Are You a Bulldozer or a Landscaper?

I love when God wants to get a point across in my life and speaks so clearly I feel as if He is in the room. Usually this happens when I am exhausted at the end of the day. I get comfortable in bed, find just the right spot on the pillow, close my eyes, start to drift off…then… BOOM, God speaks! This has happened three separate times, each with the same exact jolt to my senses just before falling asleep, and each with a different message. I am very grateful for this clarity, but very jolted every time…must be a "PAY ATTENTION-alarm clock" from God. This particular time, God asked me if I was living my life as a bulldozer, ripping at the things and people around me leaving destruction in my path, or if I was living my life as a landscaper, leaving the places I come from better than they were before.

Honestly, I have been living more like a bulldozer lately than a landscaper. Trust me, God reminded me of every bulldozing situation like a trailer for a movie…the highlights of my destruction. It was horrible and painful to watch. I also saw that for me, living like a landscaper would take incredible strength, strength that I do not possess. A landscaper would have something to leave behind, something that is beautiful, pristine, and something that will last.

So, how do I become a landscaper? I have no strength for the job. I have little talent or skill for such a job. Even if I relied on my own capabilities and tried to landscape, it would be so artificial that underneath, the land would rot away and my attempt would be futile. My initial remorse quickly turned to denial, defensiveness, and finally I was convincing myself to give up, shouting FAILURE, you will always be a bulldozer. You are not fit for the job, so just go on, forget landscaping and do what you do best which is living for yourself.

When you have a moment like this with God, it's not a matter of being suitable, but being called. God provides strength. He provides opportunities and puts those skills to the test. God will mold us and he will shape us to be more like Christ. He will have harvest from the land that he has sown. Christ will be glorified and that is God’s promise.

My challenge is to let God be in control, use me as a landscaper and for this to glorify Jesus, the perfect landscaper. By his grace, by him alone will I be successful in this calling. Please pray for this. I need it! Also, pray that God reveals areas in your life where there is a need for some landscaping.

BE A LANDSCAPER!

-Kristina

Funny how God brings up memories

About 6 years ago, I took a trip to Galveston to serve a local church for a week. The night I arrived, I had the worst case of pink eye I have ever had. I literally was blind out of one eye! I showed up around midnight, stumbled my way to my room, passed by a mirror, stood there trying to figure out what happened to my face, and then started to panic a little...ok, alot. A woman that was with the church reassured me that I was going to be fine, and started to call her friend who was a doctor (in the middle of the night!). The doctor called in a prescription to a 24 hour pharmacy and within 2 hours of arriving in Galveston, I had medicine on my eye. Last night, I was reading about good works(fruits of the spirit) and faith(belief in the saving grace of Jesus) and this past experience came to my mind. It became clear that the people helping me were serving God through serving others and that with my complete inability to see, I had to have faith in God that He was going to provide. Blind faith...couldn't resist:)

I guess I'm writing this to remind myself to serve others for God's glory and to hold tight to faith. It is only by His grace that we can become fruitful and love others and it is only by His grace that we can understand faith. It's funny how God brings up memories that remind me of His love.

Kristina: What language is that? Jordan: It's a fake language, sometimes referred to as Finnish.

Finland

• The first thing you will notice are the people and how kind and helpful they are. Literally EVERYONE we met was friendly to talk to, always had a smile, and took time to really get to know you.
• The food. The Finnish really know how to eat fresh, healthy meals. The specialty: berries, all kinds and you can even buy them at the train station. If you eat in any of the outdoor markets, which I highly recommend, you will see lots of grilled fish and veggies. DO NOT eat any form of Tex-Mex food. My bean and cheese burrito consisted of green beans, stewed tomatoes and goat cheese.
• The Saunas are popular in all of Scandinavia. Beware: Nudity is no big deal to these people, so if you are the least bit modest, bring a swimsuit...or an eye patch!
  

Estonia

• The boat we took to Estonia was more like a mini-cruise ship with stores and restaurants and even a casino on board. (Tallink was the name of the ship) It took about 3 hours to cross over the gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea). Not bad for a trip to a completely different country. I entertained Jordan with my Scandinavian pirate accent!
• The Old Town was so charming! If you have been to small towns in France or Germany, then you have an idea of the cuteness!
• We were warned that shop owners in Estonia have a tendency to be rude to customers, so I made it a point to walk in, make eye contact, ask them how they were doing and then look around their shop. The reaction I got was in this order: shock, smile, giggle, helpfulness. :)
• The food was also amazing! I recommend Olde Hansa restaurant. They serve dishes from the 1400's authentic to Tallinn, so what you see on the menu is what they ate back then! There is no electricity, so they use candles everywhere, even in the bathrooms (hard to see, but I made it without dropping anything in the toilet). The best part is the original paintings on the walls of vines, painted 700 years ago and enjoyed by the wine merchant who lived in the house.

We have really enjoyed our time of getting to travel together. It has been such a blessing! :)

Video for Jeanine

Jordan and I are visiting Lebanon and we are hanging out with some friends while we are here. They have two adorable girls and one CUTE baby boy! The girls can't stop asking me about my family and why they are so far away. They love hearing about my sister!! They really want her to visit Lebanon, so we made a video! This isn't on the video, but the girls told me that if I miss my sister that I should just have some children so I'm not alone. I asked them what should I do if I had a boy and they told me I would need to try again for a girl:)!!!! SO CUTE!

Welcome to Petra

Jordan and I got to visit Petra! The villages in Petra date back to 2200 years ago. It was discovered again in 1812. What a discovery! It is such a cool place for anyone who loves nature, or rocks like my Dad the geologist! There are highlights such as the Treasurey from the Indiana Jones movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark and lots of shops, camels, and horse rides. Jordan and I also got to climb the top of the mountain range which was no easy task, but worth the view and the journey up. We spent a while at the top of the mountain just listening to the silence. It was amazing! View video to check it out yourself! :)

This week's highlights

1. Painted the entire apartment minus the guest room. (We ran out of money)

2. Made homemade banana bread TWICE (First one burned :(....)

3. Stayed in my pj's all day (Twice. Had a headache. Jordan did it. *fill in excuses here_________)

4. I figured out that string and tape can fix any leak. (Then it broke, but we fixed it with string and tape again. I'm not holding my breath.)

5. Found some pretty cool stores in the mall! (The mall is the largest mall in Africa and has 700 stores so it wasn't hard to find something that did it for me)

6. Got on babycenter.com and watched all the videos! (This scared Jordan, but he gave in and we ended up watching the videos as our date night with popcorn and cuddle time. Babies rock!)

7. This is Jordan's highlight, but it is pretty awesome: We got to watch the OSU game live on the computer that is hooked up directly to his brother's tv in Oklahoma while in Egypt! Crazy. (I also got my HGTV fix)

8. I got a sweet note from my hubby in our journal. Such a nice suprise! (He earned brownies)

9. Talked to my mom and dad this week. (We have a local number through Vonage. Makes Egypt seem much closer to home! I tend to forget the 7 hours difference and accidently call too early...oops!)

10. A little Egyptian girl approached me and in the sweetest voice asked if she could tell me about the Bible! In Egypt. (That pretty much left me speechless)

Hope you all have a blessed week!