Raw Courage

If we continue to follow Christ with more abandon, He will take us on faith walks that come in all shapes and sizes. For us, leaving church staff after 25 years was a leap of faith we would have never dreamed of taking...other people do risky things like that. We are just ordinary people, not super talented, not brave enough to do big things that are very risky. But God called us, and that changed everything. Yesterday I was reading in my devo, and God reminded me again that He started us on this path and He will complete it: "The most dramatic changes in your life will come from God's initiative, not yours. The people God used mightily in Scripture were all ordinary people to whom He gave divine assignments that they never could have initiated. The Lord often took them by surprise, for they were not seeking significant mandates from God." Henry Blackaby So here we are with a clear call - Create and distribute a fun, animated discipleship series for orphans, so that they get His truth connected to the painful issues they face. Long term goal? 52 weeks distributed worldwide. Short term goal? 12 weeks translated into Creole, and distributed to the 723 government recognized orphanages in Haiti. An enormous task (animation is not cheap) but desperately needed and powerfully effective! Truly a divine assignment, a significant mandate from the One who hears their cries, the Father to the fatherless. What's hard about this? Not working with orphans - what a joy! Not writing the curriculum - the experience God has been equipping me for my entire life! What's hard is having to trust God this much to provide - for the animation, the organization and our family. The shape and size of this faith walk is the biggest stretch of our lives...I was really not prepared for how much raw courage it would take to walk this path. The beautiful thing is that God keeps speaking even when funds and feelings are low.

d: Here is how He spoke today in my devo: There are three levels of faith in the Christian experience. The first is being able to believe only when we see some sign or have some strong emotion. Like Gideon, we feel the fleece and are willing to trust if it is wet. This may be genuine faith but it is imperfect. It is continually looking to feelings or some other sign instead of the Word of God. We have taken a great step toward maturity when we trust God without relying on our feelings. It is more of a blessing when we believe without experiencing any emotion. While the first level of faith believes when our emotions are favorable, the second believes when all feelings are absent. And the third level transcends the other two, for it is faith that believes God and His Word when circumstances, emotions, appearances, people and human reason all seem to urge something to the contrary. Paul exercised this level of faith when he said, "When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved" (Acts 27:20), then nevertheless went on to say, "keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as He told me" (Acts 27:25). May God grant us faith to completely trust His Word, even when every other sign points the other way. Streams in the Desert Faith Walks require RAW COURAGE. Choicest things must cost. But 6 days of being on the front lines, of seeing abandoned Haitian children sit and watch our Orbie video over and over made our call crystal clear once again. Onward and upward!

Under My Skin

I knew going to Haiti would be hard in many ways. And it was. But by far the most difficult thing was leaving. We fell in love with all the kids, but there were a few that really got under our skin. For me (Jill) it was a 12 year old boy living in the orphanage. He was the one that volunteered to give a recap of the Bible story of Joseph's abandonment after all the boys had watched our first video. All the kids would constantly hug us, kiss us on the cheek, sit on our lap, follow us everywhere we went. But this one boy was special to me and I was special to him. He was by my side most of the time. Of the 6 days we were there, the pit in my stomach formed on day 4. This was due to my thoughts about having to leave him. On the 5th day when we left for the day, he stood outside the orphanage, waving sadly at me, until we drove out of sight. The last day, he was just SO SAD. I just kept hugging him. He wrote me a letter and gave it to me right before we left. With hearts drawn all over it, it said: Jesus love you very much I love you soooooo much sooooo much I never forget you. Oh precious child, I will never forget you either. Your sadness is what drives me everyday. Your brokenness is what led us to risk everything to lead Orbie for Orphans. I pray that God will bring him a family. And I pray that God will use our discipleship material to transform the heart of this sweet boy that got under my skin.

6 days with 68 orphans

Spending 6 days with 68 children who live in an orphanage will change one's life forever. Last week on Orbie for Orphan's first mission trip we traveled to Leogane, Haiti to work at the Greta Home and Academy. This is the first orphanage run by Samaritan's Purse, and boy are they doing an amazing job! These children were living in tents when Samaritan's Purse took over last November. Here we are in front of the construction of the orphanage they are building for these children.

We can honestly say that our team fell in love with 68 kids that week. The children were constantly holding our hands, hugging our necks, smiling at us, laughing and playing with us. They couldn't get enough affection. Imagine what they've been through. They don't understand why they are separated from their families, but most are grateful to be in a place where they are given 3 great meals a day and love from the staff. Most are here because of the crippling poverty in Haiti.

We were so grateful to have a week to love on them and share God's truth in a fun way through our animated discipleship material. We had so many amazing moments and photos that I will be sharing in the next few days. But certainly the hardest part was leaving them. Even the best of orphanages cannot replace what is lost when a child loses their family. Their lives have been devastated. They are sad and lonely. We ache for them. We miss them. We are more determined than ever to do whatever it takes to develop animated Bible study just for them. As the psalmist said in Psalm 119, "If it had not been for your Word, I would have perished in my affliction."