Story - Part 2

Now, the King had a son. This son shared the love for the people that His father had. In fact, so great was His love for the people that He offered to take the punishment that the people deserved upon Himself. The King’s justice had to be enacted. But in order for the son to take the punishment for the people, He had to first discard His own royalty and humble Himself to the level of the people. You see, this was the King’s plan along. Through the humility of His son He would offer a payment for debts, so to speak, for those people who would choose to accept it. Sure enough, His son took on all of the limitations of mankind, and engaged with the rebel lord. In the end, the enemy destroyed the son, thinking he had won against another feeble attempt by the King to take back the hearts of His people. But it wasn’t over. Because of His willingness to suffer for the sake of the guilty, death itself could not hold Him. He returned to His father’s side, leaving behind a handful of people who now knew the truth. These people would begin to tell others of the son’s sacrifice, and the freedom that accepting that sacrifice brought. Slowly, the truth would begin to spread, burning up the deceit and darkness that the enemy had released on mankind. For years afterwards, the Truth would lay low, almost hidden, yet slowly pushing back the seemingly overwhelming tide of deception. The final victory would be long in coming, but slowly and surly the King would raise up His people, in their weakness and vulnerability, to become the very force that would overthrow the reign of deception brought about by the enemy. And one day, the enemy himself will be defeated once and forever, at the hands of the son. Out of defeat, the King brought victory. Out of failure, the King brought success. Out of weakness, the King brought strength.
You see, this isn’t just some fairytale. This is God’s story; the one that He wrote, and knows the beginning from the ending. This is the story of how He, in His wisdom and goodness, raised up, and continues to raise up, His people to overcome the darkness and deception of the enemy. This is the story of how through the apparent weakness, limitations, and vulnerability of His Son, Jesus, the ultimate victory has already been won.
If you remember, I mentioned that I wanted to offer a challenge, a new way to look at life, one that would bring greater purpose and meaning. You know, we tend to live our lives as if we were the only ones that mattered. Oh sure, we love and are loyal to our families and friends, maybe even those we attend church with, those we work with, or those living around us, but in the end, do we genuinely care about those outside of our sphere of influence? Let me put it in perspective for you. So we have the big, overarching story, God’s story, but who is it that make up all of the little pieces and parts of that story? We do. Each of us lives our own story. But not just our own story, because our stories intertwine with the stories of those around us, and their stories intertwine with those around them, until you have one long strand, the small stories of every individual who ever lived, that makes up His story. We are story, and we contribute to the stories of those around us, for good or for bad. We are story, and we are part of a much greater story, one that will last forever. Because when the final chapter closes, and the enemy is defeated, those who stood by the King and His son will begin a new chapter, one filled with joy like we have no idea, and this chapter can never end. This is where all of our individual stories come together for good. This is story.

Story - Part 1

“Enemy-occupied territory – that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say has landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign in sabotage.” ~ C.S. Lewis (http://christianquotes.org/search/quick)
Once upon a time, beyond time, and through all time, there was a King. Now this King established a Kingdom for Himself. However, at one point, one of the highest ranking lords in His Kingdom rebelled against Him, seeking to take His place as King. This lord was exiled from the Kingdom, along with all of his followers. The King was very powerful, and could have slain the lord and all of his followers with no effort on His part. However, He chose to use a method to bring about victory that, in the beginning, seemed to be rather foolish and weak. But in the long run, if it worked, it would bring great glory to the King. Now, a brief description of this King is in order. He was a very just, yet merciful King. He was powerful, infinite, and immortal. In His power, He created for Himself beings that shared many characteristics with Him. They were intelligent, emotional, and willful. They could love, and in return, desired love. He granted them free choice, to determine who they would love, and, ultimately, serve. However, they were finite, with limited power and understanding. It was with these weak creations that the King would defeat His opponent. Now, of course, the rebel lord hated the King, and for that matter, anything that was dear to the King. So he targeted the weak creatures for destruction. He thought if he could corrupt these beings than the King’s justice would require Him to destroy His creation. Of course, he was correct in this. As I said, the King was a just king. This is exactly what happened. The weak creatures were seduced and betrayed by the rebel lord, and were forced to accept the King’s punishment, although it grieved Him greatly. Now, you might ask, “What of the King’s great plan?” You would be correct to ask this. Well, He knew before hand that His creation would be tarnished through what would become known as the Great Deception, and He was ready for this. Thousands of years passed. The rebel lord continued to plague those who had been designed to be the King’s followers. Many of them became followers of the rebel lord, whether they meant to or not. Some were deceived into following the enemy’s lies. Some simply were so surrounded by corruption and deception that they didn’t know what to believe. They created many “kings” for themselves; beings that they worshipped as their creator and lord. However, there remained a few who sought the True King, and sought to follow and serve Him. Out of these, the King developed the solution to cure the rebellion brought about amongst His people.
I invite you back next time to learn exactly how the King defeated His enemy and intervened on behalf of His people! This is the beginning in a short series, which I am using as the background for what I believe has the power to change how you look at life. Join me over the next two weeks or so as I offer a challenge to engage life with a new sense of purpose and destiny.

The week of July 18 shifted the entire facet of my summer by about ninety degrees. While I was researching possible freelance writing jobs online, my grandma stumbled across an online application. When she told me about it, I thought it was some sort of community thing where you put in an application and they distribute it to any companies in the area who have openings. Boy, was I wrong. I filled out the application and submitted it, and within five minutes I got a call from a lady with Vector Marketing. Turns out that this application was for a position as a sales representative with Vector. I scheduled an interview for the next day, and was immediately hired upon completing the interview. The next day I began training (on Thursday, two days after submitting the application) and completed training Saturday. Saturday evening, I completed my first two appointments, both of which resulted in sales. It was a whirlwind!
Two weeks in, it is going much slower; however, the reason is a hesitation to schedule appointments with people (I have to do my presentations in peoples' homes) knowing my limited transportation. I am dependent on others for transportation, so have to plan around a customer's schedule, a driver's schedule, and my schedule. However, despite this, I am anticipating a great experience with Vector Marketing that will boost my resume and benefit my major.
Briefly, Vector Marketing is the sister company to Cutco Corporation, a fine cutlery manufacturer. They focus on hiring college students to fill their positions as sales reps. This obviously benefits the students and the company, as the company gets people that they can train from the beginning rather than getting people who are set in potentially bad habits. As for the students: well, its obvious. Great experience, great pay.

July 28 -Missions, Part 4

I must begin the last of my series on missions with an apology. It has been two weeks since I last posted, which you will notice; however, my summer has taken a turn for the better, thus occupying my mind quite heavily. But excuses aside, here is the rest of my story.
While you may not find my activities on the Thailand trip to be very high key, this trip did present me with a challenge which I had not experienced on the previous trip. The very lack of activity drained me emotionally, as I struggled with the pressure of not meeting the standards I had set for myself. I went to Thailand intending to experience a profound change in my life that those around me would notice. Of course I wanted to be a blessing to those I would be serving as well. Fact is, I hoped to accomplish something big, you know, start a program or whatever. Two weeks into the trip, I decided I had failed. I was questioning God as to why I was even there. I was actually ready to come home. At this point, I gave up the fight. I determined to accept that my relationship with the Vandenhauttes was the only success that I would bring away from Thailand. In fact, it was my friendship with them that helped me deal with my apparent failures at the university.
However, despite my many mistakes, God showed up and proved Himself true. I had, ever since junior high, looked at myself as a failure. I expected failure of myself in every area while at the same time being terrified of it. God had once promised me that He would turn my failures into successes. I had let go of this promise, but He remembered it quite well.
When I let go of my fight, He stepped in and took over. There was a guy who had showed up at the English Resource Center, and would later come to a couple of my classes, with whom I started hanging out at the local coffee shop. I didn't speak Thai, and he didn't speak very good English, but we talked as much as we could, and I had the opportunity to share my personal testimony with him. One night towards the end of my trip, he wanted to hang out for a bit, so we went out to a coffee shop again. During a lull in the conversation, he asked me, "Why do you believe in God?" I saw my opportunity, so retold my story, then asked him if he was ready to make Jesus Christ his Lord and Savior. He said yes, so I led him in a prayer. As I did so, I could feel a sense of joy and completeness like never before. Surprisingly, I never felt any pride in the part I played in it. I only felt awe that God could use someone as broken and full of faults as I was. I knew now that my battle had been won; my failure turned to success, not because of what I had done, but because of who He is. This is, in fact, the reason that I live: not because of who I am or what I've done, but because of who He is and what He has done.
That experience completely broke my fear of failure. I knew that I could trust Him to take my mistakes and use them for His purposes. Isn't that the way we are supposed to live? This is perhaps the message of my experience in missions: that we must seek after Him and His Kingdom with all that we are, while recognizing that we are broken people and He a whole and perfect God who will use our brokenness to accomplish His will. Will you agree with me in surrendering our brokenness to His purposes?

July 14 - Missions, Part 3 (to be continued)

Relationships played a key role in my third, and to date, last, missions trip. This trip was to Chiang Mai, Thailand. The largest city in Northern Thailand, Chiang Mai has long been a tourist destination and NGO hot spot. My dad had touched down in Chiang Mai, where he met Michel Vandenhautte, a French missionary doctor. Michel came to visit our family around Thanksgiving of 2008, and during his stay, I had connected with him in a way that I didn't normally connect with people. One vision we had in common was working in China, so when I found out he was thinking about traveling to China for a visit and wanted me to join him, I jumped at the opportunity. As it turned out, he never made that trip to China, but I, at the Lord's leading, went to Thailand anyway, where I would stay with his family. Because of an illness, his work had been put on hold, so I worked with another man my dad had met while there. Nathaniel Heng, a Singaporean missionary, works at a local university, where he heads up a center that aids students in learning English. As an intern, I would teach a few English classes once school started up again. Until then, I spent time with the young people who worked at the English Resource Center, as the center was known.
Meanwhile, I was becoming very close to the Vandenhauttes. I lived with them for the first week, then afterwards spent every evening with them. Through activities ranging from playing chess and watching episodes of a BBC series of Robin Hood to a mini-trip to visit a refugee camp with Michel's wife and eldest daughter, I found them to be some of the most extraordinary people I have ever met. To this day they are like family to me. Leaving them was, if anything, even more difficult than leaving the orphanage in Siem Reap.
The time came for school, and thus my work, to begin. I was to teach two English classes a week. Sounds great, until you realize it was only for two weeks. Now you see why I said you won't find any extraordinary accomplishment in a description of my missions experience. I was uncomfortable with my position as a teacher, to say the least. I had no clue as to how one should teach English. Fortunately, I had Ruth (Michel's wife) as backup. I'm not sure what I would have done without her suggestions to push me through that handful of classes. However, I came through it, only to be astonished by the gratitude that my "students" showed me. Other than a couple of college students, I had a lady in my class who worked at the university. She expressed her gratitude for what little I had to offer by organizing the purchase of some gifts for me. That gratitude has been a mark of all my trips, where the return on investment for the little effort that I put out there is so much greater than I deserve.
The time came to say farewell. I went back to the university one last time to see everyone there. I remember the day I was to leave I was playing Scrabble with Michel's girls while trying to hold off the emotions that I knew were bound to come. On the plane back to Bangkok, I had to fight back the tears that threatened to break out of the feeble restraints I had established. When I arrived in Singapore, I spent a few days hanging out with Nathaniel Heng and his family (who had traveled back to Singapore a few weeks before for the summer) and some of the young people from his church whom I had met while passing through Singapore before arriving in Thailand. The young people showed me a wonderful time, from hanging out in the evenings to visiting a history museum, but I struggled during those few days to get past some of the emotion from leaving Chiang Mai. However, four or five days later, I left Singapore for the US, ready to go home, though knowing I would miss my new Singaporean friends.

July 10 - Missions, Part 2 (to be continued)

As the team left, I moved in with Pastor Simon and Dora Valenzuela. I began going to the orphanage every day. It was only a matter of time before the children got over their shyness and started swarming me. I remember playing tag with the younger children, chasing them all over the orphanage. Once, a couple of the boys climbed up the back wall of one of the buildings and dared me to follow. Another time I was trying to take a nap on a mat, but I wasn't to be left alone. The children would run up to me one at a time to grab my feet, while I was warding off another. By the end of the two weeks that I was there, the children had become like younger siblings to me. The night before I was to leave, they gathered around to thank me for coming. I can still see the picture in my mind, with them sitting on the floor in front of me and the staff gathered around. I can't fully explain the feelings in my heart at that point, but I knew that I loved those kids.
Simon and Dora's daughter, Lois, was responsible for the youth meetings that took place once a week. The attendees came from the village. I had the privilege to speak one night. I remember for me it was something of a freeing experience, as I had always had problems with public speaking, but found that with a translator, I could talk fine without stumbling over my words.
I took part in some other activities, like repainting a room in one of the buildings and taking the kids swimming, but the one that I spent the most time on was teaching some of the village youth to play basketball. The Cambodian sport is soccer. Should I have gotten mixed up in a soccer game, I never would have been able to keep up. But basketball was something that they didn't know how to play, and I knew a little something about, so I made use of the single basketball hoop in the orphanage, every bit of pavement available, and the little training I had had in sixth grade to not only teach basketball, but to organize a tournament at the end of that week. That week I spent with the guys from the village is one of my most memorable experiences. Of course, I didn't speak Cambodian, and very few of them could understand any English, so trying to communicate what I wanted them to do often times resulted in a lot of laughs. I would say something over and over, while showing them what to do, and anyone who could understand a couple of the words I used would explain it to the others. Teaching them from scratch, I had to determine to what degree I would call them on for mistakes, like fouls. Lois got me a whistle, which of course made things more entertaining.
They were a good group of guys. We would begin with drills. I remember after so many days of drills, when I said it was time for suicides, they would all grimace. I didn't give them room to complain, though, since I ran with them. What I really appreciated was that they were always so cheerful about it. Even running those suicides in ninety degree weather didn't repulse them.
After drills we would scrimmage. I would attempt to call them on as many mistakes as I could easily catch, while they had a blast pounding the pavement. These scrimmages were fun and humorous.
Finally, at the end of that week, we took them to a nearby school to play a tournament on the public court. A professional ref probably would have been at his wits end at how many errors went uncalled, but what I remember is a bunch of guys who had no idea of how to play basketball coming together and, at the end of a week, being able to take that ball up and down the court, block, and score. Funny thing is, I am a terrible basketball player. I don't look back on that as so much of an accomplishment on my part. Rather, I see it as having been an amazing opportunity to build relationships with those guys.
In fact, that is primarily what I came away from that trip with. If you are looking for a series of accomplishments or activities to mark a successful missions trip, you won't find it in any of mine. But what I learned from those children and youth in Siem Reap, Cambodia was that the key to missions, in fact, the key to being a witness for Jesus Christ anywhere in the world, is relationships. While building houses, doing Vacation Bible Schools, etc are important and necessary, those things don't give you access into the hearts of the people you are seeking to help. The only way to point others towards Jesus is through binding your heart to theirs in relationship. This means hard work, and often sacrifice, because if your heart is bound to theirs, than anything that separates you or touches them will burn your heart. But it is vital. Jesus did command us to love God first, then others, didn't He? It seems to me that He answered the question of how to fulfill the Great Commission with that one simple command.

July 3 - Missions, Part 1 (to be continued...)

I just got done watching a video clip that a friend posted on Facebook from his missions trip to Guatemala in 2009. Watching it, I couldn't help but think about my own trips, in 2009 and in 2007.
My introduction to missions came when I was ten, when I accompanied my father to Siem Reap, Cambodia. That trip planted something in my heart. Several years later, while praying one night, a longing to return to Cambodia rose up in me. The Lord paved the way to go back, so in January of 2007, I flew into Bangkok to join a team from the non-profit humanitarian group People for Care and Learning. PCL, as they are known, followed my dad into Siem Reap. He had, for several years, played the role of coordinator, putting together projects, people, and groups. With the groundwork he had laid, PCL stepped in to launch several projects. Every other month or so, PCL would bring in a team to show them the work being done, to raise support.
It was with one of these teams that I found myself, entirely by the grace of God, back in Cambodia. The Lord's hand could be seen from the very beginning of the trip, as my plane in Tokyo, Japan had broken down, causing me to miss my flight and the meeting with the team. The issue didn't seem so big of a deal on my side; I was exhausted by that point, and had met up with a guy my age in Tokyo who was traveling to Thailand. He had had more traveling experience than I, so knew what he was doing. I just followed him. However, on the home front, no one had any idea where I was. I was finally able to call home and explain that I was staying in Tokyo over night. When I finally got to Bangkok, I had, of course, missed the team, so a couple who worked with PCL came back to the airport to pick me up. My dad tried to coordinate a meeting, as I called him from the public airport phone and he called the couple picking me up. "Coincidentally", they walked past me, just as I pulled out a sign that said, "PCL". Had I pulled it out thirty seconds later, they would have missed me.
After a tempestuous beginning, I joined up with the team the night before flying into Cambodia. We stopped in Phnom Penh (the capital) for a couple of days, then headed to Siem Reap. That first week was spent exploring the different projects PCL had in operation. After this time, the team left, and I moved in with Pastor Simon Valenzuela, and his wife Dora. The Valenzuelas were Filipino missionaries working for PCL at the local orphanage established on the property my parents donated to PCL. Finally my real "work" would begin.