Toilets

Today somebody plugged up the toilet. Since no one was fessing up and since I was feeling extra noble (probably because I was wearing a collared shirt), I took it upon myself to make the bathroom accessible once more. I applied my best plunging techniques, but no repetition of the plunge-flush-slowlywatchitdrain-cycle had any effect. Exasperated by an unsuccessful ten minutes of dealing with crap, I turned to Dave for a solution. He had no greater plumbing expertise than myself, so we stood there and watched the slowly fill up for the upteenth time.

Then Dave said, "We could pray." So we layed our hands on the toilet and said something to the effect of: "Dear God. We'd really like our toilet to work. We all need to poop at some point and it is just a really big nuisance. It would be sweet if you could unplug our toilet for us."

I gave it one more plunge (because I still have doubt that God is weeding out of my life) and then gave it a flush. VIOLA!!! A beautiful, smooth, quick, swirly flush. Thank God for small and beautiful and convenient miracles. He loves us, even when that means dealing with our crap.

This is the best pop. Period. Don't even start to dispute this statement unless you've tried it.

Since apologizing for not blogging enough is so passé, I'll skip it and wow you with...photography!

This is a large portion of our team enjoying a sunny Sunday on Long Point. The asparagus has been shy in coming this spring, so we have spent two weeks of odd jobs - repairing irrigation lines in cherry orchards, splitting firewood, painting, and cleaning out old barns. The weather the last few days has been stunning and I spent a portion of my Sabbath frolicking about the sand cliffs of Lake Erie, communing with God.

The asparagus might be late in coming, but God has been growing in all our hearts at an intensity that has shocked us all and taken us off guard. I heard a number of comments today along the lines of "I can't believe it has only been a few weeks." Keep praying for unity and for God to reveal to us what He is preparing us for and drawing us to.

I'll leave you with this quote from Thomas Merton's New Seeds of Contemplation, since he is a far better writer than me, which touches on what God has been showing me:

"In all the situations of life the "will of God" comes to us not merely as an external dictate of impersonal law but above all as an interior invitation of personal love... We must learn to realize that the love of God seeks us in every situation, and seeks our good. His inscrutable love seeks our awakening."

Today is my second full day in Houghton Center and all is quiet. A pick-up truck drives by every few minutes, the swoosh-swoosh-swoosh of giant wind turbines carries on in the background, and everything else is still.

I always get really worked up during exams. Whether I am actually studying or procrastinating, I do it all with a nervous, impatient spirit that can't wait to get out into that crowning glory of the student life - summer break. I bustled through my one day at home after exams, unpacking and repacking, and last-minute remembering. I bustled through the airport and on the airplane I fidgeted between watching TV, reading a book, listening to music.

But now I am in the middle of nowhere, and the middle of nowhere is a terrible place for an impatient fidgety person. So God is slowing down my heartrate, slowing down my spirit, and telling me to walk slower. It isn't hard to do here. There has been lots of planning, praying and dreaming about the next four months, but there has also been copious amounts of good food and company that feels like is family.

Here is a little verse that God hid for me in a place he knew I would find. It is from Lamentations 3:

²⁵ The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
²⁶ it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
²⁷ It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.

²⁸ Let him sit alone in silence,

for the LORD has laid it on him.

Here We Go Again

The blog has been resurrected and re-made. This can only mean one thing. Adventure time! Asparagus! Windmills! Sandyshores! New Friends! El Tizate! Mi Familia Guatemalteco! Coffee!

If none of those expressions seem worth getting excited about to you, then you'd better read the following paragraphs:

I am so excited to have you join me in this latest adventure. I’m spending another four months with Global Shore (www.globalshore.org), one crazy amazing organization. Here’s the brief history: A few years back some asparagus farmers in Ontario decided that God was calling them to be more than just asparagus farmers. Through some miraculous and divinely orchestrated events and relationships they started sending Canadian university students to a small town in Guatemala called El Tizate. Before too long a school in Tizate was started and the ministry of Global Shore was born.

How do I fit into all of this? Last year I joined their summer student team, a group of twelve students who work for the month of May and June in an asparagus packing barn on the sandy shores of Lake Erie, and spend July and August serving and loving the people of El Tizate. My life was changed, truly changed. Ask me about it sometime. It is quite a story.

This winter I got an e-mail asking me if I would consider co-leading the team this summer and that is what I’ll be doing! I am slightly nervous (God’s working on that) and ridiculously excited. I hope you can join us in prayer as we grow together as a community under Christ, and as we live as testimonies of God’s love for the people around us.

So follow along here where there will be pretty photos, stories, testimonies of what God is doing (cause trust me, it is going to be sweet), and maybe I'll even subject you to some of my awful poetry. How can you say no?

how I feel right about now

It's been a season of good eats