The Theology of Snow Days

If you haven't heard, DC has been under a "snowpocalypse" since last Friday. In about 24 hours we got over 2 feet of snow (close to, if not surpassing the record). It literally shut down the entire city through the weekend and into the work week. I awoke to a blanket of white outside our home on Saturday morning, with people skiing past my front door to get around. Mind you I live next to the Supreme Court. As I write this on Monday night, four days after the snow first hit, the Federal Government has closed their offices for the second day in a row. Everyday that the Fed has to close is estimated to cost $100 million. Expensive "grown-up snow days" as I like to call them.



What has struck me most about these past few days is the reminder they serve to the feebleness of man. One of the women in my office used to work for the OPM office that decides on the Fed's office closings. It is no doubt a big decision to take on, especially with that price tag. She sent us a verse out of Job that they would be reminded of as they debated whether to close or not. I think it speaks for itself:

Job 37
1 "At this my heart pounds
and leaps from its place.
2 Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice,
to the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
3 He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven
and sends it to the ends of the earth.
4 After that comes the sound of his roar;
he thunders with his majestic voice.
When his voice resounds,
he holds nothing back.
5 God's voice thunders in marvelous ways;
he does great things beyond our understanding.
6 He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,'
and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.'
7 So that all men he has made may know his work,
he stops every man from his labor.



DC is a power-driven town. They say what money is to New York, and looks are to LA, power is to DC. Even one of the most powerful cities in the world cannot withstand the power of nature. With all of the technology, progress, and influence this town exerts, it was stopped by a more powerful hand, one that turns Capital Hill into a playground for children and adults for a few days rather than the political powerhouse it is known as. But even the "wind and the waves" obeyed Christ. Now that is something to dwell on in when you're sitting in a house with two-feet of snow piled up in front of your door.

As I walked around the Capital building on Saturday afternoon when the snow finally let up, I felt as though I was living in a dream world, or the set of some expensive post-apocalyptic movie where the Capital is reverted to a place for children, not grown men and women. The snow storm also had this way of fostering community in this normally recluse city. The streets were no longer normal streets for two days, but rather one big snow route where feet actually ruled over tires. People were out all over the place joining in snow fights, offering a hand to shovel sidewalks, offering up one another's sleds so people could have a chance to "play" too. It was beautiful. Something transformed in this city for two days, and it all happened when the most type-A population of people were reminded to sit down for a bit. I smile just thinking about it.



"I fancy the beauties of nature are a secret God has shared with us alone. That may be one of the reasons why we were made- and why the resurrection of the body is an important doctrine." - C.S. Lewis

What I'm Reading for Washington, D.C.

Part of the Archer Fellows Program I’ll be doing in DC (starting next Tuesday the 5th!) is the classes that we take over the course of the semester. I’ll still be considered a full time student at UT and work a full-time internship with IJM. The Archer Fellows Program consists of 4 classes, one of which is technically my internship. We’ll have class two nights a week from professors that have worked in DC for many years, and then Dr. John Daly will fly in from UT-Austin three weekends over the course of the semester to teach our final class. I’ve had to do some pre-reading for my classes, and have given myself a “personal” reading list to supplement those as well. Here’s what I’ve been reading the last few weeks to prepare:

For my internship at International Justice Mission:
-“Good News About Injustice” by Gary Haugen, IJM founder

Advocacy in Applied Settings – Dr. John Daly
-“The Prince” by Machiavelli
-“Life’s a Campaign” by Chris Matthews

Beyond Congress and the White House – Dr. Joel Swerdlow
-“Being There” by Jerzy Kosinski
- watch “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”

Policy Making Process – Dr. Julie Donnelly
-Two articles: “Four Amendments & a Funeral” by Matt Taibbi and “What I Wish Political Scientists Would Teach about Congress” by Lee Hamilton

My “personal” reading list for DC:
- “The Reason for God” by Tim Keller
- “The Abolition of Man” by C.S. Lewis
-“Counterfit Gods” by Tim Keller
-“Bobos in Paradise” by David Books
- Most of the articles David Brooks cited in his “Sydney” awards

The books I had to read for class are all pretty interesting. I disagree with just about every premise from “The Prince,” as it is essentially the antithesis of Tim Keller’s “Counterfeit Gods.” I finally finished “Reason for God,” and really enjoyed it. If you can’t tell, I’m a big Keller fan, and going into an intense intellectual environment for the next few years (DC and then TFA), it was refreshing to hear such a strong academic engagement about faith. I haven’t finished “The Abolition of Man,” but chose it because it’s meant to argue for the importance and relevance of universal values in contemporary society. My time in Quincy has been a perfect break to be able to accomplish all of this, as Middle America doesn’t provide many physical “distractions” to waste my time on. I’m really looking forward to pulling in some of my personal readings into our class discussions over the required readings, I think they compliment (probably more like counteract) popular thought well. The nerd in me is giddy to start discussing these issues with my peers, who also happen to be my housemates for the next five months.

If you have any suggestions for readings that might compliment these, feel free to shoot them my way!

Lessons in Leaving Part II: Coming Full Circle

My last semester in Austin was by far the best one. It was a season of rest, a season of healing, a season of celebration, and all around a season of delight for me. Most of all, it was a season to come full circle.

I say full circle because I had a lot to learn in my short time in Austin over the last four years. I came into UT with one foot in the world, and one foot trying to figure out this “faith” thing. My freshmen year is nothing short of a bad reality TV show for me to look back on, as I think most of ours tend to be. Then there was the spring semester where my world got rocked by Jesus, the book of Acts, and Shane Claiborne. Sophomore year was definitely my “feisty” phase, where I felt like I had brought back to Austin some spiritual golden ticket. I laugh when I look back on that time, how blunt I was in trying to talk to anyone who would listen to me about this idea of putting college students in East Austin. I laugh because I don’t like being that forthcoming about anything, but somehow I was talking off anyone’s ear that would lend it to me. What I had in that time, and for pretty much the next two years, was a lot of passion, vigor, and fight…but not a foundation. I always tell people I’m not sure how I got hired by the Austin Stone my sophomore year because I still didn’t like “mega” churches at the time, nor did I ever care to pick up a theology book. I was just flat out immature, and thought because I knew all the newest Christian lingo, I never really needed the gospel.

See that’s where this circle started coming around, but it was rough in the middle. I put way too much on my plate for two years. I wouldn’t let anyone help me for two years. I wanted to do things my way for two years. I only took seriously the parts of scripture that I wanted to hear. And yet God still granted me worthy to save me from myself. One night at an intern dinner this past fall, Stew made this statement about our time as interns that pretty much summed up my sanctification over the last two years. He said that the way God molds leaders at our age is never a matter of what he does through us, that is rare, and it will take 10-15 years before most of us get to see much fruit in ministry. But what He does do in this time, and what is most important, is what He does IN us. God is a carpenter, and rather than see us for the big block of wood that we are in the stupidity of our youth and flesh, he sees us exactly the way he made us. And to get to that piece of perfection, he just starts hammering away, sanding down our rough edges and stripping away everything that is keeping us from being the way he intended for us to be. Last spring was complete hell for me. I was absolutely miserable in just about every area of my life. And God brought me physically down with a medical condition all semester just to show me how much he cared about me. It may sound silly, but I truly believe that entire ordeal, going to a doctor everyday for three months, was purely a physical manifestation of my spiritual condition. I was bitter, I was frustrated, I was angry…and I was finding every outlet, person, and thing to attribute those feelings to. Everything but my own flesh, which was where the problem lay.

God healed me of that illness right before I left to study abroad in Ghana. He did it by opening up the wound in my body all the way, so that all the fluid building up would come out whole…”my sin not in part, but in whole.” I went to Ghana for four weeks, fell in love with Jesus all over again, and then spent two weeks traveling around Europe by myself (who ever let me do that?!?) to just enjoy Jesus. I came back to Austin as myself, and everyone around me noticed. It carried into this fall as I got to spend a semester truly enjoying the gospel, enjoying community, enjoying my time at Stone, enjoying the simplicities in life. All of the frustrations I had vented about for most of college seemed to just dissipate this semester. The things that felt like thorns in my side became small joys to me. I learned that compassion is not reserved for the “least of these,” it is meant for everyone, rich and poor, young and old, seen and unseen. I learned I pass judgment on a lot of people, and none of it is holy. I learned that rest is not laziness, it is a gracious gift from the Lord. I learned that busyness just another form of materialism. I learned that sometimes, you just have to turn on Beyonce and dance in the living room with your roommates…

Most of all in this season, I learned how the gospel is what brings things full circle. The passion and fight I had when I was a reckless 19-year old trying to “change the world” is still very much alive in me. But I realize that the end I was seeking the entire time was not a radical lifestyle, it was the gospel, and that is about as radical as it gets in this world. What I learned in coming full circle is what C.S. Lewis calls the “intolerable compliment” that

“We are bidden to "put on Christ," to become like God. That is, whether we like it or not, God intends to give us what we need, not what we now think we want. Once more, we are embarrassed by the intolerable compliment, by too much love, not too little.”

I cannot express the gratitude I have in my heart for this last semester in Austin. Why God allowed me to heal wounds only I had made for myself, I can only describe as a love for his daughter that is too much for me to understand.

Lessons in Leaving Part I: The Places I'll Miss Most

It’s officially happened, I can no longer call Austin, TX “home.” This past Saturday my parents packed me up and moved me up to their house in Quincy, IL for the next three weeks. I’ll fly to Washington, DC on January 5th, but until then I’m stuck in the epitome of “Middle America.” The final week in Austin was bittersweet; actually, the entire fall semester was bittersweet. It was a week filled with many memories, laughs, good food, good friends, and goodbyes. By the time my going away party at the Stewart’s came on Friday night, I was almost too exhausted from having to say “goodbye” all week. The night was beautiful though, and I'll go into more detail on that in another post.

Although I may never be able to call Austin my physical “home” again, it will forever be where my “family” resides. I’ve lived a lot of places in my life, moving throughout the Midwest my entire childhood, but no place has treated me quite like Austin, TX. Here are a few parts of the city I will miss most:

-Driving down I-35 (as long as there isn’t any traffic!) and seeing the skyline, particularly the UT Tower
-Hearing ice cream trucks drive by my house in St. John’s late at night, and even in cold weather
-Running at Town Lake
-Hyde Park eateries (particularly Quack’s Bakery and Dolce Vita)
-Whole Foods
-The UT campus
-“Treasure hunting” at all the Goodwills around town
-Half Price Books
-The Gingerman (more for the people I shared a drink with there)

There are, of course, many people I will miss way more than these landmarks. But that is for another entry. If you’re reading this and still in Austin, please enjoy a few of these places for me. I know I’ll find my favorite spots in DC, and even Mississippi, but for now, these are the places I’ll daydream about when I want to feel “home” again…

Provision for my Sudanese Brother

*As you read this, please prayerfully consider providing for this request on behalf of my Sudanese brother Joshua



The day after Thanksgiving, I received an urgent email from my Colleen who is serving as a missionary in Nagishot. William and Eunice's son Joshua, who lives with them on the compound and suffers from Epilepsy and Schizophrenic episodes, had an accident the day after Thanksgiving and accidentally drank battery acid that was lying around the compound. He immediately threw it up, burning this mouth and throat. Eunice treated him immediately, having him drink lots of milk, water, and eggs throughout the day. You can assume how dangerous this is, and as Joshua began to urinate the acid out, it literally burned holes through his underwear and pants.

As Colleen corresponded with a doctor in the states about the incident, he told her to seek serious medical attention for Joshua as soon as possible, seeing as his chance of surviving this in the states would be low, much less in a remote African village. For weeks we have prayed for sweet Joshua, and the Lord has provided along the way. I can now report that Joshua is recovering at a hospital in Kampala, surrounded by his family and in good hands medically. We are still waiting to hear back from the test results that will determine what long term damage Joshua has suffered from this. We at least know from an X-Ray that there appears to be a hole in his stomach from the acid.

Many have joined us in prayer for Joshua, William, Eunice, and their entire family. Joshua brings a smile to my face every time I think of him. Since the first time I met him he has reminded me of Boo Radley from "To Kill a Mockingbird," my favorite book. He is a gentle giant, and a gift from God. His spirit is so in tuned with that land, and William and Eunice believe this is why God has chosen to use his illnesses in the way he has, because it brings much reliance on HIM and glory to HIS name. The Laku's are relying on God's provision again in this, as they wonder how they will cover the medical expenses. The Laku's are missionaries in Nagishot. Even though they are both Sudanese, they gave up wealth and much prosperity to answer God's call to the Didinga, an unreached people group. I am so passionate that it is in these times when we are HONORED and PRIVILEGED to serve such heroes of the faith with our finances. Truly, truly, I know no two people in this world whom I believe in the mission of God more because of the example they set. Below is information on how you can donate to Joshua's medical fund. Every little bit counts. Even giving up the price of a Starbuck's for today would help tremendously. Even though I don't know the total needed yet to cover the costs, I can at least tell you that the plane ride out of Nagishot was $1200, and this needs to be covered ASAP. Please join me in providing for our family in Christ:

For online giving:
https://my.efca.org/NetCommunity/SSLPage.aspx?pid=359
Designation: Sudan Field Ministries #22059-011
Tribute information: NAME: Joshua Laku; DESCRIPTION: Medical fund for Joshua Laku

To mail a check:
Make checks out to EFCA Reach Global
Please put project # 22059-011 in the memo line
Mail to:
EFCA Reach Global
901 East 78th St.
Minneapolis, MN 55420

An Update on Life

A lot has happened in life since I last posted here. I'm currently about two weeks away from moving out of Austin indefinitely, and here's a little preview of where life's journey is taking me...

Archer Fellows Program- Washington, DC
Last spring, I was accepted into the Archer Fellows Program through The University of Texas at Austin. As part of Archer Fellows (http://www.archercenter.org/programs/archer_fellow.html), I will live and work in DC with about twenty other UT students from various schools in the UT system. We will all have full time internships at an organization of our choosing, and then be enrolled as full time students at UT while we live there. The Archer Program is an incredible opportunity to live and work in the nation's capital. I will work full-time in an internship (more info on that below), and then have classes on Monday and Wednesday nights with the other Fellows. Additionally, the program provides various opportunities for us to explore the city, democracy, and all that DC has to offer. Although I will only be in DC from January 5th-April 23rd, I consider it my version of moving to "the big city." Having never been drawn to the bright lights of LA or NYC, DC is the equivalent of those "bright lights" for nerds like me.

International Justice Mission - Government Relations Intern
I applied to a couple places that focused on international development issues, but when the offer came up to work as the Government Relations Intern with International Justice Mission (www.ijm.org), I couldn't pass it up. I consider this position with IJM to be my dream job, seriously, and I am completely humbled and excited by the opportunity. IJM is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation, and violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local officials to ensure immediate victim rescue and aftercare, to prosecute perpetrators and to promote functioning public justice systems. I will serve as the Government Relations Intern, where my main responsibilities will include: insisting in the planning and implementation of the Justice Advocacy Campaigns; researching current and past legislation related to IJM's casework; researching substantive issues in the areas of US trade relations, foreign aid, HIV/AIDS, women's rights, slavery and trafficking; and more. I truly feel that the experience at IJM will be an invaluable asset to my career, and I am honored to work for such an outstanding organization that fights for justice on a daily basis.

Teach For America - Mississippi Delta


After the Archer Program is over, I will have about 7 weeks before I start the next chapter of my life- teaching in the Mississippi Delta as part of Teach For America. I will graduate on May 22nd, and then head off to Institute training for TFA on June 13th. TFA is like the Peace Corps for domestic education. Here's a small description of their mission:

"Our mission is to build the movement to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting our nation's most promising future leaders in the effort. We recruit outstanding recent college graduates from all backgrounds and career interests to commit to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools. We provide the training and ongoing support necessary to ensure their success as teachers in low-income communities." www.teachforamerica.org

The issue of education inequity is one that has become near and dear to my heart the last three years. I am excited to take on the challenge (and it will be a BIG challenge) of teaching in the Mississippi Delta, and even more thrilled to join the movement of young leader's that TFA is building to give all of our nation's children an equal education.

Bittersweet
That is the best word to describe how I'm feeling about all that God has placed in front of me for the next three years. Austin has become my home, more than any other place I've lived, and I will look back in the rear view mirror with tears of joy in my eyes as I drive up I-35 in two weeks. More on this "bittersweet" journey to come soon...

The Gosepl and Race

It’s hard to believe I’ve been in Ghana for almost a week now, time is flying by so fast. Things have begun to lighten up in some ways, allowing us to stretch our wings more and begin to explore Ghana in our own ways. I’ve had a pretty intense couple of last days, with a lot of emotions and processing. I’m a big fan of these times, even when they suck to go through. We had an event as an entire group two nights ago that really shook me in a lot of ways, and has put a lot of thoughts and feelings into my head, both good and bad.

On Saturday, we spent the morning as a group going through the museums. One in particular had a portion devoted to the slave trade, and it brought up some heavy emotions for people, especially as we get ready to head to the Gold Coast on Wednesday. The rest of the day, we were allowed to either go to Tema, which is the town that our student liaison Kwame is from, or head to the market with Dr. Aggrey. Most students chose to go to Tema, and a few of us stayed behind to do a little shopping. The markets were quite an experience, and while I had been through similar ones in Nairobi, I was quickly reminded how well you need to have your stuff together before you head in there. With people pulling you all over the place, it gets difficult to make decisions on things or even turn down a “good” deal. I ended up making it out alive, with only one or two things I kind of regretted later. Dinner was on our own, so after resting a few of us headed to the small restaurant next to our hostel. We stayed there until about 10pm and then headed back to Catters. On the road back, Rian got a call from Dr. Aggrey that we were having a mandatory meeting in 30 minutes because of some things that took place in Tema. No one was quite sure what was going on, but we all braced up for the meeting.

The next three hours would become one of the most emotionally intense nights of my life. While in Tema, the students got to attend part of a funeral and then ended up playing with some local school children. The Tema area has some extreme poverty parts in it, and the reality of children filled with joy, playing with you in the midst of trash, was too hard for a few students to take. While those few students were more distraught, the rest had an amazing time and loved the area. The result of the conflicting sides led to some feeling as if some intentions of people here were ill-mannered, or more ignorant because they weren’t as emotional over the situation. Some people had taken comments they overheard on the bus afterwards out of proportion on top of already being in a sensitive emotional state. The result was strong feelings that lead to an even more intense discussion between our group. Dr. Aggrey called this a “catalyst” for a greater discussion we had to have about race. The discussion quickly became heated, and became more of a black/white argument than an expression of differing emotional states. It was almost as if you had white students on one side and black students on the other. On top of that, people never handle themselves well with these things, and everyone feels as if they have to be a smart ass when they have a chance to speak; only fueling the fire in many regards. So many people jumped to conclusions, and made very volatile remarks towards bits and pieces of things they had overheard at one time or another throughout the trip.

I sat there pretty paralyzed by what was going on. I don’t consider myself ignorant to the reality of racial divisions in this world, and particularly in our own American culture. But I also believe in a God that not only created every race out of His divine creativity, but is SO much bigger than any racial division that broken men and women take part in. There were times in the discussion when it was more about socioeconomic statuses than race, and other times more about maturity and life stage. Yet people always let the fire kindle too long, until it has started to burn out of control. Dr. Aggrey also told us during this time that we were going to be split up by race during the first visit to the slave castles. This only opened up a whole new can of worms. Many white students felt that was counter-productive, and if we couldn’t handle the past together we would never be able to learn from it. There were also some African American students who felt strongly about going through it separately. So we had two sides, both feeling as if the only way to go forward was to step with their foot first instead of their neighbors. The decision was already made by our professors, but nonetheless students were extremely upset on both sides.

For three hours I sat literally dead in the middle of everything, the only thing I could do was put my head in my knees and pray for Jesus’ peace to come to our group, for it is the ONLY thing that can unite our broken group. It may be one of the clearest times in my life when I realized just how powerful the truth of the cross is. By the end of the discussion, emotions had been able to calm down some, while some were still left confused in many areas. I was emotionally drained by how broken our humanity is. I’ve seen absolute poverty, severe sexual immorality, and many other physical signs of brokenness, but the racial tension I sat through for three hours almost topped them all. It’s such a thick amount of spiritual warfare, so deep rooted and so hurtful. For the next two days after that I even began questioning my place being here because of the color of my skin. I let myself start thinking those lies rather than the TRUTH that is we are all from the same soil, and we all belong here. I’ve thought about William and Eunice in Sudan often, how much they’ve welcomed me as a daughter in Nagishot. That is truth, which is the spirit of Jesus that transcends all things, the ultimate healer of brokenness. We are untied as brothers and sisters in Christ, sons and daughters of a MIGHTY KING. Many of the “chochos” here (public transport vans that are packed with people all the time) usually have a Christian message written across the back window. While we were driving today with my group around the area we’ll be working with next week, one of the guys asked Ken, our Ghanaian guide, what “Yesu Mogya” meant, and he replied “Jesus’ Blood.” I about flipped out in the back. Jesus’ blood has been so heavy on me this past week, and the significance it stands for in this place, to heal what has been so devastatingly broken by colonialism and slavery, and what is the only answer to continue to heal the repercussions of that.

I’ve learned so much my first week here. I can only imagine where I will be in three more weeks. Cape Coast is coming up on Wednesday, and I’m trying to prepare myself for the emotional toll that will take. It’s going to be devastating for me to see churches built by colonialists on the same compounds as the slave castles, literally right next to each other. I know it will bring about many hard conversations, but also many inroads to the gospel. I’m quickly learning how un-gifted I am at sharing the gospel, while at the same time experiencing a burden for it like never before. The overwhelming response and support of prayers and encouragement from friends back home has been incredible, and literally given me peace and boldness every morning. As I prepare my heart and pray over our time to the Cape Coast this week, those prayers and words mean so much to me. I know I’m about to embark on one of the most emotionally devastating ,and at the same time beautiful, weeks of my life, and the only thing that can carry me through it is the blood of Christ…