Heart Warming Story

This is a true story from a family from our church. Beautiful!!

"Here is a story of waiting from Tony and Kelsey Thompson, a young couple from our church who have saved money to literally travel around the world for the purpose of giving it away and helping people in need. Here is one of their amazing stories from Tanzania which I've abridged but not edited...

It started off like any other day. Kelsey and I walked over from our hotel room to the tour company across town. When we arrived our tour guide was late so we sat outside & waited for him. We had only been waiting about 5 minutes when we saw a group of about 25 people dragging his man into a side street/ally... they were slapping his face & kicking him... we asked some onlookers what was going on... he had stolen a cell phone & the mob was trying to get it back. Slaps turned to punches & kicks got harder. Soon the man was really beaten & bleeding... the mob size had grown to maybe 35 now... Our tour guide had arrive by now & we asked him to find out more... 5 minutes later he came back..."He doesn't have the cell phone anymore so now they are going to kill him."...at this point we knew we had to do something... We walked over with our guide as a translator & asked the head of the mob, "How much is this cell phone worth to you?" He quickly replied, "$40." I took out $40 & told the mob, "I am paying this man's debt. I want your assurance that he will not be harmed after this." ... the head mob guy nodded, took the money & walked away. The beaten man in front of me broke down, embraced my ankles and wept. I knelt down with him & in front of 40 people I prayed & thanked God for his grace... we prayed... we walked him to a grocery store to get him something to eat... there was a guy sitting next to him about our age. He introduced himself as Julius... is a Christian and would be happy to take in the street person for as long as he could... it turned out his name is Stephen... a kid of 16! His parents died recently... There was a cloths market nearby so we shopped for "all" new cloths for him... went back to Julius' house so Stephen could have a shower...Julius thought it would be a good idea to introduce him to his pastor to see if he could help him get a job...Oh yeah, we we also paid for three months rent for the both of them ($13 a month!)... Stephen spoke up and said he knew how to cut hair... we bought all the supplies while the pastor looked for a business place nearby to keep an eye on him... Business space was $20 a month so we paid for 3 to start off with... we prayed with them and explained to Stephen that it was Christ giving him a second chance and not us. He cried tears of joy & promised that he would work hard & tell people what Christ had done for him. AMEN!

When we met Stephen he had no food, was dirty, was being beaten to death, had no home or friends. In about 24 hours time his debt had been paid, life ad been saved, he was fed & clothed, he had a roommate, pastor & friends & at the age of 16 was the proud owner of a barber shop... All in all to change the life of Stephen it cost about $450 and it was worth every penny.

What would have happened to Stephen if Tony and Kelsey were not waiting outside for their tour guide?

When we wait... we become.

The Question... What are you becoming?"

Life is Getting Busy

It is kinda funny to me because I have worked very hard to have a simplified life. I did just that last year, and now I'm ready to come back to the land of the living. Not that I wasn't living, it's more like everybody else seemed to be busier than me. Anyway, as I am determined to begin a couple of things, others seem to add themselves to my schedule, and it is getting pretty full!! For starters I feel DONE with some things I started last year, and my heart is not in them anymore, but I have committed to them for the rest of the school year. I am ready to move on to my new things that I really want to do.

OK, here are my new things in life:

1) My mediation internship with the Santa Clara County. I am now doing my own mediations, both, in small claims court and victim/offender cases. Learning as I go really. When they tell you hands-on learning, it really means: there is nobody to train you for long, so go at it, make mistakes, and learn from them.

2) My new Spanish class twice a week besides the one I already teach. Yikes!

3) My good friend inviting me to co-teach an Anxiety Management class. This is something I have been praying to do for a long time, am excited about, and I know I am supposed to do, but I wish it had come before I'd committed to more Spanish classes. Oh, well, life will be busy for a few months, then I would need to rearrange my schedule again.

I am getting excited about the future. For a while there I was having a hard time being almost done as a mommy, after having mothered for so many years, a lot of my identity was in that. And even though I am not done yet, I wanted something to look forward to besides grandchildren :)

Good News.

Christa received a letter of acceptance to San Jose City College Cosmetology School today. It took only a year instead of the potential 2 or 3 we were told it could take. She, God willing, will start classes in the Fall. We were all thrilled reading the orientation dates and such, and she is already planning her scheduled new life.

Reality Weekend

I just love it when God brings reality to my life without saying a word. Lately I have been mopping around about my children getting older, and seeing the proximity of empty nesters status fastly approaching. I would reminisce about the good old days when my kids were little, oh that wonderful baby smell, the outings to the park, MOPS, baby showers, birthdays, pink and blue balloons. Little kids's magic world where everything is a new discovery full of laughter and bubbles...

This weekend Christa babysat Friday afternoon through Sunday night for a little boy who is one of her regulars, but first time for 3 days. She came over on Saturday with him and had a wonderful time. He had breakfast with us, then we went to Starbucks -have to teach them young- walked, played, had fun. On Sunday we took him to Church with us and we had to leave the service because he decided he was going to preach louder than the pastor. He cut his little finger on something and shared some of his blood on his and Christa's outfit. I had forgotten that little ones get cranky, dirty, fuzzy, tired, hungry, annoyed, did I say dirty? All the romanticized memories I had of my babies didn't allow for the reality part of the work they took, and would gladly do it all over again, but I no longer have to deal with.

I got up the next day thankful for my teens at the stage they are at in life. I still miss their baby smell but welcome the wonderful kids they are, and can't wait to, someday, be a fun grandma to their kids.

Our Enemy

This Sunday our Pastor talked about the enemy of our soul, Satan. I don't hear much preached about him these days, and as much as I appreciate not giving the devil more than the place he deserves, which is way smaller than our powerful God, I believe that we need to be reminded and be aware of who he is to protect ourselves-"know your enemies." That's one of the many military tactics; to study and know who the battle is against, minimize their strenght and take over their weaknesses. Satan strategies are many: Liar, Accuser, Tempter, Destroyer, and Murderer. Nothing would give him more pleasure than to see us completely destroyed, destitute, and desperate. How sick is that?

One of the many darts the enemy seems to use against us Christian is discouragement. I know for myself that many times I give in to it, and that's exactly where my enemy would like to have me to paralyze me. I need to keep on believing in my heart all the beautiful promises that He has for me, and lodge them there.

"For greater is He who is in us, than he who is in the world."

"For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

And with that, I will rest in Him.