Blog - Logan Wolfram

Progressive Evangelical

March 31, 2014 by Logan 9 Comments

Since I’ve been home from Africa, I’ve been experiencing quite a bit of culture shock. Shock of the selfishness of this culture we live in here in America. Shocked by the ungratefulness that I’ve perpetuated inadvertently and accidentally, and the part I’ve played in even raising the next generation relatively unawares of how good they’ve got it. And then, last week, a firestorm of “evangelical” vs “progressive” thinking all within the CHURCH.

It was enough to make your head spin, even if you didn’t just get back from picking jiggers out of little kids’ feet in rural Africa.

And I have to tell you…while I’m not much of a social commentator, mostly because I don’t feel qualified enough to stand on a soapbox and preach it from any side, the whole firestorm has honestly just left me frustrated with EVERYONE!

Progressives hating on evangelicals….evangelicals hating on progressives…the church eating itself alive and everyone is involved.

It’s just sooo off base… ALL OF IT!

I don’t pretend to know much. I’m not even sure what I think half of the time about all the social stuff out there that appears to be one side or the other. I DONT KNOW!

But I do know this…and I do profess this.

If I’m a follower of Jesus, then that makes me “evangelical.” If I want to see the justice of a loving God span the globe, then it’d stand to reason that would make me “progressive.” But in light of all the extra definitions & stereotyping that seem to reshape the meaning of both of these words in the present, I think I’d rather not be labeled either.

How bout I just follow Jesus and not pretend that I know much more than that?…

Truth is…I’m just gonna love well the person in front of me…and if that doesn’t make me opinionated enough, then to hell with having opinions.

Curious Undoing

March 27, 2014 by Logan 4 Comments

Naked trust
Floundering on tossing seas
Sun glinting in wide eyes
Blinded by what comes ahead

The unseen
Looming in the distance
The unknown
Beckoning

Curious following
Is my undoing
A passionate romp
Betwixt sheets of unfulfilled promise
Yielding elation
Of full living

Exposed

Pathways stretching ahead
Opening into wide expanse
Possibility limitless
Beyond galaxies

I am

A friend sort of challenged me to try poetry…so slightly (ok very) terrified…I did.

I know it’s provocative… but if there’s one thing I’ve been learning…it’s that faith is provocative too.

Un-Done

March 25, 2014 by Logan 14 Comments

“If you have come to help me, then you’re wasting your time.
But if you have come because your liberty is bound up with mine, then walk with me.”
– Lillia Watson

I’ve been home from Uganda for almost 5 days now, and I have to be honest and say that I feel like some part of me is dying. I feel frustrated with myself…with the privilege that I have taken for granted… the excess I’ve allowed to feel normal to my existence…necessary even. I feel a little bit like I’m drowning in a pool that is full of my own depraved doing.

I’m frustrated with my kids…with the selfishness and entitlement that I know we have inadvertently cultivated. I’m frustrated with our society who stops maybe for a couple of hours a month (and that’s often even the generous ones) to do something for someone else. I’m frustrated that I’ve allowed it all to become normal and accepted in my life.

I’m frustrated that I’m as much a part of the problem as anyone else.

And if I’m being honest…I feel angry too. Angry because of hurts I’ve experienced. Angry at myself…my selfishness… my way of living so often. I feel so ugly when I take a tour around the inside of the heart that I’ve allowed to often rule my living. I wish the generosity of my heart that overflowed in Uganda found its way to the outside of my body as easily here… sadly, it doesn’t.

Part of me feels like it’d be easier to pick up and move across the globe… where my own selfishness is more readily met with an inability to satiate it with superficiality.

But here’s the thing… I don’t have the permission of the Lord to move to Africa, or Bangladesh, or whatever other 3rd world country he allows me to visit. I know that my calling is here…to figure out what it looks like to curiously follow Jesus into the things of His Kingdom and to invite whoever wants to read, to live, and to follow along with me. To figure out how to do it here…in the midst of excess and a cycle of much that threatens to suck us in and suck us dry. To take the wild lessons God teaches me in those places and make them real and daily here.

Another celebrity killed herself this week. The glamour of the outside can eat one alive on the inside. I don’t want to fall victim to the false satisfaction of this world instead of the true and full satisfaction of really knowing my Savior.

I don’t know what it looks like to work this all out here…on privileged American soil. I honestly don’t. And please don’t accuse me of being on some sort of post-mission trip high right now either. This frustration is the outpouring of a thing that has been brewing in me for awhile now. I don’t know how to do it…. to undo the patterns of this world that I’ve conformed to, that I’ve disappointingly taught my children to conform to. But I know that this undoing is the very thing that God is calling me into working out.

I confess that I have to stop being angry. I grab hard onto the Jesus-grace that has been poured out for my life and over it…and I need to extend it first to the people in my house…to continuously renew my mind on the things of my good and generous Father.

In realizing so much of this undoing that lies before me…of the freedom that I have yet to grasp… honestly…I am just un-done.

Walk with me? Journey to explore and open up the true liberty that is found not just on foreign soil, but in the heart of God for us? I don’t know what it looks like, but I’m going to figure it out.

Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.
-Prov 16:32

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. – Rom 12:2

Re-Entry…

March 24, 2014 by Logan 4 Comments

Re-entry from a life-changing trip can be hard.

Hard… because the moment I walk through my door, my real life hat with all its responsibilities sits firmly on my head again. Carpools, dinner, kissing boo boos, parenting, and decision making…they don’t wait for jet lag to be gone to come flooding back over me.

It’s a flinging back into reality with little to no time for recovery from the emotional investments and drains of a trip that settled me square in the middle of a 7 hour time difference. It is beautiful to return home, but it doesn’t come without challenges.

We come home and life goes on…

And while I know that I am different returning home from the past 10 days in Uganda, there has to be at least some tangible remain in my thinking…a take-away, so to speak.

One of the beautiful things about a blogging and writing trip is also the thing that often proves to be one of the most difficult. To experience full investment in the moment… to analyze, and turn it around into a coherent and thoughtful post that invites people along (all within about 15 hours) is a stretching, but rewarding process.

Oftentimes in foreign travel, people return home and process for weeks and months to come, but on a writing trip, it is really different because we have to process at least a couple of solid nuggets every single day. We have to learn to extract the lessons and key thoughts, pray and study into them, and regurgitate the takeaways almost immediately.

It is super challenging, but also extremely rewarding to see God continue to give pieces of himself in this way every day.

I’ve been thinking, that I’d like to be more intentional about doing the same thing at home.

One of my BlogHope teammates said the other day that she wasn’t sure she would have time for the same type of thinking every day at home, and I found myself pondering more on the idea of daily nuggets.

For us in Africa, we were removed from household chores, carpools, work, friends, and family, so it’s easier to clear away the clutter to see into the lessons.

But, how much greater would it be for us to learn to seek those nuggets of growth in daily life? When monotonous repetition takes over and piles of laundry are endless, to train my mind to look for the takeaways of my day…to cultivate a mindset of noticing all of the individual moments and lessons, that combined, form a whole day.

I wonder how much more growth I can experience in not just my writing, but in my daily living, when I spend time thinking into the learning moments…the wrecking moments…the profound moments…and the repetitive moments of my life?

Re-entry can be hard, but I find myself wondering if what we miss so much when we come home is really about a loss of life-changing experience, or about the loss of time we spend engaging in our own heart’s learning process?

Farewell Uganda…

March 21, 2014 by Logan 7 Comments

I wrote the following before we left Africa. Internet was spotty when we got back to the Sole Hope House from the Nile River Camp so I ran out of time to post, but I wanted to leave Uganda with these parting thoughts… to leave you with these thoughts…

I’m beyond grateful that you have journeyed with my the past couple of weeks as the eyes of my heart have been opened to see God in a new way.

I’m sitting at a picnic table right now, looking out over the Nile River. Thinking on this time we’ve had and what I’m taking home with me…on what I want to leave you with as I leave this place.

Uganda has wormed its way into my being.

There is also a real possibility that after rope-swinging into the Nile River yesterday, actual worms could have worked their way into my body as well.

The price of adventure I suppose… the price of living with no regrets.

I am different because of my time here.

Of all the hardship that I have seen here…of the tears I’ve shed, and difficultly I’ve swallowed, I need you to know that is not all that I leave knowing of this incredible place.

I leave Uganda with a heart full of hope.

I know the beauty of a land and the beauty of a people that has imprinted my soul.

I am marked by the contagious joy of Betty, Joyce, and Diana who work in the Sole Hope Guest House cooking, cleaning, and tending to the people staying.

I am touched by the kindness of Paul, who serves Sole Hope in Jinja during the week and returns to his family in Kampala on the weekends.

I’m moved by the generosity of Dickson, who at 24 years old and single, has taken in 5 orphans and pays for their school, teaches them how to paint, and gives them hope for a brighter future.

I find myself in awe of Teddy and Lillian who put their nursing skills to work removing jigger after jigger from the tiny feet of the children here… loving and mothering so many who have no mother of their own.

I’m heartbroken for cheerful 12 year-old Dan who was abandoned by his family just 3 weeks ago at the Sole Hope house. Sweet Dan, who stood in court just this week to witness the testimony of his father as he said “I don’t want Dan anymore.” Grateful for Dan…who’s joy is contagious despite the hardship of his young life.

I’m energized by Noonday artisan, Jalia who came to visit us, who’s passion for empowering Ugandan women to feel belonging and responsibility opens doors for real social change.

I’m humbled by the servant hearts of Sole Hope founder Asher Collie and her husband Dru, and of Elisabeth Michal, who left the comforts of long hot showers and personal security in the US to love well the people in front of them here in Uganda. To bend low and raise high the name of our generous Jesus.

I’m in awe of our creative God who varies landscapes across the globe. Our God, who enriches the soil of a land so that it burns with colors of red dirt and lush greenery. Who populates one impoverished country with over 40% of the variety of birds of an entire continent because he oozes with generosity and blessing.

I’m in awe of the kindness of our God to love his people no matter the circumstances. Who burdens hearts with the care of his children across oceans and borders. Who appoints his beloved to humility of service in foot washing and insect removal. Our God who shows off in the smiles of healed children and restored hope.

I am in awe of my God in Africa… and my heart will bring home the new knowledge of Him that has been revealed to me here. He is no different, but He has allowed me to experience other parts of his character that enrich my faith, and encourage my heart in greater understanding of His goodness.

I am ready to see my family. I’m ready to return to my familiar… but I leave knowing that even the familiar will look different because of what the Lord has done in my heart in Africa. The more that I see in this world, the more that I long to walk this life wide-eyed in awe of my Jesus.

And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” And stopping, Jesus called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him. – Matthew 20:30–34

No-Brainer…

March 17, 2014 by Logan 51 Comments

How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” – Is 52:7

My entire body is trembling as I write. Shaking. Tingling. Nearly numb.

I have to write now. You have to know now. For the past 3 hours, I have been holding screaming children in a jigger removal clinic and my heart is shattered into a million pieces. Children the same ages as my own… whose feet were full of these wretched sand fleas and their egg sacs buried deep beneath the skin.

I clung tightly to precious children who screamed in a way that brought my stomach into my throat. I watched chunks of flesh detach as the painful jiggers were removed. Child after child clenching teeth at the beginning and then begging to be held by those of us around. What starts out as accepting a gentle back scratch, turns into a furious grasping for comfort wherever they can find it. A desperate cry to be free of the pain of these despicable insects.

I am absolutely wrecked and emotionally spent. My heart is still beating fast as my stomach threatens to expel all the contents at any given moment. And not only from watching the gruesome process of removal, but from the way my heart is throbbing with the pain I just experienced alongside of them.

At one point 5 of us held 4 year-old Abu who had jiggers in his feet and hands as he screamed out “Mommy!!! Mommy!!” and clung tightly to my arms. His face buried in my own as his tears mingled with mine and fell all over his outstretched legs. I held him tight and kissed his dirty, tear-stained face as a nurse removed jigger after jigger after jigger. His toes were so swollen that they looked to be spread wide from the infection ravaging every part of his foot.

I watched my sweet new friend lose an entire toenail because of the mass amount of eggs buried underneath and infection encompassing every part of his tiny toes. Infection spewed from every open wound in his toes as he writhed in excruciating pain. My heart is cracked wide open and my eyes feel constantly wet from the welling tears that won’t leave.

All they need to prevent this from happening is medical care, education, and a pair of shoes. All they need is a pair of shoes.

A pair of shoes.

And as I sat there broken-hearted, sobbing with these babes, all I could think was “How can anyone not agree to just cut up their old jeans to prevent this?” All it takes is my leftovers…a little bit of my time… and a piece of my heart to love beyond what I can see from the comfort of my own beautiful American home.

I don’t think I can ever view my old jeans the same. I won’t ever view my mass collection of shoes the same. I can’t not do something when I have SO MUCH to give. We have SO MUCH to give. And it’s such a small amount to give to make a difference too. After what I experienced today, I’m not beyond begging you. From the pit in my stomach and the fullness of my heart, I honestly beg you not stand by and do nothing. I beg you to gather people around you…to order a shoe kit and to bring hope to these children.

It’s not just giving shoes….it’s providing medical care… antibiotics, ointments, testing for HIV, Typhoid, Malaria, and other diseases. It’s holding tearful faces and kissing cheeks that don’t have proper care. It’s creating jobs for the shoemakers who for the first time can provide for even their own families. Some of the Sole Hope workers have begun taking in other street children and paying for their school as well. The hearts of all involved with this organization swell with Jesus and want to love their own people with the love that has been shown to them.

With everything that I am, I stand behind what Sole Hope is doing here in Uganda. They breathe love, and Jesus, hope, and new life. They give children back a childhood where they can run and play without pain. They open doors and create life-giving opportunities for workers and staff.

I cannot say enough good about what I have seen here. My words fall short.

So often from where we sit in America, it can feel like we are asked to give money…and more money and more money. And the truth is that we actually do have so much money that we can give. But there is something so special about becoming a bigger part of the story. About seeing a pair of my own jeans cut up with friends and family and then made into a pair of shoes. About holding the children as they cry, about loving on them, about seeing them educated, sharing the love of Jesus with them, and giving shoes made from items in my own home.

The children here are wearing pieces of your blessing… wearing bits of your generosity. They are given back childhood because of your cut up pants.

It’s a no-brainer.

If they were your children, wouldn’t you want someone who has piles of extra pants at home to cut up a few pairs to help your kids?

Please. Please. It’s just so simple… and so totally life-giving.

For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. – Ps 116:8–9

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” – Rev 21:3-5

If you’d like to help provide extended recovery for some of these children, please join with me, Allume, Sole Hope, and Pure Charity as we partner together to make the Sole Hope Outreach House Project a reality!

Want to host your own shoe cutting party? It’s easy, fun, and will change lives. I promise..I see it. Go HERE to order a shoe cutting kit!

Be sure to follow all the other amazing gals on our trip by clicking this link: ‪#‎bloghope‬

**Photos by Cara Coleman

Love Well

March 15, 2014 by Logan 15 Comments

Last year when I got back from travel in a 3^rd world country, someone asked me what I wanted to do differently once I was home. I thought for awhile and said,

“I’m not really sure what I want to do differently… I think I just am different.”

I’m not charting an obvious action plan right now of what I think I need to do when I get home in less than a week. Any list I’d craft would honestly seem superficial to me and likely short lived.

But, it doesn’t take long to know that after 48 hours of insane travel to get here and 3 days with my feet stained from the red earth we’ve been traveling… I just am different.

My dear friend Laura Parker shared a story with me about a year and a half ago that I can’t get out of my mind. It’s the first thing on my mind every single day I’m here. I ponder it often at home too.

I want to be defined by it…

A few years ago, she and her husband were missionaries in Southeast Asia working in a girls’ home. Their first year was hard and so they were naturally thrilled when they had a chance to meet with some missionaries who had been in the field in nearby Burma for something like 25 years. Maybe they would be encouraging, offering relief from the reality and hardship of daily life in a foreign country with 3 small children.

So Laura asked the women what had been on her heart…

“What advice would you give to brand new missionaries in the field after all these years?”

The woman hardly paused before turning to Laura to say,

“When we first came here I asked the Lord to give me a list of things I could do for Him. And almost immediately I heard him say the first thing…

‘Love well the person in front of you.’

And 25 years later…He has never given me a #2.”

There is no #2…

There is no #2.

Love well the person in front of you.

Meeting needs.

Playing games.

Holding a hand.

Taking a meal.

Pushing outside of our comfort zone…

Listening closely…

Crying together…

Celebrating…

Love well the person in front of you.

Amazima097

Cut up our excess.

Create jobs.

Make shoes.

Provide medical care and education.

Give from our own blessing.

Give of ourselves.

Live free.

I want to love well the person in front of me.

That my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints,so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company – Rom 15:32

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” – Gal 5:13-14

be sure to follow all the other amazing gals on our trip by clicking this link: ‪#‎bloghope‬

*Thank you to Katie Davis and Amazima Ministries for allowing us to see some of the work they are doing and to be a part of how they live every day…loving well the people in front of them.

**Photos by Asher Collie, Wandering with Mary, Erika Riggs, and Wynne Elder

Losing My Religion

March 14, 2014 by Logan 23 Comments

Oh Life, it’s biggerIt’s bigger than youAnd you are not meThe lengths that I will go toThe distance in your eyesOh no, I’ve said too muchI’ve said enough– REM “Losing My Religion”Yesterday, we went to a baby home where Sole Hope has cultivated a relationship.

I’m not sure what I was expecting… and the truth is that I’ve never actually been into a children’s home…into an orphanage.

I woke up in the middle of the night crying about it.

When I was in Bangladesh last January with Food for the Hungry, we met very few orphans because the family units there naturally absorb children into their own families if the parents die or leave. It’s a culture that is truly, “no child left behind.”

It’s not always the same here.

Here, in Uganda, if one parent dies or leaves and the other parent remarries, it is the new spouse’s prerogative whether or not to keep the prior relationship’s child as their own. And the truth is that when abandonment is suddenly a culturally accepted option, many choose it.

Extreme poverty plays a massive role here too. Parents can’t afford to care for their children, so they drop them off in baby homes where at least they will be fed. And before we’re tempted to look through an American lens and get kinda judgey, know that it’s not a matter of irresponsibility either. In a place where birth control is both expensive and inaccessible, it’s just not a possibility. Pregnancy is the natural byproduct of sex… and just like everywhere else in the world, people in Uganda are having it.

And so babies and children are left on doorsteps, dropped at homes, and left to fend for themselves or die.

I can’t imagine leaving my children. Can you?

Dropping them off and never looking back.

Break my heart for what breaks yours, Lord…

We all left the baby home yesterday pretty bleary eyed and broken-hearted.

It’s true what they say… ignorance really is bliss.

I cannot unsee what I saw. And once you see, you can’t ignore.

It’s not even about negligence, it’s about being wildly outnumbered. With so many children to care for, even the precious women who work at the baby home are working so short handed. 35 kids between the ages of newborn and 3 all in one home, with even half a dozen capable caretakers, and it’s nearly impossible to keep up. Toss in disability, health issues, colds and flu passing around like wildfire, and you’re starting at a crazy disadvantage.

I can’t forget this:

Taking a balloon out of a baby’s mouth.

Babies lying in their own urine soaked clothing.

Worrying about littles on blankets sprawled in the warm sun …4 full-grown goats on the property running between them.

Watching those same goats run into the kitchen and defecate on the floor.

A baby with a plastic bag on her head as a hat.

Putting a child into a crib and not knowing the next time she would be snuggled.

Raw flesh from a violent rash on one child’s bottom.

Precious faces I stroked, backs I rubbed, babies that cooed at me.

The one sweet face that woke me up in tears last night.

I can’t forget… and I don’t want to forget.

There is enough seen hardship here to make you think about losing your religion.

I don’t want the privilege that I live in at home to stain my ability to see clearly the face of God amongst those less fortunate.

Seeing God here is almost simpler. It’s not convoluted or political.

It’s holding babies without mommies and daddies and kissing them the same as I would my own children.

It’s meeting needs and loving big.

It’s picking jigger eggs from tiny feet, bandaging wounds, and fitting shoes made from my old pants.

I see God’s love so clearly here.

I can be the face of God so clearly here.

Seeing God here… seeing MY God here… it’s not what will make you lose your religion…

It’s what will help you find it.

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. – James 1:27

be sure to follow all the other amazing gals on our trip by clicking this link: ‪#‎bloghope‬

Available…

March 13, 2014 by Logan 31 Comments

I made it to Uganda! And let me tell you that it was nothing short of a miracle to get a new passport and then onto a flight that only had 1 seat left. Moment after moment, I saw the faithfulness of God hovering over every step to get me here.

I have to believe that with that much standing in my way, trying to keep my feet from walking this red dirt, God must have something great for me here because plans of the Lord are known to Him. He makes no mistakes… and those plans are to prosper us…to give us future and hope.

So I with a joyful heart and tearful eyes… His plans did indeed include getting me here.

* * *

Today we went into the village of Wakisi where Sole Hope has recently cultivated a relationship through a connection to the local chairman. The moment we drove into the village, hundreds of young children, wearing brightly colored yet tattered school uniforms, began to jump up and down and wave to us.

The light in their eyes gave way to joyful smiles and laughter as we exited the vans and began to set up the stations for the shoe clinic.

Small stools sat opposing long wooden benches with basins of soapy water spanning the divide between. Basins of clean water, soap, and scrub brushes promising newness and hope for the worn and sometimes deformed feet of these precious children.

The washing station…where we stooped low to become the hands and feet of Jesus.

Scrubbing caked-on dirt, gently splashing water to clean open sores, rubbing soap into crevices,

and sometimes tickling tiny toes to elicit a smile or laughter.

As I bent over the feet of the children today, my heart was humbled to commune in this way with my beloved Jesus, who said to Peter in John 13:8, “If I do not wash your feet, you have no part with me.”

As we stooped low, He was elevated high through our love and care of His babes in Wakisi. We took part in the person of Jesus today… we became the tangible love of our first love… and the humility I saw on the faces of the women stooped beside me was among the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.

Sometimes we could feel the bumps as we washed…indicating the infestation of jiggers into the calloused skin of their small feet. As my fingers rubbed over each bump, my heart broke as I knew the pain that it caused, and the shame they carry because of the belief that jiggers are a sign of witchcraft…a supposed cursing of God’s beloved.

Once a child’s feet are washed, he or she is carried to the second station where the jiggers are removed using sterilized safety pins and small razor blades.

Many of the children’s faces were tough and nearly stoic as workers carefully removed 3-4 millimeter egg sacs from the soles of their feet and between their toes. Some of the cases were worse than others, with chunks of flesh attached around the egg sacs, leaving gaping holes where the insects had taken up residence.

All of the children we treated today were between probably 5-8 years old. Nearly the same ages as my own children.

And my mama heart broke, and salty tears streamed as I lifted sobbing child after child into my lap and told them in their native language Luganda, “I will comfort you.”

When the removal was finished, we carried the children to the shoe fitting station where each child received a new pair of shoes made from durable American denim.

Something happens in that transition…when shame and pain are left in the trash bins with removed egg sacs and bloody gauze.

Joy returns as a new freedom is found…as a new hope is restored.

You’ve turned my tears of sadness into such joy and gladness…my heart can’t keep it in, I’m shouting…shouting! *

Sometimes…with the Lord…availability is the only real ability that we can offer.

Want to help and be a part of this amazing work that Sole Hope is doing?! Host a shoe cutting party and turn your old jeans…the fat jeans you’re proud to be out of…or the skinny ones from high school that are in all honesty a distant memory…into shoes for the children of Uganda. Turn your excess into their hope for a joy filled future. Give them back the childhood that foot related disease robs them of enjoying.

I see heaven, invading this place,

I see angels, praising your Holy name

And I sing praises, I sing praises,

I give you honor, Worthy Jesus

I see Glory, Falling in this place.

I see hope restored, healing of all disease.

And I sing praises, I sing praises,

I give you honor, worthy Jesus **

be sure to follow all the other amazing gals on our trip by clicking this link: ‪#‎bloghope‬

*In your Light – Bethel Live

** Brian and Katie Torwalt – I See Heaven

Waiting…

March 11, 2014 by Logan 7 Comments

I woke up at 4am on the floor of a sweet friend’s house who made a home for me in the midst of the chaos of the past few hours …wondering, praying, and feeling hopeful that maybe I could still go to Uganda. As I lay awake and praying, I kept hearing the Lord say “wait.”

So I opened my Bible on my phone and started searching “wait on the Lord”… and ya’ll. Look what I came across over and over and over.

Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
all you who wait for the Lord! – Ps 31:24

Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord! – Ps 27:14

Wait for the Lord and keep his way,
and he will exalt you to inherit the land – Ps 37:34

But for you, O Lord, do I wait;
it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.- Ps 38:15

He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint. – Is 40:29-31

For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we await for it with patience- Rom 8:24-25

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living!
Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord! – Ps 27:13-14

Be strong, be courageous…inherit the land…run and not be weary…be strong, take courage…wait for the Lord.

There is boldness and courage that happen in the waiting friends. Waiting isn’t passive…it’s an active pursuit of greater faith, deeper love, and increased strength. It’s a steeping of onesself in thankfulness…an override of joy inexplicable…to squelch the disappointments of things gone awry with the heaps of blessings that still surround.

Waiting is growing.

Waiting is brave.

But make no mistake about it… waiting is hard.

But while I wait, I hope.

SO this morning, I woke up early and went to the passport office to stand in line and pray that I could get in. And the kindness of the Lord hovered over every single step…over every person I encountered…and at 2pm today, my dear friend Amena is going to take me to pick up a brand new passport!!!!

I AM GOING!

I am booked on a flight leaving tomorrow night…but the travel agent suggested that I go today and try to fly standby because there are plenty of tickets on the flight tonight. So please join me to pray that the favor of the Lord continues to go before me…that the kindness of the Lord paves the way with each of his children that I encounter today…and that I can be to Uganda just 24 hours behind the others….because friends, while I wait…I hope.