The more...

It has been an exciting past couple of weeks for Erin and I. On this path towards Juja Java, we have found ourselves again and again longing to return to the country of Kenya, the birthplace of our dream.

This longing has slowly overtaken us. And it has overtaken us to the point of action, to the point of pursuit.

Thus a few weeks ago, Erin and I began to communicate with CMF about returning to Nairobi as apprentices. We were accepted. Upon this, we started the slow process of going back, sending e-mails to this missionary and that missionary, on and on.

Meanwhile, I just kept thinking that this would be six predictable months of my life after graduation. I just kept thinking about that I would return home in June of 2010 in order to go back to school. I just kept thinking that we would float for the six months while we were there.

Yet it seems as though there are greater things in store for us as we return to Kenya. We have not only been accepted as apprentices, but we have been asked to do more.

More looks like taking pictures of sponsored children, writing their sponsors, writing publications, posting on the website, etc. More looks a lot more definite and perhaps a little more long term than six months of floating. More seems strikingly similar to all of that things that we already love to do.

And I want more. Erin wants more. We want more.

I find myself speechless and in awe of this "more." I find myself whispering to God that I am not worthy of such an opportunity. I find myself praying that no sin will intrude on such service. I find myself realizing that life is about to be much bigger than I ever dreamed it would be.

I find myself wondering why such paths are opening up to me, opening to us.

Though I have no answer, I think of the words of King David who said, "I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free."

So I look to this more, I look to Erin, then I look to me, and I nod, I whisper, I pray. For we are about to be set free.

And thus Juja is about to be set free.

In this together...

Erin showed me this video this week. It moves me tremendously. And it makes the passion I have for Juja Java burn hotter, stronger, and brighter.

We scream, "That's not right. That's not fair." And we want to be a part of the people who are doing more. We want to be a part of the people who are willing to have it cost us something.

So Juja, we pray you do something about this. We pray that we do not forsake the lives of others at any point on this journey, lest we forsake our own lives.

We are all in this together.

Jesus offers a new vision of family

*Sigh*

I just read B's post and could not agree more. I wanted to cry reading it. I've been doing alot of that lately. These past few weeks, I have been an emotional wreck. I have been searching my heart to figure out where exactly it's all coming from. I'll expand more on my blog about the beauty God has been revealing to me, but I want to share the part relating to Juja.

From the start, B and I have been praying this dream would be carried out through us, but that it would not for a moment become about us. We long to please our Father in Heaven. We solely seek to glorify Him.

This summer, I guess you could say that I woke up to a God who has always been there. For the first time in my life, I realized that my life has always been His. He gave me the choice to give it back to Him, and I finally felt like I had. And I told God that this idea of surrendering was scary, but that I was His, and it was His life.

I've felt so frustrated though, because I don't always know what that means. Trying to keep this balance of grace, love, mercy, truth, forgiveness- it can become so difficult. On top of that, I feel everything I think. My mind races at this constant speed with hundreds of thoughts, and I feel every single one of them. Whether that makes sense or not is not the point I guess. I know that I have given Him my life and that he is breaking me apart piece by piece to continue to mold me to the image of Christ. It's not always easy, but it is nothing less than amazing.

It was so cool when I got a text from B the other night reading: "Fight to recall and live what Christ showed you there!" I grew tremendously and learned a great deal this summer in Africa. And it was beautiful to meditate on the memories, the people, and the God I continue to learn more about. Once again, I realized that this life of mine is not mine at all; only His.

That reoccurring question continued to pop up in my mind. What does that mean, God? I was praying for Juja Java, reading, praying for Mathare (the slums we spent our summer in), reading some more. And it was like the pages of Scripture came to life. The truth is, everything I read now reminds me of my summer.

Since we've been back, three passages have screamed out to me the people of Mathare. I read them and I see their faces: "Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generousity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will...At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality." 2 Corinthians 8:2-5; 14

"I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength...And my God will meet All your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4: 11-13; 19

I read this last passage one morning while in Kenya. It made me think of our friends in Mathare, and I went up to my dear friend Martha and read it to her: "We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints- the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth." Colossians 1: 3-6

It was this summer that I experienced the gospel that was bearing fruit all over the world. It was this summer that I realized that the God worshipped in Kenya, was the same God I worshipped. It was this summer that destroyed the barriers, the labels, the differences. I longer saw American, African, etc., I saw my brothers and sisters in Christ. It was this summer that paved the way for relationships across the world- in the family of God.

Those people are more than just a summer in Kenya. They are my family; wrestling, growing, bearing fruit, living lives worthy of the Lord.


And so my heart continues to beat and break for my long lost family. We are all trying to find our way back to a God who never left our side- who has been there all along.

My prayer is for Juja to play a role in this vision of family; to take in the brusied, beaten, and broken and welcome them into our family.

What we are about...

I finished up a little 120 page book called "Becoming the Answers to Our Prayers," the other day. This is where I stumbled upon the prayer listed below.

My thought while reading this prayer was over and over again simply, "Yes. Of course. Yes God."

This is the prayer of Juja Java, which will "accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work." Yet despite it being tiny, this is what Erin and I wish to do with our lives.

"This is what we are about."

Erin and I are both rapidly approaching the end of our college careers. That is scary. Last time we were together, we both sat down to talk about some logistics regarding what the next two years will look like for us. Aside from becoming painfully aware of our financial limitations, we became more and more aware that after spending six months in Kenya, we have no clue.

Yet I think having no clue, no plans post Kenya is beautiful and magnificent in its own way. I think it opens up avenues for us in every direction. And it requires that we have deep seated faith that Christ will direct us in life after college.

I look around my school and I see graduating seniors doing all kinds of things. They are getting married. They are finding their entry level jobs. They are buying homes. They are financing cars. They are planning on working hard and making money. They want to "be something" and "go somewhere."

But for me, the thought of doing any of those things turns my stomach. In my mind, those things are a one way path to becoming what I do not want to become- the insulated, the comfortable, perhaps even the poor in spirit.

And so I find myself and I find Erin turning from what we are expected to do in this next phase of life. We are waiting on God and expecting one huge adventure from now until we breathe our last breathe.

As the books final chapters says, "We are the ones God is waiting on. When we throw our hands up at God and inquire, "Why do you allow this injustice?" we have to be ready for God to toss the same question back at us."

So as God tosses that same question back at us, we focus on now, the next phase, and the future of Juja Java to answer God.

For, "this is what we are about."

-B

Romero's prayer...

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that. This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; minsters, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen

-Archbishop Oscar Romero

Let it sink in, thoughts are coming...
-B-

The blueprint...

This week was grand in the world of Juja Java.

Erin spent five days in Atlanta with me. We journeyed to my favorite corners of the city. We fellowshipped with the best of those around us. We experienced a little bit more of what life will look like when we live in the same city.

There is so much more I could say about our time together.

But perhaps what was most exciting, most significant, about our time together was the by product you see before you.

You see, on Tuesday, Erin presented me with a laminated banner of Juja Road.

And on Friday, Erin and I sat down with our banner, Bibles, and markers to write down our dreams for Juja Java.

Thus this week, Erin and I created our first, our initial, our original dream board.

Because every dream, whether it is to build a house, a car, or a career, needs a blueprint.

Webster's dictionary defines a blueprint as something serving as a model or providing guidance; a detailed plan or program of action.

Moreover, the prophet Habakkuk writes, "This vision is for the future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed."

Therefore, Erin and I now possess a banner, a blueprint, that will serve as a model for us. It will provide guidance. It will steer us with a detailed plan.

And like Habakkuk, our vision for Juja is for the future time. Our banner describes the end, and it will be fulfilled.

So, the vision is alive my friends.

We have the blueprint of our dream permanently written on the walls of our hearts. And now it is permanently written on the walls of our rooms.

-Bethany

Can you smell the aroma?

"Love woke me up this morning

with a memory.

Love came and whispered a story

that awakened a dream."

B and I have talked to CMF about going back to Kenya next January of 2010. If everything follows through (Lord-willing), and the missionaries give us the "okay", we will be back in our humble abode of this past summer, with our Kenyan brothers and sisters. We plan on staying 6-months (give or take). It's all so very exciting, I just don't know what to do with myself. It is one of the weirdest things- to grieve because your heart is in another place.

The Work of the Master Planner is just incredible because it was through Kenya that Bethany and I not only met, but came to realize that this dream, this passion, this idea had been there all along. We've tapped into this freedom to dream; to take hold and embrace this God-sized dream of Juja Java. It is expectantly scary, overwhelmingly exciting, and absolutely liberating!

And so, with plans to cross overseas again, to the beautiful country of Kenya, I am confident that God will continue to build onto this foundation, clarifying and unraveling this plan for Juja Java. Again, we pray that it is all about Him.

With our hearts aching to love, we are keeping the dream alive, waking up each day with eyes that are seeing for the first time, like they've never seen before.

My question for you then, is this: can you smell the aroma of Christ through a cup of coffee at Juja Java?