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!