From School Bus to Marshrootka

Riding the Marshrootka home tonight, I went back to my 9th grade year when I used to ride the bus. I hated 9th grade. I went to a school where I didn’t know anyone; I moved up to the high school youth group even though my friends from church at the time all happened to be younger than me and would continue in the middle school ministry for another year or two. As for most high school kids, having my social connections all messed up seemed like the end of the world. For the first several weeks I rode the bus home in tears. And still crying, would call my mom and tell her how horrible things were. Out of self pity, I started talking to Jesus on those bus rides home. Telling Him how terrible it was and asking for a friend. And, in the human form, he sent several over the next couple years. But the real gift He gave me that year was a renewed relationship with Him. An understanding that He wasn’t just sitting up in Heaven on a throne watching my pain and thinking “gosh, Lori, when will you ever get life figured out.” No, a couple thousand years before He had left that behind in order to show all of us just how big His love is. And He didn’t just die for us; He rose and conquered death. And He didn’t just ascend into Heaven; He sent us His Holy Spirit to be with us constantly. And when He did that He knew that in 1997 in Tallahassee, FL there would be an insecure 14 year old girl who would need the friendship that only He has to offer. I don’t always feel as close to Him as I did during that year. Last semester I spent a lot of time asking Him for that closeness again. Today I feel it. Tomorrow I pray I will, but I may not. And regardless of how I feel, I take comfort in knowing that God is love. And He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES (and MRS. BETTIE!)

(Disclaimer: This is not a Birthday post, but I thought I'd give a shout out to you awesome people in the title there.  I love you both and will be sure to pray for you today!)

Sleep patterns still aren’t where I’d like them to be. I tend to be tired in the middle of the day and ready to stay up all night. Kind of like when I was in college…

Today was beautiful. So is tonight. Not too hot, not too cold. I laid around for way too long this morning; Emily came over just in time for lunch and to get a hot shower (her hot water has been off for two weeks already…wonder when our turn will come). We chatted and then she was headed to a meeting. I needed to be preparing for teaching Americans how to teach English tomorrow, but the beautiful day (and my lack of motivation at the time) led to a walk around my little section of the city. It was very refreshing and I came home with much more enthusiasm for preparing my notes, listened to Rich Mullins and made a cup of coffee. Mmmmm.

I get to see team Brookhills tomorrow. I’m pretty excited about that. Kevin. Gretchka. Yeeessss. If you want to, Join me in praying for them this next week. They will be serving at a camp in Lughansk (I have no idea how to write that in Latin letters…so, forgive the spelling.), a city near the Russian boarder. I’ll try to get more details about that and specific prayer requests tomorrow when I see them.

June 11, 2008

Saying goodbye to my friends and family in Tallahassee is never easy. Though, saying bye to Calyn two days earlier did make the final hugs at the airport a little more bearable. And I must admit that as I boarded the plane this time excitement about the future overshadowed the sadness of saying goodbye yet again.

Toddie let me speak at youth the day before I left and I encouraged the teenagers at Northwoods to just spend time with Him everyday and not worry about the BIG future that now seems so vast…Something I am learning to do myself. Putting myself in their shoes (and remembering what it was like to be in high school), I thought about all the people pressing them to make decisions about where to go to school and what to major in…The questions that adults ask you include: so, what do you want to do? And are you dating anyone? I hated this. And always felt like I was struggling to come up with a good answer…And now, I find myself sometimes asking the very same questions (sorry if you were one of the people subject to such questions from me). Of Christian youth, here is the question we need to be asking, “Have you talked to God today?” If the answer is no, encourage them to do so and if the answer is yes follow up with a “and what are you and God doing today?” Radical? Maybe. Scary? Sure. There are certainly days I have needed to hear this question (though those are also the days I probably didn’t want to hear it.) But, I know that the God of the Universe speaks to ALL His children. And I think that with Him we, as Christians, could be doing so much more than we are currently. And it’s probably not some huge thing that He is calling us to. But if we would diligently seek Him everyday, I think we might be more excited about who He is. And if we were more excited about who He is, I think we would be more willing to share that with others. I think that if we are with Him constantly that we couldn’t help talk about Him…I think it would just come out. I want to be that close to Him. I want Him to be that big a part of me. The Bible says that He must become greater and I must become less. Still something I struggle with, but something I’m working on.

Anyway, I made it safely to Kiev. Rested all day yesterday and am ready for today. I’m excited about what God is doing here and glad to be a part of it…at least until He moves me to Poltava. And I’m not exactly sure when that will be, but I will keep you posted. I’ve decided to wait on Him. And for now, that means one day at a time. I have vision for the future, and as much as I would have loved to have been in Poltava yesterday I know that His timing is perfect so today, I wait.