picking them up and checking them in again the following day, so we only had our carry-on bags.  We ran in to another girl from Pemba who said she had booked a room at a hotel and that we could talk to the driver and see if they had extra room at the hotel.  He graciously allowed us to ride with them to the hotel so we could ask the manager.  When we arrived we were so surprised to find that when booking her room, the hotel had gotten mixed up and reserved a room for three!!!!!  How PERFECT! They apologized for the confusion, gave us the room of three, and gave her another single room.  God's provision is so amazing!  We had a wonderful time there which included eating McDonalds, taking lots of showers, and going to the shopping mall with our new-found South African friends!

The following day when we checked in, the airline couldn't find our bags because they said they had been rushed ahead.  The bags would be waiting for us at the airport in JFK just like everyone else's and we would need to pick them up to go through customs.  I was slightly apprehensive but didn't know what else to do, so we went on to the gate.  Upon arriving in JFK, I watched as everyone else picked up their bags (including the two girls who had been with me the previous night!) but mine was nowhere to be found.  I was so frustrated.  I spoke to the staff there and they said I would need to file a claim once I reached my final destination in Cincinnati.  So I boarded a plane to Washington, D.C., and then another to Cincinnati.

After lots of hugs and tears, my family and I made our way to the information counter so we could file the claim.  While we were waiting my mom said, "why don't we just go check and make sure your suitcase isn't with the rest that came off your plane?"  I responded by telling her there was no way my luggage would be there because it hadn't even been in JFK with me.  So Lauren and Luke went and checked......and returned with my bag!  It was so ridiculously crazy that all I could do was laugh.  I'm sure people thought I was nuts, but that's alright because I totally am!  Once again, God's provision is so good and never what we would ever expect.

After leaving the airport we went straight to Skyline Chili per my request.  As you can see, it was a very happy reunion.

It was so nice to be home and just relax with my family.  Here is one more picture that I just had to put in my blog.  When I got home and opened my suitcase, I was so surprised when this adorable baby popped out! It's my sweet niece Maylee Jean Wisecup.  I call this picture Suitcase Baby. :)

Seriously...what a wonderful welcoming committee I had!

If you are interested in reading up on some of the other crazy experiences I had while in Africa, then keep coming back and checking this blog.  Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy!