Don Miller, You Have My Attention

There are a few things in life that I think are underrated. Among these are: the power of an apology, Jolly Ranchers, waves on a beach, and those moments we have that are the proverbial “fork in the road”. I just got that fork in the form of a phone call. Well you see my friends, I have been offered really the chance of a lifetime…a trip to El Salvador to work in an orphanage with children of prostitutes. Did I mention I work at a crisis pregnancy center in Kennett Square and my sole responsibility is translating? Did I mention I have a well-known soft spot for women in abusive or difficult relationships? Did I mention I would be translating on this trip? God really has some crazy plans. So I stand at this cross-roads, nervously shifting my weight back and forth from foot to foot. Up until now the idea has seemed perfect; well it is perfect. But now reality hit: El Salvador isn’t the safest country, my Aryan nature probably won’t fit in very well, what if the women don’t accept me, it’s a costly trip, I need to find a job after graduation...well, you see the pattern. Not so coincidentally I have been reading Don Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. He talks about creating good stories with our lives- that to create good stories we have to do those things that scare us, and do the things that seem just a little crazy. If I give up this opportunity because I’m a little scared, I won’t be living a good story. I’ll be living a pretty darn wimpy story. And when my kids ask “Mommy, what did you after you graduated college?” I think they will think their Mom is “wicked awesome and cool” if I say “I hopped a plane to a not-so-safe country and hung out and chatted in Spanish with some awesome kids” rather than “I took the first safe job that came along to have health insurance and feed my weekly Starbucks addiction”. And let’s be honest, if my kids are anything like me, they won’t be afraid to tell their Mommy she was living a pretty boring story. So, here’s to adventure, a little fear, and celebrating an underrated life moment!

Don't Run With Judgmental Words, Someone Could Get Hurt

In the quiet of our rooms God hears us. He hears as we silently weep over mistakes made and innocence lost. He grieves as our hearts break for our own sin. It is my desperate belief that He sees us, pains with us, and somehow cradles us in His infinite mercy.

It is my newly discovered realization that we have absolutely no idea what those among us are going through. Each of us is already dealing with, maybe at the breaking point, of looking in the face our own shortcomings. Imagine this: a girl holding it all together, realizing her whole life has been a walk down the wrong road. Thousands of tears shed over the pain of her sin, hundreds of times wishing she could take it all back. Imagine now that in the midst of this she hears over and over the judgmental, narrow-minded responses etched in the minds of many holy others. She feels defeated, hopeless, like an utter failure and well beyond repair. Broken and needy she comes to the mirror every day, dealing with her own shame and guilt. No one needs guilt and shame piled on by others when they already have a mountain of their own.

It could be yours that is the judgment that makes her give up. It could be my insensitive comment that causes her to break down. Who are we to judge others when we have no idea what their deepest aches and regrets are? Why not be more like Him? Why not hear one another? Let our hearts grieve and not judge. Let us just be with others. Even cradle them in mercy. Why not hear the words they can’t say…the whispers and silent cries we utter in the quiet of our rooms.