Guatemala.

Tidbits of Guatemalan Lessons:

This past December, I was privileged enough to spend a week in the beautiful county of Guatemala. There we were able to help begin paving the way to a bright future for many Guatemalan boys. 

The Reality: Statistics show a grim future for the young boys in the area we were working in. Most 3 out of every 4 boys join a gang by the time they are ten years old. The average life expectancy in this area is 25 years old, due to the immense violence and drug activity they are faced with on a daily basis. The general trend for these boys is to impregnate a woman and leave. Women, left and abandoned, seek love from the next man who comes into her life offering some glimpse of hope and a brighter future. The men have their way and leave these women alone with a broken heart and responsibilities greater than they could have ever imagined. Young boys are left without a strong male father figure and thus fall into gang and drug activity. While all of this is heart shattering, there is hope for these boys. We serve a God who is able to do the impossible and a God who can make broken things whole. A God who cares deeply for every, single one of these young boys and who has a plan and a purpose for their lives. 

The good stuff: Matthew 9:37-38 says, “Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

The plan: Obviously, the harvest in Guatemala is ripe. There is a harvest field full of work that is yet to be done there, and a dying people in need of a life giving savior. While there we were able to work with one man whose plan is to give some of these boys hope and a better future. Nathan, is in the process of building a home for these boys where they will be able to receive a quality education, Godly discipleship and a place to grow in the ways of the Lord. We were blessed with the opportunity to begin the preparation for the foundation of this awesome ministry. While there we began carving a road up the side of a mountain, moved hundreds of cinderblocks and rocks, tore out a tree and did basic land preparations for the great boys home that has yet to come. 

Lessons learned: Working in Guatemala was some of the hardest work that I have ever done. Each day we put sweat and yes, blood, as we received many cuts and bruises along the way, into the land that we worked and the rocks that we moved. That land was our mission field. It causes me to question my walk with the Lord from three different view points.

a.) Why am I not actively working with the same effort, the same amount of sweat, blood and tears in the harvest field that God has set in front of me on a daily basis? Each one of us have such a mission field in our “own backyards” if you will. 1st Corinthians 7:24 talks about how God has called us each to a situation and that God has us where we are. Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” 

b.) Just as Nathan is working to prepare a better place for these boys, God is preparing a better place for us as His bride. Am I staying the course, and running the race towards the prize as Paul talks about in 1st Corinthians chapter nine? Do I make every effort to press onward towards the goal?

c.) What about the areas in my life that need work? Am I digging up the roots, pulling out the weeds and removing the obstacles in my life that hinder my relationship with God?

These are slight tidbits into some of the lessons that God taught me while in Guatemala. While these lessons may seem commonly taught I feel like its one thing to know them, and a totally different thing to actually go and live them out. I am striving for the work that I do in the harvest field that God has placed in my life to be a pleasing sacrifice to Him. To live passionately for my creator and to be able to live out all of the things that I know. 

God is doing great things, not only in Guatemala but in all parts of the world. Continue to keep the nations in prayer as the coming of our Great savior is near.  

Volcanoes.

While in Guatemala, God, as He usually does, taught me many important lessons in ways that I did not expect to learn them. One of these lessons came about through hiking a volcano. For those of you who don’t know, volcano’s are very steep. This little detail was one that I was unaware of, but anyway. We set out on our trek up the volcano. Considering the fact that I love to run and do so on a regular basis I did not think this hike would be too bad. Well, I was wrong, which is not unusual. I found that each step was a challenge. I had to stay focused on the goal of reaching the top the whole time (Philippians 3:14, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”). God began to throw ideas into my head as I climbed. This trek was very similar to my walk with Him. It wasn’t going to be easy, I was going to have to work at it and I needed to rely on Him each step of the way to make it to the top. Sometimes during our hike the volcano was very steep and it was hard to climb, it felt like each step I took wasn’t taking me anywhere. Other times during the hike we caught a breather as the land leveled out and we were able to look out and see how far we had come. This reminded me of my spiritual walk and how sometimes, it gets hard, I can’t see where I’m going and don’t feel like I’m going anywhere but in reality, I’m slowly gaining endurance as I work my way up the mountain. Other times its going to be easy, God is going to throw a simple blessing in my life and reveal His goodness to me. 

Finally, when we reached the top of the volcano, I was blessed with one of the most beautiful sights that I have ever seen. I stood in awe of Gods majestic creation. The top was unlike anything that I have ever seen or could have possibly imagined. Sometimes in our spiritual walks we have to climb the volcano, its going to be hard but what God has in store for us is so much better than anything that we could have ever imagined. The amount of beauty in His plan for us far exceeds the amount of difficulty in our trials.

As I easily climbed down the mountain I realized lots of things that I had missed on the hike up. I learned that just like in this hike, I need to focus less on the difficulty of my situation and more on what God is doing in the midst of my tribulations. The land near the top of the volcano was desolate and dead. Sometimes we have to walk through the dessert to reach the beauty of the mountain top. Then as we progressed down the volcano, we entered an area with dead trees. God reminded me of Psalms 23:4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” I felt kind of like David as I hiked through the wilderness of the volcano. God was with me through my wilderness and had such a plan for me. Little did I know what was waiting on the other side as we approached an area of luscious green trees and plants. I noticed that the same soil that was in the wilderness was the same soil in which the beautiful plants grew. God sometimes sends us through the wilderness to prepare us for what He has waiting on the other side. The strength I gained from the hike up gave me endurance for the hike down, just like our trials prepare us for what God has in store for us. Its humbling to me how God works and speaks to us in mysterious ways, who would have thought that I would have learned so much from a simple volcano hike. What a mighty God we serve. 

I Stand In Awe of You.

Do you ever have moments like that? Where the only thing you can do its simply stand in awe of God? Moments where you can’t decide if you should laugh or if you should cry? God blessed me with a day full of those moments last week, and it made we wonder; why shouldn’t every day be like that?

I was privileged enough to have spent the weekend with the journey team in Hickory, North Carolina. There we got to hangout with some totally awesome kids at a DNOW. DNOW’s are essentially church retreats where college students come in and spend the weekend with the kids and pour into their lives. This was my first experience with DNOW and I was very impressed with the whole thing. So anyway, the weekend went very well and God opened the door for many conversations and opportunities to talk about Him. The ride back home was going to be a daunting two and a half hour drive but I was with awesome, Jesus loving people so it was cool. What I was about to experience was one of those moments where I was about to be broken and simply in awe of God. We turned on some Hillsong and man, did Jesus move. Lets just say that we had church that day. There was not a dry eye in the car as we were able to worship our undefinable God together. There were burst of laughter and sessions of weeping as we sat through bumper to bumper traffic and journeyed down winding roads. Why can’t every day be like that? I was challenged and humbled, broken and rested all the same time.

After arriving back at home we thought that our great adventure was done for the day, and boy, were we wrong. We were hungry so, we decided to go to Wendy’s for a quick dinner. As we are in line waiting to place our order, we notice an elderly woman eating alone. The look on her face is one of great distress, hurt, and anguish. She looked as though she was trying to fight back a water fall of tears. A random lady approached her and asked her if she was okay, I assume, and this started the flow of tears. After she left we knew that we need to pray for her. We approached her and began to share Jesus with her and how much He loved her and that no matter what giants she was facing that He was going to be there right beside her through it all. She began to weep as she told us about her husband and how he was in hospice, about to die of cancer. My heart broke for her as the pain she was experiencing was so tangible. We were honored enough to pray for her and blessed to have her pray for us. Then as we sat with her and got to fellowship with her, a precious old man walked towards our table. He hobbled along with a cain and had snow white hair. His voice shook and He told us about how great God had been in His life. His testimony of goods goodness yet again brought us to tears. Jesus was in Wendy’s that day as another table full of elderly people joined in the conversation of the goodness of God with us. It was phenomenal. As the time for us to leave drew near we decided to ask this precious woman whom we were eating with if we could go and pray for her husband. She was delighted with this idea and quickly jotted down his name and room number. We prayed with her before we left and jetted to hospice down the road. So at this point were all thinking can this day get any better? The answer, was yes. We walk into hospice and were directed to this precious old man’s room. He was in poor condition and the palsy in his face made it difficult for him to talk. We all teared up as we prayed for him and that God would have His way in this situation. What was about to happen was something that I was totally un prepared for. He began to pray for us. Not that he would be healed but that God would have His way and that God would work in our lives. Yet again, in room ten, at hospice, I stood in awe of God. As we were about to leave he said, “I know that I will see you again, on this side, or the next.” This was a statement that couldn’t be truer. He knew that He was going to see His savior soon and what a joyous occasion that would be. 

As I lie in my bed that night, simply reflecting on the day and all that God had done in my life, I was challenged. Why wasn’t I living every day like this? Were there not hurting people every where? John 13:35 says, “ By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another.”I want my love for Jesus to be so great that it simply overflows and that I may life a life of worship. I don’t want moments like that day to be simply something that happens. I yearn to walk in the sprit and to be so sensitive to where God is leading me. There is no excuse for not having that worship time, and communion with God on a daily basis. God is really teaching me that I need to die to myself daily. That I need to place my desires subordinate and to learn how to walk in the spirit. This life that we are given is not our own. I want to do the very best I can with what God has given me so that through this pitiful mess of a person that I am, He might be glorified.

Ps. Sorry this was such a long one... God has just been rocking my world.

Freedom.

2^nd Corinthians 3:16, “ Where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.”

     Paul’s words in this scripture paint such a clear and pure picture of freedom.  Simply basking in Gods presence there lays great and powerful freedom.  At the moment I am at a lost for words as I try to explain the emotions I am feeling. I am humbled but yet Gods presence and freedom is almost too much for me to wrap my mind around. I just wish that everyone could experience the power of God and His majestic beauty.  Sometimes, actually all the time, I wish that I could just drop everything and bask in Gods presence day in and day out. I long to know the word and to become more like Jesus. I just want more of Him. 

     Last night was probably one of the most epic nights ever. Basically I am so blessed I don’t even know what to do with myself. It was about midnight and I had just taken my shower in preparation for bed when I received an unexpected text message. It was an invite from one of my best friends Ward, to go and worship. Two thoughts flashed through my head upon reading this. The first being, Worship God under the starts…ummm duh! The second being, wow, how blessed am I to be getting text messages like that. It was simply a beautiful worship experience as 13 college students gathered under the stars to worship the creator of the universe. It was such a humbling experience to bask in Gods presence among fellow believers.  An unplanned, random event, set aside to worship out God, was truly what I needed. Having my own quite time is one thing but to have that glorious community of believers is irreplaceable. I am simply overwhelmed by the greatness of the God that we serve. There was so much liberation and freedom in those moments that the rest that I received was so much better than any sleep that I may have missed out on. Simply following God and trusting Him to guide each step of the way is the best thing in the world. 

Reckless.

What would happen if we as Christians lived our lives with a "reckless abandonment" for God? What would happen if we had a reckless faith that abandoned all worldly things for the sake of the cross? What would happen if we simply placed our desires subordinate? In my opinion it’s so easy to wonder these questions but to actually live them out is another story. The real question should be WHY aren't we living our lives with reckless abandonment? WHY aren’t our desires subordinates? If we lived this way there would be no need to wonder what would happen. 1st Corinthians 9:19 says, "Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible." As Christ followers we are set apart. We have a different standard in which we are called to live by. In order to live recklessly for Christ and to love well, we need to learn how to selflessly serve. Not for our glory or credit by any means but so that God is glorified and so that many may come to know the greatness of our God. These lives are not our own; we need to follow in Jesus' footsteps and learn how to truly serve and place others before ourselves. In my life, I want servant hood to be second nature.

     The other day I was honored enough to witness an example of this selfless, unexpected servant hood. My friends and I went on an awesome “geo-cashing” adventure. “Geo-cashing” is basically the most awesome thing ever. You acquire a set of coordinates from the “geo-cashing” web site and basically go on a treasure hunt. Once you reach the location of the coordinates you hunt for a metal box. These glorious boxes are usually full of tiny trinkets and a log where you write your name stating that you found the treasure. Anyways, after a long night of geo-cashing hunger invaded all of our bellies. By this time it was about 1am. One of my friends suggested that we go to her house and get some food. I know for a fact that if I brought a bunch of random people to my house in the middle of the night my parents would not be pleased, but she insisted. When we arrived at her house her father warmly welcomed us inside. He insisted we help ourselves to whatever food we wanted. He offered to make us things and was beyond hospitable. While this act in itself was a blessing, his generosity had just begun. He offered to make us a bonfire and proceeded to heat up hot dogs for us to roast. As the night wore on this selfless man chose to go out of his way to make sure that we were satisfied completely. I was taken back by such generous hospitality. We had never met this man before but yet he chose to put us before himself and go out of his way to be hospitable.

This incident reminded me of the children in Ecuador who offer their last piece of bread to a stranger because they care more about others than themselves. I long to live inconveniently.  In today’s society, it’s reckless to live inconveniently. It is reckless to live like a servant and to love unselfishly. John 13:35 says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Joy.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! –Philippians 4:4

So maybe its just me, but do you ever have those moments in life where you think you have something down pat and all together only to realize how far away you actually are from having it all together? I certainly had one of those humbling moments this week. Joy is a thing in which I never thought I struggled with. Yes, things may be hard but I have always considered my self as one of those people who finds the “silver lining” in situations. Smiling comes naturally to me and to be quite frank with you, at times I really can’t stop.

            The past few weeks have been rather challenging but that’s life. I thought I was handling it all fairly well. That is until I stopped, and looked at myself. What I saw was not what I had expected or wanted to see. It was something deep down that I attempted to hide from myself. While I may have been smiling, I was not joyful. When even the slightest thing went wrong or added to my daily schedule I began to notice how this affected my mood. Rather than being “joyful always” (1^st Thessalonians 5:16) I was just putting up a fasad. I began to realize that the way I was living and acting wasn’t pleasing to God. While I may have acted one way, God see’s my heart and knows my every thought.

            Happiness is a choice, a conscious decision to choose joy in the midst of whatever the circumstance may be. It is the decision to embrace the fact that Jesus died so that we may live. It is the choice to live out the word by being joyful always, and choosing to rejoice in the Lord. God isn’t glorified in my life if I choose to dwell on the temporary rather than seeking the eternal things that wont pass away. While this lifestyle is not the most convenient way to live, it’s the most rewarding. In my opinion, choosing joy and living out that joy, from the inside out, glorifies God so why waste time acting any other way.

Quandary.

So basically I am going to make this short, sweet and to the point. Today I went to the career-counseling center for career guidance, obviously. After reviewing all of my documents and test results things were going pretty well I guess you could say. We hadn’t established anything however. The councilor proceeded to question me for a bit then after answering some questions her response was, “Oh my, you are in quite a “quandary” the only thing you can do is pray.” To be real with you this was not the answer I was looking for. I had been praying and planned on doing so I just needed some extra wisdom. The person who I thought could give me wisdom obviously didn’t even know what to do. This incident reminded me of Psalms 20:7, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” While her answer wasn’t what I was looking for it was the best advice I could have received. Rarely are men going to be able to live up to our expectations but God will never fail. So lesson of the day: trust in God. That wasn’t as short and sweet as I had planned it to be, but that’s life. 

Be still. Say what?

“Be Still and Know That I Am God.” -Psalm 46:10

This is a verse that never fails to humble me. In todays culture the act of “being still” is becoming unheard of. We are always on the go, we want it done, done right and done now, as fast as it can be done. We are a culture that rarely takes time to stop. From microwavable food, net flicks, online shopping and to supermarkets; just about everything in life can be obtained in a matter of minutes. Things with God and in all relationships aren’t this way. Its one thing to know that He is God. Thats common knowledge, God is God. But to actually take the time and give him all that He deserves is another. Being still also requires that act of giving it all to God. I cant be still before God if my mind is running a billion miles an hour. In order to be still I actually have to give everything over to God and trust Him to handle it instead of me pointlessly concerning myself over the situation.

For me personally, I enjoy being busy. I love the rush of a crunch to get things done. When I’m pressed for time I tend to work more efficiently. The problem with this inner desire to be busy is that I tend to put God in a box. Very commonly I feel like I plan out a particular “time slot” for God. I wonder what the heck I’m thinking because duh Jordan you can’t put God in a box but then it happens all over again. This cycle is totally unintentional but the more that I look inwardly the more that I realize I do it. Just sitting calmly before God and allowing Him to speak is quite frankly inconvenient but oh so necessary. In my opinion that surrender of time and of my desires is when I see God working the most in my life. God is a jealous God and He wants to have that quality time with us. Its a relationship with God, not a religion. A relationship requires many things including daily work, quality time and lots of communication. You can’t build any strong relationship on a lack of communication. 

1st Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing.” I am daily learning how important this verse is as I work on growing in my communication with God. I feel like if I could get these two verses down and to be able to be still and pray without ceasing then my relationship with God would see some major changes. I want to be a woman of prayer and a woman who is still and reverent before God. Daily I desire that opportunity to simply be still before God and to have that unceasing communication with Him. 

Game plan.

Game plan.

So what do you do when things don’t go as planned or as you expected them to? The chances of this happening are more likely than not. We are faced with the choice of either dwelling on the fact that they didn’t go like we had planned them to, or embracing the change and running with it trusting God along the way. I have learned that the latter is much easier said than done. I have also began to realize that, “Trusting God” is a lot harder than I ever thought it would be. Its one thing to “quote un-quote” trust in God in the simple things but to really devote totally trust and to give simply everything to Him is another. It calls for ridding myself of any control and to just doing exactly what God wants me, places my plans and desires subordinately. I strive to have this trust in God. The kind of blind trust where regardless of how I’m feeling, or what everyone else says is right, to be able to depend on God. I want to have a child like trust in my relationship with my savior. I think about how it was to be a kid and just hearing my parents say that everything was going to be okay, made everything okay. The kind of faith where my daddy was my super hero and the greatest thing in the world. Not to mention the fact that he knew everything and was never wrong. I want to have that childlike, fearful faith where what daddy said, was what happened, no questions asked. The thing is, that with God I have every reason to trust in Him and to trust His perfect plan for my life. In fact, its very asinine of me not to. 

“ Psalms 62:7-8 says, “In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.  Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us.”  

Psalms 139:9 says, “If I rise on the wings of dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea even there your hands will guide me.”

Romans 13:12-" Be glad for all God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble, and always be prayerful.”

Philippians 4:6- "Don't worry about anything, instead pray about everything. “

Romans 8:28- "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." 

Regardless of my situation or circumstance God is still in control. He is a refuge and a safe place to hide in the midst of the storm. So I know that when things don’t go as planned, my God is still faithful. When I don’t know where to go or which path to take, His hand will guide me. I just need to trust Him along the way and rest assure in the fact that He has a perfect plan for my life.

So what do you do when you think you know what your supposed to do and when your best council advises otherwise? Good question. I’m in the middle of trying to figure that one out myself. The one thing I do know however is that your supposed to trust God the whole way and that eventually its all going to work out. It probably won’t be your plan but His plans are a billion times better anyway. 

Simple things.

For me personally its the simple things in life that mean the very most. Tonight I had the privilege of just laying out side and looking at the stars. To me they are such so majestic but yet so simple because they’re always there. Many times I think that we almost become complacent about them because its common knowledge that they are there. Maybe I like them so much because they make me think. The very same God who made me, knows every, single star by name. That's almost incomprehensible to me and renders me speechless. If this God knows every star by name how much more must He know about me? Its really actually quite humbling for me; our God is so much bigger than my mind can fathom and He never ceases to amaze me.

Then another random simple thing that made my day was my little brother. He’s certainly not simple by any means but his simple acts of love spoke volumes. My brother is a whopping nine years old, and like any nine year old boy he is rambunctious and loaded with energy. He never, ever stops and just loves to find goofy ways to get on your nerves or to draw any emotion out of you. Other times however, he can be the sweetest boy in world, without even trying to be. Today he wanted to go to target with my sister and I so of course we let him tag along. It almost became a race to get to the door just so he could hold it open. This wasn’t something we told him to do it was just second nature. Then after he had purchased his new ironman toys we all decided we needed to make a Starbucks run. After we had all ordered he calmly said, “ I got this sis, I want to be your date today, any boy would be lucky to be your date.” While this may have been a simple and innocent act of kindness it meant the world to me. What nine year old boy would want to spend the little money he has on his sisters? It was so precious and so genuine. Then of course it reminded me about the way that God loves us. Each day He simply reminds us of His great love for us in the simplest and most obvious of ways. Its that real love and joy that comes from all the simple things in life. I think its as simple as the sunshine, or the smile of a friend, the peace in the rain or even the stars that we can so clearly see Gods love. 

So today, look for the simple things in life. Notice the cool breeze or the innocent laughter of a child and remember Gods great love for you. That perfect love, where He would send His only begotten son to die, on a cross for you and me. What love is more perfect than that?

oh Martha.

In Luke 10:38-42 we read about the story of Mary, Martha and the day that Jesus came to their house. Martha concerned herself with making preparations and getting all the things accomplished that needed to be done rather than sitting at Jesus's feet. Mary on the other hand eagerly listened to all that Jesus had to say as she cast any other distraction aside to spend that valuable time with Jesus. Martha, like most sisters, called Mary out on this only to be put in her place. Jesus' said, "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

I so wish that I could be Mary in this situation and in my everyday life. The truth of the matter is that more often than not, I can relate to Martha. While Martha wasn’t doing anything wrong, she wasn’t devoting all of her attention to Jesus. In my opinion it is so easy in todays society to get caught up in doing “all of the right things” that we tend to place the most important thing on the back burner. It is so easy to be busy going about and doing God’s work but in reality if we aren’t sitting eagerly at His precious feet then what good is it at all. Jesus points out bluntly that He is the only thing we need. Everything else in this world is trivial compared to Him. Why should we waste our time concerning ourselves with trivial things when we could be using that time to sit at Jesus’ feet? 

Passion.

PASSION is defined as any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate, BUT interestingly enough is later defined as the sufferings of Christ on the cross or His sufferings subsequent to the Last Supper. The narrative of Christ's sufferings as recorded in the Gospels. Humbling right? Or maybe thats just me. You see at the moment, this blog is stream of consciousness because I am overwhelmed with passion. The idea of passion simply that MY Jesus would suffer for me is incomprehensible. To even begin to fathom or try and establish this idea in my brain blows me away and renders me speechless. I feel like this is something that we all know but so many times seem to forget. We loose the passion and for get the definition of passion AKA the narrative of Christ's sufferings. The story of Jesus’ life and His sufferings are the definition of passion. Wow, try and get a load of that. 

Then of course my mind wanders to those awesome people in the bible. They were passionate about Jesus and He hadn’t even died for them yet. Ah its crazy. Abraham comes quickly to mind as I think of how he was so readily about to sacrifice his only because he was passionate about God and kept His promises to God. He had passion. Then I think about Cain and Able and how even then Abel was passionate about God because he brought God the BEST that he had. Noah comes quickly to mind as his passion is evident in the face of adversity and when he was constantly mocked by those around him. Their daunting remarks were trivial to the passion that he had for God. Then I think about the people who marched around the walls of Jericho and how their passion and their faith in God was so evident and made such an impact. 

Then, I think about me. Where is my passion? Is my faith so radical that I am living a life thats passionate for God? Do I ever take passion, Jesus passion for granted? Am I being all that I am called to be? Would I hear well done, good and faithful servant? Is my passionate for Jesus so evident? The answers to the questions are not only humbling but also so challenging to me. I wonder what life would be like if we lived with a passion. If our lives cried tears of passion. I wonder how things would be if that passion and that love was shared with everyone we encountered. 

ps. This was my first blog ever in my life ahhh