to obey and to be.

Anytime I feel prodded by the Holy Spirit to share what He's doing in my life, it feels a bit vulnerable.

OK, a lot vulnerable.  Some of you dear ones are still both chicken-enough and wise-enough to not even comment on the blog publicly (you know who you are :), and here I am dishing out guts!

But as our Monday night prayer meeting always re-affirms, it is all about obedience.  Stepping out on simple faith in abandoned obedience to Him.  Doesn't matter what it looks like to others.  Doesn't matter if everybody else or nobody else is doing it.  Doesn't matter what others think of it.  When we sense His leading, we go, no hands on the plow, no looking back.

Many times, that means never knowing why He prodded, never knowing what piece of His plan was just played.  Means not even worrying about how He's using you or IF He's using you.  Just being obedient.

But this time, I was incredibly blessed to receive heart-wrenching testimonies from several of you, affirming what God had put on my heart.  Share, because it's not only YOU I'm speaking to.

So thankful that His eternal yet entirely fresh love and truth on me Wednesday has spoken so deeply to the heart of many of you.  My mantra this week stands:

You are dearly loved.
You are never alone.
You are more than enough in Christ.

Thank you for stepping out and sharing with me your heart as I share mine....resulting in the kind of iron-sharpens-iron community I believe He desires of His family!

Meanwhile...
I have severely neglected the seminary on here!  Losing most of October to the internet monster, I've gotta get back to sharing some of the photos, stories and testimonies of all the joys and struggles that make up the day-to-day at Emmaus.  The short version is this:

When I am out with the moms picking up Lily at school, visiting people in their homes, climbing the mountains, shopping in the city, even going to the beach...the need for Christ is downright overwhelming.  The lack of Him is the huge hole everywhere I go...the need of Him the obvious need in so many various places.  There is so much to do!  So many places to go!  So much to share!

And then as I drive through the city gates, I see Frantz off to the side of the road, sitting with a group of men.  Every week he plops down in my office and gives a report of how ministry is going by the gates, and there he is!  He sees me and grins, and I mutter a Praise the Lord.  He is there, and he is doing it.  Far better and far more contextually than I ever could.

And I hike to the highest mountain, and I feel so burdened for all of the families we pass, for the kids, for all the young men.  And then Ezechiel calls them by name.  Enick plops down to chat.  Once every 10 days these men sit across my desk, on my couch, and they are there, they are doing it, and WELL.

And I stand in the sun with the moms, trying to be a peaceful part of this little community of constantly quarreling women, and a motorcycle pulls up and Joane and his worn pink camo back-pack jump off.  I sit with him for three hours every Tuesday, and look--there is his house!  These are the women he LIVES with.  Ministers to.  KNOWS.  He is there, and he is doing it.  Even his enLightened smile stands out.

At night, when our little family walks around the seminary, enjoying the finally cool breeze and catching up with our little EBS community, we sit out front the cafeteria and catch up with the ladies who work there.  Two are from Vaudriel, and they frequently talk about their concern for the Vaudreil church and the community.  There seems to be no answer.  The next morning, Lucner comes to my office to drop off a receipt, and shares his vision for wisely finding a new leader for that very church as associate pastor, shares some of what he is doing in the community.  He is there, and he is doing it.  Ways I never even would have thought of.

Coming and going through these gates are the very men, the very women IN THOSE PLACES my heart wants to be, DOING those things the Bible says to do, LIVING their lives alongside, as the Bible says to live.  Not just passing through, but being transformed and active parts of their communities.  Here I am, surrounded by so many needs, and sitting right in the middle of the Body that is going out and DOING it.

Every day, morning, noon and night, we have the opportunity NOT to live all those places, but to live HERE, and sit with the men and women who do.  Today, Matt will share the Gospel with those 70 in chapel, to take out.  Everywhere.  Wednesday, I will have the same opportunity.  Monday, Matt sits with them in class.  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I have the same opportunity.  At night, we chat with them under the stars.  During the day, we pray with them sweating in class.

This is a special place.  And even when I'm not talking about it, I continue to be blessed by the powerful ways I see God at work in Haiti through the men and women of Emmaus, and to be AMONG them.

Hah...that was the short version.  Sorry.  Passionate.

Go into your weekend well aware that the circle around you is your mission field...reaching to the ends of the earth!