Under Armor

In Ephesians 6 we are told, "be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand."

I often get a little nervous the night before it's my turn to take over a dorm of little boys at Casa Hogar Douglas for the day so the full-time worker can take a day off. Honestly, the nights before, I don't usually sleep too well. The other night, I was prepping "lesson plans" of sorts like a teacher to be ready for the day to come and honestly just had to sit back and giggle at how franticly I tried to throw everything together and think through all the possible scenarios for the following day.

"What board games will Israel ask me to play with him?"

"Who am I going to give a hair cut to? Where are my clippers?"

"Children's vitamins?"

"Kids' movies? What will we watch before going to bed? Where is my other DVD player?"

"Children's books -- I need to switch up my stack and get some good ones."

"Will I let the older boys play my N64 after they read? Where is my extension cord?"

"Are the puzzles packed? Will we play with the train set? Are the legos in my car? Maybe we'll have time to play with play-doh before the big kids get home?"

"I wonder if the boys have anymore shampoo or toothpaste? I should bring some just in case."

I do this every night before I go - mentally go through my check list of what "tools" I need to successfully make it through the day with the boys. I realized all my stuff is like I'm suiting up for battle - and I dress for some kind of workout. But it doesn't matter what kind of dri-fit or under armour T-shirt I'm wearing if I've haven't taken the time to put on God's armor. I find myself praying very seriously and desperately as I drive over in the mornings to wake the boys up and get them ready for school.

Ephesians 6 continues in verse 14 with - "Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place and your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."

I read this and think, "sounds like I'm supposed to be ready for battle eh? Really? What kind of battle? If I'm comfortable, am I missing something?" I've told several people this before - but part of what attracts me to wanting to take care of dorms full of very special and difficult little orphan boys for a full day at a time by myself is that it's probably the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life. I'm not naturally good at it. It does NOT come easy and for whatever reason I'm drawn to it. It forces me to get up against a wall and beg God to show up and to help me and to calm me down and break up fist fights between 4 year olds who can easily give someone a bloody nose. It's a battle. At the end of the day, I honestly feel it. I'm exhausted, I'm worn out, I often cry. Some days, I think I spend more of my time telling kids that I'm sorry for getting mad at them and yelling after I caught them beating up another child - that I'm sorry for raising my voice in the heat of the moment or that I'm sorry if I scared them with how angry I was at their violent reactions to each other (ironic huh?). Or when a child is driving me nuts, you will often hear me say out loud in English to a child something like, "you sweet blessing of the Lord." It's a reminder to me - that this crazy child is a blessing from God and shouldn't be viewed as annoying when they do something awful.

At the end of the day - like it says in Ephesians 6:13, I want to have already put on the "full armor of God so that after I have done everything, I can stand." It is easy to be loving, patient, calm and nurturing when you are rested, not melting to death from 110 + degree heat, dealing with one child at a time, feeling appreciated or like anyone is listening to you. If you're a mom of lots of small kids, you know - when is your day like that? Never? I realize that the absolute last thing that the enemy wants for my sweet Douglas boys is to have a calm, chaos free day where the few workers that are around are freed up to have one on one conversations with them, love of them, and adequately encourage them. Try reading stories about how much God loves these children to one half your dorm when the other half has broken out into an all out brawl over a lego man that they can't seem to share. It's a battle.

We are in a battle. The enemy roars around like a lion trying to take Christians out - make us useless. We gotta go on the offensive and take the enemy out. What is my weapon besides a really good Disney movie that my boys haven't seen before??? The word of God -- scripture. I need a reminder everyday - God is the hope here. His word, biblical truth - that's my weapon. When a little boy is in time out, my weapon against violence is scripture reminding them about who they are in the Lord's eyes. I need God's armor - the Holy Spirit to give me love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, righteousness, and self control to these boys.

Please pray for me but more importantly, pray for the workers in the children's homes that Back2Back is associated with to be daily covered in God's armor to love these children. Some workers names from Douglas -- Jose, Lorena, Mary, Javier, Panchita, Adrian, Isabel, Irma, Katy, Lorena

Showing some Love

Bath time with more than one child can often get a little crazy. Imagine trying to shower and dress 10 boys ages 3 to 8 at one time- by yourself. I like to think of it as organized chaos. To add to the chaos, each boy has his own very strong likes and dislikes in the showering process, what kind of underwear they think are cool, whether or not I'm "allowed" to use soap, shampoo, etc. It didn't take me too many weeks of this to figure out that if I don't have tear-free kids shampoo, about half of the boys would refuse shampoo with violent tears oddly enough. We were preventing tears with tears. So now I've made it a mission to make sure that every week these boys have kids shampoo and kids toothpaste.

One of my boys after bath time came through the bathroom and caught me putting one more day's worth of shampoo for 10 boys from the regular bottle you buy in the store into a small bottle that we leave within their reach. If you leave the big bottle down there, one boy is for sure to knock it over on accident or pour the whole thing out for his pleasure. So this boy said, "why are you doing that? Why are you pouring just a little into that bottle?" I told him very directly that to me it's very very important that they have tear free shampoo everyday and that they bathe everyday just like it's important to me that they have "non-spicy" toothpaste. But if the whole bottle is down there, someone might waste it and then they won't have kids shampoo anymore. He said, "Love is when someone takes care of you. That's God's love." I was floored. I stopped my mopping of the soaking wet bathroom and looked at him and said, "Do you know that God is trying to demonstrate his love for you by sending people to take care of you? That's why I'm here. God sent me here to love you. That's why your full-time care-giver is here. That's why Sammy loves you (his favorite B2B intern). God sent your mom to love you (can't leave the biological mom out). I told him again for the 100th time that day that I love him very much. But I asked him Sammy's favorite question, "But do you remember who loves you more than all of us?" And he replied without hesitation, "The Lord." We then went on to dialogue as I mopped that God will never leave him alone and that there will always be someone to take care of him. This particular child has severe fear issues. He's always afraid that one of his brothers will leave him or that his mom will never come back. But we're both learning, this child is learning that God isn't going to go anywhere.

It was a beautiful end to a chaotic daily event.

Mandy and JJ

Some of you are familiar with the Back2Back staff couple who has been fighting cancer for about a year now. But if you are one of my Florida readers - I'll try to give you the background story on Mandy and JJ. They came on staff in Monterrey and served as house parents for lots of teenage orphan boys for 2 years after adopting two beautiful children from Columbia - Nico and Sofia. This past summer, JJ found out he had a super rare stage 4 jaw cancer. And no, JJ was never a smoker, chewing tobacco user or drinker. It just happened. Since July, they have been back and forth between the states and their foster boys in Mexico trying to deal with surgeries, radiation, infections, financial woes and all that goes with the realities of having cancer (something my family is all too familiar with). It is important to know that JJ has no health insurance but has been blessed by a surgeon who has offered his services for free and many others who have donated financially to their cause. By this past February, they were forced to make a decision to move back to the states for JJ's medical care. They had to leave their foster boys. They had to leave the location of their home, their passion, and this ministry that God has so clearly laid on their hearts.

The bible never says that believers will have things easy or easier or that their lives will be free of suffering now that they believe in God and follow Christ. In fact, the bible says the complete opposite. Yet when we see a believer who is close to us suffer and go through something so difficult - especially such an awesome person like JJ who just loves the Lord and to me is so obviously trying to bring God glory daily as he strives to show orphan teens to know how much God loves them - we often say, "wait a minute... something doesn't make sense here. This just can't be fair." I asked the same questions when my mom got cancer and was given a 30% chance to live. If I'm honest with you, after having the chance to see Mandy and have coffee with her this morning in Cincinnati, I shed several tears after I said goodbye to her as I asked God again, "Why? Why Mandy and JJ? Why did they have to leave Mexico? God you placed this on their hearts and what would I do if I suddenly had to leave my Douglas boys? How would I react?" On and on I went in prayer as I wrestled with the Lord. My heart hurt for them and overflowed with thankfulness for my own health and the blessing that it is for me to be able to live in Mexico full time. I am so thankful for my support team.

I share this for several reasons. First, I want to ask you to pray for Mandy and JJ and their family - both with them in the states and those who had to stay behind in Mexico. Pray that God would give them a peace to know that He is in control, His love is good, His ways are just, He is the Lord and passionately loves them. He created them for such a time as this. And that God will be glorified through them and their testimony. Second, for you to pray about whether or not God would lead you to support them financially and help JJ afford cancer treatment and surgeries as an uninsured individual. If you feel led to support them - please contact Back2Back's home office and ask how you can do so.

Mandy and JJ - I miss you both very much. Your Monterrey family is still battling in prayer for you.

Praying for God's Kingdom

So this morning I was reading in my bible Mark 11. Jesus has entered Jerusalem and then gets angry when he sees how the temple is being used. Jesus drove the people who were doing wrong out of the church area and then refused to allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. Then he explains what the temple/church is for - "My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. But you have made it a den of robbers." This comes directly from Isaiah 56:7. I was struck by this today. The idea that the church is to be a place where we pray for the nations - for God's kingdom to come all around the world. Even though I live and serve in a foreign country everyday, I can forget the mandate that Christ has given to his church - to his bride - to his people - to be kingdom minded and to pray for all nations to be transformed and to know the living God who came to restore the broken and give life.

From the Summit itself...

So I'm sitting here at The Christian Alliance for the Orphan's - Summit of the Orphan here in Louisville, Kentucky. And I must say that I'm so thrilled and thankful for the ability to attend this conference for the 2nd year in a row. This event is so awesome, so encouraging, so thought provoking and so challenging. Also, I'd like to give a shout out to Meg Weaver and Sammy Matthews who made this journey with me and deciding to attend the summit this year as my friends who are awesome members of this Back2Back extended family.

Here is the first of many blog posts I will make regarding this conference of things I've found incredibly thought provoking:

300,000 American born - American kids are trafficked WITHIN the United States by pimps and then bought and sold for sex by american men. Of those 300,000 children each year who are forced to sell themselves for sex, 70% of these kids were at one time involved in american foster care.

I find this statistic mind blowing and invokes incredible amounts of anger from within every part of my soul.

The Summit this year has really driven home for me the idea that it is the American Church's responsibility and obligation to care for foster children - to pay attention to them and to welcome them into their churches. Did you know that your local church can contact your county's foster care agencies and offer to give rides to any children within the system who want to go to church? Your local church can and SHOULD be engaging these vulnerable children for Christ. They are so desperate for an identity and a family. Your church and your church's youth group and sunday school programs could be the answer to this void in a child's life. Would you pray about checking that out for yourself and making some phone calls?

What to join me next week?

In case you were waiting for a personal invite - here it is....

I want you to come with me next Thursday and Friday (May 12 and 13) to Lexington, KY for The Summit of the Orphan. I went to it last year and it was easily one of the highlights of my entire year.

What is it? Well... It's a big conference for anyone who is interested in exploring God's heart for the orphan - both in your own community and around the world.

Apparently it's like an hour from Cincinnati so if you could only make it for one of the days or part of a day - you could just drive down and make it a day trip. Registration is still open. And I'd love to dialogue with you at the event itself about what you liked, were challenged by, inspired by, etc. Come sit next to me!!! Every year the event changes locations around the states - this year it's your backyard!

Email me or send me a comment on my blog if you'd like to know how we could meet up at the event if you are interested.

For event info - click here at The Christian Alliance for the Orphan's website.