For nearly four weeks now I have been trying to figure out how to write a post that consists of the words..
 WE ARE MOVING TO AFRICA!!!!

As it turns out, this is a plan 5 years in the making. May 22, 2005, I'm invited to church by a new friend who says that if I am to be friends with her I must go to church. Really? Really. So I showed up. I walked in to Ricardo Sanchez leading what I now know as worship. It was an Assemblies of God church, so when I walked in my first response was not worship, rather wierd. I couldn't tell you a single thing about the Word on that day, but I recall Pastor Friend asking at the end if their was anyone who didn't know Jesus. He went on to say that today was the day (and then a whole bunch more stuff that was just killing me). I couldn't keep my emotions in check. I remember him saying that someone was having an urging inside, and it was then that I just completely broke down. My hands went up and I cried for a long time. I didn't know what I was doing, or what to say. At one point I questioned if I was just trying to fit it. I was a basket case, so I'm pretty sure that wasn't it! A lady came and prayed with me and on this day I gave my heart to Jesus. It was also on this day The Lord gave me a vision.

There were black faces as far as my eyes could see.  I suppose it could have been Haiti, but I left the Scottsdale First Assembly Dream Center that day with Africa on my heart.

I got home and listened to my tape (yes it was a tape, and am I the only one or do newly saved people really listen to the tapes they give you?!?). Pastor Friend said that I had made the most important decision in my life, and that now I would spend eternity with God because of what Christ had done. I felt that a place inside of me had been filled that had been forever empty. I well up now just typing this. He said that everything may not make sense now but that I had entered into a relationship that would change everything, and that I needed to talk to God and read my bible. So that is what I did.

Immediately "the least of these" and the orphan took hold of my soul and I began to dream of going and to them. I'm not sure when my focus went from Africa to Guatemala, but I now can look back and see His Hand so perfectly in it all. Four months later as I plan a short term mission trip to Guatemala, I saw this face on the internet.

I had an internal shift, and I knew without a thought that this baby was my son. There are truly no other words. I just knew. Change in plan again, now I am not going to Guatemala to serve the orphans, I am going to Guatemala to adopt an orphan. Thirteen months later [after numerous trips, brain damage and cerebral palsey diagnosis, agency-gone-wrong, Guate adoptions closing any second, and lots of Jesus] with my miracle child in my arms we touched down on American soil.

Insert a lot of life from then until now. There are a billion things I could write here, but the point truly is that I have been seeking God since May 22, 2005, and he has convicted me of my sins over and again and loved me through it all.

new normal.

"Whoever claims to live in him must walk as he did." -1 John 2:6

Friday night I picked up a pastor that we are partnering with from Gulu, Uganda to take him to our Radical Small Group. The first thing he said when we got in my SUV was "nice truck". I felt like he punched me in the stomach. This is when you know your heart is changing. Do you ever remember being excited about having a nice, new vehicle and smiling when people would notice?!? I certainly do. Not so much today.

While we were driving along, we passed not one, but two, massive U-Haul storage centers with fleets of trucks sitting outside. He asked what that was for and I proceeded to tell him that here, in America, when we have too much stuff to fit into our homes, we pay money to place it in a facility such as this. I realized what I had just said and felt punched yet again. Double punch.. I have one. He asked about the trucks. Yup, we use them to move our many things from one home to another. He mentioned how if only he had one of those trucks that are just sitting there in Gulu they could transport food. Turns out they have a little piece of land that produces some food but it is 30 miles away. He has no vehicle. Are you getting the picture? If not, it looks like this.



He shared his testimony with our group. To say this man is a messenger of the Lord is an understatement. But that is another story in itself. There was a point toward the end where he was talking about how he had no appetite due to the things he saw and experienced. He began explaining all the things we have heard before; begging children who haven't eaten for days, mother's nursing naked babies who were so famished there was certainly no milk in their breasts, children who have never before slept on a mattress, let alone had a blanket. I began to feel sick, like I was going to vomit. I couldn't believe that I could eat in my abundance when I knew what I knew, and have seen what I've seen. How could I still have an appetite when this man who has little to nothing himself can't eat at the mention of such atrocities? He spoke on James chapter 5, and how he never wanted to have anything that would testify against him. I am feeling pretty beat up now, as I am certain he just slugged me in my gut once more. The Holy Spirit that is. I felt utterly and completely convicted of the things I am holding onto that will no doubt be used against me. I began weeping inside. How could this..



be more important than this?



..or this?



Here he is fetching his water far from his home. DO YOU SEE THAT? That white, murky water is what he drinks. And when asked if he at least boils it, there was simple shake of the head as if to say "why bother".

As he was speaking I could not get these images out of my head, and I began to think to myself how... HOW could I send this man back to that water as I sit here watching my TV and going on with my normal? I was now shaking, crying, trying not to throw up, and most importantly, completely convicted like never before. I am so thankful to God for changing me in this moment, because it was then that I understood the difference between worldly and heavenly, I mean really understood it, and understood with my whole heart where I want to store up my treasure. It was then that I realized I had to act immediately.

To add to that, our group leader then told us all of how our adopted pastor had sent her an email the day before because there was no more food and they were hungry. His family and 20 orphans have no food. NO FOOD. Here they are, just so that you can see they are real; real people and real children with real dreams......... starving.



I know this is uncomfortable, and that many of you are thinking right now that the Lord would not ask you to give up your TV, or that I am being legalistic in my interpretation of scripture. My response to that is the poor, and what we should do for them, is mentioned 178 times in my bible and is absolutely not to be ignored. So many times I hear people say they don't know what to do to make a difference. I don't think it's that we don't know, it's that we are not willing to act. We are not willing to truly sacrifice our comfort for another in need. Our normal is so ingrained into us that we don't even understand that our very worst here is their very best- a very best that they cannot even imagine. And so I pose a challenge to us all. Lets contemplate our normal here in the US and what it looks like compared to the rest of the world, and lets decide to change it. I personally now know that my normal must change. I simply will not, I can not, live like this any more at the expense of my brothers and sisters. Yes, I truly believe our comfort is at the expense of our fellow humans. When will we decide that this is not okay; that this is not how Jesus walked? While we live normally here, they die there. 26,000 children every day of hunger and preventable disease.

Imagine if we all sold our flat screen TV's and video game boxes and jewelery etc etc etc etc etc etc etc. IMAGINE how many people could eat. IMAGINE how many people would live. I know some of you don't have flat screens, and that so many of you already do so much. We can do more. We MUST do more. So much more that our normal is no longer normal.

Jesus told the self righteous young man in Mark chapter 10 to "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." I believe Jesus means what He says.