Mottos

Life is a trip. God put me on the road to service in the Navajo Nation and three months later returned me home. To see how the whole story began click here. I've had occasion to ponder on two different mottoes lately. Both are well known, at least in the United States. The motto of the Boy Scouts of America is "Be Prepared". The motto of the U.S. Marine Corps is "Semper Fidelis". In English, the Latin phrase, semper fidelis, means "always faithful." Like Paul, I tend to do the things I ought not to do and to not do those things that I should. This is where I need to train myself to be better prepared. While on the Navajo Reservation, I always carried a two-gallon gas can in my truck and usually carried a case of bottled water tucked behind the seat. I was told, early on, that I needed to be prepared for New Mexico and reservation conditions. I often drove to places where there was no ready supply of gas. Sometimes I forget to check the gas gauge in the truck, so the gas can was my attempt to be prepared. It wasn't unusual to find Navajos thumbing for rides to various places on the reservation. This is where the bottled water came in handy. In the Four Corners area, there is a constant need to stay hydrated. I was able to offer water to anyone that I picked up thumbing and the offer was never turned down. I was prepared to help them. I am not always so prepared. On the way across the Florida panhandle, I stopped one morning for breakfast in a small town. As I pulled to a stop in the parking lot of the restaurant, a large, black man leaned into the passenger side window. He told me that he was going from business to business through the town applying for work and not having much luck. In fact, that was the reason he was just leaving the restaurant, he said. He went on to say, however, that he had no money to eat and hadn't had a meal since the previous day. He asked for money for food. Anyone approaching me to beg for money or to try to sell me anything is almost always out of luck. I immediately raise defensive walls and this time was no different. I mumbled some excuse for not giving him any money and went on inside for my own breakfast. As I was leaving town, I happened to get caught at a stoplight. I glanced over at a strip mall and saw the same man leaving one store and turning into the next store. I realized that, perhaps, he was actually doing exactly what he said and going from door to door looking for work. I now know that I should have been better prepared to consider his plight and I will try to be better prepared. Instead of throwing up those defensive walls, I will be better prepared to listen to and consider the stories of anyone who approaches me. That doesn't mean that everyone will get money from me. In fact, most people still will not. In this case, however, I was already stopping to eat. I like to talk to people. Inviting him to join me for breakfast would probably have been a good experience, certainly no hardship, for me and would have allowed me an opportunity to witness to him even if it was only by a little act of charity. I want to be better prepared to recognize everyone as a child of God and to follow through with a small act of charity when it is possible for me to do so (sometimes, I really just don't have any money!) I am not always faithful. The United States Marine Corps is always faithful: to the USA, to the Corps, and, most of all, to each other. God is always faithful. To quote a fellow blogger, "The phrase is 'Always Faithful.' It isn't 'Sometimes Faithful.' Nor is it 'Usually Faithful,' but always. It is not negotiable. It is not relative, but absolute." God's motto could be "Semper Fidelis." Mine will never be, no matter how hard I try. Sometimes, it is hard for me to remember that God is always faithful. I've been home for a week. In some ways, that doesn't seem like a very long time. In others, it seems like forever. Try standing in a room with all of the doors closed to you for a week. You will probably begin to feel trapped. You might start thinking that there is no way out, that no one will ever open a door to you. I am having trouble remembering that God is always faithful. I want to work in full time service to God here in Winston-Salem. Nothing seems to be happening, though I have tried hard to network. Am I meant to go back to work in some part-time job and volunteer when I can? That is not what I want nor how I feel. God's motto is "Semper Fidelis," but I wonder, is He being faithful to me? If He knows my heart, why does it feel so empty at this moment? Please pray that I will be able to except that God is always faithful to me and that I will have the love and patience to remain faithful to His plans for me. I love all y'all, Ross

One Door Closes

Life is a trip. God has put me on the road to service in the Navajo Nation. To see how the whole story began click here. As I write this, I am in the process of packing to head back to North Carolina and home. I said, in the past, that I wasn't going to worry about funding. I was at peace in my mind that, when God had other plans for me, the funding would stop. As of the end of August, the funding runs out. Several things happened that could have extended my stay, but they were not going to give me the freedom to extend it for a much longer time. I believe that I am following God's will. Life isn't always fair, but God is. That doesn't mean that following Him always seems fair. Sometimes, I want to shout at God. "You put me here, you allowed me to make friends and to begin to see a little bit of progress in the things I'm doing, and then You ask me to change directions. How fair is that?" If the past 3 months haven't done one other thing, they have allowed me to realize that the rest of my life needs to be committed to God's service. Since, like all of you, I need to keep a roof over our heads and keep us fed, it probably won't be fulltime service, although I am open to that, but I know that God has plans to use me. There are many opportunities in Winston-Salem. Like I learned in the "Experiencing God" study some years ago, I just need to find where He is working and join Him there. I intend to keep my blog going wherever I am, and I hope that you will join me in it. Let me tell you about the week that the mission team from Maple Springs was on the reservation. As I spent time with them, it was so very good to renew old friendships, begin new friendships, and spend a week on a mission trip with one of my sons. I discovered that unexpected talents abound within the group. Jordan can lead a group of children and keep their attention. Joe is like the Pied Piper. He had kids following him everywhere. Bryan can sit down with a pad and pencil and make a construction project come out right. My own Ron can paint (a talent I plan to make use of!) There were 23 of us involved and every single one brought something to the trip and, I expect, left with more than they came with. Even a short mission trip is a life changing event. I expect to see some of these people continue to blossom around Maple Springs and I hope to see some of them going on the next trip. The Navajo benefits from our being on the reservation, but we benefit so very much more. My own PC is trashed, so I'm typing this at the Farmington Library. My time is almost up and I need to get off this machine. I hope to see each one of you sometime in the near future. I'll be driving home beginning on Saturday, 8/29, but expect to visit with some old friends in Mississippi and family in Florida along the way. Prayers for safe travel are always appreciated. I love all y'all and miss you. Ross

God Is Truly Awesome!

Life is a trip. God has put me on the road to service in the Navajo Nation. To see how the whole story began click here. Let me tell you about Jerrod. Some of you have already heard me tell my story of God's sense of humor. I was complaining that I didn't feel very useful here sometimes. I expected to be helping to relieve people's burdens and that didn't seem to be happening. God laughed. For the next two weekends, I delivered pew cushions to two of our small, isolated churches. In just a few hours, I relieved the burdens of a hundred people! After helping me to laugh at myself, God got serious. He gave me Jerrod. The Navajo Nation has a funded, summer youth opportunity program. Young people are helped to be placed in jobs at which they can work 100 hours over several weeks. Pastor Coleman was approached about having one of the young persons placed with the church. She agreed and got a 14 year-old young man. After only a day or two, it became obvious that she just didn't have the time to supervise him. I was asked if I minded taking him under my wing and, of course, I agreed. When I met Jerrod, I was favorably impressed. No piercings. No tattoos. No flashing underwear. He spoke without mumbling and shook hands with me. I know. I know. I'm being judgmental. But Jerrod made a very good first impression and had nothing obvious to overcome with me. He works hard and doesn't have to be told every little thing to do. He will even look for work sometimes. Although he wasn't wild about having to get rid of the dead mice we found when cleaning out church closets, he did it without complaint. We carry bags of trash and dirty diapers from the day care center. He tries to work and hold his nose at the same time, but he does work! Jerrod is lucky. He and his sister both live with their father and mother and his father is employed as a truck driver. He lives almost into Colorado, out in the high desert. No running water. His mother keeps the house immaculate and keeps Jerrod and his sister the same way. The whole family is a joy to be around. They accept life as it is and work around any bumps in the road - a lesson for Christian and non-Christian alike. The family, including Jerrod, is not Christian. In fact, they are in the process of building a new ceremonial hogan on their grounds now. Oops! God, did you really mean for Jerrod to be assigned to me? I don't have any experience working with non-Christian young people, You know? Jerrod and I talk sometime and sometime we just enjoy each other's company in silence. I invite him to church functions (none yet) and answer any questions, and he has had a few, as simply and truthfully as possible. We are building a bridge of trust between us. Yesterday, we were confronted by two very drunk Navajo men as we were leaving the mission compound. It got serious, but not especially dangerous. It provided me with the opportunity to give him my carefully prepared "grandpa's speech #3". That's the one where I told him that he was a better person than those men and that, however he perceived the god that he worships, that god would be greatly disappointed in him if he followed the drunks example and that my God loved him and would be disappointed too. I told him that his family worked hard to make him the person that he is today and that they would be terribly disappointed as well. I ended up by telling him that I expected to attend his high school graduation (class of '13) and that, if I heard that he was drinking, I would come back to Shiprock early and personally kick his butt all the way back to the Colorado state line. We ended up laughing together at that image, but he knew I was serious about considering him a fine person and continuing to be one. He leaves me Friday. I'll miss him. I don't intend to forget him or even let him go. He likes to fish and I'm going to find time to take him. He doesn't care much for football, but hey, everyone has some little fault, and together, we can overcome this one. I'll stay on him about his grades and find some way to acknowledge his accomplishments. He may become the only grandson I ever have and I want him to grow into a man I can respect. Last Saturday, I drove north through the Rocky Mountains. I visited some of the old mining towns: Telluride, Placerville, Rico, Ouray, Durango, that today are high-end winter sports and tourism sites. The views were truly awe inspiring. Except maybe for the fact that I should probably have been taller and smarter, God doesn't make mistakes, and He certainly didn't with the Rockies. I cannot begin to imagine what the first man to view them must have thought. I saw rivers that ran crystal clear and rivers that ran gold from the minerals in the rocks. I saw waterfalls tumbling hundreds of feet and waterfalls stepping down the mountainsides in baby steps. I saw aspen groves and towering pine forests. At times, I don't believe that I could have been more in tune with God had I been in the world's greatest cathedral. If awe is worship and wonder is prayer, I spent about 6 hours in the most meaningful worship service ever. I will be going back and would like nothing better than to be able to take all of you with me. I love and miss all of you, Ross

A Left-handed Compliment

Life is a trip. God has put me on the road to service in the Navajo Nation. To see how the whole story began click here. This is written by me to me. I forget so often. Like Paul said, those things that I should do, I do not, and those things I should not do, I do. You know what a left-handed compliment is? It is like the old joke. A young man is trying to get a friend to go on a blind double-date with him. The friend asks why he should and wants to know something good about the blind date girl. The young man replies, "Well, she doesn't sweat much for a fat girl." That is a left-handed compliment. I don't think it would make anyone feel very good. I am terrible about paying God left-handed compliments. How often I pray that He will heal someone or correct some problem or injustice. How often I ask Him to take care of me or to assure me that what I am doing with my life is the right thing to be doing. Those are left-handed compliments. Of course, I am saying that I believe God is capable of healing, of fixing problems, of giving me assurances. But, and this is a big but, I often forget to tell Him directly. I pray for help, but forget to praise Him. God already knows what I need and what I want. He is going to take care of me even without my prayers. What He wants is a relationship with me. As a mother or father, how would you feel if the only time your children came to you was with their hand out? Isn't it great when, for no reason at all, they take the time to tell you that they love you? I heard at two different worship services this weekend that God wants a relationship with me. That means not just when I need something, but all of the time. He wants to walk with me and to talk with me. How awesome is that! I invite you to join me in turning your eyes, ears, and heart to God. Walk with Him. Listen to Him. He will always be there for you and for me. I love all y'all. Ross

A Heart Does Better Listening Than Speaking

Life is a trip. God has put me on the road to service in the Navajo Nation. To see how the whole story began click here. I am making friends with a member of the Shiprock church. He is divorced and living alone. His wife and 9 year-old son live in Flagstaff. He gets to see him about once a month. He has traveled a very hard road, but is back to where he needs to be. He is a member of one of the church boards and a very hard worker. I had an opportunity to help him with a church building project last week. With my help, we finished the project in about 4 hours. Without my help, he would have probably finished it in about 3 hours! He is patient with me and I enjoy spending time with him. One of the things that the court told him, when he was divorced, was that he had to have a much better place to bring his son before the son would be allowed to visit him in his home. The house he lives in was terrible. A mission team that was here in Shiprock for 2 weeks worked almost exclusively on repairs and rebuilding of his house. There is still a week or two worth of work to be done by the next team or two we have here. The house looks much better and, by and large, he is pleased with the results. However, there is something that we overlooked. We had a 4th of July celebration at the church. I was talking to him about the changes to his house and how he liked them. He made a comment that really set me thinking. He said that he loved the work that had been done, but that he was afraid that some of the changes, moving pictures to paint walls, for example, were erasing memories. You all know me, it could easily have gone the other way, but at that moment, the ears to my heart were open instead of the mouth of my heart. His comment really made me stop and think. Many of our mission teams, and I include myself among that number, come here and work on houses. To us, they look poor, crude, and maybe even, by our standards, uninhabitable. It is so easy for us to overlook that, to the families that live in them, these aren't just houses, they are homes. They don't just represent shelter. They represent family. They represent memories. They represent a bit of pride in that they have a place to live and are not on the street. They may well represent all of the wealth in this world for the residents. Our attitudes, as Christ's representatives, must always be accepting. A really good attitude may or may not even be noticed, but a bad attitude will be recognized immediately. This is a lesson that I'm trying hard to carve into my heart forever. Love to you all, Ross

One Body, Many Parts

Life is a trip. God has put me on the road to service in the Navajo Nation. To see how the whole story began click here. I haven't done this before, but I want to begin with some scripture that has become more meaningful to me since I've been here in the Navajo Nation. From I Corinthians 12:4-6, "There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men." From I Corinthians 12:12 "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ." (NIV) These readings are from Paul's letter to the church at Corinth where he addresses gifts of the Holy Spirit. I saw a great example of this at work yesterday. Rodney held a staff meeting in the morning. There were 13 of us gathered. Among that 13, 9 were women and 4 were men and 8 were Navajo and 5 were Anglo. Ages ranged from somewhere in the 20s to somewhere in the 70s. Different jobs represented included: director, office administrator, thrift store manager, church pastor, church administrative assistant, director of the child care center and her 3 assistants, 2 men who work directly with the mission teams doing hosting and building, and two staff volunteers (yours truly was one of those.) We traveled around the circle introducing ourselves, telling about our jobs, and the joys we are finding in doing them. I'll admit that I've been a little bit low sometimes out here. My mental image, before coming out, was very hands-on. I pictured myself holding the hands of ones in grief. I pictured myself, delivering lifesaving food to those with nothing to eat. I would carry the sick to the doctor and visit those in the hospital and in jail. Of course, I would be offering to pray with everyone. Each and every one of those with whom I came into contact would want to hear my testimony. Well, it didn't turn out like that and it took Paul, writing almost two thousand years ago, and a staff meeting to bring it home to me. Thanks to a glorious and giving God, I have gifts to use. Can I take care of a crowd of 2 and 3 year old children? Nope. Can I keep the financial books and track the money that must flow through the ministry? Well, maybe, but I would hate every minute. Can I lead building teams? Shoot, I can't even tell a right-handed screwdriver from a left-handed screwdriver. Can I run a thrift shop for 20+ years, like our current manager, and witness to customers in her quiet, loving way? That is an emphatic "no" and I wouldn't even want to try. Can I minister to a congregation? Not in this lifetime. But I have gifts! Do I feel comfortable talking to a busy store manager and asking for financial support? Yes. I've been a manager. I know how to cut to the chase or engage in friendly conversation if there seems to be time for that. Can I help unload a truckload of donations? You bet. I would much rather do that than swap places with the young people working repairing a house roof. Can I go get the mail and sort it out so that checks get deposited and bills paid? Yes, and with only a few lessons. That gives our office administrator more time to try to keep our director straight. Can I visit other social outreach ministries, whether secular or religious, and get them to consider ways that we can partner with them? Yes. I'm pretty good one-on-one and love to hear from people who are excited about the work they are doing. So, my family and friends, here's what I need from you... I need your continued prayers. I have too much to do to get bogged down in feeling sorry for myself because I'm not Mother Theresa. Pray that I will always feel that I am gifted in a unique way and that I am able to do things to ease burdens that others either can't or won't do. Continue to help support me financially if that is something you find possible and you want to do. Times are hard, but I'm living in a place where recession isn't recognized. Not because the economy isn't bad, but because it has always been bad. Lastly, join your heart with mine in the love of a Christ who gave more for us than we will ever be able to give to others. Oh yes, the joys that I spoke to in the meeting included new friends, a better understanding of how God works, and new information that I can bring home with me to better help those in need in my own community. I love and miss all of you, Ross

I Don't Know

Life is a trip. God has put me on the road to service in the Navajo Nation. To see how the whole story began click here. I feel good about what I'm doing here, but am I doing any good? I don't know. A week ago, my friend, Jeremy Pegram, who is on staff at my home church of Maple Springs UMC, preached a sermon using Jesus' parable of the sower and the seeds. You know the story: some seeds fall on the path and are eaten by birds; some seeds fall on shallow soil and don't have the roots to grow; some begin to grow, but weeds spring up and strangle them; and some have everything go right and grow and bear fruit. Instead of mustard seeds, Jeremy used the pumpkin seed as an example in his sermon. I'm not much of a gardener, but even I know that a single pumpkin seed, if cared for, can grow a vine that will take over a yard and which, in turn, will produce lots of pumpkins. To bend Jeremy's use of the pumpkin seed just a bit, think about how many people will eat pumpkin pies, spend time with their children carving pumpkins, and enjoy lighting them up on the night of Halloween. The youth at Maple Springs will sell pumpkins and use that money for mission projects (do you know that those pumpkins are grown right here on the Navajo Reservation?) The final results of a pumpkin seed might feed, create quality time for families, create memories for children, and earn money to do more good for more people. But does the sower of the pumpkin know this when he plants the seed? Does he think about it? Does he even care? Does he know that the results of his effort might mean so much to so many? Doing the things that I am doing here makes me think of being the sower. Some of the seeds we attempt to sow will never bear fruit. Some will fall on closed minds. Some will fall on closed hearts. Some, however, will touch the fertile ground of worried minds, aching hearts, and wondering souls. Which of the seeds will produce positive results? I don't know. I'm not called to know. I'm called to sow. Last week, I worked on a project to get FCNAM on a Lowe's Home Improvements donation list. I also worked on a project to submit a proposal to the same Lowe's to have some of their volunteers help set up the buildings necessary to a church outreach. I took several boxes of children's books to the women's shelter. I helped unload a whole trailer load of clothes for the thrift shop. Will any one of these efforts save even one soul for Christ? I don't know. I'm not called to know. I'm called to sow. Each one of us is called to sow wherever we are. Will we succeed? I don't know. We aren't called to know. We are just called to sow. Peace and Love Ross