Bloom Where You Are Planted.

A couple of years ago I was talking to Peter Furler. He had come to Guatemala with an organization called Lifelight to do a concert. He is an avid motorcyclist and so he and several members of the band rented motorcycles to tour a little of the beautiful countryside. They were riding up and down mountains on highways on motorcycles much smaller than anything I would feel comfortable on even on Illinois flat roads. He normally rides a BMW or at least that is what I see him on in pictures. Bigger motorcycles do present their own challenges but I never feel safe if having power to escape a situation is not an option. I commented on that and he told me that you have to bloom where you are planted. In other words, you cannot change every circumstance but you can choose to grow wherever you are and in whatever situation you find yourself. You attitude is a choice.

I have been involved in the Christian Youth Center of Morris  since it began. It is a ministry that is close to my heart and always will be. I miss it and especially the kids when I am away from them. When I come back to Illinois I always spend whatever time I can there with the kids. I love it but I must admit that it is changing. The kids that I have known for many years are getting older. Many of them have stopped coming because they are out of school, moved away or left for other reasons. Now I often feel like I barely know most of them. Even those I know I wind up getting names wrong. It is an awkward situation. Sometimes I think it would be easier to just not bother and I wonder if it would really matter.

Over the years I have worked with hundreds, maybe thousands of kids in this ministry. Many left a lasting impression. Some because they were so involved and were an encouragement to me in the way they chose to pursue God. Unfortunately there were others that left the lasting impression for different reasons. They came but they chose to live life on their terms. They were angry, hurting, self destructive young people. They could not allow themselves to feel love or compassion from anyone because their trust had been betrayed too many times. They were wounded and nobody was going to break through the walls they put up. No matter how often they were told and shown that they were loved, they could not receive it. I watched countless leaders try to break through their tough shells but they would not open up because they thought that they were being set up. Their lives to that point had told them that was all they could expect. Their was no such thing as selfless love. People only wanted to get close because they wanted something from them. It was heartbreaking to see how deeply they  hurt and how much their trust had been violated.

I have thought about many of these kids over the years. Occasionally I will see something about them or be reminded of them. Sometimes this prompts me to pray for them. Occasionally I will see something on Facebook or hear something from one of their friends and it will encourage me. There is one that came to CYC for a couple of years and I know that they struggled with some things. I did not know how to help but I tried to be there when needed. I realized that they needed more than I could do but still wanted to help when I could.

A few months ago I saw a post on Facebook and I realized that God had intervened in their live and things were changing. Since then I have seen many other posts and realize that God has a plan for each of these kids and we may not ever see fruit from it. We may never know how He reached them and did what we could not but we need to keep praying for them. I do not know if the time at CYC had any part to play in their decision to follow Jesus. We need to keep making ourselves available to wounded, hurting kids, even though it can be painful or frustrating. We need to live beyond our understanding and share love and truth with them  as often as possible. Holy Spirit is the one that is leading them to their Father. Our job is to be available when we can.

I do not know how every kids story will turn out. I do not know what percentage of these wounded, confused kids will look to Jesus for the answers in their lives. I do not know what will happen. I can just choose to bloom where I am planted. Let God use me however He wants today. I can choose to let Him redeem my time whether in Morris or Guatemala. I can remind myself that God's timing and mine are not always the same and I can continue to pray for those that have crossed my path over they years. Jesus loves each of them more than I ever could. He is at work on their behalf. Lastly, I can be His hands and feet to demonstrate His love wherever He places me today.

Time to Love

As many of you know, I spend a considerable amount of time in Guatemala working with Iglesia Galilea. Soon I will be returning there for three more months to pick up the construction projects that we worked on while I was there earlier this year. While some of the work is getting close to completion, there are other projects coming up to replace them as soon as they are finished. When you work with people that have a vision for making disciples of their nation, the work does not end until everyone has had the chance to respond to the call of Jesus to come and follow Him.

While I am excited to get back to work, I will also be missing some great people in Morris. While I am passionate about the work in Guatemala, I am also passionate about the work we do at CYC and the kids that we serve. Leaving them is difficult because they have become such a big part of my life.  God has used to teach me so many things that I believe are crucial for the success of any ministry. and the truths that I have learned from these kids are important for the work God calls me to everywhere. I would like to share a little with you about these things.

For many years I have worked with kids in the Morris community. I have shared in their victories and cried through their defeats. I have had them open up to me about very personal things. Often, we are the only adults that they share any deep things about their lives with. I have heard about family lives and situations that I never thought any kid should have to live through. My heart has experienced huge highs and crushing lows as I have shared with these kids. Many times, their circumstances have been far beyond my ability to reason or figure out and so I prayed about the best way to help and God began to show me a truth about ministry.

We can love people and work to help them out of their circumstances but there will always be another crisis. If we become firefighters helping people extinguish the fires of their lives, we are going to run out of water. Love for them and empathy for their situation is not enough to carry us. Life is to much and we are not up to the challenge.

The truth is ministry must come from a place of being seated with Jesus in heavenly places. He sits above their circumstances and sees the big picture in their lives. He can navigate through places that we cannot see. Jesus has a plan for healing and deliverance that my lead through difficult places. He loves us and the people that we love better than we, on our own, ever could. He has wisdom to lead people through the place that He desires and bring them out on the other side, leaving them healed and whole.

Our role in missions or any ministry is to harvest intimacy with Jesus. We need to spend so much time with Him that He fills our vision. The bigger our vision of God the more empowered we are when we step into the enemies attack. We will have more faith as He leads us into places of staring down the enemy are he charges in to attack. When we understand the strength of Jesus, we can stand with others in scary places and not fear for them or for the outcome.

The other thing we need to do is get familiar with the love of God for us. When we know and understand the love of God for us, we have something to give away. We can believe that God wants to change the circumstances of others. His love will transform lives, communities and nations. When we are secure in it, we can join Him in that work. When we are not, we try to manipulate circumstances or God to separate people from the things that are causing them pain. We often interrupt the thing that God is using them to make them free and more the person that He created them to be. We need to receive love first from God before we can really have it to give to others. Without God's love flowing through us, all of our help will be misguided and may even deepen the problems that we are trying to fix. We love because He first loved us.

I am excited about where God is leading but I am most excited that he is teaching me to live and walk in His presence so that I can bring His life into every circumstance. I have learned to be content in Morris or San Lucas as long as I am with Jesus. I know that I will be fruitful regardless of where I am because Jesus is there. Thanks for all of your support and prayers in this journey.

If you would consider supporting me financially, as well as in prayer, it would be greatly appreciated. Checks can be sent to:
My Father's House of Prayer
C/O Guatemala Missions
P.O. Box 679 
Morris, IL 60450 Checks can be made out to MFHOP.