Todd is celebrating 50 years of life this Friday and he’d love your help with the celebration!

During these last five years of his life, while living in Antigua, Guatemala, Todd has developed a heart for and tried to serve the people of Guatemala.

“This is a country of such great beauty and such profound needs; it is a country of contrasts.” -Todd

Therefore, it seems only fitting that he’d rather eschew the Facebook greetings and gift-giving that typically surround milestone birthdays like this one. Instead, he’d like you to click this Happy Birthday link and give $50 (one dollar for every candle on the birthday cake) to Redeemer’s House, International and their work with the next generation of leaders in the developing world.

Thank you for your impact on Todd’s life. Thanks for your participation with and support of our ministry here in Guatemala. And now, thanks for helping Todd to celebrate his half-century mark through your generosity to RHI. It’s a simple giving process and $50 may not seem like much, but if 50 of you give $50, we’ll reach our $2500 goal. Please note “Happy Birthday Old Man!” in the comment box.

There is a baby for whom we buy formula and medicine. Some people have said we are being used. Maybe they are just jealous…or maybe we are being used.

Does it matter?  Yes, I think as I lay in my bed unable to sleep. How could she?

And then God ever so gently knocks me off my high horse with two simple questions.
“Maureen, have you ever used someone to get what you wanted?” “Have you ever manipulated a situation to get what you needed?”

I am silent.

Then I hear Him say,

“Whose money do you use to buy the formula?” “And what if the mother in the cornstalk house with no money IS using you for formula and medicine?” “Does it matter?” “Is the baby getting healthier?” “Does visiting her give you an opportunity to talk about Me?”

In Christ, I surrender my rights.

As soon as I think I know what someone needs, outside of Jesus, I am the one in need.
As soon as I get to choose whom I serve and whom I don’t serve, I am no longer serving.
As soon as I think I have something to offer, I have nothing.

So, I hope she is using me for all that Jesus can give her and I hope I never stop giving her Jesus.

I had a “mom” moment yesterday.

We went to visit a family unannounced and when we got there Sergio was on his bed sobbing, his face soaking wet. When I asked what was wrong, his mom and sisters were quick to tell me that he cannot be in the Independence Day Parade with his school band because they don’t have the money for the quite expensive uniform, and he was heart broken.

I had just gotten done having a conversation with someone about how living in a very poor family is not the child’s fault, and yet they are often the ones who suffer most.

I asked him what he played and he told me the drums. I asked him how much the uniform cost and he told me. And then I lept with my heart and not my head and said that I wanted to pay for his uniform.

I do not tell you this to brag, in fact some of you may realize how this might not have been the smartest move. But my “mom” heart was breaking. I told him that I thought God heard his tears and cared for what was important to him and that I wanted him to know the uniform was not a gift from me but from God. I told him God sees him and cares for him and cares about what is important to him.

By the time we left he was smiling and drumming on every surface in the house.  And, well, he may not be the best drummer in the world, but at that moment he sure was the happiest.

I panicked today…We take Katey to college in 2 and 1/2 weeks.

I didn’t panic for the reason you are thinking, I panicked because I only own crocs and flip flops. I only own old capris. I own t-shirts and Guatemalan jade jewelry. I don’t even wear a wedding ring. On a normal day these things don’t bother me, but today it hit me. I am going to a weekend orientation with my daughter at her new college and I am going to look like a missionary.

This might sound silly to some, and shallow to others, but it was terrifying to me. I spent the evening trying to figure out how I can buy myself a pair of shoes on Zappos and send them to her school before she even moves in. I need to get them as soon as we arrive and put them on before meeting anybody new.

Really. That is how I spent my evening.

Then I thought, I will Google a Godly woman’s devotional to calm my craziness. Up pops a beautiful young woman with a perfectly lit picture, professionally done hair and beautiful nails. She happened to have gone on a mission trip this summer for a week building chicken coops. Yet she didn’t want to blog about any of her stories because she is planning on writing them in a book.

Really? After one week? A book?

So, here I am, unable to sleep and God meets me where I should have turned first, in my favorite book, Philippians.

“Let your gentleness be evident to all.”
Not your shoes, or your nails, or your new book that you wrote on your one week mission trip….. your gentleness. I know I have that. I have to find it, it is here somewhere.

It goes on to say,  “The Lord is near, Do not be anxious about anything”
Wow. As if it were written for me at this very moment.

So I am going to pack my gentleness in my carry on and rejoice in the fact that He is near and I am going to choose to not be anxious about anything.

I will be ok, but it sure would help a lot if someone could just meet me at the airport with a pair of cute sandals.

What do you need to pack in your carry on?