Quote of the week.

September 27, 2009 at 6:52 pm (CS Lewis, love, Quotes)

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will
certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of
keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an
animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid
all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your
selfishness. But in the casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless–it
will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable,
impenetrable, irredeembable.”


CS Lewis

This quote was borrowed by ‘What God has Joined Together’s’ Blog.

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What happens in Vegas…

September 24, 2009 at 1:54 am (Current, Las Vegas, love, Mother Theresa, pain, poverty, Sin City, Strip Church)

I recently received an invitation to attend a missions trip to Las Vegas, Nevada in December of this year.  You may remember from this entry  my first up close encounter with Current.  When I received an e-mail detailing (or at least beginning to outline) their Vegas mission I was intrigued.  Despite long years of church attendance I have yet to serve on a missions trip.  I’ll leave explanations and/or excuses to your vivid imaginations and say simply, my time has not yet come.

Now Current isn’t just an organization for  Christians so why are they doing a mission trip?  Isn’t that a churchy thing?  I imagine the answer to this lies in the mission of Current itself to Grow, to Give, and to Go.  And go they will – to Vegas to partner with ‘Strip Church’, located on ‘the strip’ in Vegas and servicing what I can only imagine is the very definition of a lost and hurting world.  It earned the title Sin City, did it not?
You may recall that what I fell in love with during the laundry love experience was needs being met.  In the crisis that our country is now experience it is more clear than perhaps ever before that their are needs in our country.  We think of Africa or Asia as being the places where people starve or in desperate need of our assistance and that is correct, many countries have needs greater than ours.  That being said, there’s plenty of need here in our country as well.
The Vegas trip will be people like you and I meeting real needs of the people on the strip.  Feeding the hungry.  Building shelter for families and orphans.  Helping provide dental and doctor services to those in need.  Giving personal hygiene products to those currently going without.  Nearest and dearest to my own heart, they will also be providing resources and ‘spiritual aid’ to those who have a desire for it.
For a slew of reasons that I don’t go into I won’t be able to lend my own person to this adventure BUT I am trying to work with Current to girl them assistance in any way possible as they prepare for this journey.  
The bigger picture here is that whether or not you have time to go commit time to de-worming orphans in Somalia or nursing Aids victims in Africa – there are great organizations paving the way for you to do something here.  When I see people on the side of the road begging for work it pains me to imagine my own father ever having to experience that.  When I think of what it would be like to watch one of my sisters have to go without food or medical care they needed – I ache for those in this country that experience this reality.  Most of all my heart hurts for those who lives are lacking in love.
‘The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved, ‘ – Mother Theresa
It boils down to this: making a difference in lives of people requires that you meet the very real needs in their lives and that your motivation can be reduced simply to love.  
Love,
B
I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me. – Matthew 25:40

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Hands.

August 11, 2009 at 2:13 am (laundry, love, service, www.engagethecurrent.com)



Photo credit @ www.engagethecurrent.com – visit the site, support their cause(s).  They’re doing big things.

Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
Ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see//Brandon Heath

Saturday morning.  What were you doing?  Any other Saturday morning I would have been pulling on my beach bag and headed to the pool with Jess, texting Audra to ask her if she’d at least come out for an hour.  This Saturday was unlike most though.  Jason Sowell, a friend & the founder of Current has sent me an invite to the Laundry Love project.

Not unlike yourself I would bet, I get my fair share of facebook event invites.  I rarely click to read the ‘event details’ but Laundry Love caught my eye.  I opened the invite and even watched the video they had posted detailing the point, purpose, and plans for Laundry Love.  I was instantly drawn in.  Doing laundry to show love to those who may be in need, hurting, or at the very least, unexpectant.
Having stayed up later than I should have Friday night there was a moment of honest hesitation when my alarm went off Saturday morning.  I could stay in bed, take it easy until my later, 1:00 commitment.  I’d volunteered the night before then stayed out late with friends, I deserved to sleep in, right? As I punched dismiss on my alarm and my feet hit the hard wood I thought, or I could give up a few hours of my day to dedicate to a purpose higher than my own relaxation (or just plain laziness).
Current had organized everything so all I had to do was show up and love on people.  Boxes of quarters, detergent, coloring books & crayons, refreshments, and even take home bags of extra detergent were already prepared before I arrived.  The other volunteers were from a church down the street, one in Palm Harbor, and from Current itself.  Everyone involved was darling, excited to be lending a hand to serve the people of Sulphur Springs.
My favorite family was a lady & her six children.  Three boys & three girls.  She didn’t speak english but her oldest son translated enough for her to understand that we wanted to pay for her laundry, provide her with soap, and offer her kids entertainment while she waited.  Smiles, it turns out, are universal.  They span the gap created by our inability to speak each others language.
Pictured above are some of this woman’s beautiful children.  The gratitude spread from her to each of them as I helped them put straws in their juice boxes.  To think had I hit snooze I would have missed that smile, caught by the camera at the event.  We helped them with ten loads of laundry that included what I imagine was every piece of bedding they owned.  We washed them, we dried them. 
What perhaps I love most is that nothing about the Laundry Love project suggested a subliminal message.  We didn’t hand them tracks or try to guilt them into attending one of the churches present.  We just served them.  We got our hands dirty to reach them where they were.  
I leave you, with this thought (thank you Tami Kent for reminding me this quote this morning)…
‘Preach the gospel at all times – If necessary, use words’ – Saint Francis

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Life lessons can wait…I need to get some things off my mind about The Bachelor!

March 3, 2009 at 4:51 am (friendship, love, the bachelor)

Some of my favorite times in the months since graduation last May have been those when I have a phone pressed to my ear. Let’s be honest. College is the ultimate breeding ground for friendships, but not many of those last. When I walked across that stage behind Miss Meredith Evans to grab my diploma, I could not help but think of those friendships I made. There were a number of people who I had trusted with all of life’s ups and downs, people that I met with regularly, that I partied with and that I bummed around home with, that I thought would be a friend forever. But my little comfort zone was being ripped apart. When not a mere 5 minutes away, who would I talk to about all of life’s details, and who would I never see again? The result surprised me for a little while, but not for long. I am very fortunate to be able to say that I have had an incredible success rate. Not one of my best friends lives within an hour of me, yet I know just as much now about them as I did then. Yes, it is INCREDIBLY hard to maintain a friendship over the phone, but I am so thankful to have the close relationships that I have, those that have survived distance and incredible change, and that have provided me with almost a nightly phone date. My writing here is a testament to those bonds, and to the importance of a friend when going through one of the most confusing growth periods we will encounter.

This blog is about friendship. It’s about growth and change, struggles and acceptance, unexpected lessons and a system of support throughout the whole process. Had you told me in May that I would rely on my cell phone as a lifeline for my friendships, I would have said “good luck with that!” and moved on. Thank you God for not letting me have that attitude. I would not have all of the lessons and anecdotes about life, love, survival, and this crazy little thing called growing up otherwise. I have spent so much time on the phone with these 2 ladies (and a couple of other very special people) discussing books, sharing discoveries, and trying to decipher just where we are supposed to be at this point in our lives that I could probably collaborate on a survival guide for the 20 something woman with them. Enjoy a sneak peak into those conversations. Laugh, learn, enjoy.

On that note…I need to get some things off my chest about one Jason Mesnick of Seattle, Washington. WTF?! This adorable man is the reason I gave The Bachelor and ABC one more chance to convince me that love can happen on television. However, I was very disappointed to find out that these people agreed to dupe America by taking part in a scripted circus surrounding one of the most sacred gifts in this world: A woman’s heart. I would love to give Jason the benefit of the doubt here. I want to believe he had no idea about any of this, that he didn’t want to be with Melissa anymore and that ABC forced him to give it a go with Molly to try and cover up yet another failed attempt at forever. But come on. No woman in their right mind would accept an offer of “forever” from a man who 2 seconds earlier broke the heart of his FIANCEE on national television. I asked her to be my wife, told her I loved her and not you, got down on one knee in front of the world telling her it was her and only her, but now I changed my mind. Wanna go grab coffee, oh my precious second choice, and see if forever is in our cards? I speak for every sane woman out there when I say ABSOLUTELY NOT! Come on Moll! You look at him with a smile, act like he didn’t dump you for a different woman six weeks ago, hold his hand, and say of course I love you and want to be with you! This had to be scripted. There is no way this would have happened in the real world and garnered the same response. I’d rather lose faith in The Bachelor as opposed to womankind. Shame on you Jason. Shame on you Molly, and ABC, and everyone involved. Good luck Melissa. You should have kept the 4 carat diamond.

A

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