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Christianity Takes Community

Yesterday, after a two week hiatus for my wedding and honeymoon, I finally made it back to church. And I loved it. Walking through the doors, my new wife next to me, my ears resounded with the sound of my good friend welcoming both Clare and I back from our vacation, by using the microphone and the other 100 people around him, all clapping and shouting. It shocked me for a second, the sudden recognition from the man in the spotlight, but then felt good. This was Life Church after all; stuff like this just happens, and it makes for a fun Sunday. Clare and I, after hugging what seemed like three dozen people (it was probably 6) took our seats next to another couple we both deeply love and admire. We chatted for a couple minutes only to find ourselves back out of our chairs as the music began and did not let up for a whole half hour. It was awesome! I was reminded of why I love this church so much. Looking around me, my eyes saw members of the body of Christ dancing, holding their hands up to their Creator, and singing their hearts out as we worshipped collectively. The unpolished and raw nature of the band establishes a sweet environment for authentic worship, hearts presented to God in a real way. The body of Christ, loving Christ together.

When our pastor Mark finally got up to give his message, I was pretty pumped up. Then I got even more pumped when I realized his sermon, and all sermons for the next five weeks, were about community. Community is a developing passion of mine, continually deepening and growing the more I am immersed in it. The topic yesterday was "why we need each other," which seems a little elementary, but looking at our culture today it's pretty evident this topic is grossly overlooked. So I want, with a little stolen from Mark Miller, to revisit this topic here.

The United States of America's population is 307 million people. Facebook, the world's largest social networking site, just reached 300 million people. Just two months ago, the population was 250 million, which puts growth at more than 800,000 new members everyday. Their population stretches across all continents (with one exception; sorry big ice sheet in the south), with about 70% of members being from outside the U.S. While it is much easier to join the nation of Facebook than any other nation on this planet, this kind of statistical growth anywhere is unheard of, dare I say impossible. To what do we owe this outstretching of our connectedness? The answer is simple: loneliness. We as a people, especially Americans, are the loneliest people who have ever walked the face of this planet, collectively that is. According to a recent study, 25% of Americans say they have no one in their life with whom they can discuss matters of personal importance. We are so disconnected from others in real life, so disjointed from other humans in the flesh that we feel the need to live vicariously through our online selfs. Facebook is great; I'm on it everyday. It keeps me updated on what is going on in the lives of others I do not see everyday, but to use it as a substitute for friendship is disturbing. Especially when seen through the eyes of Christianity.

The church is a community. It is built on Christ, made up of Christians, all living life together. Celebrating, grieving, loving, forgiving. Serving, creating, praising, rejoicing. Life together. All parts of it, all out in the open. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, reminded us of this when he said that "Since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others." We are all one. We are all common and we are all in unity. Common unity. Community. And we all belong to each other, which means we share ownership of each others' lives. We all have a stake in our lives and the life of the church. We all share in the celebration and the grief of the family. We all share in the service and forgiveness of the family. God created us to live with each other, not in isolation. No man is an island. We're all a part of this community and we all need it, lest the church becomes just another Facebook nation, another online culture lacking any semblance of deep and genuine connectedness.

Having just gotten married, I now am starting to see more and more the importance of community life. My wife sees me all the time; when I'm at my worst and when I'm at my shining best. It kind of freaks me out every once and a while. I know that will only continue. And we'll struggle and fight and makeup and love each other. But my hope is that I surround myself with other men and women, confidants who I can trust, that will challenge me to love my wife more each day, to serve her and give myself up for her. Christianity takes community. And I am glad. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in Life Together, "Christian  brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate." What a joy community is and can be when we consider who created it and the purpose behind it. Thank you God. 

This is My Job!

You know those moments, those few precious times, when you actually realize in the present how amazing your life is? The times when you take a small, delicate step back, acknowledging the blessing of this moment in the moment? It's not that you won't remember it years later and think back about it with a smile, because you definitely will. It's that you actually realize as you are living it that this speck of time in your life is significant. 

I have those a lot on trips. I call them "This is My Job!" moments. Climbing a mountain, swinging on a zip-line above the rainforest, playing football on the beach with students, pouring the concrete for a handicap access ramp. All "This is My Job" moments. All reminders to me of the adventurous life. And yet, in reality, while these moments are great, they don't totally get to the heart of LeaderTreks or my own passion for reaching kids. They're all amazing and remind me of how awesome this job is, but they still lack impact in the hearts of students. 

But I had a different "This is My Job" moment this summer. One I will never forget, and one that reminded me right then and there I was thankful to God for the ministry I get to participate in. 

One of the students on my trip was struggling with God. Struggling with God's grace in his life, struggling with why God would allow the types of things that were happening to him to happen to anyone. And he was struggling with his anger towards God. All things I myself had gone through at one point. Seeing the need in front of me, I pulled him aside one night to bust open what was going on in his life. And bust open it did. He became vulnerable, openly sharing with me his hurts, his passions, his frustrations with Christ. He told me about his honesty within his own trip book, how he wasn't holding back from telling God what he really thought about Him, showing God his anger towards Him through his words. It was a tough conversation, but a needed one. I shared with him my own thoughts on these same issues and how no matter what, God was big enough to handle the frustrations we throw at him. Over an hour of talking, listening, praying. Then we split ways and went to bed. I had no idea how God would work. 

Fast forward six days. We've all just spent four days hiking through the mountains, eating food out of small cups, rejoicing over a single Snickers bar, and going to the bathroom in the woods (well, not exactly a bath ROOM). As we neared the end of Team Time, I watched as the same boy started removing pages from his journal during a time of silence. Then, looking straight at me, tears in his eyes, he told me he didn't feel the same way about God anymore. He didn't feel the anger towards Him he had felt when he wrote the words on those pages days before. He didn't feel the hatred anymore. In fact, he felt free. And in a final act of defiance against his anger, taking the pages in both hands, he tore them in half, top to bottom. 

As I watched the pieces of paper fall to the ground, his act wrecked me. Praying at the end our Team Time that night, I cried like a little baby, praising God inside my head for allowing me to be a part of this moment. First time I've ever cried in Team Time. First time I'd allowed God to work like that in me. But I know there will be more "This is My Job" moments just like this. And that's incredible. 

Hudson Community and Guanacaste Water Project

I haven't written or posted in a while. Life's been pretty busy down here. Over the last few weeks, so much has happened that will undoubtedly shape my life for many years to come. A week and a half ago I said goodbye to a fantastic team of students from Hudson Community Chapel, in Hudson, Ohio. 19 students and 2 adult staff came to Costa Rica with a passion to change the world. I have never, in the last year of working alongside student led trips, seen a group so fired up about the mission set before them. They took Jesus' command to change the world seriously, and it was seen in the work they accomplished. In just 10 short days, these students put together an amazing VBS for children from a church in Pavas, which is an extremely impoverished suburb of San Jose. They put their whole hearts into the games, crafts, skits, songs, and they even taught in Spanish, which was amazing! They led with the love of Christ and it was seen through their actions every minute of the trip. Children came each day, so excited to see our students, and the ninos were welcomed with open arms and huge kisses. I have uploaded a video of one of their VBS days. Enjoy!

On top of all this, the work they accomplished for the church was fantastic. They repaved much of the failing basketball court so that children could use it for afterschool activities, painted the entire outside of the church building, and built a new wall alongside the border of the church's property that will be used as a foundation when the church expands it's building to make room for the ever growing body of Christ that now finds itself worshipping within those walls. It was an amazing experience, building a wall as we read through the book of Nehemiah, who, in being called by God to bring his people back to the Lord, also built a wall. In constructing a wall, we were able to show the love of Christ. How awesome is that!!

The wall before

The wall almost completed

After Hudson left, Laura and I said goodbye to Russell, the other intern from Texas University, and then took off alongside a full time LT staff and his intern-Phil Krause and Bob Furlong. With the help of Olman Alvarez, our missionary partner down here, we drove 5 hours from San Jose to the mountains of Guanacaste, a large county of Costa Rica in the north-western region of the country. Teaming up with another LT team in the small village of Esperanza, (translated means Hope) we assisted in the installation of a running water system.

In Costa Rica, just like the United States, education is mandated for all youth throughout the country. However, in order to provide schools and teachers for every child, the village seeking education must provide running water to the potential school building. For a village of 100 residents living off of agriculture in the mountains, saving up the money to pay for a running water system is a bit beyond their ability. And so the system of poverty continues in this small village, for without running water that is free from disease, no school can be built, thus depriving the children of Esperanza the very hope of a bright future we in the states take for granted.

But students can change the world and they decide to every day. In just 6 days, students from Honey Rock camp in northern Wisconsin dug trenches a foot deep for over a kilometer and layed pipeline throughout the trenches. With the pipes in place, they then connected the pipes from a local fresh water spring, tested for purity, to the water tank that would hold all the water being pumped to the new school building. With a system of air pump to provide added pressure and good old gravity, water flowed into the tank. Below is a video showing the moment the valve is turned on for the first time, allowing fresh water to bring education to a small community and end a system of injustice. Pretty amazing!

On top of all this, below are some more pictures of the project and the beautiful area in which we were working. God is good. One more trip after this week. Keep praying I will finish strong. I miss you all.

Rachel waiting in eager anticipation for the water to come.

The view from where we were staying in Guanacaste.

In honor of Buddy, the horrible little demon bird with which I live.

Quite possibly the greatest sunset I've laid eyes upon.

Me and Olman. So cute.

The view from the spot of my morning devotions!

Doorway into the beach at Guanacaste! (Not an actual doorway)

Small caiman we saw on a boat tour in Tortuguero.

Sweet spider waiting for dinner to arrive.

Sunset over San Jose.

Tour of Costa Rica: Two Weeks at Least

Well, I am finally able to upload some photos of my time here in Costa Rica! Enjoy the pictures.