a willing heart

Salter Hill Church, Jamaica, July 2008

Last Saturday it hit me. In exactly one week I would be in the beautiful country of Colombia, serving God and the people there with the awesome JoyFM mission team. I had been planning, preparing, praying about this trip for over 6 months. I couldn’t believe that “the big day” was almost here. But after being on vacation for two weeks, then rushing home to get caught up with the life I put on hold for a bit, I guess it’s not that surprising that this trip kind of snuck up on me.

I am incredibly excited about this mission, don’t get me wrong. But the past few days I have been struggling with feelings of unpreparedness. I don’t think I felt this way before my trip to Jamaica, but I can’t remember for sure. The current state of my suitcase is a pretty good representation of how I’m feeling. There are some jeans and t-shirts folded neatly inside, a pair of tennis shoes and some socks, a swimming suit, a hand towel, craft supplies, and bug spray. That’s it. No, that's not everything I'm taking...it's just everything I have packed. My church clothes have yet to be ironed. I’m still searching for some capris. My trip guide is open on my bed. The shopping list I’ve started (which will hopefully get done ASAP, since I’m leaving in 5 days!) is already overwhelming. Four years worth of Spanish notes from high school are nowhere to be found, even though I was planning on using them to brush up on my foreign language skills. I’m still trying to put together Bible songs sung in Spanish simultaneously with hand gestures and homemade percussion instruments.

It seems like there’s so much I have yet to do. I’m not really stressed, and not anxious, I just don’t feel ready. And that kind of scares me. So tonight I put myself in time-out and pulled out my Bible, which I’m ashamed to admit has fallen by the wayside the past two weeks. I started reading 2 Corinthians 8.

“And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace God gave the churches in Macedonia. They have been tested by great troubles, and they are very poor. But they gave much because of their great joy. I can tell you that they gave as much as they were able and even more than they could afford. No one told them to do it. But they begged and pleaded with us to let them share in this service for God’s people. And they gave in a way we did not expect. They first gave themselves to the Lord and to us. This is what God wants.”

These few simple verses spoke to my heart. Any other day, this particular passage might not have struck me. But today, these words were exactly what I needed to hear. They reminded me what the essence of this mission is. Maybe Saturday will get here and I still won’t be ready. Maybe I won’t be able to speak Spanish fluently. Our mission team might have trouble adapting to a new country and culture. And I might feel like I don’t have a lot to offer compared to others on the team.

This Scripture tells me that these things don’t matter. The Macedonians were remarkable and stood out to Paul because of their willingness to serve and their love for the Lord. God has shown me that His plan for me, this summer, is Colombia. So instead of focusing on what I haven’t yet accomplished, I am going to focus on what God is going to accomplish on this trip. God never asked me to be extraordinary; he simply asked me to be willing. To trust in His plan. To go to Colombia with a kind heart and open arms. To offer everything I have; my time, my hands, my talents. My mission is to give. To love. To serve.

So if you’re reading this, please keep myself and the JoyFM mission team in your prayers! We need prayers for our safety, good health, and that God will use us to change lives in Colombia…and that our lives may be forever changed as well. If I have internet access, I might post some blogs on the trip...and if not, I'll post some prayer journal entries when I get back. Adios, amigos! Voy a Colombia!

From Jess, with love <3

always

Independence Day

let freedom ring

Okay, so I know I just posted a vacation blog yesterday, but being the patriotic American that I am, I can't just let the 4th of July pass on by without acknowledging it in my blog. And since my post yesterday was so long, I just want to share a simple story that took place on our trip that I have been saving for today.

On the night we went to see the Pine Mountain Band perform, a segment of their show was dedicated to the military men and women who have served our country and those who are currently serving. They asked them to stand, and of course we acknowledged them with applause, hugs, and handshakes. Then the band played Trace Adkins' song Arlington (if you've never heard it, you should give it a listen) and we stood to sing the Star-Spangled Banner.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of a young man, probably not much older than me, that had been standing earlier. His face was shining with tears. There was an older man, towards the back, and his head was bent forward. I watched his shoulders shaking as he sobbed. A woman next to me, also one of the many servicemen and women acknowledged earlier, grabbed her husband's hand and squeezed her eyes shut. Voices trembled as everyone sang through their tears.

And I cried.

I mean, really cried.

Most people my age would find this strange. Or hilarious. Or a combination of both. I'm sure some people would have even laughed at me. But I wasn't ashamed that I was crying at all. Because I know the history of this country very well. And I was brought up to understand the sacrifices that were made to get us where we are today.

I realized, as we were singing along to the Star-Spangled Banner, as I watched the people around me cry, what the problem with our country is today. There aren't enough people who put a hand over their heart when the National Anthem is played. There aren't enough people who cry when they hear the taps being played. There aren't enough people who know or truly understand the history of this great country. And there are too many people who think God should be omitted from the Pledge of Allegiance, our schools, our money, our government buildings.

There is nothing more intricately woven in the history of our country than God. I feel like most people have forgotten that. You can't deny that our country was founded on God and Biblical principles. It's everywhere. The Declaration. The Constitution. The Pledge of Allegiance. The Star-Spangled Banner. Diaries and letters written by our Founding Fathers. Political speeches from the early days. Our country's currency. And today I believe that we are far, far, far away from the America that our Founding Fathers envisioned.

I could go on forever, but instead I think I will end with several quotes, one from the Bible and two from one of our Founding Fathers. And I will continue to pray that we as Americans always remember our country's history and the sacrifices that have been made to make our country great.

“It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible."

"I am sure that never was a people, who had more reason to acknowledge a Divine interposition in their affairs, than those of the United States; and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten that agency, which was so often manifested during our Revolution, or that they failed to consider the omnipotence of that God who is alone able to protect them.” 

-George Washington

 “A nation without God's guidance is a nation without order. Happy are those who keep God's law!”

-Proverbs 29:18

from Jess, with love<3
always

Honk if you love seahorses!

Who knew that Eureka Springs, Arkansas could be such an interesting place to vacation? Our Dad vacation this year was close to home but filled with quite a few surprises.

We found Humpty-Dumpty…

I'm guessing this is the before picture. :)

Sasquatch….

a giant hamster wheel….

….and Jesus.

Yes, Jesus. :)

Since Eureka Springs was such a cool place, and because I wasn’t expecting to have that much fun, I figured I’d share a few highlights from the trip.

One of the coolest things we saw was the historic part of Eureka Springs. The history of this little mountain town is fascinating. People started settling there in the 1880s because of rumors about the magical healing powers of the water in Eureka Springs. This town is home to over 62 springs, about 10 of which you can actually access and drink water from. There are tons of documented stories in the town hall about the water curing blindness, polio, and many other diseases. Of course, nothing tastes as good as spring water, so we made sure to find some places where we could sample this magical water. Of course, it didn't occur to me until after we'd already left that maybe I should have splashed some of that spring water on my eyes and see if it really did cure blindness. :)

I thought Jenn was going to drown herself in the spring. lol

Another fascinating fact about the town is how it was constructed. Since Eureka Springs was built in the valley of several mountains, in its early days the town experienced a lot of mud and water running off the mountains and flooding the streets. So it was decided that they would raise the levels of the streets by building two retaining walls above the current streets and filling them with limestone and rock to make new roads. They then built new buildings on top of the existing ones. It’s hard to explain and even harder to visualize, but when the retaining walls were built, they left a big gap between the old storefronts and where the road was. This created a series of underground passageways that connected every single building in town. A person could go from the courthouse to the auditorium to the butcher shop to the jeweler without anyone above ground ever knowing. These passageways were used by many famous outlaws and gang members, including Al Capone and the Younger gang. Today, most of the passageways have been cemented off due to safety concerns and to discourage people from using them, but on a tour Dad and I were able to see some of the passageways and trap doors.

We also visited the Christ of the Ozarks statue (that would be where the Jesus picture came from) and the famous section of the Berlin Wall. Eureka’s Christ of the Ozarks statue stands about 70 feet high, making it the 2^nd tallest statue of its kind in the world. The section of the Berlin Wall was incredible to see. A brave artist from East Germany did most of the painting at night, risking his life to share God’s message of hope and love with the many Germans imprisoned by the wall. Touching the wall, I couldn't help but wonder how many people had lost their lives trying to climb over the same structure that I was standing next to.

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want."

And that giant hamster wheel up there? That was actually a joke. It’s really a 13^th century building tool used in the construction of medieval castles. Turns out some adventurous and generous people are building a medieval castle in Lead Hill, Arkansas using only 13^th century tools. This was also another must-see attraction. While the castle won’t be completely finished until 2030, it is still open for people to go and get a glimpse of what medieval life looked like.

This was one of the first vacations we’ve gone on where I didn’t have everything planned out to a T. As much as I hate to admit this, it was nice just to wait until we got to our destination to dump all the travel brochures on the table and decide what we wanted to do. We visited Cosmic Caverns, Thorncrown Chapel, went to the Pine Mountain Jamboree, the War Eagle Mill, Natural Bridge and Pivot Rock, the haunted Crescent Hotel, and spent a day boating on Bull Shoals Lake.  All things that I would recommend doing/seeing should you venture to Arkansas anytime soon.

And despite all that sightseeing, we were never too tired to have some good ole Herren family fun. We played cards every night, had some interesting nighttime encounters on the way to the bathhouse, may have stalked some boys from Texas, taught an Australian family how to make s’mores, and ate way too much food. And one night, we were picking up sticks along the side of the road for a campfire, and lil’ StephyJ came up with the brilliant idea below.

Like I said, never a dull moment on our vacations. :) No one honked, though. Maybe the signs should have said "Honk if you love razorbacks!" haha I'm hoping we'll have better luck this week in Florida. And some more great sunsets! 

from Jess, with love<3

always