3 month trip wrapup

God is hiding in plain sight, teaching us to look for him in a different way. God is unpredictable but completely consistent. We always know where we are with God because He never changes, but we seldom know what He’s going to do next.” ~Graham Cooke

We have been pondering this statement since we read it. How true it is!! We think this is what we do not like about God to be honest. He is unpredictable!! This stretches us, challenges us, tests us, and scares us. We like comfort. We like security. We like control. None of this is what we are called to. We are called to obedience. We believe that Obedience is the call of all of us.

It is so hard to wrap up our experience in Ukraine. The 3 months we spent in Ukraine has been the most stretching, healing, fun, hard, humbling, growing, and fantastic in our whole lives. How do we convey the love we have for the youth? How do we express in words the feeling of knowing that THIS, THIS is why we were created, to love, nurture, care, help, mentor, disciple, and generally pour in to these youth? It is the most exhilarating and scary experience of our lives! When we are asked what did we “do” this time in Ukraine, we often try to relate to people some of the details of different things that happened. This is often hard to do as it was our lives while there and not just some kind of mission trip! What we really did was to live. Just simply live among them.
Abandonment in attitude can be just as damaging to young people as if they would have physically lost their parents. This would be what we would call emotional abandonment which can be just as devastating as physical abandonment. So we have 2 kinds of orphans ones physically abandoned and others emotionally abandoned.
When the Bible speaks of the fatherless we believe it means more then just actual orphans. We believe that it also means those whose fathers have emotionally abandoned them in the home. How many of us have had 2 parents in the home but emotionally our fathers have been distant or withdrawn and have not fulfilled their roles as fathers, essentially leaving us fatherless. We believe that our hearts and spirits cry out for someone to love us and guide us as a good father would. Fulfilling that role for many of the youth is one of the things we feel very strongly called to do.
As Christians we talk about helping the poor and fatherless but what are we really doing about it? It is not that we can solve this issue alone but are we doing what God has asked us to do? We can talk about how we were laying the foundation to begin an intensive youth discipleship, deepening existing relationships, and beginning new relationships but what we really did was … Just simply live among them. Wiping their tears, celebrating the good times, mourning losses, encouraging them in times of confusion or disappointment, this which seems the most mundane and unimportant is truly the most valuable kind of ministry it seems to us. Isn’t this what Jesus did with his disciples? He mourned with those mourning, (Lazarus) he celebrated at the wedding feast at Cana. He prayed for the lost, spent time with the outcast, the lonely and the unloved. He simply lived. Lived among all of the people using there ups and downs and everyday events as an opportunity to show love, encourage, teach and guide.
In our opinion this college age group, is one of the most over looked group in the world wide church. Not still children, but often not yet considered adults. They are easily lost to the world at this age, but could be the most valuable to the church. If we are not doing as the bible says…”The older teaching the younger” we believe we are not being true to our calling from God and also not being good stewards of the lessons we have learned in our own lives, in our time here on earth.
Christine