LQVE 2017 TRIPS!

It’s time again to make plans for next year’s LQVE trips. Three teams will be heading to Haiti March 13-20, 2017. Each group will be working on projects, yet to be determined, while serving the people in the Southeast part of the country. The first two teams, one comprised of high school, college age, and adults and another from MidAmerica Nazarene University will be doing similar activities. A third group made up of age 18 and above will be hiking! That’s correct, if you’re looking for an extreme, 40-mile, immersion hike to the Caribbean then this is for you. The $500 non-refundable deposits are due for these trips this week, so contact Amanda Stolba ASAP at arstolba@gmail.com.    

And, breaking news, two LQVE teams are headed back to Haiti the week of July 17-24, 2017. If you’re a female soccer player, this is the week you need to circle on your calendar. We’re proud to announce that former MidAmerica Nazarene University women’s coach, Rocky Orton, will be leading youth skills camps in three different Haitian communities. (Check out Heart of America Athletic all-Conference player, Kalyn Pfaff, with Haitian girls below.) If you’re looking for a week to teach kids, play soccer, meet new people, and have the time of your life you better get in on this trip. Deposits will be due Feb 1, 2017. Again, contact Amanda Stolba ASAP at arstolba@gmail.com for more info. 

LQVE's Most Recent Trip

Teachers we are privileged to be supporting in Cascade Pichon, Haiti. Some of these young educators walk a couple of miles, one way, daily through the mountains to teach. They are, without a doubt, heroes. 

After a soccer game in Bleck we gave away jerseys (from MidAmerica Nazarene women's soccer team) and soccer balls (from Challenger Sports in Lenexa, KS). 

The LQVE 2016 Summer team: Todd, Logan, Trent, Kalyn, Cliff, Evan, Bre, Landon, Morgan, Blakely and Tamron. (Bill's not pictured!) They're standing in front of the Cascade Pichon Elementary school. Prior to the school being built in 2013 only one student had ever passed the state's exam. In the last 3 years over 40 kids have passed. We have a responsibility to help the community to keep moving forward. 

Here's Bill. I'm still not sure how he found his way into a Haitian parade, but here's the proof!

The cascades of Cascade Pichon.

Asmeen and her sister, Amaleen. Two of my favorite girls in Cascade Pichon.

There's something special about watching kids play with matching jerseys! 

A Fraction

Your Mom
And I
Plus You
Made three
We knew
With you
Our life
Was sweet

Then love
Brought more
And more
Brought life
Three became
Four
And four
Became five

We laughed
Surprised
What luck
What joy
Our life
Was whole
Part you
Part boys

But, then
The cloud
The ice
The wreck
A piece
Is gone
Our hearts
Bereft 

            And our sweet addition
            Is lost in subtraction
            With your great promotion
            Life’s left us a fraction

Reminding Myself God is Good Every Morning

There are days I don't feel like doing as much, but most mornings I run through a litany of prayers and creeds. In my grief, these prayers and creeds remind me what I believe; that God is good and cares for me. Some might say, "Sounds like you're trying to talk yourself into believing in your God."

Yep.

As if you don't utilize creeds to talk yourself into believing in your god?

Everyone uses creeds; some are just unofficial. If you serve the god of money, you tell yourself you’re nothing without money. If you have an abundance of money, you tell yourself things like, "I can do whatever I want with my money. It's mine." Either way, these are just creeds. They become the way you talk yourself into believing in your puny little god of money. If you serve the god of immediate gratification, you'll tell yourself when you access that porn site that it doesn’t hurt anyone. Oh, brother, It’s just a type of creed you use to talk yourself into believing your impotent god. If you serve the god of feeling sorry for yourself, you'll tell everyone how bad life is. Your grumbling and complaining is just a creed to talk yourself into believing your small, diminutive god.

So, yes, my creeds and prayers, among other things, remind me of who I believe in and whom I am trusting. I would die for these prayers and creeds. And in fact, in many ways I am dying for these prayers and creeds, but I look forward to the day when all things will be made new. I believe, I believe, I believe that the Lord is my Shepherd, that He walks with me in and through the valley of the shadow of death and that He is with me. I prayed it this morning. I'll pray it again tomorrow. 

 

New LQVE FUTBOL Shirt!

Our new shirts have arrived just in time for the summer soccer (futbol) season. You don't care about the summer soccer season, you say? Fine, wear this in any season! It's the same 60/40 cotton, polyester blend as our regular LQVE shirts which means it's super comfortable.

Given the design and that the GPS coordinates are of Quincy's soccer field, here's what people have been saying about this shirt: "It's cool."

Yes, we agree.  

ALL proceeds from the sale of this shirt go directly to the communities in S/E Haiti that LQVE HAITI is working with. Dare. You. To. Buy. It. HERE.

The Patient Mom

1 Corintihans 13… “Love is patient…”

In 2014 I asked a few close friends a favor. Whenever they prayed for me throughout that year, I asked them to pray 1Cor 13 over me... love is patient, kind, doesn't envy, boast, keeps no record of wrongs, etc... None of the qualities that the Apostle Paul mentions about love are unimportant, but about a month into the year, I emailed all my friends and said, you know, you can just simplify. When you pray for me, just mention patience. I think there's a reason Paul listed that one first. If I get that one right, all the others seem to get in line. In that respect, it's kind of like the 10 Commandments. If you get the first one right, all the rest just naturally flow. When you love God with all of your heart and put Him first then murdering, thieving, coveting and the rest all decrease. I'm not saying we won’t get sidetracked periodically, but I'm saying loving God and making him our priority gets our posture right; gets us going in the right and natural path. 

Patience gets my posture right. It gets me going in the right and natural path. Patience, to me, is like the smell of the pine trees on the way up a mountain trail. It encourages me to breathe in deeply of the air not polluted by selfishness or jealousy. Patience is like a wide-open space above the tree line where I don’t feel the claustrophobic pressure of envy or anger. Patience is like the giant bull elk my sister and I crossed paths with a few years ago. There, just a few feet in front of us, on the trail the elk stood. Imposing, but so unself-conscious. He didn’t ask to be looked at. He didn’t request a picture. He was not in the least bit self-seeking. 

Quick fix has been the drug of distraction I’ve imbibed in the most. It has been my biggest downfall. With its help, I’ve turned from patience at almost every opportunity. But patience, ironically, has been patient with me. I have learned (and am learning) it actually has my best interest at heart.  

On Mother’s Day, it’s good to be reminded of patience. Moms need healthy amounts of it. Patience when the child makes a mess, when the child cannot find what they are looking for, when they struggle with that relationship, when they get lost, when they take you for granted, when they grow up, when they don’t check in as much as you would like, when life doesn't go as it should, and when you're ready to step into heaven now so you can see your child that's gone ahead of you. But you hang in there. Even more, you love what you do because you know that mothering is the most beautiful job in the world. And it will be rewarded for all eternity. Patience gives you the grace to thrive at being a mother. 

Moms, Happy Mother's Day.

Dream like Quincy or Dream like Columbus

I don’t remember much about Columbus from 4th grade history. Maybe he wasn’t the monster that I now imagine him being. Maybe he was a just a man, poisoned by greed, caught up in a system that was hell bent on using anyone to get what it wanted. Maybe later in his life dreams of the way he hacked his way through the arms of the great trees in Haiti and the arms of its people haunted him. Maybe he repented at his deathbed. Maybe the blame lies with Ferdinand and Isabella who sponsored the trip. Maybe the blame is too large for one king and queen. Maybe the entire continent of Europe was responsible.  

Or... maybe all of us share in the blame. For all of us have known these dreams. All of us have dreamt of power and politics; of militaries and money markets. We label Columbus a villainous conqueror and rightly so, but we have all known of the dream to conquer. Maybe we haven’t dreamt of conquering another country by killing its people. But, we’ve definitely dreamt of conquering our former associate, friend or spouse by killing their reputation through gossip. Maybe we’ve never forcefully taken a sovereign’s throne and began dictating to them how we want them to run their country. But, all of us have acted like little sovereigns ourselves, by forcing our unwanted opinions and judgments upon someone others.  Like water finding the lowest level, these dreams seep down into the caves of our soul infecting our motives and desires. 

Thank God for new dreams; clean dreams motivated not by power but the laying down of power. Dreams not polluted by avarice, but purified by sacrifice. Thank God for the people who came to the New World with bibles and crosses, but refused to carry swords or guns. Thank God for the real missionaries inspired by the real authentic dream. Our daughter didn’t live a long life, but she was captivated by the real dream in a way that will inspire others for their entire lives. It’s obvious the source of her dream was different than the source of Columbus’s dream. Her source was something much purer and higher. As the ocean is fed by the river, kept flowing by the mountain stream, the source of which is the first snow melt on the highest mountain, so Quincy found herself swimming in an ocean of a dream, fed by a river of love, kept flowing by a stream of sacrifice the source of which is the first blood drops at Calvary’s Mountain. 

It’s the snowmelt that brings the greatest oceans. 

And it’s the blood drops that bring the greatest dreams. 

Beauty Hiding and Heaven Suffering

Revelation 21:4 - He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

Heaven’s not a place where we finally get everything we ever wanted in the sense of riches or comforts or the kinds of things we supposed when we were age four. Heaven’s the place where we finally realize all we’ve ever wanted was joy, and that this joy comes at a high price. That all tears will be wiped from our eyes should not lead us to think there will be no awareness of suffering in heaven. When we see the wounds of Jesus we’ll be reminded, and indeed, for the first time be truly made aware, of how costly joy is. The holiness of the wounds will provide the backdrop for a deep, rich and limitless appreciation of joy. Paradoxically the wounds of Jesus will be the most grotesque and beautiful things we ever see. In lesser degrees this will be true for all God’s people. In lesser degrees still, this will be true for the entire heavenly dimension. What a place… all of God’s creation, completely spent, crushed like roses giving off a sweet fragrance.

How extravagant.

How costly.

For joy always arrives by way of suffering.

And beauty is almost always hidden.

And don’t miss this simple, but all-important point… those who find joy and beauty there will be ones looking for joy and beauty here. Look, if you’ve spent your whole life looking for hell, heaven will have no appeal to you. Again, if you’ve used the entirety of your life searching for hell, you won’t want heaven. You’ll want hell. I don’t think for a second that entrance into the next dimension consists of two lines: one full of happy people floating up to the sky and one full of people being drug away kicking and screaming into some fiery cave.

Hell is something you choose.

And heaven is something you choose.

Look for it now so you can recognize it later. Jesus has done all the work, but you still have to look. I'm whispering now... the Kingdom of Heaven is hidden... it's like the smell of bread rising, a treasure buried, a lost lamb, the sacrifice of forgiveness... it's like the body broken and blood shed. It's heaven suffering. 

Are Bad Circumstances a Punishment for Our Sins?

Someone asked me, after hearing about me talk about God's love recently, “I understand God love us, but these bad things going on in our society, and even to us individually, they're a punishment for our sins, right?” Ah… let's take a breath for a second. OK, I do think punishment and discipline are involved in life, but never apart from God's love. God's love changes everything. Truthfully, I don't like questions about punishment and sin, but not because I am afraid of the question, but because I’m suspicious of the vitriolic baggage that accompanies the question. Most people (Christians) that ask these kinds of questions are the kinds of people who are overly concerned with retributive justice, and their idea of God's wrath. This has led Westernized Christianity to emphasize punishment over love; original sin over original grace; and the terror of hell over the beauty of heaven. Is there room in the discussion for punishment, sin and hell? Of course, but love wins. (Foreshadowing alert: love wins!) Some people don’t buy it, though. Especially Christians. Ironically, nothing stirs up hate like a good discussion about love! But, love is integral to this question about punishment. For authentic punishment is not about retributive, vengeful justice. Authentic punishment is about sacrificial justice, that I hasten to add is quick to forgive. 

For example, my wife and I have raised three children. This will be hard for you to believe, but all of them at one time or another were disobedient. But, even in their worst moments, they have never gone unloved. It's amazing, really, If you added up all the years they lived under our roof… let’s see 18, plus 18, plus 15(and counting)… that’s 51 years… In 51 years of parenting, there was never one time when our children were at risk of losing our love. Even in the midst of discipline. My children would have been shocked to learn, that even as they were suffering the discipline brought upon by their wrongful choices, we were already anticipating the moment when the relationship would be restored. We realized in those moments, in many instances, though we were the one wronged; though we were the recipients of their disobedience, we were more eager to forgive than they were to ask for forgiveness!

If this is all true of an earthly parent, is this not true of our heavenly parent? God loves us. God longs to forgive us. I do, of course, believe our choices have consequences. I do think punishment, at times, is involved, but I’ve come to learn we are more punished by our sins than for our sins. (Please consider the implications of the last sentence.) Furthermore, while there is a way to read the Bible that would lead one to think that the God of the Bible enjoys all this punishment, quite simply, it’s the wrong way to read the Bible! I categorically reject the idea that God enjoys punishing us, or to take the whole concept deep into the crux of the issue, that God needed to punish Jesus to figure out how to love us. Jesus didn’t have to die to get God’s attention; rather Jesus died because of his commitment to love. We must understand, or at least wrestle with understanding, that love involves risk. And God risked in Jesus, not because He was angry, but because He is love. This is what love does! So, to attempt to answer the question, “Yes, but aren’t bad things a punishment for our sins?” Yes, bad things can be about punishment, but far less often than we are inclined to think, and they're usually brought on by us and not God, and finally, when they do arrive, they always do so in a context of sacrificial love.