Today I got up, made breakfast, went for a run around my foggy little town and then came back and opened up my Bible study that I started just before I left.
This is the passage from the Bible I read for today: "If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in." -Isaiah 58:10-12 I've been studying Abraham's relationship with God here lately and in my last blog I kind of touched on it. When the Lord was fed up with all the wickedness screaming from the city of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham was the one who would plead on it's behalf. Genesis 18 records the conversation Abraham had with the Lord, "So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood before the Lord. Then Abraham drew near and said, "Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?...Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be it from you! Shall not the Judge of the earth do what is just?" Holy flip that's bold. If you keep reading, Abraham goes on to basically bargain with God. Abe asks God to spare the city if there are but 50 righteous people. When God agrees, Abe pushes again with 45. God agrees. He pushes until he gets to 10. God agrees. There are not many people in history who have had to honor of literally standing before and speaking with God. Abrahams relationship with God was clearly on another level. My mom has always said, "the squeaky wheel gets the grease!" -- not sure if she coined this phrase or what, but it has been my life motto from an early age. Whether it was begging to stay up one extra hour on a school night, convincing my professor why I thought I deserved that A instead of the B+ or bargaining my rent down a couple hundred bucks, I have been successful nine times out of ten when it has come to being "squeaky". It's perseverance. It's not giving up when you're broke and out of ideas. It's having the chutzpah to stand in a building filled with middle-aged men in three-piece suits and ask the controversial question no one else will. For some reason, God was pleased with the way Abraham went about his plea. He heard Abe and agreed. I'm not here to have small faith. It's just not in my genetic makeup. I know we don't always get to see the fruit from the seeds we plant, but it's time for a harvest. It's time for fruit. The God I believe in uses the least likely people to do big things. Abraham was an old man, Rahab - a prostitute, David - an adulterer and murderer, Jonah - a man who ran from God, a little boy with five loaves of bread and two fish, Saul - a former prosecutor of Christians. The MAIN question I have received since I've been here is, "What ya doin in borough??" People want to know why I've come all the way from the United States to this small, dreary town. The rest of England kind of forgets about this place. The people who live here don't even like it here. Drugs, alcohol abuse, human trafficking and poverty have taken over this place. These people are beat down and long for more, walk around the streets for a day and you can see it in their eyes. I work with a lot of kids in the more deprived areas of the Tees Valley and it's like no one ever has told them that there's more for them-- that they can succeed. Freddie is four years old. (I've changed his name for this entry). He walks himself down his street (one of the worst places to live in Stockton) and has been attending one of the kids clubs we put on in an old church in the community every week. No one picks him up, no one drops him off but sometimes he is accompanied by his 8-year-old brother. Each kid has a story that would knock you on your butt. I've been to that kids club twice and I've already had rocks thrown at me, cussed out and witnessed two emotional breakdowns. If you are a youth worker or teacher back in the states, you are aware of the kids that need special attention due to personality disorder, home-life or emotional needs. Okay, now imagine your whole class is made up of those kids. That's what we are working with. It has occurred to me that we could very well be the only people investing into these kids lives. This valley of towns is probably the least likely of places one would think God could use to do something big. But just remember this -- God uses the least likely. Why Middlesbrough? Why here? Because it's unlikely. My prayer today is that God would breath life into this dry valley of bones. "He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life." -Ezekiel 37:2 Lord -- use the unlikeliest of cities to reach the whole of Europe. Start here. "And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in." Rebuild this ancient city, repair the breach and restore the streets. - xxx Vanz
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KESWICK, THE LAKE DISTRICT, UK // 07.03.18 - 07.07.18. // LODGING: BASSENFELL MANOR CHRISTIAN CENTRE PART I: THE POTATOES I got into Stockton-on-Tees, Stockton, UK on Saturday. That day was pretty blurry due to jet lag and extreme sleepiness but I did manage to walk to a local Sainsbury's (neighborhood Walmart) with a couple of girls I'll be lodging with for the year. We picked up some last minute supplies and then went to a chain coffee shop called Costa for some iced caffeinated drinks because believe it or not it was hot outside. That evening, we met up with the rest of the Resource Team that I'll be working closely with this year and we went for pizza at Barbarossa Pizza in Middlesborough. Sunday, I got to visit my host church, Stockton Parish Church, or SPC, and holy cow I fell in love. I will write another blog later solely on how awesome that church is and why I'm so excited to be there. You will cry. On Monday, our directors took us out to The Lakes District located in the city of Keswick and we checked into our... hotel? I guess technically it's called a 'manor'-- whatever that means. Regardless, I felt super high class checking into Bassenfell Manor that afternoon. The narrow streets wind up and around and in-between meadows of healthy green grass spotted with sheep and cattle. On each piece of land is some kind of cathedral-like, cobblestone house dating back before the United Stated was even a thought. On the way to our hotel, we passed through several small, quaint towns. The streets lined with white-stone storefronts and homes with flowered bay windows each plated with a house name near the door. Our hotel was just as cute. Take any ideas of this hotel you have and throw them out the window aggressively. We walked in and were immediately greeted with a grand red-carpeted, wooden spiral staircase. The entire manor was filled with staircases leading to hallways full of rooms. Out every window, you can expect to see a valley, sheep, a lake and a mountain side. SURPRISE VIEW, UK
The week was jam-packed with activities ranging from kayaking in the most beautiful lake, trekking through the English countryside to hiking Catbells "Walk" as they call it -- I about died. The view from atop Catbells was just breathtaking to say the least. You can basically see all of Cumbria from it's summit. PART II: THE MEAT We arrived back at our host homes this afternoon where I retreated to my loft upstairs, turned on my lamp and lit a candle. Beyond all of the fun of this week, I really feel God doing something in my heart. I can't help but feel like there is so much to this that I haven't even begun to unpack yet. Something clicked when I stepped off that plane. My personality wants to hit the ground running but I'm asking God for patience as I empty my cup of expectations and allow for him to fill it with his direction. The future is unclear but the possibilities are endless. "The LORD had said to Abraham, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you." - Genesis 12:1 "It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going." - Hebrews 11:8 I'm inspired by the obedience, faith and heart Abraham had when the Lord told him to go. Though the destination was overall unclear, he followed in the general direction that the Lord was willing for him to go. I believe that sometimes we are asked to go in a certain direction before we are given our final destination. It's a walk-about of faith. How far out will you walk in faith? The longer I am in this place, the more I dream. With each devotional I do, I can feel the Lord pulling at my heart trying to reveal something to me. As I press in and seek him more, each day I feel closer to what it is he's trying to show me. The more I knock on his heavenly door, the closer I am to stepping into the calling that awaits for me on the other side. Until then, I'll do everything I can for this town with my heart, soul, camera, pen, hands and feet. I hate flying. As I make my way across the pond I’m reminded of this. It doesn’t help that I’m restless, impatient and the slightest bit claustrophobic either. Crammed between two people, muggy air topped with turbulence make for a ride of a lifetime. The middle seat is the worst seat. To sleep, you have to just shrug down because God forbid you lean to one side a little too much and make the person to your right or left uncomfortable. As we all know, shrug-sleep is the best kind of sleep. Don’t get me started on the kid three rows up screaming at his parents for some juice. You know the phrase, “packed like sardines”? Ok, well imagine that coach is now that metaphorical can of sardines. Now imagine that I’m that oh-so-unlucky fish wedged smack in the middle of the can. It's damp, smelly and dark in this tin can, being hurled at one million miles per hour across the world. I find myself nosily peering at the passenger’s screens in front of me, judging the kind of people they are based on the quality of their movies. I’m that person who pushes the boundaries of the arm rests, ‘how far is too far, Shelia-from-Idaho?’ I’m not the only one antsy on this giant airbus, me and every other mammal on here are all anticipating that ONE stewardess with the bar cart to slowly make her way back here to row forty, yes forty, and give us pretzels condescendingly and HOPEFULLY, God-willing, give us some water. If you’re lucky, you’ll actually get water and not club soda like I did. What is this this. I’m still thirsty. OH, and pro tip, asking to throw away trash before the designated trash time are fighting words. All this and I couldn’t be happier still. What seemed liked a reach is now a reality. I’m 15 hours away from the rest of my life. I’m not even a day away from my destiny. It’s finally here and I can hardly wrap my brain around it. I’ll land in London at roughly five o’clock in the morning United States time, have a brief layover where I’ll publish this blog and then jump back on a plane to Newcastle. Then it’s a 45-minute drive to where I’ll be lodging on-and-off for the next year. ** Side note: The person behind me keeps touching my heels with their toes and it’s freaking me out. My face scrunches every time it happens. Pray for me. I can’t wait to learn the city and love her people. Although I have a plan and purpose over the duration of my stay, I am also excited for the unknown. What other plans await me in this new place? What does God have up his sleeve for this Oki-born girl? Let my life be a canvas for the earths creator—the artist of artists. Splash color, virtue and meaning across this story. Rewrite my narrative into a masterpiece. An epic of what only You can do with just a average willing person who’s only worthy attribute is being completely captivated and consumed by You. Allow me to offer up what I can and do my best with what I’ve been entrusted so that I may help in the most effective way possible. Sometimes the journey is rough, sometimes the plane is hot, the food is drab and your seat mate is sick. No matter how turbulent the flight, remember the destination. The destination is worth the process. |