Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Burnout- A poem

What about when it's way too much
bitten off more than can be chewed
Started that song at a note too high
The yoke has stripped your shoulders bare
There's only one prayer you dare
"Help, enable, strengthen, heal"
As you trip and fumble and stumble along
And He says no and He takes that wooden beam
and the freedom is disorienting 
and the world gets too big and you beg to have it back
because with it on you know who you are
and what you should do
And He says no and leads you to a gentle stream
with soft grass overlooking a green valley
Listening to the lapping water you get the thought to walk into it
The cold water makes you gasp
and He laughs and splashes and you splash Him back
and your laughter is easy and honest
And the water has healed the aches of redundancy
the scars of apathy, the strains of unreached perfection
Somehow you become afraid of going back, to normal life
to the old routine
You are shocked to see that old yoke on an alter, burning heavily
I've got a better one, He says.
This time, I'll wear it with you.

Monday, May 6, 2013

A Chance to catch up!

It's been awhile since I gave an update, and there's something wrong with that! A lot has been going on, and I'll get right into it!

Remember when I wrote about Evelyn? She is a former Covenant Player who has MS. We got to stay with her and her Mom. She recently lost her Dad back in November, who was also sick and was totally ready to go be with Jesus. She found out that a good method to deal with the loss of memory due to her sickness is learning a language, so she is working on learning Spanish! There was so much laughter and love in that home. There's no greater witness of the reality of God than to see people live and breathe in that hope, and to be able to release their loved ones in that hope.

Another great thing, I was actually able to hear my Dad preach! One of his sermons is online, at  his churches website. You can listen to it here, and I really recommend it. I'm so proud to have a Dad like him, anointed to preach and move people to think. My unit and I were blessed. We had tears in our eyes and were catching his passion as he spoke. I'm finding that one of my passions is to see people flourish in their creative skill, to use it for the Lord, whatever it is. It just gets me excited to see people in the place they are meant to be!

And another very very cool thing, is that my team stayed with Alain Auderset. He is a professional artist, he does Christian comics and is working with a team that is turning them into cartoons. You can learn more about him here.
He was so humble, and funny! There was just a steady stream of jokes and teasing and love all around. He even drew a sketch of our unit! My husband was in full Viking mode, because he's Swedish, and my face was half smile, and our leader had the perfect Tin Tin hair. His comics just preach a sermon in one picture, sometimes. And the story of Robi makes me cry every time I read it. A comic book, seriously. I want to figure out how to support this guy, so mentioning him here is something, eh?

And yesterday, we worked at a wonderful church, full of International couples and families. We did a workshop and hopefully really encouraged people that they can use their creativity through drama to reach out to their sphere of influence. It was a little taste of heaven, people from South Africa, Indonesia, India, America, Great Britian, Switzerland, I don't even remember where else! Everyone was so welcoming and in two hours we managed to get through all of the basics of theater without giving them much of a chance to sit still!

Now we are in Luxembourg, briefly. We are moving into a busy time! Lots of lines to learn and plays to rehearse and people to contact. Please pray for stamina and smooth communication and wisdom for managing the time!

God bless you, until next time!