BST's Blog

Yesterday was one of those really unbelievable days that I don't want to forget. What a day! Amazing things, my friends. I want to write about it but only to tell you how God can answer prayers in an immediate way. I think sometimes I get so used to waiting for answers from Him that I forget that He is completely capable of answering in the immediate.

First, let me share another funny story I forgot to mention about the ride to school. I had both of the girls with me and Ella was rummaging through her Easter basket from her class at church Wednesday night. There was an egg with marshmallows inside. She opened them and I told her that she could only eat one and she could give one to Maddie and that was IT. About 5 minutes later, I hear that same egg being re-opened very slowly--so I waited. About 10 seconds later I said, "Ella, are you eating those marshmallows that I told you not to eat???" She said, "Umph nah eaing amphythin" The girl had her mouth so full of marshmellows it was like the old chubby bunny game. Hilarious. It was one of those moments when I should have gotten on to her for fibbing, but I could not bring myself to stop laughing enough to be serious.

OK--on to the rest of the day. I am officially sick with another cold. For the love. Well, I was feeling awful and decided to take off around lunch and go to see Hotel Rwanda. I hadn't seen it yet and since I was thinking about showing it at Otter, I decided to preview it. It was one of the most powerful movies I have ever, EVER seen. I think it impacted me almost as much as the Passion movie. I bawled.

At one point in the movie, while the journalists were still allowed in Rwanda, one of them filmed one of the brutal massacres. I'm taking MASSACRE--with machetes. The hotel manager tearfully thanked him for capturing that on film so that the world could see and help. The journalist sadly looked at him and shook his head saying people would barely notice. The manager exclaimed, "How can people see this and not intervene??" The journalist replied, "Most people will see this, stop eating, shake their heads and comment on how sad it is and then resume their dinner." How true that was. The saddest part is that most of the governments knew what was happening and did little to help. Finally, many of them escaped to Zimbabwe, but not before more than a million people were killed.

I remember when the African Children's Choir came to Otter back in the late 90's. Some of those children were orphans from this conflict who had watched their parents get murdered. Some had burrowed underneath dead bodies so as not to be found by those doing the killing. What horrible wounds of the heart and mind!

I drove home in tears, sobbing to the Lord. I felt such a sense of sorrow. What could we have done? What can we do now? What does this mean for me today in Nashville, TN? How can my eyes be opened to suffering? How can I climb outside my little sheltered world? Still feeling very yuck, I pulled onto our street and saw the people moving in right across from us. I went across the street to introduce myself. They were clearly not Tennesseeans (or Texans, for that matter). I asked where they were from--guess where? Zimbabwe. WOW!! I had just been praying for God to open my eyes--Jason and Anna Maria are DELIGHTFUL! He has finished his doctorate and is here to plant a church for those from different nations in Africa. I helped them unload the car and then invited them to dinner. Sheryl was cooking up something special for our other friends, the Greens, who were also in the moving process (which we hate and completely feel for anyone in that place). She was more than happy to throw on some more food.

I asked Jason what else I could do for them. He reluctantly told me that his movers needed a ride home and he had to go the opposite direction to pick up his children. He wondered if I could take these guys home. They were characters--I am here to tell you. They climbed in and we took off for East Nashville (deep east nashville). You would not believe the conversations we had along the way. They were hilarious. They were quizzing me about my job and what makes me tick and on and on. I have never, ever felt so white. The guy sitting shotgun asked me if he could change the radio station. I told him to go for it. All of a sudden this rap song came on...

My woman's in the kitchen
cookin up a meal
I get up off 'de couch
so I can go and cop a feel.
(You can't make this stuff up. Thankfully, I can't recall the rest of the verse--is it called a verse in rap???)

chorus: Doin' it in the kitchen
Oh yeah, doin it in the kitchen.

Ummmm. yeah. So, I had to laugh about this. They laughed too and we turned off the radio-- I sure wasn't going to make their heads spin by going from rap to ZOE. We had a good talk before I dropped them at their respective homes.

I got home and vomited all this information on Sheryl--the movie, my prayer, all these crazy open doors smacking me in the face, and shared my excitement about what God could be doing. Somehow, and if you know me you know what a miracle this is, God gave me energy and strength even while feeling terrible. A little later, Jason, Anna Maria, and two of their 4 kids came over for dinner. I was so excited. We were all excited. God had brought us some new neighbors from a very far away place. Something cool was bound to happen.

We ate dinner and laughed about various things. There was a tiny bit of a language barrier but not enough to make a huge difference. Their younger two kids were the ones with them--11 and 14. They were really amazing kids. Turns out Jason was a journalist during the Rwandan conflict. He told me stories that would make you lose sleep.

I kept shaking my head at the Lord all night. In one afternoon, this delightful couple had entered our lives. We prayed together, told stories of our families, and pledged to take care of each other as neighbors should. I think I will learn a lot from Jason as he reaches a community of people in Antioch who I would otherwise probably never know. I know God opened this door for me--to show me that things like this are more than serendipities. He is in control and orchestrates things in our lives to strengthen our faith and love for Him.

Last night I didn't save a Rwandan orphan. I didn't stand between a Tootsie and a Hutu and demand peace. I wasn't able to sneak 800 refugees across the border. But, I was able to share a meal with a family who I believe will bring many wonderful experiences into our lives. It was hard not to feel like this was a really cool opening chapter in a book I have needed to read and experience for a long time now.

I'll leave you with two things today. First--go see Hotel Rwanda before it leaves the theaters. Second, keep praying for open eyes. I forget to, but am always amazed at what happens as God answers those small prayers.

Please don't leave me any anonymous "let your deeds be done in secret" type of comments. This has nothing to do with me and EVERYTHING to do with Him. We have got to tell stories of His faithfulness to each other so that we remember and know what a mighty God we follow.

Here's a quote from Mother Teresa that my mom shared with me. I thought it was really cool.

I never look at the masses as my responsibility.
I look at the individual.
I can love only one person at a time.
I can feed only one person at at time.
Just one, one, one.
You get closer to Christ by coming closer to each other.
As Jesus said, "Whatever you do to the least of my brethern, you do to me."
So you begin....I begin.
I picked up one person---
maybe if I didn't pick up that one person I wouldn't have picked up 42,000.
The whole work is only a drop in the ocean.
But if I didn't put the drop in, the ocean would be one drop less.
Same thing for you
same thing for your family
same thing in the church where you go
just begin...one, one, one.

Have a great weekend. If you get a moment, please pray for my health. I feel worse today. Thanks!