FUNDRAISING

Well... I'm right in the thick of it these days. FUNDRAISING. Though I work at an outdoor adventure camp, my adventure is one of a totally different nature: asking people for money in order to be paid for the work I'm doing. Like any struggle, it has the potential to conquer me, having me shrink back and never know the rewards that would come with courage and victory. It's funny to think of how much I love to watch heroic movies like Braveheart or Lord of the Rings. I get so inspired and want to be like the man who steps into almost certain death with unwavering determination because what he is fighting for is worth it. Yet I think we often watch those movies to get our fix of those emotions rather than living it out. But faith in God will necessarily call us to step into the great unknown... to risk. And as we follow him through these times we come to know the even deeper satisfaction of victory won, because we ourselves have risked, we have trusted, and by the strength of the Lord Almighty we have conquered. The only reason I am able to walk through this adventure of fundraising is because I believe that God has led me here, will be with me through it, and has called me to enter into what will follow. The risk still feels the same... the fear of breaking relationships, what people will think about me, the hardship that others might take on on my behalf. But I believe I have already seen how God has actually strengthened relationship because of asking people to help me. He has given people joy in giving. It has been pretty amazing to see his blessings come through this time. And on top of that all he is definitely refining my trust and giving me the humility to be help up by other people rather than by my own effort. How amazing it is to realize that on my own I have nothing and can do nothing... like a baby lying helpless on the floor. Yet I have been picked up off of the floor by the many hands of people who love me, care about me, and take joy in serving the Lord. I am held up by people who are FOR me, not by people who feel guilted into helping me and despise the help they are giving. What an amazing testimony of God's grace, how he DELIGHTS to come to our aid. even when we were dead in our sins he delighted to come down into the muck with us and pull us out... not because he had to, but because it was to his pleasure to do so! Awesome, huh? So thank you, Lord, for calling me to this time of knowing your great faithfulness and grace for us more deeply. And thanks everyone out there who has delighted to share in this with me.