Exhausted and Lacking Peace

The city bustles with many, many people just trying to go about their daily activities.

With exhaustion evident on their faces, they just get things done. The language itself is harsh and it always sounds like everyone is fighting, who knows, maybe they are speaking kind words. It is hard to tell.

The other obvious thing is there is no peace in their eyes, the windows of their souls. There is no doubt as to why. Throughout the day, a call to prayer goes out over loudspeakers across their land. Forcing allegiance or else. I am sitting here writing this at 4:30 am having been awakened by it. I start singing in my heart “Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty early in the morning our song shall rise to thee”. Then it strikes me, no wonder they look worn. They are awakened by this forced demand to pray to someone who is not Holy.

So I begin to pray now. I pray to a Holy God. The great I Am. The One who gives us a choice, accept Him or deny Him. No matter your choice, He still will love you. It says in His Book “where the Spirit of the Lord is there is FREEDOM!”

Now I know why 13 strangers are gathering together playing four square, cutting out lambs and making wool out of cotton balls, giggling and high fiving each other with happiness in their eyes, because our souls are filled with the One who gives us freedom to love Him, and love Him we do.

Exhausted? Yes we are..Lacking Peace? Not us!

Beauty and Confusion

A Country of Beauty and Confusion

We have spent the last two days in Israel before we cross the border tomorrow into Jordan.

There are many beautiful things about this country. The people, the food, the landscape and, of course, the places where Jesus walked and taught. The Garden of Gethsemane is very somber while beautiful at the same time. The garden itself is beautifully landscaped and still has the olive trees that were there when Jesus went to pray to his Father the night before he was crucified. That is where it is not so beautiful. Yet, had this historical event not happened, we would not have what we hold so close to our heart today, our faith!

As we strolled through the Garden, we could hear the call to prayer from the mosque just across from the place where Jesus called to prayer to His Father, God. Confusion with the beauty…

On Fridays, there is no meat served in our hotel as it is a Catholic hotel. There are no shops open in the Arab Quarter because it is a holy holiday, and Passover week for the Jewish people! Wow, a lot to try to figure out.. Glad that we have the Freedom from the law because of the Veil that was torn many years ago!

Watch as the next couple of days a blood moon will be rising low in the horizon. It should be spectacular and should point to the fact that the same person who put the moon in the sky, also heard His son in the Garden, crying out the night before He died. The same One who raised Him from the grave on the third day.

Beauty and Confusion…..

At the Sea

Many, many years ago, a man named Jesus gathered his “team” together along the Sea of Galilee. His purpose was to use them to help share His truth and to love the poor, the homeless, the abused, the broken hearted, the widows and the orphans. The men he selected were nothing special. They all had their faults, their “baggage” and were not perfect. They were just the men He could use for the Purpose. He knew no one would be perfect but He knew they would be willing. They followed Him willingly and with great humility. They felt honored that He had called them to go along…

Here we are in the same place. We have come from different parts of the United States. We fit the same description of the team that was assembled years ago in this area of the world. You see, we heard the “call” to come. Come and love on the Syrian Refugees who have been abused, homeless, broken hearted, are widows and orphans. Same work, different time and place. We are humbled that he called us. We know that we will bond together to do His work because we have the same Spirit within us. We no longer have the person Jesus to watch and imitate but we have studied the book about Him and with the help of this Spirit that lives in each of us, we will imitate Him.

So, thank you for caring about the work ahead that we are privileged to be a part of. Pray for us if you think of it, and more importantly, pray for the dear ones we will have the chance to touch. Bless you..

We love you!

Hello!
 We are  ready and raring to go. When you plan and plan, it is just time to get on that plane and get there. That is where we are at today.

We had a lovely church service today and then spent some time with loving family. Our bags are soo stuffed they may pop any time now. 

Now we spend the next 24 hours resting. Focusing on what is before us. Preparing ourselves for what we will see and experience. Praying we will do what we are being called to do. Be the reflection of Jesus to these dear hurting people.

We often are asked "why do you have to go all the way over here when there are hurting people just around the corner:?" Good question and all I can say is that this time, we feel called to go and love on the Syrian refugees. We would like to think that during our everyday activities we are loving and caring as well. I know we fall short, but that is what is beautiful about grace. We just try again and pray we get it right the next time.

So, off we go! Thank you for following us. If possible, leave a comment so I know that there are people reading this..

Shalom and Salaam

Look at these fun things...

I thought I would take a picture of some of the many wonderful things that friends have donated to the children that we will soon be with on our upcoming trip. These dear Syrian children will be soooo excited. I cannot wait to make the crafts, teach them jump rope, blow bubbles, etc etc. Thank you one and all and I know there are more things coming:)

We had our last conference call with the other team members tonight. It is really fun to think that people from all over the country are bonding together to serve one purpose in a far away land! Love and care on these poor Syrian refugees! Whew, good stuff.

We are gathering all sorts of fun things to take. Bags full of medicines, eye glasses, bubbles, stickers, jump ropes, face paint, etc. Sound like fun? Maybe next time you can come:)

I look forward to attempting to capture our experiences daily and hopefully my hubby will be able to take some of his lovely photos so you can see what we are doing. Please understand that there will be limitations on some things for security reasons. 

Thanks for caring and visiting my blog. It will get more interesting soon!

Christine

Time flies...

Hello all,

It has been two years since I last blogged about our trip! Shame on me for not keeping this alive. 

We leave on our next trip in less than a month. I plan on using this as a way of communicating to those who are interested. 

We will be working with the Syrian refugees this time and are very much looking forward to loving on them.

So, stay tuned and leave a comment when you can. As always, we would love your prayer support for our entire team.

More later,
Christine