BENEFIT CONCERT with Roby Duke!

Well, this continues to be an exciting journey of God providing more then I can think to ask. I still have a little more funding to raise before I meet my annual living expenses budget, but I am very, very close. (Quite a few people have told me that they have checks yet to mail and I am pretty sure that will meet the goal, but they aren’t in yet, so I am still waiting to count the final figures...) My goal has been to get that amount raised and then start thinking about the additional items that would benefit my ministry, but were not absolutely necessary--things like a car. But now that I am almost completely funded, I have been turning my prayers and attention to these additional needs. And almost as soon as my prayers began, an amazing opportunity just fell into my lap.

Roby Duke has been one of my favorite musicians since High School. He is an amazing guitarist, songwriter and singer. In recent years, he has played at River West a few times and each time I have been awed and encouraged by his music, his story and his sense of humor. Well, he happens to be coming through Portland in two weeks and has agreed to do a benefit concert to help me raise funds to purchase a safe and reliable car in El Salvador. So, not only do I get to hear one of my favorite musicians play, but there will also be an opportunity for me to also share about the work of ENLACE and why I am packing my bags & partnering with this amazing ministry full-time. And, as if that wasn’t enough, River West is going to help put on the whole event, so I don’t even have to stress the details. So cool!

So come on out!
Tickets go on sale this Sunday at River West, if you don’t attend the church but are interested in coming, let me know and I can make arrangements to get you tickets. To hear some of Roby’s music, check out his latest album at: http://cdbaby.com/cd/robyduke2

And if you can’t make it, start praying!
Here are things I can use prayer for this week:

• Spanish – Nope, still not fluent, but I do know how to say that “I like music.” Me gusta escuchar música. ;)


• Fundraising continues – Please pray that the concert is a success musically & financially, but also that I am able to really share concisely and effectively the amazing things God is doing through ENLACE. I would not be willing to make this extreme life change if not for my passionate belief that ENLACE is going to change the entire landscape of El Salvador through their amazing model.
  
• Margin - Last week I asked you to pray for margin and I really felt the answer to that prayer. I had just enough time to get things done, hang out with friends, rest and just enjoy my time. Thanks for praying and please keep it up!

I continue to be blown away by all of you and your support, love and encouragement! You are a blessing from God in my life!

Weakness can be a good thing

I think one of my biggest challenges in life is my protection mode. I really hate being hurt—and I know you hate being hurt to, but I REALLY hate it. A lot. Since I was pretty young I have armored myself with all kinds of protective techniques and manners. All with the aim of keeping myself away from the weepy, the broken and the ouchy. I am the strong one. The go-to person. The girl you call to get a job done. Self-sufficiency could be on my resume. And I’ve been pretty good at it—until now.

Now I am actively and volitionally placing myself on a new journey that is basically one big messy road of vulnerability. There is really no way around it. I’m leaving my job—financial stability; my community—family & friends; my language—don’t get me started…But most significantly I think I am giving up my delusion of some supreme strength of my own. First, I can’t even get to El Salvador without your financial support. And emotionally, I wouldn’t make it through a week without the prayers, emails and phone calls of dear friends reminding me why I am stoked to begin this adventure. There is no way I will be able to make a meaningful impact on anything in El Salvador without God-like strength, God-like patience and a God-like trust in the big plan beyond my vision. And that is not something that I can supply, purchase or do a tutorial on—Godlikeness. In his journal about his time in Latin America, Henri Nouwen writes:

One of the most rewarding aspects of living in a strange land is the experience
of being loved not for what we can do, but for who we are. When we become
aware that our stuttering, failing, vulnerable selves are loved even when we
hardly progress, we can let go of compulsion to prove ourselves and be free to
live with others in a fellowship of the weak. Gracias, p.17

“Fellowship of the weak”—doesn’t that sound awful. It sounds lonely…and hard…and well, weak. But here is the thing—Jesus, as He walked this earth hung out with the weak—the poor, the sick, the broken. And when He was making His dream team of apostles, he basically told them to give up everything and just trust and follow Him—sounds pretty weak. (Try explaining that to your family…”Yea, I quit today to wander & learn from a guy with a really long beard and a special twinkle in His eyes…) And the more I think about it, the more I have to recognize that the Savior ultimately chose the most extreme form of weakness to save me—death on a cross.

In Luke 14:11 it says, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” So maybe all of my running from weakness is a bit counterintuitive as a Christ-follower. And having been to El Salvador, I know that there is a lot more to weakness than my made-for TV conception of it. I have witnessed strength in weakness firsthand—people with no reason for hope, who hope anyway. Mother’s dreaming of college for kids when they didn’t get past the 5th grade. Poor people collecting enough in the Sunday offering to help some only slightly poorer person. Friendship offered even after so many relationships have failed them. The first line of the beatitudes says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” And while I don’t believe that I will ever be able to experience absolute solidarity in poverty, I hope to really learn what that means. Don’t get me wrong, every atom in my body still cries out for stability and strength—but God is leading me somewhere else—a place of vulnerability—a place of trust—and His great love compels me to follow. And because of that love—this new road is wonderful. Scary and hard and potentially ouchy yes, but truly wonderful.

Whew. That was a lot to say. I promise to try to make these missives shorter—sometimes I just get excited and want to share SO much!!

OK, here is how to pray for me this week:

• Spanish – Nope, not fluent yet. ;)
  
• Fundraising continues – I remain in awe that every week I get closer to my goal!
  
• Margin – There are a lot of things to do. Details, plans, things to learn, decisions to make, friends to see, tears to shed, movies to watch, dance moves to bust, etc. And then there is life—prayer, reading my Bible, exercising, eating, etc. All of that jumble of activity does not leave a whole lot of space for enjoying moments, soaking in Portland and loving the ones I love. Please pray that I learn how to cultivate the margin of living. I’ve never been good at margin and it seems like now is the time to learn.