Expectations

We are here on the beautiful island of Jamaica and I am so happy to see old friends and make many new ones - already!  

Yes Jay - the steeple is still attached!

The national animal - just kidding!

The team of teens are one of the best we've ever had - and I'm pretty sure we say that every year.  I am just loving getting to know each and every one of them.

But today I want to share with you a devotional thought...about expectations.  

What are your expectations for your life?  your summer?  your week?  tomorrow?

Read this story...

"

Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days.

Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches.

Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches.

One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years.

When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?”

“I can’t, sir,” the sick man said,

“for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up.

Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”

Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”

Instantly, the man was healed!

He rolled up his sleeping mat

and began walking!”

John 5:1-9

What do you think this lame guy’s expectations were for the day?

Yeah, I’m pretty sure he just expected to lay around this “magic pool” all day and maybe – just maybe - when the healing bubbles came -  someone would help him get there first.

It hadn’t happened, for him, in 38 years, but you never know! (Really?)  (you have to admire his tenacity)

or - could it be that he just had that much faith - that it could still possibly happen to him?  Hmmmm  - pondering this….

Well, HIS expectations weren’t met – were they? 

Well – were they?

Here he was – expecting his miracle to come from this magic water.  This is where he had seen it happen for others.  If he could just get to that water…. Just a little quicker.

Ahhh – next time – next time!

But – (and if you study the Scriptures at all you will quickly see that God has put a LOT of what I call “Big But” statements in it – and that’s “Big But” not “Big Butt” – whatever)

BUT – God had other plans!  I love this about God!

We have our expectations – and we think they are so big and great and noble…and God laughs at them.

We calculate our expectations from other people's experiences, our past situations, and what we’ve seen happen before - and we base our “expectations” on that.  (so tiny)

BUT – God has something so much bigger and better than you can ever hope or dream or imagine! 

That is pretty big – because as far as I'm concerned - I’m a pretty big dreamer!

So – maybe we need to write out our expectations based on what God can do and has done and wants to do.  (Ponder that for awhile)

and while you're pondering that... here's a verse that's hanging on my mirror at home...

"My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
    

“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    

so my ways are higher than your ways
    

and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

Isaiah 55:8-9

Jamaica Mon'

Well, tomorrow we head to Jamaica, again.

This will be the 23rd year going, but some years we went more than once.

I haven't been the last two trips, which equals 3 years since I've stepped foot on Jamaican soil.

Jamaica holds a very large piece of my heart - in fact - I consider it my second home.  

I am in process, though, with all the other things that have flooded my life the past 3 years - evaluating where I stand in my Jamaican life.  (Actually, they call our family "Jamericans")

(I thought that was pretty creative)

We have a "son" in Jamaica.  His name is Richard Russell and we are just so proud of him.  We first met Richard when he was 15 years old.  He has a younger brother and a much younger sister.  As with many Jamaican families, Richard's mom and dad never married and after 3 children, his father went on to begin a life with a younger woman.  We see this on a regular basis - and then this community of women raise all the kids.

But with Richard it was a bit different.  When he was 9 he came home from school with his younger brother and his mom was in the street with his sister.  She kissed the boys goodbye, got in a car, and never looked back.  Richard has said that he thought she was just going to town.  A close friend's mother looked after him and his brother from that time on.

When we met Richard he was trying to attend a Christian School in Montego Bay, but was going to quit if his money ran out.  (He earned money doing any type odd job possible) We began sponsoring him during the school year.  We would bring him onto our team when we were in Jamaica each year. He actually got to come home with us several summers and he even got to come one Christmas and join us on a Youth Convention trip to Cincinnati.  

Even though our family has the reputation for sucking people into it and making them our 'kin - this time Richard adopted us.  And it was an honor to be called "his parents".

Richard is now a master barber in Montego Bay.  He is married and has 3 beautiful children.  He is approximately 37 years old and is a great Dad and husband.  My Richard still calls me early every Mother's Day in a usually successful attempt to beat my own girls at calling. :)

You can now see how Jamaica holds a big piece of our hearts, as we have many, many long time friends with story after story of how they have affected our lives throughout the years.

This trip, though, makes me a bit nervous.  

Our only bus driver/ pastor, Mr. Lloyd Lindsay, will not be with us as he decided to be done with this world and go on to "drive" for Jesus.  I don't want to be there without his watchful eye and his quiet spirit keeping us safe.

I also find that there are many tears yet to be cried and my emotions are very unpredictable.  Going to an orphanage and a children's handicapped home may not have the best effect on my emotional state. UGH!

But, I look forward to what God has to teach me.  How He plans on continuing to heal me, emotionally.  I anticipate His voice speaking through many different people of many different ages.

Closing...I DO ask for your prayers, though.  We leave tomorrow - we return late on the 16th.

Safety - God's Presence - Wisdom - Patience - and hearing, listening, and not missing one drop of all that God has for me.  

Please pray intensely for the 25 teens that are leaving their Mama's and are walking into areas of poverty and injustice that they've never experienced before.  Pray for God's "velvet hammer" in their lives. 

And you might also include my family that remains at home.  Sometimes they have a hard time while we are basically unreachable!  :)

Love Your Guts,

Hug Your Babies - waahhhh - cuz I already miss mine

Pray Big - for big miracles for our team of 30

Janet :) xoxo

PS - I will blog while I'm gone - love you all so much!