come

I was reading John the other night and I came across a single word that stuck out so boldly that it caused me to stop and think and fall in love with Jesus all over again.

Starting in chapter 1, verse 35, the story about Jesus calling the first disciples to follow Him is told. Actually, two guys started walking behind Him and when Jesus saw them, He asked, "What do you want?" (v. 37-38) and they asked Him where He was staying. 

Verse 39 is, I believe, monumental in the disciples' lives and in anyone who chooses to surrender themselves to Christ.

Verse 39 is Jesus's response to their question of where He was going.

"'Come,' He replied, 'and you will see.'"

Jesus invites His disciples from conversation one to engage in this incredible adventure. He doesn't tell them much about what's to happen in the future, He just says, come and see.

In verse 43, we hear Jesus telling another disciple, Phillip, to "Follow me."

Phillip must have caught the "Jesus bug" right then and there because he went and found his friend, Nathaneal, and told him all about Jesus. Nathaneal asked Phillip if anything good could really come from all of this and so simply, in verse 46, Phillip tells his friend, "Come and see." So, of course, Nathaneal came. From the very beginning Jesus's invitation was exhilarating and His love was contagious.

After reading this, I looked up other passages in the gospels where Jesus said the word "come," and surprisingly enough, there are quite a few.

In Matthew 11:28, He tells all of the weary and burdened, all of the people seeking rest, to "Come to me."

In Matthew 14:29, He tells Peter to "Come" and walk on the water.

In Matthew 19:14 and Luke 18:16, He says to let the little children come to Him.

In Luke 19:5, He tells Zaccheaeus to climb down his sycamore tree and come with Him.

And one of my personal favorites:

After the resurrection, Jesus appears to some of His disciples who are fishing on a boat (the writer in me loves that He ends where He started) and after helping them catch tons and tons of fish, in John 21:12, He invites His friends to, "Come and have breakfast." Jesus delighted in spending time with people and loving on them even in the simpliest occasions such as having a meal.

Not even ten minutes before I started this post, I finished reading a book by a guy named Bob Goff. I've heard amazing things about "Love Does," for well over a year now but just hadn't gotten around to reading it. Now that I've read it, I'm thankful I didn't read it until this point in my life because I'm not sure that it would have affected me as greatly had I read it any earlier.

Basically the whole book is Bob sharing stories from his life and then relating them to our relationship with Jesus. The theme of his book is two simple words: Love does. He mentions more than once that when "love does," love does big.

To me, that's  what Jesus was, and is, all about. God loves His creation so much that number 1, He makes us in HIS image, and number 2, He invites us to engage in His love and come on His adventure. You see, Jesus doesn't just love people. He loves people BIG and He invites us to come and do the same.

One of the things we got to do at the Young Life camp in Nicaragua was walk through a labyrinth they built/planted on their property. The fact that it was dark and the leaders didn't tell us what we were doing made it all the more special and intimate. They said to come, so we grabbed a jacket and a flashlight and went. Once we walked to the opening of the labyrinth, a super sweet lady told us that this was the only labyrinth in Central America and they used it as a time of reflection for the campers. Before entering, we were given a Bible verse typed up on a piece of paper and told to read it at the end of the path. We also had our flashlights so as we began our walk one by one, we could see through the bushes that the labyrinth was getting brighter. At the end of the path was a cross and we found the interns playing music and worshipping. As you looked up into the sky it seemed like the stars had all come to the Nicaraguan sky to show off for us that night (and that's saying a lot being from west Texas). 

The next afternoon, I went back up the labyrinth alone, mainly to take pictures, but also just to spend some time alone with God.

As I was walking back to the cabins afterwords, I was overwhelmed by our God and His never-ending faithfulness. It's like Jesus whispered the greatest invitation into my ear, "You can be a part of ALL of my faithfulness ALL of the time. Come." How awesome is it to serve a God and better yet, be loved by a God who we can always depend on and never exaggerate.

There is a song called "The Cost" by Rend Collective. One part of the song says "I've counted up the cost. Oh, I've counted up the cost. Yes, I've counted up the cost, and You are worth it. Jesus, take my all. Take my everything. I've counted up the cost, and You're worth everything."

I counted up the cost on that walk back down to the cabin and God's faithfulness was enough evidence that this life He invites us to live, this life of love and adventure- no matter how heart-wrenching it can be at times, is so. worth. it. I told Jesus that I was His. Whatever He said to do, I'll do. Anything.

Wherever He said to go, I'll go. Anywhere.

Whenever He said to be, I'll be. Anytime.

Whatever, wherever, whenever.

Anything.

I think those words are something a lot of us say and talk about with fellow believers often, but saying them aloud in the middle of a dirt road at a camp that is dedicated to sharing God's love with the youth of a nation made it real and permanent for me. I don't just want to talk about following Jesus, I want to come with Him and do. 

This whole wholeheartedly-following-Jesus thing is kind of new to me and I've already messed up a bunch, but falling down and getting picked back up by the Creator of the world is something I'm learning to be okay with. As I told an incredible friend of mine a couple weeks ago in a parking spot at Sonic, I'm dead serious about this "following Jesus" thing and I'm dead serious about this "loving His people" thing.

I'm not sure what all of this means for my life and my future, but I do know whatever Jesus has in mind for me is way more exciting and thrilling than something my little brain could cook up. Jesus said "Come," and you better believe I'm coming.

tranquilo como camilo

   As we sat and ate dinner the first night in Nicaragua, Ann and Danny Sharpe (in charge of the La Finca Vida Joven/Young Life camp) were beginning to introduce us to the country and told us what our week would consist of. While conversing with Danny and some other team members, he simply and genuinely warned me, "Be careful. You might fall in love." I shrugged off his warning and carried on to the next topic.
   I'd had a hard time trusting that God actually even wanted me in Nicaragua in the first place. My grandparents had invited me to go on this mission trip with their church, FBC Cloudcroft, NM, and I had been excited for months, but I was also very skeptic of the week to come. I was the youngest person on the trip by several years and so afraid of being miserable the whole time. Boy, was I wrong. God never ceases to amaze me by how He brings our most joyful times out of what seemed to originally be the most uncomfortable situations.
   Maybe I should have been more careful and reserved, but I feel deep in love; a little bit more each day I was in Nicaragua.
   When I went to Spain last summer, my dear friend Kimberly wrote me a letter to read on the flight over and in that letter she said "Jump in with all you have! Don't be afraid to love the people there. It is so hard to leave, but it is completely worth it!" I found that piece of wisdom especially true about my new Nicaraguan (Nicas) friends.
   Throughout my week in Nicaragua, I fell in love. I fell in love with the green landscape. I fell in love with the food. I fell in love with the culture. But more than any of that, I fell in love with the people we were so fortunate to meet and serve our gracious God with.
   One of my favorite parts of the week was all of the conversations we were able to have. Whether those conversations be spoken in broken bits of English and Spanish or patiently translated through the camp interns, they were all such a blessing. Colossians 4:5-6 says, "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." This verse in such a sweet example of every word shared amongst the NM work team and the Nicas. Being able to freely and openly share what Jesus has done in each of our own lives was such an encouraging thing to be a part of.
   Conversation consumed a large amount of time at our first work site. The first project a few of us worked on was helping some men dig out dirt where a water tank that will provide three days worth of water for the Vida Joven camp is being built. (The location of this tank is next to two other already operating water tanks.) One conversation that stuck out to me was when Jason (a 21-year-old Nica Young Life leader from León) asked Allison (a camp intern) and I what our most intimate experiences with God were. Jason shared that one of his was probably when he had his "20 minutes" at his first camp. Allison then explained to me that on the night the campers are told about Jesus and what He did for us on the Cross, they are told to go outside and spend twenty minutes alone with God. Those twenty minutes are when many kids give their life to Christ and each person remembers exactly where they were during that time. Allison then told us that one of the leaders she had met said his 20 minutes was spent on top of the first water tank that was built. She then shared her excitement in our work, because not only will the new tank provide good water for Vida Joven campers, but students are going to go up there and ultimately start a personal relationship with Jesus.
   Having that knowledge made everything we did throughout the week- from digging loads and loads of dirt to cutting down and hauling off banana trees- sacred and beyond worth it. What a blessing it was to work around the camp knowing that God would use everything we did to have an impact on campers and the future of Nicaragua as a whole.
   The greatest blessing though, was the friendships made with the Nicaraguan Christians we got to learn from and work with. Driving back to the hotel in Managua and the end of the week, I was reminded of Danny's warning. I became very aware of just how much this country and the people I encountered, had won my heart over and saying goodbye pretty much tore me into strips and pieces.
   All of that to say, Jesus is incredible. The way He loves His children knows no bounds or country borders or language barriers. His faithfulness and love are never ending and super contagious. My prayer is that we all open wide our hearts and throw away any fear of getting "dirty" or hurt and jump in with all we have because, oh my goodness, Jesus is so worth it.

"All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth." -Colossians 1:6

 I wish I could tell you more about one of the best weeks of my life, but I'll spare you unless you ask! I will, however, tell you a few other little things. The title of this post "tranquilo como camilo" is a phrase one of the workers taught me. It was translated as "chill like a chameleon" and I thought that was the coolest thing ever! I've since found out that camilo does not mean chameleon, but who cares! haha Also, the Young Life camp I worked at is attempting to become self-sustainable. So if you like good coffee (and by good, I mean even I, a non-coffee drinker, like it) and you'd like to help send a Nicaraguan teenager to camp you can visit www.beyondbeanscoffee.com One bag of coffee sends a kid to camp for a day!

with lots of gratitude and love,
Sarah