And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this He was indignant and said to them, "Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. "Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all." And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands upon them.

-Mark 10:13-16

Video to come soon...sorry

During our experience with International Care Ministries, we have had the chance to visit many different churches across many different communities through the Transform program. It is so amazing to see the happiness among these people in the face of such hardships. 

"What would you be doing at this time last year," asked a teammate. I realized that I would be sitting at my cubicle frantically preparing another tax return in attempt to meet the March 15 deadline. Fast forward one year and now you will find me, not behind a computer in a cubicle, but on a demo farm sifting through dirt to find "African Night Crawlers," (aka worms) to help families cultivate their farms.

 This month we are working with International Care Ministries (ICM), an organization devoted to developing the community of Dumaguete and advancing the kingdom of God. One of the many service opportunities that ICM offers is a Demo Farm, which helps teach the people of the community how to cultivate their own mini farm. The idea behind the farm is similar to the parable of the fisherman: give a man a fish and he eats for a day, but teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.

Our night began around 9pm in the middle of Rails Park, which is located right in the heart of Byron Bay, and lasted until 9am the next morning. The thought behind the park ministry was to pray over the community and the individuals traveling through the city. We hoped to develop conversations with either the people walking through the park or the "Parkees" (people who live in the park). Although it was a lively night, there was not much foot traffic in the park. We only spoke to about five people, but they were each amazing opportunities to minister and learn.

 It was interesting to meet all the various personality types. Initially, we met one person who declared himself a believer. Yet, 30 minutes later, when his friend showed up, the two of them begin to bash Christianity. Another man actually came up to one of the girls in our group and held a serious conversation about the Lord and his life, which almost ended in tears of joy. Furthermore, we met a guy with schizophrenia. Although his symptoms did not first show upon our communication, we definitely noticed that he was struggling towards the early hours of the morning. He informed us that he was in fact schizophrenic and that it was a tough night for him because of his lack of sleep. Finally, we spoke with a man who struggled greatly with alcohol and smoking. He shared with us difficult stories of his past about severely abusing his grandchild, him shooting another person, and all the guilt that he carries along side those memories. We spent approximately 7 hours speaking with this man about life and the Lord.

 I am not sure of the impact that we had on the lives of each of these people but I know that we shared Christ's love and that we planted a seed of hope.

 Before entering Byron Bay, Australia we knew that it was a tourist town full of backpackers from around the world; so, we were excited to serve such a diverse community. In fact, one of our contacts from the Youth with a Mission (YWAM) base told us that it would be very easy to be disciples of all the nations in this city because all the nations come to you. However, as opposed to the structured environment of our last ministry, this month did not have a schedule of events. Therefore, we were responsible for seeking out ministry opportunities: some people helped to serve the community at the weekly YWAM barbeque, some people managed prayer and confession booths on the beach and in town, some teams helped in the beautification process at the Youth Activity Center, some decided to endure the hardships of the streets as they spent the night out in the park with the homeless, etc.

 As I joined my team members in these various service opportunities, I noticed the strength in some individuals as they served in one area and then I noticed the strength of someone else in another area. "For as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body – so also is Christ" (1 Corinthians 12:12). I began to truly recognize that the Lord has blessed each of us with certain strengths, strengths that each of us should continue to cultivate.

Our night of worship began around 8:00pm on Saturday night. As we began to set up on the cement stage on the grounds of our campsite, we noticed that it began to sprinkle rain. So, we quickly grabbed all of our gear and headed for cover under a canopy. The wind and rain grew so severe that a member of the nearby church drove to our campsite to offer us a chance to sleep at the Church for the next few nights. We kindly accepted the offer and began to shuttle people over to the church carload at a time. However, there were five people that decided to stay behind at the campsite, myself included.

 The five of us sought refuge in the laundry room for a bit before racing back to our tents to examine the damage brought forth by the rains. Fortunately for the few of us that stayed, our tents stayed relatively dry. That night we went to sleep to the soothing sounds of pouring rain. I for sure thought that these rains would pass and we would awake the next morning to sunshine. Wrong. I awoke to more thunderous rain and the sounds of members of our squad, who returned from the church, calling to us: "Hey, you ready to get wet"? I opened my tent to find that our fields that we had been camping in were flooded. There were literally pools of water six inches deep. Some tents were fortunate enough to escape the flooding but others were beneath these six-inch pools. So, we quickly got up and moved all the flooded tents to higher grounds.

"Hallelujah, grace like rain falls down on me. Hallelujah, all my stains are washed away, washed away".

-Grace Like Rain, Todd Agnew

As the story goes, chief Te Rauparaha of Ngati Toa composed this haka after his near death experience. As the chief ran away to escape the clutches of his enemies, he came across a woman next to a food storage pit. He pleaded to the woman his case and hid in the pit as his enemies searched for his location. Later, the chief climbed out of the pit and found a man standing over him, but this man had no intention of killing the chief. In fact, he was friendly to the chief. So, out of gratitude for this man's kindness, the chief performed the well-known Ka Mate haka.

Ka mate, Ka mate                                    (I die, I die)

Ka ora' Ka ora'                                    (I live, I live)

Ka mate, Ka mate                                    (I die, I die)

Ka ora' Ka ora'                                    (I live, I live)

Tenei te tangata puhuruhuru                        (This is the fierce, powerful man)

Nana I tiki mai whakawhiti te ra            (Who caused the sun to shine again for me)

Upane...Upane                                    (Up the ladder, Up the ladder)

Upane Kaupane                                    (Up to the top)

Whiti te ra                                                (The sun shines)

Hi                                                            (Rise)

However, the truth behind the famous Ka Mate haka reads as follows. The son of chief Te Rauparaha was saved by his faith in Jesus Christ. So, out of his adoration to the Lord, the son performed this haka. If you pay close attention to the words, you will find that it depicts the image of Christ.

The word haka is broken down into two parts: "ha" and "ka". "Ha" actually means breathing. The heaving breathing that is performed during a haka illustrates the "ha". According to a Maori man, the breathing represents the life that was breathed into Adam upon the creation of man. The "Ka" depicts intensity or ferociousness. Therefore, the haka is literally defined as ferocious breathing. The Maori man then mentioned that the haka is performed by spiritual warriors to instill the fear of God into their opposition. 

I realized that the technical term for the ripple effect in our lives is called transference. This is when an incident or various incidences occur in someone's life that affects his thought process or actions later in life. For instance, a child may see his father physically abuse his mother and may be conditioned to believe that behavior to be acceptable in a relationship or that child may later have trust issues with male figures. At such a young age, a child probably would not realize the importance of discussing the implications of his feelings, nor would he be willing to discuss something so difficult and possibly receive abuse himself. Therefore, he suppresses those thoughts and begins shoveling dirt on the person deep inside. So, until this child is able to gain freedom from this pain by reflecting on his emotions, he may perpetuate this problem of abuse within a future relationship and illustrate the same message to his son that his father revealed to him.

 Now, the incident does not need to be severe to create a burden in someone's life; it could be something as small as a hurtful comment. A father could tell his child that she is stupid and forever she may feel that she is insignificant; her self-confidence and/or self-worth may have been severely damaged. Although this cause and effect may seem to be a stretch, it only takes a simple drop of water in someone's life to create such a large ripple effect.

 I have had the opportunity to work with the YMCA in Gisborne, New Zealand for the past week. It has been such a blessing to spend time with kids of all ages playing games and learning about the kiwi culture. However, my thoughts are not focused so much on the games we play but the lives of these children. When I look at the children, I realize that each one has their own unique story and I can't help but think of the drops of water that have shaped their lives. Some have experienced more than a drop of water. Some have experienced a tidal wave and I can only imagine the ripple effect that this wave had on this child's life and how it will impact his future thoughts and actions. Everyone has a story shaped by the drops (sometimes tidal waves) of water in their lives and with each hurtful memory we pile on another shovel of dirt. However, no matter how many piles of dirt we heave on to our lives, we need to remember that there is hope for freedom. It may be extremely difficult to fight for that freedom but how much longer will we bury ourselves under pain until we feel that freedom is truly worth fighting for? The grace of our Lord is free but we must fight for our freedom from oppression so that we may truly be able to experience His grace in our lives.

 Best of luck in your journeys to freedom!

 As I begin this year of introspection and growth, I realize that I have already learned so much but have yet to act on this wisdom. I ask the Lord what I should do and pray for understanding, but when his response is difficult I ask the Lord again in hopes of hearing a different response. So, as I search for this freedom from my vices, I have begun to realize that it is not a gift that I should expect to receive but a battlefield that I must trudge through to receive the prize. Freedom is not free. Please do not get me wrong, grace is free but the freedom that we need to attain within our lives to experience that grace is not free.

 I have realized that there are so many layers of pain hidden under the loss of my brother. I realized that my brother's death was only the key to Pandora's box. It is strange to think a simple drop of water in the pool of life can have such a ripple effect. In fact, that drop of water appears so small ad so insignificant at the time that we suppress any feelings of pain or anger, until Pandora's box opens and we begin to gain freedom. One by one, we begin to put together the pieces of a puzzle of suppressed thoughts and emotions. We begin to piece together a series of events that have made us the person we have truly become, not the person that everyone sees but the person deep inside that some are so afraid to share with others.

 Every new difficult memory we suppress is a new pile of dirt shoveled on top of this person deep inside ourselves that we all so wish to liberate. We all want this freedom from oppression, but where does that journey even begin. I have found that it begins by sharing your deepest darkest secrets with the people you love most and realize that the condemnation that you originally expected to receive is not condemnation at all, but love and support. Paul says in Corinthians that love is patient, love is kind, and love does not keep record of wrongs but rejoices in the truth. Somewhere along the way, we forget the true meaning of love and convince ourselves that we will be much better off if we don't share because we feel that handling these burdens alone is better than sharing and possibly experiencing conflict. However, each thought that we suppress is another pile shoveled on top of ourselves until we bury ourselves alive. 

To Be Continued...