Nicaragua

I'm standing outside a small house in Los Brasiles, Nicaragua with an elderly woman named Angela, a missionary named Paul, our translator Luis, and 7 high school students. Angela's house has brick walls and a heavy, black, plastic roof. Her yard is made up of dirt, a small tree, and a boundary line marked by a barbed wired fence. She sits in a chair crying out in Spanish for God to bring her some peace and heal her arm, which lost circulation halfway up through her fingers a few years back.  The rest of us have our hands laid on her and pray similarly in English that she might be healed. With tears streaming down her face, Angela tells us that she believes in faith God will heal her, but it's okay because she believes her time is soon, and she is just waiting for Jesus to take her to Him.

My experience with Angela is just one of many moments, which left a dent on my life on a recent trip to Managua, Nicaragua with 15 students from Plum Creek Community Church.  I was shocked to learn slightly before the trip that Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere. I felt like I had witnessed poverty before, but not like what I saw in Managua. Six kids, two parents, one room, four mattresses, no clean drinking water, dirt floors, the whole bit.

Los Brasiles

Trash burning

 

Much of the trip I wrestled and struggled with Jesus' words from His sermon on the mount, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God."

*Note: you may struggle with my words here in these next few paragraphs.

I always loved the way His words were written.

Blessed are you who are poor. Because He said "you," it means Jesus was hanging out with and talking to poor people. He was inspiring them, providing hope, peace, comfort, and a view into the Father. While I was in the impoverished village of Los Brasiles, Nicaragua I had the overwhelming feeling the modern day Jesus would be right there. He would walk the dirt streets without shoes, give people food, pray for them, and simply love them because they are His children. "Blessed are you who are poor."

But wait.

I kept hearing from all our students, "this trip has helped me realize just how blessed we are in America to have what we have." 


Are we actually blessed? Didn't Jesus say the poor are blessed?

He didn't say, "blessed are you who have the comfort of air conditioning, a warm shower, clean drinking water, big flatscreens, and a boat." You can see why I was wrestling with His words. Here is usually the part in the post mission trip blog that I tell you about how amazing it was to see such poor people have so much joy. And how it was incredible to know people who don't have a lot of stuff can actually be happy! We have heard it a bunch of times before, it's the same story, and yes it is true.  The kingdom of God belongs to the poor because those of us who have a lot (myself included) have created our own kingdom with our own gods. Our kingdom is the American dream and our gods are the material idles that accompany it. We will never know what the "poor in spirit" know, what it's like to truly need God (*unless of course we come to terms with just how desperate our tired and dirty souls are for a savior. But that message is for another blog post). And truly needing and knowing God is all satisfying.

But that wasn't the biggest thing that struck me on the trip. I figured out poor people could be happy when I learned about the life of Paul.

What struck me the most was the pure joy I saw in our students eyes as they willingly served and loved with the heart of Jesus. How fifteen high schoolers disregarded heat, sweat, discomfort, and safe busses as they built meaningful relationships with Nicaraguan children and loved them simply because they are supposed to.

Our team with our new friends at Imagine Ministries in Los Brasiles

At the end of the trip I asked all the students a very profound question during our small group time:

"How many of you felt like you were doing God's will these past 10 days?" 

Every single hand shot up.

It's a question we so often struggle with in America. How do I know what God wants me to do? Is he going to make me do something I don't want to do? Our students proved they figured out God's will for all our lives. To glorify Him by drawing near and loving others. And it's exactly what our souls want.

My favorite picture from the trip sums up exactly what we came to do, and what we did well. It sums up God's very will for all our lives.

John 13

Who knew you could sum up the King of the Universe's calling on our lives in one picture, right?

If I then have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

John 13:14

A Hip Day in the Springs

A wonderful weekend in Colorado Springs with my beauty. 

Garden of the gods

such a talented photographer

artistic quote from our lunch menu

playing in the Colorado sunshine

crazy stores

chess showdown at a local coffee shop 

Jillian and I have a "Book of Epic Adventures" with a list of a fun things for us to do and places to document it. We knocked off the first one of the summer: go on an epic hipster date.

A quick road trip down I-25 brought us to the beautiful Garden of the gods and the fascinating Old Colorado City. We explored antique shops, photography joints, looked at Tibeten clothing, and hung in a trendy coffee shop (and I actually drank coffee). We also made a few oddball friends including a hippie in what can only be described as a hippie shop, and a long haired, bearded man who believes in magic and considers himself a wand expert. We ended our adventure in the Springs with my new favorite pastime, a round of disc golf. 

Is there anything better than summertime in Colorado?

Goodbye and Hello

After graduating from Baylor, I made a quick visit home to Deerfield, IL. I got to spend some time with a city that I truly do love and have enjoyed watching my brother and sister call home. A short two weeks later and I headed out west in gool ol' LC 2.0. *Quick note, my Landcruiser (LC) broke down on the way back from Texas and stranded me, Jake Patterson, and Will Meier in a small St. Louis town for five hours.  She got a bit of a facelift while I was home and is running as well as the day she was birthed by the Japanese. Thus her new name, LC 2.0 or just LC for short. 

Throughout the 13 1/2 hour drive I had plenty of time to sing The Head and the Heart, Phil Wickham, and plenty other great tunes at the top of my lungs (thanks spotify premium). I also had time to think about the new adventure that awaits me in Castle Rock, Colorado. About all the kids that God is calling me to pour into, and the different ways He wants to challenge and stretch me. 

my new home

I recently read a newsletter from a friend who provided some much needed encouragement in his letter. He wrote something that has stuck with me for the past week as I have been out here in Castle Rock and working for Plum Creek Community Church. He wrote:

I am not here by accident. 

God sent me. 

To these people. 

At exactly this time.

For me, it's easy to get bogged down and think I am not needed. The reality is that I am really not needed at all. But yet God has appointed me to His people to share His good news of love, grace, and beauty. The truth behind that idea calms my heart, gives me peace, and motivates me to work hard for His Kingdom. I am still a little unsure of all He has for me at Plum Creek and their student ministries, by I rest assured knowing He has me exactly where He desires. 

His beauty surrounds me. View from outside my back door.

A Story for Tomorrow

This post is part of a long list of reasons why I want to go to Patagonia.

As this video captures so beautifully, we are all searching for a story for tomorrow. Where does yours lie? What great adventure have you been called to? Are you currently living it?

(please click the link and watch in Full Screen/HD)

And I ask you the same two questions:

"Is it possible to be happy with this life?"

and

"Did you enjoy your story?"

Rumspringa recap

I'll spare you the minute by minute details of my spring break adventures, and I'll hit on some of my favorite moments.

The road trip was conjured up about one week before spring break when three of my roommates and I decided to do something different than the same 'ol Destin beach houes thing that approximately 99.8% of Baylor students do. Not that there is anything wrong with "SPRRRING BREAAK 2012 DESSSTINNN WOOOOO!!!," but we wanted more than a tan and the same mediocre pictures of us on the beach that overload facebook the following week.  We wanted spontaneity, adventure, and opportunities to grow in our already deep, brother-like bonds with each other. Rumspringa was born.

So, after Baylor finished beating Kansas in the Big 12 tournament (sic 'em) we lazily packed up Sweet Cam (Kevin's Toyota Camry) and left Capitol Hill at 10 pm, driving 16 hours straight to Phoenix to meet up at our dear friend Katelyn Carlo's house. We listened to folk tunes, Nelly's country grammar, Rivers and Roads like 20 times, Macklemore, and Barney Stinson's get psyched playlist (all rise). God bless Spotify premium.  On one sketchy, rainy, west Texas backroad, Kevin avoided a deer by about 5 inches and saved all our lives. We arrived an hour before Baylor played Missouri in the Big 12 championship. Perfect. Mr. Carlo builds houses for a living, so that night we got to hang out at one he is trying to sell; a 3 million dollar house on top of a mountain overlooking the city of Phoenix.  We sat in the hot tub, drank seasonal springtime ale, Smitty did a bellyflop, and we hung out around the outdoor fireplaces next to the infinity pool. Mooching is the key to college road trips.

The next day we drove to Vegas. Tim got naked at a scenic overlook next to the highway, and we stopped at the hoover dam, where Tim kept his clothes on.

road life.

the overlook where Tim pranced around nude

dam

I threw a quarter over the edge of the dam just in time for a huge gust of wind. The quarter dropped 10 ft, spun in the air floating for about 3 seconds and flew up over our heads and over the other side of the dam. It was nuts. If you ever go there, try it.

Vegas was filled with fun, madness, losing money, bright lights, and new friends. One of these new friends is a 60 plus year old man who calls himself, "Jimmy don't care." And Jimmy truly didn't care. Especially when it came to spending money at the craps table. Craps, by the way, is an absolute blast. You know those movie scenes where someone is rolling the dice and is really hot and everyone is around the table screaming (think Rush Hour 2?). We got to be in one of those movie scenes. Even though a win really only meant five dollars, it didn't stop us from yelling things like "SEVENS! "LET IT RIDE!" and my personal favorite "WE ARE BACK!" If you ever go to a Casino in Vegas, which is every building in Vegas, play craps.  You won't regret it.

On a side note, we played roulette with Pauly D. Yup, the Pauly D. The one from that horrible, crude, plotless reality show. Nobody really cared. Except Vesta, who will tell that story until he dies.

Our last night in Las Vegas we went down to Fremont street, also known as Old Vegas. I felt very blessed the night before to hang out with my summer bunkmate from camp, Chris "Rambo" Rihm, and his fiance/my old programs partner Sarah Horsch, who is like a sister to me. Rambo told me Fremont street would be like being in a weird dream. He could not have described it better. Just go. You'll see. Here's a pic of us on it, one of my absolute favorite pictures from the trip for a reason I could not tell you:

Wednesday included a 5 hour drive through the desert to the Grand Canyon. That night I saw down the canyon for the firs time. It was Majesty. Pictures don't do it justice, words don't describe it well. When we got our first view of it, we were all silent for about five minutes, just staring. I turned to my friend Tim, who had already been twice, and said "dude, I'm about to cry." Pure majesty. To think the beautiful canyon is merely a shadow compared to how wonderful our God is. 

We camped that night, and tried to get an early start on the morning...but hit the trail around 10:30 am. With only our fearless leader, Tim Davis, as our tour guide, we ran down South Kaibab trail in 2.5 hours leaving only the 7.5 mile hike back up a different trail. It took us 4.5 hours, a lot of water, and a lot of rest to get back up. Along the way we passed signs like this, which we were quick to ignore:

Here are some other pics from the canyon. I seriously could not stop taking pictures.

old school

The crew post 16 miles 

Oh, by the way. The canyon turns your shoes red. It's pretty tight.

18 hours back to Waco and on to the next wild adventure.

Rumspringa

Today I leave for Spring Break. It will be a week where the rubber hits the pavement, the desert sand hits our skin, the lights shine in our hearts, and another page is added to our storybook.  We have only each other, the One who guides us, and the adventure that lies before us. May it be a week to remember. May we celebrate. Rumspringa.