Present Peace

It's been almost a month since we've been in Nicaragua and God is still revealing things to me. We experienced some amazing things the week we were there. God showed up in the church services, in our silly dramas, and even in our ridiculous dances (all I'm gonna say is "It sure is hot out here!" LOL). I'm always blown away by how God moves in people's hearts during a missions trip. I still remember the first trip I ever went on to Barbados(it wasn't as exotic as it sounds, we were really roughin' it for Jesus). I remember the faces of the people and children like it was yesterday. I always walk away from each trip with a greater sense of God's peace. A peace that constantly builds upon itself. Just when I think I couldn't experience any greater peace, God gives me more. Especially in specific areas of my life. There are so many experiences that God has introduced new peace into my life. For example, I never imagined I could feel peace gliding across a zip line thousands of feet above the ground, but I did. (With the help of my guide, Rambo!)

I was thinking about that and then I was reading this morning that "to experience peace, we must be feeding our relationship with God." Then I read "you can't retain peace in the present by relying on a relationship from the past." It became clear to me that we experience more peace, when we experience more of God. Our relationship with him is a journey. Peace is not a one-stop drop or similar to something we'd order from fast food drive through. God's peace is continual. It's just up to us, how deep and how often we experience it. We need to be open to experience all that he has for us. We need to be willing to keep our relationship with him in the present.

God's Timing

Well I figured I'm due for another blog, so here it goes ...

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to be a part of our first mission trip for C3 church. We went to Nicaragua. It was an amazing trip. I am even more amazed by God's timing. I was able to spend a week in a foreign country with one of my closest friends, two amazing mentors (that's you gary and konan), many new friends, and a beautiful little girl named Hannah (who's in the picture). I could have never imagined God would bring us all together for one week in Nicaragua!

I met Hannah and her mother Cathy about a year or so ago in Columbus. They were here because a missionary had made contact with a doctor at Children's to operate on Hannah. She has a trach and was brought to Columbus for surgery. Her mother left her husband and other daughter behind, as she traveled to country where she didn't know the language or anyone, all in the hopes to hear her daughter's sweet voice for the first time. The missionary had contact my friend Janelle, who worked at the District office with me, to see if she could help Cathy and Hannah while they were here. Janelle is amazing translator and was able to help Cathy tremendously. I can speak a little spanish (si, si), but not enough to communicate with Cathy and Hannah or at least I thought.

Janelle and I took turns staying with Cathy night and day at the hospital, while Hannah had her surgery. They tried several times to remove her trach, but she had become so used to breathing through her neck that she was unable to to adapt to breathing through her mouth and nose. In the end the doctor decide to replace her trach with a smaller one in hopes that as she grew older she would be able to adapt better without it.

As sad as it seemed to see them leave and Hannah still have the trach, I knew God had something amazing in store for her. I remember how hard it was to say goodbye to them. For months I had spent everyday with them and to think I may never see them was hard. But I knew that I didn't give my time and open my heart up to them out of obligation or appreciation. The time I spent with them was out of love. Love for God's children. We love because we can. Not because we should. I love Hannah because before she's anything, she's God's child.

I can't really describe how it felt to see her again. She is a beautiful, beautiful child. Cathy said she may be coming back to Ohio to try the surgery again some time this year. I can't wait. I am praying the next time I see her, I will be able to hear her sweet little voice.

My point to all this is you never know how and when God will use you or others to show His love. We just need to be open and ready, because if we are there's no telling how or when God will use us. After all He brought a child from Nicaragua into my life and took me there for her!

Share God's Love

As a part of a Better BeckE in 08, I've decided to evaluate and in some cases change the way I view things and people in my life. For example, let's take today. For those of you who weren't aware (not sure who you are) today is Valentine's Day. It's the wonderful Hallmark holiday our society has created to make sure we tell others how much we love them. I've never understood why we need a specific day, because if we love someone shouldn't they know it already? Shouldn't we tell them we love them more than just one day out of the year?

If you can't tell already, I've never really been a big fan of Valentine's Day. In the past I always looked as it as a day to remind me of what I didn't have. There was no gorgeous man waiting for me to get home to eat this elaborate meal he cooked me (yes I need a man who can cook. I appreciate food, not so much cooking it, as I do eating it, ha). There was never a secret admirer who would send me endless amounts of flowers, (which I must say I'm OK with. I'd much rather have the chocolates and home-cooked meal. I never really understood the fascination with flowers because they just wilt and die.) My point is: Valentine's has never been my favorite day of the year because I was trying to make it about something it's not.

So I've decided to change the way I look at Valentine's Day. Society says it's about relationships we have with others, but I've decided to make it about the relationship I have with God. Today isn't the day for me to remind everyone that I love how important they are to me, instead it should be about sharing God's love with them and yes, even to strangers. Today is a day for us, as Christ-followers, to show the world love isn't an emotion, as much as it is an action.

Take as many chances as you can today to share God's love. Buy a stranger a cup of coffee. Let a car pass you and don't get annoyed even if they do cut you off. Call your grandma and tell her you love her. Send a letter to an old friend. Take time today to share God's love. Because today is about love, just not as society says it should be. It's not about the love we don't have, as much as it is about the love that we have.

"We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love."
1 Corinthians 13:12-13

Better BeckE in '08

Ok, so I've been inspired to start a campaign. Maybe it's all the politics in the news. Maybe it's the fact it's election year. Maybe it's the fact the State of Union was on last night. Or maybe it's the Mexican food I had yesterday kicking in. Regardless of the cause, I'm off and running. Here's the slogan: "A Better BeckE in '08!" Pretty clever, huh? Well I can't actually take credit for it, G. Fowler made it up the other day and it just stuck.
I got to thinking, what if we all spent about half as much time into making ourselves better, as we do complaining about what's wrong with everyone else. I am sure the main reason is we never like to think we are that bad. There's always someone worse, right? Not to mention it's always easier to tell someone how to fix themselves rather than make changes ourselves. Hey, there's my platform. "It time for a Change!"
Although there may not be too many people who would support that. I mean there are plenty of people out there who say "It's Time for a Change," but in actuality they won't stand up for change. Think about it. This year there could possibly be a woman on the ballot when we go to vote, but how many people do you think that's all they were pushing for. I'm not so sure America is ready to be lead by a woman, but I do believe there are a lot of people who are ready to make it look like they are. Ok think about it this way, how many of us say or even believe we need to lose a few pounds, but when it comes down to getting out of bed a little bit earlier or changing our meal habits we question if it's really worth it. It sounds good, but doesn't always feel so good. It's so true and I'm tired of it.
That's what this campaign is all about ... making changes that last. Making changes that last longer than a dozen of hot fresh donuts! (any other mouths watering?) I want to stop saying the changes are coming, but actually start working on them. It's not going to easy and maybe that's the problem. I think too often we forget that anything worth anything is never easy. We just expect things to be and that's where the complaining comes in. More importantly that's where the CHANGE needs to happen.
So will you join me in my campaign? What is it about you that needs to change? Are you willing to make the change or will you just keep complaining?
This ad has been sponsored by C3 Church. The place where dreams begin and changes are made!

Warning: I'm Back!

Well after taking a few months off, I'm back to blogging! I just couldn't take all the hounding from my fans (both of them have just been driving me crazy about returning to the blogging world, ha,ha).

Blogging is the one thing that should be easy for me, but that's not always the case. I mean I love to write. I know it is a great gift God has blessed me, but at the same time I always feel I have to write something profound and long. I feel since it's a gift it's my job to use it effectively. But I am learning that if God blesses us with gifts then it's only our job to use them, he will supply the meaning. Afterall, how effective is a gift if you never use it.

So as I set my personal growth plan for this year, I vow to make blogging a part of it. I will also do my best to try not to get caught up in the details of what I write about and just write. So you've been warned!

Just say "No"

So I am reading this book called "Boundaries" and I am learning more and more how important it is to have boundaries in my life. I think it's crazy how as a child all I ever wanted to be was a grown up and now as a grown up I find there are times I'd much rather be a child. I never really understood why, until I started to read this book.

You see as a child I grew up never wanting to have limits. Actually I grew up believing I had no limits. I wanted to know how to do everything everyone else did and putting up boundaries would mean I couldn't do some things. Thinking back I know how silly that sounds, but it was my mentallity. I believed if I said "no" to something I was admitting I was less or weak. BUT now after reading through this book, I know that "Nos" are just as much as sign of strength as weakness. I am learning that saying "No" is OK and even necessary at times.

This book has truly impacted my life because for so long I have been walking around believing "I" can do anything. But now I know "I" can't do it all nor do I need to try to. Now I know the power of "No." I am learning to say no and leave it at that. No guilt, no shame. But I also know it is a process. You can't just set up boundaries overnight and think that's all that needs to happen. Boundaries need to be followed. So I am starting small with food and exercise boundaries, with the antispation of bigger boundaries. Who knows by saying "no" to some things, I may be able to say "yes" to more things.

Becoming an athlete?

Some of you may be wondering if I finished the race (a half marathon) ... well... I did. But let me tell you it wasn't easy! This was probably one of the hardest, most fullfilling things I have ever done.

I know a lot of folks were a little hesitant of me actually finishing, which may of had something to do with the fact I didn't train. (I know I'm insane.) When I first signed up for this race, I think I was signing up once again to try and prove something to everyone. And once again God used this race as a way to prove to me that I don't have to prove anything to anyone.

I've been a fan of sports my whole life (yes my whole life)and I've always had this desire to compete and I always had this even deeper desire to prove something to everyone. Because of the birth defect I was born it's obvious I would never score the winning shot on a b-ball team or spike the winning point for a volleyball team. I think every athlete has that desire to impact his/her team and make a winning touchdown or shot. Sometimes that desire is what even keeps many from playing. At least it did for me. I always thought if I can't be competitive, why even play. Over the years I participated less and less in sports and became more of a spectator. I became that crazy fanatic person who went ballistic when the ref missed a called or made a wrong one. I became the one who was jumping up and down on the sideline why someone else was crossing the goal line.

But then that got old. And my desire to be in the game never went away. So I thought why not run. I got two legs! As I began to train, I forgot how hard it was to work for something you really want. You see I was so used to being a spectator that I forgot about all the pratice that goes in before the big game. I had become comfortable being a spectator, which meant I never really felt the thrill of winning. And the idea of working for it became less of a thrill. So I trained less and less. And the day of the race kept getting closer and closer. As the race approached I knew I had a decision to make. I could just walk away from the race, say I didn't train and leave it at that. But that would also mean saying "I quit," which isn't something I do. It isn't something athletes do and I'd like to think I'm an athlete in this game of life.

So I did what any athlete would do. I finished the race. Did I run at top speed and blow away the competition? No. In fact, I walked a lot of the race. And I would have walked all day if that's what it would of took to finished (I actually finished in a little under 4 hours, not too bad for not training). I just used the time during the race to start listening to my coach. I began to hear His voice more clearly and run/walk off all the other junk that has been holding me back. Finishing the race felt so amazing. I had this awesome feeling of accomplishment. And most importantly I no longer felt like a spectator. I became an athlete.