Wishing for a Do-Over (Thinking Again about Haiti)

I found myself recently wishing for a do-over on our Haiti mission trip from this last summer. I don’t know what it is. It was a great week, that’s for sure. I think we accomplished a lot for only really having 5 days to work. But it was so short and I find myself wishing we could go back and do more.

It was almost unbearably hot and that greatly handicapped us. We’d have to take a lot of breaks.

There were certain tasks we couldn’t do, and so we’d have to wait on the head construction guys often before we could join back in. A lot of waiting.

We had major language barriers and so couldn’t communicate in the ways we wished we could.

But…

I wish I could go back and work harder, work longer, get more done for those people with so much need.

I wish I would have jumped in more with initiating interaction with the children that would gather around.

I wish we could have gotten more personally involved with the adults nearby – heard their stories, prayed for & with them.

I wish we could have had more meaningful conversations with the neighbors who may not know Christ and who may be more open than ever.

You can do anything for a week – eat strange foods, get less hours of sleep, do construction with no previous experience, work in 115 degree temperatures with high humidity. You can push yourself to the limit. And it is still over in the blink of an eye. Looking back, it seems like nothing. Vapor in the wind perhaps.

I wish I could go back and do more, give more of myself, leave it all on the field.

But, we don’t get do-overs.

Since we can’t go back in time, all I can do is to move forward and try to live intentionally. To seize the opportunities placed before me to help others around me. To get involved in other people’s lives and get my hands dirty.

I’ve been doing a pretty lousy job at that lately. I just wanted to confess that and say that I’m going to try and do better.

Can anyone else relate?

The work of International Justice Mission

Last night I had the honor of being able to volunteer at the International Justice Mission‘s Nashville fundraising dinner. I’ve been a fan of them for quite some time, but had never personally interacted with them. I was excited to go experience their organization in person. As it was a fundraiser, it was $200 per person. Not something I would normally be able to attend. But I found the right contact to sign up as a volunteer. In exchange for helping set-up & clean-up, we were able to then attend the dinner also. It was a powerful event. They do incredible, and intense, work. I learned a lot.

International Justice Mission (based out of DC) is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local officials to ensure immediate victim rescue and aftercare, to prosecute perpetrators and to promote functioning public justice systems. Please visit their site to learn more about them.

Did you know that…

There are 25 million people trapped in slavery around the world?

There are more women, men, & children held in slavery right now than over the course of the entire trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Over 2 million children are exploited in the global commercial sex trade.

Sickening & disturbing. (I recently read something from Max Lucado where he said that we ought to get ticked off about these horrible things going on in our world. If we are not ticked off about them, then something is wrong with us. Getting boiling hot mad is the first step. Only then will we be moved to action.)

IJM goes in, gathers evidence, and literally will then storm in and pull people out of their bondage. It is scary and daunting work. They are in constant danger. But I am so glad there is someone like them in the world to help.

Back to the evening’s events… They shared about the work of IJM, including several personal stories of people who have been freed (a girl from Cambodia freed from sex trafficking, a family from India freed from a salt mill, & a widow in Uganda (I think that’s right) who was being forced off her land unjustly). They then had a live web cam conversation with the girl from Cambodia. That was amazing! She, & her sister, were rescued a couple years ago. She is now doing well and is working in a bakery, hoping someday to start her own bakery and use the profits to help others.

Amy Grant then performed a few beautiful songs. (Her Better Than a Hallelujah took on a new meaning that night for me.)

And finally, Gary Haugen, IJM’s founder & CEO, spoke. He has an amazing background, coming from the Department of Justice, where he served as the Officer in Charge of the U.N.’s genocide investigation in Rwanda. Read more about him here.

It was a very moving evening. And very educational. I am so glad to have been able to attend.

I wanted to share that with you in hopes of educating others that these problems exist in our world today. These are issues that make us uncomfortable and that are so big & daunting we may feel compelled to look the other way, rationalizing “well I can’t do anything to help that.”

This quote appeared on the screen at one point last night and it grabbed my attention:

“Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Are we ready to take responsibility? Are we ready to act and help out those that truly are “the least of these”? There are ways to help. You can help financially support the work of IJM. Or go here to learn about other ways that you can get involved.

And finally, here is an article that also talks about the U.S. sex trade and what we can do about it: The U.S. sex trade flourishes: your role in the fight

There are millions of people around the world right now that are being exploited as slaves. Now that you know, are you ready to take responsibility?

Good Reads: Following Jesus Through the Eye of the Needle

This is a simple book review that is long overdue.

Before traveling to a place, I always like to try and read a book about it. Particularly before trips to foreign countries. So prior to our trip to Haiti, I wanted to find a book that might give me a little insight into the country, the people, and the culture.

The book I found was Following Jesus Through the Eye of the Needle: Living Fully, Loving Dangerously. I didn’t get it finished before we left, but had at least a good portion of it done. I then enjoyed reading the rest after we returned. If you are interested in reading about mission work in Haiti, I do highly recommend this book.

It is about a young guy, Kent Annan, and his wife that give up their life in the US, sell most of their possessions, and move to Haiti to work with Doctors without Borders. Wanting to immerse themselves in the culture first, they move in with a Haitian family in a town far outside of the capital. They live with them for several months (which provides some great stories) before moving back to Port-au-Prince, getting a modest house built, and jumping into their work. He takes the reader through the ins and outs of life in Port-au-Prince – how he has to take 4 different modes of transportation just to get to work every day. He takes you through his interactions with new acquaintances and his fumblings at trying to live among the people and not be viewed as a “rich American”.

From a cultural perspective, it was a fascinating and eye-opening read for me – learning about social norms, family life, the challenges of everyday life, etc. in Haiti. It helped me have some sort of informed reference point for when we went. Equally interesting to me, and I didn’t realize it until we got there (and started our work of building 2 houses), was reading about the difficulties in the construction process of their home, the interaction of the Haitian workers, and how they related to Kent, who the Haitian workers would call “boss”. He had set out to live amongst them, to build a modest house so as to be viewed as more of an equal, but was still being called “boss” because of the color of his skin and his country of origin. It was interesting to then be there in Haiti, working alongside Haitians on each house, and much of the interactions and challenges were very similar.

Aside from that, this book challenges the reader to have courage in going through the eye of the needle. To reject the ordinary life and follow the calling God has placed on each of our lives.

I don’t know if God will ever call us to be missionaries in another country (though we have talked about it), but no matter what, I don’t want to live an ordinary life. I do want to have the courage to follow through on our callings, whatever they may be.

Finding Purpose In Our Everyday Tasks

In my previous post, I talked about something I learned from a book our small group just went through together – Pathway to Purpose for Women, by Katie Brazelton. In this post, I wanted to share another great thought from the same book. The book’s overall goal is to help women discover their ultimate purposes that God has ordained for their lives. What she’s talking about is that life-altering, impossible-to-accomplish-without-His-help purpose and mission.

So many of us (myself included) desperately seek to know what that grand agenda is. We want to be part of something significant, something that makes a difference in people’s lives and in the world. Something that marries together our experiences, our life roles, longings, and passions. But often it takes years of purposeful searching to figure out what ours is.

Brazelton offers steps for us to work through, to help us process & figure it out. Many of the steps struck me hard, and I need to go back and spend more time on them. One of the most significant for me was: Do what matters today.

Before God reveals to us our grand life purpose, he has some testing and refining to do in us. We will not be trusted with the bigger things until we can prove we can handle the smaller things – our everyday tasks. We must joyfully, and purposefully, take pride in our everyday tasks that He entrusts to us, even when we feel that they are completely unglamorous and insignificant.

Brazelton says: “Every day he considers our willingness and faithfulness in the ordinary things to see if we can handle the challenging, unique assignments that he loves to entrust to those who are faithful. It is not God’s plan for you to spend today chasing after your future one thing when your many things are right in front of you. You were born to make a Christlike difference in hundreds of ordinary ways…”

Every experience, every encounter, every responsibility may very well be adding up to something He wants us to use later on. We are taught lessons of patience, kindness to strangers, and faithfulness in the dry spells. He uses our challenges and hard seasons to help us be more empathetic to others going through similar scenarios later on. We are stretched sometimes beyond what we think we can handle and later on are able to have confidence in the abilities God has gifted to us.

God wants to use what we are given today to prepare us for what He will entrust us with tomorrow. It is up to us to focus on the responsibilities He has placed before us – our roles in our families, in our jobs, development in our own spiritual walks, in relationships with neighbors and friends and co-workers, in the PTA, as coaches of our children’s sports teams, and as we serve in the random opportunities He opens up daily.

So I am working on embracing my everyday tasks with joy, knowing that every piece is significant and is a part of the process. I don’t want to miss out on my time of preparation for the things God will use me for later. I am working on it…

Do you have a hard time focusing on what He has given you to do today?

“Whatever our season of life, it offers its own opportunities and challenges for spiritual growth. Instead of wishing we were in another season, we ought to find out what this one offers.” John Ortberg

Taking Courage

I’ve been reading through a book with my small group called “Pathway to Purpose for Women: connecting your to-do list, your passions, and God’s purposes for your life” by Katie Brazelton. It is a great book about discovering how your life roles, longings, and experiences point you toward your life mission. Toward God’s bold agenda for your life. It has been very insightful and helpful. We’ve spent the summer on it and honestly I want to go back and read it again now. There are definitely some chapters that I feel like I need to go back and spend some more time in.

One of those chapters (and one of her steps on the Pathway to Purpose) is Taking Courage.

The author talks about how we are all vulnerable of being sidetracked from our life purpose by fear. Fear can prevent us from being all that God designed us to be. She says that “once fear has you in its wicked grasp, it blocks creativity, productivity, and relationships.” Fear can hold us back from authentic relationships, meaningful tasks, and our grand life purpose.

She talks about some of the more common fears that can sidetrack us:

• Fear of ridicule & criticism – “Do you have a fear of ridicule or criticism that keeps you from pursuing your purpose?” A fear that others will laugh at or tear apart what you have set out to do?

• Fear of success – This one is not immediately as recognizable, but can also be paralyzing. What if I succeed? What will be expected of me then, and will I be able to live up to that? I’m scared it will be too hard…

• Fear of being found out - This is the fear that others will find out that “you’re really not smart enough, good enough, funny enough, articulate enough, organized enough, or loving enough to really fulfill God’s purpose for your life.” What if God chose the wrong person for this job and they all find out?

• Fear of failure – Definitely one of the most common fears. The fear that you’ll look like a fool, that people won’t believe in you the next time…

I know I struggle with all of these from time to time. I hate that these fears can hold me back from taking a leap of faith, from doing what God is really calling me to do… whether it is in the scope of a grand, over-arching life purpose or just in the day to day nudgings from the Holy Spirit (to share about Christ with someone, to buy a homeless person a meal, to take a risk at work).

We must put our trust in the Lord. It is a command we are given. But it doesn’t mean that the task at hand will be any easier. We are definitely in for a wild ride when it comes to following our calling from God.

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. Do not be afraid, for I am with you.” -from Isaiah 43

Brazelton says that “taking courage is a determined act of our will that helps us release our fears and enables us to move forward. Taking courage is an act we initiate that is based on something real and reliable – God’s steadfastness. Taking courage begins with our understanding that the Lord God has called each of us by name and promises to be with us.”

“Don’t be afraid of the will of God. The will of God will not take you where the power of God cannot keep you.” -Adrian Rogers

“Positive Christian women move out even when their knees are shaking. Why? Because they have been kneeling on those knees that are shaking. Not only do they know who they are, they know whose they are.” -Janet Congo

What do you fear? Are your fears blocking your creativity, productivity, or relationships? How do you get past them?