Seasons

Ethiopia surely doesn’t have seasons like we do on the east coast of America. There is a 3-4 intense rainy season then the rest of the year is the same, very dry and sunny. They claim 13 months of sunshine, which is because their calendar has 13 months, but also because somewhere in the country is sunny all the time. I have a bone to pick with this statement, but I am very sure there will be 13 months of Sunshine next year.
The seasons change often in our lives with the boys. If not daily, weekly, monthly, it seems every three months is VERY different. After a few months of feeling major favor and blessing, there was a season of intense prayer, and now we seem to just be getting through each day. We live in anticipation for the future of our boys, their graduation in September. Day by day, we just manage, get what needs to be done, and stay faithful!
The most fun thing of late, was one of our boys dancing in a performance at his school. They trained for a month or two. It was good, well done. Our other poor boy got so sick that he couldn’t perform after all the hard work. He handled it with such a good attitude though, amazing young man. We also celebrated some birthdays in February.

OOPS

It was 3 years ago today in which I boarded a flight to visit Ethiopia for the very first time with about 20 other people from my church. I knew zero about the country I have now lived in for 2.5 years. These 3 years have added more to my life than the previous 30.
Apparently it started with a prayer. It is amazing how often that happens. In my journal on March 6th, 2009 I wrote “ God use me for whatever your mighty purpose might be. Help me keep my false self out of the way of your will”. One word…. OOPS! My faith was fledgling and growing at the time, but there is no way I expected God to act in such an amazing way. The chances are if I really believed in what God could/would do I probably would have toned down that prayer. To have me quit my Aetna Job, move to Ethiopia, move in with a great group of former street boys, and be engrained in a culture so opposite my own.
There isn’t a more important prayer in my life to this day. I can’t even explain my gratitude for what God has used this inept, incapable vessel for! Today, I have a different hunger then I could have ever had in my old life. A hunger to be a strong man of God, a loving leader, a kingdom representing rock, a passionate action oriented vessel rooted in His word and His grace.
The Boys: More theft. It’s hard to stomach the current rash of theft in our house. Its like a slap in the face, a punch in the heart. Our team doesn’t know what to do, so all I do is surrender it in prayer, trying to avoid my tempting anger.
Good note. We have not received report cards for the first semester, but we know most of the results. It’s the miracles we were expecting. We only had about 3 of our 16 boys finish lower then 10th in their classes. The best news was that our 3 private school boys finished 4th,5th,and 6th in their class. That is the testimony to the potential these kids have, if they only get the love and chance to prove them.
As my brain plans, dreams, and hopes for the future, it always comes back to a love for these boys who were embarrassing testimonies of our broken world, broken families, weak men, and the lack of Christ centered people. But now they act as testimonies to what Christ can do in lives, through lives, for lives.