It is with
exceeding joy and thankfulness that I am able to let you all know that I will
be back serving with BlueSky for 11 weeks this summer.
When I began to
think about the fundraising process, I was a little overwhelmed. Serving in
Kenya comes with a large financial commitment and having to go through that
process for a third summer seemed like a daunting task. However, God has been
so faithful to provide at just the right time.
My go-to
fundraiser has always been t-shirts, and I was excited to get to designing for
this year. I started with many ideas just because I thought they were cute and
would sell well. However, shortly into the designing process I started praying
that my shirts would mean something and could tell a story. And man, God showed
up big time in that process and I want to tell you about it.
The first shirt
seems very girly and cute. However, this shirt has so much meaning. Let’s start
with the cute little van. While it may look like a Volkswagen van at first
glance, it is designed after a van I rode on as we traveled around Kenya my
first summer. I will insert a picture here:
That bus was a
place where God grew me in crazy ways. I spent many hours traveling on that
bus, reading scripture, and doing a whole lot of soul searching. The other
thing that happened on that bus was even better. While we were traveling, some
of my teammates formed a “book club.” The book club would sit at the front of
the bus and read books aloud. I am not much of a reader and I like to sit
quietly and reflect on my own so I decided not to join. However, I would take
time to listen to the book club when I could.
One of the books
that the book club read was The Insanity
of God. This book was based on a true story about a couple who, after their
son’s death, became missionaries among the persecuted church. The zeal they had
for Christ amongst their pain and heartache was astounding to me.
When we arrived
back at camp, we spent a night together watching the movie version of the
story. That night, it finally hit me how real Christian persecution was. At the
time, I was working through the book of Esther and admired the way that Esther
fasted and prayed before she went to the king on behalf of the Jews. While I
was praying, I felt the Lord asking me to spend a day fasting on behalf of the
persecuted church. To this day, I will still point to that day and that fast as
the single most important and significant day of my spiritual life. The Lord
spoke to me more clearly that day than He ever has in the past and I never felt
closer to Him than I did in those moments. All of that happened because of the
book club that started on that cute little bus.
Next, let’s talk
about the little cottage. The cottage on the shirt is drawn based on this
photo:
Some weeks at
camp we stay in a cabin, and some weeks we stay in these cottages. My very
first week working with BlueSky my first summer, just 2 days after my fasting
day, I moved into one of these cottages to meet my first group of girls. These
girls were the girls that made me fall in love with BlueSky’s ministry. This
cottage was where I rediscovered my love for children’s ministry.
My second
summer, it was in those same cottages that the Lord really stretched me and
grew me. My first week in one of those cottages, I found out I was moving up to
senior camp. This meant that I was moving into an age group that was more of a
youth ministry age than children’s ministry. This scared me and excited me at
the same time. It was tough, but again, God showed up and I discovered a
passion for youth ministry as well.
Lastly, let’s
look at the tree. The tree here is an acacia tree. First, I just love the
beauty of the acacia. I always take so many photos of these trees when I am
there. But one thing I love is that the acacia grows in well-drained soil in
dry and sunny habitats. I hope that it can be said of my life that even in
seasons where things just seem so dry, that I continued to grow and flourish in
my walk with Christ.
Now let’s move
on to the second shirt.
The main thing
you probably noticed is the 2 animals that are molded together. On one side,
you have a lion. This represents strength and power. In Revelation, God is
known as the Lion of Judah. On the other side, you see a lamb. This represents
meekness and peace. The lamb is also symbolism of Jesus, the Lamb of God, who
came to be the sacrifice and atonement for our sins.
You can also see
that the animals have almost a mosaic-type look. The first summer that I did ministry, I worked
with a church in New York City called Mosaic Baptist Church. Through Mosaic,
God taught me to have a heart for the US. For as long as I can remember, I have
felt called overseas and because of that, I sometimes forget how big of a
mission field I am on when I am still in the US. That summer also allowed me to
dive deeper into children’s ministry which is what ultimately led me to
BlueSky.
You will also
notice the triangle surrounding the lion and the lamb. I
wanted to give the shirt a kind of geometric feel, and I chose a triangle because they are the strongest shape. (Some argue that it’s a hexagon, but just
work with me here.) I want my strength to be because I have Christ inside of
me, the Lion and the Lamb.
At the bottom,
you will see “Mungu Anakupenda.” In Swahili, this means, “God loves you.” My
second summer in Kenya, during a week of village ministry, I was struggle with
the language barrier. I did the best I could to communicate, but most of the
time, my only verbal transactions with the kids was with this phrase. However,
each time I would hear the kids say this to me, I was reminded of how sweet the
love of God truly is and how His love knows not a single boundary.
