Six months ago, I was in a conversation with a friend and we were reflecting on the experience of Moses when Yahweh faced him.

God’s heart was breaking because of the oppression of His people and He knew that Moses’ heart had broken once upon a time for the same reason. God let Moses know that He was going to invite him to do something about it.

After stumbling over himself, he wonders out loud, “What if they don’t listen to me?”

God’s response: “What is that in your hand?”

“A staff.”

“Yeah,” said God. “I’m going to use what’s already in your hand (which happened to be the tool of his trade) to set people free.”

As this friend and I continued to reflect, she realized that her heart had been breaking for a community of poverty-stricken families living in one of the largest city dumps in the world. As we talked, she realized that she had a business degree and relationships with people who could help her start a fair-trade non-profit that could potentially become a creative form of a micro-finance organization already in her hand.

Just Hearts was born and launched last Sunday at Open Door. Through micro-finance, they are helping to create jobs for women and children endangered by the chains of human trafficking in both Nicaragua and Thailand.

God is using what’s already in her hands to set people free.

An email I just wrote to our team of justice coordinators at Open Door…

I just finished reading a book called Slave. It is an autobiography of a woman named Mende Nazer, a Sudanese young woman who was abducted and sold into slavery as a little girl, but who eventually had the courage to escape after nearly 12 years. It is a riveting true account of her story.

As I was reading, I began to wonder if the monthly dialogues around the issues of poverty and slavery could benefit from just such a book. I’m wondering what would happen if our community engaged in a book dialogue/book study of books such as these. My next book is one called Infidel and is the story of an exploited Arab woman and her journey to freedom. She also wrote Caged Virigin–the book I’ll read after Infidel. I also have a book called Sold which is a collection of stories of slaves who have been freed….

Attaching the issue to real stories of real people is one way in which I believe that God will continue to feed this break for us. More importantly, we could use stories such as these to guide us into the Text to listen for His heart on matters of poverty, slavery, and abolition.

I was just emailing with a young friend who gave a collegiate speech on human trafficking, inspired by some of the stuff happening at Open Door. She instantly had four people come up to her wanting to know what they can “do” about it. Here was my response….

Being a part of the solution here in the Bay Area is a creative process. Call+Response does offer some great ideas, however the world of storming brothels and rescuing slaves isn’t necessarily a reality here. I would recommend directing your four friends to a community such as Open Door that are experimenting creatively with being solution. One way we are doing this is through monthly round table dialogues that are focused on getting educated while exploring God’s heart on this issue. Another potential idea is hosting a book study focused on reading the autobiographies of rescued slaves so that the crisis can be attached to real people. The most tangible thing that we are engaged in is the launch of a non-profit fair-trade organization called Just Hearts. This is a creative micro-finance organization that is literally creating jobs in both Thailand and Nicaragua to impoverished families. As jobs are being created through the creation of jewelry and other goods, women and children who would typically be sold into slavery are finding a way out.

Not sure if this is helpful or not. I guess what I’m saying is that the best thing that people can do is get involved with a community of people who are about being solution and who are actively listening for God’s leading in that endeavor. Make sense?

I wonder how God is going to use this issue, our break, and shepherding to guide people into His Kingdom. He is absolutely about abolition, physically and spiritually. I long for us to be a part of both.

Two of our friends from college came out to spend two days with us. It was the first time we’d all been together in over seven years!

There are those friends who, no matter how long its been, walk in grace, truth, love, and trust with you. These are two of those people.

Once they landed, we went to the Farmer’s Market in the City, drove through San Francisco, and did the Golden Gate Bridge. I was struck by how, even though these were great experiences and sights to see, we were lost in conversation.

It felt like every hour of our time together was life-giving…never was there a dull moment. My favorite time was last night over dinner after Open Door. Two of my friends from CA sat at table with two of my friends from MN…it couldn’t have been better. After the CA’s left, the four of us sat down, soon to recognize that we had experienced something rich–worshipful, really–in the last two days. Our time was more full than the good ‘ol days.

We were the same people, kind of…

Jac and I were out to dinner with a mentor of mine last week. It was one of those, “Time stood still for an hour-and-a-half” dinners.

I’ve invited this friend to mentor and advise me, to listen for what’s really going on with me, and to speak candidly about what he hears and observes.

He spoke candidly on Wednesday night and it uncovered some things and created language I was searching for in others. Jac’s imput served to strenthen what he was saying. I mostly listened with rapt attention as everything that they were saying was right on.

It was good to be sitting down with two people who are on the board of directors of my life. I live, follow, and love more fully after meals like that. I was much more nourished by the dialogue than by the physical food…although the food was good too.

Yesterday, we hosted Ava’s birthday party. Hard to believe that she’s already one!

We chose to host both a birthday party and an open house as we have recently bought, remodeled, and moved into a new home (God’s gift to us!). As we were working on the house (long days in the hot summer) we kept picturing the moment when our home would be filled with people, feasting on food, stories, friendships.

Yesterday, that vision was realized when, at one point, there were over 60 people from all spheres of our lives packed into our home…feasting.

Mondays are both Ava day and Sabbath for me. I love it because it means that I no longer have Monday on my calender…Sunday, Ava-day, Tuesday, Wednesday…

We do a couple of things together every Monday. Eat delicious food, take a nap, go to the grocery store to pick up food for dinner (and flowers for Jac) and go on a hike that has to have a summit. A couple weeks ago, we were on our Sabbath-hike, an opportunity for the two of us to step back and savor the beauty and completeness of God, when it suddenly started to rain. It was cold, windy, and raining and I felt my heart rate increase at the thought of Ava and how stressed out she must have been.

But she didn’t make a sound.

I soon realized that she had curled herself as tightly as possible in the Sherpani and as close to me as she could get and had fallen asleep. She was literally sleeping through the storm in the middle of nowhere.

She slept because she was with her Daddy. She slept because she knew that as long as she was close to me, she’d be fine.

Knowing that put her at peace…so she slept.

Usually on our Sabbath hikes, I’m captivated by the views and by listening to my little girl discover the world around her. She squeaks and points when she sees a squirrel or a deer. She follows the flight of the birds and trys to talk them into landing on her outstretched arm.

On this particular hike, I was lulled into worship by her serenity, the internal tranquility in the midst of the external cold storm.

She was close to her daddy.

My experience is the same…there is something about being held by the Father that puts me at peace. There is something about listening to His heartbeat in the midst of storms that tells me that as long as I am curled up next to Him, I’ll be fine.