...written on our hearts...: 1/1/11

"For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from it's bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.”

It has been almost seven months since my return from Bolivia.

And as I write this, I hardly know how the time went so fast. Truly, it seems such a short time ago that I was tearfully saying farewell to the people and places that I came to know and love.

These months have indeed held their own share of joys and heartache, and the time and perspective to reflect on my time in South America.

Let me first say that it has forever changed me. The ways in which God and the Church were awakened in my heart has made an imprint on my soul in such a way that even now I am living a life shaped by those experiences and relationships.

It is easy, however, to remember Bolivia in a way similar to nostalgia, and let the memories create in me only a bittersweet yearning for what was. My prayer is that—as I remember the glimpses of Truth and Beauty and Simplicity and Community—I let it become a lived reality that gives contour and context for now, and into the future.

And mirrored in this remembrance I have discovered a deeper and Truer remembrance. As a citizen in the Kingdom of God, with the Spirit testifying to my own spirit, and my heart thirsting for things that cannot be satisfied, I am realizing in life-altering ways the reality that I am not made to live a natural life. And here again I am torn. “Life will never be what it should be!” I could cry in despair; or, hopefully, I can let the echoes of the Kingdom shape my life lived now—knowing that God brings “glory and freedom” from “bondage and decay”.

What more can I say? When words really cannot express what I mean to convey?

So it is here that I find myself in life (I promise that all this somewhat ethereal thought DOES have a root in practical living!)

Now for the physical details: I am working as a full-time teachers aid at a charter school on the north side of Milwaukee—and loving it!! Then, after months of praying and searching; talking, asking, and visiting different parts of the city, God provided a roommate and opened up a beautiful little unit in the inner-city of Milwaukee.

If you are the praying type, please pray that I would be discerning of the opportunities to minister as they arise, and that I can boldly serve humbly, always learning what it truly means to love my neighbor. Just last night, I had the beautiful opportunity of offering hospitality and a Word from the Lord to a man, out-of work, living in a shelter. He shoveled my sidewalk, I paid him a bit and offered him some soup (ah! so simple), I listened to his story and answered his question: what is so different about you? and he looked into my own soul and encouraged me in such a profound way.

To my young friends I say this: be purposeful about where you choose to live. Our cities are hurting and needy, and too many Christians, who can offer the hope and healing and hospitality that is desperately needed, have defaulted into the comfortable and private lifestyles that we see around us, instead of putting themselves into the places where we can actually BE the hands and feet of Jesus, that He calls us to.

A few photos of recent months: