With One Voice

Y'all.

I'm currently sitting in hotel room in Oxford, Mississippi. Not because I'm on vacation or because I transferred, but because tomorrow, I get to spend the day engaging with college students about orphan care, how they can get involved in orphan care advocacy, and the reality of the orphan crisis with the best team ever, brought to you by the Red Bus Project. In fact, over the course of the next five weeks (4 consecutively), we'll be rolling up to a different college campus every day Monday-Friday, doing the same thing every day. That's 20 schools, hundreds of miles, thousands of college students, and a countless number of conversations that include the numbers 18, 140 million, and 7:1 in the next four weeks!

This. Is. My. Dream. Nowhere else can I spend hours upon hours each day talking to college students about these precious orphaned kiddos, telling them (the college students) that they can do something about it!

The crazy part is that I get to be on this super awesome adventure with some of the coolest people around. Even crazier is that there is probably NO way we would've ever met, had it not been for this internship and God's intricate details and planning.

The thing is, we're all so different and yet, we have similarities. I love that without just one of the team members, we wouldn't be a team. Each and everyone of us brings something different to the table (or to this internship) that is needed. If Becca wasn't here, we wouldn't have someone who can not only take awesome pictures and be our voice on social media, but, though she may be the youngest, steps up and is a leader in the most critical moments. If Myra wasn't here, we wouldn't have someone who can process and logically think through everything that comes our way; we wouldn't have our voice of reason that pulls us back and says "Why?" If Alicia wasn't here, we wouldn't have our "brains" of the operation, our team player who is not afraid to speak her mind and make her ideas known all while being such a perfect example of a servant and will do anything to get the job done. If Kelly Lu wasn't here, we would be missing someone who brings us all back in and says "Guys, let's put our thoughts together!" or "Calm down! It's okay!", the someone who is the glue that holds our team together.

There are so many members to this team-Chris, Stuart, Lance, Will, Shep (our driver, whose real name is Gary but we call him Shep!), Brooke, and Morgan (plus us the interns)-who make this entire operation possible on the road. Not to mention our awesome Show Hope staff back in Franklin, the guys at Kyros, and all of the past interns who have done everything like calming us down and putting our focus back on what's really important.

This internship has showed me just how important community is. Individually, it's hard to get something done, but together, we can accomplish so much! We are all necessary, though we play different roles, to put this thing called the Red Bus Project together and on the road. The body of Christ is the same way! Romams 12:4-5 (NCV) says, "Each of us has a body with many parts, and these parts all have different uses. In the same way, we are many, but in Christ we are all one body. Each one is a part of that body, and each part belongs to all the other parts."

We're not all made to be the eyes, the mouth, the ears, or the hands. Some of us are the legs or the nose or the brain or even the elbow. But without all of those together, we don't have a body (literally and figuratively)!

The past week or so, I've really been struggling to find my role in this, my piece to the puzzle that is Red Bus Project Fall 2014 team. While at our team building day south of Franklin, we participated in various team building exercises, which at the moment were terrifying and frustrating, but looking back are some of the coolest things I've ever done. In those moments, I saw what the rest of my team brought to the table. Everyone stepped in and filled their roles while discovering new things about themselves.

And then there was me.

What in the world was I doing during these activities? I don't even know. What I do know is that while on our walk to the lake on the property, we had a time to talk to God/pray. For me, that turned into me arguing with God, except I wasn't really giving God time to respond (this is why my dad swore I was going to be a lawyer growing up). I was so frustrated because I felt useless that entire day.

What did I accomplish here this morning?
Where does my piece of the puzzle fit into this great, big, ole puzzle known as the Red Bus Project?
Why am I here?

It was in those 5-10 minutes that I kept going on and on. I was sure that I knew just what everyone else was capable of and what gifts they had, but I was stuck. I had no idea what my purpose was in that moment, or for the next few days.

A couple of days ago, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I finally came to understand why I'm here. Why I'm here on this tour, with this team, about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. I can't really describe it, but I know this passion and this burden for these precious orphaned kiddos is why I'm here; it's what I bring to the table. That and my love of talking (seriously, if you have ANY questions about the Red Bus Project or Show Hope, MESSAGE ME! I want to talk to you!).

We all have something to bring and bring it together. When we come together, we lift a shout of worship to the One we're striving to live for each and every day. In the midst of finding what it is you bring to the table, remember that in all we do, we must glorify Him. On those days when you're lost and confused like I was earlier in the week, yes even in those moments, we come together to worship Him. With one voice.

We come together with a holy purpose

We come together for the highest cause

We speak one language from a heart of worship

Gathered to bring a song to the world

For Your glory

With one voice we will sing

Every tribe and every tongue 

Brings a harmony

With one voice we will bring

Heaven's beautiful melody down to this earth

As we sing to our King

With one voice

"With One Voice" by Steven Curtis Chapman

Four of the best girls and friends I could ever ask for! Thanks God
for bringing us together for this internship!

There are no words to adequately describe how much this team means to me!
And Alicia's face, priceless!

Bus call! Fall 2014 tour, here we come!

I found it very appropriate we kicked off tour as a family
at Union University's family weekend! Shout out to Becca for
this AWESOME shot from the event!

If We're Honest

This past week of work has been incredibly phenomenal! Every single day, I have found a new thing I LOVE about my internship. Especially stuffing envelopes!*

*Seriously, we spent a day stuffing envelopes for Show Hope and it was one of my favorite days of work! Not only did we get to serve Show Hope and the staff, but we got to connect with some rock-star volunteers and see how God connected the dots in all of our lives to bring us to the same dot that is Show Hope! He's SO COOL!

I wouldn't trade this experience for anything. But let's be honest, I've struggled. We all do. We all have our bad days. So this is about one of those bad days and what God is teaching me through it all.

Truth is harder than a lie

The dark seems safer than the light

And everyone has a heart that loves to hide

I'm a mess and so are you

We've built walls nobody can get through

Yeah, it may be hard, but the best thing we could ever do, ever do

Bring your brokenness, and I'll bring mine

'Cause love and heal what hurt divides

And mercy's waiting on the other side

If we're honest

(If We're Honest by Francesca Battistelli)

Let's admit it, we all have those moments.

Moments where we feel like everything's falling apart. Moments that we don't want to share with others.

We're bruised.
We're broken.
We're messed up.

For some reason, in today's world, we feel like we have to put a mask on the minute we walk into a room and PRETEND everything's okay, when really, it's not. At all.

Maybe the kids are running all over the place, maybe you got laid off from your job of x number of years, maybe you ran out of gas during rush hour traffic earlier that day, maybe you were extremely lonely/homesick the night before and spent hours crying. And yet, the minute you walk into a room and the famous question "Hey! How are you?" is asked, you put on your happy face and say "Great!" "Fine!" "Things are going well!"

Why?

Why do we try and act like we've got our lives together and that everything is perfect? We shouldn't. I shouldn't, but I do. I believe most think that if they don't pretend like they've got everything together, they look bad. It makes us look like we're weak. We build up walls that we don't want anyone to get through, and when people get closer to climbing over that wall, we build it up even more.

As a Christian, this is something I've struggled with for a long time. Until recently, I firmly believed I had to have my life together every time I walked into my church or into a community of my brothers and sisters or into a group of nonbelievers. If not, it made my witness that much weaker. I mean, how could I tell someone the good news of the Gospel if I couldn't even keep my stuff together?

Did you know there's some Bible verses about how in our weakness, Christ's power is made perfect? In US?

'But he said to me, "My grace is enough for you. When you are weak, my power is made perfect in you." So I am very happy to brag about my weaknesses. Then Christ's power can live in me. For this reason I am happy when I have weaknesses, insults, hard times, sufferings, and all kinds of troubles for Christ. Because when I am weak, then I am truly strong.' -2 Corinthians 2:9-10 NCV

This week has taught me so much about being honest and vulnerable. Out of all the people in the world, our brothers and sisters in Christ are the ones we should be able to go to immediately and be COMPLETELY honest with them. We shouldn't hide anything from them. We can stop pretending and going after our next Oscar for "Best Actor/Actress".

A couple of nights ago, when I was super lonely, I had to call one of my best friends and my parents. I tried to keep it all together and act like it was all good, but let's be honest, it didn't happen. God broke me down and showed me that He has placed people in my life that I can go to and be completely vulnerable with them, who can pray for me, and who can encourage me. When we try and keep it all together when we're not, we're hindering God from working in our lives and we're putting our pride before Him. (Pride before the fall...Adam and Eve...yeah, that one didn't end so well.)

To make things even better, people I met a month ago when I moved to good ole Franklin were able to break through my walls and see what was going on. I thought I had my own version of the Great Wall of China built around my heart, but turns out, it was just the little pig's straw house that can be blown down with a simple sneeze (or a question of what's really going on, in my case).

I say all of that to say, the lesson of this week: be honest. Quit letting yourself believe that you have everything together and that no one cares to hear about your life when things aren't going the way you want. People do. Your brothers and your sisters in Christ genuinely care about you and want to know how they can be praying for or encouraging you. They're not asking or offering to come hang out out of obligation, but out of love.

Jesus didn't go to the cross because He felt it was an obligation. (He even prayed for God to "take this cup from me"!) No, Jesus died for us out of love. Our job is to reflect that love and share His truth with others.

So be real.
Be honest.
Be vulnerable.

Is it uncomfortable? Absolutely. But the end results of feeling loved and encouraged far outweigh the initial awkwardness.

Jefferson Bethke said it best (in my opinion), when he said, "The church is not a museum for good people, it's a hospital for the broken." Be broken and go to God and others looking for encouragement and to be fixed. God is the ultimate healer of our brokenness, but He has some great nurses that He places in our lives along the way who can apply ice or a Band-Aid when needed.

Monday we took a trip to CPA in Nashville to be a part of their first Movement Club meeting of the year! We love the Movement Club and seeing high school students get involved in orphan care!

Team trip to Kyros Entertainment for training!

Just some late night baking adventures with Austin to close out the week!

He Knows My Name

So much has happened in the last week and a half that I don't even know where to begin!

Things are moving swiftly here at the Red Bus Project and we're gearing up for our first run of the bus that's happening this Saturday! Not next Saturday, not three weeks from now when we hit the road, but THIS Saturday. As in, 3 days from now. Holy cow! Is this real life?!

It blows my mind to think that this time two weeks ago, even thinking about setting up and running the bus seemed like a crazy idea because it seemed so far off. And now, here we are! Last Wednesday, we received our official job titles/descriptions for the semester, and it was my favorite day of work ever (up to that point-working in our storage unit/on the bus has turned into my favorite work days!). We all have settled into our roles pretty well and we are continuing to learn more about each other and how we work together as a team each day.

With the announcement of job titles, like any big announcement, it's hard not to get too caught up in that. Just because I now have a title at the Red Bus Project doesn't meant that I let that define me. Let me tell ya, that was a struggle for me. My official title is the connections intern, which means I get to do a bunch of awesome stuff both in the office and out on the road! When we're out on the road, I get to connect with volunteers, train them, and engage with students about how they can get further involved in the orphan crisis, along with serving my team! It's literally my dream job (my dad says I got the "gift of gab" from my mom, especially when it comes to talking about something I'm so passionate about, so this tour is going to be a BLAST!). At the same time, being the connections intern isn't all that I am. We all have an idea of one another's roles so we can step in and help when needed, but more importantly, we all are children of God.

I've found in the last week and a half that God has had to remind me of that a lot, several times a day in fact. I can get so caught up in what's going on in my life and all that I've done that I forget who really made it all happen. I wouldn't be here at Show Hope if it weren't for God and His plan for my life. Two years ago, this internship and this organization wasn't even on my radar. If you told me in high school I would be where I am now, I would've thought you were insane (after of course asking what in the world the Red Bus Project was).

That's one of the many crazy/awesome things about God. He doesn't need us. He doesn't need us to plan out our lives and expect them to happen like we want. But He chooses to use us and He chooses to guide our path every single step of the way, from point A to point B, and everywhere in between. We are His. I am His. You are His. That's what needs to define us. Not just now, not just later on, but every single day.

God knows our names. Every single one of us, even the over 140 million waiting children around the world who don't have a mom or a dad to love them, they have a name too. We may not know it, but God does. He knew each of our names before we were even born on this earth. I'm so thankful He does, and not just that He knows my name, but that He knows all of our names, especially those precious kiddos who may not have an identity in anyone else's eyes but God's. We all have identities, we all have something that makes us who we are. It's a question of whether or not we choose to let Him define us, or if we let ourselves define us.

What will you choose today? Will you choose to let your biggest accomplishment define you? What about your role in your family or that job promotion or that title you have at church? What if you chose to let God define you? What if you chose to remind yourself daily that He knows your name?

Francesca Battistelli wrote and recently released a song called "He Knows My Name". The second verse of the song has become like a motto for me as I go into these next weeks as an intern. I've learned in the last couple of weeks, along with letting God define me and letting Him remind me that He knows my name, that I'm not meant to stay quiet. I'm supposed to speak up for the waiting children around the world. If I don't, if these interns (both past, present, and future), if the Show Hope staff and other staff at other organizations that do the same work don't, then who will? It's because of God that I can do that. He gives me the strength every day to push forward and keep doing the work I'm doing that He has set before me.

"I'm not meant to just stay quiet

I'm meant to be a lion

I'll roar beyond a song

With every moment that I've got

True to who You are

You saw my heart

And made

Something out of nothing"

Job title reveal day! We were just slightly giddy! :)

Connections intern!

Surprise day off means a surprise trip back to CU to see my friends! So thankful for these girls and their constant prayers, love, and encouragement!