You say, the times are troublesome, the times are burdensome, the times are miserable. Live rightly and you will change the times.
The times have never hurt anyone. Those who are hurt are human beings; those by whom they are hurt are also human beings. So, change human beings and the times will be changed.
-- Sermon 311, 8
Prayer. Let my soul rouse itself, Lord, from weariness, lean on your creation and hobble toward you who made it all. For in you we are remade and find true strength.
-- Confessions 5, 1
St. Augustine of Hippo"
At times changing human beings seems so difficult, so impossibly difficult. Every day we reach out to human beings and so often we are rejected. The times have not hardened the hearts of man, rather man's unwillingness to submit their lives to the Creator. But what freedom we find in Christ! Don't they understand? I daily feel my aching heart tighten in my chest as I experience teens struggle to understand, to want to understand, what it is like to have a relationship with a loving Father. I won't even go into that aspect of our relationship with Him right now, you know, the one where so many people have been so hurt by their fathers that they cannot comprehend a father actually showing love.
Enough rambling-love is everything, but little is love. If we, if
I could just get my act together and really show people the love Christ shows to us then maybe we could really change people.
I need to change my lifestyle! There are people in other parts of the world starving to death and dying of disease.
Oftentimes an individual returning home from a mission's trip might
make this general statement. However, after arriving back to America
from a monthlong trip to Swaziland, Africa, my mindset was vastly
different than I contemplated it would be.
Swaziland is known around the world; yet not for something that any
country would want to be known for. This country has the highest AIDS
rate in the world. One of the villages we visited struggled with an
AIDS rate of one in three. This experience broke my heart. Due to the
immense AIDS problem, the orphan number increases on a daily basis.
Walking down the street, I saw a 13-year-old girl carrying an infant.
But the teenage girl no longer played the role of "big sister." After
the loss of their parents, the girl became mother to the child, and
poverty only made the situation worse.
A typical Swazi home in a village consisted of sticks, of all sizes,
plastered together by mud. Straw pieces made up the roof, and nothing
more than a slab of cold cement made up the floor. This round, one-room
hut housed a family of five. Young children ran around with filthy,
torn clothes, if they had clothes on at all. The smell of rice cooking
in a large pot wafted past us while we walked through a village.
However, in the midst of poverty and AIDS, the children came out to
greet us, always with smiles on their faces.
"Faith like a child," I repeated over and over in my head. Happiness
and joy overwhelmed these children. Many of the older Swazi locals had
a broader understanding of life and knew that if they did not get a
meal within the next week, there was a possibility that they may not be
alive to experience the following week. Seeing the darkness in their
eyes broke my heart even more. After spending a month in Swaziland
doing missions work, it became more than just a missions trip. The trip
removed the blinders that had been covering my eyes for too long.
After just stepping into the lives of people in an AIDS-stricken,
impoverished country, I came back from Swaziland expecting that I would
say,
I have to change my lifestyle;
however, that was not so. When I came home, I did change my eating
habits by only eating what my stomach could handle instead of being
gluttonous. I also learned to express more gratitude for all of the
ways the Lord had blessed me. Yet, sitting in my room one night
journaling, the Lord spoke to me. He reminded me that He blessed me
with the life I have for a reason.
If God planned for me to live in Africa or any other country where
poverty and disease ran the nation, then that is exactly where I would
be. He has blessed me with a life that consists of three meals a day,
clothes on my back and a very well-structured home. It would be wrong
of me to try to change the life He has given me; instead, I need to be
more grateful and maintain a larger sense of willingness to share what
I have with those who do not possess the same. I realized that my view
should not be focused on changing my lifestyle, but rather on changing
the way I view the life that God has given me. If I choose to live this
life of abundance without thanking Him for the opportunity and
blessing, then I would be mistaken.
There are many people dying of AIDS and other diseases, and people are
starving to death. Stepping out and making a difference in a small way
such as giving bread to a homeless man on the side of the road, or
going to the extreme of visiting a country like Swaziland and
ministering to the orphans, the sick and the homeless is what I can do
to share the life God has granted.
This life is not about what one can do to make his or her bank account
larger, or even beating yourself over the head for having a privileged
life. It is, however, about making a difference in the lives of those
who do not have hope. I have been blessed with a life of abundance, and
it is now my job to go out and share that abundance with those who do
not have it.
Well we have had this page for a year or so now and I am finally getting to update it! Our internet browser was unsupported by this site so we had to do a little figuring out what to do. Now that we are up I guess we can update you on our lives. Elijah is almost a year old now and he is walking around everywhere! He has truly been a blessing in our lives. We are also expecting our second little boy in June. We are thinking of naming him Noah, but are still praying about the right name for him. This pregnancy has gone very smoothly for Bethany and we are truly thankful for that!
I graduated from college in December with a degree in Counseling Psychology. I have just been working since then, not only at AIM, but also at Shepherd's Hill Farm, which is a discipleship program for troubled teens. The Lord has really blessed us in our opportunities to minister in various places. I am starting Graduate School April 9th, working on my degree in Marriage/Family/Adolescent Counseling.
Bethany and I are continually praying for guidance and wisdom in discerning where the Lord will take us in the next few years. But for now we are taking things day-by-day and just trusting in the Lord to provide for us our options when that time comes. All we can do is be continually obedient in serving Him daily and just keep our focus on Him and on showing His love daily. We truly are thankful to you all and could not have made it this far without the prayers and support of our family and friends. We will try and keep this page updated so you can keep up with what is going on for us daily! God Bless!
