A couple of years ago I while I was meandering through the book of Luke I came across this passage in chapter 14…

“When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Vs. 12-14

I paused and just sat there dreaming of such a banquet. I wondered what it might look like in Cairo to have such a meal, and so I started to write a list of what I would want it to look like if we hosted a Luke 14 banquet in Cairo…here was the list I wrote…

A Christmas banquet to love on the “poor, crippled, lame, blind, etc.”

Pray that God would use it as a night to bring deliverance and freedom.

For whatever reason I never felt released to launch this idea in Cairo, so I’ve just sat on it for a while, dreaming of a day when I would get to be a part of one. And today. I was. In fact, it was as if someone stole my list and set up a whole feast based on this little dream. God’s good like that. He’s sneaky and knows those things we dream up in the secret place.

So today Amanda and I hosted tables at the 14th annual Bethel Holiday Feast. It is a Luke 14 banquet, for sure. The church is all decorated, our church family host and decorate tables with their finest dishes and we invite and bus in homeless, poor, and in need people from our community, to wine and dine and bless them. As a host, you decorate your table and sit and have a meal with folks at your table. You are treated to a 3 course meal (note my list above!) served to you by other wonderful church family, amazing live background music, powerful drama, dance, a call to come to the love of Christ and opportunities to pray for those at your table. Afterwards our guests were able to go pick out some free new clothes from our clothes drive, and the kids had a chance to have photos with Santa and receive a stocking full of goodies. We had over 800 guests attend the banquet! A dream come true.

Bethel was beautiful today. I had the amazing opportunity to have lunch with 6 wonderful individuals, 3 of whom prayed for Jesus to be their Lord today. What a great opportunity the Lord has given me to love…

Sorry, some of my pictures were fuzzy, and I didn’t get any detail shots of my super cute plates…but you get the idea…

Amanda and Jackie pose by Jackie’s table.

Amanda’s table

A few of my new friends.

The little girl who sat down at my table, her name is Destiny. I kind of like that, when you dream with God, as He fulfills the desires of your heart, sometimes Destiny comes right up and sits at your table ;o).

When I imagine the horizon on Golgotha that day it unnerves me. Three crosses stand there, surrounded by a mob of people who yell and spit and taunt the victims. Such a death is like a fantasy. It seems so unreal that a person could do that to another person. But what if I really had been there? What if I had nailed that man’s pummeled body onto those planks of wood, with no remorse? What if I had looked at that man they called, “King of the Jews” with disgust because…I don’t even know why…why did I hate him? Who had told me to hate him? Why had I believed them? Yet there I stand, writhing in hatred for a man whose blood waters that “place of the skull”. And I leave, and he is but a faint memory, never to taunt my thought again. We were rid of him. A faint memory.

Just outside Bethany. He stands before me and my knees buckle. It can’t be. Truly this is the greater fantasy – the image that stands before me now. How could this….? I have no words. But I know he is there. I know it is truly him, the man I yelled at, the man I spat at. He smiles at me. How can he smile at me? How can he look at me with those eyes that seem to say come closer, I want you to be near me? It’s true. All that he said is true. I don’t have enough tears to express my sorrow- and my joy. “ I’m sorry that I ….Jesus, forgive me for I…can we just forget how I…help me, I have no words.” And then he walks towards me and reaches out his arms, and I am enveloped in them as my tears stream down his shoulder. I tremble with tears, and he holds me tighter.
“Forgive me,” I utter through my tears. “I do not deserve this embrace.” And he looks down into my face, smiling still, “I died for this embrace.”

I wrote the above snippet years ago, while in college. I came across it again just recently, and pondered anew, the gift of Christ. His great love…while we were yet sinners, he hung with anticipation of the moment we would turn to Him and see Him for who He truly is. Savior. Father. Friend.

He bends and lifts over his turn wheel carefully orchestrating the shape and form of the new creation. He loves the process of creation. He molds and shapes us with water and care. Ever dreaming of our purpose and sculpting us with this intent. And then, when all is finished at the end of the spinning wheel, he carefully picks us up and places us lovingly in the fire. Not for destruction, but to make all of His intricate loving touches, permanent in us. For He is proud of His work.

So…fall. This may be a very long blog…just warning you.

I’ve now officially called California home for about 3 months. It feels honestly like twice as long from the sheer fact that I started school, work, and life and haven’t stopped since. The rhythm of life is very different than Cairo and I’m starting to get into the swing of things now! The past few months have been full of fun surprises, readjusting, and learning much from the Lord. I have to say as much as the pace of life has left little time for stopping to smell the roses, I am enjoying life in the mountains, beautiful fall weather, meeting wonderful new people, and just meeting with Jesus here.

Reunions.
Labor day weekend I had the pleasure of flying down to Flagstaff, Arizona to be with my best friend from high school, Whitney and her family! We were celebrating our 10 year high school reunion…I’m not sure how that happened that 10 years have passed, but somehow, it sneakily did. Though I was the only one of our high school clan who could make it, I was richly blessed to spend time with Whitney. I love her family, and it was so much fun just to be there and watch them in action. I love being with families, it’s good for my soul. She treated me to my first sushi experience (yum!) and a movie. We were able to just chat and rest and just be. Wonderful. I’m excited how living in the west now will provide more opportunities to see the Gobles!

Grandmas.

Not long after arriving here in Redding we went to a meeting about the healing rooms at our church and how to get involved. We sat down next to this wonderful older woman who by the end of the night had invited us over to her home for dinner and a Bible study. We now venture over to Grandma Phyllis’ every other week for a homemade dinner and Beth Moore’s Breaking Free Bible study. What a blessing to have been adopted by a grandma from the church! I love grandmas.

Work.

I was very blessed to get a job so soon upon moving here, it’s only part time, but good experience. I work at a local school, that is three years old, and rather small. Many of the classes are combined (several grades together), which I actually like; it reminds me of life in Colombia when all the expat kids were together in one class. I loved that, and I love seeing the camaraderie amongst the students here because they all know each other. I work as a teacher’s aide, so I bounce from classroom to classroom just helping out. I also monitor lunch and recess, which I actually really love. It provides much time to get to know the kids. I get to gaze at the beautiful mountains during recess, which is lovely. The faculty are all great to work with, and there are even a few who go to my church, so it’s nice to have different kinds of connections to people. The Lord has been teaching me so much just spending time with these kids…which I will elaborate on in another blog, so stay tuned. One of the highlights (and challenges) this first trimester was teaching the jr. high kids guitar in their music class. I was roped into teaching their music elective when I mentioned I played guitar during my interview… I’ve never taught a whole class guitar, and since I really don’t know squat about music theory, it was quite challenging figuring out how to teach a whole class full of kids, who weren’t always that interested. But they all survived and the Lord gave me some great ideas in the midst of it, and a chance to keep playing guitar…which was probably His intention. Another highlight was going on the all-school field trip hiking on a Friday…every school should do this ;o). I went with the jr. high kids on the long hike and had a wonderful time checking out Castle Crags, just north of Redding.

School.

This semester I’ve been taking two teaching classes. They meet once a week each, each for 4 hours in the evening. In addition to the evening classes we are required to observe 30 hours in local schools here in Redding and teach 4 lessons in those schools over the course of the semester. It’s a steep load, even with just 2 classes. But my professor (I have her for both classes) is wonderful, and taking classes with people in all stages of life is rather wonderful. I really love the other students in my class, and the atmosphere of learning is positive, encouraging, and even fun. We’ve had great guest speakers come and lead us in drama classes, PE, math classes, etc. giving us tons of ideas to use in classes. I’m really pleased with Simpson. I will have one more semester of classes after Christmas, and then will student teach next Fall.

Wheels.

After our van began to struggle yet again, and knowing how much I needed to get around town and to various schools and work, I bought a car off of ebay. It was a great deal, and I’m so excited to have purchased my very first car ever. “Scribe” is a 2005 Honda Civic. We must be Californian now with Scribe’s Cali plates and my California driver’s license. Crazy.

love and covenant.

In October, Kristy, Amanda and I had the great pleasure of traveling back to Cairo for Jesse and Stacy’s wedding. It was sooo beautiful! I loved getting to see the spiritual family again, even for a little while. Just to be some place familiar, was refreshing, honestly. It was an honor to be there and celebrate their marriage, to see so many of our friends and ministry partners come together for such a special day. After so many years of praying and gathering at St. Mary’s park, I believe their wedding was a powerful event in Cairo, and the ceremony itself was simply awesome. The newlyweds are happily established in their new home in Cairo, and we continue to celebrate God’s goodness in their lives!

Fall.

We hosted a little fall festival at our “farm”, which we have named “Shiloh Farm”. We invited some church friends over to have yummy pumpkin goodies, carve pumpkins and enjoy a wonderful bonfire with hotdogs and smores. The evening was wonderful! Though it was a fairly small gathering, we still had 5 nations represented…Brazil, New Zealand, Scotland, Canada, and the US, of course ;o). We laughed well into the early morning just enjoying the dwindling fire.

Last weekend my roomies and I ventured out to spend time together and see some beautiful sights north of the city…the lure of the moutains. We stopped at exit 707 and found a sweet little hidden beauty spot. Then we headed up to Mt. Shasta, caught a delightful craft fair, and then tracked down a beautiful waterfall just east of Mt. Shasta where we caught an inspiring sunset.

We’re keeping busy, for sure here in Redding. The highlight of it all, honestly has been spending time with the Lord here, and all our conversations as I come and go throughout all I have going on. He is extending grace in the busyness to still find time for Him, to abide in Him, to just be with Him.

Stay tuned for more updates on what God is doing in my life and my very exciting book writing class. Get ready…I’ll be in print in 2010. ). It’s coming….

This happened on October 31, 2009 in the healing rooms at Bethel Church. This was quite the hot topic this morning at church! Our church hosts healing rooms every Saturday, a time for people to come and receive prayer for healing. There has been a lot of powerful testimonies of God healing stage 4 cancer, bi polar, deaf, blind, you name it. This is what happened yesterday!! May God encourage you through this!

The journey from Cairo to Redding was full of the faithfulness of God!

God sold our house in Cairo in a day. Kristy put an ad up on Craigslist, and the new tenants came, saw, and decided to buy it. This truly is an act of God – selling a house is hard in this nation right now, in Cairo it’s almost downright impossible, truly. We know this was the Lord’s hand in providing for us in the transition – AND Kristy received what she asked on the house, praise God!

God provided gas money for the three of us heading out to Cali through the kind and generous gift of a wonderful brother in Christ! Thank you – you know who you are!!

We were able to stay with a woman in Redding for the first week, and were so blessed to know her and encourage her. We spent 3 days looking at houses. We found one that we all really liked – a small farm house. When the owner showed up to show us around the house, we asked him about pets, and his immediate response was, “nope, this isn’t going to work for you, we’ve replaced the carpets twice before because of pets.” We all were a little bummed by the comment, but we decided to take a look none the less. As we walked around the inside, we really liked it, Kristy encouraged us that there are sometimes ways to work around situations – especially with pets, to be able to put down a bigger deposit or such. When we walked into the kitchen, it was as if the Lord had just blown down on us, because the owner had a change of heart. He offered that maybe there was something we could work out with the dogs, and just to talk to his wife about it.

When we went into the office to get the application, his wife told us that her husband (the owner) really liked us, and they had been waiting for the right people to rent to, as she handed us the apps, she said, “This property is very popular, so hear me out, get these back asap, okay?” God’s favor. Thanks you, Jesus! And so, within about 5 days of landing in Redding, we had keys to our new home!

Week two in Redding…
I’d been praying that God would connect me to other writers and so week two, I had the opportunity to go to a fellowship time for Children’s Writers at Bethel…it was wonderful! I’m excited for upcoming times to fellowship and share stories, we’re even having a Christmas party to read our stories to kids!

Attended Orientation for the teaching program at Simpson and was blessed to meet some of the other students.

Applied for and got a part-time job at a local school here working as a teacher’s aide!

The Lord has certainly been faithful in meeting us here, providing all we need and helping us get settled! Nothing is impossible with Christ!

You know, in theory, and without real knowledge of geography, the drive from Cairo, Illinois to Redding, CA seemed pretty tame. I think I always pictured Cairo being ever so slightly more west than I discovered, and much closer to the Pacific Ocean. I think it was about half way through day one, when I actually stopped to look at a map and realized how colossal this venture would be, thanks largely to the vast flatlands of Kansas and Nevada.

Day one was rather uneventful once we made it on the road. The drive to Kansas City was a familiar one with previous trips to IHOP, so it went fine.

Day two. I love you Kansas, but… Day two our van wouldn’t stop after we pulled over for gas first thing in the morning. We sat at the gas station, called our intercessors, called a tow truck, and waited. After about an hour or so, God told to Kristy to start the car again – and viola…it started…so we were on our way, at last. We made a stop at an auto place to have them check the car out, and after about an hour there, they found nothing wrong, and didn’t charge us a penny…so we were off again…but it wasn’t looking promising for making our next proposed stop – Denver. As we continued to drive across Kansas, the van got a flat tire…and that pretty much sealed the deal. We only made it halfway through Kansas on day two.

Day three was a marathon. We ended up driving 17 hours from wherever we were in Kansas to Salt Lake City, Utah. It felt good just to make it out of Kansas. The highlight of Day three was Wyoming, for sure. We hit that state around evening and saw some amazing cloud formations, all glowing with the sun – it really did look like a huge glory cloud just hovering over this town. Beautiful!

Day four. This was the day we were supposed to make it to Redding, but since we drove until 1 or 2am the following night and slept in a little, we only made it to Reno. Nevada was long, desolate, full of hills. I kept praying that God would made it blossom or something…it was kind of depressing.

Day five…(hallelujah chorus). It was a blessing, actually to make this last part of the drive during the daylight hours. We drove through Mt. Lassen state park on our way to Redding, and it was beautiful!!! When I saw the sign for Redding, I just about cried, and was very ready to get out of the car – though, admitedly I enjoyed the extended time to listen to sermons, sing really loud, and talk to God – or the other vehicles via our super cool walkie talkies.

And there you have it, 3 vehicles, 3 ladies, 2 dogs, and a herd of house plants all arrived safely to our new home, Redding, CA.

August 12th. I woke up to an empty room, packed up the aero bed, and took a few last glances around my little abode. My room had been such a place of encounter with the Lord, of intimacy with the Father, of writing and reading and thinking and dreaming…and laughing…and of course some dance parties. I would miss it. Transition lends to a great need in me to savor, to remember. I remember waking up that morning and so wanting to remember every possible thing that God had done in my life in that room, as if just remembering it allowed me to somehow pack it in a suitcase and take it with me for always. I remember thinking one of my first nights in that room that someday, it might be hard to leave it. I was counseling myself because Cairo felt rather awkward at the time and I wondered if I’d ever feel at home. I now find myself recapping this wisdom as I settle into Redding.

The troops came over to help us clean a bit and send us off. We gathered in the empty living room, thanking the Lord for the provision of the house and recounting a bit how God had used this place to bless so many visitors and kids in Cairo. I sat there, too overwhelmed with memories to sum up what a sweet home this had been. We prayed, we cried, we handed over our keys.

Our new tenants were already there to move in, so we asked them to take one more photo on our beloved porch.

We loaded into our cars and drove over to Gary and Sharon’s house to get something and exchanged tearful hugs. Nothing seems complete with out a shofar…so we blew one, and loaded into the cars. Jess had made us a CD for driving out of town. So as Amanda, Kristy and I loaded into our separate packed vehicles, we put our CDs in, cranked up the music, and slowly drove by our precious little tribe, waving with great love.

I rolled down the windows as I drove down the main drag of Cairo, letting Chris Tomlin’s “God of this city” billow through my Cairo, believing it evermore, yes He is the God of this city, and GREATER things ARE yet to come for this town. I may not understand all that God is doing, but I know it is GOOD.

As I drove under the levee wall at the edge of town, I cried out as loud as my weepy voice could, “Thank you!” Thank you to my precious Jesus, who knew what He was doing all along. Thank you for bringing me Cairo, for bringing me to a place where I could be striped of so many distractions of the world, to find the reality of relationship with you. To learn more how to love and receive love. To learn how to remove the masks and live exposed in the safety of Your love. To let myself love so much it hurts to say goodbye. Thank you for knowing, Papa. Thank you for knowing I needed Cairo, I needed this tribe, I needed You unleashed in my life. Thank you for giving me strength to be foolish in the eyes of man, that I might be captivated by the eyes of God.

And now, Papa. You keep leading…I’ll follow.

We returned back from our retreat and headed right into hosting a group from First Free, Gary and Sharon’s church back in Springfield, MO. I love these servants!! They came to Cairo to run a VBS, Crocodile Dock, in the projects. It was so amazing how much work they did to transform Elmwood into a fun bayou, the kids LOVED it, and many were truly touched by the Lord and hungering for more of Jesus by the end.

It was a fun time, and I loved having a chance to spend a little bit more time with the kids in Cairo before leaving, as it turns out several of the kiddos in my little group were my first graders from this past year, so that was an added treat to now celebrate Jesus with them.

First Free left, and we had a HUGE garage sale at Kristy’s house in preparation for the move. Amanda and Kim, our precious sisters showed up to visit (and ended up serving us SO MUCH during their vacation – even boxing up our whole kitchen and writing encouraging notes on the boxes headed to Redding! I love you girls!!)

Our last Sunday in Cairo was graced with a bridal shower for Miss Stacy and a goodbye party for us Bethel girls.

It was during this goodbye party that I saw one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in my life – a Father’s blessing. As our little tribe gathered in Gary and Sharon’s living room, Gary began to speak a blessing over each of us. He shared how he’d seen God move in our lives and how He’d gifted us. He encouraged us in to continue to pursue those things He saw God doing in us, told us how proud he was of our pursuing God, and even how God had used us to draw him deeper in his own walk with the Lord. And to each one of us he said these precious words, “have I ever told you that your my favorite?” We all laughed and smiled as he said this to each of his “spiritual daughters”. But the truth is, that was so profound for me because God’s word says He loves each of us like we are each his favorite, and that’s kind of hard to get your mind around, but when Gary said that over each of us, I got it. I could see through Gary how the Lord just loves his children, each of them so much, each of them delighting His heart in their own unique way, that He can’t help but say to us that we are each His favorites. That was so beautiful to me.

After Gary blessed each of us, we had a chance to bless one another, sharing how each person had blessed us, grown us, challenged us, taught us, and how we saw the Lord flowing out of them. I’m so thankful that we had an opportunity to stop and speak to one another how precious a gift God had given us in each person.

The evening finished with a wonderful gift. As each of our other tribe members have gone on to other things, we’ve always commissioned them and given them a special gift: a ring. It’s a sign of covenant and family, that God has connected us for always, and we are there for one another to pray, to support, to encourage through all God’s adventures. It’s a testimony on my finger that I can always share what God has done in my life in bringing His children together to experience the power of community. So that evening, because so many of us are in transition, we all got rings! We actually knew they were coming, just not what they looked like. Each of us picked a verse that was particularly important in sharing what this family was about and the verses, or part of the verse is inscribed in Hebrew around our ring. The rings were made in Isreal, are beautiful silver bands with gold hebrew letters.

My verse: “Do not be afraid, little flock. It is the father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Luke 12:32.

Over the course of the first few years of Two Rivers Ministries we had a few people pray over us a similar theme, that Cairo would be a launch pad. God would use this place to propel people into their Kingdom destinies, launching them deeper into the heart of God, and further throughout the world.

I’ve seen a few of our beloved tribe launched over the past few years. This August, it was my turn.

Scene from Apollo 13

Over the course of the summer my ipod shuffle would play this launch song from Apollo 13 in excess. I began to think of how much this transition felt like this launch in the spirit. A few glances down at my “abort” button throughout, wondering “is it okay to continue?” Clinging to a line from Narnia’s little Lucy Pevensie ,”I think I can be brave enough.” And in the end simply believing God, that He had me in the palm of His hand throughout this transition, through all the shaking and acceleration, and that he was “leading me in triumphant procession” to my next assignment.

As the youngest of 4 kids, and one of the “old timers” in Cairo, I kind of figured I’d be the last to leave, or never leave at all. I think I’ve just gotten very comfortable sending other people off (to college or countries) that being strapped into the cockpit came with quite the gamut of emotions.

How do you end a season like the one I’ve had in Cairo? The Lord’s answer was short and sweet: you don’t. My last month in Cairo was such a blessing and dream, only God could have orchestrated it, and solidified in my heart such a wonderful truth; this was not the end for our little Cairo House of Prayer tribe, it was merely a new chapter.

At the beginning of August our tribe headed off to the Smokie mountains for a wonderful retreat, complete with Amanda and Jess who had already been launched a few years earlier. It was a beautiful reunion and time to enjoy the mountains, laughter, and share with one another what our little spiritual family has meant to us, what our dreams were for the future, what were our fears. I think for each of us, it was a special time of remembering God’s faithfulness – who could have imagined 4 years ago when he drew us all together to start a Christian Community Center, that what He was really up to was building a spiritual family; committed and connected for the long haul to love and serve Him, wherever it took us. He has brought us through so much, He has transformed us so much. I was so thankful for a weekend to remember how good God is, and incessantly faithful.