Am I who I really think that I am? 

    Over the past few weeks, I have struggled with this idea. For most of my life I have thought of myself as a generous and loving person. I‘ve considered myself a thrill seeker and an adventurer.  This weekend it hit home, am I who I really think I am?

   This past weekend I had the opportunity to celebrate my new-found unemployment with my good friend Geoff and a road trip. We drove 21 hours in a 60 hour weekend to ride our bikes at Ray’s Indoor Mountain Bike Park in Cleveland, OH. It is a cool place with tons of fun things to do.

     For a while, I have considered myself a pretty good rider, I have tried just about every style of biking and recently gotten into dirt jumping.  At Ray’s I saw lots of “older guys” riding and thought to myself, “What is that guy doing here? He’s not nearly as cool as he thinks he is.”  Then it hit me. Or my face hit it, I should say...

30 minutes after the crash

      I rocked my face on a jump I had ridden several times, except this time I tried to go bigger than I ever had before. It didn’t work out so well. I broke my glasses, cut my face, and busted my nose and lips.  It hurt, and I was a little shaken up. However, my pride hurt even more. I began to realize that I was one of those “old guys”  I had been making fun of moments earlier . One of those “older guys” who wasn’t nearly as good a rider as I believed I was.

     Since the face smashing, I began to reflect on the question. I mentioned earlier that I have always considered myself generous and loving.  But, when I look back at my record was I really generous?  Loving towards people?  At this point, I have to say no. I am not nearly as loving and generous, or adventurous as I considered myself to be.
 

    I want to change that. I want to live out the life that I have lived in my head.  I want to make changes in the way I treat people, how I give to others, and not think so highly of myself.  I want to challenge those around me to examine their lives and consider the evidence.  Are you living the life you really think you are?

    Lastly, everybody loves a cute baby picture. We put up our Christmas Tree and Willow is infatuated with it.

Why are you moving to Haiti?!?

From the moment we announced our plans to move to Haiti, nearly everyone’s response has been…Why??? If you haven’t had the opportunity to ask us WHY personally, let me take this opportunity to answer your questions…

Why are you moving to Haiti? Practically speaking we want to love on the children of Ayiti.

Why- Because Our God loves us as orphans, and commands us to care for the Widowed and Orphaned. In a sense we are all orphans in this world unless we have been adopted into our Fathers family, no one deserves this kind of love. We desire to love the children of Haiti as our Heavenly Father loves us.

Are you taking Willow? Of course! She will have the opportunity to grow up bilingual and with a firm grasp of our love for people and with a thankful heart of gigantic proportions.

Is it safe? Hmm...We’ve spent a good bit of time in Haiti and never felt insecure or in trouble. There are places in Aiyti that aren’t safe, and people who want to harm others. We are taking every precaution available to us to protect our family and make wise decisions. My family’s safety comes to mind about every third thought that passes through my head. Needless to say, our safety is very important to me.

What about diseases? Just like America, Ayiti is full of diseases. We will take every precaution to protect ourselves from disease and have a magnificent support system in the case of an emergency.

Jake our 5 year old Yellow Labrador

Our cabin in Flat Rock

What about Jake and your cabin? We are hoping to find a wonderful loving home for Jake…soon. If you know anybody who wants a well trained, loveable Lab, give us a call.

 

We are trying to rent the cabin as well. We would love to be a blessing to someone else and provide a low cost unique home for someone who can use it. If you know someone that might be interested in the house, please pass our info on to them.

I thought you loved living in N.C.?  Let me tell you I DO! It is crazy how hard I have worked to to make a home for us near the best rivers in the southeast. I have worked hard to build a life around flowing rivers and trails. 

Playing in our back yard

However, I’ve come to learn that there are more important things in life. I do not want to look back one day and say “God didn’t impact this generation’s young people because I wanted to ride my bike and paddle my kayak.”  For me, denying this opportunity to serve in Ayiti is the equivalent of me denying the God I serve. I want to put as much effort into sharing my faith as I have spent chasing adventure. If we don’t go, I am telling my Savior, “Dying on the cross is rough and all but, the desires of my heart are more important than what you did for me.”  I certainly do not intend to imply that everyone should shed all their possessions and move to a third world country. What I am saying is this, if you feel the need to step out in faith in an area of your life…DO IT! It won’t be easy, fun, or glorious, but the freedom it will bring is indescribable.

1...2...3... JUMP!!!

     Thank you for reading!  We are very excited about this journey to Haiti that the Lord has us on, and we want you all to feel as much a part of the excitement as possible.  Before we tell you more about what is happening with us right now, I want to take a few minutes to thank everyone.  If you know me at all, you know I am horrible with thank you cards, and I always worry that those who have blessed us are going to be upset with my tardiness in sending them out.  Therefore, I am taking a few minutes to really thank all of you.  This doesn’t absolve us of the necessity of them, as I very much believe they are important, however, I simply want to show my gratitude on a large scale.  To all of you who have always prayed for us, who have held us accountable, who have spoken truth into our lives and have blessed us with your presence and wisdom, thank you.  Without you, our ministry, our family, our discipleship…..NONE of it would be what it is today.  Thank you all for continually building into our lives.

    We are immensely excited to be serving these kiddos in Haiti.  I won’t go into detail here about what we are doing, as you can read that in the “About Us” section of the blog, but basically we get the enormous privilege of serving orphan kiddos in Haiti.  It’s been hard lately, for me to use that word – orphan.  Something about it seems so distant and “labeling.” As I have began to think through this more, I am realizing that the journey of having become children of God was an adoption itself and we ourselves were orphans before we knew the heavenly Father. This knowledge makes me feel a little better about the word, but what I don’t want anyone to ever forget is that when you help the “orphans”, you are helping kids just like your own children. Each one of these “orphans” has a name, a purpose, and has a personality that is valued and precious in the eyes of our Creator.  That alone excites me and gives me energy to embark on this faith journey placed before us.

    Part of this faith journey is raising support.  We are thankful for this journey, but we are also hesitant.  We have never had to “really” place our faith in the Lord to provide like we are now.  So, tomorrow we send out our first support letters and pray for a response based solely on the knowledge that what God wills He funds.  Please pray with us that our faith to see this process through would be strong and growing daily.  We ask that you would prayerfully consider partnering with us to reach these precious kiddos in our future.  Check out the Giving section of our blog for more details on how to help fund our work.

   Lastly, please pray for missionaries around the world and specifically for those already serving in Haiti tonight.  Pray for those who are in fear, those who are hurting, and those nervous about the future.  Even more importantly, pray for the lost that are persecuting them.  Goodnight…..