rock wall community

This morning I was working the Rockwall up at camp and I saw the coolest thing. This guy who was 17 was climbing the wall and as he was climbing he was encouraging the 12 year old girl climbing( I was belaying her) the side next to him. She was trying really hard but was very afraid of heights. They got a little half way up the wall and were sitting on a ledge part that sticks out (the side in between the sides they were climbing). They sat there and he tried to keep her calm as she was losing her cool. Her mom told me “they are in the same support group”. Well turns out they both have juvenile diabetes..so did every kid climbing that hour. Wow. I saw what community looked like in the face of this kid. He climbed at the same pace as her, sometimes a little before but now really. He encouraged her and was so nice even if she was freaking out. How many 17 year old boys do you know would be that kind and compassionate to a 12 year old girl. And not just that but he was enjoying his time on the wall. Like he really cared about her climbing.
Community is living life together. Through the journey. In their case they do community through their support group and fun adventures like this. I just loved to see what that community looked like played out. I loved to see how those parents just loved on each other and understood each other. Community is hard. It’s a commitment. Its not always convenient or always easy. What does your community look like? I hope there is at least 1 person climbing the wall with you. He’s a good person to have always by your side and he’s not letting go not a chance. God will never forsake you friend. Hows that for community?!!! and I hope you have someone else climbing with you. A friend or a family member. Or just someone that’s got yo back. Its fun to climb together!
On a side note…I wrote some stuff for my bucket list today. And I started reading “the Hole in our Gospel” by Richard Stearns today and man friends if you want a book that will wreck your heart in the best way possible read this book. God asks for everything of us. We are not doing enough for his people. We are failing as Christians in many ways. but its not too late. Its not to late to step up to the plate and care for "the least of these".DO SOMETHING! In that way we are caring for God. This revolutionary love we have found in Christ can seriously change the ENTIRE WORLD and the face of poverty entirely if we put our faith into true action! HOW COOL IS THAT?! God is alive!!!
amen.

hand crafted masterpiece

Have you ever heard the song “Benjamin” by Sanctus Real?
It’s about the lead singer who is welcoming his son into the world in the same hospital that on a different floor his dad is being diagnosed with terminal cancer. It’s a song that’s about both life, and death at the same time. People think that if you think too much about death than you aren’t really living and you should just live and do what feels good now. I think that’s a message our culture loves to send. But thinking about death makes me hold life more dear. This isn’t because im afraid to die.(Im gonna dance with Jesus!) This is because im afraid not to truly live. Not to truly serve God and all others to my potential. To waste my talents.and to be judged for wasting them.(Matthew 25:14-30). My time here is short really. In the big scheme of things. It’s a blink. I don’t want to wake up at 36 or 52 and feel like I never really lived. This isn’t Tuck Everlasting folks. So I think about my precious time here and it helps me live. I think about the people that God has put in my life and it overwhelms me. Its crazy that I even know these people. Like so your born and live in the same time period as someone else and then you live where they live and you go to church where they go or you go to school where they go or you see them in the grocery store. Its like wow. All the people you will see in the duration of your life is such a small minuscule fraction of all the people who have ever lived. And lets talk about time frame. Im so glad I was born now and not a hundred years ago (Although I like to think me and Susan B. Anthony would have been good pals) My lifes views would have been so different. I would have probally worked towards rights my whole life that I already have at age 21. And other people have paved the way for that with their life’s work. And now let’s talk about family. God picked my one mom one dad one brother one sister on Uncle John bob do you get the drift? You are not only Unique but the people in your life are unique too. And not only that but the people that your closest too is such a complete gift. That you met them. Some might say I’m looking to far into something that seems so simple. But if you knew the people in my life you would understand that they fit so well into my life. I treasure them and each one of them and each one of my close friends adds something so specific so unique to them that Im glad they weren’t born in the 1700s in England or in 1899 in Idaho. Or Im glad my college friends were born in the late 80s early 90s. do you get the drift? Its craz. Your life is truly a chose your own adventure book and I think the people are a HUGE part of that adventure. My new favorite movie (gasp I know) is Shawshake Redemption and in that Morgan Freeman says” I guess it comes down to a simple choice. Get busy living or get busy dying”. I chose to live and I chose to acknowledge the absolutely beautiful people Christ has filled my life with.
Friends, Your life is a Unique, Hand crafted masterpiece by the God of the Universe. What more could you ask for?

You are a Leaf

I wrote this exactly like I talk so unfortunately the more you can speak "mary" the easier you will be able to decipher this. I apologize for that!)

What is action really? Action is beautiful. Action takes faith. I’ve started to notice many non profit organizations are people that saw a need, where moved by what they saw and decided to step in and try to fill it. From widow groups, to adequate childcare, to adoption non profits to online help forums, HIV for orphans advocacy groups. You name it. Someone formed that forum, non profit, etc. because they saw a need. They saw that something wasn’t being met. and they stepped out in faith. I am inspired by that. I find action is more natural than we think it is going to be. Something happens in your life- Sparks an emotion of some sort- you act. What breaks your heart for the kingdom? Now you naturally act. You act because you’ve encountered something that makes you uncomfortable.If God's put passions in your heart then there is a solid reason they are there. Pray about it. Respond. Be moved. The biggest thing Im learning is God uses ordinary people to do extrodinary things for his purpose. These people have acted on it. Its wonderful really. There is freedom in action. What stops you from acting on things that break your heart? Because if they break your heart there's a good chance they break Gods too. If your passionate about education inequality or adoption or widows or human trafficing issues or missions then Go for it. Do something. i love to see what my friends are passionate about. Its often different but its so beautiful. I think of like the colors of leafs in the fall and how they are different and the leafs are different but there shapes and colors add so much to that individual branch. As a christian you are a leaf on a GIANT GIANT TREE! we are all different but can still add so much! And we can ACT on what moves us! I find these people that have created these non profits to be ordinary people with radical faith. To step out in action requires that. Radical action requires radical faith which requires radical sacrifice. A life loving others for Christ is the only life worth living. Because when we step out in faith and act we are being the body of Christ. And that not just what we are called to do but it becomes a joy. Even if it seems unnatural at first. Let people think your crazy. and not this like im a Christian I can say whatever I want stuff even though its not theologically backed but merely emotionally charged. I mean crazy like wow that person has hope and joy ive never seen before. Or why did that person just open the door for 30 people? Or wow that person made me feel valued. Or wow my family member just showed me so much grace. Action+grace=makes up crazy looking and its suppose to. Think about who are leader is. When Jesus was on the Earth he hungout with the outcasts and the broken. Theres so much scripture about caring for the poor and instruction to love the orphan and the widow. Lets make people think we are crazy. Crazy not by what we are against but crazy by what we are for. "We love because he first loved us" 1 John 4:19 Lets show some crazy love to a world in need of Jesus. Lets shows some crazy grace based faith action because we are free in Christ and that makes us FREE TO ACTand he shows us what love is. He is love. Be a Leaf. Be the Leaf you are and Love and Act and Serve and Dance and Sing and Rejoice for you are his