Honduras

I'm heading over to Honduras in a couple weeks and I wrote out a testimony that I shared with our church during our missions presentation a few weeks ago. I'm inspired to put it on my blog because one of my fellow brothers who shared alongside me put it up on his blog so I figured I would, and plus some people have been requesting it so here it is....

Since this past August, God has been showing me that His heart is for the world. Last summer, I took a trip to Colorado to visit my sister and brother-in-law and had a moment to take a tour of my brother-in-law's workplace at Compassion International.

It was a simple 15 minute tour with an elderly volunteer lady who was kind enough to take us around. My sister was trailing behind me with her daughter in the stroller, but it was her fiftieth time going through it with out-of-town guests, so it basically ended up as a one-on-one tour. (This made it a little difficult when I had to hold back tears halfway through the tour because it wasn't like she had anyone else to redirect her attention to.)

A couple things struck me during this tour. One was how Compassion began - a man saw orphans abandoned from the Korean War and couldn't turn away without doing something. That could have very well been my parents or any one of my friends' parents. The second was the magnitude of what it means when it Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me." As I left the facility, I bought a book called Fast Living (more on that here) and read it on the plane ride back. The book focused on the meaning of true fasting, especially through Isaiah 58.

Isaiah 58 talks about God's heart for injustice, for the oppressed, for the poor, the naked, and the hungry. As I read through the book, it clicked that for something God cares so deeply about, I was simply apathetic. I was learning in this time that how I felt shouldn't dictate the decisions I made, because I was an indifferent mess. The dissonance I felt in me led to a yearning for God to work on my heart because it didn't line up with his.

When our church threw up possible opportunities to serve and commit to God's work during our annual Missions Week, I wanted to take the first opportunity I could get to see God's heart for the world firsthand, and I ended up applying for the Honduras trip.

As we prepare to leave in a couple weeks, I'm a little afraid of safety - how it will be there and what could happen. God is continually working on my relationship with my parents through this situation. They're worried about me and I'm worried about them being worried and even where they stand in their relationship with God. A fear I've had is the thought: if something happened to me, would they blame it on God and turn away from Him?

But God's been addressing those fears and making clear to me - even through the two week fast our church went through recently - that He is sovereign and He has perfect plans. Those thoughts are summed up in this quote from Betsie ten Boom to her sister Corrie:

There are no "if's" in God's world. And no places that are safer than other places. The center of His will is our only safety - O Corrie, let us pray that we may always know it!

There's no safer place for myself or for my family to be than in the center of His will. I'm excited to see what God's gonna do.

chilling

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/the-truth-about-abortion-will-set-you-free

Some photos that sent chills down my spine.

truth

How to Increase Happiness and Meaning in Life

I'm not particularly into pop psychology, but this article rings true for me. When we are part of something bigger; when we are in awe of things, our life finds meaning. Not only this, but that stories help us to remember what is meaningful in life.

What's sad is that sometimes we only see all the side effects of what really matters.

If we're looking for happiness and meaning, we can look to Him who will provide them; or we can try to scrape off some crumbs and go for the "happiness" and the "awe" without wondering who's behind it all. Stories are beautiful because there is a great Author. Awe is necessary because there is one who is Awesome.

responsibility

Involved for Life Pregnancy Center

This article inspires me, because instead of condemning and hating those involved in abortion, they still take a stand but actually care about the people involved in it and do something about it. There's a difference between being a religious nutcase and loving people in Jesus' name.

Sometimes the most powerful kind of love is when you demonstrate grace to those you disagree with. Love is messy.

minority

ACLU Seeks Removal of Ohio School's Jesus Portrait

Sometimes I wonder if we're actually coming to a point where the gospel can be more free in America. Where it is not religion that is imposed but secularism; where religious people become the minority. One of my co-workers aptly pointed out that it's a lot easier to share your life and your faith when you are the minority, because you don't have any leverage or any power to impose your will on anyone. Your faith seems all the more genuine because people see you maintain it in the fire.

stay on your toes

This past Sunday, my LIFE group went up to Pierpont to share some homemade wings and Victors Pizza and watch the Superbowl. While chilling, we ran into a guy whose name is Ahmed and who attends a mosque in northern Ann Arbor.