Loving the Stranger

For this blog post, I would like to merely direct you to another person's blog entry, called 9 Ways to Seek Shalom With Immigrants  (http://www.alifewithsubtitles.com/2016/06/9-ways-to-seek-shalom-with-immigrants.html?m=1)  I will be copying the key points underneath, for those of you who wouldn't actually click on the link to another blog post.  I see you.  ;-)

I thought that it was an excellent post, because, regardless of your views on the United States' current immigration laws (too strict, too lenient, or just right), these principles are foundational for those who would seek to show Christ's love to those on the margins.  I hope that you find them helpful!


#1 - 40 Days of Scripture & Prayer
The Evangelical Immigration Table has put together 40 days of verses unpacking God's word about how we treat foreigners and aliens. Whether alone or with a group, praying through these Scriptures is a powerful way to walk with God on the topic of immigration.


#2 - Stay Informed
It can be challenging to get information about immigration news. Some great resources include the aforementioned Evangelical Immigration Table, #Pray4Reform on Twitter, CCDA Biblical Justice on Facebook, G92, author and activist Matthew Soerens on Twitter and Facebook, or Migration Policy Institute.


#3 - Smile
U.S. culture can sometimes project an air of "coldness," especially to folks from smaller communities in developing countries with a slower pace. Combine this with the fact that many immigrants seem "invisible" by choice or by status or by occupation, one simple step to promoting shalom can be simply acknowledging others with a smile and hello. For those who feel unwelcome, this gesture can be a gift.


#4 - Read Books
There are of course so many. I recommended both Christians at the Border: Immigration, the Church, and the Bible and Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion & Truth in the Immigration Debate in the podcast. But I'll add here another book that's a memoir from actress Diane Guerrero (from Jane the Virgin and OITNB). It's a powerful story about her experience as a U.S. citizen child coming home from school at age 14 to discover both her parents had been deported. Check out In the Country We Love: My Family Divided.


#5 - Host a Film Screening
I promise I don't work for the Evangelical Immigration Table. But they've produced a film called The Stranger that is perfect for church groups to begin a conversation about this important topic.


#6 - Show Hospitality
According to the Billy Graham Center, less than one in ten immigrants will ever be welcomed into the home of an American. That statistic has stayed with me since the first time I ever read it here. Step outside your comfort zone and build relationships across citizenship lines.


#7 - Advocate
It's actually so easy to let Congress know that we need comprehensive immigration reform. I even went to Washington once, and I was amazed at the process. We must speak up!


#8 - Support Families Going Through Deportation
Billy and I are big supporters of the mission of El Refugio, a Georgia ministry that visits men in detention. They also provide hospitality and support to families of detainees. We're going to visit for the first time later this month, so I'm sure I'll share more. Consider getting involved with their (or similar) work.


#9 - Pray
I started this list with prayer, and it feels like the perfect ending. Systemic change needs the intervention of our God, who has a heart for those on the margins. I wrote this prayer years ago. Our broken immigration system affects those at every level. May we all pray for reform.

Prayer Requests for this Season

Please pray, as I mentioned in my last post, that I will be shaped into Christ's likeness and that I will live a life worthy of imitation.  That those I disciple will also look like Christ more and more!

Please also pray that I would grow in wisdom and knowledge as I am seeking to work in this new role with excellence.  May I balance my time with the North American team, with my Mexican friends, family, church, and other opportunities for ministry.  Please pray for me, too, as I am seeking to continually challenge myself to learn and grow.  Some areas that I want to grow in are counseling (I want to get further training and certification in this), missional theology, spiritual disciplines, leadership, and Mexican history and culture in general ... to name just a few things!

Please also pray for me as I will be going with a team of people to the state of Oaxaca at the end of October to participate in a missions fair.  I am so excited for this chance to visit a state I have never been to, but even more excited to help promote the Great Commission and to strengthen one of the churches there for greater ministry around the world!

Please pray for our team as they are settling into their ministry roles.  May it not be too overwhelming of a time for them as they are adjusting to so many new things.  Also, as the fall schedule is high on training, may they not be discouraged, if they feel that they are not spending enough time involved in ministry initially.

Thanksgiving:

I just want to say, too, that I am so thankful for all of you!  Even as I was praying through your prayer requests, my heart was so warmed as I thought of each one of you!  I am so blessed by the ways that God is working in your lives, even the times where you are feeling so discouraged and oppressed.  I prayed frequently that God would give many of you joy and a deep sense of His presence in the midst of your deepest heartaches (or physical aches, which can also be so draining and discouraging!!).  I am blessed beyond measure that the Lord has brought you into my life, and I will continue to lift up these needs as they are on my heart and mind.

I am also just so thankful for God's constant presence and comfort!  It is amazing to me how He always draws me close to Him even when I wasn't seeking Him.  This is what I believe about salvation -- that God loved us and called us when we were still sinners -- but I also thank Him so much that He still operates this way!  Even now that we are a part of His family, He still comes and calls to us even when we are distracted and following our own paths.  He is SO good!

Another opportunity that I am so excited about and thankful for is that today and tomorrow (Friday and Saturday) I will be attending my first Ligonier Conference ... but in Mexico City!  :-D  It is so funny to me that this ministry started just about an hour away from my home in Pittsburgh, but I needed to come to Mexico to attend a conference with them for the first time.   This should be a great time of learning and being encouraged alongside many other Mexican believers, some of whom I already know and love, and many of whom I have never met before!  I am so pumped!

Imitate Me As I Imitate Christ

"Be imitators of me as I imitate Christ"  1 Cor. 11:1

"Therefore, I urge you to imitate me."  1 Cor. 4:16

"Join one another in following my example, brothers, and carefully observe those who live according to the pattern that we set for you."  Phil. 3:17

"Whatever you have learned and received and heard from me, and seen in me, put these things into practice.  And the God of peace will be with you."  Phil. 4:9

Though these verses all refer to the Apostle Paul, I think that they are a good indicator for us that much of the Christian life -- and especially discipleship! -- implies setting an earthly example for others to follow.

I am very mindful of this as I set into this first Avance "YearOut" cycle as the program coordinator.  One of the main components of my role is to set an example for the young adults who are coming to learn about missions.  I have a full schedule of training, visiting host families, giving talks, and even one-on-one coaching times.  However, one of my biggest impacts will be how well I live my life as a Christ-follower in Mexico.  I want to be able to turn to my team and say, along with the Apostle Paul, "Here is an example that you can follow.  Live like I do." 

Wow.  That is scary to even type!  I know my own short-comings, and it would be so much easier to say, "Do as I say, not as I do." However, that is not the model that we have in Scripture.  I want to live my life in such a way that other, younger believers can be encouraged by my testimony and challenged to follow the Lord even deeper.  If you are reading this blog post, I would ask you to take a moment right now to pray for me that I would be able to live in this way.  


Note:  I have been so grateful for my church and team down here, who are tremendous helps in my spiritual growth!  I have also been more disciplined in spending time with the Lord in prayer and Scripture-reading daily.  I know that my life will only bear good fruit as I am connected to the True Vine (John 15).  

Take Me Back

Guest post by my dear friend, Brenda Burney

Written: 11/29/07

I spitefully turn and slap your face

Abuse your mercy, misuse your grace

Use my freedom as an excuse to sin

Then turn and run to your arms again.

Why do you take me back?

Why don’t you throw me out?

Please tell me…

What sin is one too many?

When will I outsin your grace?

Please tell me…

I tell you I’ll never leave

Make promises I will not keep

The first temptation has me running out the door

Like I’ve done so many times before

Why do you take me back?

Why don’t you throw me out?

Please tell me…

When will it be once too many?

When will I outsin your grace?

I feel you drawing me back again

I don’t understand, I can’t comprehend

Why one so Holy would desire such a one as I

Yet there you stand with love in your eyes

I cry…

Why do you take me back?

Why don’t you throw me out?

Oh Father…

It will never be once too many?

And I’ll never outsin your grace?

I deserve your wrath, yet you give me love

I deserve death, yet you give me life

I was a captive and you set me free

Even when I choose my captivity,

You still wait for me to come home again

And when I do, you’ll always

Take me back.

Bittersweet Goodbyes (Or "An Open Letter to My Faraway Friends")

For many years, I have been forming deep friendships, only to turn around months or years later and have to say goodbye.  They were graduating or I was graduating.  They were moving or I was moving.  Friends got married and left.  Many (including myself) have moved overseas to serve the Lord in missions.  Even over the course of the next couple of weeks, our team in Mexico will largely disband as missionaries leave after having spent a couple of months to a couple of years working here.  Goodbyes, in many ways, don't seem to ever get any easier.  Yet, as I sit here and reflect, I realize that there is definitely a very sweet element to these bittersweet goodbyes.

Because of the way that God has led our paths, I rejoice to see the newsletters of friends who are doing mission work around the world in India, China, Honduras, Germany, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Egypt, Costa Rica, South Africa, Brazil, Zambia, Spain, Romania, Bosnia, and the "Middle East" (I'm sure that I am missing countries, but those are the ones that come to mind).  I also have friends who have graduated seminary and are serving in many of those countries mentioned above, as well as in the United States and Canada.  This list doesn't even begin to come close to the other hundreds of faithful men and women who are serving the Lord in their careers, families, relationships, and respective congregations.  Facebook, phone calls, emails, and the occasional wonderful visit show a picture of sacrifice and faithfulness in the "mundane" day in, day out of life.  

Though God's calling has led to goodbyes and to lives in vastly different parts of the world, still I am thankful to have a glimpse of the fruit that is being borne by that calling!  It fills my heart to know that the pain and tears of heart-wrenching goodbyes is giving way to tears of joy and thankfulness as I see the wonderful work that God is weaving through the story of our lives.  I am so glad to know you, my dear friends, and I am so glad that you are following the Lord where He has led you.  

OverDrive

Hey there, readers!  I should probably be writing something about Mexico, or missions, or leaving home, or Mother's Day, or (most importantly!!) the greatness of God!  However, I am too overwhelmed by all of those thoughts at the moment, and will have to wait until further reflection to delve back into those waters.  In the meantime, I wanted to share with you all a resource that I have found to be absolutely wonderful, and I hope that you may be able to enjoy it as well!  :-)

In January, I was considering subscribing to Audible, since I really wanted to challenge myself to read more books.  I was a bit disillusioned by the thought of paying for it (especially since I had already done a trial run, and didn't end up using it enough to justify the expense).  Accordingly, I set myself to researching alternatives.  It was through that process that I discovered the app called OverDrive (Here is a link to the website, if you'd like to explore it some more! https://www.overdrive.com)  This lovely little resource is a free app that you can get on your smartphone, or access online, if you prefer.  To use it, you must simply have a free library card that is connected to a library with OverDrive resources.  From there, you just need to follow a few quick steps to set it up.  It's all free, and I have been so pleased with the number of good books I have been able to find on there!  I can say that, at least in my experience, I have found a ton of resources through the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.  I would imagine that many other libraries have similar programs.

Ok, well, that's all for now!  I will let you all look into that, if you're interested, or contact me if you have any further questions or need further glowing reviews!  ;-)

P.S.  I am somewhere around 6 books down so far this year ... and counting!  (I might be forgetting one or two, but that's all that are coming to mind right now!  I also didn't include unfinished books on here.)
-- "Les Miserables," by Victor Hugo
-- "Great Expectations," by Charles Dickens
-- "Watership Down," by Richard Adams
-- "Don't Give Up, Don't Give In," by Louis Zamperini
-- "Out of the Silent Planet," by C. S. Lewis
-- "The Screwtape Letters," by C. S. Lewis

Mini-Vacation and Royal Treatment

Last Monday, I had surgery, but in some ways, it was rather like a spa --

-- They give you as many heated blankets as you want; you just have to ask

-- They put these awesome leg massagers on you before surgery.  Like, seriously, they are the best things ever!  Wondering what it would take to get some...?

-- They gave me some kind of thing in my IV drip that the nurse said was equivalent to a glass of Merlot.  Sweet!  Nice and relaxing.

-- I would probably have remembered more, but whatever they gave me in my IV during the surgery was stronger than a glass of Merlot... let's just put it that way.

Once I got home, though, the real mini-vacation started!

-- My room is full of flowers, interspersed with cards of those who love me.

-- My email inbox was also filled with love and prayers by so many who have impacted my life in incredible ways.

-- I get breakfast, lunch, and dinner in bed everyday.

-- I have ample time to pray, read my Bible, and some other great books that I have been meaning to get to.

-- I have also had plenty of time to crush through some free audiobooks on my phone.

-- Some of my dearest friends (many of whom live at a considerable distance) have come in to visit me.

-- Oh, also, WAY better than pre-heated blankets at the spa, I actually have an electric blanket!!!  GAHHH!!! The best!

-- I have tons of beautiful music to listen to, and can just sit an enjoy it, when I don't have the strength to do anything else.  :-)  (Guys, the new Cinderella soundtrack.  Just wow.)

-- Unlimited Ginger Ale for when I'm feeling queasy.  :-)

There's probably lots more that I could say, but I don't want to make you all jealous... ;-)