I asked if it was possible to have a backup plan. A harness, a net, a chute. Something to fall back on if I couldn’t make it back. Honestly, I don’t want one. I would love to hope without doubt. I would love for my mind to run free with plans of what I could do with the time that I would have in the land far away. I hope beyond to the impact that it would make. I think further to the type of man I want to be, to what God has for me, to what he has for the world. Does this all play in? Does this moment, this field experience, this research question have an impact? Would I miss something if I were to stay and find something else?

I want to go. I want it to be possible. It might not be reasonable, but it’s something that I can stand in faith for. It’s something to work towards, something to hope for. I don’t even want to ask about what would happen if it doesn’t work out because I don’t want to let myself think that this won’t happen. So I won’t. There is nothing I would rather do than to spend a month in Africa, renewing relationships with orphan care centers, investigating trends, offering myself and the gifts God has given me, and the mission that He has placed in my heart concerning the welfare of these children. What else could I do?

The sermon can be found online here : http://www.nsb.org/sermons/a-classic-christmas

Anyway, he asked me to put something together for the service, kind of like a voice from within Northshore (the church i go to). So, I asked Devin to help. We shot it all on a Nikon D300s, 50mm f/1.4 with a RØDE microphone with video lights in front of a huge seamless backdrop.

The song is Needles and Thread by Sleeping at Last.

“So what am I supposed to do again?” I asked my father for the third time. My car had been making a terrible noise for a couple of days. It is the sound of metal against metal… the kind of noise that told me there was a problem.

Before I left for YWAM, while I was still in college, my dad almost forced me to help him change the brakes of the 93’ Pontiac Transport SE (aka the spaceship or dustbuster). It was a project I figured I would never have to repeat.

A few days ago I decided that in order to get rid of this terrible screeching, I would have to change the brakes again… only this time, my dad wouldn’t be able to troubleshoot anything that could possibly go wrong. Even though he wasn’t there, I was confident that it would be a breeze. But within minutes, even before I took the first wheel off, I was talking to my dad on the phone, getting information, insight, and guidance. He walked me through each step, told me in detail about each of the parts and how they worked. We hung up and I put my hands to the limited and rusty tools I found in my uncle’s garage. Time passed, but before I knew it, I had my dad on the line again. Another problem, another piece of guidance, another word of encouragement. I did everything I was supposed to do but something still went wrong and I found myself sitting in 2 puddles of brake fluid. I changed the brake pads, but when I put the car in drive to test them out, my brake petal went straight to the floor without stopping the car.

I couldn’t understand what could have gone wrong. This minivan is part of my job, part of my connection; and it was broken. Another phone call to my father landed me with possibilities of all the problems, and worse, the expensive solutions. Frustrated and overwhelmed, I was stuck and it was getting late and starting to rain. I was supposed to be somewhere in Seattle at 9 the next morning. My only option was to replace the brake fluid and bleed the brakes; both of which I had no idea how to do. “You need to have the blakes bred” must have come out of my dad’s mouth a dozen times, but I was too frustrated to laugh – at the time.

After more coaching, a YouTube tutorial, and another trip to Schuck’s auto parts, my cousin and I got to work in the raid. We tried a DYI vacuum trick that looked (and worked) more like a bong from my early days. We ended up doing it the old fashioned way – my dad’s way. Seven and a half hours later, we took her for another spin, this time the brakes working quietly and efficiently. My father congratulated me on a job well done.

The next day, while I drove the beast of a van down the Maple Valley Highway I thought back to the previous day and came out with some insights on life and how I operate my life.

No matter how well I think I can do something of how effectively I think I can perform; no matter how confident I am, things tend to go wrong occasionally. I’m not always going to have my dad physically present to coach me on fixing cars or doing taxes. Errors are port of life, but they lead to growth. Even though I didn’t know that brakes could be bled, I learned how to do it and I had to learn fast. Mistakes have a way of forcing our heads up and our eyes open. We have the choice to face them and learn or to turn away from them in further ignorance. Problems break friendships, jobs, marriages, and projects, but they also have the ability enable us to grow as people, to learn and discover what may have been previously unknown and daunting.

I also thought of my relationship with my dad, which hasn’t always been very healthy. In the last few years it has grown and developed into a healthy relationship, but I realized that I called my dad when I needed something from him. We talk on occasion, but I must have spent 2 hours talking to him when the brakes went bad. The thing is, I could tell that he loved every minute that we spent on the phone. Not once did he say, “alright, I have to go”, or “why don’t we talk more often?” We had a connection over my problems. I knew that he had the answers, which is why I called him. Most times, I don’t call just to call, and that makes me sad.

What makes me more sad is that I do the same thing with my other Father. This is the one that created the sun and gives me life. This is the One that knew me and loved me before I was even born. Most of the time, I only talk to him when I need something, or when I have a problem. Lately, selfishly, I haven’t been calling simply to talk. When I call Him with my problems and issues, like my dad, He loves every minute of communicating with me. He loves the connection, the intimacy, if only for the moment. He hangs on every word and thinks about the conversation long after it has finished.

Love is not using someone for what it can give me, but it is the beauty of giving something away expecting nothing, and often not getting anything in return. I hope to be able to invest in my relationships with my dad, God, and those around me because I love them and value them. They are more than worth my time and energy. And with my dad and God especially, they are worth more than what I have been giving them and taking for myself. They are willing to give of themselves to me, but so often I have been unwilling to give of myself to them. It’s time for a change.

Upon arriving back in the US, my expectations were sent soaring. The Not Alone Benefit made some money for the Mercy Development Home in Ethiopia, I saw some friends and family members, and then all of the sudden I was on my way back to Kona to resume studies and work on the publication from our experiences. What I didn’t anticipate was the slight depression that landed on me almost simultaneously with my plane landing in Honolulu. Depression is something that I have struggled with in the past, almost as if whenever I look behind me it is as if a shadow is always a hundred feet behind…sometimes closer, sometimes further, and sometimes I don’t even look.

Over the last few days, I think that I have been able to identify areas in my life that the depression feeds off of. I want to deeply trust God that He is who He says He is. I should know both in my head and my heart that He is good having witnessed His amazing provision and love. There is also this seemingly inherent fear of being hurt alone, as well as some psychological and emotional wounds in need of deep tissue healing. All of that culminating with the financial stresses of going through school with hardly any of the money than is required.

Maybe it is my inability to see God as my Father. In a recent talk to the body of believers out here in Kona, Andy Byrd, an amazing man of God, gave a parallel of his relationship with His son. Asher is about 4 years old and is passionate about his love for his father. He never distrusts Andy’s ability to clothe, feed, and give good gifts to him. Andy is not God, but the reliance that Asher has on his daddy is the way I want to relate with my Heavenly Father. In fact, that is the way that faith is supposed to work. With my eyes fixed on God, the waves around me are insignificant next to the power that He has. And then there is the promise that God’s power, the power that raised Christ from the dead, is living inside of me. Why do I worry? Why do I strive for control over my life when the Perfect Father, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe is alive within me? The reality of Jesus and His life is the reality that I need to be living in, not this façade, this thin, filthy veneer that I see. It about looking beyond, looking to the reality that Christ brought – the Kingdom that He ushers in – the Kingdom that He placed within.

As I have mentioned in some of my posts, I love the thought of Love. The word has lost a lot of meaning in our time and can mean anything from a red glass window in Amsterdam paid for by the hour, to the subculture of the 70’s, to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The love I speak about is the unending love, the love that gives expecting nothing in return, the love that costs something, unselfish. This is the type of love that God has for the world, the type of love that I have seen the world in desperation for. What I haven’t realized or taken to heart was that the passionate, unrelenting, undistracted, devastating, and unconditional love that the world is burning for is the same love that God has for me; that He has for you. He is mesmerized by one glance from my eyes; His heart blazes at one trifling word of affection from our hearts to His. I have to know that love, I need to feel it not only for the world, but for myself. Oh, to wake up to the reality of the love of Christ – the destructive love of the relentless Lion and the tender embrace of the Lamb.

The program that I am enrolled in is expensive. It is even more expensive now that we are back in the States. The team of monthly supporters helps a great deal, but as it stands, I have no way of paying for the school fees as well as the bills that I have back home as well. I have this issue of pride with asking for others to come along-side me, joining me in accomplishing the goal and finishing the program, but after praying about what God wanted me to do, I felt that I should use the blog this week to do just that. It is a sacrifice of my pride, the idea that I should be providing for myself, and what I think the blog should be… but, in obedience, I have to.

I started PhotogenX last September and I intend to finish it. These next 6 months we will be working on a publication from our travels and experiences with injustice around the world. We want it to be a catalyst of change in the world. We are willing to be used, but we need help. I need help. My fees for the school are $4,000 just for this next 3 months and at the moment I don’t have it. I am trusting God for this provision believing that He can finish what He started. The waves of financial pressure are building all around me, but He knows exactly where I am and He is with me. If you would like to stand with me, there are many ways to do so; please let me know.

Thanks for reading about my journeys and experiences. I pray that you open yourself up to the Amazing Love and Grace that comes only through a loving relationship with Jesus Christ.

In Obedience to Him,

John Paul

Upon arriving back in the US, my expectations were sent soaring. The Not Alone Benefit made some money for the Mercy Development Home in Ethiopia, I saw some friends and family members, and then all of the sudden I was on my way back to Kona to resume studies and work on the publication from our experiences. What I didn’t anticipate was the slight depression that landed on me almost simultaneously with my plane landing in Honolulu. Depression is something that I have struggled with in the past, almost as if whenever I look behind me it is as if a shadow is always a hundred feet behind…sometimes closer, sometimes further, and sometimes I don’t even look.

Over the last few days, I think that I have been able to identify areas in my life that the depression feeds off of. I want to deeply trust God that He is who He says He is. I should know both in my head and my heart that He is good having witnessed His amazing provision and love. There is also this seemingly inherent fear of being hurt alone, as well as some psychological and emotional wounds in need of deep tissue healing. All of that culminating with the financial stresses of going through school with hardly any of the money than is required.

Maybe it has something to do with my struggle to always see God as my Father. In a recent talk to the body of believers out here in Kona, Andy Byrd, an amazing man of God, gave a parallel of his relationship with His son. Asher is about 4 years old and is passionate about his love for his father. He never distrusts Andy’s ability to clothe, feed, and give good gifts to him. Andy is not God, but the reliance that Asher has on his daddy is the way I want to relate with my Heavenly Father. In fact, that is the way that faith is supposed to work. With my eyes fixed on God, the waves around me are insignificant next to the power that He has. And then there is the promise that God’s power, the power that raised Christ from the dead, is living inside of me. Why do I worry? Why do I strive for control over my life when the Perfect Father, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe is alive within me? The reality of Jesus and His life is the reality that I need to be living in, not this façade, this thin, filthy veneer that I see. It about looking beyond, looking to the reality that Christ brought – the Kingdom that He ushers in – the Kingdom that He placed within.

As I have mentioned in some of my posts, I love the thought of Love. The word has lost a lot of meaning in our time and can mean anything from a red glass window in Amsterdam paid for by the hour, to the subculture of the 70’s, to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The love I speak about is the unending love, the love that gives expecting nothing in return, the love that costs something, unselfish. This is the type of love that God has for the world, the type of love that I have seen the world in desperation for. What I haven’t realized or taken to heart was that the passionate, unrelenting, undistracted, devastating, and unconditional love that the world is burning for is the same love that God has for me; that He has for you. He is mesmerized by one glance from my eyes; His heart blazes at one trifling word of affection from our hearts to His. I have to know that love, I need to feel it not only for the world, but for myself. Oh, to wake up to the reality of the love of Christ – the destructive love of the relentless Lion and the tender embrace of the Lamb.

The program that I am enrolled in is expensive. It is even more expensive now that we are back in the States. The team of monthly supporters helps a great deal, but as it stands, I have no way of paying for the school fees as well as the bills that I have back home as well. I have this issue of pride with asking for others to come along-side me, joining me in accomplishing the goal and finishing the program, but after praying about what God wanted me to do, I felt that I should use the blog this week to do just that. It is a sacrifice of my pride, the idea that I should be providing for myself, and what I think the blog should be… but, in obedience, I have to.

I started PhotogenX last September and I intend to finish it. These next 6 months we will be working on a publication from our travels and experiences with injustice around the world. We want it to be a catalyst of change in the world. We are willing to be used, but we need help. I need help. My fees for the school are $4,000 just for this next 3 months and at the moment I don’t have it. I am trusting God for this provision believing that He can finish what He started. The waves of financial pressure are building all around me, but He knows exactly where I am and He is with me. If you would like to stand with me, there are many ways to do so; please let me know.

Thanks for reading about my journeys and experiences. I pray that you open yourself up to the Amazing Love and Grace that comes only through a loving relationship with Jesus Christ.

In Obedience to Him,

John Paul

What am I asking for?

I stand among 25 people lifting their voices, their minds, and their hearts – in essence – their lives – to a Perfect Father. Over the last 10 months He has given us the nations, a tremendous blessing and opportunity, but also one that has had it share of struggles. We have witnessed the numerous heartbreaks of humanity; infanticide, famine, the deepest hunger, those on their deathbeds from HIV, the effects of war, the vicious cycles of poverty and disease that claim millions of precious lives each year, and the injustice of the apathetic. All of the traveling was not a joy-ride but one involving real and evident sadness. The situations and circumstances left us changes; scarred forever like a brand on our hearts and minds. So we continue to ask for the nations… along with all of their joys, but also their sorrow.

But, we are not left there because even in immense pain is beauty – we know of it as hope. In John 16 Jesus talks about sadness – that we will have it and that by following Him, we seek it out. When we follow Him into the life – into the nations – into love – We are following Him to the Cross. But as we pursue Him there He gives to us what can never be taken away; a peace that passes understanding and incomparable joy. That is why we are able to laugh hysterically at our living conditions, each other’s crazy experiences, and shake-face pictures (see below). It is also the reason that we are able to stand together wherever we are in the world and, with tears in our eyes and compassion in our hearts, cry out to God; telling Him in our feeble words how great and how good He really is.

“Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

He wins.

Blessings through Him… the most beautiful One
John Paul

Please don’t view this as an impression that the beautiful people, places, and moments are rare; they are definitely evident in every society and culture around the world. But pain and suffering are found everywhere as well and it is the reason that we are here, to proclaim Hope to those who may have lost it whether they be in Myanmar, Switzerland, or Denver, Colorado.

Shake-Face – just use the flash… compliments of Anna

My mother tells me that when I was young, I would constantly ask her, “Is that true, mom?” to no end. I have this deep desire to know that something is real, tangible, and trustworthy. But as happens so much in everyone’s lives, we experience something that takes away our childlike innocence and grows us up to some of the realities of the world, betrayal, unfaithfulness, and injustice. The same is true in my life. Sometimes the people unknowingly and unwillingly do so to us, but we are betrayed just the same. Often times we feel as if it were God Himself bringing his judgment against us.

There were a few instances in my life that particularly stand out to me. I was in high school, a young freshman punky looking kid with little direction and at the verge of going “off the edge” in terms of rebellion. There was this girl, who had a smile that would attract the attention of the entire room as if no one had known that they were existing in darkness before she walked in. Over the next three years, we got to know each other. She was the first person that I loved. She was an amazing person, full of the joy of the Lord eager to follow Him with everything she had. I wasn’t an amazing person, nor did I have the joy of the Lord, and really didn’t know Him much at all besides this light He had placed in my path… But I messed everything up and I knew it. I was the one who betrayed, who was blind, who was corrupt. For a long time, I tried to save myself in her eyes, persistently apologizing. The summer in between my two years at military school in Missouri, we sat down in our usual spot in McDonald’s under the poster of Terrell Davis, where we had spend so many afternoons over the years. She told me she would write… She left on a mission’s trip to Mexico where the Lord took her home to be with Him.

A long while later, I was attending university at Westmont; she was a sophomore at the same college. We met through a friend, started dating, and fell in love. Over the next three years, I studied hard, graduating a year early so that we could go through with our plans to get married. I asked her to marry me and we were set for a full exciting life… or so we thought. Not long after graduation, the engagement and our relationship were off. I was heartbroken, feeling betrayed not only by her, but by this far off and distant God who said that He cares about people. I questioned who I was, what on earth I was doing, and why me… Out of desperation, I applied to DTS where I encountered the personal Father and Jesus Christ for the first time.

Since then, from reading the Bible, I would pick up on verses that told me to go into the world, love each other, bind up the brokenhearted. There was something romantic about the idea of traveling, being a champion for the poor and needy, showing them that there is a God who loves them. I had skipped the part that Jesus made so perfectly clear… “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength” (Matthew 22:37). Since I had the dream that I explained in the last blog update, I haven’t felt right. There has been something missing. Over the last week, God has been showing me that there has been so much that I have missed. The past relationships with people close to me have shaped me into someone who doesn’t trust. I project what happened in those relationships onto the people around me as well as onto God. I know in my head that He is perfect, worthy of trust, but my life, doubt, worry, and actions show that my heart is holding back from giving Him everything. His love is better than life itself, He proved in with the death of His Son, Jesus Christ, but here I am striving for His love as if it wasn’t a free gift. I think that what I have been doing for the last two years had aspects of love, but they were also a plead to God that He shouldn’t ever leave me, that perhaps He needed to keep me around for something. How wrong I was. Love is being still and letting the love of Christ empty everything that I am out, the doubt, guilt, disbelief, and worry in order to fully accept His unconditional, life-changing, freedom releasing love to me. I am only realizing that I will never be good enough to deserve His love. But He gives it to me anyway. That is Grace and when we get it, we have no other options but falling to our knees in absolute nothingness before the Perfect Creator, the Author of Salvation, the Name above all other names.

How can I love God? How can I give Him trust? How can I be emptied of selfishness and striving? I can’t. I am absolutely incapable of changing my situation. All I can do is want more of Him. He is the one that can replace this incapable heart and replace it with one able to trust Him able to rest in His perfect, everlasting love. We are all broken. We all need a transformation that supersedes anything we could ever go for ourselves.

I have preached so much about love – yet I was deceived about the best part of it, Grace. I can’t move in love until I know God’s love for me. The response from His love is to love Him – above everything else, bringing nothing to Him, receiving His Grace. His love for me and mine for Him then flows out of me uncontrollably. We crave for others to feel that kind of unconditional, absolutely incomprehensible and mysterious love.

His love is that whisper amidst the whirlwinds and earthquakes of our lives. Love from the Perfect Father is known by being still – listening to His gentle voice that shatters worry and melts fear. He knows me, knows my insufficiencies and sins, but He loves me just the same and is waiting to give up everything, all of my pride, brokenness, and striving, in order to create in me a new heart.

I had a vision of that wonderful day, when I would meet Jesus, God’s tangible love, face to face. I pictures standing in front of Him – when our eyes met for the first time and pierced my soul. The guilt of everything I had ever done piled on my heart in an instant. I couldn’t stand in His perfection. I felt as though I had died, completely ashamed in front of the One who died for my sins. Almost instantly He was lifting me up, taking all of my bur
dens once and for all in the greatest act of forgiveness that the world will ever know. He was inviting me to live with Him forever, in the place that He had been preparing. The place where every tear would be wiped away, every fear released; a place where I could never get away from the unhindered love and presence of God.
What a glorious day that will be.

In constant need for more of Him,
Jp

[A Small Section of City of the Dead with Citadel in the background]

[Tombstone]

[Overgrown Tomb]

[unlocked doors]

[Shaping stones to rebuild an old mosque in City of the Dead]

[Young People are still Young People doing Young People things]

Driving through the deserts of Egypt and Sinai, I was overwhelmed by the beauty. I have always had this fascination with the desert, almost as if there is something in me that longs for it. Rugged and beauty, unreservedly rich with earth and sky is basic to understanding makes sense to my mind. My soul wishes for my flesh to be the same; empty of my life so that God can breathe true everlasting life into the wasteland I was born as. I wand to be void, a vast open plain God can send the water of life through and plant lush green pastures. With the emptiness of me comes openness for Him, the Creator and Sustainer.

We crossed under the Red Sea and made our way to the eastern portion of the peninsula to Dahab – diving capital of the Gulf of Aqaba. We used it as a base from which to travel to Mt. Sinai (or at least where they think Mt. Sinai is) and the Bedouin camping trip.

As a school, we have been searching for injustices, hardly noticing that they are everywhere around us. The Bedouin’s have been taken advantage of for centuries by everyone. The Egyptian Government barely recognizes their existence, withholding education for their children and further social betterment for their futures. Their grazing land once extended from the Southern tip of the Sinai all the way up past the Dead Sea. Now, the remnant of Bedouin’s left are restricted to pockets of deserts and instead of being a great presence are now limited to the tourism industry. Most of the Bedouin’s that I have spoken with have been working in the industry since before they were 10, never attending school but learning broken English from all of the tourists. Musa, the guide for our hike up Sinai, has hiked up the mountain every day for 20 years, sometimes even twice a day to ensure provision for himself and his family. A 23 year-old Bedouin, Jamaa (in English means Friday), our guide for the overnight in the desert had been working in tourism since he was 7. He has no voice for his people in the government because there are no ears to hear him. There isn’t anyone to understand that he wants a better future for his family, his children, and himself as well.

It may seem a bit silly to us as a Western Culture, but Camel racing is huge in the Near East, especially in Saudi Arabia, the epicenter of Arab Culture. The Bedouins in the Sinai and up through the mid-east are traditionally nomads and have been using camels for traveling and lively-hood for generations. They still stick to this tradition, oftentimes boys will raise a camel with them throughout their childhood into the adult years. They are small and light, perfect for the races in the Saudi Peninsula. Because of this, they are oftentimes sold or stolen for a short-lived career in the racing business. On these long distance races, most of the children (from 4-10 years old) are trampled under the camel’s feet unable to meet the exhaustive demands of the race. This is something not confined to the Sinai Bedouins, but in Jordan, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan; even as far as countries like Bangladesh. The as of July 2007, The UN doesn’t have a comprehensive report of the injustices done to these children and other trafficked children across these regions. Read a report from the Pakistan Times on this issue and all of the UN articles broken HERE.

Does this break the heart of anyone? Would anyone be willing to dedicate their lives to see this type of treatment of the innocent end? Maybe you are the one God wants to use.

This isn’t about a global movement, but an internal one that stretches across the face of the earth; the internal movement towards the perfect love of Christ. A move spawned from a revelation of the heart of the Father – His love for them – and His love for the world. A love that sacrificed His Godhood coming to earth to be nailed to a cross for us to say, ‘I love You’. Once that love is laid hold of, the amount of love would flood the cities of Denver, Santa Barbara, NYC, London, Addis, Cairo, Dubai, Beijing, Tokyo, and Sydney. Love would lay siege and take captives; captives bound to Christ – lives changed forever by the realization of Grace. He came for you, He came for me, and that is enough for me and all of us to give everything, every breath, to that love; a
love that I cannot fathom the depths of. Love took my life and it died to take yours as well.

[Looking North from Jebel Musa (traditionally Mt. Sinai)]

[Musa, A Bedouin Guide on the Mountain that bears his name]

[We had to get off of the camels to get down the slope... Oasis we slept at seen in the distance]

[On the way to Close Canyon]

[Near the Entrance to Close Canyon]

[Making Tea before Dinner]

[Near the campsite]

[White Canyon]

Next we headed by ferry to Aqaba, Jordan then further by bus to Wadi Musa, the city at the mouth of an ancient wonder of the world, Petra. Driving from Aqaba to Petra was reminiscent of the drive between my hometown of Denver and Santa Barbara during my Westmont days. The moon illuminated the coarse crags of the desert landscape; stars blinking at me, distracting from the monotony of the road in front of me. Clusters of stars on the horizon turn into streetlights from small towns or fruit vendors open late in the summer air.

I see Moses leading 3 million people through this type of terrain. At the night the temperature drops below zero, but during the day, the sun beats down relentlessly through cloudless skies. I might have slept where they did next to a freshwater oasis. The Bedouin’s graze their heard of goats and the occasional camel there now; sometimes entertaining the intermittent tourist looking for the “realistic Bedouin experience”. What a harsh environment to wander in for 40 years. I could spend more time there, I think (but maybe not 40 years… who knows). I enjoyed every moment of it. It is amazing for me to experience.

Walking through the canyons and caves of Petra was amazing, so rich in color and history. We also went to Mt. Nebo where Moses gazed out over the Promised Land, and where the Lord called him home as recorded in Deuteronomy. From the summit of the small mountain we could see the northern tip of the Dead Sea, into Palestine, and if the haze would have cleared, into Israel as well.

[Sunset on the Ferry from Dahab, Egypt to Aqaba, Jordan]

[We had quite the cloud show]

[Part of the Aqueduct through the canyons of Petra]

[Treasury, Petra]

[Treasury, Petra]

[Mt. Nebo, looking over the Jordan Valley]

[Monument of the Snake on Mt. Nebo]

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[One of the Police walking through the canyons of Petra]

[Monastary, Petra]

[Monastary, Petra]

We arrived in Jerusalem late Saturday night. When we awoke Sunday morning, we discovered that the Damascus Gate to the Old City is 100 meters to the left of our doorstep. I can’t say much about the current situation here because I don’t know much about it. I have my ideas and analogies, but I don’t want to say a whole lot while I am still out of the “know” zone. Walking through the old city, I could feel the tension in my chest; two people groups, one divided in their own land – families spread over a tall concrete and iron wall, and another fighting to protect the boundaries declared 4000 years prior. The youth are caught in the middle, some following the example of violence set before them some craving coexistence and peace for an enmity older than both of their presences in this small strip of land.

More pictures of this land to follow.

Thank you for reading and I hope that your days are blessed.

In Christ,
John Paul

Let me tell you a little love story I heard recently. It starts out with a statistic that blows my mind. There are over 27 million slaves in the world today; Human Trafficking is the largest slave trade in history. The sheer magnitude is staggering; beyond anything that I can conceptualize. Many of these slaves are children, stolen from (or sold) by their parents into the sex-trade of South-East Asia in order to be able to survive. They are sold to brothels, club’s, and bars for the patrons (mostly from America and the Western world) to do any number of immensely grotesque practices to. There was this lady, an artist who would go and paint portraits of the children, getting to know them a little bit. She found out that some of them were slaves of some bars and clubs in the area. She was overwhelmed with grief that humans could do these kinds of things to each other, especially innocent children. She decided to do something about it, so she would make her way into some of the places and steal the children out of them and hide them. She got away with it for a time, but then was found out and received death threats from the industry because they were losing money… She ended up fleeing for her life to a different part of the country where she now lives, with 125 of the children that she stole…

This is a picture of the love that I want to be in… Not for one person, but for the people who’s God heart breaks for constantly… For those of you who have kids, what if someone stole them and sold them into that kind of slavery. I bet that you would do everything that you could to get them back. I bet that you would willingly give your entire life in a search and rescue attempt. Not only would you do everything that you could, you would ask anyone and everyone to help you… This is your kid we are talking about.

I want to love like that woman who laid down her life for just one of those children. It reminds me of what someone once did for me. It was God… He gave up that status, the Creator of all things with a perfect glorified body, to come down here to a world ravaged by sin and rescue me from this slavery that I was in; to steal me away and take me to a better place; to SET ME FREE…

If God loved me that much, that is how he loves all people. Those he has changed are now his children, but also his followers; that is our confession of faith, a “Follower of Jesus.” How can I consider myself his follower if I don’t do what he did? How can I say that I have love if I don’t give everything to go after those who he loves? Am I alone in this? What are we after in life?

I have been studying the Bible for a month now… I could be studying it for the rest of my life having knowledge of everything in it, but if I don’t have love, it is all worth nothing. Why? Because love is the fire that forces me out of my chair to movement. I could even weep over the atrocities that go on, but if I didn’t have love, I would be only grieving to make myself feel better.

What are we living for? Who are we following? Why do we want what we want from God? Is it all for me, so that I can be comfortable and safe? Is what I do in this life for me or my well-being? Do I have any love? How far are we willing to go to love the people of the world? Yes, it will be hard, and it will cost you… maybe everything, maybe your life. Jesus did it for me, will I follow him if it costs me that much? They are out there, 27 million of them, waiting for us to come and rescue them. Are you up for it? What would you be willing to give for them? What would you be willing to give for your own child? If we really have love, let’s do it.

So many questions… So little time. We can’t be looking around at everyone else, hoping that they will move first so we won’t have to. Love is all that can save them; the perfect, unselfish love of Jesus Christ. There has to be something inside you that pulls you to them. Act on the compassion that is within you and let love be your motivation to be the change you envision for this world. God wants to use you, be open, be willing, be ready. There are too many out there to wait any longer.

In Love

John Paul

Visit HumanTrafficking.Org