here am i

I'm not sure what to write about. Three things stick out to me right now: the Haiti earthquake, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Isaiah 6:8. What do these things have in common?

This blog is about my trip to Peru, but it is also about living a life where boldness in difficult situations is standard. About a life where the Lord is constantly using me in others' lives everyday, not just while I'm in Peru. He's been faithful in that. I pray that all the people assisting those in Haiti would be strong enough to love in such a broken place.

MLK Jr. represents the Civil Rights Movement. Racial equality in America would not have come so far without his leadership. The Lord used him as a bold force in securing rights for black Americans. In a 1958 speech to the United Church of Christ, King said, "An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity." I hope we all realize how true that is.

In Isaiah: "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!" Oswald Chambers said when Isaiah heard the Lord's call "there was nothing else for him but to say...'Here am I, send me."

The believers helping in the Haiti relief effort heard the Lord ask, "Whom shall I send?" King heard the Lord calling him to something greater than himself. If we listen to the Lord and are willing to be used by him, he will send us. Not necessarily into a earthquake devastated country or to fight government enforced segregation. He calls each of us to our own unique mission.

I'm going to Peru in 6 months and 13 days. I pray that my heart allow God to do his work there, not my own. Here am I.

UPDATE 2:18pm - My Aunt Patty donated by check. So, I deposited it into my bank account and tried to transfer it to my ChipIn page so the total would be updated. PayPal wouldn't let me do it because I own the ChipIn page. So instead I deducted the $100 donation from the total I need to raise. Now ChipIn says I need to raise $4,900 instead of &$5,000. Leave a comment if that doesn't make sense or you have questions.