We had a lot of kids who lived on our cul-de-sac as I was growing up. We had lot of kids in our neighborhood. But the memories that are most clear are the ones that include God. There were a handful of us who attended the same church. I have a very vivid memory of laying in my best friend’s front yard, laying in the grass and looking at the clouds. We talked about which one we thought Jesus lived on. Well, actually behind. Because we couldn’t see Jesus, but trusted He was there, so He had to be behind it, hidden from our view. We talked about what we thought He looked like and what He was wearing.

I have another memory of making a set of puppets to tell the Passion story. A girlfriend who lived behind me – and over two houses – and I, along with her mom (were there others?), created a beautiful set of puppets using felt, fabric, styrofoam, paint, paper mache’, yarn, pipe cleaners. You name it, we used it. I can’t remember exactly why we were making it, but I remember talking about what happened to Jesus that day. I remember that story coming to life for me as we practiced telling the story with these hand-made dolls.

Our faith was never intended to be lived out alone, or privately. And our faith grows exponentially when we learn, talk, listen, and play with other Christians. This applies to both adults and children. But today, I want to talk about our children.

@Think Orange 252Basics

We, at FaithWorks!, are very intentional about placing your child in a small group. We value relationships. We value developing trust. We value children having a safe place to come and ask questions, be challenged, learn something new, help one another.

So many times we talk about the value of your child having the same small group leader week in and week out. And that is so important. But it is equally important that your child spend time with others who they can call friends. Kids their same age. Kids going through the same developmental stages. Kids going through the same things at school. Kids going through some of the same things at home.

This month, in FaithWorks!, our elementary children are learning that friends “stick together like glue.” And I’d like to ask a few questions:

Do you know who their FaithWorks! friends are?

Do you know the names of the kids they spend their Sunday mornings with?

Do you ask your child what they learned in their hour in FaithWorks!?

Do you know who made your little one laugh? Or think? Or feel loved?

Do you know who your child is praying for?

I hope you don’t think I’m beating up on you. That’s not my intention. But I would like you to think about these things.

Who your child knows and loves and trusts as a friend helps them grow in their friendship with Jesus. God never wanted us to keep our faith to ourselves. He never intended for us to have a private faith. He gave us people to be in relationship with on purpose.

Here’s a short video by Reggie Joiner, the creator of the curriculum we use in FaithWorks!. He is talking to parents about the importance of your child’s friendships with others. It’s a great resource to get you thinking and talking with your child about friendship.

Whether you believe this or not, when I started this blog post this morning, I did not intend to talk about our Three For Me campaign that’s going on right now. If you haven’t heard about it yet or read about it in your email,  it’s when we ask our parents to serve three Sundays in the summer to give our regular leaders some time off. BUT as I’m thinking about our FW! kids’ friendships and the importance of them, it reminds me that as a parent, I always like knowing who my sons or daughter are hanging out with.

This would be a great opportunity for you to get to know the friends your child is asking to pray for them, who they’re talking about God with, who they’re learning about God from, who they’re making memories with. The people who are journeying together with your child are so important to them. I thank you for making it a priority that your child sees them on Sundays.

As a grown up, I don’t see those childhood friends often. We’ve gotten married and moved away from our old neighborhood. But they helped shape who I am today. They are the ones I played church with in the garage, the ones I prayed with, the ones I visited when sick, the ones I dreamed with.

And these memories remind me that my faith has been a journey. One that started when my heart was young. And one that was influenced by my closest friends. They helped shape who I am today.

Camp is on the FaithWorks! team’s mind almost every day now. It will be here quickly! And this year, we’ve doubled up our commitment. This year we are directing TWO camps for our kids.

Why? Because of that one little girl who is so shy, she can barely speak in her small group. But at Camp Lakewood last summer, I saw something amazing. And it happened by accident. Someone from Clay Church was at camp with us for the day to take pictures and video to be shared in big church. I was walking through the dining hall asking our kids if they would go outside and say in front of the video camera what they loved most about camp.

I was going down the line at the table and asked this one little girl. And before I could grab those words and put them back in my mouth, because I knew I had asked something of her that would put her in an awkward situation and I didn’t want her to feel bad for saying no, she jumps us and says, “Okay!” And marches out the door, grabbed the microphone, and started talking away!

She wouldn’t have had that opportunity on a Sunday morning.

Why? Because that one boy, you know the one, who won’t sit still and never seems to pay attention. The one who’s always ready for what’s next when you’ve just started something. But at Camp Lakewood last summer, when asked what his favorite part of the day was, he answered: Vesper Hill.

Vesper Hill is where we end our days. It’s a time to sit on what I call “holy ground” and ask God to join us as we wrap up our day. It’s quiet there. We sit around the campfire. We talk about what we did during the day, we remember that we learned a Bible verse and we revisit the Bible story we heard in the morning. And we sing. And we pray. And we head off to bed with God being the first and the last thing we experienced that day.

He wouldn’t have had that opportunity on a Sunday morning.

Why? Because of the tall girl, the one who’s a head above the rest of her group. The one who always seems to act tough and never wants help with anything. Becomes the one who needs her entire cabin to encourage her to try out the mammoth swing. And she does. And they gather around her to cheer and celebrate with her!

Why? Because of one of the littlest of girls, who wears the prettiest of dresses and shoes on Sundays, says, “It’s okay to get messy at camp, I guess.”

These opportunities don’t always happen in one hour on a Sunday. But they are opportunities the FaithWorks! team feels are important.

Why you ask? Because of the little boy who sang and danced (and I mean sang and danced!!) everywhere he went because he had asked Jesus to be his Forever Friend and could not contain the excitement.

Not an opportunity that happens often in one hour on a Sunday morning. But something the FaithWorks! team feels is an opportunity not to be missed.

Check out www.beacamper.com. Check out our facebook page and see who else is going to camp (we already have 25 scholarship entry forms in!). Check out our FW! Happenings page to get that form for your child: they can receive $100 toward their registration fee. Talk to parents who have sent their kids in the past. Contact me at karen_grant2@yahoo.com and see who’s on the team (we have lots of Firehouse students AND FaithWorks! parents going to camp as counselors and directors!).

Sign them up. And watch what happens!

Why? Because I said so.

I have just returned home from a 10 day trip to Burkina Faso, Africa. I saw hunger, disease, hope, joy, generosity. I felt hot, dusty, thirsty, loved, appreciated, encouraged, hospitality, inspired. I was filled with heart-breaking experiences that consumed my heart with compassion. I wish I could put it into one simple post and tell you what what all this means. But I cannot.

I have been sharing these experiences and thoughts this month because, well, there was just too much going on to tell at any one time. If you’ve been following along, thank you for your patience and commitment to hearing these stories. They all make up one experience, fitting together like pieces of a puzzle, showing the many needs in Africa, the amazing and huge differences in our worlds, the enormity of God.

A tradition of the Burkinabe is that when people come together to pray, every one participates. Together. At the same time. Whether we prayed over a young girl who was needing respite from nightmares or praying over a new believer, everyone prayed and everyone prayed out loud. At once. It was a cacophony of sound to my ears the first time. A beautiful melody the next, as I understood that God can make sense of it all and does not miss a word. He hears each and every word and at the same time feels the pounding of each heart and the passion in each voice.

This trip was a cacophony of experiences as well. Days filled with experiences that could have covered three days; days filled with emotional tugs that on a normal day just one would have knocked you down. Being on a “vision tour,” with people from ten different churches, meant they showed us everything. The hope being that everyone goes home with something God’s touched their heart about, something they feel led to be a part of. And then ultimately ten pastors, and their congregations, passionate about our friends in Burkina Faso.

I can vividly recall telling myself, “Karen, what’s that one thing God’s saying to you. What’s that one thing He wants you to go home with. Hang on to that.” Because had I not, I would have been plowed under. The needs there are so great, they run into each other, they run each other over. And they can be overwhelming.

If you’ve been following along this journey with me, you’d know I came home with two. These are in addition to the need for clean water which will always be number one. On March 18, I shared about a new church and it’s new believers and how the idea of a  relationship with a village warmed my heart. And then yesterday, March 26, I told of a dream to have pastors healthy enough to deliver God’s Word to healthy ears. Dee Dee Sterling commented on my facebook post with an idea for connecting even further with these pastors.

I cannot tell you today how I will or FaithWorks! will continue to play out these two ideas. But I am praying about each. What I love about these is that each one involves “relationship.” Each one calls for us to know a pastor by name and invest in him, his family, his ministry.

As I think about these next few days we’re heading into: Jesus being denied yet caring about us enough to pray for us; Jesus willingly going to the cross, knowing our names, and carrying our sins with Him; Jesus rising again, alive, to lead us into a New Life, I will be praying heavily for these people who have the most basic needs, praying for relationships to be built and asking God to point us in the direction we need to be going in order to help these people have a better life. And eternal life.

So if you’re still reading this, again thank you. If you’re still reading this, I’d like to challenge you to place yourself somewhere that you can help change someone’s life for the better. Even if that “better” is something that seems little, it more than likely is not little to them.

The great thing is, you don’t have to go to Africa to do that. Touching someone’s life at Project WARM, handing food to a family on Good Friday, loving a young boy or girl in Tapachula, Mexico, helping a child know Jesus Christ in FaithWorks!, knitting a prayer shawl and placing it over someone in the hospital, pounding nails into the Matthew 25 House for a local family, saying hello to someone as they enter Clay Church, hanging out with a teenager at the Firehouse, is just the beginning of a host of opportunities to serve God’s Kingdom.

This is one of the last things I remember Betty Arnold, John’s wife, saying to me. She said this in reference to the many, many Hot Shots we delivered, which prevent people dying from a snake bite, but really can apply to anything we do in Burkina Faso or South Bend and anywhere in between:

“Imagine getting to heaven and meeting someone who says, “Because of your Hot Shot (or insert: clean water, food, irrigation, ox & plow, medicine, etc.) I was able to be alive and know Jesus. And because of that, I am able to see you here today!”

I know that’s something I want to hear. And I’d like to be standing next to you as you hear those beautiful words too.

I have just returned home from a 10 day trip to Burkina Faso, Africa. I saw hunger, disease, hope, joy, generosity. I felt hot, dusty, thirsty, loved, appreciated, encouraged, hospitality, inspired. I was filled with heart-breaking experiences that consumed my heart with compassion. I wish I could put it into one simple post and tell you what what all this means. But I cannot.

We have a dream for Burkina Faso: that there be clean water available for everyone so that lives are changed.

But our dream includes a goal: that lives be changed for good.

Every well we dig allows the opportunity for sharing with over 1,000 people. Every well we dig allows the opportunity for people to live healthier lives. Every well we dig allows the opportunity for someone to learn that water gives life. And every well we dig allows the opportunity for someone to understand that life comes in knowing Jesus as the Living Water.

Clean water bringing Living Water. That’s our goal.

In yesterday’s post, I shared about the men at the Bible school who have been called into ministry. Their calling is sure. Their faithfulness to it is certain. It’s evident they truly believe God wants them sharing His Story by the lives they are walking into.

As we were eating lunch at the Bible school one day, John Arnold was telling me and Dee Dee Sterling about the lives these pastors have to look forward to. He told us that each one would be assigned to a village. Not their own village because that would be too difficult (remember, even Jesus had a hard time in his home town). They would be told of their new place to live and given a place to stay.

But, repeating from yesterday, it would be up to the village to give them some land to farm.

And without any land to farm, the new pastor has no means to provide for his family.

Dee Dee says excitedly, “Wouldn’t it be awesome if every new pastor was given an ox and plow when they left here?! They would walk into their new village and everyone would be excited to have him there! They would be saying, “Here, have this piece of land and will you then also help me plow mine?”"

An entire village could be changed because of an ox and plow: more land could be cultivated, more people eating better, healthier lives.

An ox and plow could give a pastor the ability to make a little money to better clothe his children or put a roof on their house. Or have medicines needed. Or even provide an education.

But most importantly, he and his family would be fed.

I know without a doubt that clean water in Africa is our priority.

But I was struck that day with this thought: If we are providing clean water and helping to create healthier people, living longer lives, with the ultimate goal of providing Living Water so that they have eternal lives…

…then we better make sure those healthy ears are hearing the right message. In a country that is 50% Islamic and 40% practicing indigenous beliefs (think witch doctors and animal sacrifices), there is a lot to be heard.

There are 18 pastors graduating this year. 12 next year.

Yep. You got it. You know where I’m going with this. Please pray with me about how we can further impact the people of Burkina Faso. The cost of an ox and plow is a fraction of the cost of a well. But could exponentially increase the Profit in providing one.

We have a dream for Burkina Faso: that there be clean water available for everyone so that lives are changed.

But our dream includes a goal: that lives be changed for Good.

I have just returned home from a 10 day trip to Burkina Faso, Africa. I saw hunger, disease, hope, joy, generosity. I felt hot, dusty, thirsty, loved, appreciated, encouraged, hospitality, inspired. I was filled with heart-breaking experiences that consumed my heart with compassion. I wish I could put it into one simple post and tell you what what all this means. But I cannot.

My son, Colin, and I are watching The History Channel’s “The Bible” series together. It has been great because he’ll say, “Wait! Pause it! I have a question” or I’ll say, “Oh, hey! Let’s look that up in the Bible” or “Hold on, they didn’t tell you this…” We have looked forward to our Sunday evenings together and have even already made plans to watch this coming Sunday’s final episode together next week since we won’t be home when it’s aired.

One of our favorite moments this week was when Jesus was calling the disciples. He’s telling Peter that he will no longer catch fish, but people. Peter says, “What are we going to do?!”  And Jesus replies, “We’re going to change the world.”

Gives me goose bumps every time we say it. Even now as I write it.

We read in the Bible, and I teach the FaithWorks! kids, that those men dropped everything, even their nets right then and there, and followed Jesus. It’s easier to read and teach than do.

I believe that God has a calling on all of our lives. He has created each of us to do something unique for Him. When I say “calling” I don’t necessarily mean “into the ministry.” I mean He has something in mind for us: a specific vocation or has given us a gift or talent that allows us to help others, just to get you thinking…

But I also believe it’s easy to say no to that, or not see what God’s intentions are for your life. Here.

I used to believe that the story of the rich man, the one where Jesus tells him to sell everything he has in order to find treasure, was for, well, the rich. I mean, come on, my family is by no means rich. But we do have mounds and mounds of “stuff” to get in the way of living out what God has in mind for us. How many times do we say, “I don’t have time for that today!” or “Maybe tomorrow?” or “When my kids are out of the house, yes!” or “When I retire…” or even “What does God want for me?” when He’s been pointing me at it all along and I’ve been letting me get in the way. If I’m honest, I’m guilty of all of these.

And being the Lenten season, I think about “giving up” something.

I met some young men who literally may give up everything in order to fulfill their calling as minister’s of God’s Word. These young men are currently living at the Bible school we visited. And these young men know they are on a mission for God.

After four years at Bible school, they will be assigned to a village. Not their home village, but somewhere they’ve never lived before. We were told they will be given a place to live.

But it’s up to the village to give them land to farm…their only means of feeding themselves and their family.

These men, most having come to Bible school with a wife and a family, do not know what tomorrow holds for them. But they do know God wants them telling His story.

They don’t have a whole lot to give up to begin with. They come, most likely, from a mud house, dry land, a few cooking utensils and hopefully enough food. And enter into a 10×10 dorm room with sleeping mats, cooking utensils, and hopefully enough food. But they do gamble even that to say, “Yes!” to God.

I don’t think they have a whole lot of “stuff” standing in the way, either like I have here. Tomorrow is a luxury in Burkina Faso.

Might make it easier for them to hear Him say, “We’re going to change the world!”