Here it is 5:30 in the morning the day we leave for our Papua New Guinea outreach. The room is quiet, a rooster is crowing somewhere outside, and there is a lovely breeze gently blowing our curtains. Ahhh....my favorite time of the day.... Life these past couple of weeks has been so busy I haven't had time to blog, but I wanted to get one out before our big departure.
I was wondering what to put here on this blank page. Kinda reminded me of high school English class. You know, "Write about something creatively. You have twenty minutes." All the amazing things you could think to write about are sucked out of your brain at that moment! Don't worry. I'll think of something. :) I think the hard part is paring all my thoughts and all of our experiences down to one page each time. How can I sift through everything we've been learning, hearing, walking in? My reminder to myself? I don't need to. One step, one story, one adventure at a time, right?
The other day I was walking through our common courtyard area on my way from supper. What struck me was the lovely mix of people I passed. There was a beautiful, blonde girl skyping with a loved one in Norwegian. (No, I don't speak Norwegian, but her tones and facial expression helped me quite a bit.) On a phone a few feet from her was a young man chatting away in Korean, probably to someone far away. Walking quietly around the perimeter of the courtyard was an older Chinese lady reading her Bible out loud in Mandarin. (I saw the blue Bible. It's Chinese. I have one.) Then there was me. I'm American, speaking English living next door to a family from Brazil.
As I have walked through this campus for three months the diversity and blends of all the people are what touched me the most some days. I love how God made us all so different! I love how God made us all the same! What a beautifully aromatic sense of heaven. All nations, tongues, and tribes coming together to worship The King! Pieces of heaven right here, right now....
We are moving into the next leg of our journey, our "Season of Singing." What does God have in store for us in the "Land of the Unexpected" as Papua New Guinea is mysteriously called? Who will we meet that will strengthen us, touch us, mold us into Christlikeness? Who will we meet that we will be a blessing to? What piece of heaven will we get to know? We're all excited in this not-so-quiet room. We're ready for the next part of our adventure! We're ready to be not ready, to be tipped off balance a bit so we can sense the Lord near us as he steadies us and holds us close.
Thank you for praying for us so far and please continue. Your robust, heartfelt chats with Jesus on our behalf have made such a difference for us, and if I may be so bold to add, to you too. We take you with us into this land where we will meet people now that you will meet in heaven some day. Cool, huh?
Gotta go catch a plane. Love you all! Be blessed this day. Look for your own pieces of heaven in those around you today. Love them, listen to them, hug them. Sounds corny, I know, but I think corny is good now and again.
Aloha, Susie
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Stop. Jump. Run.
Who knows the most quoted line of "Lilo and Stitch?" Let's all say it out loud now....
"Ohana means family and family means no one gets left behind."
We are so thankful and honored that you are all a part of our ohana, our YWAM family. Because of your prayer support, your financial gifts, and your love in numerous other ways we are going to Papua New Guinea!! Woo Hoo! No one is getting left behind either. We take you with us as we set our foot in the new land (for us) of PNG.
In our last blog I asked for pray-ers to pray, givers to give, and watchers to watch and be amazed. We, too, were watching and the Lord did amaze us as he took what seemed like a hopeless case of financial impossibility and created an opportunity for him to show us what the impossible looks like in HIS hands.
I must be honest, though, and confess that my faith was pretty small. I keep seeing myself and my family running a race, the 400 m. hurdles to be exact. Each difficult thing in our lives seems to feel like a hurdle. Have you ever watched first-time hurdlers? They look very ready from the start line. They're doing the whole shaking-the-leg-one-at-a-time thing, pretending to start and jogging back to the start line. The gun goes off and they each dash out of their place with eagerness and expectation of a big win. Then....the first hurdle. They get up to it and .....eeeerrrrrcccchhhh....stopping occurs as they try to jump over the hurdle. Some of them make it and go on to the next only to do the very same thing. Stop. Jump. Run. Stop. Jump. Run. Hurdles are knocked over, knees are scraped, and the eager expectations? Gone in a flash.
I have also seen really good hurdlers. The difference as far as I can see is in the response to the hurdle. The good hurdlers, the ones who are there to run the race and finish strong, don't stop at the hurdle and heft their bodies over in a lurchy jump. They glide over the hurdles, looking like that hurdle is not even there. It's a beautiful thing to see, actually. The gait never changes, but the response does. Their bodies stretch out and sail over the hurdle in one fluid motion. Then, the best part? They look forward to the next one!
Man, I want to be that kind of hurdler! I want to sail over those obstacles in my life and keep my head up while I fearlessly look for the next one. I want to only look to my race, not my neighbors, as the Lord leads and guides me. I want to keep running until I'm done never looking back to the last race or the last missed opportunity.
I am so thankful and blessed that God is long suffering, aren't you? He was very patient with me as I ran up to that hurdle called finances and...... eeeeerrrrrccccchhhhh.....stopped for a bit, but only for a bit. I'm thankful He gave me the nudge to keep going, to jump and try again. I am also thankful that, like those beginning hurdlers, I have people in the stands encouraging and cheering for me, telling me the truth of who God is and what he has sent us here to do. How could any of us do this race without people who are for us?
Guess what? I'm getting ready for another hurdle. I can't quite see it yet, but I know it's out there and you know what? Right now I'm feeling pretty ready to take it on. I'm all stretched out. I've practiced. My people are in the stands. I'm ready. How about you? I'm in the stands for you while you are there for me. Life hurdle races are like that...we can be doing both things at once. I see you in your little spandex thing ready to go. (Pardon me while I giggle a bit. :) Blast out of there and sail over that next hurdle! I'll encourage you and delight in what the Lord does as your gait changes from a "stop.jump.run." hurdler to a sailing hurdler. And when we're done and the race is over the best part is....the glory all goes to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith!
Aloha, friends. I'll be looking for you in the stands and on the track. On your mark, get set...GO!
"Ohana means family and family means no one gets left behind."
We are so thankful and honored that you are all a part of our ohana, our YWAM family. Because of your prayer support, your financial gifts, and your love in numerous other ways we are going to Papua New Guinea!! Woo Hoo! No one is getting left behind either. We take you with us as we set our foot in the new land (for us) of PNG.
In our last blog I asked for pray-ers to pray, givers to give, and watchers to watch and be amazed. We, too, were watching and the Lord did amaze us as he took what seemed like a hopeless case of financial impossibility and created an opportunity for him to show us what the impossible looks like in HIS hands.
I must be honest, though, and confess that my faith was pretty small. I keep seeing myself and my family running a race, the 400 m. hurdles to be exact. Each difficult thing in our lives seems to feel like a hurdle. Have you ever watched first-time hurdlers? They look very ready from the start line. They're doing the whole shaking-the-leg-one-at-a-time thing, pretending to start and jogging back to the start line. The gun goes off and they each dash out of their place with eagerness and expectation of a big win. Then....the first hurdle. They get up to it and .....eeeerrrrrcccchhhh....stopping occurs as they try to jump over the hurdle. Some of them make it and go on to the next only to do the very same thing. Stop. Jump. Run. Stop. Jump. Run. Hurdles are knocked over, knees are scraped, and the eager expectations? Gone in a flash.
I have also seen really good hurdlers. The difference as far as I can see is in the response to the hurdle. The good hurdlers, the ones who are there to run the race and finish strong, don't stop at the hurdle and heft their bodies over in a lurchy jump. They glide over the hurdles, looking like that hurdle is not even there. It's a beautiful thing to see, actually. The gait never changes, but the response does. Their bodies stretch out and sail over the hurdle in one fluid motion. Then, the best part? They look forward to the next one!
Man, I want to be that kind of hurdler! I want to sail over those obstacles in my life and keep my head up while I fearlessly look for the next one. I want to only look to my race, not my neighbors, as the Lord leads and guides me. I want to keep running until I'm done never looking back to the last race or the last missed opportunity.
I am so thankful and blessed that God is long suffering, aren't you? He was very patient with me as I ran up to that hurdle called finances and...... eeeeerrrrrccccchhhhh.....stopped for a bit, but only for a bit. I'm thankful He gave me the nudge to keep going, to jump and try again. I am also thankful that, like those beginning hurdlers, I have people in the stands encouraging and cheering for me, telling me the truth of who God is and what he has sent us here to do. How could any of us do this race without people who are for us?
Guess what? I'm getting ready for another hurdle. I can't quite see it yet, but I know it's out there and you know what? Right now I'm feeling pretty ready to take it on. I'm all stretched out. I've practiced. My people are in the stands. I'm ready. How about you? I'm in the stands for you while you are there for me. Life hurdle races are like that...we can be doing both things at once. I see you in your little spandex thing ready to go. (Pardon me while I giggle a bit. :) Blast out of there and sail over that next hurdle! I'll encourage you and delight in what the Lord does as your gait changes from a "stop.jump.run." hurdler to a sailing hurdler. And when we're done and the race is over the best part is....the glory all goes to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith!
Aloha, friends. I'll be looking for you in the stands and on the track. On your mark, get set...GO!
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