Abram-An incomplete man

Here we are, at the beginning of this epic journey!

(You can see the introduction to this series here.)

Here is where it started. Abram. This is the man to whom God gave the first promise. Genesis 11 tells the story of Babel, and there is a list of names which leads to a lot of names that we don't know, and then to Abram and Lot, whom many people know. I want to tell the story in a new light. I want to bring out the drama. I am sick of stained glass windows of serene faced people in struggles. Every church I go into has high ceilings and clean floors and the dirt, pain and struggle in the bible is replaced by rich colors and flourishes.

Abram was kind of a loser. He was a foreigner. His wife was barren. That was the shame. Those women without children were nothing. They were disppointment. She had one thing going for her. She was hot.

The Lord spoke to Abram-"Get out of your country, from your family And from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Genesis 12:1-3

How must he have felt? How would you feel to have this promise come to you from God? No ammount of thanking or prostrating could have equaled the action of obediance to get up and go, like Abram did. The faith to step out with everything on his back and say, Okay. I'm here. I believe you. I TRUST you. And that was counted to him as righteousness.

I'd imagine the fear and excitement and joy propelled him as he packed. The Lord God Almighty said HE was going to bless me! He said he was going to use me to be a blessing to the earth! He will make me a great nation! Me! A childless man!
There was nothing he could do but pack. There was nothing he could do but go. God gave him a promise. Maybe there wasn't as much joy. Maybe it was with heavy footsteps that he left everything he knew behind. Maybe he didn't tell anyone why he was leaving because he knew how impossible it sounded.

Along the journey, the Lord actually appeared to him! (vs.7) And He reafirmed his promise to him with the specifics. This is it. This is land I am giving to your descendants. Abram built an alter. That was all he knew how to do. Then he kept going, and built another one, and called on the name of the Lord. The Lord was bringing Him into a relationship, a conversation, a bond. He had so far to go.

An Incredible Story- The introduction

Matthew Chapter 1 has captured me. It is an incredible story. No, that's not right. It's alot of stories. So many stories that don't get told very often (that I know of) that deserve to be told. Stories of people that believed in what was promised. People that stood up against what was wrong. People that believed that God was more real than their current situations. People that had no idea that from their faithfulness and their struggle, that their names would be listed to prove to the world that Jesus is the messiah. They didn't know when or how redemption would come. They didn't know God's mighty purpose to redeem the world.

I can't even begin to imagine how many books have already been written on this subject, how much informaton has already been assimilated. But I do want to do this for me, as much as for anyone that might be willing to join me on this journey.

I am the least

It's funny in my life, living with so much dependancy on others, how I can forget to be humble about what I have recieved. The food, the bed, the time, everything I need. I can just come to expect it because it is always there. In my life, sometimes I have felt like a ghost. A non entity.

To anyone I am trying to reach on the phone, I am just a distraction from what they have been doing. Unless I reach a secretary, and it's their job to answer the phone and pass me onto the right person. I have to try to convince people in a few rushed minutes that I am worth talking to. My information is something they could really benefit from.

I am contacting people because I need a place to perform my theater because I break my mind (rather than my back) learning French lines, trying to be faithful to this job and darn it, I want to do ministry. I am contacting them because I believe in what I do. That makes up such a huge part of our lives. I would rather be performing of course!

When we work with schools and churches, we ask them to house us, as a part of our financial arrangement.
When we don't have performances, we have to ask people that may or may not remember us if they would be willing to welcome us into their homes. I can't begin to know how many different beds I've slept in. How many different families I've experienced.

Two days ago, I fell out of our van. My foot slipped out of my shoe, my knee buckled, I have no idea. I laid on the ground laughing and crying. My unit stood by nervously until my husband managed to help me get up. When our host, who was housing us very short notice cleaned my wound, I was trying not to cry. Feeling so overwhelmed by the generosity, the gentleness, the concern. It was like she was treating me like Jesus. I was truly one of the "least of them." A person with no place to go. No place to call home. No Mom available to clean my painful foot. Nothing to offer. To be given such love can be nothing less than humbling. I know I can't deserve what I've been given. I can only be faithful to do the consistent contact work to try to get the opportunities to do what I love. Sometimes I can even make secretaries and Pastors and teachers laugh, and that is great. Even when I feel like I'm not there, and no one else cares that I am there, I still have joy knowing that He knows, and He has a good plan. There are alot of friends and partners for ministry to be made!

We will be going into the South of France soon. We still don't have many programs. Please pray for open doors and housing and stamina for us!