it's just a happy kind of day...

-- I'm officially a legal "resident alien" of Kenya. =) I got my official Kenyan alien I.D. card just today... which makes me chuckle since I think it technically expired in July when my visa expired. Ha ha!! I can always renew it.
-- I got three new Kenyan shirts also which a colleague carried over for me. =)
-- I had no early morning class this morning and got to sleep in. =) Ahhhh. =)
-- Our air conditioner is fixed!!!! Praise the Lord. It was only out for 24 hours, but in this heat... that matters!! God bless maintenance guys.
-- One of my roomies is unintentionally, but successfully pulling off the tobymac look today, and every time I see her, it makes me smile. =)
-- We're going out tonight with another house of girls for mediterranean food! yay!
-- I have a Tamil film to watch tonight about adoption and Sri Lanka. =)
-- Jesus loves me. And, just for that alone, I love him too!!!

be. here.

As I stared at my voice of the martyrs prayer calendar this afternoon, at the difficult countries highlighted for prayer this month... "where, Lord? where do you want me?" came tumbling out of my heart. Before I could finish breathing those words, He answers..."Here" (Dallas). Laughter was my immediate reaction to His instant & unexpected re-alignment of my mind to the present tense. And He smiled in His gentle, loving, knowing, way.  Man, I love this God of ours--so trustworthy, so patient, so personal and engaged in His love for us!!! I love that He is Almighty, Sovereign, and Holy ... and yet He delights in having intimate, tangible, even amusing conversations with me, His child. He's up to something... and it's beautiful. Not because I can see or know it, but because everything He does is beautiful. Purposed for His glory... every tiny little piece.

give

"Intense love does not measure it just gives."
"Everything that is not given is lost." 
 (mother teresa)

You're beautiful

We sang "Beautiful" by Phil Wickham this morning at the church I visited here in the Dallas area. There are two lines that are repeated/emphasized... and as we sang this morning, He drove them home into my heart as He brought visions of His face to my mind...

I see Your face ...
(in the mu$l!m deaf girl who sat beside to me, holding my hand, as we said goodbye)
You're beautiful.

I see Your face ...
(in the face of my deaf brother who you brought from destructive, violent past... who now reflects Your joy, peace, compassion)
You're beautiful.

I see Your face ...
(in my two year old kenyan neighbor who so completely stole my heart)
You're beautiful.

I see Your face ...
(in the face of a 3 year old boy with cerebral palsy, and the daily, sacrificial love of his deaf parents in their tender care of him as their gift from You)
You're beautiful.

I see Your face ...
(in the sweet face of an elderly telugu woman who praises Jesus)
You're beautiful.

I see Your face ...
(in the joyful dance of a old, crippled soma!1an brother's worship, as his cane is abandoned and arms raised)
You're beautiful.

I see Your face ...
(in the silent morning dance and spontaneous praise, of a deaf kenyan brother, for his audience of One)
You're beautiful.

I see Your face ...
(in the humble servanthood and bold dreams of deaf brothers and sisters in tanzania)
You're beautiful.

I see Your face ...
(in the radiant smile of a deaf ind!an sister whose family scorns her love for our Lord)
You're beautiful.

I see Your face ...
(in the confident, fearless faces of deaf fellowship leaders who are opposed and threatened)
You're beautiful.

I see Your face ...
(in the crossed-eyes of a five-year-old kenyan girl, who never misses an opportunity to remind us in  a deaf worship song that "God loves you. Jesus loves you.")
You're beautiful.

I see Your face ...
(in the faithfulness, devotion, integrity, passion, and poured out lives of my deaf brothers and sisters who work day in and out to ensure their friends and family will be able to finally KNOW YOU, truly, fully, unhindered, and set free through the Truth of Your Word in their OWN sign languages)
You're beautiful.

You're beautiful.
You're beautiful.
You're beautiful.

I see Your face.
You're beautiful.

not dreams, but wonders

"Dreams are tawdry when compared with the leading of God, and not worthy of the aura of wonder we usually surround them with. God only doeth wonders. He does nothing else. His hand can work nothing less. Praise to the Guiding God of Israel, and that Great Shepherd of the wayward sheep. When He directs a path, no way can seem bleak, no instance dull."~Jim Elliot (taken from Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot written by Elisabeth Elliot)

marriage is cross-cultural: an anecdote

Loved this anecdote in a current Elisabeth Elliot book I'm reading... especially in light of my classes on cross-cultural case studies and how to apply Biblical truth to the multicultural messiness that is life 'on the field' (which, by the way, is pretty sweet... raw, honest, REAL life... where the beautiful is sometimes ugly and the ugly is made beautiful. I love how God loves us). Anywho... so this made me chuckle aloud this morning. Proof marriage is an exercise in cross-cultural servanthood. ;) hee hee.

A couple I know had been married only a week of two when the wife went out shopping. The husband wondered what he might do for her and show her how much he loved her. A brilliant plan came to mind. He got down on hands and knees and scrubbed the kitchen floor. It was a demeaning task in his opinion, and he felt exceedingly humble while performing it. How amazed [his wife] would be! He waited in eager anticipation of her return, thinking how blessed it is to give.

She drove in the driveway, breezed into the kitchen, set the grocery bags on the counter, and glanced at the floor. "Oh--the floor's clean. Thank you, honey!" was all she said and went about putting things away.

...He went into a three-day funk. He was hurt; he was insulted; he was not properly appreciated; and the blessing of giving drained out in an instant because he had not received the kind of thanks he had expected.

 [She] had no idea what the trouble was. What she did not know was that her husband had never heard of a man's doing such a thing as scrubbing the floor for his wife, especially voluntarily, having thought of it all by himself. What he did not know was that in his wife's family, no woman ever did the job. Her father considered it a man's job and did it as a matter of course.

That young husband took the lesson to heart. He now believes that it would be wise for every Christian to post as his motto the lesson Jesus taught: "We are servants and deserve no credit; we have only done our duty."

 (in Discipline: The Glad Surrender, p. 31 by Elisabeth Elliot. 1982. Revell: Grand Rapids, Michigan.)

Disclaimer: Now, don't be too hard on the husband (if that's your tendency)... this actually reminds me to blog later on the whole concept of dealing with unmet expectations, which I realized is a bigger deal than I thought in the context of living and working on the field. =)

not a feeling

"...Faith is neither a mood nor a feeling, but practical obedience..." (Elisabeth Elliot, Disciple: A Glad Surrender)

texas g.i.a.l.

I'm in Dallas. Enjoying my new roommates. Surviving the heat (thank God for A/C!!!!). Starting graduate classes. Gulping as I stare down these academic papers/readings... I think my brain must officially switch back into graduate level reading/writing after enjoying the bliss of an International blend of Deaf English... aaaaaand, reality hits.

I'm the ONLY student in my morning "Christianity Across Cultures" class. I'm one of two students (in a 2 teacher class) for "Social & Political Organization." I guess that means our student:faculty ratio is pretty good here. ;) ;) ;)

I have a good feeling about this fall. Such a sense of peace, assurance, and rest. Praying over time management, relationship-building, intentionality & purposefulness. Priorities. Future work/location/training. But wanting most of all to be present and open to what His Spirit has to teach/say in this season. Pray with me over all this. I want to be found faithful in this "little"...

And with that... homework awaits me. 
Ready... Set... *inhale* Go...

"the finish line... it drives me on" (Bethany Dillon, "Revolutionaries")

ardent love

"Only a very ardent love will face things being made uncomfortable, and is ardent love found everywhere?" (amy carmichael)

I have decided

to follow Jesus.
no turning back.

though none go with me.
still I will follow.
no turning back.

the world behind me.
the cross before me.
no turning back.

though I may wonder.
still will I follow.
no turning back.

But Jesus said to him, "No one, after putting his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:62, NASB)

God's Word brings FREEDOM

Do you have a minute and 40 seconds to hear how? ... Freedom.Wycliffe.org

"There is no one else for me
None but Jesus
Crucified, He set me free
Now I live to bring Him praise"
(brooke fraser)

grrrr...

I. do. not. like. packing.
never have. never will.
doesn't matter the destination.
or who I will get to see there.
or the excitement I have in going.
packing makes my list of "not cool activities."
there's something about trying to make a huge pile of stuff fit into one or two little bags that... stresses. me. out.

now... unpacking... I'm all over that. Taking one or two little bags and spreading it all out into a larger space... no problem. Thankfully, that's what lies on the other end of these two, empty, ominous duffel bags I'm staring down.

obedience sets others free

This precious sister-in-Christ, though we've never met, never ceases to challenge, convict, inspire, and BLESS me through her poured-out-life to our Jesus... http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/

Her life is a continual reminder to me... when a person chooses to believe His Truth, trust, and step out in obedience... that simple act of faith has a dynamite affect... and releases, encourages, and enables others to do the same. Live boldly.

But we never can prove the delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay
For the favor He shows and the joy He bestows
Are for them who will trust and obey
~John H. Sammis~