Orthopraxis

Incarnational… Zumba?

Posted by Caroline on Mar 23, 2012 in Orthopraxis | 1 comment

I want these girls to know, really really know…

they were created with PURPOSE

they are loved with a love they cannot comprehend

they do not need to fight and get angry to be noticed

they are not fat at age 9

they have an eternal father who is deeply interested in them & will never stand them up

I want them to know Christ.  The more I see the more I know Christ is the only hope.  & the biggest, truest, surest everlasting HOPE.

Oh God, give divine purpose to every single thing our church does; only you can give divine, restorative purpose to something like… Zumba.  God, you are good, so very good.  and sometimes funny too.

Dance on.

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On Poverty: What I Keep

Posted by Caroline on Nov 20, 2011 in Amazing Grace, Orthopraxis | 1 comment

Last year Baylor University Press published a book called What I Keep: Photographs of the New Face of Homelessness and Poverty.  The photographs capture what things those in poverty choose to cling to tightly. 

Regularly encountering homelessness here in Waco routinely disrupts my life of comfort– and in an uncomfortable way, I’m grateful it does.  It’s far too easy for me to slip into the world of candles, coffee, and foam pillows.

This evening I’ve gotten lost in the stories

I pick up stuffed animals all the time, I got a truck in here too.  I found him, this little dog in a dumpster down in the projects in the South Side while I was pickin’ up cans.  The reason I picked it up is because whenever I see a little child I give it to him.  That’s why I collect them.”

I don’t keep these, I make them and I give them away.  it’s something to pass the time while I wait.  I just give them away.”

A theme of gathering, collecting, and creating in order to share is scattered amidst the pages.  As if to punch me, the last statement in the book says:

“I’ve been thinking about it and I can’t think of anything I can’t do without.”

My neighbors across the highway who sometimes congregate outside of McDonald’s or ask me for change at Common Grounds have a different story than me.  They don’t worry about Dr. Ngan’s looming final or planning a wedding.   Whereas they are concerned where they will sleep, I never worry about my daybed not being available, cold, or wet from rain.  I have a lot more comforts than they do, but they have something I need to grasp.  It’s at the heart of the gospel.

Those in poverty are quite a few steps closer to understanding what it means to be without earthly treasure.  They understand loss.  To know Christ fully, I need to live as if my earthly treasure is loss.  After all, in eternity, it will be.  I need to learn to cling tightly to the gospel as if I have no other option, no other affection, no other desire.

“Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.”  Philippians 3:8

I want that promise to be What I Keep.

I fear I’m so comfortable that I don’t know what it means for everything else to be worthless.  I don’t know how to discard my own attachments to gain Christ.  I have the problem with my room oozing out into the hallway and my closet is a catchall and my iphone is glued to my hand.  The problem is not my things; the main issue is my attachment. 

May we recognize our comforts for what they are– not as a standard of living or a measure of God’s love.  For it is when we are truly without that we have the potential to gain all.  May we be without strong, earthly attachments, so that our attachment might be fully, unashamedly to Christ.

In what ways has seeing poverty challenged the way you look at things?

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Eternal Fruit

Posted by Caroline on Oct 25, 2011 in Orthopraxis | 0 comments

When we get a paycheck after a tough week, it motivates us. Or, when we get a good grade after studying our tails off we feel accomplished.  It’s just the lift we need; it’s fruit.

One of the blessings of being a follower of a God full of grace is seeing the eternal fruit of our labor.  When we see a transformed life, we get to see a glimpse of God’s hand on the earth.  We are humbly brought to remember what God has done for us.  When we get to share the gospel and the hearer respond with “this is just what I need!” it’s a gift from heaven to encourage our sometimes weary hearts.

Lately, I’ve been gifted the opportunity to see the fruit of ministry.  I store up the memories as I know they are gifts.  What I also know is that sometimes we work, toil, give our all, pray continually, and we don’t see fruit.  It can be tedious and disheartening.

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:58

I love this verse because it’s a reminder that when we don’t see the gift of fruit, we can still know that labor in the Lord is never in vain.  I can study and get a bad grade, but I cannot work for the Lord in vain.  The fruit will come.

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Sharing the Foundations of the Gospel

Posted by Caroline on Oct 18, 2011 in Amazing Grace, Orthopraxis | 1 comment

I asked the girls, “Have you ever heard you were an accident?”

Heads nodded all around the circle.  It broke my heart.

La Vega started 40 Days of Purpose this past week at church.  We’re jumping on board with the book that most Christians read, filled out the journal, and put on the shelf years ago.  It’s old news.

The lesson for last week at girls night was “You are not an Accident.  God has a plan for you.”  A simple lesson, yet POWERFUL.

For most of us, it’s not something we have to learn.  Rather, it’s instilled in us.  We are told that God had a purpose when we were born, but we also knew our parents planned for us—or loved the surprise (Little Robert was the best surprise imaginable).  Our parents want us and love us… and even better, they tell us this often.

For some of the girls at La Vega, this truth—You’re not an accident—was new.  It was fresh.  It was truth heard for the first time.

I asked them, “has anyone every told you that you were an accident?”  One girl said her brother tells her often and another told me her mom tells her she wishes she weren’t born.

I was able to sit in that youth room and share with the girls how whether their parents are good parents or not, whether they planned for them or not, God knew that those two people held the right DNA, lived in the exact moment in history to create the perfect life that He planned for before time.  It is truth that changes everything.

Seeing this new truth hit the ears of the girls really brings into perspective how much we as Christians have to share.  The gospel is not old.  It is new daily to us.  And it is entirely new to some.

What truth do you know that could be revolutionary to someone else?

Share. 

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Encouragement

Posted by Caroline on Sep 24, 2011 in Orthopraxis | 1 comment

These girls have grabbed my heart.

Growing up my mom used to make my siblings and I say 5 nice things about each other.  Most of the time we were silly- James would compliment my ability to trip and fall and Robert would compliment how James takes such care with his hair (making fun of him, of course).

This week during girls night at church we ate a birthday cake I burnt and gave compliments to the birthday girl.  Her face lit up as all attention was on her and kind words came from me and her friends.  We never know when our words might be the nicest, most encouraging words someone hears for the day. or month!  She said that day was the best part of last year.

I sometimes take for granted how much I am encouraged by my family, my parents’ sappy texts, knowing my brothers and sisters genuinely like me and always knowing I’m supported.  It’s a gift.

Let’s never ration encouragement and affirmation.
Our words have the potential to be the best gift we give one another.

May we give freely.

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What a Ride

Posted by Caroline on Aug 26, 2011 in Orthopraxis | 0 comments

Whirlwind. Part of me feels like I’m holding on for dear life but then I catch myself running and trying to keep up with myself. I’ve been MIA in the blog world, but there’s been no shortage of action– thus: UPDATE!

Last week we launched a college ministry at La Vega Community Church and I’m the new college minister. We had our first meeting Monday night and prayed and worshipped together. As we sang, my heart ached for someday soon Bellmead to sing to our God too. It was incredible to pray with other believers for Bellmead. The small town used to be the town with the less-crowded Walmart, the one Blockbuster (now gone, of course) and now it’s central to my prayers and my new focus for this entire semester. It’s both my burden and passion. It’s what wears me out and what rejuvenates me. It is the Lord’s work in the purest way. It has transformed what Clayton and I talk about, where we spend our time, and has opened our eyes to our limited view God.

I never would have seen myself here or pictured accountant Clayton spending hours playing basketball with guys in the gym and spewing the gospel constantly, and that’s why I say my view was limited. I dwell on plans and the future and mindlessly worry. Earlier this summer I never would have realized Bellmead– of all places– would have grabbed my heart. It used to signal that I was almost to Baylor and now it signals the huge need of willing people to give of themselves and serve. What we perceive as ideal, the best, and the highest form of success pales in comparison to what it looks like to live in God’s ideal, his ultimate planned-before-time will.

It’s humbling and reassuring. Challenging and scary. It’s work while at the same time resting in Him.

It’s the whirlwind of knowing & living in Christ. What a ride.

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