Love Does

I want to start this off by asking a question; have you seen Jesus today?
Maybe this is a better question,
Have you looked for Jesus today?
Think about that while I share some statistics with you, ready?
One.  Do you have food in your refrigerator?  Clothes on your back?  A roof over your head?  What about a place to lay your head every night?
If you do have these things you are richer than almost 75% of the world.
Two.  Do you have money in the bank (checking account or savings account)?  A little bit of cash in your wallet?  What about a tray of spare change on your dresser, or even a jar of coins stashed away somewhere?
Get this. You are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthiest people.
Okay, so pretty amazing statistics right? I would say more humbling than anything else.
So back to my first question(s), have you seen Jesus today? and/or have you looked for Jesus today?  There is a pretty hefty chunk of scripture that I want to refer to, so for the sake of the length of this blog this is going to be on you to read, if you don’t have a bible handy definitely check out youversion.com.  If you have your bible take a look at Matthew 25:31-46, yes, “the least of these”.  Take some time and read it, then come back.
Done?
Heavy stuff huh?  Throughout all of scripture Jesus identified with the poor in amazing ways.  Not only did he identify with them, but he was one of them.  Look at where Jesus was born, as well as his upbringing too.  Jesus was born in a dirty manger, a feeding trough, Jesus, God, the King of the universe could have been born in a palace, in comfort, but he wasn’t.  It says in scripture that there were times when Jesus had no place to lay his head, no place to sleep at night.  When he rose on the third day he rose in cave, not in a palace, not in a place of luxury.  So is it really any wonder that Jesus associates himself with the “least of these”?
What do we do with this?  How do we react?  As Christ followers we experience God’s grace and love, we realize that grace is given as a gift, we respond to grace, we respond to forgiveness, as a response to gratitude, with LOVE, we LOVE because He first LOVED us.
Tom Davis wrote in his book called RED LETTERS:
“I’ve discovered a new way to live.  Every morning when I get out of bed, I look for Jesus.  No, not because I have misplaced Him.  And I am not talking about a feeling I get during prayer, or a revelation that comes to me while reading scripture.  I’m talking about Jesus in the eyes of real people, in the eyes of the poor, the handicapped, the oppressed, the orphan, the homeless, the AIDS victim-the abandoned and the forgotten.”
Jesus is everywhere, in everything, and experiencing him in Ethiopia; on every corner, walking the streets, laughing, smiling, crying; will hopefully open our eyes to see him and experience him more and more back home.
I’m sorry if this seems to be scrambled, or unorganized, maybe just all over the place, but it seems fitting because that is where my heart/mind is as I write this, all over the place.  I’m trying to wrap my head around being able to express
an unconditional love,an unending love,a love that can only come from God.
My prayer is that compassion will flow through us, that our eyes will be opened to see Him face to face, that His love can radiate through us, transforming our hearts and resonating in the hearts of others.
So. How are you responding?  How are we responding?

Dylan

One word that stands out in my mind while being here and most likely when I will look back on my time here in Ethiopia would be the word generosity.  Whether it be the staff at Amazing Grace Guest House or the staff at Bright Hope School generosity has never been lacking.  Today especially our team was shown generosity in a few special ways.    Tare, who is our transportation guy, invited us into his home and also supplied our team with lunch.  It was a special time for our team as Tare is not required to do this for us but was generous enough to open up his home and would not let us pay for our dinner but out of the generosity of his heart gave of his own money and supplied us all with lunch.
Then when we returned home that afternoon the staff at Amazing Grace Guest House had set up a special coffee ceremony, prepared wat for dinner for us, and also gave our entire team gifts of wallets for the guys and scarfs for the girls.
Being shown that generosity from everyone has made our entire team feel so special and so loved.  Our Ethiopian friends have definitely set up such a good example of being generous.  Whether that is being generous in our time, generous in our finances, or showing generosity through whatever gifts the Lord has given us.  Our prayer now is that we take what we’ve learned from our relationships here and bring them back with us and incorporate them into our lives and relationships back home.
Romans 12:6-8  We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.  If your gift is prophesying, then phrophesy in accordance with our faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, the give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to how mercy; do it cheerfully.
-Laura Bosma

Sundays in Bozeman have a lazy, restful rhythm. Everyone on the team has been excited to see what a Sunday in Ethiopia would look like. Needless to say, it wasn’t much like what we had in mind. We started off the day with a delicious breakfast and loaded into the van at 8:30 A.M. with no idea of where we were going or what the church was like. Certainly no one expected to still be rolling over a rocky alley an hour later! Although we were about half an hour late, our persevering driver, Tare, did find Beza International Church. We unloaded with great anticipation… only to find that the Amharic service was the one that started at 9 A.M. and the English wasn’t until 11 A.M. Bright side: we weren’t late for church! No one was upset, especially when we realized this left us time for our favorite activity, drinking macchiatos. Tare took us to a nearby café, which was probably the nicest I’ve been in. I’ve never judged an establishment like I do here in Africa. If it has a bathroom, its decent. If it has soap, its respectably nice. If it has a real toilet, its high class. We drank macchiatos while Chris and Dylan did what was likely the easiest cross work puzzle of all time. Example: What do fire fighters need (four letters)? Think about it. We arrived at church a little early hoping to catch some of the Amharic worship service. Instead we just caught a bit of the sermon, which was preached in English and translated to Amharic. Ironic. The church service was probably the most incredible worship experience I have ever attended. The worship leader was amazing. He was so passionate and lively, jumping all over the stage (literally) and singing with power and confidence. The stage was filled with at least eight other singers who were having just as much fun as their friend. I’ve been to my share of charismatic churches, but nothing even resembled the passion and spirit of this service, probably because us Americans would be scared out of our minds if someone came into our church with such zeal. I got the chills immediately, as well as an amazing combination of wanting to cry, dance, and shout all at once. I wish everyone could experience the Holy Spirit in a service like that. The preacher’s message was equally riveting. He preached on Proverbs 30:24-28 which discusses the wisdom of the ant, the coney or rock badger, the locust, and the lizard. I’ve never heard it preached on like that before. He talked about how the wisdom of the ant is that it knows the season and acts accordingly. How often do we who are single wish to be married and those who are experiencing trial wish for ease and so on? Rather than knowing what season God has put us in and maximizing it, we try to force ourselves into the next. He compared it to trying to plant a summer crop in winter and winter crop in summer. First, we won’t experience the harvest of the season we are in, and second, we create rot and contaminate the next season’s harvest. He didn’t talk about the rock badger because it was covered in the sermon from the last week but moved on to the locust. His main point was the locust has great wisdom because alone, its basically bird food, but in a swarm, it is truly an unconquerable force. Similarly, Christians on their own are small and sometimes ineffective, but when we act as the body of Christ, we are an unconquerable force. He lastly discussed the lizard, which after study he concluded was the gecko. The wisdom of the gecko is that although it is small and has no impressive defensive weapons, it has the ability to take hold of something strong enough to resist a foe. In fact, the sticky residue on the gecko’s feet is being studied in hopes of creating a similar glue product. The point was that the gecko’s power is in its ability to take hold of something greater than itself. It is made great by the greatness to which it cleans. If us Christians can cling with a death vice to the promises of God, we too will be able to flee temptation and be part of something great. The pastor preached with similar zeal to that of the worship leader, but the best part was the involvement of the listeners! There were constant amens, words of encouragement, and claps of agreement. A few people would even stand up and point at the speaker when there was a point they particularly identified with. Afterwards we all discussed laughingly how Brian would react if we acted in a similarly passionate matter during his next message. So, fair warning Journey family 😉 We were in church from about 10:30 A.M. till 1:30 P.M. and absolutely famished by the time we got out. We loaded back into our trusty van and headed to our regular spot, Chocolate. Like usual, they had only a quarter of the things on the menu, but we all were able to order something that sounded tasty. Unfortunately, a few minutes after we ordered, the power went out. We could tell by the nervous glances of the waitress that this meant one thing: tibs. Sure enough she came over telling us that due to the power outage, their menu had been cut into tibs and pasta with vegetables. Half of us got tibs and the other half got pasta. When we actually got our food, everyone was surprised by how good it was! Even though no one got what they intended, everyone was happy with their second choice. We ate, watched a little bit of a soccer game, and then headed back to the guest house. For a few hours, everyone separated. Just about everyone took a Sunday afternoon nap, except me. We read and napped contentedly until around 5:30 P.M. when once again, the power went off. This brought everyone from their separate areas and into the living room where we turned on a few battery powered lights and hung out while Kate made dinner. I nearly had a heart attack at lunch when I saw French toast was on the Chocolate menu (although I’m sure they wouldn’t actually have it), and so Kate decided she would make us all French toast for dinner. It was delicious. So. Good. Apparently I’ve been missing out all my life by not putting both peanut butter and syrup on my French toast. Thankfully my tragic error has been corrected. After a fun and tasty dinner, we spent the rest of the evening talking about our team devotional. I can honestly say Sunday was one of my favorite days here, and that’s not just because I’m the one who has to write about it. God has really used this trip to show me how little I appreciate the things He’s given me. Not just things either, but relationships and circumstances. I am so incredibly blessed to have a caring family and network of people who continually pour into me. So often, I neglect them and choose instead things that won’t last and don’t matter. God has made it clear to me that I need to appreciate not only them, but also my current circumstances. He has put me in a season that will surely have a rich harvest if only accept where I am and let Him work through it. I’ll be sad to leave this amazing place, but I can’t wait to get home and embrace with gratitude the incredible blessings God has given me there. Maria

Answer: Hose 🙂

So far, as I look at my experience here in Ethiopia in the big picture, one thing has come to my mind and been consistent.  That being that I am a slave to “things”.  Things that look to steal the real joy in my life.  I believe that circumstances, people, and things can rob us of experiencing true JOY.  Often times when I think of things that bring me joy I rattle off things that are superficial, meaning that if they were taken away from me I would feel as though I was robbed or empty handed.  This is not to say that things are bad, but I more so think that the things that we rejoice in should be carefully evaluated. Evaluated in such a way as to see if they are things that will wither over time or things that will always remain.  I personally would prefer to invest time into the later of the two, finding my real joy from things that will remain or never fail.

In Philippians Paul has unspeakable joy!  He is rejoicing in spite of his circumstances. He is not worried about himself but is concerned about others. He is unselfish in a time when he had all the right to be selfish due to his circumstances.  Rather he found pure joy in his faith in Christ, his friends, and his sufferings. 

In many ways I see such characteristics in the children and staff at Bright Hope School.  It would be easy for the children and staff to look at the outward appearance of themselves or of their living circumstances (poverty), in which they would be using the measuring stick of man.  The measuring stick of man says that we need “things” in order to experience pure joy.  However, I have observed a different kind of joy coming from Bright Hope.  In the midst of their circumstances I have seen some of the greatest smiles, humility, unity, and relationships.  While the people here seem as though they don’t have much from the outward appearance, they in fact have more than one would ever know unless stepping foot into there culture.  And when i say more, i don’t mean a materialistic more.  I have never been with people who are so relational.  There minds are set on “others” rather than themselves.  It blows my mind that in such circumstances when it seems as though they need to live for themselves to make it through…they are in fact focused on others.  They are not living for cheap things that will leave them empty handed. They are living for things that will remain, investing into people and relationships.  This is evident with our daily coffee breaks.  We (the team) feel as though it is unnecessary to have a coffee break right before lunch that cuts into our work time.  On the other hand, to the people at Bright Hope it is not all about the work or “things” built or amount of rocks carried.  It is about relationships and building “others” up.  It is also evident when you have an army of children willing to help you carry rocks from one side of the grounds to the other.  Or when the children simply smile from one ear to the other when we say “salem” to them in passing.  Other than showing pure joy, the only “things” on their mind is pens, gum, or candy… which are things we take for granted anyways.  When all joy would seem to be robbed from them, they demonstrate a pure joy that i have never seem.  I believe that this is because they are not living for things, they are living in the midst of their circumstances and receiving their joy from meaningful things that will last.  If it isn’t apparent yet, this one thing that will last is Jesus Christ and he is all about relationships and serving others, just as he did for us.  God loves people, therefore relationships will last.  God can be seen all over in these people.  They are living for things that will last, independent of their circumstances that could rob them of experiencing pure joy.  Although they may not have much, materialistically speaking, they are rich in their inner being. 

Again this is not to say things are bad but as a Christ follower my life does not consist in the abundance of things I possess.  Christ is where our true joy comes from, we must seek the kingdom of God above all things.  To me, that means that I should start living for the one real thing that brings true joy.  I should not allow circumstances and the amount of things dictate the amount joy I experience, because after all they leave me with unfulfilled joy.  Rather I need to live out the greatest commandment that will never fail or leave me feeling empty. Simply said, don’t be selfish and love others as yourself.  Easy to say, but hard to do.  For this reason, I hope that I can take with me the way in which the people at Bright Hope experience and demonstrate pure joy in the midst of their circumstances. Their greatest concern seems to be about taking care or others and serving others. They are not living for cheap things!

What brings you joy?  Are you living for cheap things or things what will be steadfast in the long run?

-Brew

Have you ever heard of a one upper? You know, “Oh that Molly is such a one upper!” For those of you who don’t know, a one upper is someone who always has to one up a comment or a situation. For example, I would say something like, “Dang, today was a long day, it felt like my class would never end.” A one upper would respond with something like this, “Yeah, me too, I not only had THREE classes that felt like they would never end, but my watch literally broke, stopping time altogether, making an even longer day for me!” Okay, a wee bit of an exaggeration, but I’m sure you get the picture.

I have a new appreciation for one uppers, as we have been working at Bright Hope School. I have come to the conclusion that not all one uppers are negative, in fact many of them serve as healthy competition for us to aspire to be better, to do more, to serve always, to love unconditionally.

1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 says;

“Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. For that is indeed what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you brothers to do this more and more”

We are taught to love one another, but we are urged to do this MORE and MORE.

So what does MORE and MORE look like? More and more can look like a lot of different things, whether it be a grin from ear to ear followed by a handshake and a “selam” as we enter the compound of Bright Hope, or a random “I LOVE YOU” from the workers as we cross paths. This loving or this encouraging attitude leads to a friendly competition, a healthy competition to shower love on the students, the staff, the workers, and our team members.

Paul writes in Romans 12:10;

“Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”

This attitude of one-upping leads to others striving to one up us. In watching how the people here show love and express love I want to one up them, I think we all as a team want to one up them. I know every time I walk through the gates of Bright Hope or walk past someone on the streets both back home or in Addis; I want to love them like Jesus loves me, I want to encourage them like people encourage me, I want to outdo them so they can outdo me so that I can outdo them (see the pattern there?), I want to become a one upper.

-Dylan