Bring the rain

One of my favorite songs, that I have been thinking about a lot recently. It is very similar to my current favorite Bible verse: Acts 4:29 - for boldness despite what the world throws at me.

Bring the Rain - MercyMe

I can count a million times

People asking me how I

Can praise you with all that I've gone through

The question just amazes me

Can circumstances possibly

Change who I forever am in you?

Maybe since my life was changed

Long before these rainy days

It's never really ever crossed my mind

To turn my back on you, oh Lord

My only shelter from the storm

But instead I draw closer through these times

So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace

Bring the chance to be free

Bring me anything that brings you glory

And I know there'll be days

When this life brings me pain

But if that's what it takes to praise you

Jesus, bring the rain

I am yours regardless of

The clouds that may loom above

Because you are much bigger than the pain

You who made a way for me

By suffering your destiny

So tell me what's a little rain

So I pray

Holy, holy, holy

is the Lord God Almighty

Thank You

Some things I was thinking about while I was on my "Euro Tour" -

Reading in the St. Petersburg airport -

"When I packed my bags for Moscow, I somehow thought I was simultaneously wrapping twenty-one years of personal relationships into a box, tying it neatly with a ribbon, and setting it off to the side so that nothing would change in my absence. I didn't fathom that [people would die or give birth. That hair would turn gray]. I didn't consider [that people would change]. That's because true travel, the kind with no predetermined end, is one of the most selfish endeavors we can undertake - an act in which we focus solely on our own fulfillment, with little regard for those we leave behind. After all, we're the ones venturing out into the big crazy world, filling up our journals, growing like weeds. And we have the gall to think they're just sitting at home, soaking in security and stability. It is only when we re-open these wrapped and ribboned boxes, upon our triumphant return home, that we discover nothing is like we had left it before." - Stephanie Elizondo Griest, After Midnight (from A Woman's Europe)

On my iPod:

More Than You'll Ever Know – Watermark

Something brought you to my mind today

I thought about the funny ways you make me laugh

And yet I feel like it's okay to cry with you

Something about just being with you

When I leave I feel like I've been near God

And that's the way it ought to be...

'Cause you've been more than a friend to me

You fight off my enemies

'Cause you've spoken the Truth over my life

And you'll never know what it means to me

Just to know you've been on your knees for me

Oh, you have blessed my life

More than you'll ever know, yeah, yeah, yeah

More than you'll ever know, yeah, yeah, yeah

You had faith, when I had none

You prayed God would bring me a brand new song

When I didn't think I could find the strength to sing

And all the while I'm hoping that I'll

Do the kind of praying for you that you've done for me

And that's the way it ought to be...

You have carried me

You have taken upon a burden that wasn't your own

And may the blessing return to you

A hundredfold, oh yeah... A hundredfold, oh yeah...

So THANK YOU. Thank you to all of you who allowed me to go. Thank you for still being my friends though I am thousands of miles away, for not forgetting about me, for picking up right where we left off even though you don't stop living your lives just because I am not physically present in them. Thank you to all of you who pray for me. I am more indebted to you than you know.

There's No Place Like Home!

If you’ve read my previous post, you know that sometimes I struggle with the meaning of the word, “home.” However, regardless of the physical structure I live in, I realize that the Seattle area, or the Pacific Northwest in general, are definitely my home. This is the place I was born and have spent the majority of my life. And this is the place that is most familiar to me. I love it here. I can’t describe the peace I felt flying in over Seattle yesterday and being able to recognize everything below me. I love the Emerald City and the Evergreen State. There’s no place like home!!

More soon, I promise!

Well, the past 5 weeks have been a whirlwind, and I am looking forward to spending a few days in my bed when I get back to Seattle! I have absolutely loved every minute of this trip - even boring hours spent in airports, being forced into conversations with random men in parks, confusion in foreign subways, holding my breath in smoke-filled internet cafes, and eating unidentifiable foods. :) I realize that the annoyances all part of the adventure, and part of what makes the familiar so satisfying. I have been in London for the past week (I LOVE it!), and am heading back to Seattle tomorrow. I promise that I will post about this trip once I am back. Be on the lookout for musings and photos from Belgrade, Budapest, Osijek, Romania, St. Petersburg, and London! :)

Bucharest and Belgrade

Just to let everyone know, I did make it to Europe. After a long flight to London and a long layover at Heathrow, and then a flight to Bucharest, I got there at 11:40 PM and spent the night a a hotel there. The next day I hung out and read my book in a park near my hotel until I finally had to leave because I was attracting too much attention. It's is extrodinarily hard to read when people keep coming up an wanting to talk to you because they can tell you're foreign. Usually I am pretty good at blending in, but apparently not in Bucharest. And it's not that I don't want to talk to people, but I was super tired and not in the mood to be hit on. So, I went backto the hotel and read in the lobby there until it was time to take a taxi to the train station. I took an overnight train to Belgrade and arrived at 10:00 AM to be met by Crystal. We will be here a few days and then will drive up to Budapest to meet her friend Danielle at the airport. Then we will do a brief stopover in Osijek on the way back to Belgrade. Crystal and I are on the way to visit the museum in Belgrade, so I have to go. Ciao!

EuroTour 2007

That's what I've dubbed this trip. It started out as just a short trip to one country. But then it evolved (it's Lamarckian...). So now, I will be in 5 countries in 5 weeks: Serbia, Croatia, Romania, Russia (they gave me a visa!), and England.

Specifically:

March 6-7: fly from Seattle to Bucharest, Romania (via Heathrow)
March 8: overnight train to Belgrade
March 9-16: Belgrade, Osijek, Zagreb (details tbd)
March 17: overnight train to Bucharest
March 18: Bucharest/Brasov/Sighisoara
March 19: Sighisoara/Baia Mare
March 20: Baia Mare/Sighetu Marmatiei/Iza Valley Churches/Bucovina
March 21: Campulung/Moldovita/Sucevita/Humor/Voronet
March 22: Voronet/Agapia/Varatec/Bicaz Gorges/The Red Lake
March 23: The Red Lake/Lacu Rosu/Harman/Prejmer/Bran
March 24: Bran/Sinaia/Bucharest
March 25-26: Bucharest
March 27: fly to St. Petersburg
March 27-April 4: St. Pete
April 4: fly to London
April 4-11: London
April 11: fly to Seattle

Yep, you read it right! I get a super-long birthday this year! Since it will begin at 12:01 AM BST (GMT daylight savings, and ends at 12:00 midnight PDT, I have calculated that my 24th birthday will be 32 hours long. Woo! Too bad most of that will be aiports and airplanes. By myself. Well, I really can't complain - this trip is a pretty good birthday present.

I don't want to be lukewarm

A couple years ago, Mike Gaffney preached on the "lukewarm-ness" of the church at Laodicea, and I was recently reminded of that while I was reading Jim Cymbala's Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire. "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."Revelation 3:15-16That's what I thought of when my friend Jessica sent me the following:

May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger

At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,

So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,
To turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

The world tells us that we should want life to be easy - to live in a nice place, in a nice house, drive a nice car, not have to worry about money. In essence, that we should be lukewarm. But that is not what God wants for us. It means nothing to have good intentions if nothing comes from them. We see ads on TV to sponsor children in poor countries and we think about how sad it is that children are dying. But what good is it to feel bad about it if the children continue to die? Sometimes is seems such a lofty goal to want to change the world - a task too big to be accomplished by one person. But that's the thing. One person can make a difference. And we are never really alone in our efforts. God promises that he will hear our prayers and answer them. (A good example of this is 'now a major motion picture' - if you haven't yet, go see Amazing Grace. It is an amazing movie.)

"And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him. And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us." 1 John 3:22-23

"Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

When we do not receive it is because "because (we) ask with wrong motives" (James 4:3) or maybe because we "have not asked" at all (John 16:24).

So I second the sentiment in the blessing above. May we ask God to help us NOT to be lukewarm, and let's ask for his help to make the difference we want to see in the world.