If you’d prefer not to get enlightened on some tough realities at this point, you can simply check out the rest of my photos from the remainder of our trip here.

While in Israel we met some AMAZING people and I think that has been the purpose of this trip while really getting a pulse on what is going on in Israel.  I can assure you that it wasn’t the kind of eye opening that I had wanted.  Some things were worse than I had thought and others were better.  In the end, there are more questions in my head having been over there and thoughts of blind allegiance to a country who doesn’t follow God began to have me reconsider my support for Israel.  Rather, it’s the Zionism that is quite dangerous here in the states and over there.   The idea that Israel can do no harm something that many Israeli’s have given up on including those most religious and committed to God.

The military occupation is bad.  Not only is it illegal based on the UN resolutions from 30 years ago, but it has been painted to us in the United States as defense mechanism.  Palestinians attack, Israel builds walls to protect itself.  If you are the party with all the land, all the ammunition and control every gate, entrance, and border… are you really just protecting yourself or are you occupying an area as a military dictatorship would?  These are legitimate questions and ones that I believe the church will need to answer as we come in contact with an oppressed people who are not allowed to leave their walled camp for medical attention, a livelyhood, or anything else for that matter.

In Bethlehem along, we entered the gates that civilians cross.  Note, the tour busses on the way into Bethlehem take a different route that does not have a wall that Westerners can see.  After we saw the church of the Nativity we were asked to enter a large room with about 50 other Palestinians and a couple travelers.  The Israeli guards stood above us with their huge automatic rifles and paced above on a catwalk.  We stood there for 30 minutes and waited.  We were one of the last groups who came up to the line so it’s tough to tell how long people were there.  Perhaps the process was super intense with full body frisks?  As we experienced what many Palestinians, who still have Israeli citizenship, did… we started thinking what if you had to wait in a room everyday for work, perhaps an hour both ways, not  to mention a commute.  Somedays they wouldn’t let you through.  Then they started letting people in and everyone rushed to the front and got uncomfortably close.  I Palestinian woman fainted but didn’t want to leave the line for fear it could be another hour before they let her in.  She was revived and moved through.  We were somehow pushed further back and the guards began letting about 4 in at a time, but sometimes the one way, full body revolving gate would just close and jerk people in.  We finally got through an airport security like setup and a lady simply looked at our passport.  That was it?  It was all a flexing of the muscle and a way to show dominance over someone else.  They could have moved us through in 5 minutes!

Someone explained it this way…the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestine, are like big houses.  The Palestinians may live in their own rooms in these areas of the West Bank/ Gaza.  Although,  if they want to leave their room and go to another room, they have to check with people to ‘use the hallway.’  No matter how close or how regular you might be.

This was my experience and I saw the walls and the real people inside these walls and I could help but wonder, ‘what would Jesus do?’ It seems that His Kingdom was for the meek and the lowly, the downtrodden and those looking for answers and a home.  I am completely for Israel, their people, their right to this land… but I am completely for these Palestinians who are living in an Apartheid that we are unknowingly endorsing- not because we are evil, but because we aren’t getting the facts.  I am for Palestinians and their right to the land.  The promise of Abraham and Issac was not at the exclusion of Ishmael.  The lineage of both these two sons is still there today and that is who has controlled the land since then.  Could it be that God would have them share this land?

I tend to take a Biblical and religious stance to this, but if you have the time and would be willing to see what the rest of the world sees when Israel and Gaza are in the news.  I can not encourage you more to view this documentary on what we have been missing since 1967.  There are a few who are taking a stand and educating others, but they are a minority and are being silenced systematically- many of them Jews.  Take this as you will, but I was changed after watching this.  Peace, Propaganda, and the Promise Land. Viewer Discretion is advised.

I understand that this is one of the things you don’t talk about and I understand that you may not agree.  All I can say is that this is what lined up most with my experience and it’s worth telling and getting some people informed about why much of the world disagrees with our foreign policy.  Not as much about Iraq and Afghanistan, but our blind allegiance to what is happening in the West Bank and Gaza.  In the end, it’s much bigger than foreign policies and could hold the keys a much bigger Kingdom coming and much bigger walls falling because of His reign.

Today we are going into the West Bank.  We are going into some of the walled camps where there have been several issues in the past.  Muslim people, Palestinians, who are trapped and forced to live in the walled cities for whom, many times, the best news for them would be to end their ‘pointless lives’ by strapping a bomb to themselves and sneak into Israel Proper to cause damage and make statement.  See photos of the wall from a blog here.  We want this to change.  We desire peace.  We desire the dividing walls to be crushed by the name of and power of the true King.

This is the thing I knew was coming and was a bit nervous about from the beginning.  The truth is, the more time I spend overseas, it seems my neighborhood in Home Park is the most violent place I’ve spent an extended amount of time.  The Lord has protected us thus far and I expect the same as I know I, and our team, have a lot more to do for the Kingdom of God.

We’ll be going to the Palestinian capital- a loose term since the majority is in the Gaza Strip.  We’ll likely interact with the locals, drive through, I’ll grab some pictures and leave by this evening.  We truly covet your prayers for our team but also for the Palestinian people trapped indefinitely and unable to leave these camps. Thank you for being apart of the journey.

HKC

Our last night in Jordan was amazing as we stayed in Wadi Rum- which means Red Valley.  We took a bus (Kenny bribed the bus driver with persistence and charm to let us off before the route ended).  We then took a beat up VW bus into the Wadi Rum Reserve.

This area is run by bedouin people, a nomadic Arab people who are 99% Muslim, and have become quite good at taking foreigners out in their 4x4s and camels into this beautiful land.  We spent the evening watching the sunset, then have a great conversation with our team, the bedouin guides and some other english tourists.

We spent the night under the stars that were dwarfed by the full moon that night.  It almost had a Alaska feel as the bright moon lit the sky the entire night.  With a thick blanket, the cool air and zero humidity made for the best rest I have gotten yet.

With woke up early to catch a bus to Aquaba.  Luckily, it was not a problem as the sun was in full effect at 6:00am.

We walked around a deserted Aqaba until finding a place that would serve us coffee/tea.  Most of these cities do not get going until 9:00 and it was about 8:30am – so oddly not much is going on.

From here we took a cab to the border crossing into Israel.  After a couple check points before, we walked up to the border crossing, praying for favor and for as few of issues as possible.  The Jordanian side was great, he even stamped on a different sheet of paper so that coming back in and going to other countries would be easier for us in the future.  If you have an exit stamp from Jordan- border authorities all over the Muslim world know where you went and it is an invitation to extensive questioning or a refusal to enter their country.  The border guard actually fake stamped Kristin’s passport- a quick scare we were able to laugh about later.

We’re feeling confident as we make it the the Israeli side.  More airport like luggage scans.  Extra ones for me since my bag is bigger than everyone elses and I’m carrying the majority of the load (think Samwise Gamgee).  They give you extra scares by keeping your passport as they may have seen certain stamps they didn’t like such as Lebanon and Turkey- a new addition to the ‘we don’t trust list.’  The girl we were with made it right through.  The three of us had Turkey and Lebanon on our passports- so guess who got held up for an hour and a half of questioning…  It wasn’t bad.  They were just trying to check stories and show a bit of dominance- we think.  After they saw us playing with the air conditioners and a dragonflys- I think their idea of our potential threat went out the window and we were let through.  Hallelujah!

We took a taxi from the border, we a new confidence and an excitement that we were in the Promised Land.  Milk and Honey here we come!

I am so excited to see some of the places where He walked and taught. I am also a bit anxious as we are going to be camping in some camps which isn’t the normal thing for Westerners. I am not sure what our contact capabilities will be but it likely won’t be very much. I’m really looking forward to interacting with people and hearing their stories and perhaps even offering the possibility of having their story intersect with a larger one as it explains here.

I would really like to take this time to thank you for keeping us in your thoughts- I have never felt so covered.  Whenever I gchat, email, or even talked with family- that is a rock that I have rested on knowing that.  HKC

Click Here to view the photos.

Please enjoy these photos and continue to lift up the team as we prepare to go on the most difficult part of our trip this weekend.

The conference highlighted youth work among Muslims and Christian youth in Lebanon by sharing statistics  and best practices, but the richest time for me was learning the history of the country and the cultural and sociopolitical undertones present.  Many of the presenters were from all over the Middle East so it was so encouraging to hear what God was doing in places like Egypt, Iraq, England, Lebanon, and France.  One of the richest times was actually the breaks and meals where you could just talk to people from all over the world.  It was especially difficult to hear from people from Iraq, Kenya, and the Sudan.  Each of these groups of people was leaving a place where there was extreme violence. The Iraqi people, for a week did not have to worry about a bomb going off in their cars, or walking next to someone who was strapped with explosives.  The Sudanese man was asking for prayer as there country is about to vote, a thing that has always brought on civil war in the past in addition to the normal terrorist activity.  The Kenyan group was working with Somalian refugees in Kenyan who are being killed by historically Christian tribes and are escaping one of the most volatile places on earth in Somalia.

While at the conference, we had a couple of relaxing times and watched a couple amazing movies.  “Persepolis” is about a Iranian girl growing up in the Islamic revolution.  It is hilarious, touching, informative, and oddly enough- a cartoon.  The movie is an autobiography of a writer who lives in the US and I highly recommend it.  The other is called Paradise Now.  This is a incredibly controversial film is about two young Palestinian men who are essentially trapped in the Palestinian refugee camps in Israel.  They feel they have nothing to live for as there is no work inside the camps and decide to become suicide bombers if there is an assignment that they can go together.  It tracks their very ‘human’ thoughts and emotions as they battle to find if there is another way to make a statement in this war torn area or follow the line of other martyrs that were not able to change the situation.  It is a movie that leaves you speechless at the end.  Highly recommeneded

In the end, it really solidified what we are aiming to do- bring the Kingdom to Muslims in a contextual way by honoring their families, their religious background, and their desire to have their lives count for something.  I mean context in that using forms and having conversations that honor and speak to them.  For instance, if I know that you love UGA football, it would behoove me to learn a bit about the culture of Athens, who are the big players, the coach, and what issues the dawgs have (one of those being Florida- go Gators!).  If I want to influence you or tell you there is something even better than college football (Jesus and His Kingdom), I should learn about what you value most in life.  That’s what we aim to do in a Muslim context.  And yet, I know it is still entirely possible to be an incredible follower of Jesus and a UGA fan at the same time!

*Please do not hear me say your love for Georgia football is anti-Jesus.  Mark Richt is a great man and I mean his bulldawgs no disrespect.   I was going to use the a team from the World Cup- but that would not have been ‘contextual’ enough for audience of this blog.  Thank you…

While at this conference, I’ve been able to digest and think about the times we’ve had and the guys we have met.  We met several guys, most of them students, who attended the two prestigious universities in Beirut; American University of Beirut and Lebanese American University.

One day, we were praying around the city literally asking God do we go right or left?  We found ourselves on the Lebanese American University campus and came up to a group of guys.  Kenny asked, ‘think we should talk to these guys?’  In the span of 2 seconds I said, “Sure…” then “Hello” then Kenny said, ‘You guys speak English?”  It was as easy as that and we were talking about the University, girls, English curse words, and the Kingdom of God.  The leader of the group, “Mark”, specifically really looked up to Kenny and we could tell some of the things we were saying was resonating with him in particularly.  We decided to meet again to watch a World Cup match at some place called “Starbuzz.”  Don’t think Starbucks, think Espn Zone crossed with a Night Club.

We met at Starbuzz with Mark’s friends and found an Italian style table where we could see everyone else.  It is always tough to steer things in a spiritual way, so constantly dodging talking about women’s butts etc was something we had become accustomed to in our interactions with Mark and his friends.  So our goal was to figure out what would really be good news for Mark.  Although it’s clear he wants to make a lot of money, we continued to probe to figure out if there was a God-given dream that we could speak to.  It turns out he’s always wanted to be a director.  But he gave up that dream a long time ago because Lebanon is not known for their movies they put out.  Kenny specifically discouraged this thinking and told him a couple stories of other internationals getting scholarships out of nowhere- only because of the favor of God.  He was amazed and hooked on this ‘good news.’  Kenny explained that when you truly begin following God, submitting your life and trusting Him in ALL things, God begins to make a way where there was no way before.

From here a real discipleship relationship has formed.  He called us several times while we were at the conference and we’ve met a few times since then.  Kenny has even had a time of prayer with Mark.  He brought Kenny and another guy to the Mosque and showed them how he prays and recited from the Qur’an- something he probably hasn’t done in quite a while.  Kenny shared from the Bible and gave Mark a gift of brand new Ingil (New Testament) that included the Gospels and Acts all translated in Muslim-friendly language.  One huge change is that it inserts “Word of God” where it says “Son of God.”  Muslims will eventually realize this as they grow, but it is such a stumbling block for them and is one of the main reasons they say the Bible has been corrupted.  This is a Biblical solution (John 1:1) that honors Muslims in their walk and pursuit of something that is contrary to everything they’ve ever heard (the idea that Son of God denotes God had sex with Mary- obviously a miscommunication).  Mark was honored, confessed that he had never read the Ingil,  and promised that he is going to tell us what he thinks.  Be praying!

Last night, we went to a concert event with Mark and his friends.  Students and young people from Beirut were performing classic rock songs from Hendrix, to ACDC, to Coldplay even.  For this event, the university actually hired a crane to take students up and let them bungee jump for the equivalent of $20.  Instigated by Mark, his friends, and the cheapest price ever- I went to sign up.  I later reconsidered, realizing that that wasn’t the way I wanted to go out.  If I’m going to take some big risks on this trip (and we will)- I don’t want it to be for bungee jumping.  No offense to avid jumpers out there.  Kenny preferred not having to explain anything to anyone back home.  I’d like to take this particular time to give a shout out to my dad and mom!  I love you and I know you enjoyed the decision I just made.  Happy Father’s Day, Ron- there is no one like you and your support means the world to me.  Call your dad’s or recognize you have a perfect Father who is for you more than you are.

We’re in currently in Tyre (see your new Testament).  More good to come.  Should be able to post by Wednesday.  Pray for Mark and his friends!

HKC

I have always been transparent on these blogs, perhaps even to a fault.  But, I want to be realistic and paint a picture of what I’m seeing and feeling in an authentic way.  What I fear happens is that people could read about what I’m doing and assume everything is perfect all the time and create a unrealistic perception of what I do and the perceived holiness of it.  My hope and prayer is that you are inspired to say, “despite, what this world would tell me, I will go after that dream or vision God has given me.  I will be intentional and missional at my workplace.”  I don’t want to sugar coat anything, but I need you to know it all been worth it.

My mom commented that the two blogs sounded like they were from two different people and that honestly affected me quite a bit.  I know that God doesn’t call us to be double-minded and it was quite a rebuke-  one clearly done out of love.

Writing this, I don’t know what I’ve already written and since the internet firewall here does not allow me to view my current blog, I’m not sure if I’m repeating myself.  Basically, since hearing from God that I needed to be here- I had expected and assumed ( I need not remind you of what happens when we assume) that there would be fireworks here or perhaps the hand of God throwing lightning bolts upon my arrival.  Nothing like that has happened.  I remember a mentor of mine describing his experience arriving in Alaska to serve and share the Kingdom of God with the people there and he told me the land and God spoke to him.- that’s what I wanted.  Maybe the voice is a subtle whisper like what Elijah experienced.  Maybe I still haven’t found what I’m looking for as the great theologian Bono would say.

When I thought about getting to Lebanon and potentially even getting a job I thought about really being able to add to the artistic community through photography and editing poorly designed/worded menus and store fronts.  But I have to say- I’m learning a thing or two from them.  My hope was to offer them something in addition to the freedom of God’s Kingdom through Christ.  Don’t get me wrong- Christ is enough!  Christ also spoke and provided for specific needs and was an integral part of every community he visited.  Fancy church people call this ‘incarnational.’  Basically that we would be Jesus to people where we are.

I think it comes down to an issue of expectations.  My expectations of what I offered perhaps was a little (or even a lot) inflated.  This is clearly a prideful mentality.  Perhaps the ideal situation would be to come expectantly to see and experience what God is already doing and what he could do.  While at the same time, ridding myself of any personal expectations which have a tendency of needing to be changed, revisited and tweaked.  Unmet expectations plague all sorts of relationships and interactions, so I think it’s important to recognize that early- adjust and allow God to really direct these things that are fragile and can so quickly produce disappointment.

Currently, things are going much better and I’ve had the pleasure of hashing this out with God.  My next post will have some more of the specifics of the people we have met and the things we’re learning.  Needless to say your prayers are working and I covet them now more than ever.

Here’s a great quote from William Carey (known for bringing gospel to India) to leave you with:

“Expect great things FROM God!

Attempt great things FOR God!”

On the way to Prague, across the lake, I met a US Special Forces consultant and he told me a basically it was his ‘job that others didn’t get holes in them.’  Well put and to the point.  We talked about traveling and I initially thought he was a worker since he was vacationing in Lativia- not a common destination but apparently has great camping- who knows…. Half way through, I felt like the Lord was encouraging me to switch seats.  He made this further available by showing me an aisle seat nearby:)  I saw a dark-haired guy was sitting there and he was very much asleep, but when he woke up I was ready to talk as I thought he was Turkish and I was all about sharing some Kingdom gospel if I could.  It turned out he was from Bosnia and was impressed that I knew that the Serbs had killed many of them.  I explained that I had a friend from Kosovo who was a Muslim follower of Jesus and he had told me the story about the Bosnians/Serbs.  His interest was peaked as a Muslim follower of Jesus doesn’t come up a lot.  I showed him the Kingdom Circles which describe that we all have access into God’s Kingdom by following Jesus together into the Kingdom of God.  In the middle of it, he said, “Actually, I am Muslim.  But I don’t really tell many people in the states that.”  It was sad, but I’m  sure true.  I then asked how I could pray for him.  He said for his time in Bosnia to go well and for the job that he left in Tampa, Florida as a mechanic.  I asked what would be his dream job- something with cars- he said and we settled on a test driver for cars.  Prayer warriors- let’s get on this!  It was a great conversation

We did have  a 12 hour lay over in Prague and that city is beautiful.  Although I’ve never been to France, it’s what I would imagine it to be like.  Very Victorian European- perhaps I don’t know what I’m talking about.  Either way- here’s a quick shot- see for yourself.  Unfortunately, we ate once at a very non Czech Republic sort of place and the second meal was two giant foot long hot dogs- good for hot dog standard but nothing to write home about- which I technically am doing now.

My Hypstomatic version

We boarded a plane at 10pm Prague time and never really slept for the 3 and a half hour ride to Beirut.  All I can tell you was there was a man who coughed like he was dying the whole time.  I secretly prayed for him time to time.  I wasn’t sure the whole laying on of hands was an appropriate first step as I began immersing myself in the culture.

We landed and I was the first up in customs, I completely forgot where we were staying and had to have our leader come over and clean up the verbal mess I was making.  After, we were picked up by some friends at 3:30am in a great little van.  Again, as we were putting our bags in the van I was reminded at the disease I have that no matter how much I pack, my counter parts have packed a significant fraction to what I have packed.

We finally pull up to the place we were staying, a dorm like place, and call on someone- the property manager.  We begin contemplating what it would be like to sleep outside.  10 minutes later a shirtless man in red boxers stumbles to the front of the building.  Whoa- this is a priceless.  It seems, no one was told about our arrival.  But after about an hour of broken Arabic, we find our way to our rooms.  What further surprised me is how long this guy continued to boldly dress scantily despite a couple of ladies being there.  Bold my friend, bold…

We crashed one room and then another after ‘red boxers’ informed us we were supposed to be in another room.  You know the times that you are so tired that you don’t want to take a shower, but you will regret not taking a shower in the morning.  That was this time to the fourth power.  I convinced myself that a semi cold shower would keep my cooler at night, and the sweat on the bed would not be a great start to my stay.  Good idea.

We were informed that although it was 4:30am- we could sleep till 10:30am- wow six hours- that will take care of jet lag for sure!  I have never been so tired in my life!  I had made the mistake of napping on a 2×4 park bench on the river in Prague and this messed me up and now this 6 hour excuse for a night’s rest was unacceptable.  I humored the group by sitting up.  Not until, I was served some NesCafe did I regain sanity/consciousness.  Thank you NesCafe.

The day was spent familiarizing ourselves with the city.  It is like Istanbul, only taller and more urban with less history- atleast where we are currently.  It is very Westernized and that fact was further accentuated by the way people interact with one another.  It seems everyone is very individualistic like what you would expect to find in New York etc.  Community is certainly there, but to a smaller scale.  We are positioned next to a prestigious university.  In this particular area, it seems we’ll be speaking to existence of God Himself and that following Jesus is a straight path to him.

I want to take this time to ask for your prayers.  I really feel quite intimidated here and unsure of how to break into the community- what is the community that I should approach?  I have a lot of questions and have imposed a bit of pressure on myself to inherently have these answers immediately.  I feel like our leader and those with us even had expectations of me that I’m not fulfilling.  ”Oh, you’re Mr. JIQ and help Stalls and Jamie, surely you know what you’re doing.”  I know the folly in these thoughts- many dictated by fear, but I’m have a real issue shaking them and it’s affecting me in every way.

I remember when a mentor told me the first time he went to Alaska to start life as a Kingdom person/pastor and he said the land spoke to him and he knew he was supposed to be there.  I have not felt that at all and I really thought I would- so that’s a bit disappointing.  So pray that my expectations would line up with God’s so that I wouldn’t become discouraged.  I so appreciate all those who have read this and have been interceding before this time.

God is on the move.

It started a while ago as I was positioned at my job to spend some time with an employee at my job that I normally didn’t interact with.  I wanted to take advantage of the situation and really get to know him as we were going to be driving around the city all day.  I soon learned that his oldest daughter was battling with leukemia and it was really putting a strain on the family.  He was the head of a blended family where his new wife had several children from a past marriage in which was terribly abusive.  They had to literally escape from him and restraining orders were now involved.  The whole situation broke my heart.  I found out his daughter, Bridgette, was being treated at Emory which wasn’t too far from where I lived and as we were passing that area on the highway I asked it I could pray for her healing.  He welcomed the idea and let me know they were Pentecostal so they completely believed God could heal her.  This made me smile for their faith and for his explanation of why God could heal her because of their denominational affiliation.  We ended the day and I let him know that I would try to get people from our house church to visit.  He said that she was often so terribly bored and it was tough for her friends to come down from Dallas, Georgia (1.5 hour drive).

Later that week I visited with friend from house church.  After going to the wrong hospital, we visited her and really worked for the smiles that we eventually got.  We told her we would be back and we really hadn’t until I heard that she was having her bone marrow transplant.  Finding a match is a huge deal and it’s a bit intrusive for the person donating.  I later found out that Bridgette’s younger sister was that match and that she had agreed to go through the procedure to donate her bone marrow.  Apparently our bone marrow is a liquid produced by the spinal cord and can regenerate so it wasn’t like giving a kidney but there were still certainly risks and pain involved.

This past week I found out the transplant would take place on a Wednesday.  Memorial day was that Monday so I asked her dad on Tuesday if we could come by later that week to encourage her.  He said that Tuesday (the day I asked) would be best.  I sent out a quick email to the house church hoping I didn’t need to go alone.  Unfortunately, it was too late and that night was the only night possible until I returned home from Lebanon a month later.  I debated, not wanting to go alone and began to look around the house for some sort of gift to bring since that’s what you do for those in the hospitals.  I was looking around my sparse home and all I could think of was: I have some old movies she could borrow and I have some root beer.  Mind you, it’s Virgil’s which is the best root beer ever, but not many high school girl’s seem to be in love with root beer.  So I text the father and ask- what could I bring, if I were to go, hoping to pick something up on the way in true manly last minute form.  He texts me this: “root beer, movies, and yoo hoo” – SERIOUSLY?!!  If there was a moment when I considered not going- that went down the toilet and I thus rushed to the hospital to try to catch the last hour of visitation.  As I packed up everything in the house, I tracked down my “My Utmost for His Highest” copy.   Embarrassed that I hadn’t read it in a while, I finally found it propped under our projector  that we use to watch movies with- ouch.  I figured if nothing else, I could share whatever Oswald was saying for the day.

I made it the hospital but Bridgette had been moved into the cancer/bone marrow section of the floor.  As I walked through their pediatric cancer center I saw an Indian family with a tiny little boy who was so tiny and hairless clearly because of all the chemotherapy and it was just so obvious to me in that moment that everyone needed hope- everyone needed the Kingdom of God to intersect with their lives- to see redemption and healing become a reality and to trump the natural world with the miraculous.  They needed a touch from the healer, King Jesus.

As I approached the central desk one of the nurses told me to turn around and go the other direction towards the red dot.  I seriously thought to myself, “Wow, that was a bit racist or insensitive!”  The reason being, the Indian mother had a red dot on her head.  But as I walked closer I saw that there was a red blinking light that indicated where I was supposed to go.  Whoops.  I pushed the button and immediately two double doors opened, startling me.  The Indian woman politely told me, “It’s for you.”  I walked into the door to find two other doors.  The doors shut behind me, enclosing me in a small decontaminating chamber, and I read on the wall that all visitors must wash their hands.  I felt like I was in Alice in Wonderland on some journey.   After I washed my hands, the next set of doors opened bringing me into bone marrow center.

I found Bridgette’s room soon after, knocked and tentatively walked in.  The look on Bridgette’s face was one of discomfort and a ‘do, I know you?’ sort of look.  She was clearly suffering from the chemotherapy as they basically killed what was left of her old immune system to make room for the new one her younger sister was donating.  I did my best to jog her memory from the last time a friend of mine from house church visited.  Making jokes about myself and my friend who was pretty goofy as well.  It finally worked or else she was humoring me.  I took it as a time to try to make her smile at which I failed several times.  But, I’ve been known to be persistent so I moved on to the gifts hoping I could buy a smile.  I enthusiastically told her that I got her the best root beer in the world- which I have no qualms or convictions saying because it’s true.  I did explain to her that the problem with this root beer was that all other root beer wouldn’t taste as good.  Despite my warning, she said she would save it for the next day after her bone marrow transplant and even squeezed a smile in there for my benefit!  I presented the movies next: “Dumb and Dumber” and “Italian Job.”  I let her know “Dumb and Dumber” was my favorite comedy and “Italian Job” would allow her to look at Marky Marky (she didn’t get the reference).  I think mom liked that reality and comment more.

At the bottom of the bag, was my tattered, oft-forgotten copy of “My Utmost for His Highest.”  I figured, now was as good a time as ever to bring it out, so I explained that he wasn’t alive anymore, but his wife actually compiled these teachings into an amazing devotion.  I told her I would just read real quick whatever today’s devotional was.  So I nervously flipped to March 31 hoping it would be the perfect word for her and her mom.  It said “PUT GOD FIRST” – perfect!  I was relieved because the other side said “THE STAGGERING QUESTION.”  As I breathed an internal sigh of relief, I realized that it wasn’t March 31st but actually June 1st.  I looked through really quick and was about to put it down because I didn’t see anything when I could see that Bridgette and her mom were awaiting the correct day’s devotion.  I gulped and read….”THE STAGGERING QUESTION.”  The thing that happened next put my jaw on the ground.  It was a scripture from Ezekiel 37:3 and read:  “He said to me, ‘Son of Man, can these bones live…”!  God, of all the verses and all the devotions you give me a seemingly obscure verse from Ezekiel about BONES to a little girl with Leukemia who is about to have a BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT.  Try to find another reference in the 365 day devotion to bones- Good luck!  Unreal!!  I told this at House Church the next day and a bolt of lightning struck less than a mile away- as God put His own exclamation point on the account.  The key verse in the devotion said, “Do I really believe that God will do in me what I cannot do?”

I left Bridgette and her mom with that thought and then we prayed and God just gave me a picture of His sacrificial love displayed through this family and that someone in the family who give up something so that another could live and have new life.  As we closed and I left we joked- not many people are truly born again twice with 3 births (reference to her life with Christ)!  What a night!

The next morning I checked with the dad and he said that it would be very important to see if the Bone Marrow took and Bridgette’s body received this foreign bone marrow.  I got a text a few hours later that it was A PERFECT MATCH and it couldn’t have gone better!  Bridgette will be recovering for the next 5-6 weeks, but make sure to pray for this little miracle to recover quick and start sharing this beautiful story.

I hope that you were blessed and would just encourage you to press into those times when you don’t want to go serve or visit someone in the hospital.  More and more, I see the fruit of walking by the Spirit and taking a step of faith here and a step of faith there.  In those moments, when I look back- I’m the one who was blessed as I see a trail of miracles shadowing those small steps of faith as if the Lord had allowed me to drop bread crumbs for others to follow and for me to remember His faithfulness and power.  AMEN.