...then come follow me

Isaiah 31:8
"Assyria will fall by a sword that is not of man; a sword, not of mortals, will devour them..."

God is fighting the war that we are in, we are not expected to fight to the end by ourselves. We are called to put on armor and be standing back, ready to run in and help. He could easily do it himself, we are tiny, insignificant humans... we are not important in the battle, but we are called to be ready. So that if/when the moment comes where He says he would like our help, we will be prepared and ready to fight. We can not be watching the battle hoping that we will not be called in, if we are not prepared we will not be called (ether that, or you will be called and you will waist time getting ready).

Mark 10:21
"Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."  
That is being prepared.
Often the mindset is "What you are doing is amazing, I just don't feel like that is my calling." or, "If He calls me to do that, I will.... I just don't feel like I am supposed to at this moment." The question is... how do you know if He hasn't called you yet? or if you just need to take the step of faith first?
It says, "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor... THEN come, follow me." It does not say, come follow me..... NOW sell all you have and give to the poor. It's a leap of faith.

I am about to take a leap of faith. On Wednesday Teisha and I are leaving for a 6 week trip to Uganda, Africa. This trip is so we can see the culture, visit ministries and make contacts.... it is preparation for my move there in January (and Teishas move there in the future). This is not me saying I am a great person, this is me saying that I was raised my Godly parents who have shown me that God has a plan. They have taught me that change may be hard, but when it is God's will, it is all worth it.

I am terrified... but not really in the ways that people would think. I am scared of the travailing, not of flying... but making sure I am going to get to where I need to be on time (things like that). I am, also, nervous because I know that the moment I step on that plane, my life will never be the same (and big changes are super scary). In spite of all the scariness, I do know one thing... it is so going to be worth it.

I challenge each one of you reading this (which is not very many, so help out by making up for the lack of people)... prepare yourselves, THEN take a leap of faith... I can guarantee you will be glad you did.

Difficulty in this life...

Last Friday a little boy that we know was hit by a chicken bus (for those who have not been to Guatemala, it is basically the public form of transportation. It is an old school bus painted brightly, and sometimes people take animals on... that's why people call it the chicken bus, you sometimes see people with live chickens). Well, this little boy, Joshua, was 3. He had been with a 17 year old baby sitter, while they were in a tienda (small shop) she was buying something and he ran out into the street and got hit. It was not her fault, it was not the drivers fault, it was a 3 year old boy simply being a 3 year old boy. On Tuesday, he passed away.

Now, I was not really close to Joshua, but I knew him enough to know... he loved to be chased around and tickled (sometimes, but sometimes he would cry if the crazy white girl would run up to him), he loved to follow around his older brother, he loved to color, and boy could he throw a tantrum.  One day, we were playing and coloring out on the street with some of the kids, and Joshua did not only want a coloring page, he wanted the whole coloring book. When Brittney told him he could not keep the coloring book, boy did he loose it. It was hysterical. The chunky little kid rolling around, yelling and screaming like someone had done the worst thing possible.... simply because he was not aloud to have a coloring book. Like I said, I was not super close to him, but I still miss him.

Isaiah 23:9 "The Lord Almighty planned it..."

It is so hard, in situations like this, to think that God planned to end little Joshua's life after only 3 short years. It is so easy to say that it was simply an accident, a mistake God made, but that is just not true. God truly did plan it, even before Joshua was a remote possibility, even before Joshua's parents met, God knew this day was coming. In this moment we may not see why, but at the end of life I am fully convinced that God will say, "See, I knew what I was doing. As a result of Joshua's death this, this and this happened. I told you, I have this under control." In this life there are so many things that will happen that seem wrong or terrible, but they were planned before time began.

I am not saying that we should not be sad, it is a hard situation and grieving is necessary. On Thursday we attended Joshua's funeral. There were so many people there, all to grieve and comfort the grieving. We were able to hug the parents and tell them we were praying. I do ask that you will all pray for the family (Mother, Father and brother, as well as extended family) and friends of Joshua, this is a very hard time.

He has a plan, we might not always see it.... and at times we might flat-out hate it, but there is a reason for it. We just need to trust that creator of the universe knows what he is doing.