Invest

I just returned from the exciting task of chaperoning a penn-del kids camp somewhere up in carlisle. I am freaking exhausted. The four days I spent with the seven 7-9 year old kids assigned to me was easily one of the most patience trying, frustrating and stressful times of my life. In four days I heard more whining, screaming, crying than parents who just had triplets. I have more bruises, scratches, bites (from kids not bugs) and other random marks on my body (from my kids using me as a punching bag) than an antelope that was just mauled by a lion. And every muscle in my back is sore from the children using me as a jungle gym and demanding piggy back rides. But I also saw those same kids connect with God on a deep level. Prayers were prayed and decisions were made that will forever effect those 7 kids lifes. And it made every bruise, headache, scratch, punch and bite worth it.

Panama (conclusion)

Well. It feels like months ago that I left for the most humid, sweat soaked country on Earth. I grew. Spiritually, and facial hair. Well, kind of. It's a work in progress. Much like me. I will not go into details of my trip on this blog. You can ask me if you want to find out. I always prefer the face to face conversations than rather impersonal blogs. But needless to say, My God reigns. Over all the earth. In 12 days He gave hope to the hopeless, He found the lost, He cleaned the dirty, and He proved himself the greatest friend a person could have. People gave their lives to their new savior. Orphans found a Father. The sick were healed. And people given second chances. Tears were cried at the revelation of being loved. Smiles broke on faces hardened by this loveless world that they are no longer of, but only in.
In short:
Our God reigns.

Fin.

Panama

I leave for Panama today.
There is a level of expenctancy (spelled incorrectly) and excitement that completely surpasses last years mission trip.
I'm not sure why. Maybe I'm more prepared this year.
But this year.
God will heal.
God will change, redeem, and deliver lives.
God will pour His spirit out.
There is not a doubt in my mind.

David, Solomon or Moses?

My friend told me about a dream she had about me a few days ago. The dream is as follows, I had a choice to be a David or a Solomon or a Moses, and I chose none and I was my own great missionary. Whether a "spiritual" dream or not. It spoke deeply to me. I always had this illusion that when I became a missionary my personality would change. That I would have to conform to the missionary "mold" so to speak. I realized though, that God doesn't call me to be a Moses, Solomon, David, Myeski or anyone. But he calls me to be a missionary, a healer, a minister, an Eric. It was an eye opening moment when I realized that I will still be the crazy, whacky, straight up weird me. Even when I'm in Amsterdam. Hopefully a tad more mature though.

Frisbee?

Thursday was the final day for Center for Champions. For the unlearned Center for Champions is a ministry in Harrisburg that offers an after school program for elementary school children among other things. For the past few months I have been helping out with after school program and have become friends with many of the awesome kids there. Jose, Joan, Quana, Mark and all the other kids names that I really don't have a clue how to spell have become a part of my weekly routine. So Thursday was a sad day for me, being that I wouldn't be seeing most of them until their fall season of school started.

But an interesting thing happened when we went to a local park in celebration of the last day. My sister had brought Subway sandwiches for all the kids to eat and they finished them all quite quickly. So we were left with two platter plates and a bag of sauces. I jokingly said to Mason that these plates look like frisbees. So I grabbed the two plates and headed down to the near by playground. I began throwing them with differing accuracy with some kids from the center. Suddenly, several more kids not from the center were surrounding us watching the two black discs fly back and forth. Before I knew it we had a giant game of frisbee going with kids I had never met before in my life. It was cool to see how two seemingly useless plates could be used to connect with kids that are usually quite distant.

Kayaking

Sunday was an exciting day. I have achieved one of my goals in life. I went kayaking. I have been begging my bff jordan for months, maybe even years to go kayaking with her. Sunday she finally gave me that oppurtunity. So that evening my brother, sister and I along with the more experienced jordan saddled up and hit the river. Being that it was our first time we had no clue what we were doing. We were new to the enviroment. But luckily we had jordan guiding us along with her seemingly never ending patience. She would leave her kayak and push us through the rapids, answer sometimes obvious questions such as "should I have 3 inches of water in my kayak?" and was constantly encouraging us to push forward. By the end of the day the three of us were kayaking like old pros.

I think somtimes we don't give enough patience to the "baby" christians. We expect them to learn the ropes instantly and hold them to our standards of living. We rarely take the time to go back and help them through the rapids, answer their sometimes obvious questions and don't give them the encouragement they need to push forward in their new faith. Where is our never ending patience? There's your lesson for the day. Or week. Depending on your learning level.

As a side note: my brother fell in the water. With a beaver in it.