The Crazy Ones

I know it's been quite a while since I’ve updated, right? Yeah, life has been crazy…

So let me catch you up. I’m going to India on a short term mission trip – which is the reason for this blog post…

In the last three months, multiple friends have told me I’m crazy. A doctor who gave me a typhoid shot told me pretty much the same thing. My dad echoed too, partly serious/partly kidding – emphasis on the serious part. It’s a sentiment I’ve been hearing a lot lately.

They say I’m crazy because I’m going to India for a mission trip in just a few weeks – and I’m beyond thrilled. But everyone around me seems to just focus on how “insane” and “out of the norm” it is.

But is it really?

Because I don’t think it is.  India is a place that’s been on my heart for months, since August and maybe before then. I have no clue as to why, but India suddenly began to fill my heart and mind and prayers. Within a few weeks, prayers for India turned into prayers about how I was going to serve India.
I knew God wanted me there for a short term mission trip. I wasn’t sure when, I wasn’t sure how. But I was going to go. So the search began for an organization or group or something that would let me go.

By New Years, I’d turned in an application to go on a trip with Crossroads Worldwide. Now, I leave in less than a month, to spend 16 days in the land that’s been on my heart for months. It’s a good thing – and I know that it’s exactly where God’s leading me.

People are saying I’m crazy because I’m spending my own money and time to go to an area that isn’t exactly a prime vacation. But is it really crazy to go where God’s directs? Is it really crazy to spend money to make the prayer “your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven” a reality, by using the resources He already provided for it to take place? Is it really crazy to step out in faith for a couple of weeks?

See, I get that people who don’t know Jesus think it’s crazy. That I understand. Because if you don’t know and love Jesus, it really doesn’t make sense. But the ones who are saying “crazy” know Jesus. They follow Jesus – but I think they’re missing it. If non-Christians are saying “Wow, Casey, that’s an incredible opportunity!” and “What a great way to see the world!” and “You’ll have such an impact!” then why are my own brothers and sisters in the faith telling me it’s unusual?

Shouldn’t the followers of Jesus be the ones who leap out in faith? Shouldn’t the ones who know and love Jesus want to do whatever He tells us even if it means a little sacrifice? Shouldn’t my brothers and sisters be cheering me on in this crazy dream?

I’m okay with being labeled as “crazy.” Maybe it is crazy, if examined with the wrong perspective. But this is where God wants me, and I’m resting in that.

Besides, Jesus' family even thought He was crazy at one point. In fact, most God-followers are known for doing things that aren’t quite normal: people leaving everything they’ve ever known to follow God, giving up dreams, finding better things waiting then what they left behind. It’s crazy – but it’s no less true. Jesus said if we’re really His followers, we’ll do what He commands.

And at the moment, that command is taking me to India.
Want to join me in the crazy?

Love,

Casey

P.S. If you would pray for me and my team, I would appreciate it! We’re going to be doing a lot in those sixteen days, and prayers for both our unity and alignment with God’s desires for the trip are key right now! I still need to come up with a lesson for part of the VBS that I’m helping to lead, as well as a devotion to lead with the women, and I’m coming up with ideas for a craft for the VBS group as well. I covet your prayers and thank you in advance!

Under Renovation

I transferred to a new church - with some amazing people in it - a few months back. I left a “mega-church” to attend a recently-started, English-speaking church in a predominantly Spanish area. A few weeks before I officially transferred, Forward Fellowship Church was able to obtain a new building to hold services in, instead of the community center we’d been renting on Sundays. The place looked great on the outside: four strong walls, a good roof, centralized location… But inside – it was empty, and it was a wreck.

Merriam-Webster defines “renovate” as:
1. : to restore to a former better state (as by cleaning, repairing, or rebuilding)

2. : to restore to life, vigor, or activity

We needed to renovate the building to make it fit for the life, vigor and activity that we dreamed would take place there. For weeks, people would come together and do just that. We tore out walls; we broke some things down and built others up. We rewired the electric, water and lights. We threw out the junk that hindered our goals by the truckload, and made some of the good things even better. The empty building began to be filled with new things that fit our purpose: flooring, chairs, tables, paint – just a few of the materials we needed to make it what it was supposed to be.

I’ve known Christ as my savior for seven years, and in that time, He’s renovated. He’s renovated me in order to make me fit for the life, vigor and activity that He dreams will take place within me. He’s torn out my self-righteousness; He’s broken down my temper and built up my love for others. He’s rewired the way I think, the way I speak, the way I act. He’s slowly but surely throwing out the junk that hinders the goals He has for my life, and He’s made the “good things” I did for my own glory become things that now I want to do for His glory. He took my empty life and began to fill it with new things that fit His purpose: patience, joy, mercy, passion for Him – just a few of the tools needed to make me into who I’m supposed to be. He’s renovating my life.

Forward Fellowship still has a long way to go before we’re finished with the entire building. There’s an entire room in the back that’s not being used: it’s filled with things that need to be taken out, removed and changed to become all that we confidently hope it will be. There are places where we still need to finish the floorboards. Total renovation is a slow process. In the same way, Jesus is still working on me, quietly – and sometimes not so quietly – hammering away at things that have to be removed. My pride, my apathy, my sometimes-tentative trust in His plan – those things and more are being slowly knocked out, worked on and repaired as needed.

That renovation is also called sanctification; becoming more conformed to Christ as He works in my life. Sometimes it’s painful. Sometimes it’s freeing. But it’s always bringing me closer to the life, vigor and activity that He plans for me.

“In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1: 4-6

So He keeps working away at my heart and life, and will continue to do so until I finally die. He loves me too much to leave me empty and broken. He loves me too much not to renovate.

Under the renovation of Christ,
Casey

Word and Deed

“Hey you do the sign language at church right? I see you every Sunday morning…”

“Aren’t you the waitress at the BBQ restaurant down the street?”

“Weren’t you that interpreter from the conference two months ago?”

All of these questions were posed to me recently. All of them are true, all of them said in a very sweet manner. But let me be honest: I have no freakin’ clue about who these people are.

The church that I attended from fourth grade until the end of August has several thousand people, so when people recognized me, it was normal for me not to know who they are. But, the guy who told me he’d seen me signing was in my new church, where we have a little less than seventy people attending… but I’ve never seen the guy before. The couple who asked if I was a waitress – yeah, also no idea who they are. They didn’t even seem familiar, but they knew me. The one who asked about the conference – I don’t even remember that job except that there were Deaf people in the audience, the lights were too bright and I was precariously balanced for six hours.

So what’s my point?

These people noticed and remembered me for my actions. They remembered that I do ASL, that I am a server, and that I’m an interpreter. They recognized who I was based on my actions.

I think that’s how Christ wants us to be. Every action, every word, every move that I make should reflect Jesus to the people who see me. If I've known someone for six months and they don't know I follow Christ by my words/actions, they deserve an apology.

I don’t like speaking in public. I am not the type of girl that’s going to be standing on the corner preaching about the salvation of Jesus. It’s just not going to happen unless God gives me a personality switch – but I can still be a witness for Christ.

I want to live out the gospel. I want people to look at my actions and words, and be compelled to recognize that God is working in my life. It’s said that actions speak louder than words; if my actions match the actions of Jesus, they’ll be louder than any words I could ever vocalize.

It’s an awesome concept: being the gospel of Jesus instead of just talking about it. It’s a two-edged sword of course. When my actions don’t line up with Jesus, when I don’t represent him in how I live, I’m not showing Him to my friends.

This isn’t something I have mastered. I’m a continuous work in progress in matters of grace and faith. Will you pray for me, as I aim to suite my actions to my words? I’ll be sending up prayers for you, too.

"Preach the gospel at all times. If necessary, use words."

- St. Francis of Assisi

In word and deed,
Casey