Those gosh darn comfort zones...Part II

I had been looking forward to this opportunity to meet up with Latreia for about 9 or 10 months, but as June got closer and closer I was a little nervous about "stepping out of my comfort zone" as Laura had written about back on May 11. Now, if for a 47 year old wife, mother of three (soccer mom, etc), Kindergarten teacher isn't "stepping out" by sitting in the livingroom of a very lonely women, standing on her roof pulling up shingles, sheathing, removing siding, rotted fascia, soffits, learning how to build a knee wall, toenail, and nail new rafters together in one of the poorest parts of our country, I don't know what is! And then hanging outwith college kids and young adults driving to the icrecream shop - who is 47? What a week!

I am so glad that I "stepped out". God knew that this would be a good thing! One of the highlights of the week, was being there to watch Latreia in action. To see them become a part of the family at our homestay in Elizabethton, Tennessee, to speak at a church and listen to suggestions from people who were very excited about Latreia and its ministry, to see them mingle with college students, highschool students and their adult leaders, to see them get to know and listen to the stories of a very lonely women who lives by herself in the Appalachian Mountains, and to see them learn new skills and work hard in 100 degree heat to make this womans house a better, safer place.

What a gift God has given all of you! I am so grateful for the opportunity to be able to spend a short week living the Latreia Life with my daughter, Kirsten, my niece, Laura, and the other wonderful Latreia members. You are all a gift from God. I pray for His continued support, love, and protection for you as you continue to live your lives the way He intended all of us to do. Keep "stepping out"! God Bless you! I came home, yes, a bit tired, but also uplifted and energized in my faith. This week was a gift I will never forget.
Aunt Sherry

Maybe it's the heat....???

I attended a sermon a while ago that has had me thinking… The author of the sermon likened life (or, rather, the end of life) to a vacation. She said that at the end of her vacations she cannot wait to get home. During her vacation she is having a great time but slowly gets the itch to be home again. Life (without running too far with the simile) is like a vacation in that it is temporary and we cannot wait to get to Heaven… itchin’ to be “home” with our Father. That’s cool, but…

Last night I just finished my third Donald Miller book called “Searching For God Knows What.” In this book Don (I can call him that because we are good friends, or at least he makes me feel like I am his good friend and he is telling me stories over pizza and lemonade) talks about seeing the Bible as a way of having a personal relationship with Jesus. He speaks out against formulaic Christianity by saying there is more than X+Y=Heaven and Bells. The Bible is complex, beautiful and a relational tool for all to learn about and grow close to our Lord and Savior; a personal and loving relationship with Jesus. Beautiful, but…

I agree that Heaven will be amazing - beyond all I could ever imagine. I agree that formulas are not all that we should take from the Bible. Like Kelly says in her last blog, relationships are so important and a loving relationship with Jesus would be great. I would love to take Jesus back to my house to give him a ride on my motorcycle, introduce him to my puppies and then go fishing while he tells me stories about all the places he has visited. This is something that I have actually been pursuing by reading the Bible. Searching for a deeper level of understanding and hopefully working on that relationship, I started reading the Bible - starting in Genesis - a few weeks ago.

So I come to the question that Laura addresses in her blog… “what are we doing here?” The final destination is Heaven but I have to think that God gave us this life for some reason. This has to be more than a testing ground - like Biology 101 - to weed out the uncommitted, doesn’t it? As far as a life of equations… I was horrible in Algebra (paper and pencil) but Physics class (measuring tools and time outside the classroom) and I got along real well. Mapping points on graph paper made me cross-eyed for almost the entire semester but when our teachers turned us loose to figure out the force of the drinking fountain by measuring the distance and arch of the water’s path, well… “You had me at hello.” We had the chance to apply to our world what we learned from our books.

I am only a quarter of the way through the Bible and will approach the “Wisdom” books soon so maybe I will find much more in that section. Here is what is on my mind, though. Don (Miller) gives a few examples throughout his book on how society influences the movements in Christianity. I wonder if in our day and age of internet, mail order groceries and fences around our yards that we might be looking for deeper relationships. Why not Jesus as a best friend? I am sitting with my headphones on right now listening to a song called “Dare You To Move” and the line that just played says: “Where you gonna go? Salvation is here…” Maybe God gave us time on Earth to enjoy his creation. Maybe He showed himself on Earth in Jesus not only to join him in a loving relationship but to show us how to do that with others.

Many great things happened in Haiti and Tennessee. I had a couple experiences that I will definitely remember when thinking back on the trips… The first is a conversation with an elderly gentleman with whom I had the opportunity to discuss mining and how life happened in the decades past. The second experience was adding over 2 hours onto an already long road trip to include a friend for the journey. Robert Frost says: “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall…” I like to think that that “Something” is God telling us that we should meet and greet our neighbors; spend time with them, love and enjoy them… like Jesus did. Maybe we should do that with all of His creation. But, then again, maybe I am just "normalized" to this Earth...

For now, I cannot resist but to leave you with this: “The future is no place to place your better days…” (Dave Matthews Band)

Jesse

What is normal?

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the concept of "normal". For the past week I have actually been at home in Milford, IA (a little unexpected, but an appreciated break from "the norm" - ironically enough, this unexpected change has become "the norm"). It was on the 12 hour car ride home from Tennessee that Jesse and I kinda hashed over the concept of Normalization and how it affects our perceptions and attitutes about an experience, situtation and/or person.

I will try to explain this Normalization concept, but it's a little difficult because it is something that I am trying to figure out myself. After 10 monthes on the road, things that were once very "not normal" are now the daily grind. Places that I only once dreamed of have come and gone. Conversing with individuals whom I once considered quite different than myself based on social, physical, cultural and spiritual differences has become and everyday occurance and an humbling opportunity to realize that we are all human beings trying to find purpose in our lives. It has become normal to find ourselves welcomed into the home of a family we have only just met at their doorstep. It is normal to drive 12 hours on any given day. It is normal to sleep on a church basement floor. It has become normal to have almost nothing in our lives that is normal.

I hope that this give a bit of an illustration. I have also experienced that this normalization phenomenon is also accompanied by a downward spiral off the mountain top. This mountain top experience is the adrenaline/spiritual high that is encountered when the individual finds oneself in a new, strange world that pushes oneself out of his/her comfort zone. I must admit that it is a bit frustrating to encounter a situtation that once would have evoked this mountain top high but now has (for a lack of a better word) become normal.

What do you do when constant change, unstablity and different weekly community becomes the norm?

Thanks to all for entertaining this random thought...

stephanie

Norge! (Norway)

During my week off I headed to Norway with my family and grandparents. Highlights of the trip included listening to the St. Olaf Choir, watching an avalanche fall on one of our hikes, playing with baby lambs, and finding my great-great-great grandparents family farm in rural Norway. I thought I would share just one journal entry that came back with me from my trip:

In a land of so much wealth, so much heritage, and such a serenely perfect landscape it has been easy to assume that there isn’t the social problems you see in other countries. We found out tonight that there is, it’s just that they are hidden. We met an Iranian woman who is a refugee in Norway. She cannot return to her own country because of her ex-husband. She lives in a small town on the shores of a fjord and runs a small pizzeria that the townspeople will not come to—because she is Iranian. She lives in a tiny town where she is shunned by everyone so she is very lonely. Our family sat and talked with her for more than an hour over a $40 pizza (food is very expensive!). She was longing for somebody, anybody, to hear her story and care. It soon became clear why God placed us in this empty pizzeria tonight. What an incredible story she has… When she was 13 years old she was in a terrible car accident which killed her mom and left her in a coma for two months. Less than a year later her father died. She married by 15 and had a child by 17. She had problems with her husband and was forced to leave Iran with her two young daughters. Finally she met a Norwegian man whom she married, but even though she’s been living here for 6 years they still haven’t given her papers allowing her to stay in Norway. As I was sitting there, I just kept thinking how incredible this woman is to have endured so much hardship and still be willing to greet people with a smile as they walk through the door… Her joyful attitude despite all that has happened is an inspiration to me.

The night reminded me of how important it is to be willing to listen to a stranger. People just long to be heard, even if it is by a complete stranger just passing through. And in the process you may even end up being the one who is inspired! Our vacation enjoying the scenery in picture-perfect Norway was wonderful, but it was the people, the stories, and the faces that I will remember.

Kelly

The value of short-term mission trips

What a great week it has been here in Tennessee. I was honestly not looking forward to this week after just getting back from Haiti and not really having much time to process my time there. However, when we arrived in Oak Ridge Tennessee things changed. We worked with the program ASP (Appalachian Service Project) this week. It was amazing!

This week we lived in a school with 70 other people (high school students and their leaders). This was the part that I was sure that was going to drive me insane. Instead it refreshed me.

When we set out on Latreia one of our motivations was to make short-term mission trips more accessible to youth. Our lives have been changed through experiences like ASP, and we think it is a powerful way for youth to experience God. I saw that happen this week. I saw high school youth being changed by God through the service they were doing, through the community that we were living in and through the intentional focus on Christ. It was incredible. What a blessing it was to see transformation…a renewing of minds, a conforming to Christ and not to the world.

Not only did we get to share this week with kids from Alabama, Louisiana, and Kentucky, we also got to share this week with the five staffers that are here in Oak Ridge for the summer. What a blessing it was to have fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ who are passionate about serving God (and so knowledgeable about building roofs)! It was also such a great bonus that my Aunt Sherry and Cousin Kirsten could be a part of this week. It is fun to share this part of life with my family.

Next week we head to Kentucky to be a part of another week long service experience for youth. I trust that God will continue to teach me in each of these experiences.

Laura