I remember being fifteen and losing my grandfather, it was my first encounter with heartbreak. And ever since then it scared me. Often we think of heartbreak as something that comes and steals all of our joy, but if we think with that mindset, then we will never see the true plans that God has for us. God never gives us more than what we can handle, even if sometimes it does not feel that way. I know, I sure felt that way when I went to Mexico City. It was very, very difficult for me to be away from my family and friends for eight days because they are my rock, but I had to tell myself that God knew exactly what he was doing by calling me to go to Mexico City. Running away from heartbreak never makes it easier. One of the verses that was read at my grandfather’s funeral was James 1:2-4:

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you face trials of many kinds, because know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

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What does it mean to be a Christian? What does it mean to be in Christ? Paul answers those questions in 1 Corinthians 12:12-19.NIV

12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

According to Paul there is no such thing as a “solitary Christian.” To even imagine such a thing would be as silly as imagining an autonomous freestanding solitary eyeball. We are Christians together or we are not Christians at all. We find our individual identities only within our shared experiences together.

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Over the summer the Church launched several mission trips across the world. Some to Greece, Africa, or Mexico. One of these trips was for the youth group to go to a church in the inner city of Tulsa, Oklahoma. We had the opportunity to have special time with our “Little Buddies” and form Kingdom relationships with them.

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I was in a meeting last week and Brandon Bell brought up a great scripture as we talked about reaching the lost on the college campuses.

“This went on for two years so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” Acts 19:10

In two years everyone heard the word of the Lord in the whole Asian province. This is pretty amazing! Now this was probably not all of Asia Minor as we usually see on our Bible maps, but it was still a large area with lots of cities, towns, villages and people. And all of them heard! My immediate thought was, if they can do it, we can do it! But how?

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Last Tuesday evening across the Texas/Mexico border in Matamoros an asylum seeker approached me with a smile, and asked, “Why are you so serious? White girl with big blue eyes, why are you so serious? Smile!” I thought to myself, “There’s nothing to smile about. This is sad.” Instead, I responded with “What?” He replied with, “Smile!” So, I complied, and smiled. Continue reading »