Are we Jonah?

Sometimes in life it is easy for us to not do what someone asks us to do since we would rather do things in our own way and in our own time and the same is true when it comes to what God asks us to do. Sometimes when God asks us to do something we find it difficult, frustrating, painful, etc and we would much rather continue doing what we are doing and try to do things in our own strength, our own time, our own way, our own routines, etc and run from what God has asked and called us to do. In the first chapter of Jonah, Jonah quickly learns that disobedience to God will cost us and that it’s easier to just obey and trust God than it is to run away from Him and do things on our own.

“What do we do when we begin to believe that the place where God wants us to be the most, is the place where we want to be the least? What do we do when we begin to feel like God has or is calling us to go somewhere where we really don’t want to go or to do something that we don’t want to do?”

Many times I feel like we may not feel like we can relate to Jonah since we don’t feel like we are being called to go somewhere (meaning to another town, state, etc like Jonah was called to do and was running from) but looking at the story, I think everyone can relate to this story. Where is God calling you and is it a place that you really don’t want to be and are you running from it or trying to avoid it?

God may be calling us to rest (“be still and know that I am God”) yet we are wired to be busy and always have something on our mind yet God may just be calling us to rest in his presence and get physical rest… God may be calling us to travel somewhere emotionally by engaging in conversation with someone that is not easy to talk to, to have a difficult conversation with someone, to ask for forgiveness, etc yet God is calling us to do so but we would much rather go the opposite direction and not do what we know God wants us to do… God may be calling us to trust in Him and truly have faith that He will provide what is needed yet we may still be trying to make things happen on our own and as we envision rather than allowing God to work… God may have called us to leave the familiar behind, to change directions, and the list goes on yet we would much rather stay in the familiar and run from His plan and what He wants for us.

“Spiritually, God is calling all of us to be completely dependent on Him -- which, if we are honest, is a difficult place for many of us to be.”

God is calling us all to go somewhere but the question is, are we going to follow Him and trust Him and go where He is calling us and be where He wants us to be or are we going to turn the other way? It may not be easy to go where God wants us to go but it’s the best place to be. It may be scary since we may not know what will happen but things will be better if we are in line with God’s plan and not our plan. We need to take the first step and trust that God will provide and lead us, we need to do our part and then trust that God will take care of the rest and provide and lead us. God’s provision may not be what we expect just as Jonah probably didn’t expect God to allow a fish to swallow him yet he was still kept safe. Even if we are turning from where God wants us to be, God will create a way to get us to be where He wants us to be. There will be storms if we keep running from where God wants us to be and we will find ourselves at a point where we are left with no other option but to surrender and turn back to where God wants us to be and do as He has called and wants us to do and then the storms will calm. It doesn’t mean that we won’t face anymore storms since there will always be storms in our lives, it just means that we will be in line with what God wants and will have peace with any situation, storm, hardship, etc we face.

“Being a deeply devoted follower of Christ means that we go where God calls us -- even when it is the last place we want to be.”

Are we willing to go and be where ever God calls us to go even if it’s the last place that we want to go and be? Are we willing to take the first step and trust God and be in line with His plan for our schedule, our events, and our lives rather than trying to be in line with our plans and desires and are we willing to have complete faith in God in the midst of the unknown? Are we running from God or are we fully embracing what God wants for us individually, as a group, and as Christians?

HOPE for security

"But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you" ~Matthew 5:44

Hope, something you can’t see but a strong sense that something will happen. Sometimes it’s easy to loose hope and for us to think that things will never change and as someone that is helping with working with neighborhood leaders, it’s easy to see that they are holding onto hope for the future and what can be and should be. Part of what I do is attend various neighborhood association meetings as well as over the past few months, help with home visits in 9 neighborhood. So, how am I seeing “HOPE” play out?

When attending one of the neighborhood association meetings recently a lot that I heard before the meeting even started was how Maria and her husband Rafael house was just recently broken into and how it took them calling the police about 10 times and 7 hours before police finally showed up to investigate the break in. Those that had broken into the house took everything including Rafael’s weapons that he had in the house. The neighbor saw the suspicious activity and saw the people that broke into the house but felt unsafe calling the police due to fear of what would happen if those breaking in found out that they reported them.

After that, someone else spoke up and mentioned that her grand daughter had been stopped at gun point and had her purse and everything in it stolen from her even though it was still light outside. She has mentioned though that the person that took the purse tossed out the wallet that was in the bag and included her license, credit cards, id, etc into someone’s yard and that person was generous and kind enough to take the wallet and everything inside it back to the person that it belonged to. However, the car keys, house keys, and phone were still missing.

Both of the above instances occurred in the same neighborhood where they have had to deal with drug dealers, drug houses, crime, etc taking place yet the neighborhood leader identifies with each of the residents and feels like when someone’s house is broken into then her house was broken into, when someone was stopped at gun point, then she was stopped at gun point, etc. The leader is one that knows the streets of the neighborhood and doesn’t show fear but rather shows hope for what can and should be. Hope for a place where the residents don’t have to fear walking around the neighborhood, hope for residents being able to feel safe in their own homes, hope for a safe community for families to be brought up in. Even with knowing that someone now has weapons from the above house that I mentioned that was broken into, she is still determined to make her presence known in the neighborhood and make it where people know not to mess with her and the neighborhood since she truly has identified and owned the neighborhood and is leading the residents and the neighborhood in bringing in HOPE.

In all honesty, how many of us would still be able to walk the streets, make our presence known, etc even when we knew all that was taking place? But when we know that God is with us and that God wants His Kingdom to be here on Earth then we can have hope and keep moving forward in “hope” that one day we will be able to live in a community that is safe for everyone and is secure.

This isn’t only happening in one neighborhood but it’s happening in numerous neighborhoods that I help work in. In another neighborhood Eva ended up quitting her job because her house was broken into and she wanted to have a presence at the house all the time so that it wouldn’t be broken into again. Eva is involved with the neighborhood association and one day ended up telling us that she just hoped for a better community where residents of the neighborhood were able to enjoy life. She envisioned the neighborhood as being a place where families would feel safe, where neighbors would know each other, and where family owned businesses could start up and be made into something bigger. Even with being broken into more than once, Eva is still holding onto the hope to safety and a neighborhood that people are free to be themselves and not worry about if someone is going to break into their house, if their small business will be taken over by bigger businesses, where neighbors are helping each other out and connecting with one another, where there are resources, and where you can build up a family.

That’s hope, in each of these instances, the resident or leader doesn’t currently see or have the neighborhood that they have since a lot of what they see is the crime but they are still able to envision and hope for a better community and neighborhood. Hope, it’s something you can’t see but it’s something you have a strong desire to see happen and that greatly defines what the residents and leaders envision for the neighborhoods they live in. 

**Names mentioned above are not the real names of the people but still actual instances that have taken place and have been told**

Prayer request: pray for the neighborhoods, the leaders, and the residents that they may continue to have hope in what is currently unseen and for the safety and protection of them all

Hope, what is it?

For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. ~Romans 8:24-25  

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. ~Romans 15:13

“Hope appears 126 times in the Bible (KJV). 68 times in the Old Testament and 58 times in the New Testament and hoped is mentioned 11 times. 7 in the Old Testament and 4 in the New Testament”

For the past couple of months I have been constantly reminded of the word “hope” and that’s expected since we have a city-wide work day coming up called “Celebration of Hope” and much of what we do is about “Hope” but when thinking about it, what does hope truly mean or is it just a buzz word that is thrown around so much that it doesn’t have a meaning or it has lost it’s meaning?

I feel like in today’s world, the word hope is just another word that sounds good and is tossed around so much that it has lost it’s meaning but when looking at it biblically, “hope is an indication of certainty. “Hope” in Scripture means a strong and confident expectation.” Hope isn’t necessarily something that can be seen but it’s something that will eventually happen. Hope is the vessel to peace and joy, if there is no hope then it’s hard to find ourselves in a place where we have peace and joy.

When talking with various residents in the neighborhoods that we serve as we get ready for “Celebration of hope” and when listening to the stories and what they are or have gone through then it is evident why hope is needed.

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” ~Romans 12:12 

 “But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish” ~Psalm 9:18 

During one of the home visits the homeowner was brought to tears and was grateful for the help that she was going to receive. Both she and her mother had spent many visits in the hospital and sick yet she was still hopeful for what was to come. She had mentioned how she was fixing up the inside of the house so it would be ready for when her mother arrived back home from another stay in the hospital. Just listening to her and her story and what she was facing was enough to bring the neighborhood leader to tears and a reminder of why it is that we do what we do. She had hope in what was to come and that gave her peace and joy. She not only had hope but I would as far as saying that she gave us hope in what we are doing. After numerous home visits, trying to solidify and get the houses to work on, etc it can be draining and at times wondering why are we doing it but it takes one act of gratitude and one story of hope to remind us why we are doing what we do and make all the work that goes into it worth it and keeps us moving forward and doing the work we do.

 “Why are you downcast, o my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God,    for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” ~Psalm 43:5 

 “There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off” ~Proverbs 23:18

Hope isn’t always something that can be seen but it’s something that is felt and is needed. Without hope then people would give up. Hope is what gives us life and what keeps us moving forward even in the hard times… Hope is needed everyday and we need to help bring the hope of Christ to others. Without hope, there is nothing. Therefore, hope is ultimately the thing that gives us life and is the reason for tomorrow. But the ultimate hope should be in Christ Jesus.

Why Texas?!?

Last week I decided to attend the young adult ministry at Highland Park UMC for the 3^rd time. We started out with a study of the last half of Romans 15 and then went out to dinner to fellowship and hang out. Since I am still new to the group, it seems like I am asked by at least one person each time, “what do you do?” and that’s a hard enough question to answer at times but the question that proceeded that caught me off guard and I didn’t seem to have a legitimate answer to “why would the United Methodist Church send a missionary to Texas?”

After leaving the group and on my drive back to the house, that question kept running through my mind and continued to be on my mind the next day. It’s the first time that someone has actually asked me, “why Texas?” but it has been a question that I have often asked myself. I realized that I wasn’t able to answer the question that night because it is often a question I ask myself and a question that can’t fully be answered at the moment but I do have an answer.

So, why Texas? The why is because there’s a need in Texas. There’s a need for the Hope of Christ to be seen and spread in Texas. Most often I feel like we are blind to what’s going on around us. We live in a specific area and we get comfortable that we begin to adapt and think that everything is okay and normal yet when you move from one place to another and you find yourself somewhere that you’ve never been before then you start to see the brokenness and the things missing. Too often as Christians, I feel like we do the same thing, we get so caught up in the church life and even being missionaries/ in ministry/ pastors/ etc that we get to a place of being comfortable and we forget to look around and see what’s truly going on and see the continued need to reach out to people and bring hope to the various sectors of the neighborhood/ state/ etc.

I used to be someone that thought that you had to leave the country to be a missionary but since being in TX I can tell you that there is a need everywhere and that’s why I am in TX because there is a lot of brokenness/ hurt/ etc in Texas that God wants to redeem. As an earlier blog post stated, things may look fine on the outside but once you take a look on the inside then you will realize what’s going on. This past month or 2, I have helped with doing about 40+ home visits in the 9 neighborhoods that my placement site works. These houses are ones that we will be working on at the end of June but we don’t want to see it as merely working on houses but as a way to be able to reach residents and bring them hope when they may not have been loosing hope. You can look at a house and see that it needs painted and you can change the way the outside of the house looks but what truly matters is what’s on the inside. The inside will tell you the truth and will show you the need. It truly is beyond the paint and beyond the walls but it’s about getting to know one another, showing the love of Christ, and bringing hope to the hopeless. It’s about relationships and about changing the inside and taking the time to truly listen to people and hear their stories. When you take the time to listen to someone, allow them to talk, and truly listen then you will no longer have to ask, “why Texas?” because your question would have been answered by the person you were talking to and listening to.

So again, why Texas? It’s because God brought me here and because there is hurt/ brokenness/ a loss of hope/ etc in many people’s lives in Texas and it’s about time that we take time to go beyond the paint and truly see and hear what’s going on. It’s time that we stop acting like we have it all together and that our neighborhood/ state/ country is fine when in reality, it’s falling apart and in great need of hope and for God’s love to shine through us and reach those that are hurting. Truly take a look around and you will realize why Texas or why ______ (fill in the blank with where ever you are since no matter where we are, there is a need for people to be “missionaries” and bring hope/ love/ God’s light/ etc)… That’s why Texas and I wouldn’t want to change where God has me at right now.

If you are still asking why Texas or why _____ then ask God to give you His eyes to see and then you wouldn't be asking that question any longer but then the question would be, what can be done and why is this happening?