This is a re-post by Chris Garcia, a racer that I'm support coaching who just spent his first month of the race in the Philippines. He is calling out the men. It's good. Please read...and support him!
Chris writes...
"This blog has been on my mind for the past month, and it only captures a fraction of all that was running through my head. This is dedicated to the men who question, who need a sense of self worth, who need to be shaken up a little bit by God."
What happened? Where did they go? Are they still scared? Are they still hiding? Are they running, whimpering, or crying? What happened? Where did they go when we needed them most? Where were they when we were fallen and not to be picked up, when we were so sick and nobody to pray, when we needed one more hand to lift up this burden, this cross we bear from day today? Where are these almost now known mythical beings known as men? What happened? What happened to having men like Job, to be stripped of everything known to him and still having faith stronger than diamonds? What happened to having men like Moses, who took up the courage to drive his people to saftey admist the many dangers that faced him? What happened?
We now live in a world with men that are silent, a fatherless generation. We live in a world that tells men it's better to ignore a son's cry from aproval, leadership, and guidance. It tells them that their daughters are better told with distractions rather than affirmation. We live in a world that tells men that there is nothing better than money, power, and sex. It tells men that we can buy anything and everything, that more is better, controll is of the essence, and the idolatry of a woman's body is okay. We live in a world that gives men the okay to please himself with images of women on the internet without regret, that there is nothing wrong with lust, that there is no need for self control. We as men have let things get so far out of hand, we can't tell what is right and wrong anymore. We live in a world that tells us that we as men are failures, and will forever fail.
So where are they? Where are the men? Where are the men that will protest against this lacking? Where are the men that will go up against the claims of a "wordly man" and be a true man of God? For so long we've needed men stand up and step up the game, to admit the fall we had in the beggining, but CHANGE, and become the man God wants us to be. We need men that are dangerous enough to speak out against these demon-like curses that bind us to this earth. We need men that will put down the bottle, put down the remote, put down the saw and go out with their kids. Have them explore, teach, dig deep and show their little boys their worth and tell them that they will never fail in the eyes of God. They can show their daughters that they are princesses, royalty beyond nations. Tell their sisters, girl-friends, wives that they are beautiful, wanted, and truely captivating. They are breath-taking, chosen, and that they would go above and beyond for them. We need men that aren't just "nice" but dangerous, adventurous, and willing men that will go anywhere that God will ask them to go. They would go to the corners of the earth, over every mountain, to the darkest depths of the sea just to heed God's calling.
There was once such a man. He was such a man to proclaim how great His father's love for us truely is. He stepped up and out of his comfort zone. He prayed for the weak, healed the sick, spoke to the thousands. He showed such compassion and love for the women he passed. He was gentle with them and his children. But he also spoke against the pharosees and hypocrytes, furious, he turned up the temple tables. He used the word against the devil like a sword, against temptation, and was triumphant. And we, as men like we are today, condemed him to death. We let our own selfishness kill the one true example of a true holy man. He paid the ultimate cost. He took up that cross, bleeding, beaten, torn to shreds, humiliated...and he did it. He did it....for us. He died for us. Because he knew it was worth it. It was worth the torture, the words put against him, the suffering. It was worth it all.
What man can you think of that would do that? That would stand up against the wicked, be kind to the meek and mild, show tenderness and compassion with women and children, gather thousands of people, and finally saving us from all our own self-centered sins by sacrificing his own life so that we could live and breathe on, that we would one day be with our true father. I have yet to see a man that comes close to that, and that is my desire for all men, to come even close to him. So I ask, what man do you want to become? Do you live a life of life of adventure, meaning, of challenging spirit? Or do you go back, hide yourself away from your wife, kids, family, loved ones to live it through the end of an empty bottle, through a screen of defiling pictures, thoughts of worthlessness and hopelessness, giving up to these things on earth, letting the devil get the best of you? Will you be a man of God, or admit defeat, admit failure? What man will you be? And thus the question, "What happened?" changes to this: "What WILL happen?". You decide."
I had the super cool opportunity to go to some labs at the Catalyst Conference that's going on this week in Atlanta with Kelly. I'm pretty sure my favorite speaker was David Bastone who spoke on building a momentum for justice. He started the Not for Sale Campaign to end slavery. Bastone said that we are all linked to slavery; in the clothes we wear, tires we drive on, coffee we drink...we literally wear people's suffering. It's so true. We do. Check out www.free2work.org and see for yourself! Also check out the video below...
Laughter...
Has God ever done anything that just made you laugh? Like seriously, laugh out loud funny. I honestly considered not posting this because it might make some people uncomfortable...but here goes. The other night I was at my apartment lounging around with Audrey & Katie and I had the WORST lady aches ever. They had me locked into the fetal position on the couch. In the midst of my complaining I said to the girls, "Why do these have to hurt soooo bad!" Katie responded, "Because of the fall (as in when Eve ate the fruit)!" To which I responded with, "but we're under a new covenant...not fair". So, I nonchalantly said, "God, we're under a new covenant, please take these pains away".
Yep, you guessed it, gone. All gone. In that instant, the pain was gone. My response...was laughter. I just started laughing. Katie and Audrey both mentioned something about me being spoiled and having way too much favor. I couldn't stop laughing. Seriously, this was funny. I genuinely didn't expect God to heal me. I was sincere but didn't actually think that The Lord of Lords and the King of Kings would actually stop what he was doing to take care of something so small! But yup, He healed me. It was not some elaborate prayer just me, a daughter, asking her Daddy to make the pain stop.
TGIF...
I love my job...but I also love my weekends! I'm still new to these parts (Gainesville, Georgia) and this is my first "Fall". California doesn't really have seasons. It's either sunny and beautiful or kinda chilly and still beautiful. So for the first time I'm actually experiencing seasons! Because of that I've been looking for some sweet opportunities to go apple pickin' or hay ridin' or really anything that ends with in'. There will be a "Mule Camp Market" this weekend on the town square...with REAL mule rides! Ya think I'm too old for a mule ride? Anyway, lately I've been wanting to get out and explore! Anyone have any ideas?!?
Whoops...
A last little laugh before ending this random Friday update...today I was sitting at my desk working so hard like a busy little beaver when I had to get up really quick to head to the printer at the end of the room. Well, turns out my shoe lace was tangled into the wheel of my chair and I almost took out Tangi's desk! I literally couldn't move without dragging my chair with me. Luckily, Laura is awesome and quickly came to the rescue to free me from my bondage.
NOTE: I wrote this yesterday, but b/c I HATE posting blogs without pictures, I held off from posting til today.
It's raining in Gainesville today. I like the rain. I don't like thunder, but I do like the rain. Really close to the office there are some big plans for a park, fully equipped with several sports fields. For weeks now there have been bull dozers and tractors flattening the land so today it's really, really muddy. Audrey, Katie and I were driving back from lunch and passed this lovely muddy mess. Audrey mentioned that it would be so much fun to play in the mud. I agreed that it would be soooo much fun to run in the rain and even slide down the muddy hills. Seriously, right now I wish I could leave the office and play in it.
A lot of you who know me really well know that I like to get messy. I like to jump into a mess and try to make something beautiful out of it. The best part about attempting to fix my brakes was that I got grease all over my hands and I love spray painting things because it can be really sloppy. Don't get me wrong, I love showers and being clean...but mostly after I've earned it by getting messy.
While on the race I loved to explore with my teammate Katie. When I first started the race my constant prayer was that God would give me eyes like Him. To see things, that He sees. Then one day I heard Him say, "Katie sees through My eyes." From that point on I tried my best to see the things that she saw. She had this awesome way of coming up with random things to do that at first didn't seem very fun but always ended up being something memorable. Katie would find something that I thought was a hopeless mess and show me just how beautiful it really was.
I miss that. I miss building a sidewalk in the 120 degree, 100% humidity of the Philippines. I miss carrying cinder blocks for hours in Guatemala to build a house. I miss walking from hut to hut in Kenya praying for people. I miss going into really stinky hospitals in Tanzania believing God for miracles. I miss playing games in the dirt with the kids in Nicaragua. I miss it all.
So many of you have asked me why I'm not out there in "the dirt" bringing Kingdom. More and more I'm realizing that this is "the dirt". I love where I am now. I actually like to come to work and love the people I work with. I get to send amazing young adults to the places I, myself, fell in love with. I get to encourage them when their support doesn't seem to be coming in and believe God for a miracle alongside them. I get to pray for them and watch them grow through their blogs. I get to see them bring their own mess to the table at training camp and dance with them for hours on end in celebration once they've given it up to the Father, knowing that I get to send THEM. This is the dirt that God has placed me in and I love it.
At times in my life, I've felt like such a loser. I've felt like I was losing the things I held dear. Losing my job, losing my income, losing my sense of self-respect. And I couldn't help drawing the conclusion that maybe God didn't want me to be happy.
Does God want us to be happy? Yes, of course. The Bible tells us that he wants us to prosper. "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers." (3 John 2-4) But what does that mean?
Some preachers take verses like that and emphasize a "name-it-claim-it" theology. They say that God wants us to be prosperous, as in he wants us to have lots of stuff. I don't think that's the way God works. Aside from the fact that a great many Bible passages warn us of the problem of having a bunch of stuff, I see a more basic problem.
Prosperity theology is all about filling - fill your wallet, fill your garage, fill your shopping list. But it has little to say about emptying, about the process of losing. The problem is that so much of God's work in our lives is the work of emptying. He want to get us to drop the useless things that fill our hands and hearts. He wants us to drop the habits that cause heartache and take us away from our purpose in life.
Try to think of an example in Scripture where a man of God didn't go through brokenness and emptying before God's purpose was revealed in him. Common sense tells you that things must be emptied before they can be filled. And if it's true in the physical realm, all the more in the spiritual realm.
It's counterintuitive that you would pray for intimacy and that God would respond by moving you toward brokenness. If that's divine love, then we'd all be excused for praying instead that God just ignore us. But moving us to brokenness is an act of grace. We're already broken - he's just helping us to recognize that. The state of brokenness is when you see what was dysfunctional all along.
When we understand that he's simply getting us to let loose of the grip we have on cheap stuff that we'll one day just throw away, we can see his emptying process for what it is - an act of love.
It's time for another World Race training camp! This Saturday a little over 150 new World Racers will finally meet each other and be put into teams. They will sit under some anointed teachings, worship in freedom and do things they've never done before. It's been over two years since I attended my own training camp. It's really exciting being on the other end of things and anxiously awaiting the arrival of the participants.
I've had the privilege of being the Support Coach for the September 2010 squads (two of the three squads that will be at training camp). My job as a Support Coach is to walk through the support raising process with them. Having been there myself, I know it can be scary and at times seem so impossible. But these racers are stepping out and trusting that they've heard the Lord speak and that He WILL provide. At training camp they will be pushed to the point of exhaustion, physically and spiritually. They will be challenged to trust God for bigger and believe Him for the impossible.
I dare you to pray for us. To pray crazy things that might even seem scary. Pray that not only the racers have an encounter but that the staff, coaches and volunteers get rocked by the Lord as well. Pray that God would move in a greater way than He has in any other training camp. Pray that chains would be broken, lives would be changed and eyes would be opened to how HUGE & completely intimate God really is.
Also, watch the new World Race Report...it's pretty awesome!
dear Anonymous Giver,
I'm not at all sure who you are but I wanted to post a blog to say Thank You! Not just for your finanical support, but also for the encouragment that it brought. I've been wrestling with the Lord within the last few weeks because I wanted more faith. I needed more faith. I felt like support raising would be impossible because I didn't think I knew enough people who would consider supporting me but I was absolutely sure that God was calling me to be a missionary. I knew the Lord was asking me to trust Him with the details. Because of you and a few others I have almost reached my initial support goal of $2500. I'm just about $500 short of it! So thank you! Thank you for listening to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and giving so generously. Below is the words Thank You in the language for each country I spent time in during the World Race with some pictures. Your support is helping me send so many others like myself to all these countries.
Salamat (Philippines)
谢谢 (China)
Asante Sana (Kenya, Tanzania)
Webale (Uganda)
धन्यवाद (India)
Дякую (Ukraine)
спасибо (Moldova)
Va multumesc (Romania)
Köszönöm! (Hungary)
hvala vam (Croatia)
Dios bo'otik (literally, God pays) (Guatemala-Mayan)
I've been attending Passion City Church in Atlanta with some friends lately and Louie, the pastor preached a message that really resonated within me. He spoke about being a door-holder for the Kingdom of God. He mentioned that a door-holder is someone who has been inside a place, yet stands outside. They've experienced something amazing inside and stand outside to invite others to experience what they have. Their reward is simple, its the look on people's faces after being inside.
I believe God is calling me to be a door-holder.
Going on the world race was nothing short of life changing. Not only was I able to experience the love of the Father for the nations, but also for myself. It was His love that I became secure in, His love that compelled me to keep going when I was worn out, and His love that fueled me to get up off my butt and run after His heart.
I saw God multiply a pot of spaghetti to feed an entire community in the Philippines, open blind eyes in Uganda, bring deliverance in Tanzania and speak a word in season to the hurting in Kenya. I saw God live among the beautiful gypsies of Romania, build a rehab center in Moldova, teach English in the Ukraine and babysit for some exhausted parents in Hungary. He built a house in Guatemala, and lived among the poorest of the poor in Nicaragua. I saw God in my teammates and squad mates. I saw Him lead and love on my squad through our coaches, I saw Him bring tired missionaries a fun New Year/Christmas celebration through our supporters and I saw Him schedule so many contacts/bus rides/flights through our logistics team. I saw Him use people to train us to be the Kingdom of God to the world around us.
God chooses to use us! He could do all those things on His own, but He's chosen to use our hands and feet. All we have to do is say yes. There have been so many door-holders in my life. People that have held open the door for me to experience the Presence of God. I had people from my church who've held open the door by supporting me on the race, intercessors who've made a way for me with their prayers, leaders who've pushed me past the limits I set for myself and friends who've encouraged me to push through the fire of purification.
I want to be that for others. At first I thought that meant getting a nine to five and working to support other missionaries. After trying that for a few months, I knew it wasn't how the Lord wanted me to participate in bringing His Kingdom to earth. He's asking me to say yes and trust Him with the details.
So, I'm coming on staff with AIM. I will be working in the Admissions Department with some amazing world changers. I'm beyond excited about this next season and ready for what the Lord wants to do in and through me. So this is a call to all those door-holders out there. Those that want to partner with me in holding open the door for future fire breathers. I need to raise a little less than $1,000/month (basically 25 supporters at around $40/month). If you feel that the Lord is calling you to be a door-holder with me, please click on the link to the left and sign up to be one of my supporters!
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU...TO EVERY SINGLE SUPPORTER OUT THERE! With only two weeks left, I´m fully funded! Thank you for your support whether financial, prayer or whatever...you are amazing! My teammate, Katie just wrote a blog...shés only 100 bucks shy of being fully funded as well...please check out her blog and hook her up! Thanks!
HOLA!Its amazing how fast time can fly going country to country every month! We are almost done...coming in strong with two weeks to go. One week of ministry here in Nicaragua working with an orphanage and kids that have little to no money, no homes, no families. SUPER SAD. But they are seriously quality kids after Gods heart. They work hard where we are living with their studies and chores around the grounds... but when getting a chance to talk wtih them you get to learn there amazing hearts and hear what they have been though! They have the same theme in common when it comes to where they live and how they like LAQUINTA (name of the location we are working at)... They LOVE the LOVE that the staff gives them and that they learn that their TRUE FATHER in heaven can give them. MANY of them have been rejected from thier own homes and can find soooo much comfort in being around people who encourage and understand them. They have heart breaking stories that they get to now use to further Gods kingdom and relate to the people in Nicaragua! ITS WONDERFUL!!
ANNNNNDDDD Then we are off to Costa Rica where we will have our LAST & FINAL DEBRIEF!! Gives me chills to be able to say something like that! I am very excited and amazed at all that God has done in me and through me in the last 11 months... I just cant believe its all been done.
I just realized that I still need about 100 dollars to FINISH UP THE RACE!!!I have been BLESSED BEYOND BELIEF by all supporters whether through prayer or donations! I know God put me on this race for a RESOND... that is VERY CLEAR. And I also have faith that he will provide for the rest of it!!!
This month my team, Crux is teamed up with team Lunchbox for month ELEVEN. Crazy. Month Eleven. We´re in Malinche, Nicaragua staying at a place called La Quinta. La Quinta is the home of about 8 youth who come from hard backgrounds. Its a place where they are being discipled and trained up to bring Kingdom in their area. Most of youth here want to be missionaries here in Nicaragua. They have some crazy stories that I´ll be writing about soon. For our first week we´ve been working with children and youth in a barrio called Dolores and also some house to house ministry. Here are some pics from the week.
Games in the rain at Dolores
New friends from the barrio. Palla, Maricela and Milagro
Nicaraguan Bread Factory...they´re quick!
Waiting for church to start with Stephhooo
Walking with Palla to her home. She´s 78 years old and has a beautiful smile that caught our eye while walking around the barrio. She´s got some insane faith...invited a friend over while we were visiting an asked us to pray for healing in her jaw. We prayed and God healed her! She started crying and saying that she felt the presence of God like a hand touch her head and take away all the pain. We worshipped in the small house and thanked God for another miracle!
nothing like free fresh coco!!!
Thanks so much for all the support and prayers! I love yall soooo much and can´t wait to hang out and talke about life! The offical day Í´m coming home is September 1st at 10.45pm LAX! Let me know if you wanna hang out!
A last little laugh before ending this random Friday update...today I was sitting at my desk working so hard like a busy little beaver when I had to get up really quick to head to the printer at the end of the room. Well, turns out my shoe lace was tangled into the wheel of my chair and I almost took out Tangi's desk! I literally couldn't move without dragging my chair with me. Luckily, Laura is awesome and quickly came to the rescue to free me from my bondage. 
a mess and try to make something beautiful out of it. The best part about attempting to fix my brakes was that I got grease all over my hands and I love spray painting things because it can be really sloppy. Don't get me wrong, I love showers and being clean...but mostly after I've earned it by getting messy. 
At times in my life, I've felt like such a loser. I've felt like I was losing the things I held dear. Losing my job, losing my income, losing my sense of self-respect. And I couldn't help drawing the conclusion that maybe God didn't want me to be happy. 
