Why we're here...

How do I even attempt to summarize this past year on the road? I’ve been asking myself this question ever since we finished our trip four weeks ago. I was hoping by this time I’d have some vague idea by now. Instead, I’ve given up and settled on just sharing a few reflecting thoughts about our trip.

When I look back, the year is already starting to become a giant magnificent blur. People ask me over and over again what my overall favorite thing from the trip was and I am left at a loss…there is no such thing. There are so many favorites they are too long to list here. Yet one lesson God taught me this past year sticks out to me—why He created us in the first place.

Looking back, it is the people who have left an indelible impact on me—on my thoughts, on my desires, and on my faith. They’ve inspired me, taught me, coached me, and loved me, and what a blessing every person has been. And so, I’ve learned, because of people—people that God chose to create—I have seen His glory this past year. I saw His glory in “Big H,” my favorite four-year old dancing ladies man in Mexico; I saw it in Cherise, a stay-at-home Mom who single handedly organizes an after school program for poor and troubled youth in a trailer park community in Virginia; I saw it in Chris, a youth pastor in PEI who exemplifies what it means to live life with a joy and energy for the Lord that is wildly contagious; I saw it in MP, a grouchy sarcastic country-singing contractor who passes up building houses that he could make real money on to build homes for the poorest people in Appalachia; I saw it in Jackie, a volunteer coordinator in an Ohio soup kitchen who scrubbed the floor of the walk-in freezer with a smile on her face because she knew who she was truly serving; and I saw it in CeCelia, the 18 year old girl who we witnessed make the brave decision to walk away from the only people and the only way of life (on a reservation) she had ever known so that her unborn child wouldn’t have to grow up in the cycle of alcoholism and abuse that she did.

God’s glory shone through these few examples and hundreds of others on our trip. And I guess that’s really why we’re here: to give Him the glory in our everyday lives. To inspire one another and to show others just a small taste of the sweet Grace that we have been given through our Father. Whether we are Christian or not, we’re all part of this great ebb and flow of life, being touched by His provision and His glory daily because of the people whom we meet and whom we know. So, as I re-enter what many would call the ‘normal’ life (working and living in one place), I challenge myself and I challenge you—it is our choice how to live our lives. Who will we live for and who do we desire to glorify?
Kelly

Those St. Benedictine Monks

These past two weeks as I have been “cleaning” my room at home in Iowa I have been stumbling across little questions all over the place. Whether it is in a box of notes I had received in Jr. High or an old journal of mine from High School or even a term paper written my freshman year at Wartburg – I continue to see God moving in strange and bizarre ways.

I think the gem that I have found thus far is a one page reflection paper written for a half credit class my senior year. This class focused on the “Spirituality” and a good portion of time in this class was spent talking about the St. Benedictine monks. The reflection I was asked to make dealt with the importance of both contemplative time in solitude and the act of loving your neighbor in community. The passage stated (in paraphrase) that people can spend all of the time in the world in prayer, reading scripture and learning doctrine and theology but if they do not put down the “books” to help a brother/sister in need, they are unrighteous in the sight of the Lord. This is ironic for a group of people that disciplined themselves to live in solitude, yet in community.

While I agree with that, I wonder if we look a step further. How do we find balance between those two things? Community and solitude- two key components to Christian faith. I am finding as I sit in my home in Chariton, Iowa I am back to spending much time in solitude…after spending a year in community. Both extremes are unhealthy in excess. Like the monks that lived so long ago, I think that I struggle with the same question. How do we create a lifestyle where both community and solitude flow evenly from our soul?

Laura