Day 41..."Keep it broken before Jesus; keep it thankful, meek, and pure"

“Love “…“Growth”…“Nurturing”: These are such positive words, but when put into practice they are imperfect, messy, and require perseverance. 

Our youth group at my church has gone through a lot of transitions in the past year and one of those areas of transition has been moving from leader led ministry to creating student led, student run ministry groups with coaches. The students are taking ownership of connecting with one another, planning events, running all the technology and leading the youth group in worship.

In fact, when you walked into the junior high room at our church, you will be carried into worship by an all junior high worship band.

I remember seeing each of my children at birth…just speechless at the beauty of new life…I remember rejoicing in each developmental milestone they experienced as well as cherishing seeing their personalities develop as their gifts and passions slowly emerged. 

The experience of guiding them and holding them with open hands to God has been the hardest and most rewarding thing I have experienced in my life.  Watching their individual temperaments, gifts and passions develop is pretty incredible.  It is a privilege to see the transformation process in my children  from  helpless babies, to  caring, giving, vibrant young people who are actively seeking God’s revealing and refining  of the gifts he has entrusted to each of them.

For the past few Wednesdays and Sundays I have watched the junior high students in our youth group step up and serve God boldly with their gifts.  I am in awe of God’s wonderful love and shaping of those who hold their hearts and minds open in obedience to His call on their lives.

I am thinking tonight about the value of giving students a safe and caring place to explore the gifts God has graciously give each of them.  I am thinking about how important it is for the students to have those gifts identified and nurtured by their parents, caring leaders and encouraged by other students.  Being in an environment where students are owning their faith and growing their gifts is a pretty awesome place to be!

So my blog tonight is for the students in the youth ministry. 

I want to encourage you to continue to  use your gifts, to take risks and to know it is okay if you don’t do it perfectly…no one does…God cares about your heart response to him. He will never stop growing you if you stay open to his teaching and his grace.

And I want to thank you.  You inspire me to continue to seek ways God wants me to serve and risk and grow…to remain surrendered and to keep my heart attentive and soft to his call.

Don't let your heart be hardened - don't let your love grow cold
May it always stay so childlike - may it never grow too old
Don't let your heart be hardened - may you always know the cure
Keep it broken before Jesus; keep it thankful, meek, and pure

-Don Hartman (Petra)



Long Obedience...Day 40

"serve" by leanne

In the dark and the cold long after the rest of the mission team had gathered in the Hacienda to get warm and share dinner together, I could still hear the pounding of hammers and the laughter coming from 3 high school students repairing a deck for the staff housing at Rancho el Refugio.  After working all morning repairing the road leading up to the school and going into the poorest part of town to spend the afternoon with some children there, they began work on the porch.

As I listened to them work I reflected on how the opportunity to go on the family mission trip year after year has been heart-transforming for all of the families.  I noticed the transformation more acutely in my son’s heart during this most recent trip than I ever have before.

 Dan and Ivy Simpson have helped many of us embrace the vision to provide a quality academic and spiritual education to the poorest children in Ensenada, Mexico.  Dan has become a spiritual hero to my son, Brian. Dan and his wife, Ivy exemplify the phrase “long obedience in the same direction”.  I wish all teen-agers could have heroes like Dan and Ivy in their lives.  Dan is in his mid 70’s.  He retired from being a general contractor and headed to the mission field along with his wife, Ivy. Each year in February a few families from our church spend a week in Ensenada helping build the school that will soon serve street children and orphans in Ensenada. Dan has encouraged our families every year with unbelievable patience as we have muddled through building projects….although many of the men on the family mission trip are skilled at carpentry and construction…most of us are simply learning on the job when we go down there. 

Becoming aware of the transformation of Brian from a worker to a servant…from a performer of worship songs to a worshipping leader was so sweet to see on this latest trip…and it wasn’t just Brian…it is a process I have seen in all the families on the trip. There are no words to describe what a privilege it is to experience being part of the vision for the children in Ensenada…to see a school rise up out of the dust…pushing past set backs and financial challenges, and years of keeping at it and persevering to the point that after thousands of hands have touched the building materials, after thousands of hours of hard work, laughter, tears, and prayers…the school is almost ready to open!

And it isn’t just that a school is opening that is so beautiful, it is the opening of hearts…like Brian’s to move from drawing attention to himself and wanting compensation for his labor… to seeing him so caught up in the project…so caring for the children that will soon be able to go to school… to see him so lost in worship that he pulls me into deeper communion with God…the whole heart transformation process itself is so humbling.

I know I will fail at times when it comes to long obedience in the same direction…I already have more times than I can count…and I know each of us will struggle with obedience from time to time…but I am so glad to have people in my life who are further down the road than I am, like Dan and Ivy, who help me see how God uses long obedience in the same direction to bring glory to Himself and the saving message of Jesus to our painful world.