Lives are being changed!

Sometimes its frustrating for me to watch the news or read the headlines on Yahoo! Its sad how often it is filled with stories of pain and death. Its also sad how often injustices and suffering go unreported, because there is so much that we don't see. And I don't mean typical Americans in the little "bubble" of a worldview. I mean everyone. No person can see all the pain or all the suffering or understand how deep the needs and injustices truly are in this world. I mean its overwhelming to think about how many lives will end tonight that I don't know about. And its not about "me" wanting to know about everything, its just about how insignificant I feel up against such darkness and pain. And its about what my life will actually "count" for in the end. Its about me realizing that whatever difference the Lord chooses to make through me is a tiny little spot against the canvas of a dark and scary world.

But my point is this: its actually not about ANY of that. Life isn't about the measuring of how many, or the measuring of my own successful ministry. Life isn't about how big my spot is on the canvas. Life is about people's lives being changed; and not in a spreadsheet with checkboxes kind of way, but in a dark to light, dead to life, defeated to victorious, life transforming kind of way! I'm so thankful that His transformation continues to change my life. And I'm so thankful that He has allowed me to watch as He transforms others lives right in front of my eyes!

Tonight I'm praying that I never get so caught up in the dark and scary world as a whole that I lose sight of God's gracious hand touching the lives of those all around me!

Shadows

Comforted by His Cross and this song tonight.

Life is full of light and shadow
O the joy and O the sorrow
O the sorrow

And yet will He bring
Dark to light
And yet will He bring
Day from night

When shadows fall on us
We will not fear
We will remember

When darkness falls on us
We will not fear
We will remember

When all seems lost
When we're thrown and we're tossed
We remember the cost
We rest in the
Shadow of the cross

--David Crowder

Invitation

I got to share today with some guys about Jesus' invitation for our lives. It was exciting to talk with them about the first disciples being invited to walk with Jesus the Rabbi(Teacher). And what a incredible opportunity it was for them to learn from Him and become like Him. It was even more exciting to share with them that today Jesus is inviting us to do the same thing. He is inviting each of us to follow Him as the Teacher. That we would learn from Him and become like Him.

I'm so thankful that He invited me.

Here i Am!

My prayer tonight is "Lord, here i am - send me!"

This year my responsibilities are a little different than they were for the internship last year. My goal this year is to capture the Ray of Light Project here that Childrens Relief has established. We want to be able to promote and share what God is doing here through the project and how others can be involved! I have been fighting with my self centeredness in terms of how i had envisioned my summer compared to what God has called me to do for Him while i am here. I had envisioned walks through the villages with close translators. Working hard to help with Green Door building. I had envisioned...well, basically what i did last year and i had envisioned being able to take each of those things to the next level. However, in front of me is an enormous opportunity to be able to share with others through video what's happening here in Dondo! and so tonight i am, "making a fist and letting go" of whatever i had thought this summer would be! I am saying - Lord here i am, do with me as You want and use me however You want! I am so excited to be a part of what He wants to accomplish this summer! I'm excited to have a kind of special project to call my own. So tonight i'm letting go of all my apprehension. i'm letting go of all the feelings of being overwhelmed. tonight i'm letting go of the fear of failure.

Tonight i'm saying, "Lord, use me!"

Lord of the Rings

I love these movies. I'm excited to watch them sometime soon.

Frodo: I can’t do this, Sam.

Sam: I know… by rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end, because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But, in the end, it’s only a passing thing… a shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you; that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folks in those stories had lots of chances to turn back, only they didn’t. They kept going, because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding on to, Sam?

Sam: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.