"One Time"

My Boss, Zo and I met this weekend and we prayed a lot! God moved in an amazing way!!! I got really fired up about some of the things God is speaking. I talked with my team this summer a lot about how the enemy tries to steal, kill and destroy us. We talked about how to guard the seed that God has planted in us and give it a good environment to grow in.

One of our guys would always say "One Time" after everything! "Can I get a coke, one time?", "Where is my shirt, one time?", "Let's go get ice cream, one time."...you get the picture! He got all of us sayin, “One time” and it cracks me up!

I was reminded yesterday of the ULTIMATE “One Time”…..“Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.” – I Peter 3:18

I don’t know about you, but that humbles me. We deserve death and he took it for us ONCE and that was enough. One thing that I have been seeing a lot lately is that as sinful creatures, we slap Him in the face a lot by the way we live our days. He asks us to do something and we have the nerve to say “No” or “Later”. He asks us to be Righteous and Holy and we say “It’s too hard.”, or “I can do this and still be a Christian.”

Don’t slap Him in the face by compromising. He Died for you….it is not too much for you to LIVE for Him. It REQUIRES sacrifice, but the joy of HIS journey and the lightweight of HIS burden is Worth it!!! “Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me’.” – Luke 9:23

This Life is NOT about YOU!

Let that sink in ONE TIME!!!

Beautiful People

Late night thoughts are sometimes dangerous. But, I am going to take a risk....

I have contemplated life more this year than I EVER remember. Just stopping to take in the mountain view or to THINK about what is actually going on around me. I don't know if we do that enough.

This summer, I was challenged in more ways than I can adequately describe in words. ALL of my dreams, hopes and wishes were challenged. I examined my heart in ways that I never thought was possible. I asked myself HARD questions, and I made some BIG mistakes with my attitude and the way I perceived my circumstances.

As fall approaches, I am coming to my 4 year anniversary with Crossover, and Crossover is celebrating it's 10th Birthday. I am standing on the brink of our "New" year in ministry and I ponder the depth of God's promises and the shallowness of my belief.

I am inspired by friends of mine who are living a portion of my dream by pursuing adoption of a Chinese orphan.

http://www.nogreaterjoydad.com/2011/08/testimony-matt-peterson-in-china-says.html

I am curious about God's timing and the fact that His biggest promise to me still lays unfulfilled in my heart after 14 years of waiting. (That's longer than Joseph waited....just sayin'! ) Haha!

I am dust. I am reduced to a pile of dirt in the hand of my Father God. My hope is exasperated. My needs seem ignored. My hurts are unrecognized or scoffed at. Yet.....HE remains STEADFAST.

One of the girls on my tour sent me this quote. I feel that it describes our lives so beautifully.

‎"The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These people have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen." — Elizabeth Kubler Ross

My heart aches for the Tree of Life as described in Proverbs 13:12. May it not tarry as it has in the past. For HIS Glory and HIS renown.

Thankful

I can count on one hand the number of times that I have been scared on a plane. Nervous, yes....jittery...sometimes....but almost never scared.

Last night, I was afraid. I was so excited to come home from South Africa. We had a really productive and FUN time in Durban with new friends Merieke, Mary and others. However, after traveling for a month, I was just excited to get back home and be in cell phone range again. I confess that much of that is because I want to be back in contact with my team members from TOUR A. Anyway, once on the plane, they told us that the flight would be 15 hours and 45 minutes. I was shocked! That is by far that longest flight I have ever been on.

Once we were in the air, it became very clear that it was not going to be a restful flight. We were in the last row and there was so much turbulence that we were literally shaking for about 14 hours. There were moments where the jolting was so strong that I would wake up from a shallow sleep and pray until I could drift back off. They changed altitude several times, but apparently the Atlantic Skies were not happy to have us.

I am SO happy to be back in the states. When we landed in Atlanta, I said "THANK YOU JESUS"...out loud. Troy just nodded. I don't think he was able to doze very much. I know for certain that God is not finished with us yet! We could have been fishy food in the middle of the ocean, but God brought us back to earth. ;-)

Perhaps it is so that I will still be around when my Cub (Amanda Sanders) moves to Denver in January?! There is a plan...I know it!

Blessed to be alive!!! ;-)

South Africa

No matter how much I travel, I find delights wherever I go! We arrived in Durban, South Africa on Monday afternoon and we were greeted by Edmund and Preethiek. They were HILARIOUS!! They took us to our favorite place in SA....Kauai!!!! OH MAN!!! This place has the BEST smoothies!! We were SO excited to have our African favorites! (We discovered this place when we were stuck in the Johannesburg airport in February. We decided that Tambo International Airport has the best food court in the world.) ;-)

We arrived at the Church complex and were greeted by Mary, Jasmine, Merieke, and Auntie. They have taken care of us so well, and Troy has been in constant banter with Mary since we arrived.

Yesterday, we visited the primary school on the edge of Bottlebrush. This is the slum that most of the feedings and outreach take place in. We met with the Principal of the school who invited us to do whatever we wanted. Then, we went to the University to check out the gym. We reserved the gym for the camp next summer.

Today, we had to the honor of preparing and then taking meals to the children in Bottlebrush. I have seen a lot of poor in my time, and this place is definitely a slum. We gave the children a meal and then walked around a bit to get a feel for the place. I was so taken with the way that they live life. You cannot walk into a place like this and NOT be touched. We have SOOOO much! I left feeling truly blessed.

The Kids waiting to receive their small meal.

The mall overlooks the slum. Kind of ironic.... There are government housing dwellings that are pretty structurally sound. However, mixed in among them are shacks that are crudely built and pretty unstable. If you look in the background of this picture, you can see some of the shacks.

France

Guebwiller, France

God is so good. We arrived in the quiet little town of Guebwiller on Saturday night and just finished our camp today. The guys finished tour with a 3-1 record in games and the girls went 4-0. So proud of all of them and their GREAT attitudes. I TRULY have never led a better team!!!

Sunset above the mountains

One of the Side Streets in Guebwiller

Ball Handling Station

Rebounding Station

Sharing our Stories

The camp in France

Our girls team after the game that they scored 100 points in!!!

There it is Folks!!! In living color!!

Grace

"My GRACE is sufficient for you. For MY power is made perfect in weakness."

Over the last few months, I have recognized my weakness more than ever. No one is perfect. NO matter how many years you have been a Christian, no matter how long you have been in ministry. We all NEED God. We ALL have moments of weakness when our flesh takes over and we make mistakes that feel unforgivable.

Our response is the catalyst that sends us deeper into despair OR catapults us into the wonder of Grace.

I have recently been thrust into the chasm of God's grace. I do NOT deserve it because I was a BRAT all summer. I responded to my circumstances out of woundedness and selfishness and found myself in need of repentance and a swift kick of correction. I repented, and GRACE came in....Literally.....Like a FLOOD. I am overwhelmed by all that God has responded with.

Our tour team is a BLESSING beyond my ability to describe. Their respect for their leaders is unsurpassed. Their love for each other is like I have never seen, and their willingness to be teachable and CHOOSE the right thing is a wonder. I have never led a team like this in all of my years of being in ministry. They are a GIFT from the LORD. There is no other explanation.

Our week in Romania was great!! We had 88 kids overall. About 3/4 of them indicated that they wanted to receive Christ at the end of camp. We are BLESSED!!!! The YWAM Cluj staff were amazing once again, and we enjoyed our time there immensely!!!! Troy and Amanda did AMAZING as the commissioners for the gyms, and the team gave all they had to make the week amazing!!

We were able to relax on Friday in Budapest, and then traveled for 14 hours yesterday to arrive in France. This morning we participated in a church service here and look forward to our second camp starting tomorrow.

Here are some pictures to give you an overview:

(The camp in Romania)

(Crossover Champion Angie Al-Shaar- NBA Gym)

(Crossover Champion Raul- NCAA Gym)

(Signing Autographs....Haha!!! Who would've thought??)

(Julia LOVED Spradley!!! The little ones called him "Sparkley" ;-) )

Humble

It's nearly 2am, and I can't sleep. We arrived in Cluj-Napoca tonight and everyone is exhausted. 36 hours of travel is more than most people can handle, yet this team did so with Grace, Humility and FUN!!!

I am contemplating the grace that has been extended to me. This year has been one of great emotional difficulty. My heart has grieved for many that I love as they have experienced loss, caused train wrecks in their lives, experienced numerous transitions and inflicted pain on others (me included).

I have also experienced a great amount of failure of my own. My ability to love has been challenged and I have found myself lacking. My ability to minister and give endlessly has been sapped. I had to repent because I stopped turning to God for my strength and tried to do it myself. My pride told me to trust NO ONE, and as I believed that lie, I grew more and more frustrated.

The humility that comes with repentance is hard to contain. I FEEL like I deserve nothing but punishment, yet God has given me an incredible gift in this team. They are fun. They are encouraging. They are cooperative. They are gracious. They are loving. I don't deserve them.

I don't deserve.....and that is the point. We don't deserve Grace, and that is why it is what it is. Grace...... Grace brings us to humility. It is your Kindness Lord, that leads me to repentance. It is your kindness that causes me to remember that I need you. Without you, I am nothing.