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Thoughts on Independence

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Here in El Salvador we celebrate independence September 15th.  All month you can see flags hung out and on car antennas, and little girls with blue and white ribbons tied in their hair boasting the colors of the flag.  The week of the 15th there are multiple parades with each school marching, the bands playing, and many cultural displays.  It's something that I love to go and watch and take photos of my students and kids from the CDI.  However, this year as I was watching the parade I was suddenly struck by how deeply ingrained in human nature it is to seek out, and celebrate independence.  I started asking myself why, and what God had to say about that. When we think about being independent it is something, at least in American culture, that is encouraged and with time a sign of success.  I can hear my own father saying, "it is my job to give you roots and wings so you always know where you came from, but you have the ability to fly away when it is time...
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No

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Have you seen the movie Yes Man with Jim Carrey?  I happen to really like it and think there is a lot of truth in it.  In American culture I think it is really normal to say no and miss out on a lot of opportunities.  However, today I want to talk about no, not yes. As a Christian I am called to serve.  I am given Jesus as an example of how I am called to do that and to what extent.  Jesus was a man who was always willing to serve and meet the needs of the people.  We have many stories of him feeding crowds (Luke 9:10-17), being surrounded by multitudes of people all bidding for his attention and never turning one of them away.  But we also read stories of him setting aside time to be by himself to meditate and pray alone (Matthew 26). I consider myself an extrovert with introverted tendencies (ENFP for all of you now wondering about my Myers Briggs).  I love talking.  Ask anyone in my family, I LOVE talking.  That being said, I qu...
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Declarations

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What do you declare on a daily basis?  Ok lets maybe back up.  "Declare" sounds formal and weird to use in ordinary language today, but it literally means to say something.  So let me ask you again, what do you declare? It's hot.  I'm so sweaty.  I am sick of my clothes and want new ones.  I wish I had a car.  I am so bored.  My students are so frustrating.  The kids are so badly behaved. These are just a few of the declarations I make on a VERY regular basis. I have recently started the habit of copying scripture as a form of meditation.  I usually look for a list on Pinterest for ease, and this month it happens to be focusing on strength.  Let me show you why I have been thinking about declarations lately: And you will say in that day:  “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds  among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.  “Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done glori...
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Happiness is a Choice

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If any of you are my friend on Facebook you may have seen me post a status the same as the title of this blog some time ago.  I think it is a simple concept, but maybe we don't treat it so simply.  How many millions of dollars are made off self help books, conferences, and who knows what else, all promising to lead you to your best self, happiest self, you most __________ self (fill in the blank)?  I don't believe that searching for happiness is a bad thing, but it depends where you look. As a Christian on the campus of the University of Michigan, I was often looked at strangely when I declined invitations to frat parties.  Why wouldn't I want to go?  Get drunk, dance, forget the world for a while for a few minutes of euphoria.  What could be more fun?  Waking up the next day, no memory, a headache, and next to who knows who...not my idea of happiness.  Yet every fall millions of students rush off to their campuses in search of happiness in the...
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Two Years

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Hello!  I know it has been FOREVER since I last posted.  This is a perfect example of why I decided not to study art.  I don't do deadlines.  When creativity strikes I run with it, but when it doesn't I simply don't have the ability to create anything.  However, the occasion calls for a post!  January 14th marked  two years  since I took not jus literal, but figurative steps to give my life to serve Christ when I stepped aboard that plane with just one bag and decided to move to El Salvador.  Crazy right??  There are literally probably a million stories I could tell to recount the last two years, but I think I'd rather take time to just praise God for who he is and what he has done.  So, without further ado here are some of my favorite things of the last two years. Two CDIs What does that mean?  That means twice the number of kids to love, twice the number of hugs I get each day, twice the number of times I have to correct ...
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Silence

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It seems that currently all roads are leading to silence and solitude.  I live in a location where there are various roosters that crow most of the day and night, dogs in the street that bark at all hours of the night, a bakery out my window with an oven timer that starts around 4:30am, a bus stop out front, and a restaurant downstairs that comes with its own din.  Silence isn't really part of my daily life.  I go to work and have between 20-30 children running around and then go home to the same din of living downtown.  Don't get me wrong, I love having things close, I love the roosters, but I am finding myself more and more craving the silence. Last weekend a friend of mine, who is from a small town up the mountain, invited me to go cut sweet corn with her.  I leapt at the chance.  We got on the second bus of the morning and made the 40 minute journey mostly in silence, enjoying the beauty of the mountain and the view of the ocean behind us and we trav...
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The Great Emigration

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I am hoping by this time you are somewhat informed about the immigrant crisis in the US, or shall we call it the emigrant crisis in Central America?  I would like to start off this post by saying that I am not here to write a political opinion, try to sway you, or really weigh in at all.  I simply would like to share a topic that has been on my heart. I have lost count of how many friends, acquaintances, and kids I have lost in the last year.  Not dead, but gone to "el norte."  All in different circumstances, but all looking for the same thing: something better.  Two of my best friends here, a young married couple who I used to frequently go out on the town with, realized that as they think about starting a family, the danger and poor education system here are not things they are willing to subject a potential child to and so, they left.  Just a couple months ago the little brother and mother of a good friend also left, leaving two other sons behind...
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