"Consider the Ravens..."

I re-listened to a sermon yesterday on the theology of suffering from a pastor (Levi Lusko) who suffered immense pain after losing his daughter to an asthma attack in 2012.  The following quotation has caused me to stop and think so many times since initially hearing it that I couldn't help but share it and relate it to my new career endeavor. "If we take away suffering altogether, we take away the ministry. The Bible tells us that we're a royal priesthood and holy nation and we like that!  But most of us forget that Kings and Priests have to be anointed.  What are they anointed with? Oil.  Where does oil come from?  Olives-- olives that have been pressed and crushed and broken down so that the goodness can be drawn out from it.  Who was crushed in order to be anointed?  Jesus.  He was crushed at Gethsemane (literally meaning "oil press") so we could take His anointing as kings and priests of God's kingdom. In return, we sometimes feel crushed b...

Last January, I listened to a sermon by Christine Caine (one of my present day heroes) who was speaking to 40,000 college students about their life purpose.  She read the story of Elisha and how God basically plucked him out of the field from behind an ox to serve in one of the biggest and most intense jobs of his time.  She admonished the students to never shy away from hard and less-than-glamorous work but rather, to get behind the plow and work hard and trust that God is using your today to shape your tomorrow.  She told her own story and ways that God plucked her from the "plow" with jobs she never thought she'd do.  She challenged us to be okay with where God has us now. One of the most beautiful and terrifying things about living a life of faith is God's ability and propensity to change directions in our lives with hardly any notice.  There have been a few seasons where I sensed God might move, but rarely have I known how, when, or why.  For the pas...

Today was a very normal day in preschool: lots of kids, typical arguments, laughter, lunches, and learning.  But today I came away from work just a little bit wiser.  Actually, this is happening a lot more frequently -- I find myself working and then thinking about the bigger picture of life.  I often ponder why in the world God wants me at this preschool right now.  I dream about different directions my life could go.  I look at job boards, but nothing stands out.  It's an odd spot to be in, but today was a bit of an ice-breaker. It started on the playground, where most good preschool stories start.  (If you're my Facebook friend, you've likely read the myriad of hilarious things kids say, most of which happen on the playground.)  One of the girls approached me and asked me in moderately broken english to put her hair back into "tails."  She put her pointer fingers on her head almost like horns or antlers and I understood: pigtails!  ...

Last week I had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel to Ecuador with 21 teens and three other adults to minister to both missionaries and local Ecuadorians.  The 11 days we spent abroad will likely remain a highlight of my year, and probably in my life for several reasons.  God showed up.  Here's my brief attempt to give you a glimpse of what happened. The team we took down was comprised of 21 very unique students, most of whom were 15 or 16 (the youngest we would allow).  I was nervous about our team being young and that so many of the students had never been out of the country, muchless to a place similar to the third-world set-up we were headed into.  There were very strong personalities and more than a few quirks (including my own) that made me wonder just how well we would get along for 11 straight days.  A majority of the students come from one of the wealthiest suburbs in the metro area -- not a bad thing, just another dynamic that would push...

Next week I will, God-willing, turn 26. While birthdays have never been an overly big deal for me, this one is a welcome change. If I'm really honest, I have to admit that 25 hasn't been my favorite year of life and I'm ready to move on.  Being 25 for me meant moving all my stuff seven times in twelve months-- SEVEN! It meant one of those seven moves was moving back to MN and leaving Manila indefinitely after just beginning to really feel settled. It meant new jobs, a lost job, a bad job, and now two busy jobs that weren't even on my radar until October. It meant new friendships, old friends, and new sides to old problems i thought were a thing of the past. For someone who likes to have big plans and all the details figured out, being 25 has been exhausting. Sometimes it feels like I'm playing a never-ending game of pick up sticks. Just when it seems I've got everything finally in my hand, a few sticks drop and a few more reveal themselves. This morning I was ...