The last week has been filled with a wealth of good byes, a great deal of planning and packing, and sweet fellowship moments.  Although I often feel as if I’m in between two worlds, the last month has been lived in anticipation of what’s ahead and the balance of closing another chapter of my life.  I have been in between as I met with people I may not see for years.  I have felt in between as I tried to come up with a list of things that I should pack.  I have felt in between as all of the back to school stuff has been out and I am not going back to school this year.  My mind has not totally grasped the fact that life as it has been will be different.  This week as I said something about packing a friend commented, “Well if you forget something you can just get it there.”  And the truth is far from that.  Some things I can get there, but many things I will have to do without.  Living in a third world country is a change of lifestyle.  And so as I finish up my packing, planning, and preparation I know that the time has arrived where I will be landing on the other side of the cliff on Guatemala soil.  Although my heart will always be in between the two countries, my feet will be on Guatemala soil.  I will land in Guatemala Monday and fly to our little town of Canilla.  From there I will surely hit the ground running as there is much that lies ahead!

I returned from Guatemala in 2001 with a completely different perspective – a global perspective.  During my time there I realized the difference of culture as well as the need that existed in everyone.  That need wasn’t just something present in Guatemala, or India, or Africa ­ it was present in everyone around me.  Americans had needs just as Guatemalans did; they were just different.  As I took on this new perspective, I wanted my eyes to be open more to the realities of life around me.  To my neighbors, my students, my coworkers, my community.  Years later Brandon Heath put these words that were in my head to a song titled Give me your Eyes.  The chorus proclaims:

Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
Ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see

When I return from Guatemala it’s always easier to see the needs of those around me in the first few months than after the busyness of life in the states swallows me up.  I have looked forward to my time in Guatemala every summer as a time of refocus and perspective.  Last weekend someone asked me, “So you’ve spent so much time there that you’ve fallen in love with these people?”  And I would have to say that I have a love for the Guatemalans, but that same love that I have for them is translated to others as well – my students in my classroom, those around me, children in Brazil, and Canada, and the Netherlands.  To me it’s not the specific place as much as it is the people.  Brandon goes onto write….

Step out on a busy street
See a girl and our eyes meet
Does her best to smile at me
To hide what’s underneath
There’s a man just to her right
Black suit and a bright red tie
Too ashamed to tell his wife
He’s out of work
He’s buying time
All those people going somewhere
Why have I never cared?

I’ve Been there a million times
A couple of million eyes
Just moving past me by
I swear I never thought that I was wrong
Well I want a second glance
So give me a second chance
To see the way you see the people all along

And it’s true.  I’ve been there a million times, consumed with the busyness around me to see people for who they really are.  One thing my time in Guatemala has taught me over the years is to slow down and give those around me a second glance and a listening ear.  And so the answer to my friend’s question is yes, I have developed a love for the Guatemalan people over the years, but at the same time I have developed a love for all people.  For the needs that we all have.  We are all broken people in one way or another.  That brokenness can either me mended and healed or left to continue to cause pain.

As I prepare to leave, the words of Brandon’s song continue to play in my heart as my hope is to see the people around me each day through the eyes of compassion and understanding.  As you encounter people today, see deeper as well.  Blessings to you!

Fairy Rings

The word that keeps coming to me as I pray through and seek vision from God over what the future holds is partnership.  As I was contemplating this, the picture that came to mind was a fairy ring.  Most of you probably aren’t very familiar with fairy rings unless you have studied mushrooms, but a fairy ring grows from a single mushroom spore (seed).  From that one spore, more mushrooms grow up around the outside forming a ring.

The fungus begins to grow underground where it is unseen to the eye, yet very much alive.  As is gains nutrients, it stretches out, and when conditions are right, the mushrooms come to the surface.  It is at this phase that the ring is visible.

As we embark on this journey, it actually is the fruit of years of growth, under the surface.  For many years I have been partnering with Adonai International Ministries to serve the least of these in Guatemala.  Others in the community came along side of me and we have been meeting and planning and praying over our time in Guatemala for months.  We have begun a child sponsorship program where others can partner to help out one child as well as a widow’s program to serve the widows and their children in the hardest hit region.  And we as a body of Christ continue to pray as well, for the lives of those we serve on a daily basis.  All of these things create partnership.

Just like the mushrooms in a fairy ring, our goal is to partner directly with Adonai in a mutualistic relationship where both parties benefit.  It begins as a small seed and spreads its roots deep so that others can benefit as well.  Those mushrooms (really the fruit of the fungus) are popping up all around.  They are represented by you.  Thank you for investing in the lives of those in Guatemala.

I’ve always enjoyed team games more than individual games.  I’ve enjoyed being part of the team, working with others, and being around others.  I thrive on competition and working together to beat a team of more talent.  To me it’s always more important how you play than if you win at any cost.  And so, team building has always been a staple in my life in building the best teams.  One of the most common things taught in any team building activity whether it is an athletic team, a group of teens working together, or a leadership group is the trust fall.

 In a trust fall, one partner stands with their arms expended from their sides so that they appear to be a cross.  Their partner stands behind them.  How a trust fall works is that the person standing in the position of a cross falls backwards like a tree would as If it were falling down.  Their partner is meant to catch them as they are half way to the ground.  It is not natural to throw oneself to the ground, it is not natural to believe that you will be caught as you fall to the ground, and so there is an aspect of trust that has to occur as person one decides that they are going to fall allowing their partner to catch them.

I have seen this done on the grass, off of porches, and into large groups of people.  I have even seen it done off the top of a zipline.   I have seen people easily be caught, and at times I have seen the catching partner miss, forget their role, or even step out of the way.  It’s meant to teach groups that have to work together that they are not doing it alone, that there is someone greater going to be there when they take that step and allow themselves to travel towards the ground.

This is how I have felt as I make the choice to embark on this journey.  Yet to me it is not a vision of hurling to the ground.  It is a vision of two cliffs, high above an ocean, and the trusting is more of a stepping out than a falling.  Like I am leaping out into this vast chasm and trusting that I will be carried to the other side, that I will not be swallowed up into the sea below.  To me this is a trust fall.  One that I have faced before as I embarked on Guatemala 13 years ago for the first time, and then 11 years ago again for a more permanent move.  One that later took me to Virginia, then Slippery Rock, and now to Guatemala again.  It is not about standing there wanting to fall;  it’s about falling and knowing the One that will catch you.  My faith has led me to this position.  I have been assured that this is what God has for me in this moment.  And so I stand, with my arms wide open, close my eyes, and let myself fall.  I know that this leap of faith will land in the arms of my Savior and He has something planned for my life at this point and time that even I cannot see.