by jeannie | Nov 30, 2015 | Blog, buildingaboat, push to costarica site |
We head back to Austin in a few weeks for the first time since leaving. It’s the last place we considered home. Anticipating many questions, I’ve had a mind full, wondering how to adequately describe our first year and ½ in a new culture, language, team and life rhythm. I don’t think there’s a great way to encompass it all. It was both beautiful and heartbreaking. It was the hardest year of our life, and it was worth it. It’s taken us this long to acknowledge and accept many things about this journey and that acceptance has only come from God himself. Again, Jesus has again been enough, more than sufficient. As we wrestled through the costs, the emotional, spiritual, financial, and physical, we know that after an honest moment with Jesus, it’s not our costs we should be concerned about. But our flesh wants to count them over and over… Our heart wants to be known, understood, even just listened to… But this isn’t always a reality for any of us. God didn’t promise us this would be comfortable or that we’d understand or enjoy all aspects of this journey. But he does promise that He loves us. His purposes will not get derailed in the most dysfunctional of circumstances. I came to a realization over the past several months that I actually can do anything through Christ Jesus. I get it wrong all the time, but his power is available to me. I can be kind even when I want to scream. I can trust him to effect change. I don’t have to seek my own justice....
by jimmy | Jun 20, 2015 | Blog, buildingaboat |
One year ago today…..we got on a plane and arrived here in Costa Rica. We began a journey that as I look back on it a year later seems it is only beginning. We have experienced so much over the past year that it is impossible to quantify in a post. We have learned to speak a new language. We are learning so much about this new culture. We have made friends in a new school and continue to search out a church home. We are in our third trimester of language school and while we have learned a ton of Spanish, this trimester has been by far the hardest of the three. We are both ready to be done with school. The amount of rules and ideas are just simply overwhelming. It is hard to imagine that we will ever be able to speak fluently but we know only time here in the culture will fill in the gaps in our language. We are told we are doing great and that is a huge blessing to have friends willing to help correct and improve our language. Our meetings are now in Spanish and it is amazing to be sitting in a meeting and finally be tracking along and speaking at the pace of the meeting. It is hard to explain, but when you are in a meeting with Nationals your brain just kind of switches over to Spanish and you find yourself thinking in Spanish. It is without a doubt one of the cooler experiences in my life. We are in a season of huge blessing from our...
by jeannie | Apr 14, 2014 | Blog, buildingaboat, missions, push to costarica site |
“How does this make any sense?” I asked over and over sitting on the edge of the bed one day a few summers ago in Nicaragua. I kept asking God how he could possibly use a family of Americans in a different culture. So clearly seeing how irrelevant we seemed there, and how stripped of everything familiar. And after all the wrestling with Him, we came home to the same questions from family and friends. But his answer is always the same. He is enough. He is sufficient for our weak faith and lack of vision. We have been asked about why we would leave the comforts of the United States. Why Costa Rica? Why wouldn’t we stay closer to home and serve those here instead? We love that people care, and are authentic enough to ask. We love that they love us so much, that they wonder why we would go and need to question us. So much need here, so much going on presently in our own culture. And while the reality of our leaving sets in, we are still convinced this is what God has next for us. We haven’t deserted our own, and chosen others as more valuable. We are just doing the next thing. The next ‘yes.’ Because when God invites you to something, no matter how impossible, the only answer is yes. Need is everywhere, it always has been. But need doesn’t determine our call; God determines our call. It’s his work, not ours. We know that God continues and desires to grow and build up the amazing community of people we are...
by jeannie | Feb 27, 2014 | Blog, buildingaboat, missions, push to costarica site |
We leave for Costa Rica in 4 months. Sometimes people that don’t know us very well seem to think we’ve figured something out that they haven’t. I don’t think that’s true, but if it’s anything, it’s this. We are weak, and God is strong. And at the end of each day, it’s about what team you’re on not whether you’re always getting it right. And the reality is none of us are capable of such a life, regardless of how much we try. At some point, we all face our own brokenness, lack of faith, or lose hope. I imagine for simplicity I could just write about why Jesus is the answer to all of that. And He is. But really, what I think is more important, is that we all have a shared narrative. I don’t think God really needs me to tell anyone how I’ve figured it out, since I haven’t. But maybe He wants me to share more about how I never really ever got it right. About how grateful we all should be that it’s not up to us. About how it’s all about his mercy. I think he wants me to share how much we’re all really the same. For those that just don’t see how living for Jesus makes sense, maybe we have more in common than you’d think. There are so many different perceptions of freedom. Some are true and some aren’t. But I think we’re all trying to get more of it. Sometimes I think about the darkest parts of my own story, and I grieve it again. I don’t need...
by jimmy | Oct 26, 2013 | buildingaboat, buildingaboat |
John 20:21 – Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” I want to tell you about one of the best Christmas gifts I ever got from my parents. I asked for a remote control car. The one that’s bad to the bone; not like the simple forward and reverse kind. AIR. I want this thing to catch air. Christmas morning comes around and I am so jazzed up and ready. I knew that after presents I was going to be building ramps and jumping stuff by 2 p.m. that afternoon. I got the present I wanted. I knew which one it was. I had scoped them out in Hobby Lobby for months. Even though I knew what was inside, I played it cool anyway. When I unwrapped the box, there it was. Oh, yeah, the Hornet. I double checked the cover. YES. Awesome. I raced to the front room and opened the box. 100 million pieces. The car was not even recognizable. It had no form. There was nothing there, not even a tire to roll around. Everything had to be put together. I burst into tears, devastated. It was not what I wanted. We are pretty good at knowing what we want. For years, we did the Jimmy and Jeannie plan. We worked to get what we wanted. The school we wanted. The house we wanted. The life we believed was for us. But it wasn’t until I got on my knees that I got what I needed. As I sat there crying on...
by jeannie | Jan 11, 2013 | Blog, buildingaboat |
“Guard well this gift I have planted in your heart.” In reading this today, I immediately had thought after thought flooding my mind. How the recognition of each gift, and the awareness of its value are crucial to my walk with Jesus, and my peace in Him. What is the gift? While the list could be lengthy, I think we could just say it’s Himself. This seems important to remember as many of us want to see change in our world. With so many things in the world being so difficult to understand, values, our nation’s direction, I think maybe it’s becoming clearer to all of us, the only answer really is that in our best efforts alone, we are helpless, and that the only answer is to rest in Jesus. All knowledge is His. I was reading Psalm 46 this morning, and was reminded that for those of us seeking refuge in Him alone, we genuinely need not fear anything. “God is our refuge and strength an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way.” -Psalm 46:1-2 Two nights ago our small group discussed our burdens and our hope for change in our nation, and our world. We discussed everything from the heart of people, how the church has been fragmented and broken, what we can do about it, and arriving each time back in agreement: Pray, do the little things God asks of us, and rest in the truth that He is who he says He is. It’s really all we have. Our small group may be one of the...
