Lord, Teach us to Pray

Luke 11:1- Lord, teach us to pray.

Today at ECA in both middle and elementary we were able to gather with our students to lift up Colombia. There is a very important vote taking place on Sunday, and the Colombian Evangelical church has claimed today, Sept. 30, a day of prayer. ECA students and teachers decided to take part during school hours and together we lifted up voters, political leaders and asked God to bring Biblical peace to this beautiful country.

Students in elementary met with small group leaders praying for about an hour this morning. We spent time reading and meditating on verses, praying for political leaders by name, asking for God to give wisdom to voters and expressing through art our dreams for Colombia.

My prayer for students as they move forward is as follows: "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Kinder students drawing pictures of their dream for their country

Art work from Elementary and Middle school was hung in the stairs

Praying together and drawing dreams of Colombia

Kinder students praying together for Colombia

More kinder students praying

PK students also got to pray together

Copying and meditating on verses about prayer

4th graders drawing dreams for Colombia

1st graders praying together

More 1st graders praying together for the election

Third graders praying and writing verses

Writing verses and praying for peace

Now let's talk a little about this election. For 56 years, the socialist group, the FARC has terrorized many parts of Colombia, pushing the military into a brutal battle. For the past 4 years leaders of the FARC and Colombia have met with international peacemakers to draft a treaty between the two organizations.

Because of the many implications of this treaty, the ultimate decision of whether it is signed will be left to the people of Colombia. This Sunday a vote will take place of "yes" or "no".

Peace sounds so good, but what makes this controversial is the fine print of this almost 300 page document. Many people worry that the treaty is too nice; FARC leaders are not given the justice they deserve. They also worry that through this treaty FARC leaders will be guaranteed positions in both the senate and the house of representatives. By allowing leaders from a different political ideology it will influence the political direction Colombia will take in the future.

On the other hand, there is promise of rehabilitation for those in the drug trade, restoration of farm land, and rebuilding of communities destroyed by the conflict.

In the end, there is no easy answer. Regardless of the outcome there will be many long-term implications for Colombia and international relations. It is interesting to be in the midst of such an important time in Colombian history.

If you are interested in learning more here are some articles with information on the vote and conflict in Colombia:

Explaining Colombia's Peace Plebecite

Colombia's Peace Talks Fact Sheet

What is at Stake in the Colombian Peace Process

When God doesn't do what you want

View of our front door. I love the beautiful flowers that greet me!

Welcome back to Bogota! Or at least that's how I am feeling right now. It's so good to be back, however I feel like I have hit the ground running. School starts tomorrow with new teacher orientation and it's been a blast getting to know our new staff and showing them around.

However, as we begin, life has also been a little scary. We are less than two weeks away from having kiddos walk in the door and we still have many teaching spots left open. Our director has been working hard, writing emails, calling and banging on any doors that might work. But, it seems as if God is not answering.

Today in church the pastor must have read my mind and my preoccupations. He preached from Habakkuk (side note: how do you say Habakkuk?). The first few verses of the first chapter highlight the prophet Habbakuk's call out to the Lord, begging His presence to be known.

Then God responds in verse 5: "Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told" (ESV).

I was fairly optimistic while he started his sermon expecting the "all things work together for good" outcome, highlighting a loving and caring God.

But as the verses continue, God declares the horrors he is going to allow. The rise of the Chaldeans described as "bitter" "fearsome" "violent" "declaring their own might as their god".

So....... "you would not believe" is not referring to the good things to come. Rather it is in reference to the bad things to come. Like really bad. Like taken captive and made slaves bad.

As the pastor expanded into the passage he didn't try to gloss over the challenges and the truth: God does allow and enables bad things to happen.

Right now in life is seems as if God is not making things easy. We are missing teachers and challenging situations have led to many last minute plans falling through. Now the question is how do I respond? Do I get angry? Do I doubt God's plan? Do I walk away?

I can. It's all normal human reaction, however at this moment I am telling myself "God is sovereign" "God knows what He is doing" "God's plans are bigger than my own". Mark tells us about a father went to Jesus asking for his son to be healed. Jesus replied “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:23-24).

That is my prayer... help my unbelief. I don't have control of the circumstances; but I believe God does. Whether it is staffing for the school year or the elections in the USA or family struggles or really anything. I believe God is in control. It may not seem good at the time but it is good because God is good and He is in control on this earth.

Moment of joy #8.. why I do what I do

This week and next I get to spend some extra time with my students during elementary day camp. This is a time for them to have some extra practice in English and some structure during the vacation time.

This week our theme has been “pizza” and we’ve had a lot of fun making pizzas and talking about our favorite toppings. As part of our lesson today we asked the question “is there pizza in the Bible?”. One of my students answers was actually quite clever- “no- because they didn’t have pizza during those times”. Probably true.

I then asked my students if there was ever food in the Bible. They thought of communion and when Jesus multiplied bread and fish to feed large crowds. I then proceeded to share the story of God providing quail and manna in the desert. We then talked about how God provided for the needs of his people. I then posed the question: “How does God take care of our needs?” and here are my students responses:

Student 1- He gave us Jesus

Student 2- Jesus died on the cross

Student 3- Jesus washes away our sins

They get it!!! They understand that our need is to be close to God and we can’t do that on our own. They realize that Jesus is not only the answer but the provider of this salvation.

I was blown away!

I was expecting answers of God’s provision to be “God gives us food” “God gives us family” “God gives us a home”. Oh, those are all true- but there is so much more than our physical needs and BOY did my kids hit the nail on the head!

There are times when I struggle with teaching in a Christian school. I believe in the transformational power of the gospel. I believe that God longs for us to train His children to know him and love him. But sometimes I doubt that Christians schools really help students understand Christ.

Today I was proved wrong. All year we have been teaching the kids about who God is and His plan for the world. We looked at creation and the beautiful perfect world God created. We saw the fall of man with Adam and Eve. We rejoiced with the birth of the savior. We cried at his painful death for our sake. And we hope in his return. All year we have taught our students these truths. All year we prayed over them and waited on the Lord to work in their hearts. And today I saw these truths rooted in their lives- not by my words or teaching but because they know Jesus. They understand and they believe!

 

Here are some fun pizza activities from this week!

Pizza restaurant dramatic play!

Pizza puzzles

Drawing our favorite pizza and who we eat it with (apparently the dog is hungry too)

Taking my order

Making a yummy pizza!

Painting our paper mache pizzas

God does all things well

So many times in life I am left asking the question “why?”. If it’s not a personal struggle it’s from those around me.

In the past month we as a country went through two horrific public shootings. There is an 18 year old girl fighting for her life, having lost both her legs in the process. Mali is at war, and the causalities are only going to increase in number. I have had friends go through miscarriages, car accidents, and painful healing of relationships. And amidst all this I can’t help but cry out “Lord, take us home, this pain is too much!”

Today I was reminded God knows what he is doing- and he does all things well. I ran across this song by Tenth Avenue North and it served as a powerful reminder that God is in control. My favorite part of the song goes like this:

You break me to bind me
You hurt me, Lord, to heal me
You cut me to touch me
You died to revive me

All the pain, suffering and hurt only serves for God to show who he is. I have to take the focus off of myself and turn it to Him who is in control. As I question, I need to worship. As I cower, I need to look up. As I hurt, I need to focus. God is in control. God is in charge. And he is working well.

So, we’re 7 days into 2013

And how many of you have written 2012 by mistake? We did on our custom forms, but caught it in time. *phew*

Just thought I would write a few prayer requests for you to lift of the next few days:

1. School starts up again tomorrow! It’s just a teacher work day, but we are both ready to get back into our routine. Kids arrive on Wednesday and I can’t wait to see their adorable little faces.

2. Tabitha and her recovery. The most recent updates say she has gone through some exploratory surgery to find the root of the problems. She continues to go up and down. For those of you in the Oregon area, there is going to be a benefit concert on Jan 14 at 7pm at West Salem Foursquare church. Kutless is going to be playing, so if you are in the area, head on over and tell everyone.

3. My personal goal this year is to focus on “renewal”. I need more consistent times in the word and prayer. Plus I hope to take it to a deeper level with my students, praying with them, and leading them to Christ.

4. Praise for a wonderful community in Bogota. Today I got sunburned sitting in the park with the girls, enjoying catching up. Then tonight Ed watched the championship game with a bunch of the guys. We are blessed with great people who are focused on serving Christ through teaching.

That’s what I can think of for now. If you have any requests, please know I WILL be praying for them. Leave anything in the comment area or feel free to email me: sarahtrussell11@gmail.com.

Peace- and may 2013 bring you closer to our abba father.

Burdened

In the past week 2 major car accidents have happened to people I know. Both have been far away. Both have been tragic in one way or another.

One happened to a friend in Mali that resulted in the death of a little girl.

The other was a cousin in Japan that resulted in her being in a coma.

Both are tragic. Both are terrible. And both have caused me to cry out to the Lord on their behalf.

Here is where being part of a global church is hard. When someone is hurt in Asia, I know about it, and it burdens me. When a sister in Christ goes through trials in Europe, my heart breaks.

I would prefer to hide. To not know about things. To go on with my selfish life, oblivious to anything but me. But instead, here I am, crying out to the Lord on their behalf. It is good- but it hurts!

This week I have been teaching my students about “big” and “small”. Today I wanted to emphasize big and use it to describe God. I used a song I learned last year at BCA to help my point.

OUR GOD IS A GREAT BIG GOD

Our God is a great big God… and He holds us in his hands.

He is higher than a skyscraper, and deeper than a submarine.

He is wider than the universe and beyond my wildest dreams.

And He knows me and He loves me since before the world began.

How wonderful to be a part of God’s amazing plan.

 

Today when I was walking my students through the words, I was dumbstruck by the simplistic truth. God is bigger than anything here on earth. He is bigger than my pain. He is bigger than the problems of those around me. And more so He is bigger than anything I can imagine.

And in spite of God being so big, he knows ME and he loves ME. He isn’t burdened by all the cares of the world. He cares for me.

Selfish me should know that I would get a “God slap” on my pity party. I should be honored to lift up my burdens to the Lord. I should be honored to know people from everywhere and join with them in petition. I should be thinking less of myself and more of what God is going to do through this difficult circumstances.

Pray with me. Lift up these two sisters in Christ. Celebrate that our God is a great big God and HE ALONE knows what is going on. How wonderful it is to be a part of God’s amazing plan!