One of the pleasures of being in the "valley" this time of year is the flowers. Here is a Magnolia Tree! We definitely don't get these kinds of flowers on the dry side.
While here, we have had many chances to share our story with a number of people. Duane was nice enough to invite us to share with their Sunday School class at Newberg Friends. It was great to be among Friends for worship!
Through the course of the next couple days in Newberg we got to see many people. People that we had known for a long time, and people that we were just meeting. We were very encouraged as we listened to the stories that people shared with us about how God was working in their lives.
Mid-way through the week, we took a couple days to rest at Wanda's sister's house in Oregon City. Unfortunately, that is when the Willamette Valley rain started. Our kids got to enjoy their cousins, and Wanda and I enjoyed catching up with Marc and Cindy.
On Friday we went back to our old stomping grounds of Silverton, OR. This is where we spent five years of our lives working as Youth Pastor for the Silverton Friends Church. We were hosted by wonderful friends, and again, we had the opportunity to share our story and listen to the stories of others.
So what did I learn on this trip? Where did I see God?
I continue to be amazed at what a blessing it is to take time to sit down with people and share stories. There is so much that we all have to learn from one another. I definitely saw God in people young and old who are actively opening their lives and hearts to God's will. That was awesome.
One thing I learned is that there is conflict and pain everywhere. OK, so you are thinking that this isn't any great discovery. But as I listened to people, I heard over and over examples of how the relationships that we allow to remain broken around us create conflict and pain within ourselves. Sometimes those broken relationships are our fault and sometime they aren't. For this discussion, I don't think it matters whose fault it is, the relationships are still broken.
I am sure there are plenty of books and blogs where you can find all sorts of neat prose about broken relationships, so I will let you search the web for those resources.
For me, on this trip, there were two connection points:
- My situation is not the only situation with pain, conflict and broken relationships. That might be comforting, or that might be depressing. Take it how you like. I was comforted, and then once I got over that, I was saddened. We are the body of Christ, we are His expression on the earth, we are Jesus to our neighbors. I want to be a positive expression.
- I am reminded of something from the book "When Helping Hurts". We maintain relationships with our God, ourselves, our community, and our world. At some level, we ALL have brokenness in those areas. As International Development workers, we see the brokenness in the relationship that the rest of the world has with God and their world. I am afraid that we are often blind to the areas of our brokenness.
So what do I do about that?
- I am going to seek to live my life in such a way that does not cause broken relationships, and as much as I can, I am going to help those around me not form broken relationships, and maybe even reconcile some that are.
- I want to continue to change the way that I look at others who have broken relationships with God, themselves, others, or the world; because I am one of them. I too have brokenness in my life.
Thank you friends and family who made this last week possible, from taking care of our dog, to feeding us and housing us, to opening your hearts and your homes, we were truly blessed and encouraged by you. We pray that God would continue to work that He began in you. And we are excited to see what God will be doing through all of us in the years to come.
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