money money money

i think (& Scripture teaches pretty plainly) God likes to fund His mission through people.

He doesn't have to, but that's the way He works it.

He blesses people with the money that He gives to them SO THAT they will be a blessing & bless others with that same money. so that they will be a blessing by funding God's mission in the world with that money He blessed them with.
then He blesses them with even more money. and so they give away more. and then God blesses them with more. and they give away more. etc... etc...
this all seems pretty straight forward to me.

i'm not a fan of the prosperity gospel. in fact i'm the opposite of a fan. whatever that is. i think it's not the gospel. i've made my thougths about that pretty clear before & i echo THIS on that topic.
but i realize that what i'm saying here & what the Bible teaches throughout borders on the line of "prosperity gospel".

i'm saying & i believe that Scripture teaches that God blesses me based on how i give. God blesses me with money in proportion to how i bless others with the previous money He blessed me with.

and i know the televangelists & prosperity gospel peeps may sound eerily similar as they get on TV & tell us to send them $1,000 and God promises to send them back $2,000 or something like that.

& maybe there's not a lot of difference between the 2 other than that Scripture seems to be talking to people who aren't trying to get rich off of giving back to God. it seems to be more about the motive in the heart. a desire to be a blessing. a heart like "sure, ok, You want to bless me more... then i'll just give away more." if you're giving for the purpose of getting rich... to exploit this system God has set up... i just don't know that it works that way.
pretty sure it doesn't.

but i'll be honest - i've been trying it out for a long time now - and still taking steps forward. i read God's promises about that and think "really, God? how far are you gonna go with this?" because so far the more we give, the more God backs up the dump truck of blessings and dumps more on us. you better believe that gives me the confidence and courage and faith to keep giving more and more... knowing that God promises to bless with more and more.

*but don't take my word for all this. it's a principle that God established. it's how God designed His world to work.

Paul writes about it eloquently. the context for this passage below is all about Paul talking to these peeps in Corinth about giving their money to the poor... funding God's mission in the world... blessing others with their money. as he's talking to them about giving he just wants to remind them about a principle...

⁶ "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷ Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ⁹ As it is written:

“They have scattered abroad their gifts to the poor;
    their righteousness endures forever.”

¹⁰ Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹ You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

¹² This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. ¹³ Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, people will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else."

(2 Corinthians 9:6-13)

i don't think i can say it any more clearly than that.

it's as simple as SEEDS. if you have 10 seeds and plant 5 - do you have less or more than you started with? well, you have MORE of course. whatever you planted is going to grow and produce tons more of those seeds.
Paul says God designed giving & planting seeds to work the same.

wow.

obviously we don't believe that. or we would give like we planted.
how often do you see a farmer or a gardener plant 10% of his seeds and keep 90% for himself? he would be an idiot.
just sayin'

you PLANT seeds because that's what they're FOR. 
and you give away money because that's why you've been blessed with it. that's what it's FOR.

so, i just can't picture someone giving away all their money to bless others/fund God's mission & then God not blessing them with more to give away.
that's how He likes to fund His mission in the world.

everyone reading this blog is rich. no doubt. don't even argue. if you're sitting in front of a computer or phone or iPad with an internet connection reading this then you are RICH. and Paul says that the whole reason you've been made rich is "SO THAT you can be generous on every occasion!"

AND it's something that actually "accompanies your confession of the gospel." is that confession a little worthless without this generosity to accompany it?

i love the way Luke puts it:
"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

i can remember my Mom and my Dad talking about this one a lot when i was a kid - they would compare it to the way you fit the most leaves into a trash bag. you can fit way more when you press it down, shake it together, etc... "you can't outgive God" they would say.

i don't think it matters how much money you have. just give. you've been blessed. bless others with it.
whether you make $100 a week or $1 million a week - be generous. give it away.

we are MESSED up when it comes to money. we are MESSED up bad.

it's good to make money. it's just dumb to keep it. who do you think God is going to bless with more money? the person blessing others/funding His mission with it or the person using it on themselves?
just sayin'.


as always, renown is a place for me to hash out some thoughts. take ideas and things in my head and actually process them. i fully recognize that i'm probly wrong about a lot of stuff. i would really like to know if i am WRONG in my thinking about this?
am i way off here?
i'm actually asking someone to point that out if i am. tell me.

(i'm not asking - do we live like we think this is true? - because NO! of course we don't. when we truly believe this we will give 90% and live on 10%.)

i'm just wondering if i'm crazy? i don't think so, but the crazy person never thinks he is.
do you feel me?
or you hatin?

what do you think?

environment is everything

Because of a class i'm in this semester i've had to immerse myself (quite literally) in the world of Paul. Paul i-don't-know-his-last-name... but the Apostle guy. who wrote all those letters.

yeah... that guy. 

it's been pretty amazing and i've learned a ton. 

one thing that's sticking in my head today is that the environment was very important to Paul. that's not a comment on whether or not he was a tree hugger... i'm just saying the context or environment within which he engaged people with the gospel was a big deal.

i had to read a ridiculous amount of books for the class and here are a few sentences that are still sticking with me from this guy named Schnabel:

 “Paul did not expect people to come to him: he went to the places where people lived.” 

 

“For people to hear the gospel, they will have to be sought out in places where they are willing to listen to discourses and are willing to engage in conversations.”

it's really obvious when put like this, but a lot of times we don't consider our environment when talking to people about really important stuff.

today, where are people willing to listen to discourses & willing to engage in conversations? 

Paul figured it the answer and went and did it.

have we? 

call me an idealist

people call me an idealist.

it's a negative statement (kind of like too passionate) and sometimes gets lumped with other words to describe me like naive.

but go ahead and call me an idealist. i take it as a compliment.
i think idealism is only a negative if it is just talk. no action with it. because talk is cheap.

i agree with Bono:
“Idealism detached from action is just a dream. But idealism allied with pragmatism, with rolling up your sleeves and making the world bend a bit, is very strong, very real, and very present.”

yep. i'm an idealistic pragmatic. i've been called both in a negative tone, but that's OK with me. i want to spend my life rolling up my sleeves and making the world bend a bit.

i want to spend my life seeing things in the world that bother me (should bother all of us) and be the voice that says "we do not have to stand for this."

and if that's idealistic then so be it.

we'll see what has happened 3 generations from now. then we can judge whether or not i was just a naive idealist.

i believe we can change the world. i believe we do not have to stand for this.

contextualization

this is something we all must do constantly at some level. if we're on mission then contextualization is a non-negotiable.

the godfather of the missional movement (and Newcastle born), Lesslie Newbigin, had this to say as a foundation for contextualization back in the day... [my thoughts in brackets]

“The gospel is addressed to human beings, to their minds and hearts and consciences, and calls for their response.”

[This is KEY!] = “Human beings only exist as members of communities which share a common language, customs, ways of ordering economic and social life, ways of understanding and coping with their world. [literally world view.]
If the gospel is to be understood, if it is to be received as something which communicates truth about the real human situation, if it is, as we say, to ‘make sense’, it has to be communicated in the language of those to whom it is addressed and has to be clothed in symbols which are meaningful to them. And since the gospel does not come as a disembodied message, but as the message of a community which claims to live by it and which invites others to adhere to it, the community’s life must be so ordered that it ‘makes sense’ to those who are invited. It must, as we say, ‘come alive.’ Those to whom it is addressed must be able to say, ‘Yes, I see. This is true for me, for my situation.’ [this is huge & the foundation of contextualization. this is so key - for both a missionary to China or a student ministry in the Bible Belt.]

[& before you call me and Lesslie both heretics...]
But if the gospel is truly to be communicated, the subject in that sentence is as important as the predicate. What comes home to the heart of the hearer must really be the gospel, and not a product shaped by the mind of the hearer.”

– we need contextualization “whether in one’s own neighborhood or at the ends of the earth.”

that is at the heart of what it means to be missional... literally on mission in whatever culture we find ourselves in. i say, the more we contextualize the gospel, the more effectively we communicate it.
we must... i repeat, MUST become experts not just in the gospel itself, but in contextualizing it!

you were the man, Lesslie. thankful to have you as one of my dead mentors.

any thoughts on contextualization?

"so that" (stuck on it)

(This was originally posted to renown on September 16, 2009. And i'm happy to say - i'm STILL stuck on it.)

I read this 3 weeks ago in my new fav morning "nature" spot I've been chillin' with God at every morning these last several weeks. I've been reading & PRAYING this following passage every morning since. I'm gonna memorize it and pray it all the time. Check it:


"May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make His face shine on us— SO THAT Your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.
May the peoples praise You, God;
may all the peoples praise You.
May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for You rule the peoples with equity
and guide the nations of the earth.
May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise You.
The land yields its harvest;
God, our God, blesses us.
May God bless us still,
SO THAT all the ends of the earth will fear Him." (Psalm 67)

this is my prayer & song to God. That is my heart's passion!

This is the only reason I want to be blessed. This is the only reason God gives blessings to me & to my wife and to us as a family = SO THAT we will take those blessings and use them for His renown!
His fame & renown in all the earth is the only reason we've been blessed with a pimp house and 2 cars and jobs and food on our table and iPhones and health and minds and speech and sight and abilities...
It's the only reason I've been blessed with this computer to write this blog and the fingers that are typing it. It's the reason I've been blessed with the breath I am taking right now. "SO THAT" all the peoples & nations & ends of the earth will know & fear & be in AWE of God's renown.

So I would be an idiot to not recognize that's what all these blessings are for. I'd be an idiot to think they're just blessings for the sake of making me richer or something...

This should remind us all of the beginning of the Story (Genesis 12) when God said His whole purpose for blessing a "people" was so that they would BE A BLESSING to the rest of the peoples! and the whole Story shows how all those blessings are SO THAT His renown would spread throughout the world!
This is still the story we're in = God is making His Name famous in all the world & He's blessing us "so that" we'll be a part of that renown-spreading story!

slowly we change

i admit that i do like my showers. the nice HOT water beating down on my back... it's one of my fav parts of the day.

& i like a nice hard water pressure in the shower too.

in Africa however, there is no such thing as water pressure period... much less a hard water pressure. at least not in my experiences there. in fact, here was our shower at one of the places Crystal and i stayed on our most recent time in Africa:

yeah, you're seeing it right. the shower was a bucket of water. so i was thankful when there was an actual shower where we stayed. but the water pressure was equal to tears falling from your eyes. not very hard.

and i'm cool with that. i got used to simply always being dirty... never truly clean. it was all good.

i guess i even got used to the lack of water pressure because i can remember the 1st shower after we returned home last October. the water pressure in our shower is just the way i like it. but that 1st shower! - i think i remember saying "OWW" out loud. it actually HURT it was so hard.

i had been used to barely a drizzle. and now i was being pelted with streams of water at what felt like 100mph.

and just yesterday (around 9 months later) i started complaining in my head that the water pressure in our shower is too WEAK!

i immediately started chuckling. whoa. what a big change. a change that happened slowly over time. our water pressure didn't change. i changed i guess.

it's amazing to me how MUCH we can gradually change over time. for good or for bad.

You can write your own application.

(because i know there are thousands...)

anything like this ever happen to you?

nope

I will.
Not.
Give up.

no matter how many times I “fail”. I can be bummed for a minute, but then I’ll just keep going. Again and again.

when it comes to this vision God has given me - He's the only one who gets to tell me to stop. nobody else and no other circumstances. even if it looks like it's not working for 20 years...

i'll be pushing this thing forward for the rest of my life.

i'm never giving it up.
nope.

people are afraid of change

i plan on changing things.

lots of things actually but let's just start with the world.

i know that may sound crazy and audacious and stupid and naive and idealistic. i say it with humility and dependence though. i'd love to start a movement that changes the world. to change the way people live... on both sides of the spectrum. to change the way the world actually works. to spark a revolution. the kind of revolutionary change that can't be stopped.

i believe it's the reason God has me on this earth. it's the reason i'm taking a breath right now.

and maybe you're with me? maybe you don't think it's so crazy... or maybe it is crazy, but you're as crazy as i am.
either way - we're in the same boat.

here's something for both of us to remember then:

when there is such cataclysmic break from the NORM there will inevitably be backlash.

just count on it. i think Jesus pretty much promised it. look back in history at every world-changing revolution. it's just the way it rolls for change agents. PEOPLE DON'T LIKE CHANGE.

“Dramatic change is perceived as a threat to the status quo, primarily because it is.”  

- Phyllis Tickle

right on to that Phyllis. right on. People don't like change because it feels like such a THREAT  to everyone's status quo way of life! and it feels like that because IT IS!

this world-changing revolutionary vision in my soul is a STRAIGHT UP THREAT to the entire status quo way of living. your vision probably is too.

but our tendency will be to dislike those people, get angry with those people, feel attacked by those people, QUIT because of their attacks, etc... BUT DON'T.

i know i'll struggle with this, but somehow we have to remember = their reaction in and of itself is not a destructive or even a malignant thing. it's just natural. it's just the way it is when change comes and status quo is overturned. it's maybe almost as if they can't even help it? they don't hate you and me, they just can't imagine a world without their current status quo.

you and i can imagine that world though. 

and it's beautiful.

it's worth everything we do to make it happen.
because somebody has to ignite the change.

success! (part 2)

ever read a book and been overwhelmed with the feeling that the author is talking directly to you? i've mentioned before that this is how it is for me with Visioneering by Andy Stanley. i don't know how to explain it other than that it's like he's having a 1 on 1 conversation with me. i don't think he would say anything differently to me if he were a very close personal friend and sitting down at a coffee shop with me giving me advice.

A couple weeks ago the words spoken to me from this book were so powerful and dead on for me that i was totally overwhelmed.

i talked about it a little bit yesterday in my preamble to success & i'm continuing it below.

i'm in this "waiting" stage - but i feel very unsuccessful in this "waiting" stage. yes, i'm praying and planning like crazy... but it feels like i've been rolling that ball up the hill for too long now.

this praying and planning stage is so difficult for me (and everyone probably) because i get confused about what success actually is!
Andy reminds me:
“There is a tendency to confuse success with the rewards of success. If I am where God wants me, fulfilling the responsibilities He has given me, I am successful.”  

*this is HUGE for me right now!

Andy's Definition of Success = “Success is remaining faithful to the process God has laid out for me.” (“Success is not the raise, the promotion, recognition, Christian home, or wonderful children. Those are simply enjoyable mile markers along the way.) Success is staying faithful to the process that contributed to those things becoming a reality.”

*So, most successful peeps are successful long before they see the fruits of their success. make sense?

success isn't about "the moment" when the vision hits it big. it's about all the tiny little moments along the way that build to "the moment". it's about all these moments where i just keep plodding along. continuing to pray and plan. rolling the ball forward.

Andy puts it another way = “You are as successful now as you will be the day you see your vision materialize.” 
WOW*** That’s freakin’ sweet! and the timing of me working through this stuff again is impeccable. as if God was behind me being able to hear this somehow...

“Confusing success with the rewards of success is one of the primary reasons people abandon their dreams.” – whoa! This is big to remember! i cannot imagine me abandoning this vision. i wouldn't know what else to do. BUT i'm not naive. i'll work hard from now on to NOT confuse success with the rewards of success.

“Waiting time is not wasted time for anyone in whom God has placed a vision… He is the master strategist.”

this sentence brought me to tears. because that is the name i need to give to God in faith right now. He is the Master Strategist. even though i can't see it He's up to something.

my praying/planning/waiting time is not wasted... He's prepping me and everything else that needs to happen to make this vision go off. He's gonna make it happen.

it's His vision anyway. what am i so worried about?

preamble to success

i've been working hard these past couple months trying to practically map out the vision God has for my life and put flesh on it. harder work than it sounds like.

when you have a RIDONCULOUS sized vision (to spark a Jesus-revolution in Africa) it's easy to feel OVERWHELMED by it. i'm finding out that this is normal. normal for me anyway. it often feels like it's taking forever and that there's not a whole lot i can do right now.
Or that things aren't quite progressing as quickly as i dreamed they would... or hoped they would... or expected they would.

And i guess the biggest tension is that i often start to think that God isn't doing things quite right. i say out loud to Him - "You put this vision in my soul... now what are You doing about it?" [and He likes to say back - "what are you doing about it?"]

so i am doing what i can do right now in this "waiting" stage. being faithful. praying. praying for favor and opportunity. every day.
and planning. planning as if i had all the resources i needed.

Still... many days it feels like "time's a wastin". OR it all just feels too overwhelmingly big... like it's never going to happen. Really, God? are You still gonna do this?

but i constantly have to remind myself that these next words are very true, so DON'T GIVE UP PATRICK, no matter how much it feels like i'm just sitting around waiting:

“I don’t know what God is up to behind the scenes of my life. I don’t know how close I am to a breakthrough. It is no accident I am where I am.”             (Andy Stanley)

in my waiting and praying and planning...behind the scenes...

GOD. IS. UP. TO. SOMETHING.

& that is encouraging to me beyond what anyone else can realize. i don't know what He's up to. it's definitely no accident i am where i am. i embrace that. i believe it.

i'm COUNTING on that.

my newest experiment

i have lots of little experiments i try from time to time. i've probably written about a few before.

my newest experiment is more than an experiment. it's more than just a temporary project. my goal is for it to become a way of life for me.

it started with a simple question:
what if i could make someone's day every day? what if i could leverage my life and my interactions with other people to make their day with a tiny, simple act of kindness. what if my kindness, my smile, my words... could (even momentarily) lift another person out of their sadness, stress, boredom, or seemingly crappy life? what if i could give a glimmer of hope?

the experiment for me has been with strangers. people i bump into every day. people i rub shoulders with, mainly when they're at work.
People who work places where their job doesn't require them to win me over. Places like McDonald's. they don't need to be nice to me (and they're usually not) because they've already won me over.

(but when i go with my wife to Destination Maternity they are all being overly [probably in a fake way] NICE... because their commission depends on it. my experiment doesn't work quite as well there.)

but what if i could walk into a McDonald's and leave it better than when i walked in. what if i could make 1 person's day who is working there. They're in the middle of an 8 hour shift and dreading the next 4 hours. what if i could somehow put a smile on their face and make the next 4 hours more enjoyable for them? or at least the next 5 minutes while i'm there.

it's more than possible. i'm having fun doing it.

and when it happens. in that little space, in that little portion of time... it's like there is such love and kindness that the Kingdom of God has broken through. it's a holy moment in the Chipotle.
The Revolution has come to the UPS store or the bank.

it's pretty fun.
in order to do this i have learned that i must set aside my stresses and my worries to focus on doling out love and kindness to them. i have to set aside my agenda... or really, this project becomes my agenda.

so, it's just one little addition to The Revolution. but it's the Kingdom nonetheless. turning a little unkindness to kindness. a time and space usually reserved for short, curt, rudeness is transformed into joy & love.

i know it doesn't seem "spiritual", but it is. i know it doesn't seem like this could really be part of the Kingdom of God, but it very much is.

it's just a little spark when 1 person does this. but WHAT IF thousands of people were experimenting this way? what if 1 million people were doing this every day all across the world?

well, that's simple. the world would be a very different place.

in this place

speaking of living "lives worth telling stories about" you have GOT to get a copy of In This Place and read it ASAP!

it's written by an awesome friend of ours, Kim Abernethy. She and her husband, Jeff spent about 15 years in Liberia and the Ivory Coast serving the people there and they have some ridiculous stories to share.

they truly lived and are living lives worth telling stories about.

and many of those stories are detailed in Kim's new book that came out this year, In This Place. you can pick up a copy from Amazon HERE or HERE for the Kindle version.

Today, Jeff and Kim were awesome enough to come hang out with the students at Ridge Church and share some of their stories.

we were all inspired to live lives worth telling stories about. the only kind of life that satisfies.

Their stories will inspire you too, which is why you need to read the book! you'll laugh one minute and cry the next.

Crystal and i are so so thankful to be able to call Jeff & Kim friends!

awe & joy & hope

(I originally posted this on August 24, 2009.)

most awesome way to start my Monday was singing this song David wrote a long time ago...

"God our Savior,
the HOPE of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas,
who formed the mountains by Your power,
having armed Yourself with strength,
who stilled the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.
The whole earth is filled with AWE at Your wonders;
where morning dawns, where evening fades,
You call forth songs of JOY."
- David the songwriter (Psalm 65:5-8)
beautiful. I'm stoked that God, our Savior, is the hope of all the ends of the earth! That's amazing. That's awesome. I am completely filled with awe this morning... God has captured my sense of wonder because of all his amazing wonders. This morning I am singing songs of joy. I can't hold them back.

trash bags

(stats are from 2009)

1 billion people don’t have access to clean water.
The average American uses 400-600 liters per day.

Every 7 seconds, somewhere in the world a child under age 5 dies of hunger. 
Americans throw away 14% of the food we purchase.

Almost 1 billion peeps live on less than $1 a day + another 2.5 billion live on less than $2 a day. ($1 being exactly what we could really buy in our culture for $1! Truly $1)

so, more than ½ the world lives on less than $2 a day, while the average American teenager spends nearly $150 a week!

40% of people in the world lack basic sanitation, while 49 million diapers are used and thrown away in America every day.

1.6 billion have no electricity, nearly 1 billion can’t read or sign their name, nearly 1 million children are denied basic education.

by far MOST peeps in world don’t own a car = 90% of people don't have one.

But 1/3 of American families own 3 cars!

1 in 7 children worldwide (158 million) has to go to work every day just to survive.

Americans spend more annually on trash bags than nearly half of the world does on all goods!

Guilt isn't helpful. helping is helpful.

vision has its price

(This was originally posted April 6, 2009. This is just the 1st half of that post. It resonates even stronger in my soul today.)

I feel very very lucky. I get to be mentored by so many amazing leaders, scholars, visionaries, and great men. Not in person on a weekly basis or anything. But I take full advantage of everything these men are putting out there (books, podcasts, blogs, conferences, etc...) I treat it as though they are mentoring me 1 on 1. I learn everything I can from what they are saying.

One of my favorite "mentors" is Andy Stanley. I'm going to talk much more about the book later, and I mainly want to just share some awesome quotes from a particular chapter... but let me at least say this = Throughout Andy's entire book - Visioneering - It was as though Andy was sitting with me in a coffee shop speaking every single word directly to me! Seriously. I don't know if a book has ever been as personal as this one. EVERY word was specifically for me. Amazing. Like Andy wrote it just for me. (of course I'm sure it has affected thousands this way, which is awesome...)

This stuff is all from Chapter 10 that I recently went back & jotted some notes from = Vision has its Price

This 1st thought hit me right off...
**“Any vision worth pursuing will demand sacrifice and risk. You will be called on to give up the actual good for the potential best. You will find it necessary to leave what is comfortable and familiar in order to embrace that which is uncomfortable and unfamiliar. And all the while, you will be haunted by the fear that this thing you are investing so much of yourself in may not work out at all.”
[This is so crazy because that spot is exactly where I’m at right now! exactly what I needed to hear!]

“Vision requires courage and confidence. It requires launching out as if you were absolutely assured of the outcome.” [Thanks for speaking this into me, Andy! I value it big time!]

“The difference between those with a burden for something and those who actually do something is not resources. It is a willingness to take risks and make sacrifices.
The people who make a difference in the world commit to what could be before they know where the money is coming from. Their vision is enough to cause them to jump in. Money usually follows vision. It rarely happens the other way around.”
*** [Man! that is what I'm talkin' about. I SOOOOO needed to hear that! I'm all in... This is some crazy valuable mentoring stuff!]

– Great Quote to keep in front of me!!! ** “Is this what I am going to do? Or is this one of those things that I am just going to talk about until I am forty or fifty years old?”
[That's what someone with a vision asked their team. I am freaking going to do this thing... it's not just something I'm gonna be talking about when I hit 40 or 50! It's gonna be reality!]



(again, this was just the 1st half of the post. stay tuned for the 2nd half of the repost tomorrow.)

this new world is here to stay

i hear a lot of people say that this "postmodernism thing" is just a fad. it's just the "new" thing right now... it's a one hit wonder that will stick around for a few years and we'll never hear from it again.

i have yet to hear anyone say that who actually knows what postmodernism is and understands it. or else they wouldn't be saying that sort of thing.

the experts have been predicting it since at least Michael Polanyi in the 50s.

and in the words of the famous missiologist David J. Bosch -

“The ‘post’ phenomenon is not just a fad. We have truly entered into an epoch fundamentally at variance with anything we have experienced to date.”

postmodernism is a new world. 

the world as we knew it will never be the same again.

like it or dislike it. good or bad. we are living in the postmodern era.

it might even take another 50 years for it to fully arrive. but it is here now.

no need to fight it. that would be like fighting the rising of the sun. it's happening. so don't waste your energy.

spend your time figuring out how we're going to live in this new world. 

because when you live in a new world you have to figure out how to live and do everything you do all over again.

"We are FAM-I-LY"

"my brothers and my sisters and me..."

you're at least singing along in your head by now. i'm not even sure who sings that song - don't really care - but i've been singing in my head since i arrived here at the Havilla Children's Home.

The 1st night we got here we were meeting all the kids and just hanging out. Many of them have been living here together at this orphanage for 5 years. sleeping in the same room. eating meals together. going to school together. hanging out 24/7.

so on that 1st night i was talking to Francis #1 (there are 3) who is 16 + a few of the other kids who were standing around. i said "so, you guys are like family, huh?"

"no, we ARE family."

Francis wanted to make sure i understood that.

within 24 hours of being here that was obviously clear to us. these kids are family. no question about it. they are brothers and sisters just as if they all had the same father and mother. and there is a lot of love to go around.

one night i was in one of the guys' rooms and talking to them about school the next day. i asked if they all hang out at school each day, stick up for each other, etc... they said "Yeah, they call us the Havilla Brothers."
that brought a smile to my face.

these guys and girls are a true family. kids who many would say are just orphans and don't even have a family... i think they probably understand it better than most of us.

Nyaga (Peter) = amazing

this is an experience we will never forget.

Crystal and i had one of our best days ever with Nyaga (Peter) - our sponsored child with Compassion International. We sponsored him back in July, 2007 when he was 5 years old and have "watched him" grow up, written letters back and forth with him, and prayed for him ever since.
we definitely feel like he has become a part of our family! that's how we think of him.

we got to meet him on Tuesday in his village = Tharaka, Kenya. maybe the coolest thing ever. pretty emotional.

we used to call him Peter, but now we learned he actually goes by Nyaga, so we call him that. i've written about him several times before - HERE & HERE are just examples.

Nyaga is an orphan. that alone breaks my heart. just like it breaks God's heart. God loves orphans so much, defends them, and is their Father. i love that.

his mom died when he was like 1 or 2 years old. they don't even know what she died of. they took her to a hospital that was far away, but she died a couple days later. i bet Nyaga doesn't even remember her.
his dad left even before this. maybe just after Nyaga was born? hasn't been back since. no one knows where he went. just abandoned them all. heartbreaking.

but Nyaga is doing just fine! he has tons of other brothers and sisters... his oldest brother is Japhet. this guy is MY HERO! i'm sure i'll write a post on him at some point. he's 27 (like me) and has become DAD to Nyaga and his brothers and sisters. he stepped into this role at 20 or 21 when his mom died and they were all orphaned.
now Japhet has a wife and baby of his own. he is a straight up amazing man. he takes care of the whole family on about $7 per month! incredible. less than a quarter a day. and that's working his butt off on a farm and doing any other job he can find.
that really puts into perspective and helps Crystal and I see where our support is life changing.

we got there and gave Nyaga a big hug right away! he's 9 years old now and had never seen a Mzungu (white person) before Crystal and i. we sat and talked with him at the project and looked through his folder.
a while back we wrote him a letter about how much Jesus loves him and wants to be his Savior. he wrote back saying he totally understood and had already put his faith in Jesus to be his Savior. pretty exciting. they had a record of that in his file too. + all his doctor visits, all his school grades (always in the top 10 in his class which means he'll probably qualify to go to University!), and all the gifts we've sent him = including the GOAT he bought :)
(the goat has since died, but had a baby goat that Nyaga still has.)
it also talked about his spiritual growth and mentioned that he is excellent at memorizing Bible verses. Crystal said something like "so you like memorizing the Bible, huh?" and he hopped up and quoted Luke 2:52 word for word... haha, pretty cool.

over the past 3 years we write back and forth about his favorite things to do/fav games and it's always soccer. so, we got to give him his 1st ever soccer ball! big smile on his face. he said he wanted to go straight out and play soccer with me right away. so we went to the field and played a while. crystal played with us too & even his brother Japhet. really special.

we had some Chipati and tea together at the project before we went to his home. we talked a lot and really got to know each other. Crystal asked him what he wants to be when he grows up and he said "President". i might have teared up a little for several reasons. (read HERE to see where i mentioned that almost 3 years ago.) that's a normal thing for American kids to say, but not kids like Nyaga. usually they have no hope because they're stuck in poverty. i can tell that God and Compassion have changed his life and his future. i asked what he wanted to do if he became president and he said "help all the people of Kenya." :)

he liked holding hands with us. like everywhere we went he wanted to hold one of our hands. pretty cool.

it was pretty far to his home from the Compassion project. like 4-5 km! takes him a while to walk! so we drove the van to his house. on the way i had him put on my sunglasses. i think he looks like a younger (way cuter) version of Jay-Z.

we got to his home and saw where and how he lives. There was a "house" + a "kitchen" (mud walls & tiny room with a fire) + a 2nd "house" to sleep in. both homes were like 10x10. I asked Nyaga where he slept and he took us to the kitchen. i guess he just sleeps on the floor because there's no room in the house to sleep.

the family gave us one of their chickens! that's a BIG DEAL for a family that makes $7 a month! the eggs are a big deal to eat & sell & even eating the chicken would be a huge deal! we were humbled. Crystal got a video of Nyaga handing it to me. then it flapped it's wings in my eyeball.

i think i've mentioned before how one of Crystal's biggest spiritual gifts is GIVING. she LOVES to be generous and give gifts! so she has the gift of gifts. she bought so much stuff for Nyaga's family and even fun presents for him.
we gave his family so many awesome PRACTICAL gifts and Japhet and his wife were SOOOO thankful! they kept thanking me and hugging us after opening each gift!

we hooked Nyaga up with a ton of gifts too. i think his favorite was the little stuffed animal tiger. he loved that thing! he was rocking this Carolina Tarheels shirt we gave him too. we told him that's where we live (our state) & i'm sure we also explained that they're the best basketball team.
He loved eating some pixie sticks! we gave him a big bag of all sorts of candy and he went around and SHARED with everyone. that was pretty cool. we chewed some bubble gum together and tried to blow bubbles.
we gave him a ton of school supplies like pens, pencils, notebooks, a calculator, etc... (everybody was "ooohing" & "ahhing" over the calculator!)
we gave him a couple coloring books - 1 is all Bible stories and even a lot of activities + a BIG box of crayons & a pack of markers + drawing pad.

i got to pray for Nyaga and his family at his home & i had to stop because i started to cry so just said "Amen". when i looked up i think Carol (our Compassion staff guide) was crying too.
when we asked Japhet what we could pray for i totally expected him to say something like - a better job or more money to live on than $7 per month... but he said "that our family could live in good harmony." that's beautiful. it looks to me like they have better family harmony than most already.

while walking through his village we met some of his friends and he introduced us. that was pretty cool.

we had lunch together and while we were waiting on it to cook we colored a picture together. he let us take it home with us. i think it will stay on the fridge for a long time.
+ we wrote him a note on the drawing pad. he read it out loud as i wrote it. really good at reading English - the Compassion project peeps said he's one of the best in his class!
we just wrote that we love him and God loves him so much. we'll pray for him, we're proud of him, and we want him to live his life for God.

i found him the perfect size full Italy World Cup uniform. we gave him that out on the soccer field. he was so excited. i bought an Italy jersey for me and we wore them together and we said we were "teammates". later i gave the adult jersey to his brother Japhet (who told us he was going to play soccer with Nyaga and his new ball all the time and teach him to be a great soccer player...) & i told Nyaga that they are teammates. it was like i had given Japhet a new car. he wore it the rest of the day.

during the whole day Nyaga laughed out loud a whole lot. he laughed with joy and smiled so many times! :) he had so much fun with us and we had so much fun with him. it was amazing.

maybe one of the coolest things was that we gave him his 1st ever Bible! we wrote in it for him and told him to read it as much as he could, follow it, live by it, and love it. that was a cool moment... to give this awesome boy his 1st ever Bible that is his own.

Crystal and i each brought him our favorite snacks/candy to share with him. Crystal's was pop rocks! he passed them around and no one knew what to think! they were so surprised. they were all like "oooooH!" haha. he didn't like my fav at all = slim jims. we told him he could spit it out & he did. :)
but he did love the smarties & gobstoppers.
oh yeah, and we gave him the game "Jacks" and taught him how to play. His brother, Japhet said they really liked it and would play a lot at home.

he wrote us a note in his new drawing pad & drew a pic for us.

at the end we planted a tree together to commemorate our visit. kind of like a marker to remember us by. it was so hard to leave him & i was fighting back tears a lot at different times. Crystal told me not to start or else she wouldn't have a chance!

we gave him a big hug and told him we loved him. we told him to work so hard in school and always follow Jesus with his life... that's the best life possible.

i've really just been writing details because i don't think i can express the emotions or the experience. it was really not explainable. like nothing in the world. we'll remember this forever. i hope we get to hang out with him again some day. we've already talked about how we want to sponsor him to go to University through Compassion (which is a much bigger commitment) and we told him when he goes to University we really want to visit him again.

There are just so many pictures and videos to share from our day with Nyaga and really from our whole time here in Kenya. soon we'll be posting a ton of that stuff on Facebook!

your small actions = POWERFUL

Crystal and i have stayed with a lady named Maggie this weekend. She picked us up on Friday and we just left her home this afternoon (Sunday).

She is an amazing lady and has turned her home into a "mission house" where she invites any missionaries or people doing "God's work" to come and stay for free. She was an awesome host + her son Robert (who is the same age as us).

She has been a missionary to the United States and to Northern Ireland - both times just following God's call on her life even thought it seemed "crazy" and she was able to see many miracles along the way, since both were humanly impossible. God definitely used her in big ways to see people come to know Him and to spread His fame.

she lives a "missional life" in Kenya even though i bet she has never heard that phrase. she follows Jesus more extravagantly than we do even though she has very little. God has used her to change and bless so many lives!

Maggie is a great example of how God uses our small actions to do powerful things.

Maggie was born in a slum. if you don't know what a slum in Kenya is like just google it... or Wikipedia "Kibera" or look it up on YouTube. Crystal and i wanted to visit one, but not even Kenyans dare go without armed security.

Maggie was born in one of the largest slums in Kenya and grew up there. This means she had NO CHANCE... humanly speaking. 

Her Dad died around the time she was born so she never knew him. Her mother had nothing. in the slum they had nothing. Her life that began in extreme poverty was destined for disease, an early death, prostitution, or at best a life of begging in the slums with living conditions that would make most of us vomit.

Then when she was 8 years old God rescued her. Her life changed dramatically because of a "small" action. One of her father's old friends showed up at the slum. She was telling me the story and said this man came who she had never seen. He said "I heard what happened to your father and I wanted to help?"

This man had enough money to take 1 of the 5 children and "adopt" them and make sure they could go to school. that 1 child was Maggie. she went to school and worked hard and even graduated High School. She even went to University. She even became a nurse. God has used her to bless so many other lives... including ours.

all because 1 man wanted to help. his action was powerful!

Abraham is another example. 

he is in his 20s and works for 410 Bridge. He grew up in Naivasha, Kenya. He told us that when he was 10 years old a lady came to his village from Texas. She was on a trip with Living Water International and they were putting the 1st well in his village!

She gave him a coloring book and taught him to color. She taught him about what the coloring book said and it was about Jesus and how Jesus died for Him and wanted to be His Savior and change His life.

Because of that lady from Texas and that coloring book she talked to Abraham about, he became a follower of Jesus as a 10 year old boy. now he is a missionary with 410 Bridge and God is using him in powerful ways to change the lives of Kenyans AND Americans.

he told us a really awesome story that the men in his village used to tell. i want to share it with you, but i've already written too long. so, i'll save it for another blog on another day. his quote to sum it up was simply:

"You don't have to understand divine things. You just have to obey the call."

That's awesome. Just ACT. follow what God is leading you to do. leave the powerful part to Him. you never know how your small actions will be SO POWERFUL to change someone's life.

*on this note i can't help but think about Erick Base Kiria. We are going to meet him in just a few hours (Monday morning). He is an 8 year old who lives in Tharaka, Kenya - an extremely poor village. Erick is a boy much like Maggie who really had no hope.

But some kids around his age in Upstreet decided that wasn't OK. They decided that it's not OK for him to grow up without a chance to go to school. they decided it wasn't OK for him to die as a child from some preventable disease. They decided it wasn't OK for him to die without knowing about Jesus. 

so, they did something about it. God had blessed them, so they sacrificed some of that money God has blessed them with and send it to Compassion to support Erick. He has a new life now. He has hope. 

Tomorrow Crystal and i get to meet him and shower gifts and blessings on him and a bundle of letters from the Upstreet kids (which i crack up laughing AND cry while reading!). we get to see and experience and hopefully capture his new life... the POWERFUL change that the small actions of kids have made in his life!

pretty stoked to meet him. will definitely be posting ASAP about this experience!

no matter what (Kenya day 10)

i have to admit it was WAY different driving off on our own on Friday! Driving through Nairobi after everyone we knew had left was a different experience. being the only Americans around was a different kind of feeling.

For me it was fine. i actually kind of like it, but it was still different not knowing anyone and being "on our own". i know for Crystal it is much more scary and it takes big courage from her. she is so awesome and so brave. she's a trooper.

i thought it was awesome that the 1st thing i read while still in bed Saturday morning was this:

"Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for i have put my trust in You. Show me the way i should go, for to You i entrust my life." - Psalm 143:8

wow. God was speaking to me through this. 

driving through Nairobi Friday night, i know Crystal was scared. no idea where we were heading. even driving through a couple slums. millions of people were everywhere.

we were with our new friend Maggie we had met like 30 minutes before and planned to stay with her all weekend. Maggie is awesome and a super cool lady (i'll tell you more about her later). but there was a BIG need to TRUST GOD NO MATTER WHAT.

so Friday night was a little "rough". Crystal and i prayed together for safety and protection and to be aware of God's presence with us. 

it was so fitting that i have been studying Psalm 91 for several weeks BEFORE we came to Kenya! i even spoke on it recently. i really love that passage and it's so appropriate for us being here. in Psalm 91 God invites us to live in the SHELTER and REFUGE that is HIM! it's beautiful. When we make HIM our HOME we have rest and protection from everything.

Crystal and i read Psalm 91 together Friday night. it's awesome that it doesn't really matter where in the world we are if our "HOME" is still in God. He is our HOME in any country.

Then we read the Psalm that i read when we 1st got to Kenya. Psalm 139:5-12 = God is with us WHEREVER we are. there is no place we can go to get away from God's presence. we read that together and it filled me up with such peace and confidence in a God that i can trust no matter what. no matter how "unsure" our surroundings might be.

so, when i woke up Saturday morning - because of the roosters crowing at 4am - the sun started to come up shortly after. i read the next Psalm = 143 & verse 8 was shouting to me as the new day and sun peeked into our room = "let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love." and it did. the fact that we woke up safe and sound in this place that for many Americans may feel the opposite... pointed to the fact that God won't fail us. His love for us won't ever stop. i literally felt the sun bringing me news of God's unfailing love.

in America we have to "trust God" all the time. most of the time it's "different" though. Friday/Saturday Crystal and i were learning to trust God at another level. we are literally following this verse "to You i entrust my life." and that is a very beautiful thing.

i'm 100% confident in our God. He is with us and we trust Him no matter what.

going to church now with Maggie in Nairobi... then leaving for Meru = 5-6 hour drive. update when we get there.