The past few days have been a quiet time with the Lord. A time to reflect on all I have seen and experienced thus far. A time to be so deeply thankful for having lived a blessed life in Kentucky. A time to ask myself and challenge myself to count the cost of what lies ahead. Am I truly ready? Am I willing to do the hard things God asks of me? I find that while in my heart I may never feel truly ready; I feel more than willing. I find myself in Peter's shoes, so curious and willing to get out of the boat and then finding I have and becoming scared. I don't know what was going through Peter's head that famous moment that drove him to climb out but I know in my mind I was and am driven by a vision. A vision that desires to be Jesus with skin on, a holy anger to fight for those that cannot fight. In the past few weeks, I have met strangers and heard their powerful stories of redemption. With each face and each story, I see the love of Jesus and I am compelled to keep running after the vision.

Here is one account of how I came across a few strangers with powerful stories.

"I was in prison and you visited me" Matt 25:36

The most powerful lesson of God's redemption I have ever personally witnessed was when I had the privilege to attend a woman's bible study in the prison of Costa Rica last week. My friend leads an English bible study every week, where five different nations are represented. All of these women have been saved and with smiles on their faces are serving out the rest of their sentences with deep joy. My heart was so moved by the testimony I saw that day to the point it is hard for me to even explain. Central American prisons are rough places and it was a wild experience for me to go that day. However, in the midst of the chaos of visitors everywhere, shouting and some of the scariest women I have personally ever come in to contact with, there was light. I smiled to myself at just how mighty God displays His Kingdom!

I came home the next day to my apartment so deeply challenged in my faith. I had been battling fear and doubt since returning from the border. Fear that I would fail the children there, fear that it was all so overwhelming and difficult. So many "what ifs" floating around in my head. Yet God, rich in patience and mercy displayed before me, the power of salvation. Women who were once hardened criminals became soft, virtuous and God-fearing. Then I am once again reminded that nothing it too hard for the Lord. Nothing.

In my renewed passion, I prayed and wept for the hurting children who haunt my dreams and yet most I have still to meet. I prayed so passionately for the project of the fiesta at the border and continued favor. I will go again at the end of this month to solidify plans. Please, if you are reading this, pray with me.

It is my prayer also that after you read the following passage I came across, you too will lay your heart before God and challenge yourself to say, "Am I willing to do the hard things God asks of me"? Are you someone God will find as He looks on the earth for the fully committed? Will you live a life that dares to be different? Will you too get out of the boat?


"What is, therefore, our task today? Shall I answer: “Faith, hope, and love”? that sounds beautiful. But I would say – courage. No, even that is not challenging enough to be the whole truth. Our task today is recklessness. For what we Christians lack is not psychology or literature… we lack a holy rage – the recklessness which comes from the knowledge of God and humanity. The ability to rage when justice lies prostrate on the streets, and when the lie rages across the face of the earth … a holy anger about the things that are wrong in the world. To rage against the ravaging of God’s earth, and the destruction of God’s world. To rage when little children must die of hunger, when the tables of the rich are sagging with food. To rage at the senseless killing of so many, and against the madness of militaries. To rage at the lie that calls the treat of death and the strategy of destruction peace. To rage against complacency. To restlessly seek that recklessness that will challenge and seek to change human history until it conforms to the norms of the Kingdom of God. And remember the signs of the Christian Church have been the Lion, the Lamb, the Dove, and the Fish … but never the chameleon." Pastor Kaj Munk (martyr)