Love One Another

I teach the 3rd grade class every Sunday at South Hills and I sent this email to a parent of one of my students (names changed)...

Hi Jessica,

I have Jill in my 3rd grade class during second service every Sunday and I wanted to share something special that happened last Sunday. We were playing duck duck goose with all of the kids in the classroom. The kids started calling Billy silly names. He laughed at first then got really upset, put his head down into his hands, and began to cry. The rest of the kids in the circle scooted away from him. Joey, a high schooler who teacher the class with me, stood up from his spot in the circle and went to fill up the emptiness on one side of Ethan and patted him on the shoulder trying to comfort him. Then, Jill got up and sat on the other side of him and reprimanded the other kids in the circle for saying such surtful things and that they shouldn't do that because they wouldn't like it if someone did it to them. She remained next to him, the game went on, and he cheered up. It was a beautiful picture of standing up for the outcasts as God calls us to. You're doing something right with that girl. :) Thought you should know.

Peace

As I strolled through Anthropologie with some friends, I picked up a coffee table book. It was about African art. I only looked at it for a few minutes but one piece stuck out to me.


It's by an artist named Kester.

I read that African artists have collected 600,000 weapons in nine years. People exchange them for things such as sewing machines, building materials, and tools.


This reminds me of the verse


"They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." Isaiah 2:4, Micah 4:3



It's beautiful.

Naive

I am so naïve to the world around me. I was talking to Dane about this yesterday and then it was brought up again when I was looking at the news online this morning. This weekend there was crazy flooding in Tennessee. And I had no idea it was even raining there. No idea. I know it’s not possible to know what is happening constantly all over the world. And that disconnect was much worse years ago when there was no such thing as a car, phone, tv, internet. I guess God made us to focus on those around us. To love our neighbors. Love them like we love ourselves. Which is a lot. I don’t think God intended us to know what is happening across the globe each day. He knew we would one day. But He created us to live in community. Together. Close knit. Sharing life with only the people whose homes you could walk to. Technology is great and useful but it’s not a necessity. For thousands of years people have lived without the daily technologies we depend on.

In Mexico, it was more like that. They depend on their neighbors when they don’t have transportation, food, money, childcare. Almost the entire church was made up of those who could walk there. Who lived in the community. But this tight group of people can also lead to a lot of drama. A lot of stress. Disagreements. Because when we have a disagreement with a friend or co-worker, we can go home. We can get away. They live right down the street and there is no way to escape. To let things air out and get a little breathing space.

I can’t say which is better. There is not one that is better. We are just different. With different lives. And cultures. But when I hear of the famine, genocide, disease, abuse, neglect all over the world I can’t help but feel guilty. Guilty that I don’t do more. That I don’t want to do more. I say a quick prayer, maybe even shed a tear, and then I get up and go to dinner with friends and forget all about it. But it’s not that I just don’t care about people hurting across the globe. I don’t care about my neighbors. About people living a short drive from my home. Because there is disease, hunger, murder, abuse, neglect right here in Vegas. And a lot of it.

Maybe if I start loving my neighbor like I love myself, I’ll start caring about that person so far away. Step by step.

The Man of My Dreams

I thought it was time for an update.

Not that there's much to update.

There's one thing I'm sure of...I don't want to live here in the States for a whole lot longer. Things are too easy here. I get too comfortable. I forget about God. Because I can pretty much do it all on my own. And that's what defines the American culture. I am strong. I am an individual. I can do it. On my own.

But when I look at the Bible...Adam was not good by himself. We were created to live in community. To be dependent on one another. And the Church...it's supposed to function like a body. My fingers can not type without the aide of my hands, arms, shoulders, eyes, brain, heart, lungs...If any part of my body fails...even my liver, which you don't consider needing just to type, but if my liver stops working, I stop working. Like the human body, we depend on one another.

This is very basic stuff and really just rambling but I forget it so easily. Because I can do so well on my own. And I don't know if that will ever change. Financially, will I ever have to depend on someone else? Physically? Spiritually? Emotionally? I'm a pretty stable person. Or at least I like to think I am. And deep down, I don't want to have to depend on someone else. Because I was raised in a place where it's important to be able to do it all on your own.

Back to an update...I don't think I'm moving away from the States until I have a husband. Because I don't think I could, or I don't want to live the rest of my life alone. There's a love and a bond that God created between a man and a woman that I want to experience. They were made for one another. And I don't think I'm strong enough to walk away from friends, family, and home without that person to walk with.

So you can pray that I find that man.

I hate planning

Hello all,

It's been a while and I don't even know who might still read this. But that's ok...This is really just me thinking in my own head. I like to write things down. So lately I've been thinking a lot about what's next for me. Right now, I'm a receptionist in the construction field. And I hate it. So I'm looking to see what's next.

Some thoughts have been

Substitute teacher
Start a small business in Mexico
Work with the ministry I was with for a year in Mexico again
Waitressing
Nursing

Nursing is at the top of my list right now. It requires going back to school for two years which is the only down side. And I'm not positive that I'll like it. But I'm going to look into what kind of schooling is offered around here and if I can swing going to school full-time and working full-time. And I've heard the nursing degree is tough. But I have some money saved up which I could use if I couldn't do both school and work.

It's looking pretty good.

Duck tacos, anyone?

Something silly I miss about Mexico are my ducks.

Nacho and Nacha.

I think about those ducks a lot because here at my mom's house, there are a bunch of ducks that live on the lake out back. They come up from the lake to my mom's back yard to eat whatever they eat from the grass. It makes me smile. To know someday those ducks in Mexico will look like them. If Perla doesn't kill them before they grow up. Which, if I'm honest, I wouldn't be too surprised by.

Maybe one day I'll see them again in Mexico. Or in Duck Heaven.


Amendment: Funny, but not really...Immediately after writing this, I checked my email to find this..."la nacha se murio el isai la piso solo queda nacho." Translation: "Nacha died. Isai stepped on her. It's just Nacho left." Sad news. But, like I said, I'm not surprised. Maybe they'll make duck tacos.

A Midwest Beauty

It's beautiful here at my mom's in Minnesota. Fall is starting to come around and I love the crunching and shuffling of the dry leaves under my feet.

These are some pics I took around the lake. I've had run ins with all sorts of creatures. Caterpillars, snakes, raspberries, dead mice and more. But all along I've enjoyed being surrounded by God's creations. It's something you don't get much of in Vegas. So enjoy.

And let me know what you think.