God has been absolutely ruining me for the ordinary as I've been here in Uganda. Last night, my friend Jade and I started a series called "Radical"and we didn't want it to end. Please take some time and listen to it. Honestly, it will change your life. And challenge you to live true discipleship. It will make you laugh, cry, get the chills, feel challenged, feel loved.....an most of all, not want to live the same. I encourage you to listen to this series, as we ask God what it looks like to actually live out the Gospel...the whole Gospel...not just the parts we want to highlight and live by, but the entirety of what Jesus calls us to. And it IS the most satisfying life ever. I am hungry for change. Ready to be ruined by Jesus.

You can go here
http://www.brookhills.org/media/series/radical/
and either watch it or listen to it. You can also go to itunes and download the podcasts.
I would love to hear feedback from you of what God is showing you through it. Feel free to email me at mombasa26@gmail.com.

My friend Jade has been here for the past two months away from her husband and daughters, waiting for the adoption of her gorgeous son, Ezra, to go through. The journey God has been taking her and her family on has been beautiful....not always painless....but so, so beautiful. Her husband wrote this for her and I just loved it.

Jade,

It was awesome to talk with you today. Sorry I don’t have pictures of myself to put on here. I guess that’s what happens when you leave, WAY less pictures going on around here. Today was a good day, productive practice this morning, warm day to work around the house, Sunday school prep this evening…etc.

I used one of your tshirts as my pillow case:) How is that for sappy? I like a good tshirt pillow case though, perfect material for faces.

I just about have Samuel’s room done. You’re going to love it. The bed and the dresser are supposed to be dropped off any time, then that room will be complete and ready for a little boy!

I really liked your post today. I know it’s so hard to go through this not being able to see what is coming and not being pleased by the progress. We love the plan when we are happy, we just have to trust it when we aren’t. As the great Mumford and Sons put it: ‘Hold on to what you believe in the light when the darkness has robbed you of all your sight.’ You quote scripture and I quote lyrics, you’re making me look bad;)

I am proud of you babe. God doesn’t waste time, this has been five ON PURPOSE weeks. They are useful to the building of God’s kingdom and you haven’t wasted them with sadness and complaining. For that, I am a supremely proud and happy husband. I mean that. I’m beyond happy with you, Jade, I am celebrating your diligence and discipline. You have followed God on this path that veers away from what you planned. You have chased Him even though it meant selfless efforts through pain and heartache and confusion. Oh man! Man oh man oh man!!! The more you LOVE Him and OBEY Him the more I desire you and respect you.

So I guess we have another week ahead huh? I’m excited to see what gets done…love seeing you at the other missions places helping out. Maybe you will get another opportunity this week! Whatever you do, God is at work there.

I love you and miss you. Have a great Sunday babe. Kiss my kid for me.

Nathan.

Jesus remains Lord by being a servant.

I am convinced that Jesus’ ministry was so effective because of how humbly He loved. He was not afraid of getting into the hard places and loving even there. And this is exactly the way I am to love. This is the we are to love. Not afraid to be a servant. To die to anything of ourselves so that others may be loved. When the Bible says “greater things shall you do”, I think that we need to really compare that to what Jesus is meaning, as well as comparing it to what things He did that we are to carry on. The answer is greater things than what Jesus’ ministry was here on this earth. What an amazing promise to our obedience! So if we honestly want to do greater things, we have to look at why and how Jesus was so effective.....and it all comes back to how He came as a servant and loved out of complete humility.

If you think about the culture of that time (and, to be honest, our culture now), it was all about climbing up the social ladder and gaining prestige among society. How often do even Christians, and evangelists, and prophets and....I search after this! If you and I want to see the promise of ‘greater things’ fulfilled, we have to be willing to love with absolutely no recognition or pats on the back. To love God and love people (the one cannot exist without the other) is not for our own well being or to make ourselves feel better at the end of the day. It is because we are called to it, and created for it, even when it stretches every part of us, pushing us out of our cozy comforts, and sometimes into others’ pain.....and yes, often when it does not feel good to love. (Inevitably, it is the most fulfilling feeling in the end...which I just think is beautiful.)

I also think about the phrase “greater things”, and how easy it is to immediately think signs and wonders. While I think that miracles are absolutely a part of God’s Kingdom today (I have seen God do crazy, crazy things. Let me know if you ever want to talk about this), I don’t think that it’s the core of what Jesus is talking about. I think that’s a part of it, for sure, but I think the main thing, and the greatest thing, is that people would know the true, potent, life changing love that Christ has. Love that gives hope and causes us to see God’s goodness and glorify His name in the midst of the crap and the trial. Love that ruins us for the ordinary, and makes us truly alive, no matter what the circumstance. That is the ‘greater things’ I want to see! And to be honest, that isn’t always accompanied by a hyper spiritual experience. Yes, sometimes it is totally accompanied by signs and wonders, and I want to expect Go to do the craziest things He wants to do! But... are we willing to see God’s will be done and His love reach people, even when there’s not some crazy, feel good thing that happens with it? Are we willing to get our hands dirty to truly love people. To meet them in their struggle and pain, and love them there?

My heart says “yes!”. The greatest thing is that everyone would know His sweet, sweet love. And that because of it, their lives would never be the same. That whether they’re in a season of much, or a season of little, that even that wouldn’t look the same because the hope, the beauty, and the goodness of God is our strength, no matter how long the seasons last.

So, my prayer is that we will absolutely see greater things....and that in order to truly see the promise fulfilled, we would be willing to love and serve without reserve, and with absolutely no one watching or saying “look at that anointed one”. But, that we would live and breathe His love. And through it, all will come to know such love! And that, my friends... is definitely the greatest thing Jesus is talking about.

“The Beloved disciple [John] presents a mind bending image of God, blowing away all previous conceptions of who the Messiah is and what discipleship is all about. What a scandalous reversal of the world’s values! To prefer to be the servant rather than the Lord of the household is the path of downward mobility in an upwardly mobile culture. To taunt the idols of prestige, honor, and recognition, to refuse to take oneself seriously or to take seriously others who take themselves seriously, and to freely embrace the servant lifestyle- these are the attitudes that bear the stamp of authentic discipleship. The stark realism of John’s portrait of Jesus leaves no room for emotion or mood or feeling; it is a decision to live like Jesus. It has nothing to do with what we feel; it has everything to do with what we do- humble service. To listen obediently to Jesus- “If I then, the Lord ad Master, have washed your feet, you should wash each others’ feet”- is to hear the heartbeat of the Rabbi that John knew and loved. When being is divorced from doing, pious thoughts become an adequate substitute for washing dirty feet.”

~Brennan Manning

‘So He got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around His waist. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash their feet, drying them with the towel that was around Him.’

John 13:4-5

Jesus remains Lord by being a servant.