Travel Journal: Cuenca, Day 11

Choose This Day

“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord . And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord , choose this day whom you will serve , whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord .” Joshua 24:14-15 (ESV) "Choose." If we're living in the reality of the Kingdom of God, I don't think there's any way to over-spiritualize. That phrase gets on my nerves like nothing else. I think we use it as a cop out, a way to sidestep the responsibility of living like the Kingdom has invaded every nook and cranny of our existence. Every choice is an opportunity to feed my flesh or feed my spirit. Every choice is a challenge - am I going to lean on my own understanding, or listen clos...

March 4, 2020

Tonight while Nick and I were having good conversation over dinner, he asked when I last read my Bible. I said, "Not that long ago," to which he replied, "Was it before the weekend?" and I had to say, "Yes." He likened it to fasting for five days, which he rightly pointed out that I've never done in the natural, so why would I deprive myself like that in the spiritual? The conversation stirred up some old confusion and hurt regarding my difficulty with staying engaged with Scripture, but it also stirred up an old hunger to know the voice of God - to be steeped in the history of his speech, to be enraptured by description of who he is and rejoice with the authors of the Bible about his goodness. To know how he talks, to hear it inside my head as I read and become more and more familiar with the cadence of his conversation. I remembered being a freshman in college, newly exposed to the Pentecostal tradition and desperate to hear the voice o...

Travel Journal: Cuenca, Day 13

I don't know if anyone will see this... Just trying to get my thoughts out now while everything is fresh in my mind. I'll probably post this one after I edit later. Today went by so fast. The last few days (I haven't written about yet) have been a whirlwind and I've had such wonderful evenings, loving the atmosphere and the blessing of being part of the group. And yet, since last night at Turi, I haven't been able to shake the feeling that these aren't my people. Maybe it's because I'm leaving in a matter of hours, really. Or maybe it's something that God's been settling in my spirit. I talked with Gina for almost three hours over a Facebook video call, and we talked about everything under the sun. (Ecuadorian dairy products, what's going on at CC, summer plans for my internship, hanging out with the crew, going to Passion soon, and hard stuff that needs worked through and prayed through.) Every day I'm more ready to go home. It's...

lengua de corazón

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