OK.
Oooooohh kay.
Missions week.
This has been my passion for a very long time, so I was seriously stoked for this week. If you know me, you know that my number one goal in life is to reach the lost and poor (in society and in spirit) of the world with the saving love of Christ. To reach the “unreachable,” to go to the ones where no one goes. To find the people that are hard to find, to take those journey’s that seem impossible to find those that have never heard of my Savior before.
This has ALWAYS been my greatest passion.
But this week changed it entirely for me. It didn’t change the passion. Quite the opposite actually. But It changed how I look at it in every way.
Since God kind of gave me that passion and that drive since I was younger, it was easy to be prideful in it. Not the pride that makes you compare yourself to others around your, but it was easy to think that God wanted to use ME to bring Himself to people that couldn’t hear without it.
But if there is anything I learned this week, it’s this:
GOD CANNOT BE STOPPED. There is nothing that we can possibly bring to His people around the world that He hasn’t already been revealing to them. If I don’t go, it’s not going to stop God’s word from reaching His people. Instead, he is inviting me to be a part and to join in with him in bringing His kingdom on earth.
I am feet.
I am a voice.
Nothing more.
What a humbling, yet freeing revelation. There’s no need to worry about what to say or about “screwing up” the kingdom of God by mistakes that I would make. Cause I know that my God is sovereign and that He has been working in the hearts of the people before I ever even thought about going to them. God is already there, my job is just to reveal the name of Jesus Christ to them, and with Him by my side through the whole thing, how can I be afraid?
But with this revelation comes a challenge. If God is revealing himself through nature to his people, if they’re seeing the creator and his pattern and their need for redemption, what happens if someone else gets there first? If someone comes proclaiming Allah or Buddha or even tribal religions and worship?
This thought gave me this uncontrollable urge to reach those “unreachable people.” If God is already there, I want His people to know Him by the name of Jesus Christ. The enemy is crafty and has his way of twisting the truth just enough to deceive for generations. Let us be the ones to bring truth.
Here’s the other thing God told me through this week.
There is no passion in me that is an accident. He created me for a purpose, designed me for a destiny. Every passion, interest, desire, gift… it’s all there for him to use.
My revelation this week? Photography.
I’ve always been very insecure about my photography just because I’ve never taken any classes or anything. I don’t REALLY know what I’m doing. All I know is that when I’m able to capture someone’s personality, the joy behind their eyes, the love in a couples touch, the authenticity in a smile, it’s something that I never get over. I love to use vibrant colors or sharp black and white images to capture emotion in a person. It’s like my drug. One good picture and I’ll never want to stop shooting.
But I never really figured God could use it. It’s just something I like to do. I thought that I would have to become a teacher or something like that to go into missions. But then we watched a video on a group of people that went into Thailand and documented the world of Human Trafficking into pictures and created a gallery to raise awareness. They went in with the intention of using their cameras for God and His glory throughout the nations. They were fighting for justice in a world that reeks of injustice. Their weapon? A Camera.
And it hit me. Everything that I have is a gift from God, especially this photography thing. Cause this is something that I can’t take credit for. I’ve never taken any classes, I don’t really know what I’m doing, every picture that I take is simply by his grace. In fact, I wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for photography. He created sessions for me to use my gift to get the money to come bring him glory. How cool is that? Even skate ministry Friday nights. It was my camera that first cracked the ice with the skaters. God is using it in so many different ways. How could I not see that before?
It’s exciting to think of how God is starting to piece together parts of the puzzle. This week has definitely played a part in that. As I’ve been praying about this photography aspect of ministry, God has really been laying on my heart the idea of slavery throughout the world. Not necessarily that of the sex trade as much as that for industries that produce everything that we consume in our western world. Just think about the chocolate that we eat every day in America. Do you know who is making that? Do you know how those coco beans of being harvested?
Often times it is forced labor in which young men and women are forced to work hard hours, beaten if disobedient, and without any pay. They are locked up at night without even a chance to use a toilet. How about your clothes? Your shoes? Often times we get excited about discount items that we find, but we don’t stop to think about why its so cheap. It’s because the laborers are not being paid a penny.
Where does this injustice end? With us as the consumer. If the demand for these products goes down, so does the demand on those in slavery.
There are some organizations in place that are fighting for awareness. FairTrade is huge. Anything with the FairTrade logo is legit. The workers are paid justly. It might be a little more expensive, but if we’re all willing to pay an extra 50 cents for a chocolate bar, we could save lives.
But as westerners, we hear about stuff like this all the time. We might feel sad for a bit or even remember it the next time we want to eat a chocolate bar, but it doesn’t stop us from eating it. But what if you were to see an image of a man’s back that has been permanently scarred from the man that produced that chocolate bar? I bet you’d be able to remember it, because it’s real. This is how I’ll choose to fight these injustices, with my camera.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtrUuvUFWqY)
So that was pretty much this week. God’s always been laying specific parts of the world on my heart, but I’m gonna wait to hear more about that before I write it down. So lectures this week were… not quit lectures. But God definitely spoke through it.
And it’s actually really cool to see how all the pieces are coming together in what God’s showing me in my life, as well as how it’s aligning with what Scotty’s hearing. I was hesitant to talk to hear about anything specific, just because I didn’t want to influence anything God might be telling him. But in the end I decided just to share, and it was really encouraging.
Ok let’s get down to this.
Small Groups- Not the same without mom there! But it was actually still cool to see how everyone is hearing from God for the next step in their lives, whether it’s toward missions or not.
One-on-One- =[ missed you! But I’m glad you were home Friday night! Lol
Outreach Prep- We had SUCH a good time of prayer Tuesday night. I’m so thankful for Ben pushing us to be a team of prayer, because there’s so much power behind that. You know that it’s a good team too when everyone is fighting to pray and can’t get a word in! haha. Once again, we missed you Whit. But now we get you this week! …and no Ben. Why such a broken family?? WHY? ;-)
Reading- As far as reading and stuff goes, Saturday was a really good day for me. Everyone went into Brisbane, but I hitched a ride into Coloundra with Taylor and Claire. Man I needed it. It was so nice to just lay down on a powdery beach all by myself and read my Bible (It’s so pretty down there!). And I got to hit some of the shops and really just refresh myself. Taylor and I split a pizza in the Boardstore at lunch and just chilledfor a while, which was actually really cool. It was a really slow day and we ended up just sharing music and chilling out (I got to write most of my journal). But it reminded me so much of being at the Perk! It was like a little home away from home. Lol But that was a great day of refreshing and catching up on reading.
Evangelism- This week was hard. I’ll send it to you in a message Whit (and anyone else who might read this, just ask. But I don’t want to post it on here). But if you don’t care for details, please just keep it in your prayers. Especially wisdom and opportunities for me.
So that’s about it. This was a crazy week now that I look back on it. Crazy emotional. But that’s good, it means God’s moving. It was also a good week with family here. We had a night spent laying in the middle of the road singing songs, a night throwing each other in the pool (converses and all) and… singing songs in the middle of the road (I’m sensing a pattern here…) a night consisting of Macca’s and Lion King with Taylor and Dave, a night pranking (quite poorly and very uncreative, let me just say) the guys house with all the girls, and an entire afternoon editing pictures and laying in a hammock at 77. I can’t believe that was all one week…
I’m so so SO blessed to be here at this base. To be a part of a ministry that is already thriving in their community. It’s a rare thing to find, and it’s humbling to get to jump on board with something already in progress.
But just the mere fact that I’m here at this school being fed and filled up to the top, that I have opportunities to pour all of that right back out each week, and with all these amazing people … God is so good to me.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COVKlSoYkVI)
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