Welp. Here we are.. About to start the last four months of the Race.
I’m sitting here in the Blue Pumpkin, one of my most favorite restaurants in Asia, mulling over the past seven months and just how many crazy and incredible things the Lord has taught and showed me about Himself, His creation, and myself.
We’re heading to Kenya tomorrow, a journey that will take about 2 full days. (geekin' out FOSHO! #pumped) We’ll be staying in Africa for the rest of the Race (tentative), and I don’t know if we’ll have great internet so I thought I’d bang out just one last blog before then regarding just a few pre-month eight thoughts I’ve been having these days… It’s totally open for discussion if you need clarification on something I said, or feel like you want to debate about it. 😉
- We, as children of God, should not be defined by anything of this world. I had a great talk with Amanda about external, material things this morning over breakfast. The world (America in particular) takes one look at us and judges immediately by our external appearance: how we act, what we say, how we dress. With that being said, we then (as American Christians) focus intently on making sure the outside is up to par: match your clothes, wash your face, put on deodorant, say the right things, dress up for parties, etc. I want to stop that. *To clarify, having great hygiene is great—but my point is this: The only thing that should define us is the Risen Christ. The Gospel should be within every action, every word, and everything that embodies "us" to the point where that's all people see. I no longer want myself to be identified as, “Cheyanne, the girl who does this. Cheyanne, the girl that looks like this. Cheyanne, the girl that says this.” The one thing I must be identified by is Christ: "Christ lives through that girl.” My hope and prayer echos that of John 3:30 "He must become greater, I must become less."
- As Christians, we shouldn’t cling to or take root in anything but Jesus, as our joy and hope and purpose. EVERYTHING but our Lord fails, and fades away—disappointing us dramatically. He needs to be the foundation in which we stand, and the air that we breathe every day. Relationships with people on earth, money, status, actions, dress, sports, success, etc. will not sustain and save your soul from death—only Christ will, AND EVEN MORE. Our time is spent in vain when it’s spent focusing on selfish ambitions and selfish conceit. Our trust and hope is pointless unless it’s embedded in the Gospel–Christ's life: crucified, risen, and ruling.
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Love the poor—without boundaries, borders, or a systematic formula. Does Christ put conditions on his love and compassion toward us—we, who are covered in filth and complete depravity from our sin? No. Ergo, we shouldn’t put up conditions either. We need to start practicing what we preach, getting over
ourselves. We MUST STOP playing God when it comes to caring for the least of these. We need to love our neighbors and our God with everything to the point where it gets really uncomfortable—that’s when you know you’re giving close to everything. Over the past 7 months I’ve seen poverty all around the world unlike ANY kind of poverty inside America. It’s horrendous. Yet, I found myself using the excuse of “well, I won’t give money to so-and-so because they might use it for booze or drugs.” “Well, I won’t sit with so-and-so because it’ll just be for 2 minutes and you need to create a lasting relationship in order to change someone’s life.” What a load of crap!! Have you, have I, ever once guessed that maybe we say those things because they’ve been told to us in the past? Have we ever once realized just how little of an effort it is to step outside of ourselves for the glory of the Lord? What if the $5 you give that person ACTUALLY goes to food? Or how about this: what if the $5 you give to them, really does go to alcohol—but God miraculously meets them there and they have a change of heart? What if the Lord faithfully uses the 2 minutes you spend ACTUALLY ACKNOWLEDGING the beggar on the street? You don't know the capabilities of God, we never will–we just have to act based off His leading us, whether that produces fruit that we can see or not. Compassion (to anyone—not just to those without financial means, but family, friends, coworkers, classmates, strangers…) needs to be unconditional, and we need to get our eyes off ourselves—loving them as if it they were us, and loving them just as Christ loves everyone.
There are 10951 things more I can talk about.. but I’ll just leave it at three.
Praise report: MY DAD IS COMING TO KENYA!! The Lord miraculously provided the financial means, and paved the way! So I'll be working for the Lord alongside my daddy-o come April 23rd! How cool is that?! 🙂
