Easter & Other Stuff

A sunrise in Thailand.

Christ is risen! On Easter morning, I awoke with a profound sense of joy.  I don’t ever remember feeling that deeply about Easter before.  Rather than glazing over the anniversary ofJesus’ resurrection – as if it were merely something that happened a long time ago that was somehow significant to our faith, but sort of irrelevant to us today – I placed myself in the story.  What would it have been like to be Mary as she walked to the tomb that morning, spices in hand, grieving the loss of her very best friend and the man whom she believed would save her land from oppression?  What would it have been like to see that stone rolled aside, the tomb empty?  To meet an angel whose news would have been shocking, to say the least?  And, finally, to hear your name spoken by someone who you were convinced would never speak again? What fear. What amazement. What joy. I’ll be spending this day on the other side of the globe this year, Lord willing.  Maybe I’ll even be able to produce a jumbled mess of words that sort of resemble, “He is risen, indeed!”  I’ll be living among a people who don’t know the meaning of the most important day in history.  Who don’t know the joy of having an Advocate who overcame death.   I grew up in the church (as the gone-to-church-my-whole-life Christians say), so I never experienced not knowing who Jesus was. But I imagine finding out would be similar to not finding His body in the tomb.  Putting to death your expectations from a religion meant to pave the road to peace.  Placing your doubts about whether you’ll ever arrive at perfection in the burial chamber.  Rolling the stone in front, sealing your own shame, guilt, and failure inside forever. And then waking up to find the tomb empty.  And something, Someone who is far greater than anything you had ever hoped or dreamed – the embodiment of peace, eternal life Himself – standing before you, saying your name. …………………………………… THE STUFF OF NEWS: I met (most) of my Thailand team last weekend!  We all met in Kansas City, MO for a few days to get to know each other; fly a kite; pick the brains of former missionaries to Thailand; consume lots of BBQ, stir fry, coffee, and Thai tea; talk about our expectations for the team (eek!); and pray over where God has us now and what He is preparing us to do.  (Pictured below:  women of Team Thailand:  Marnee, me, Heather, Liz)                    I had the blessing of seeing one of my World Race teammates get married andreconnecting with several of my friends from my WR squad.                    I pierced my nose… again.                                    THE STUFF OF PRAYER: April is already a difficult month for many in Oklahoma who lost loved ones in the OKC bombing 19 years ago, but poor health and death have become a more recent struggle for many others in my community and close social ties.  Please pray for those who are mourning the loss of Kaytie Joiner and for God’s comfort and healing in the lives of close friends and their relatives profoundly struggling with health issues. Pray for my team as we continue to raise financial and prayer support and that our growth and trust in Christ will continue to increase. Pray for the Holy Spirit to continue to move in the hearts and lives of the Thai people, preparing them to hear the Gospel.

Help Send Me to Thailand!

How was your Easter?  Did you have any awesome revelations?  What was the coolest thing you found in one of those plastic eggs?  Let me know!

Real Talk (Seriously, Not a Joke)

Flowers at the Buddha's feet:  Thailand

Happy first day of April!

I promise nothing in this update will fool you in any way.  I struggle every year on this particular day to remember not to fall for everything, so I won’t be the one to put you in that position.  (But if someone else does, and it’s hilarious and worth sharing, I highly encourage you to tell me about it.)

March has been sort of a whirlwind month for most of us, with weather going from blizzard to summertime heat to rain to ice to… wherever it ended up yesterday.  Then there was spring break for those of you who still get those, then back-to-school woes for the kids of those of you who have those…

For me, March was a beautiful month of opportunity.  After spreading the word thatyes, me going to Thailand for 5ish years is a real thing, I got to sit down with several people to tell them more about it.  I shared my story.  They shared theirs.  We processed through how Jesus found us and where we each feel called.  I showed them my incredibly fancy blue binder with words and pictures depicting my upcoming life in “the world”, as I like to call it.  I shared stories about what God was already doing.  And I invited them to be part of the team.

I’ll be honest, I expected this whole support raising process to be a drag.  I mean, who really wants to sit down with people they don’t know that well and ask them for money, right?  But every time, every time, I walked away blessed and encouraged.  These aren’t your everyday conversation topics – ones like God, and how you came to know Him, and cool stuff He’s doing in the world, and how we can all be a part of it.  It isn’t everyday that someone confesses their struggles with God, the church, or their own spirituality.  And it definitely isn’t everyday that we can sit in booths across from each other, eat spinach artichoke dip, and celebrate how God brought us from some point of devastation to realizing we actually need Him.  

These are the conversations, the ones about things that matter, that bring forthawakening.  Remembrance.  Growth.  These are the sort of jolts that call you out of the mundane, just-get-by kinds of days and empower you engage life rather than sit back and watch from a distance.  Sharing yourself isn’t easy.  But if we all come to the table knowing that we all have a little bit of baggage, a little bit of victory, a little bit of struggle, and a whole lot of redemption…  Why does fear have to be a thing?

Have you had an authentic conversation recently?  What was it like?  Was it worth it?  And how did it move you?



Stuff to talk to the Lord about…

• God is already present in Thailand.  Pray that the Holy Spirit moves in the personal lives of the Thai people, preparing them to receive the Gospel that we (or someone else) will get to share with them!
• Pray for believers in Thailand, that Jesus will empower them to share Him with their communities.
• Pray for me, that I will continue to desire Christ and know Him more.

As, always, I want to know…  How can I pray for you?