I am working on changing my guilt into action
Over the past few years, I think a mindset has instilled within me that unless I am doing a big thing, I am doing nothing.
Competitive Texans say: "Go big or Go Home."
When I haven't been able to do something big, i have shyed away, believing I won't make a different.
Cautious about helping with families that are well-off Christians because surely there are people with more need than them.
Not sure about helping in programs that only have 7 girls in them as with my experience, I should be working with groups of 50, 70, 100 or even 1000.
Worried that the times I think Father is speaking to me and then I write a cuple of pages, that they are merely words with no power.
I have come to this point:
Father God deserves a person who does what is laid before them.
Each of us has something; a leaning, a gifting, a preference.
We will make an impact on the world around us.
That world may stretch 5 miles. It may stretch 500. It may stretch 5000.
But it stretches.
Jesus said: "The harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few."
Maybe that is because the labourers thought that the work set before them was too small, too unimportant, and went looking for a bigger field.
The people around you deserve your help.
I know a story of a shepherd who had 100 sheep but discovered one was missing. He left the flock in search of the one, found it and rejoiced with his friends and neighbours.
A massive party, for one being helped.
One being rescued
One being saved.
Because one searched within their community, looked around, and saw help was needed.
Your help.
Hannah loves romance.
In my first year month of university she told me, "Don't date in your first year - its the time you work out who you are, and you can't find that in another person."
She explored the intimate relationship Father wants with us, but we seek out in the arms of the 'wrong-but-right-there' person.
This passion has led her to teach in Welsh schools and youth groups about sex & relationships and now move further afield to Zambia in Africa.
This is her tug
Luke loves mental health.
There is something about schizophrenia in minority ethnic communities that fascinates him, inspiring him to gain understanding and answers to help the community around him.
Led to do a pHD, he tirelessly studies and undergoes ethnographical research to play a part in changing his community.
This is his world.
Anna loves women.
A fierce protector of those with the XX chromosome and their children, she has worked tirelessly in shelters for the abused, social work and Sure Start centres to support them through hard times.
She not only knows the statistics of domestic violence, she knows the faces.
This is her pull.
Over the past few years, I think a mindset has instilled within me that unless I am doing a big thing, I am doing nothing.
Competitive Texans say: "Go big or Go Home."
When I haven't been able to do something big, i have shyed away, believing I won't make a different.
Cautious about helping with families that are well-off Christians because surely there are people with more need than them.
Not sure about helping in programs that only have 7 girls in them as with my experience, I should be working with groups of 50, 70, 100 or even 1000.
Worried that the times I think Father is speaking to me and then I write a cuple of pages, that they are merely words with no power.
I have come to this point:
Father God deserves a person who does what is laid before them.
Each of us has something; a leaning, a gifting, a preference.
We will make an impact on the world around us.
That world may stretch 5 miles. It may stretch 500. It may stretch 5000.
But it stretches.
Jesus said: "The harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few."
Maybe that is because the labourers thought that the work set before them was too small, too unimportant, and went looking for a bigger field.
The people around you deserve your help.
I know a story of a shepherd who had 100 sheep but discovered one was missing. He left the flock in search of the one, found it and rejoiced with his friends and neighbours.
A massive party, for one being helped.
One being rescued
One being saved.
Because one searched within their community, looked around, and saw help was needed.
Your help.
Hannah loves romance.
In my first year month of university she told me, "Don't date in your first year - its the time you work out who you are, and you can't find that in another person."
She explored the intimate relationship Father wants with us, but we seek out in the arms of the 'wrong-but-right-there' person.
This passion has led her to teach in Welsh schools and youth groups about sex & relationships and now move further afield to Zambia in Africa.
This is her tug
There is something about schizophrenia in minority ethnic communities that fascinates him, inspiring him to gain understanding and answers to help the community around him.
Led to do a pHD, he tirelessly studies and undergoes ethnographical research to play a part in changing his community.
This is his world.
A fierce protector of those with the XX chromosome and their children, she has worked tirelessly in shelters for the abused, social work and Sure Start centres to support them through hard times.
She not only knows the statistics of domestic violence, she knows the faces.
This is her pull.
Dan loves music.
His crazy talent for both playing and composing, allow him to write melodies that say everything you were thinking. When he leads worship, the Holy Spirit sweeps in. He isn't interested in the status of being a world famous musician; he's interested in hearts connecting with their heavenly creator.
This is his mission.
I remember a couple of years ago, organizing a crazy sports day with our friends, and we had a Tug-O-War.
I had rope burn for the following week, such was a my sheer determination to win, combined with my freakish man strength.
I put everything I had into that pull.
Your world, your community, your house, your street, your school, your city
Deserves
Your tug.
Steve declared during university to a group of friends that his life goals were simply to be "a great husband and a great father." I remember discussing this, deriding him for "not thinking big enough" and pushing him to think about more things he wanted to achieve, naively believing i was somehow superior with my ambitions of world domination.
One person, on hearing Steve's goals, said:
"You will achieve that in a few years - you need to have something bigger."
But to look at the disintegration of family in our modern society, for a man to make a vocal stand, to declare a fervent desire above all else to be the best father and husband possible, one would clearly see that this is no small task, nor something of unimportance.
Steve and I love families.
We love our mummies, daddies, brothers & sisters, cousins, grandma's etc, but we also love the wider concept of "family" as well as community. We desire to turn dysfunction into delight, to step in the gap of of single-parent homes and orphaned children.
With no kids of our own, we somehow end up on museum trips, teaching English to children, cooking dinners and babysitting kids, watching Disney DVDS and talking with parents on how to raise children. One time, we asked some parents if their kids could stay over at our house so we could build a fort with them; I let the girls try on my wedding dress while Steve drew schematics and taught on construction techniques.
Before Christmas, Father God laid before me two opportunities to help families - to support a homeschooling family, with four adorable children, three times a week, and to volunteer in Fort Worth with an after-school program with seven beautiful African-American girls, picked because they are from single-parent homes and need encouragement.
I grab them with open arms, excited and expectant.
Repeatedly Steve and I have been led to people, conversations, books, blogs, tv shows and other things that have talked of orphans, adoptions, fostering...this week I felt Father God clearly say that I need to put aside my utopia picture of two biological children, that fit neatly into a compact car, and prepare our home that will, in His perfect timing, open its doors to multiple children from multiple backgrounds.
It won't fit neatly.
It won't be tidy.
But as it always is with us,
it will be an adventure.
This is our tug.
"To be a great husband and a great father."
"Bolding seeking Father first, to be made more and more into his likeness; unconditionally loving each other while providing a loving and God-centered environment for all those who enter our home and our lives."
"To love our neighbour as we love ourselves."
Imagine if Steve's goals stirred men to make the bed they lie in, and maybe even bring breakfast to it.
Inspired men to give their families time not money.
Encouraged them to keep their vows of fidelity.
Motived them to see the pleasure of monogamy.
Your tug could make breaking news.
His crazy talent for both playing and composing, allow him to write melodies that say everything you were thinking. When he leads worship, the Holy Spirit sweeps in. He isn't interested in the status of being a world famous musician; he's interested in hearts connecting with their heavenly creator.
This is his mission.
I remember a couple of years ago, organizing a crazy sports day with our friends, and we had a Tug-O-War.
I had rope burn for the following week, such was a my sheer determination to win, combined with my freakish man strength.
I put everything I had into that pull.
Your world, your community, your house, your street, your school, your city
Deserves
Your tug.
Steve declared during university to a group of friends that his life goals were simply to be "a great husband and a great father." I remember discussing this, deriding him for "not thinking big enough" and pushing him to think about more things he wanted to achieve, naively believing i was somehow superior with my ambitions of world domination.
One person, on hearing Steve's goals, said:
"You will achieve that in a few years - you need to have something bigger."
But to look at the disintegration of family in our modern society, for a man to make a vocal stand, to declare a fervent desire above all else to be the best father and husband possible, one would clearly see that this is no small task, nor something of unimportance.
Steve and I love families.
We love our mummies, daddies, brothers & sisters, cousins, grandma's etc, but we also love the wider concept of "family" as well as community. We desire to turn dysfunction into delight, to step in the gap of of single-parent homes and orphaned children.
With no kids of our own, we somehow end up on museum trips, teaching English to children, cooking dinners and babysitting kids, watching Disney DVDS and talking with parents on how to raise children. One time, we asked some parents if their kids could stay over at our house so we could build a fort with them; I let the girls try on my wedding dress while Steve drew schematics and taught on construction techniques.
I grab them with open arms, excited and expectant.
Repeatedly Steve and I have been led to people, conversations, books, blogs, tv shows and other things that have talked of orphans, adoptions, fostering...this week I felt Father God clearly say that I need to put aside my utopia picture of two biological children, that fit neatly into a compact car, and prepare our home that will, in His perfect timing, open its doors to multiple children from multiple backgrounds.
It won't fit neatly.
It won't be tidy.
But as it always is with us,
it will be an adventure.
This is our tug.
"To be a great husband and a great father."
"Bolding seeking Father first, to be made more and more into his likeness; unconditionally loving each other while providing a loving and God-centered environment for all those who enter our home and our lives."
"To love our neighbour as we love ourselves."
Imagine if Steve's goals stirred men to make the bed they lie in, and maybe even bring breakfast to it.
Inspired men to give their families time not money.
Encouraged them to keep their vows of fidelity.
Motived them to see the pleasure of monogamy.
Your tug could make breaking news.
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