Furious Love

"Nothing can tear us from

The grip of His mighty love

We’ve only glimpsed, His vast affection

Heard whispers of, His heart and passion

It’s pouring down…

His love is deep, His love is wide

And it covers us

His love is fierce, His love is strong

It's furious

His love is sweet, His love is wild

And it's waking hearts to life

The Father loves and sends His son

The Son lays down His life for all

He lavishes His love upon us

He calls us now, His sons and daughters

He’s reaching out…

… and its waking hearts to life

He is waking hearts to life

He is waking hearts to life"

 We sang this song during worship last night and it made my heart overflow with thankfulness for Christ's deep, abounding and furious love for me. It has been such a special song to me throughout this school.

It gives me hope...no matter what happens...no matter how badly I screw up!

Love God - Love Others

Lately I have been seeing heaps of quotes by Mother Theresa on facebook and on my newest obsession Pinterest (check it out and follow me). I get so inspired each time I see one of these quotes and I am starting to look up to her so much. She gave up her entire life to love and minister to the needs of the poor and sick. She was humble, full of love and truly cared for others. She spoke up for justice and said she was "a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world." I admire the way she gave up her life for God. She let go of having material possessions, having a husband, or a nice house and a car. Instead, she devoted herself to love. This is a beautiful thing.

In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love. - Mother Theresa

As I was thinking about this, I also remembered some more people who are showing others the same heart as Mother Teresa. In Philadelphia, PA, a man named Shane Claiborne started a community called the Simple Way. Last year I read a book called the Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claibourne (highly recommended!) and it totally changed my life. The Simple Way is a community of people living in the ghetto, who spend every day loving their neighbors, helping the poor and loving Jesus. They are also incredibly involved in social justice issues. They have an after school program for children in the neighborhood and are currently working on building a garden in their community. I would definitely recommend checking them out and the things they are doing!
If you would like to check out what they are doing: The Simple Way

Another person that I was reminded of is a guy named Brandt Russo. I learned about him last year through an article in Relevant Magazine. Brandt was leading a fairly normal life, lived in the States and loved Jesus...but he knew there was something more. So, he gave up everything that he had, purchased a bus and started driving around the States, living and helping the poor. He's lived on the streets for a year and has been jailed for trying to bring about justice. God has taken him on such an awesome journey and it's cool to read about. His mission is to love, to bridge the gap between the rich and poor and to meet the needs of the poor and neglected. He also began a t-shirt company called "Can't Ignore the Poor." The proceeds from his t-shirts go to help those in need.

If you would like to read more about Brandt's vision: Adopt-A-Jesus
Or to check out his T-shirt company: Can't Ignore the Poor

Love God...Love Others. That is whats it's all about

Abuse & Protection

This week was taught by Greg Burch, a missionary from California who has been working in Latin America for over 15 years. After a ministry of six years in Caracas, Venezuela among street-living and working children Greg is now dedicating his time to global research and advocacy on behalf of children at risk.  

We explored different kinds of child abuse

• Sexual Abuse
• Physical Abuse
• Spiritual Abuse
• Psychological Abuse
• Neglect 
• Emotional Neglect

He shared about what a Child Protection Policy is, and why it is so important to impliment one while working with kids.  These policies and procedures help create child-safe organizations. A strong policy will guide you in dealing with difficult situations. When there is a crisis it may be harder to think clearly. If you have a reliable policy you can react in an informed way and avoid accusations of a biased response. (positive or negative)  The truth is that people need accountability. I was challenged to make a child protection policy of my own for my time in Jaco. It was really good for me to sit down and think about this.

During his teaching, Greg shared with us a video from the Congo about “child witches.” If you have never heard of this, be forewarned…it is really intense stuff. Some evangelical churches in the congo are claiming that certain children are witches. When this happens, the children are basically thrown out onto the streets and left to die. The parents no longer want them because they are a “witch.” Then, the pastor of the church will have the parents pay for them to “exorcise” their child, which involves brutal beatings and things they could not even mention or show in the videos. After watching this video I felt sick. There is so much corruption in this world, even in the so-called “church.” It’s super overwhelming.

I have to remember that the change starts with me and each individual child and person. These are hard situations, but what I can do is begin with myself, my resources and focus on the people I am meeting here. The reality is that I will not be able to stop all injustice from happening everywhere in the world, but I can help change a few people’s lives in an amazing way. For that, I am insanely thankful.

So special

Today in class Leslie shared about children with special needs. My mind instantly went back to the Mother Theresa home we worked with during my DTS outreach. While there, I was filled with such an overwhelming love for the children there with disabilities. I saw so much beauty in them. Leslie challenged us to ask hard questions; Questions that don't have answers. Why? I kept having to remind myself that God is good, and He is loving all the time. He makes no mistakes, and does everything for a reason. Even if God doesn't always bring physical healing to people they are still able to bring glory to His name. Within each of these children is a hidden treasure, maybe you can't see it at first, but as you get you know them, and fall in love with them God reveals that beautiful treasure. These children are God's delight; He uses them to teach us things that we can't learn in other ways.
Leslie spoke to us about her own personal experience while working with children who have special needs. Then at the end of the class she had us split into pairs and teach the rest of the class about a specific disability. Even though we only had one class about children with special with special needs, I feel like so much was revealed. 

Street Kids

There is an unbelievable number of street children in the world today: an estimated 100 million. They are living on the street, with no protection, no security, and no love. They steal, sniff glue, have sex, fight and rummage for food. However these things don’t define them. That is not who God intended for them to be or where God intended for them to live. They come from broken families all over: slums, middle class homes, and even Christian homes. God wants them to have loving parents and a safe home. These are children, between the ages of 0 and 18…living on the streets, sleeping on cardboard, and scared for their lives. When it comes to hope, they have none. They find themselves sniffing glue to take care of the emptiness in their lives. When it comes to love, they are alone. So they end up having sex with each other to make up for that hole in their hearts.

Who is taking care of these children? 

They are taking care of themselves. That was never supposed to happen. 

Our speaker Mati is based in Recife, Brazil where he has leadership of the YWAM base.  Their focus is ministering to the street children. Over the years they have seen the work develop and make a real difference in the lives of many children. 

One thing Mati said this week that really stood out to me was, “With knowledge comes responsibility. When you see light, you are responsible for the light that you know. ” Once we are faced with knowledge of these situations, we have a responsibility to do something. Satan has a lot of ways of destroying children. We can see that through what is happening to these kids on the streets. One of the ways Satan destroys children is through the apathy of those who can help those kids. I think it’s important to take a look at what is holding us back from helping children all over the world and children in our own neighborhood. Is it apathy? If so, we need to kick ourselves in the butts. Kids need us.
We talked this week about following your calling and taking a risk to follow God even if we can’t see where we are going. Moses took the Israelites out of Egypt without having any idea where he was going, how he was going to feed all of them or where they would sleep. He had no idea what he was doing, except that God told him to do it. And he followed God’s lead to wherever it took him. Do I have that kind of faith, where I will step out and do something God tells me, even if I don’t know where I will sleep, where I will get food or where I’m even going? I don’t really know. I have had the faith to come here and believe that this is where God has taken me. But in some ways, I feel as though this is a safe place. Would I be able to step out and go somewhere else? To follow God, even if I can’t see where I’m going? I’m trying and striving and moving forward. I think that’s a good place to start.

A story of Jaco

 This is a story about whats happening in Jaco. 

Yesterday a taxi pulled up outside the gate of the Jaco Ministry Property where we work. I recognized the man who stepped out immediately. I recognized him because he came by before – over a month ago – and droped off a beautiful young girl. As he was leaving he whispered in my ear urgently, “Help Her!!” I didn’t have any information beyond that, and unfortunately it happened at a moment when things were really hectic. I managed to chat with her a little bit and asked her if there was anything she wanted to talk about. She said no and skated for a few minutes, then left.

Since then I’ve seen her frequently around town – riding her skateboard, sitting on a curb. We always wave and greet each other.

Well, yesterday he showed up again. Turns out he’s a taxi driver who sees the ins and outs of what happens in this town. He said he’s very concerned for this girl. She is 14,  has no family here, is living with another girl who was going to help her, but ended up not being much help. She is turning to prostitution to get money and spending most of her time on the streets.

“We have to do something,” he said. And he had a plan. “I’m going to tell her that she can come here and have free English classes.” We both agreed this was a good plan. Maybe if she comes here, gets to know us, gets some support, meets other positive people, things could turn around for her before she heads any further down this path.

As he drove away I walked back towards the rancho and tears streamed down my face. It’s hard to imagine a 14 year old girl walking the streets of this town at night alone. Selling herself.

I just began praying for her and for others like her. I began praying for this property. Somehow the community knows that this is a place of hope and light. There’s so much more we could be doing.

We need to be able to live there to be more available. I’m praying for a way for us to move in quickly.

Thank you for joining with your prayers.

Leslie