Mr. Heal: H-I-L-L

Welcome home to Marvell, AR. As we drove across the border the five of us all screamed in excitement about our new home for the year. Not knowing yet what I was getting into I was excited and nervous all at once. Southern living is a new experience for me. Some things I have learned:
1) You need to add a few more syllables to your words
example: "Mr. H___ was going...." "Mr. HEAL?" "Yes, Mr. HEAL: H-I-L-L"
2) What you don't get done today you can get done tomorrow
3) Ms. Bekki and yes ma'am are especially adorable when the kids say it...
4) We are fixin' to get started....
5) Racial tension is still a very prevalent issue....

I can handle the first four, they are just silly cultural differences, but the 5th I'm having a difficult time trying to wrap my brain around. I definitely was still aware of issues that we as a human race are no where near dealing with, but segregation on a broader level like who can go to what church and where people live is just something that makes no sense to me. I don't know if I'll get a chance to even make a difference, but I hope that I can! I believe we as the church have a responsibility in trying to attain a reconciliation between people. I hope that just because I am loved by God, and his love is overflowing from me, that's all that people will see in me! Maybe a very young, naive idea, but something I still wish upon.

One way that I hope to start this dialogue is with my after school kids' program that I will be helping out with. The program is called God's kids and right now I'm planning on meeting Tue-Thurs and Sunday AM. I am really excited about all of the possibilities!

Also want to hear how God has a sense of humor? I am directing the church choir at the Marvell Methodist church!!!

I feel like my brain is a little scatter-brained. I feel like I am experiencing so much that I don't know how to put it into words!! So this post will have to do for now! Just wanted to give a small glimpse into my new life!

Roots

I took this photo while on a recent camping trip with Molly up to the North Shore area. This picture began me thinking, I admit probably too much. It's amazing how these roots can be exposed, stepped on or whatever abuse they encounter and yet still continue to reach out for the water and live. The tree can even lean and look like it's going to fall over, yet it still remains standing. This time at home has been good but a challenge. I met a guy, actually on this camping trip, who seemed like a cool guy yet I never got a chance to get to know him. Somehow I got my hopes up and felt a bit like an exposed root. I began reading Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne and have been looking a lot into myself about what I should be doing as a Christian. Sometimes I feel like there are so many fights that I should be fighting that I don't know where to start so I quickly give up the cause. Again, started to feel like more and more of the ground which I had grown so into was washing away before me. I'm soon leaving everything: my family and friends, which were so nice to be around for the short time at home, possibilities, a life where things were moving in a direction...I feel like I could go on. But despite all of that I know that God is there to keep me from falling over, and will give me new directions for my roots to grow and new soil to start growing in. And he's the water that I keep searching out for when my plans or my ideas for how life should go aren't where he has planned for me. I hope that he guides me and fills me up from the roots. Ok, so maybe it was a bit of a cheesy metaphor, but hey, sometimes it's what I need to help me process!