Welcome to my head

It is 9:34 in the AM and I have been up for almost 2 hours watching coverage on Hurricane Gustov. This event is really bringing out and showing what is in my heart. I am praying and hoping as many others are that this disaster misses New Orleans, but I also sense something in me that is disappointed that I am not seeing more disaster. This sounds horrible, and I am asking God why my heart is so messed. I mean, I don’t want anyone to get hurt, but I want to see what this storm is capable of.

What I am seeing in me is that there is so much more room in my life for Jesus. I want a pure heart, one that is not disappointed, even in the slightest bit that no damage in any way hit the Gulf Coast. One that has nothing but praise and celebration when everyone can come back to there homes and not notice that anything in the city is wrecked. One that prays for safety and believes and celebrates with all my heart that nothing but safety results. If you are reading this, please take a second and pray with me for my beart.

Thanks.

As I sit here drinking my coffee that I brought back from Costa Rica I am taken back to last week when Emma and I were there. I think most of this update will be focussed on how great of a daughter I have, but I will try to put some details in about the trip as well.

Emma and I were there from Aug. 10-19th. We were hosting a team from Dallas TX. which was set up by me and Lars, a good friend of mine who is the student ministry pastor at the church out there. We went to a small town called Nacoya, which is in the province of Guanacaste and worked with some good friends Diego and Salla, who run the YWAM work out there. This was our first time working in that part of the country, so we were very excited.

While there we did some work projects, did a presentation in a high school, went on prayer walks, ran children’s programs (this team had the best kids crafts I have ever seen), and visited a detention center. The trip was very relational in nature, so we spent a lot of our time sharing Jesus through relationship and time. There are a lot of english speakers in that part of Costa Rica, so that helped.

Emma did great. Looking back on the time there I realize that Emma never complained or asked to go home. The one time that was hard for her was the first day as it was very hot and it took some time adjusting to it. Other than that, Emma fit right in with the team. She went mostly everywhere with them and was saying Hola to everyone she met. One time, during a team meeting one of the leaders asked the team what they think Satan is doing to stop them from being effective. To my surprise, Emma put up her hand and said that maybe he was trying to make us not care for the kids in Costa Rica, I was a proud dad.

Thanks to you who prayed for us and the trip. None of us got sick and Amy and Abby had a great time helping out her mom and dad with stuff back on the farm.

Currently I am working with a group of high school students near the jungle in Costa Rica. The majority of the students in the group are female and as we were going through a talk on injustice I felt compelled to talk to them about education. I see the potential in these girls to be able to do anything. They all come from fairly wealthy homes and have unlimited opportunities. I pray that these girls make choices in the area of education that will not just benefit them and their future, but that will benefit the future of others who don’t have the same opportunities. I pray that when young people are looking at schools and post secondary education that they would do it with God’s heart and His plans in the forefront, not just theirs.

Here are some stats on education worldwide among girls that I got from Susie Childers 30 days of Prayer for the Voiceless.
Definition: formal education is a conscious effort by human society to impart the skills and modes of thoughts considered essential for social functioning. link

-Of the world’s nearly one billion illiterate adults, two-thirds are women. link

-Two-thirds of the 130 million children worldwide who are not in school are girls. link

-Girls’ education may be the single most effective weapon in the prevention of HIV/AIDS. The infection rates are doubled among young people who do not finish primary school. link

-Education is a key economic asset for the individuals and for nations. Failure to educate girls and women perpetuates needless hunger.

There is an ancient story of a refugee woman called Hagar. She was a domestic helper to a man called Abraham & his wife Sarah. She was forced to be a surrogate mother for her master’s wife and when she became pregnant she was cast out of the house by her master’s wife, because of jealousy.

An angel of God found her in the desert and told her to return to Abraham & Sarah,, which she chose to do. Hagar had a son and names him “Ishmael”.

Fourteen years later her master’s wife had a son and again due to animosity and jealousy, forced Hagar to leave.

Hagar went back to the desert and wandering there without hope, she placed her son under a bush and walked away to weep at a distance as she could not bear to watch him die.

God heard the cries of her son.

He miraculously provided water for both Hagar and Ishmael and they survived, prospered and become a great nation.

The story of Hagar and her son, Ishmael, is the story of Cambodia’s many exploited and abandoned women and children, but like the Hagar of the Bible, God hears their cries.

Hagar Cambodia is committed to the “Hagar’s” and “Ishmaels” of Cambodia and works to introduce them to the “God who sees”

The story of Hagar and her son, Ishmael, is the story of millions of exploited, trafficked, disabled and abandoned women and children, but like Hagar in the Bible, God hears their cries.

Hagar International is committed to the “Hagars” and “Ishmaels” of this world and is passionate about the recovery and restoration of each individual to life in alls its fullness with “The God who Sees”.

Two weeks ago, when Amy and I were in Cambodia we went to the Hagar factory. After talking to security they put us on the phone with the owner of Hagar. From there we were introduced to one of the managers who told us a bit about what Hagar does in Cambodia, but let us know that we could not get a tour of the factory. After talking with her for a few minutes she decided to give us a tour of the warehouse. It was an amazing thing to see a place that is offering jobs, aftercare, childcare and a future to women at risk and their children.

Hagar has a center for abused women, a catering program to teach underprivileged people how to have a trade, a day care and a clothing company where all the clothing is made by those who are disadvantaged or handicapped. For more info see here.

Hagar is a great organization, please take a minute to check out what they are all about. Jesus, thanks for Hagar. I pray for favor with the government of Cambodia and also with donors. I ask for wisdom, your wisdom in their lives to be able to be used in the greatest way possible.

Lately, actually for a while now I have been wondering how to rest. I don’t mean how to stop, or how to quit, but how to rest. The problem I have is that when I am tired, or when I am bored I seem to either veg out and do nothing, or I get myself into trouble by wasting time doing other things that are not good for me like watching TV, eating or just surfing carelessly on the web. There has got to be a better way to rest.

My friend Ben once said to me that resting does not mean that you nothing, or just stare blankly at the television, but that you do something that is restful and fulfilling, I may have misquoted, but thats the gist of it. Anyway, I was wondering what you do for rest. Do you read, do you walk, do you visit someone and socialize? What are some things that have worked. Have you or are you needing rest currently?

I am praying about this, I think God knows my body more than me, He made it for crying out loud. I think that for me to rest means that I have to get into God’s word. I need to read my bible more, not books that talk about the bible, or culture, or church, but the bible. Yes, those other books were inspired and written by people who love and know God’s word, but I need God’s word 1st and then the later will follow.

Anyway, thanks and I look forward to your response.