April showers bring May flowers

My apologies, April! You apparently came and went without any word from me appearing on this blog. Woops!

March ended well for me. As I mentioned in my last post, a team from Lincoln Christian College came to Nottingham for a week of teaching in the local secondary school. It was an AWESOME week! It's tiring just to teach teenagers all day long...much less to attack the subject of faith with kids who proudly profess to be atheists. I can't even count the number of kids we had one-on-one conversations with about our faith (we're talking somewhere in the 1,000s here). It's the most terrifying and yet most wonderful honor to live out 1 Peter 3:15: "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."

Last year I posted about the questions that were common during that week. This time around, however, I'd like to post more about the actual conversations.

- The older classes were supposed to interview us about the Christian perspective on issues like animal testing, euthanasia, divorce, and abortion. I had the chance to share a very unique and personal story about how my own mother was advised strongly by her doctor to have an abortion, and when she refused...here I came! It was neat to have a discussion of a more personal nature with the older kids and have them finally see abortion from a different side.

- One of the older girls kept asking about my position on suicide. She then shared with me an incredibly emotional story about her Aunt who had been mentally unstable for years, and had only weeks earlier committed suicide. Sharing this story with me was obviously difficult for her, so I decided to put on my counselor cap and ask about how her family was coping. She had assumed that as a Christian I would have immediately condemned her Aunt rather than trying to come at the situation with understanding and love. I believe that was this girl's first time hearing about a loving God.

- A 13-year old girl who often comes to our after-school club was in a group with me during the last class. She and her friends decided to ask me how I can believe that a God exists. After sharing my "Intelligent Design" spiel and giving a short testimony of personal experience, the girls were silent. Then, the girl who I know from our clubs asked out of frustration: "Well, if a God TRULY existed...and He really honestly cared about us...well, wouldn't He want us to know He was real? I mean, wouldn't He at least just come down here to earth one time and say 'Hey guys, I'm real!'" For a second I felt like I shouldn't breathe for fear that I'd wake up and this perfect situation would disappear...then I found my breath and replied: "Actually, I believe that DID happen. I believe that was Jesus." We sat in silence again for a second until the same girl piped up once more after shaking off my comment and said, "Well, that was a REALLY long time ago. Don't you think He should come back again?" Wow. It's like I was paying this girl for the perfect set-up. "Actually...I DO believe He will come again..." In volleyball terms: bump, set, spike!

Fast forwarding to today. I am in Florida. Yep! Tan lines and flip flops galore. I have been in Florida with my family for about a month (so that's where April went...). I initially returned to Florida to spend some much-needed time with my family, and ended up staying longer than intended due to a dire need of funding. So, I'm finding myself again in the all-too-familiar place of support raising.

I think if there was ever a list of all the things I am capable of doing in this world, and they were put in order from the things I do best on top to the things I do worst on the bottom..."support raising" would be so far down that you'd trip over it. Added to that, raising funds for ANYTHING in this economy is difficult! As frustrating as it has been, I am being constantly reminded of a spiritual gifts assessment I recently took with my teammate in England. There were hundreds of statements we had to rate from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree," and the statement that took me the longest to consider was: "I am willing to attempt the impossible for God." Jeepers. It was a challenging, haunting question that has stuck with me ever since. Truly, in England I am part of a team that is attempting an 'impossible' mission (cue cheesy music and Tom Cruise jumping out of exploding buildings): to bring Christ to a self-proclaimed "post-Christian" society. Thankfully, my God not only allows for all things within His will to be possible, but He is also a jealous God who refuses to quit chasing after those who run from Him. And here I am now...getting a tan and attempting to accomplish the impossible with the One who owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Please pray along with me for this situation, as it is becoming more and more important for me to get back to the field ASAP.

Speaking of all that - If you are interested and in the Orlando area this coming weekend, there is going to be a fund-raising dinner for me at the First Christian Church of Orlando! Come join me on May 9th from 6-7.30pm. Dinner will be served for a suggested donation of $10 for adults, $5 for the kiddies. There will be some stuff on sale, and I'll be talking about my experience in England so far. Should be a dandy good time. :)

Here's to May - cheers, y'all!