Belief in the Bywater: A Story Of How God Is At Work In New Orleans, LA

Abuse. Neglect. Drugs. Sex. Jail. Teen pregnancy. Gangs. Violence. Death. All of these things are much too familiar for the kids of the Bywater community. Grace Baptist Church knows this and that is why they lead a Bible club for two full months every summer. At Bible club kids can come eat two good meals, do fun art projects, play outside with the other kids, do cool literacy skill building activities, worship the Lord with upbeat songs, and hear great Bible stories in a safe environment filled with people who care deeply for them. Grace’s Bible club is transforming the lives of those in the community one child at a time. That is why Kaleo has partnered with the church for years and sent many missions teams their way to help lead the Bible club.

I got the opportunity to lead a team of students there in early July and I was shocked at what I found. I met a sweet eight year old who had to find meals for himself and his siblings or risk not getting to eat. That same kid showed up to Bible club with a bash on his eye and he would not tell us how he got it. I met a kid whose mom had committed murder. That same 10 year old had a condom. I met a 13 year old girl who assumed that she wouldn’t get married but instead wind up in jail. I met a young boy who had seen his mother hit and killed by a truck, his cousin gunned down in front of him, and his father leave him. When we asked the kids what Jesus had done for them, he answered “Jesus has helped me not to get shot in the back of the head”. Several years ago that was exactly what happened to a kid in front of the church. Two kids fought at Bible club and the next day one of the kids’ uncle came & shot the other child in the back of the head. These kids have seen and gone through more in their dozen or so years of life than most of us ever have or will in our entire lives.

It is heartbreaking when you sit with this but the thing about the darkness is that the light shines brightest in it. The Lord is indeed the only true light and He is present in the Bywater community & He most definitely acts through the people of Grace Baptist Church. It is in this church that these kids can experience the love of God which flows through all of His followers. The thing about these kids is that for most of them no one is forcing them to come. A lot of them come of their accord. They could do anything with their summer but they come to Bible club week after week, summer after summer because they seek love and they find it at Bible club. And they don’t just find some love, they find a lot of it in us and they find the ultimate author of love at the same time. These kids learn about the God who created them and loves them, and it is so beautiful to see. One day I was sitting with an eight year old girl who had been causing some trouble before Bible Time. I was worried she would make a scene and ruin Bible Time for the other kids. That was the only reason I had the conversation I did with her. As soon as we all sat down for the skit of the day, I asked her if she was ready for the Bible story. She said “this is my favorite part”. I was taken aback a bit (based on her performance earlier in the day). I said “really?” and she said “yes!” I asked her what her favorite Bible story was and she began to tell me the story of David and Goliath. Immediately I thought “oh no, this girl likes this story because of the fighting in it”. But then she surprised me again. She said “the little guy won, and he won because he loved Jesus & Jesus was with him”. I was so impressed. That little girl sat through that entire Bible skit on the edge of her seat. She jumped at the chance to answer a question about the skit and when she did, she explained it all probably even better than I could have. This little girl was truly learning and understanding the Bible and its central message. I am excited for this knowledge reach her heart even more deeply and change her life & the lives of those around her. This message reached the heart of one young man the first day I went to Bible club. He accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior the very day us Kaleo interns visited.

I can’t wait to hear about how Grace’s Bible club continues to impact kids for eternity. I fully anticipate dancing with those kids again in heaven and I am so excited about that. I am changed because of the kids I met and I know our missions team were forever impacted by them too. I am so glad Kaleo Missions partners with existing churches and organizations (such as Grace Baptist Church) that make a difference in their communities year round. Praise the Lord for how He works and how He invites us to be a part of it all!

Declaring The Deliverer in the Darkness

A photo taken in the Bywater area while leading missions teams
in New Orleans with Kaleo Missions in 2016

I have lost count now of how many times I have been asked why I do ministry where I do. "Why do you do ministry in the Phillips neighborhood?" "Why do you evangelize in Dinkytown?" "Why do you go to church in the Powderhorn neighborhood?" "Why would you spend a summer leading missions teams out of the French Quarter?"

These questions generally aren't asked out of basic curiosity or interest. They are generally asked in confusion because doing ministry in those kinds of places does not line up with the American dream. This is because doing ministry like that is not always the safest and you are not in complete control when you're there and you are not separated from those society often deems as less. So doing ministry in the Philips neighborhood, the Powderhorn neighborhood, college towns, or the French Quarter is not what most would call the American dream but who really cares about that? When it comes down to it, I care much more about following Jesus than I do about following the American dream and I really think you should too.

I think we have watered down Christianity to the point where we think of Jesus as this "safe", quiet man who sat with "good" Godly folks and we try to imitate that Jesus. However, when I read the New Testament I encounter a Jesus who sat with tax collectors and prostitutes and everyone else that society set aside. (If you want some examples, just google it. You will find there are plenty to go around.) But we don't encourage folks to imitate that kind of Jesus much these days. We call them foolish and reckless instead. But isn't sitting with the modern day tax collectors and prostitutes and everyone else exactly what we are also called to do? Before departing the world Jesus said "go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20, ESV). Jesus calls us to do exactly as He did. While Jesus did ministry in many expected places, He didn't stop there. He ministered to people everywhere and so should we. We are called to speak the Gospel to our co-workers and in our neighborhoods and in our schools and also in the slums and the streets downtown.

A photo taken of Puerto Maldonado, Peru while on a mission trip
here in 2016

Many Christians (although still not nearly enough) seem to be okay with being around and even sharing the hope of Christ with their neighbors and co-workers and classmates but few seem to even consider sharing the Gospel with those "very different" than them. Perhaps that is where the tragedy lies - in the belief that the homeless, the prostitutes, the alcoholics, and the addicts are so very different than the rest of us. From my experience, we all have many similarities and people aren't always that different than we think. In fact, I think some of the best conversations I have had were when I was out doing ministry of some kind with people who are homeless or otherwise very different than myself. One of my good friends is a man who is in his mid 50s and essentially homeless. His name is Tom. We are so different yet we can carry on for hours about reading, movies, and even Audrey Hepburn. Most people I encounter, no matter how different our lives may seem, are really not all that different from me. We all have hopes, desires, families, friends, fears, strengths, weaknesses, and a deep need for a loving Savior. So just because people seem so different from us should not stop us from sharing the hope and love of Jesus with them.

And yes, doing ministry in the Philips neighborhood, in Dinkytown, and in the French Quarter is not the easiest. And yes, sometimes it can feel very dark in those places. But those places are where Christ's light can shine even brighter and even when the darkness seems to overcome us we can know that Christ goes before us and that He is with us always until the end of the age. As I sit in the French Quarter, I look around every Saturday night and I see brokenness. I see broken people trying to fill the cracks in their lives with drugs and alcohol. The problem is this: that stuff never fills you up. Not even close. Brokenness and darkness seems to flood these streets just like the hurricane once did, but that doesn't mean there is no light. In fact, the light of Christ seems to shine even brighter here. This place, Vieux Carre Baptist Church, is one of those bright beacons of hope. It is because of people like the ones here that I still have hope. People come here when they are in the middle of their deepest despair and they see hope. They see how Christ can completely change their lives. And it is in this darkness they can clearly see the light.

Now, don't get me wrong. When you start trying to mess with the enemy's plans, he will try to stop you and discourage you. But never forget who you are in Christ. You are a soldier commissioned to fight a battle truly worth fighting in. You have been commissioned by the King to go out and save souls. How could you possibly reject that calling?

A phoro of the Dallas skyline taken on a mission trip here in 2014

It takes a lot of faith to step into the unknown but you are stepping into the unknown every day of your life so in my opinion you might as well step out for the most worthy cause there is. Like I said before, I have been asked a lot why I do what I do and like I have been trying to tell you these past few minutes, I do what I do because I believe the God who loves me has commissioned me to do it. But the beautiful thing is God hasn't just left me in the dust there. He has carried me through all the nights of ministry as well as all the unexpected moments of ministry. And He has revealed more of Himself to me because of it. He has shown me who He is and what He is doing in the lives of others. Here in New Orleans I have met people who have turned over their lives to God and overcome insane addictions. A few weeks ago back in Minnesota, I met a man named Daniel who found Christ when he was homeless. He still is to this day, but rather than being caught up in despair like many homeless folks you meet, he takes comfort in the fact that even the Son of Man had no place to lay his head. God has given us such amazing opportunities to see Him work and He has also given us the ability to be used by Him. We don't always get to see the result of what we do but I believe that what we do makes a difference. Just the other day a man here in New Orleans named Gary surrendered his life to Christ. He said the day before some kids came under the bridge and blessed him. That truly seemed to impact him and I believe that whenever we minister to people, God uses it in some way. I think that what we do plants seeds of hope and God waters those seeds. Who knows what ways God has used us to impact people! A few months back we sat with a man named Joshua for an hour and tried to talk him out of killing himself that night. What if God used us to keep that man from going through with it. I don't want it to appear that we save people ourselves. That is ridiculous. But when it comes down to it, for some reason God likes to work through people. So we try to let Him work through us. As for me, I never regret the days I decide to give God control of my life and let Him work.

So we must declare the Deliverer in the darkness, bring the Bread of Life bravely down Bourbon Street, and continue carrying the cross of Christ into the chaos because when we do that we do as Jesus did and share hope with people different yet so similar to us. And when we do this, we can know that Jesus goes before us. And as always, we are to go as a family because we are stronger when we are united.

The Beautiful Truths God Had to Bring Me to the Amazon Jungle to Remind Me Of

This is the letter I wrote to my supporters upon my return from Peru. It was an experience of a lifetime (as you will soon read). Therefore, I wanted to share my experience with all of you out there. Enjoy!

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

As you have probably heard (or at the very least are now becoming aware), I am back from Puerto Maldonado, Peru. It was the trip of a lifetime to say the very least. It challenged me in ways I didn’t anticipate and I loved it. And I think God knew I needed that. As I was walking back from the informational meeting about Peru back in September, I was met with a poster that had just appeared that day. It said this: a ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. God really took me out the harbor on this one. Wow! Even on the trip I was contemplating what I was going to say to you all when I returned and even as I type I am not entirely sure everything God is trying to teach me and show me through the trip. There are a few things I am absolutely sure about though. One is that I will never forget Peru, the people I went with, the people I met there, or the lessons God taught me. Another is that none of it would have been possible if God hadn’t provided and I firmly believe you all were a grand part of that. That is obviously evident by your financial support (which provided everything I needed for this trip and more!) and your prayers which are evidenced by the results of our trip. We safely traveled 4,000 miles, drove from the Twin Cities to Chicago, took 9 flights, slept in an airport twice, and spent 8 days in the jungle without getting eaten or bitten by anything deadly. So thank you for your support through financial giving and all your prayer.

There are so many things I wish to tell you about the trip but first – the basics. We left on Thursday March 3rd at 3 a.m. We drove to Chicago then flew to El Salvador. From El Salvador we flew to Lima, Peru. After a nice stay on the airport floor, we flew to Cusco and then to our final destination, Puerto Maldonado. The group was small – it was just 4 of us. We spent 8 days serving with El Arca children’s home on a farm in the Amazon jungle. We spent time with the family (especially the kids – man, will I never forget them) and served them by helping wherever needed (making meals, cleaning, painting, fixing the road, etc.) After our time was up, we started our long journey back home. We had a fun night in Lima during our 12 hour layover which was just what we needed after being in the middle of the jungle with no contact with the outside world for over a week. We arrived back home Sunday, March 13th in the evening.

Our trip was filled with so many new adventures and new things for me. I left the continent for the first time. I went to the jungle for the first time. I flew by myself for the first time (from Chicago to Minneapolis). I slept in an airport for the first time (and the second time we were awoken by a woman who was poking us to get us up so she could wash the floor we were sleeping on!). I rode in a taxi for the first time (with a crazy driver in a traffic jam – seatbelt is highly recommended for that ride). I ate octopus and ceviche for the first time. I spilled human waste on myself for the first (and I hope the last) time. I made eggplant lasagna for the first time (that one was an adventure – it turns out it is even more difficult to make lasagna in the jungle). I saw a rat run across the dining room for the first time. I saw spiders bigger than the palm of my hand for the first time. And I went a week without any contact with my parents for the first time. My trip was filled with a lot of firsts and I hope to continuing make such firsts for the rest of my life (except maybe ones like the whole spilling waste on myself thing).

Not only was it filled with a lot of exciting adventures and firsts but it was also filled with a lot of life lessons. One of the things I think God really wanted to remind me of on this trip is how constant He is. There are times in your life when you realize that in more dramatic ways. That first night in the jungle was one of those times for me. I was sitting there and I finally got it. Nothing is constant or guaranteed. Not the presence of friends or family, not your location, not your abilities, not your health, not your safety. Nothing is constant but the Creator of those things. Thankfully, that constant is all we truly need. Even if everything else were to fall away, we would still have all we needed because He is true, He is good, and He is loving. I realized that as I saw this family suffer. They left everything they knew in pursuit of starting this children’s home only to lose many of the kids years into their ministry as a result of the government trying to shut down orphanages. I can only imagine what it must be like for them right now as they choose which children they can keep and try to adopt and which they have to say goodbye to. I wrestled with this striking blow to the ministry of this family. How could God let this happen? I don’t know. My only prayer is that as a result more souls would be won for the kingdom as these children who are not able to stay are sent back to their families. Still, even as I wrestled with this. I noticed that the family wasn’t. Or at least that is what it seemed like. They went on praising God for His goodness and faithfulness. And suddenly I was struck on the head and reminded. God never promises prosperity. He promises His presence. Just like He never asks for fruitfulness, just faithfulness. And that is exactly what this family is doing. Trusting God and being faithful. I don’t know why some things happen but I do know this: God is good and He never lets anything be wasted. And so I want to be faithful. It is a lot easier to be faithful in the easier times of life but it will get harder. When I start my church someday, I hope the Lenz family and their perseverance will pop up in my head and I will be encouraged to continue to be faithful in the difficult season of church planting. As a result of this trip, I also want to get even closer to the Father. When I realized that He is the only true constant I realized that I need to have an even stronger relationship with Him than I already do. If He is my one and only then I need to spend even more time with Him and I want to because He is so so good.

It is still a little hard to believe. This time last week I was sleeping in the Lima, Peru airport after spending a week in the jungle. Now I am sitting in my dorm alone writing to all of you. This time two weeks ago I was almost to Puerto Maldonado with 3 people I barely knew and I came back with 2 sisters and a big brother (I guess traveling 4,000 miles to the jungle bonds people). So many things are uncertain. I don’t know if I will ever see any of those people I met in Peru again this side of heaven. I don’t know all the reasons God sent me to Peru yet. I don’t know where He will send me next (what is more outside my comfort zone than the Amazon jungle with 3 people I barely know?). But I do know this: God is true. God is good. God is loving. God is constant. And He provides. He provides in beautiful ways. He provides with finances, health, safety, and with marvelous family like you. Praise God.

Love, peace, and grace to you all,

Kallee

Prostitution, Parties, & Peru

Like I said in my last post, I feel as though God has been talking to me a lot on the subject of seeing the world. Like most human beings, I avoid discomfort and pain a little too much. When I hear about tragedy and the pain of others around the world I try to distance myself. I was challenged on this in chapel (at Northwestern) last spring. I downloaded a news app this spring to keep up with what is going on the world more. Still, I have been feeling lately like this is not nearly enough. It is not enough to check out the news app every once in a while and see what is going on through the eye's of an author. Lately, I have been feeling like God is calling me to see the world for myself. With this constant nudging came the repetition of a quote by one of my heroes. This hero of mine chose to see the world and face it. That is why William Wilberforce is one of the people I admire the most. The quote that continually repeated itself was this: "you may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know." I feel like God doesn't want me to able to say 'I did not know'. I feel like God is calling me to know - to know the world as it truly is, not just the rose-colored glasses version. He wants me to see the world through His eyes. Now, this requires a great bit of discomfort and pain, which as I mentioned I am not particularly fond of. But God doesn't usually ask us to do easy things now, does He?

God gave me this call and then just like He usually does He plopped several opportunities to live out that call in front of me within a matter of a couple of weeks.

Right when I was feeling like seeing the world was something I needed to do I was asked to be a leader of a weekly ministry team called Seeds of Hope. Seeds is a new Northwestern ministry started by friends of mine and what we do is we go out into the cities and minister to real people with real stories right where they are. The past 3 Saturday nights I have gone out with them have been amazing. God has truly blessed our time and allowed us to impact people. But He has also shown me the world through it. The first week we went to the U of M... during homecoming. That was completely eye-opening for me. I had never seen anything like it in my life. I thought college parties in the movies were completely exaggerated but what I saw that night was just like all those movies. It hurt to see it. It hurt to see all those people ruining their lives when they thought they were truly living them. But at the end of the evening I knew that I was there that night because God wanted me to see it all and dare me to feel something about it rather than try to shut it out. It is easy to make Northwestern a bubble where you stay and get a Christian education with Christian friends and never leave the safety net. But that is not exactly what God wants from us. He calls us to train ourselves to impact the world for His sake, yes. He calls us to be in community with other believers, yes. But He also calls us to be in the world and that is something I think we are called to do now as students. We don't have to wait for God to use us. He wants us to go out now and reach out to people.

Another way I feel like God is helping me to see the world came through a piece of paper. It was almost like God legitimately sent me an invitation (except it was not actually addressed to me - although it might as well have been). Before I tell you about this piece of paper there is some background you need to know. I have been on 4 mission trips now. They have all been within the states and have all impacted me greatly. I had every intention of going on the last Revolution mission trip next summer. But I was trying to figure out how I could do that if I were able to intern somewhere like I intend to. I didn't know if it would be a possibility so I started thinking about other mission trip opportunities. If I were to be unavailable in the summer I would only have one other window of opportunity to go on a trip: spring break. Luckily Northwestern sends teams out to places all over the country during spring break. They often go to New Orleans so I started thinking about how great it would be to go back to the place where God decided I would leave part of my heart. But before they announced where they were going over spring break I ran into this piece of paper. It was announcing an informational meeting about a trip to Peru. And get this - the trip was not over the summer like all but one of the international trips UNW takes are. This trip was happening during spring break. Coincidence? Probably not. For about a year now I have been thinking about how I have seen the world through mission trips but how in America nothing is quite so extreme as it is everywhere else. I was thinking about how going on a mission trip overseas would be so different and I began to think that maybe it was about time I go on an international trip. Well, here God was giving me one. Still, being a human, I tried to make excuses. Like how I am not a person built for the jungle or the mountains or warm weather in general and how I don't exactly speak fluent Spanish along with other excuses. But I realized quickly they were very weak excuses and my prayers for clarity were resulting in answers of "yep, Kallee, Peru" and "yes, I am calling you to go see all kinds of things that will hurt you to see them but it's something I need you to do for me". So long story short I spent my day today renewing my passport and in less than five months I will be in South America.

A third way God is continuing to show me the world is through Streetlight, Northwestern's homeless ministry. Every week we get to meet people with stories very different from ours and it is amazing. It can be eye-opening too. But this year there has been an additional opportunity God has given us through Streetlight to see the world even more. This year we have been able to do street ministry. Now this isn't average street ministry This is Franklin and Chicago in South Minneapolis at 11:00 on a Friday night. It is not family friendly and the Dove foundation would not approve of that picture. In many ways it feels like the devil's playground. Everywhere on those streets he is altering people's minds in order to try to keep them from the Gospel. It can feel like no one on those streets is sober but that doesn't stop us. This last time we went out was especially eye-opening for me. James, a staff member of the Marie Sandvik Center, came with us and as a former walker of the streets he pointed things out to us we might never have seen before. He pointed out a drug dealer to us as well as an actual drug deal going down. While James was explaining some of these things to us we made light conversation with a woman passing by. We then watched her as she continued down the street and a car made a U turn. We watched the car pull into the parking lot of the strip mall and the woman walk over to the car. We saw them talk and then we watched the woman get in. Then James said "yeah, that just happened". So now I can add prostitution to my list of things I have seen but never want to see again.

God has been showing me the world these past few weeks. And I can't always say that I have loved what I have seen. In fact a lot of what I see makes me sick but I know it is what I need to see because in order to change the world we must know the world even if knowing the world breaks our hearts. It is okay that it does because when our hearts are broken that much we are forever changed. And when we are forever changed we are moved to action.

Opening our Eyes to our Brothers and Sisters

In chapel a few weeks ago we took a moment of silence for the victims of 9/11 and we talked about the Syrian refugee crisis. When I got back to my dorm after Greek class that day I listened to a radio clip that was recorded on 9/11/01 and then a video John Green posted explaining the refugee crisis (I know - some heavy topics for a Friday afternoon after class). Anyway, it got me thinking about what our brothers and sisters around the world face. I think we often think of the world as 'us' and 'them' but a better way to view the world is 'we'. We are all in this world together at this same time in history and I believe it is all for a reason. Those thoughts inspired me to write this post. In this post I will write about who are brothers and sisters are, how people have cared for their brothers and sisters in the past, why we need to take note of what they are going through now, and how we can help others (if at all).

Who are our brothers and sisters?

In the Bible other people are often called our brothers/sisters. The Greek word adelphos, which is generally translated as brother or sister, is used over 300 times in the New Testament. Over 250 of those uses almost absolutely do not refer to a family member. (For more on this look no further.) What does this mean? It means Jesus does not want us to just care for our direct family members. He calls us to love people outside of our bloodline. So once again that begs the question: who are our brothers and sisters? Well, I think that question is a different way to ask the question "who is our neighbor?" In Luke 10:25-37 an expert of the law asks Jesus the same question. Jesus answers by telling him the story of the good Samaritan. The story showed us that everyone is our neighbor. It is easy to distance ourselves from the struggles of others on the other side of the globe but that isn't what we are called to do for our neighbors.

Why should I care about other people?

1 John 2:10 says "whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling". John 13:34-35 says "a new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." If that doesn't convince you then maybe this will. As you may know, 1 Corinthians chapter 13 is known as the "love chapter" of the Bible. In it, it say this:

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Why should we love other people? Besides the fact that they are our brothers and sisters, we are nothing without love.

Can I even make an impact?

Short answer: yes. You can make an impact. You may not be able to completely change the world yourself but we all have an impact and we get to choose the kind of impact we make. The song "The World You Want" by Switchfoot asks "is this the world you want?" Then goes on to say "you are making it (the world) every day you are alive". So according to them we make an impact no matter what so it might as well be a positive one, right? History proves one person can make a huge difference. Need an example? Well, here is one: Adolf Hitler. He changed the world - no one can argue that. It was in a terrible way that he changed the world but he did indeed change it. Examples of people who changed the world positively include Jesus (of course), William Wilberforce, Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther, the apostle Paul, and many others. One person can make a difference. I promise you that. My life has been deeply affected by the actions of single people. I would not be sitting here at Northwestern if it weren't for Dr. William Bell Riley, who started Northwestern, along with all the donors and presidents and staff and faculty who have kept it going since then. Or for that matter the many people who encouraged me to check out UNW. Come to think of it I would not have started looking at Christian colleges at all if it weren't for me putting my faith in Christ. That was a result of going to Eagle Brook Church, which I wouldn't have done if it weren't for a friend of mine from North Lakes Academy. I wouldn't have gone there if it weren't for the founder Jackie or if it weren't for my mom's encouragement. This is just one simple line of connections to show that how other's lives and choices affect us. Whether we like it or not our lives are all connected and the choices we make affect other people. We are affected by the choices of many before us, and others around us and those to come will live differently (for better or worse) because of our choices. So now here comes the question: What will your impact be? Will you be remembered as a person who reached down and reached out to others in need? Will you be remembered as a person who encouraged others to change the world? What do you want to be written about you in your eulogy?

How can we best make an impact?
In order for us to make the greatest impact possible we must be educated. I don't mean we have to know trigonometry or chemistry. I mean we have to know the world as it is. (This is something I feel like God has been trying to teach me lately and I want to share a bit more of my journey with this lately in another blog.) In order for us to change the world, we must know what needs to be changed. Makes sense, right? The only thing is that this particular type of education will not always be pleasant. In fact, it may very well break your heart. Still, we must force ourselves to walk away from comfort for the sake of knowledge. If we don't truly know what is going on in the world we can never have true motivation to change it.

Warning: Getting educated about the condition of the world may very well change you and wreck you in the greatest way possible because before we can make a change we ourselves must change.

What is your next step?
Maybe you need to simply gain more knowledge of the world or maybe you are at the point where you need to experience it. Below are a few suggestions for next steps. I encourage you to think or pray about what God might be calling you to do to better understand the world...

1. Start reading the stories of persecuted Christians from The Voice of the Martyrs  and pray for them
2. Read the heartbreaking facts about sex trafficking
3. Hear the facts and stories of women who had abortions
4. Read about how people who are homeless are just like you and me from Invisible People and then join a homeless ministry
5. Find out more about extreme global poverty and then dedicate one day's wages to help end it
6. Read about world hunger and then go pack food at Feed My Starving Children
7. Sponsor a child with Compassion
8. Go on a mission trip and see the world as it is

"Be the change you wish to see in the world"

- Gandhi

Chicago: Because We Don't Want to Say "Tomorrow" Today

I left the Blaine campus of Eagle Brook Church at 8 a.m. on  the morning of June 22, 2015 for Chicago, IL. I didn't know what God had planned but I was excited to see what it was. Life with God is like a good book - there are always grand adventures. Life with God is much like life with Ferris Bueller - not all at what you expected it to be. The next few days were a whirlwind of an adventure and I want to share with you some of the observations I made, things I experienced, and things I saw. The way I will do this is take you on the trip by telling you a little about each day.

Monday: Keep a Mission Trip Mindset
When we arrived at North Park University late in the afternoon we knew the drill: get your room key and bring your luggage to your room. So we did. It just wasn't quite as easy as we expected it to be. For one thing, it was dreadfully hot outside and surprisingly, nearly as hot inside. We were all banking on the expensive private school in Illinois to have A/C. Apparently not. Secondly, the line to check in and get our room keys was quite long. So not only did we have to wait in line but we had to do it with all our luggage piled on us while we were dripping with sweat. Then when my roommate and I got our keys we discovered that the elevator we assumed was down the hall didn't exist. And our room was on the fourth floor. Most people would complain to the management after an experience like that but we didn't because we were on a mission trip. So we got a better hold on our luggage and said "mission trip" and lugged our things up to the fourth floor. Throughout the week we used that phrase "mission trip" as a way of saying "okay, let's do this". And it got me thinking - what if we did that all our lives? Instead of complaining and wishing things were different what if we just pulled up our boot straps and did what needed to be done? We would be lights to the world and we be happier at the same time.

Tuesday: We Need Fun As Much As We Need Work
I did not plan to enjoy the sightseeing part of this trip at all. When I am on a mission trip I want to work. But I truly enjoyed seeing the sights. Not just because it was fun to splash through the fountain although it was. Not just because it was cool to take pictures of ourselves in the Bean. Not just because it was awesome to buy Ferris Bueller merchandise in Chicago. And not just because it was epic to take a picture of myself staring down at the ground from the top of Willis Tower like Ferris and his friends do in the movie. It was because it was with people that I love dearly and I often forget I need fun even more than I need to work. Working is vital to our vitality but so is play. We remember this when it comes to animals and kids but forget that even when you grow older you still need time to relax and have fun too.

Wednesday: Listen to God's Promptings
That evening we went to Navy Pier. Now that was a very interesting experience but one thing that stuck out to me was the prayer walk. I am a big fan of prayer walks and my favorite parts of the past two trips were (you guessed it) the prayer walks. So at first I was pretty discouraged by our results. We had talked to several families but we only got to pray with one but even then it wasn’t a very long or touching conversation. We were getting to the end of the half hour the pastors had asked us to pray with people and the others in my group seemed to be getting antsy to do the “fun things at Navy Pier”. But I didn’t feel like God was done with us yet. So I asked for one more group hoping that God would intervene. We went to pray with another group – rejection. Still, I was unsatisfied but I had made a promise to my group members that I would finally shut up about praying for people for the evening. About twenty minutes later a couple asked me to take a few pictures of them so I did and as I did a light bulb went off – pray for them! So after I took some pretty awesome shots of them with the city in the background I jumped into the Zone of the Unknown. I started talking to them and found out they had just moved to Chicago from Egypt and were getting married in the fall. They said they needed all the help they could get and let us pray with them. That encounter with them stuck out to me. In fact a week after I returned from Chicago I started reading “Just Walk Across the Room” by Bill Hybels (you should definitely read it – I mean, I haven’t finished reading it yet but so far it is great and Bill is great so just trust me on this) and this one line stuck out to me as well. I think that encounter at Navy Pier and this line from the book go quite well together actually. (Are you mad I haven’t told you the line yet? Are you dying of suspense yet?) Either way, the line is “life’s greatest moments evolve from simple acts of cooperation with God’s mysterious promptings”. That is so profound to me because that moment was not one I will ever regret and it was led by a prompting from God. Come to think out nothing God has called me to do has ever been anything I regret in life. It’s only when I don’t listen to Him that I fail. I think Bill is right. Life is best when we let God in the driver’s seat. Now once you know the circumstances of this encounter it gets better. This moment would have never happened if we hadn’t lost my friend. She disappeared and the only reason we were there when that couple was is because we were making phone calls looking for her. It just goes to show that sometimes the greatest moments of your life can happen in the middle of mess and just when you are asking God where He is He is waiting to show you His presence.

Thursday: Love People
Thursday was the first of two days we did VBS. It was much different this year than previous years though because we were serving on the south side of Chicago. We consistently had to break up fights. We heard a kid (who shouldn't have even known what rape was) say that another boy was trying to rape him. We also heard a little girl tell us how her daddy threw her sister against a wall. We didn't have to be told about the gang wars and violence and poverty and constant shootings that happen in that neighborhood to understand what these kids were coming from. The kids told us and showed us what they were growing up in. Things like that break your heart. One of the girls from my small group told me going into the week that she was terrible with kids but by the end of our second day she was crying because she didn't want to leave them. She was experiencing the mission trip pain of not being able to stay. I know it because I've gone through it before. I hate trying to answer questions like "are you staying?" and "when are you coming back?" because there is no good answers to those questions. You can't lie to them and you can't tell them what they want to hear. Still, you want to say "yes, I'll always be here for you". You want to save them. But instead you are reminded how powerless you truly are. You can choose to do one of two things - you can either wallow in grief or you can just choose to love people as much as you can for as long as you can. There is a quote that is so accurate it's scary and it says you can't save people, just love them. No matter what we cannot truly save anyone, only Jesus can. We do, however, have the ability to love people and that is powerful all by itself. I think we should choose to love all our lives. Everyone we encounter will have their own struggles and they need to be loved. As much as we want to save them we can't. But no one can take away our ability to love people.

Friday: Choose To Thank God For the Good Rather Then Be Angry About the Bad
We left the Willis Tower around 4:45 in the afternoon. It was raining - not sprinkling, raining. And I had taken my poncho out of my purse that morning before we left. The bus did not pick us up for an hour. At first I had nothing but my purse which I over my head to shield myself from the rain. Thankfully, I have got connections. Just kidding, thankfully I have friends and one gave me his poncho. There are two ways to look at this situation - just as there are two ways to look at any situation. I could look at the bad and be upset. After a full week of work we were all tired and we wanted to get back to campus to relax. We didn't want to wait around especially in the rain when many of us did not have ponchos. Even those that did were still cold. One girl was visibly shivering. We could have said that was a terrible experience but I want to choose to see it differently. For one, when I looked at the weather before we left it said there was at least a 20% chance of rain. Two of the days were 50% or over. Yet not once did it rain when we were serving. That is incredible. And I was lucky enough to have a friend that offered me a poncho. And we could have been homeless people who just had to deal with it. Instead we were waiting for a Coach bus to take us to a private college where we were staying. You could look at everything in life through different lenses, You could look and see the bad or you could look and focus on the good. It is your choice but you will always be happier if you chose to see the good.

Saturday: Remember to Invest in People Because They Bring More Meaning to Life
Looking back it is interesting to think that people who I didn't know on Monday could became my friends by Saturday. People who you swear you have never even seen at your campus are now someone you've shared dance parties and unforgettable moments with on mission trips. That's just the way a mission trip is. It's a beautiful thing to see - it really is. This is the 4th time I have seen it happen - strangers become inseparable friends on a mission trip. When I think back to the early part of the week I am struck by the fact that people I didn't know made my days so much better simply by being there. Two girls in particular I spent a lot of time with. Before Monday I knew neither but now I consider them to be friends of mine. I also met a lot of other girls from my campus who I want to get to know better next year. In fact, it has inspired me to really try to meet new people at Revolution next year. As much as I love my friends from small group I want to invest in others - others who are new or just need a friend. Not only that but people I already knew become even more important to me. I experienced a lot of that this year. In fact, on Friday night during our debrief session we spent time breaking down our week into definable themes. Out of the six choices the category 'people' stuck out to me the most. It's not that people haven't been important in previous trips but for some reason they stuck out this year. I grew a lot closer to my small group leader and the three girls from my small group who accompanied me. I'd known two of the girls for nearly three years and the other for a year but this trip really bonded me to them even more. We have so many more adventures and memories we now share. We know more things about one another than we did before. We are simply closer and I am extremely thankful for that. I trust those three very much and am blessed to go through life with them.

Why I Keep Going on Missions Trips

I recently signed up for my fourth mission trip in four years. Here's the question most people would ask: Why? Why sign up for a week of no watching Friends on Netflix, no scrolling through my Facebook feed, taking time off of work, leaving behind my family, getting my hands dirty in service projects, giving little kids piggy back rides, and sleeping on the cold church floor (usually) every night? Because my past two mission trips (Revolution trips to New Orleans, Louisiana and Dallas, Texas) were life-changing.

On the mission trip to New Orleans I got the opportunity to see a beautiful city full of beautiful people and also a city of devastation all at once. I saw God working. I saw light in the darkness. I got to meet people on the streets and was by changed by what they said. I will never forget Daryl, a homeless man I met who didn't know where his next meal would come from. Despite his problems he told us God would take care of him. His prized possession was the Word of God. My encounter with Daryl changed me. I couldn't and didn't go back home the same.

When I came home I had a lot to think about and process. Over the course of the next year I started volunteering in the middle school ministry, Ground Zero. I took a leap of faith and became a small group leader for 6th grade girls. I still lead those same girls and I love them so much. I am so grateful to God that I not only got to meet them but that I also get the privilege of spending time with them every week. I wouldn't have that if I hadn't decided to go to New Orleans on that trip. It was also because of that trip that God revealed to me a greater calling than I could have never dreamed of for myself. On the Revolution winter retreat the following January we were asked where God was calling us. I knew in an instant: New Orleans. God was calling me to plant a church in New Orleans. I look back in awe of how much that one trip changed my life.

After such an experience as that, how could I say no to a trip to Dallas? I couldn't. And so last summer I headed off to Dallas and had another wonderful trip. I experienced new people and faced new challenges. I was in awe of how God had used one church to change an entire community. I hope to put social justice programs like theirs into place in my future church. I also learned more about love. My team and I worked a VBS in a Hispanic community. Many of the kids only spoke Spanish yet only two of us spoke Spanish so many of us couldn't communicate verbally with the kids. So instead, we communicated non-verbally. We showed love. We played with the kids and colored with them and smiled at them and spoke kindly to them. After 4 days of this, we learned something very important: "though we may come from different countries and speak in different tongues, our hearts beat as one". Albus Dumbledore (from the Harry Potter series) told us the same thing but it is with these kids that we knew it was true. I also learned about the power of our stories. I learned many people's stories on our prayer walk in Dallas. Not only that but I learned a lot of my team members stories. Pasts involving depression, drugs, pornography, suicide attempts, abuse, and alcohol surfaced. I was shocked. These people were my friends. How could I have not known? They all looked so clean and perfect from the outside. But they aren't and neither am I. None of us are. But God uses us anyway and that is the beauty of it. When we start hearing stories we became curious and when we become curious we start asking others for their stories. Other people's stories can change the way we live. I never would have started asking other people deeper questions if it weren't for Dallas.

Next year I plan to join a program called Streetlight, which ministers to the homeless. That's something I never would have done if it hadn't been for New Orleans and Dallas.

I learned so much and experienced so much in New Orleans and then again in Dallas. I can't imagine not giving Chicago the chance to change me in incredible ways. Imagine if others did the same. What if, instead of watching Netflix and going shopping all summer, everyone gave God a chance to change their lives?