The Help

I am currently over half way thru reading "The Help" and I am counting down the days until the movie comes out. Here is the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbuKgzgeUIU

If you haven't read this book, I highly recommend it. It blows me away that our country was like this not long ago. I know it sounds stupid and arrogant, but I just keep thinking "my Mom and Dad were alive when all this happened" so crazy. I pray that God continues to heal and break down racial barriers.

READ THIS BOOK! Can't wait til August 10th!!

Jesus and Women

I love to read. I have loved to read for as long as I have known how to read. Sometimes I read to learn, sometimes to enjoy, and sometimes hoping something within me is stirred and changed. I unexpectedly came upon a book that did the latter. I started reading "Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes" by Kenneth Bailey hoping to gain a better intellectual understanding of how Jesus viewed and interacted with women. What I did not expect was that through this book my love for Jesus would be expanded and enlightened as I became a spectator to his interactions with women in the scriptures.

Unfortunately, as a Westerner, I have grown up to read and understand scripture through a lens that is very well...Western. I honestly love the West. I love the freedom that has been fought for and established in Western countries. I love that(as a woman) I can write a blog and express anything I want to say because of this freedom. However, I often forget that Jesus was not a Westerner and the culture he lived in was nothing close to the Western culture I take for granted every day.

That is why this book has been so eye opening for me. I started in the middle of the book where he explores some of Jesus meetings with women. Jesus ushered in a radical new view of women that was in direct contrast of the view of women of his day. The book starts with his interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well.(John 4:1-42) Jewish men didn't even interact with other Jewish women they didn't know, much less a Samaritan half-breed, woman who had been married many times and was currently living with a man...radical, appalling!!) Jesus saw her and spoke to her need and she left a changed woman. Then there is the Canaanite woman of great faith,(Matthew 15:21-28), the woman caught in adultery(John 7:53-8:11), the woman who washed Jesus feet with her tears and anointed his feet with ointment(Luke 7:36-50). Jesus challenged men in their view of these women and in doing so helped seal his fate of taking the punishment for these women. Many of their lifestyles and reputations demanded punishment or excluded them in some way. Jesus, however, would not allow this so in speaking for them, he ultimately ended up taking their place and their punishment. AWESOME! There is no way I could go into everything that is said in the book about women(and that would be plagiarism ;0 ), so I highly, highly recommend this book for anyone who follows Jesus, is curious about Jesus, or doesn't understand Jesus. I think it will rock your world, it has rocked mine.

Along with learning and trying to absorb all this, I am also very aware of how many women in the world today are so far from knowing these truths. They have never seen it, experienced it, or even tasted it. Check out these pictures:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/07/worlds_most_dangerous_countrie.html

I don't think Jesus has been teaching me all this just to feel better about myself or be happy that he loves me so much. Those things do happen of course, but I think there is more. I think his kingdom is much, much bigger than me.

I keep trying to imagine if I could speak directly with Jesus, what he would say about this. What would he say about these women? I think he would have much to say and I think he would have different things to say to each of us about our response to this and what our role is. Maybe it is advocacy, adoption, education, moving to these countries, prayer..... ect. As we get ready to move to India, I am praying God would answer my questions about my role and my response to this.

Sometimes when we see pictures like this or read things like this we can be overcome with guilt of how easy our lives are. My point is not in any way to say we should respond out of duty or guilt or with some crazy thought that we can repay God for what he has done for us, that would be impossible. Instead, I feel that God has been nudging me and reminding me of who he is and what he has done and it is out of this joy and thankfulness that I am moved to respond.

May we bravely and boldly(even when we feel scared) embrace the role God has for us in this great story of restoration and hope for men and women throughout the world.

Artist

Our friend ,Haidar, was able to show his art at the same cafe Ryan worked at in Lancaster. The local news channel came out and interviewed Haidar!! So EXCITING, we are so proud of Haidar! He is an extremely talented artist and great friend. If you watch closely you can even spot Ryan and me.

click here:

http://www.wgal.com/r/28128614/detail.html

We are back in Texas and would love to connect with many of you!! We are in Austin until August then will be in Tyler from August thru October.

Stuff

We have officially started selling all our stuff. A few days ago, we put a handful of items on craig’s list and within 24 hours we had sold our chaise, ottoman, tv, dvd player, and a desk chair. Wow, I had no idea craig’s list was so fast!! Or maybe we are pricing our stuff to low..hmmm….

Material things and the way they make us feel are so strange. There is such a pull to have things and always want more. I realized this even more in my own heart as Ryan started posting all our stuff. It was very strange. There is a part of me that is so excited to sell our stuff because it means we are moving. It is a new phase, a new season. I didn’t realize that giving up my things would be a such challenge. I hate clutter and I like to get rid of things that add to clutter; however, this has been harder than I expected. Selling our tv, dvd player, chaise, and chair= easy, no problem, glad to see them go. However, when Ryan told me a lady was coming to pick up our ottoman I had a little break down. I know…. really, over an ottoman?!?

The thing about that ottoman is that it was a wedding gift. For our whole 1.7 months of marriage we have had that ottoman. It was used to the max. It was used it for seating when we had way to many people in our first small apartment. It was used as a table to hold snacks and drinks before and after we had an actual kitchen table. It was used by this cutie as a hiding place when Ryan came home from work.

Maybe it was only an ottoman, but it was a great ottoman!

Ahhh transition….I am sure there will be many more “ottomans” in my life that come and go.

What does the thought of selling everything do to you? Do you wish you could do it and get rid of all your stuff? Does it freak you out? I am swinging back and forth between both of those…..

remembering the past and being thankful for the future

Last Wednesday (April 27) was the 6th year anniversary of losing my Dad. In some ways it seems like so long ago and then in some ways it seems like there is no way it could already be six years. The older I get the more I realize what an amazing father God gave me. Growing up I always knew I was loved, cherished, enjoyed, and heard. I believe that our relationship with our fathers has a very big role in the way we view God. Do we see him as someone who cares, loves, and is present in our lives, or do we see him as someone who is distant and preoccupied with other things? My father (Ricky Dean :) Wilson) did an awesome job at reflecting God's love in my life and for that I am so thankful.

My Dad died on April 27th and his funeral was on April 29th. I remember that day probably more vividly than the day he died. All the people coming and going, all the funeral planning being finished, there was just an erie finality to it all. Something that I think is really amazing is that the same day April 29th, 20 years before my Dad's funeral, Ryan was born. I know many people would say this is coincidence, but I see it as a special gift from God. He knows all dates and plans and I think this is a beautiful picture and gift of how he knows everything and loves us. On the same (calendar) day that the most important man in my life up to that point was buried, the future most important man in my life was born. I think that is really special and awesome!

Here are a few pictures from our week long celebration of Ryan's birth!!

Ryan and Haidar. Haidar's bday was April 24th so we had a joint celebration for both of them with friends. We ate lots of taco salad, biryani(thanks Haidar) and 2 cakes!!

The lighting is kinda weird in this one. This is Ryan, me, Boston, and Jordan on the day bf Ryan's bday. We were in Texas, so Ryan(of course) chose Mexican food! We also had yummy red velvet cupcakes(thanks Mr. Youngblood!)

This is on Ryan's real birthday! We were at a rehearsal dinner so we celebrated Autumn and Steven Horne and Ryan :)

Happy Birthday, my love! You are more than I ever dreamed of :)

Family

Most of you know that we just returned from our trip to India. There are so many things we learned and want to share with you. I have learned that I can never travel to another country and meet new people with out them changing me in some way. Our view on sharing life, hospitality, family, and Jesus has been stretched and challenged. I will be sharing over the next few posts different stories of people we met and things we experienced.

When we first arrived in India we had an orientation for a couple days. We discussed different things like; being a social entrepreneur (will share more on that later), culture, and family. It is amazing how much in our holy book the bible we see the importance of family and sharing Jesus in the context of family. Many people I know come from broken families and there is so much hurt that can occur in families. This is so far from the way God intended and created families. I KNOW that Jesus longs to restore families. He longs for families to be redeemed. For many people that would seem like a huge miracle, luckily Jesus in a great miracle worker :) I am praying that God would teach me more about how he loves families and groups of people. So often in the West we limit our experience with God to being a very individualistic thing. Yes, we do make choices about following God as individuals, but I think we miss out on something beautiful when we forget the aspect of following God in community and intimacy with others. God longs to redeem families and communities, not just individuals. I have so much to learn about this. Anyways, I would like to share about a family that we met that really touched my heart.

As we wondered around the city, we met a man who took us to meet his aunt and her family. We drank chai with them and learned some of their story. They invited us back for dinner the next night. A few years ago this family lost their husband and father. This left the wife a widow with three boys. In any culture this is such a great tragedy, but here this makes things very hard because most of the women don't work in the society. Now two of the sons are older and are able to work, but I still felt so sad for their loss. Their father was an artist. He painted designs on plates and cups. He was a very talented. I loved the way this family interacted, they had such joy and love for one another. The boys loved and respected their mother and told us how she was so important to them. They also lovingly spoke about how they missed their father and how hard things had been without him. The mother didn't speak any English, but I quickly fell in love with her joyful eyes and beautiful smile. It is hard to explain. I don't really even know her and we couldn't even talk to each other, but somehow it seemed as if our stories connected and she reminded me of my own Mom. I could see in her how much she missed her husband, but how much she loved her children and longed for the best for them. I am sure when we live in India we will hear many more stories of widows and loss, but I think she will forever have a place in my heart. I hope one day to be able to hear her story in her own language and to share with her my story and the peace I have found in Jesus through losing my father. Oh, how I long for the day when death is no more and families are not separated! Please pray for this family that God would be near to them and that he would provide for them. I think Jesus has a special compassion for widows.... I read this passage the day after we met them and it really touched me:

[Jesus Raises a Widow's Son]

Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!”

(Luke 7:11-16 ESV)

I love that Jesus SAW her and had COMPASSION on her. I pray he sees this woman we met and has compassion on her as well.

I think this post is kind of disorganized and kind of all over the place with my thoughts (Sorry!). I hope it wasn't to disjointed for you. I am still jet-lagging a little and have so many things yet to process from our trip :) My thoughts and emotions are all over the place :) I love ya'll, thanks for reading and praying.

Here is a pic:

this is lauren and me with the mother, isn't she so beautiful? the guy in the back on the left is a cousin we spent a lot of time with and the little guy on the right is her youngest son. oh my goodness, don't even get me started on how cute he is....he stole my heart. he had great english and was so adorable and so smart!

videos

Hey Everyone,

I realized that I said we would post videos here of our trip to India, but we ended up sending out the links via email. If you are interested in seeing our videos from our trip, please send us an email at:

celebratecovenant@gmail.com

Thanks so much for all your prayers, we had the most amazing time and have so many stories to share....so stay tuned and let us know if you want us to add your to our email list!