A Dream for the Deaf

Posted in General Posts by Aubrey Rainbow on 2/28/2010

My dream is to serve the deaf community.

In American, in Africa, in both places. I want to minister to the deaf.

My passion for the deaf community began in Ethiopia, when I met a woman who had begun an organization for the deaf population in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia's capital). A fellow missionary, Ali, and I spent endless hours with them, learning through charades and finger spelling how to speak in signs, my heart for them growing bigger with each passing day.

Many of them worked at a Dutch rose growing company- the women grafting roses, the men spraying pesticides. When we would come for coffee the women would often spread rose petals on the floor for us, or give a dozen beautiful roses they had brought home from work. We learned their stories. We became their friends. They, many of them grown men, cried when I left. I cried too.

I haven't stopped thinking about them since. I've got their pictures in the back of my World Race journal. Every ministry we see and participate in on the race I enjoy, but nothing strikes a chord in my heart like those many men and women in Ethiopia did. I think of how they (the deaf) are one of the most unreached people groups in the world, and my heart aches.

I think of how they were so eager to go to church with us on Sundays, even when we could barely translate a thing, because feeling the beat of the worship music in the floor brought them to tears. Muslims, Protestants, Orthodox alike... they were hungry for it.

I want to return home to the states and begin schooling as a interpreter. It's the biggest part of my Kingdom dream, what I feel God has built me for.

I want to go back to school to get certified as an interpreter, possibly travel to Africa between semesters to network and further establish relationships there, all in hopes of getting to a point where I could spend 6-9 months a year or more in Africa.

There are enough setbacks for someone in the states who is hard of hearing... just think about what life looks like for people in Africa? If they live in a major city there might be a deaf school- if not they are likely to go uneducated and without much hope for the future. I want to give them that hope. A hope for a future through education and opportunity, as well as a hope for a future in Christ.

But I've promised myself that I won't be taking out any more student loans to see this goal accomplished... because adding more debt to what I already have gets me further and further away from the end goal of relocating overseas. I've placed it in God's hands... that He will have to open doors for me financially to make this dream a reality. The great thing is I know he is more than capable of doing so. I'm taking God out of the box of things I think he is or isn't willing/capable of doing, and trusting that if this really is his plan, his design, for my life than he will see it through.

My teammate, Robin, was talking to me today about obstacles. She said that sometimes God puts obstacles in your way to stop you from doing something, and sometimes he puts obstacles in your way to see how badly you truly want something. Well this is something I want, something I know he wants for me, so I will look at anything that gets in my way as something to be conquered.

But I would love your partnership in prayer. Prayer paves the way for everything to happen, so if there is one way I could ask for you to support my ministry its by your prayers.

Pray that God continues to burden my heart for these people, that he opens doors for my studies and to be able to serve overseas, that he gives me direction and a greater purpose, and that he sends people my way with the same desires and same burdens, whom I can network with and really begin putting together the pieces of my destiny as God reveals them to me.

And I pray the same for you. That you be passionate in what God has called you to. That no obstacle be too big that you relent in your pursuit of him and his kingdom. That opportunity is not merely behind each door you pass through but that it also comes knocking at your door. I pray that realization sets into your heart and his call ring loud and clear in your mind. Go for it! Go for what God has for you, give of yourself to him, and he will give of his Kingdom to you!

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Uganda- A Month in Photos

Posted in General Posts by Aubrey Rainbow on 2/27/2010

Some of the girls from the choir at church.

Hope, a seven year old little girl with sicke cell anemia, who I prayed over every night for healing. I'm still believing in God for it. She's precious.

Meet Gloria, Hope's best friend. She hung out with us a lot. This was a day we caught what they call "White Ants" and ate them alive. Yummmmm.

This is Amaya, one of the little girls who was always at church and always hung around us. We never went much of anywhere without being trailed by half a dozen of the village kids.

I don't know this little one's name, but she hung out with Jodi and I one day before church and parroted everything we said.

Our team leader, Jodi, laughing with a few of the kids at Victory Outreach in Paidha, Uganda.

My teammate Robin playing with a few of the kids before church service.

Our clothes hanging to dry outside of the huts we stayed in. This was a month with zero electricity or running water. We walked or rode a boda boda (motorcycle) two miles to the nearest town to charge our electronics and buy bottled water for the team.

Mary (the daughter of our pastor) and I headed into town one day to go shopping.

Robin with three of the girls in our bedroom in Paidha.

Meet Vincent, he's 16 but has a deformity in his legs that has stunted his growth. However it doesn't stop him at all. He's in the praise and worship team at the church and dances his heart out for God will full abandon, frequently causing me to tear up at the sheer purity of his worship. I definately learned a lot from the children of this village about worshipping God.

Colin reading his Bible during our first Sunday service.

I never got over the amazement of how these women could carry huge, heavy loads on their heads like it was nothing. I tried it once... I failed miserably.

These HUGE ant mounds are everywhere.

No pianos or organs here.... just gourds, cow/lamb hide drums, and harps.

Gloria and Hope- best friends for life.

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The Solution to the HIV Epidemic

Posted in General Posts by Aubrey Rainbow on 2/27/2010

God.

It's really that simple.

Two days before we left our ministry contact in Paidha, Uganda we found out that one of the little girls who we had loved on and found such joy in all month long is HIV+. She's somewhere around 7-9 years old, and her mother is HIV+, so we can only assume she likely got it from her mother during birth and has had it all her life.

HIV wrecks my heart.

I saw a lot of it when I served in Ethiopia in 2008, and I broke down sobbing when I found out that one of the people I had become so close to there had AIDS and wasn't expected to live much longer.

And God is the solution.

It's a simple solution, but not an easy one.

See HIV is transmitted two main ways, sex and drug abuse (needle sharing). Children can get it from the birthing process or breast feeding, but there is medicine that's pretty widely available which can prevent transmission that way.

So in most cases (save the rare tainted blood transfusion or accident) HIV is a sin transmitted disease. You get it by having multiple partners who have had multiple partners or by intravenous drug use.

If we, as a culture, as people, lived expressly as God has commanded us to live then HIV would die out. If we didn't have sex before marriage, stayed married to one person all our lives, women didn't sell themselves, men didn't buy women, and people didn't abuse their bodies by abusing drugs, HIV wouldn't exist.

Kids would no longer die from it or be orphaned by it.

And it makes me think about how many of the biggest issues humanity faces today would be solved if we lived as God commands us to live.

And it starts with you... it starts with me... making a personal decision to live more like God commands and less like the world tries to demand.

So I don't have a pretty well thought out ending for this blog. Just that this is a big problem, a real problem, and just because most Americans don't face it every day doesn't mean it doesn't exist and doesn't mean we can't do something about it.

Most of our world's worst issues we create for ourselves. If you want something different for your life, live in a manner that warrents something different happening. Live your life as an example to others.

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Not So Invisible Children

Posted in General Posts by Aubrey Rainbow on 2/27/2010

After an amazing month in Kenya we packed our bags and boarded an overnight bus to Kampala, Uganda. The bus ride was actually one of my best yet on the race. There was ample leg room and I was able to get comfortable and sleep most of the 12 hour ride.

Arriving to Kampala was another story. This city is the definition of chaos. We'd been warned, but I don't think many of us were mentally prepared for it. Our bus pulled up to the "station" and we're immediately met by people yelling at us and fighting over us thinking we were in need of a taxi and yelling other city destinations incase we were looking for a connecting bus.

Next thing we know we're following our "contact" (who later we find out lied to our guys and wasn't with the WR at all) to what we thought would be our bus to the guesthouse we were spending the night at. After 10 or so minutes and a lot of back alleys we arrived at another bus station, turns out the guy thought we were needing a connecting bus and led us to the next bus station.

So there we were, loaded down with packs and bags, standing alongside the road in Kampala. There are people everywhere, swarming around us, trying to touch the girls and making ridiculous comments. After what seemed like an eternity our contact finally met up with us and brought a bus. We loaded our stuff onto the bus and took the ride across town to our guesthouse.

By this point we were all soaked in sweat, dirty, tired, frustrated, and hating Uganda only a few hours into our month here.

We were so thankful to arrive at the guesthouse where we found beds, cold showers, and real toilets!

Most of us laid down for a nap, went out for dinner, and then came back for praise and worship.

Leslie, from Team Symphony, played the guitar and led us in worship. Next thing we know there was another group staying at the guesthouse and they came out and observed from a distance. Then one of the girls from our group invited them to join in worship with us which they did.

Afterward we introduced ourselves and began a night of discussion and prayer that blessed us more than we could have ever imagined.

Turns out these people were with the organization Invisible Children. I'm sure a lot of you have heard about it, if not check out their webpage at www.invisiblechildren.com.

For those of you who don't know, beginning in 1985 the Lords Resistance Army (LRA), a band of rebels, began their attempts to overthrow the Ugandan government. They raided villages, tortured women and children, raised child soldiers, murdered thousands, and terrorized the nation. For twenty years Ugandans lived in fear. An entire generation was raised on the run.

These people were those children. These people we were worshipping with are the Invisible Children. They were going today to apply for their visas to head to the states on Friday to tour the U.S. telling their stories and working with Invisible Children.

Many of them have been able to go to school and have a hope for the future through Invisible Children.

Some of them told us their stories.

One of the girls, now 23, spoke passionately of her love for education. She told us "People can give me money but tomorrow it could be gone. They could give me a car, but tomorrow it can break down. But give me an education, no one can take that away from me."

She spoke of how in Northern Uganda (where the LRA had the most influence) her generation is so uneducated. She spoke of how the rebels destroyed everything, so students would meet under trees because there were no buildings, no textbooks, no nothing.

It hit me hard when she said "While other students in Uganda were studying books and sitting for exams we were running from the rebels."

One of the guys in the group was named Pepito. His father and sister were killed by the LRA, his step father and mother are both HIV positive, and yet he has hope. Through Invisible Children he's been able to attend school, and in a written testimony he gave to Matt he says "I am very privileged to say that I am no longer invisible."

It was a divine meeting. We felt God's presence through it all. It was God that drew one of the first girls, Lorraine, to join us in worship. She later told me "I just felt like it was where I was supposed to be."

I couldn't agree more.

So God redeemed our bad day. He lifted our spirits and gave us a renewed sense of purpose for this month. This country needs our prayers and our support.

So please pray for the people here. Pray for this group of young people as they travel to the states and begin a three month tour, sharing their stories. And they are covering all of the U.S., so if you get a chance find a venue they'll be at a make and point to go. One of the girls was right, education is the key, and the more we know and understand, the less likely it will be to happen again.

(I am still a few hundred dollars shy of my fundraising goal of $13,800. If there is any way you could make a donation- large or small- to help out it would be a huge blessing! You can do so by clicking HERE.)

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Answering Prayers With A Skillet

Posted in General Posts by Aubrey Rainbow on 1/26/2010

I bought a skillet in Turkey.

That's one of my roles on Team Chrysalis- team chef. So wherever we go and whatever it looks like I'm in charge of cooking and handling the money to make our $1.25 per person per meal budget feed everyone.

I've cooked on and with all sorts of things the past few months, and in doing so have discovered that "non-stick" is not a word that commonly prefaces "skillet" in the rest of the world. So when I found a Teflon pan in Turkey I was excited! I made the purchase, cooked with it all month in Turkey, and somehow made it fit into my pack to accompany us to Africa.

We got here and found out that all three months whoever we would be staying with that month would be cooking for us! So not only is that a big break for me (cooking for a family of 6 up to three times a day can be time consuming) but it also meant my trusty skillet was no longer needed.

So I thought about it a bit and decided I should gift it to someone- and who better to give it to than the lady who would be cooking for our team all month? So on one of our first days here she brought us a meal and I gave her the pan... and didn't really think any more about it.

Then just a few nights ago I was sitting in one of our rooms reading and she came up and told me she wanted to thank me so much for the skillet. She said she does catering to help make a living, and doing so takes a lot of pots and pans. She said she had been needing a new skillet (yes that's right... a new skillet) and she'd been praying to God to provide one because she didn't have the money. She said God must have had me carry that skillet to Kenya just for her, and I wholeheartedly agreed.

And it made me think a lot... because prior to this trip I would have never prayed to God for a skillet. I probably wouldn't have prayed to God for anything less than a miracle or salvation or something huge and what I would have considered "worth God's time".

But I'm learning that God delights in the details.

He delights in providing things big and small for us. Because if he's truly a father, and greatest father, that's what he'd want to do. Dads aren't just there to buy you your first car and go to your high school graduation. They're there for the scraped knees, the school supplies you need, and so much more- and so is God.

And through a skillet she was encouraged that God hears her prayers and knows her needs, and I was encouraged that God can use me to answer the prayers of others.

So what are the "skillets" in your life? The little things that you hesitate to ask God for and often take into your own hands to provide?

I encourage you to ask God for those things in your life too, and remember to thank him and give him all the glory when he provides, because he will.

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Kenya in Photos

Posted in General Posts by Aubrey Rainbow on 1/20/2010

Just one of our ministries for the month... our guys played soccer and interacted with a local soccer league.

How many people can you fit in a car? Always one more. (at this point we had 11 in the station wagon)

Our contact, Pastor Joseph, and Matt

Kenya tea (brewed in milk)... the best thing ever.

Goofin' off with my sisters at a local restaurant.

Me outside our church with Blessings, a little girl of one of the members of the congregation. (A lot of people here have names that are english words... we've met a Patience, a Blessings, and a lot of Mercy's. )

We've been able to visit the Kibera slums... the largest slums in all of Africa.

Children in the slums.

Silanga, located in Kibera... a sister church to the congregation we serve.

Me standing outside of Silanga.

The filth inside of Kibera was unimagineable. We spotted these dead rats just walking amoungst the homes.

Many "homes" here cost as little as $5 a month to rent... while the people who live here often make less than a dollar a day.

Young children are found around every corner here. A woman we passed by asked us to pray for her because recently someone had stolen her young child- an all too common thing here as children can then be sold into the sex trade industry.

Please pray for these little lives.

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Preaching My First Sermon....

Posted in General Posts by Aubrey Rainbow on 1/20/2010

I got to cross another thing from my "To Do Before I Die..." list this past Sunday.

I preached my first sermon.

Sure I've spoken in front of congregations before, but I've never had the opportunity to preach a full length message.

And to be honest, I never really had the desire to. Some people are gifted in public speaking- but I never felt that I fell into that category.

Yet as the race has progressed I've had people tell me I've got a gift for preaching, just from the sharing I've done and discussions I've had with them along the way.

It started to sink into my heart as different people spoke that over me, so when we found out three people would need to preach this month I volunteered- it was time to step out of the boat!

As I prepared my sermon I wavered between excited and nervous, but my team was really encouraging and I trusted God would give me the words to speak.

The Friday before I was to preach we went to a college campus group at the local medical school where we spoke in front of about 80 med students. Jodi introduced our group and then we each gave a brief testimony of what God's been doing in our lives or what he's been teaching us.

After the meeting was over one of the students approached me and told me I had a gift for speaking and she really enjoyed my message- God was encouraging me through a complete stranger.

So Sunday came, and I was nervous, but there was no looking back!

I preached on how when God calls us to something, he will provide whatever is necessary to see it through. (Here are the majority of the notes from my sermon.)

Take Noah for example.

God calls Noah to build a boat. Now remember, the earth, up until this point, had never seen rain before. So God was asking Noah to build an enormous vessel to carry him through something he knew nothing of.

Can you imagine the ridicule he must have faced from his community? Maybe even his own family?

Noah could have easily said "But God...." and given Him a million excuses as to why he wasn't the man for the job. He could have told God "I'm not a carpenter! I don't know a thing about building boats!" But instead he had the faith to move forward into what God was calling him to do.

(How often, in your own life, do you say "But God...."? "But God I don't have enough money... enough talent... enough time... enough resources... enough knowledge." )

Luckily for us none of those things are necessary when we're living in God's will for our lives.

Faith is what's necessary.

That's all God required of Noah- the faith to see it through. Whatever that meant. Sacrificing his reputation...enduring the ridicule of others... spending endless hours and manpower building the boat.

But do you know what the great thing about God is? He doesn't ask us to do something beyond our power or knowledge and then leave us hanging.

In Genesis 6:14 he gives Noah express directions so he can complete the ark. He says "Build a large boat from cypress wood and waterproof it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior. Make the boat 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. Leave an 18 inch opening below the roof all the way around the boat. Put the door on the side, and build three decks inside the boat- lower, middle, and upper."

God didn't just call Noah, God equipped Noah.

And here's a little something extra I find interesting: The dimensions of the boat are a 6:1 ratio of width to length, which is the most stable model known and is used for the design of modern tankers and freight-hauling ships.

The given design for the ark was PERFECT.

Noah didn't know what he was doing, but God did.

You don't have to have all the answers or all the plans for what God is calling you to. You just have to have the faith that he will see you through!

God even brought the animals to Noah. Noah didn't have to go around trying to capture them. Verse 20 says "Pairs of every kind of bird, and every kind of animal, and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive."

That must have been an encouragement. When Noah witnessed the animals coming out of the woods and the sky and submitting themselves to his work.. To God�s plan. He must have known God was being true to his word.

God will do things to encourage you along the way and keep you moving forward. He wont give you a task and then disappear from the scene. He will be there all along the way.

He did the same thing for Moses and Aaron when he gave them the instructions for the Tabernacle.

God required such specifics - telling Moses in Exodus 25:9 "You must build this Tabernacle and its furnishings exactly according to the pattern I will show you." but he also provided in abundance for each of those specifics to be met.

All it took from Moses and Aaron was the faith and the effort to see the project through. When God saw that they were dedicated, he began providing everything they would need to complete the task.

So often we want God to provide what we need and then we'll get to work. But that's not faith. Faith is hearing the call and deciding to heed it before you can see the end.. Before you can see the physical evidence that it will work out.

As Moses and Aaron made strides to carry out their task, God appointed Bezalel and Oholiab to craft the details of Tabernacle.

Moses proclaims in Exodus 35:31 "The LORD has filled Bezalel with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, ability, and expertise in all kinds of crafts. " go a little further to v34 "And the LORD has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach their skills to others. "

They weren't naturally good at these things- it didn't come easily to them- but God filled them with his Spirit, which equipped them with everything they needed! And it wasn't just that they were equipped to do the work- but they were equipped to teach their skills to others!

What skills has God given you that you can share with others? What are your gifts? They are not meant to be kept to yourself. God has called you to teach others so that they can share in the same blessing and become a part of the body.

36:1 "The LORD has gifted Bezalel, Oholiab, and the other skilled craftsmen with wisdom and ability to perform any task involved in building the sanctuary." 2 "So Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and all the others who were specially gifted by the LORD and were eager to get to work."

God gifted them, giving them the ability to perform the task, but they still had to be eager to get to work... willing and faithful to do what God had called them to do.

Are you eager to do what God has called you to do?

I remember being out with my team and Pastor Joseph on one of my first days here in Kenya and he turned to me and asked me if I was enduring or if it was exciting. It was a simple question, but it really made me think.

How often do things stop being exciting? Do we lose our eagerness?

And the greatness God has called us to becomes something to endure rather than something to be excited about.

After Moses describes the plan for the Tabernacle to the community scripture says "All whose hearts were stirred and whose spirits were moved came and brought their sacred offerings to the LORD. They brought ALL the materials needed for the Tabernacle, for the performance of its rituals and for the sacred garments. Both men and women came, all whose hearts were willing." and in chap 36:2 it says "The people continued to bring additional gifts each morning" to a point where the craftsmen had to stop their work, go to Moses, and tell him "The people have given more than enough materials to complete the job the LORD has commended us to do!"

Think of the difference between what's happening in this circumstance versus when Aaron fashioned the golden calf. To build the tabernacle, to complete God's plan, man gave from a willing heart. For Aaron to complete the golden calf, something so contrary to God's calling, he had to demand a specific contribution (the jewelry off the bodies of the people) and then further excluded the people from any involvement in the task.

When God calls us and we step forward in faith we don't have to coerce anyone to do anything. The willingness of their hearts and their desire to join in what God is doing will provide a way.

Once again we see the importance of a willing heart, but through this God also proves that his provision is new every day. We need only worry about today, and have faith for tomorrow. God may chose to send exactly what you need to get through that day. It was that way when he sent the manna from heaven. It was a daily provision. Just because he doesn't hand you everything you need to see something through on day one that he asks you to do it doesn't mean it isn't his will or that he wont provide what's needed to see you through.

God doesn't desire for us to just get by. God desires abundant life for his children. When we are faithful to his calling he will provide more than enough.

But where the ark took only one man, Noah, the tabernacle took a community of faithful servants. Sometimes God will call you to something you have to do alone. Sometimes he will call you to be a part of what a community is doing.

To build the tabernacle the leaders took charge, those gifted in certain works/talents served, those who were blessed with material possessions and monies blessed in return. Had one element not been fulfilled the Tabernacle would not have been completed in exact accordance to God's command. Had Moses not instructed nothing would have ever gotten done. Had Bezalel and Oholiab not used their giftings there would have been no one to complete the craftsmanship of the Tabernacle. Had the community not donated the materials there would have been instruction and talent but nothing to build out of.

The role God has called you to in your community is vital to it's success. Pastor Joseph is an amazing leader... people in this congregation are gifted in worship, outreach, healing, and other giftings... and God has blessed people in this congregation with finances and the ability to give- but it will take ALL of you doing what God has called you to do for this church to become everything God desires it to be.

(This was part of my message specifically to the congregation we serve... but it applies to all of you back home in the states as well! Whatever gifting you have is for the benefit of the body. American churches have a tendency to be consumer driven. We attend church on Sundays to get fed, maybe teaching Sunday School here or there or leading a Bible study, but we fail to use our individual gifts. The parts of the body have become "Sunday school teacher, usher, pastor, and nursery worker" instead of "prophet, teacher, apostle... wisdom, faith, healing, tongues, and interpretation".)

He has given you a role to fulfill.

1 Corinthians 12:7-11

"A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit give a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and other the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have. "

And as you follow the story of Moses and Aaron through the book of Exodus you reach the completion of the Tabernacle in Chapter 40 where six of the paragraphs end with the phrase "just as the LORD had commanded him" and on the seventh paragraph it ends "So at last Moses FINISHED THE WORK."

And do you know what happened when Moses finally FINISHED THE WORK he had been called to? 40:34 says "Then the cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glory of the LORD filled the Tabernacle."

God himself dwelled in the Tabernacle, his presence filled it, because it had been completed according to his precise will and command. Everyone in the community of Israel gave as they had been called... and because of that God provided what was needed, and blessed the outcome with his presence.

Do you want God himself to be present in your life? Do you want him to dwell in everything you do? Inside of you?

He simply requires a step of faith. He requires that you hear his voice, heed his calling, and honor his faithfulness by you yourself being faithful in words and deeds.

2 Corinthians 3:5-6

" It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God. He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant."

Be confident that whatever God has called you to he will provide exactly what is needed to see it through- to see you through.

So I still don't know that I believe I'm a preacher, but I do believe that God is working in my life so I should have something to talk about. God has given me a voice, and I should be using it to glorify him and build his kingdom. And the words I shared to the congregation proved themselves true just by the fact that I was up there preaching to them. I am not a preacher, public speaking is not my gift, but I had the faith that God would see me through, and he did.

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I Am Not My Hair... Why I Shaved My Head (w/ pics!)

Posted in General Posts by Aubrey Rainbow on 1/2/2010

I shaved my head... for two reasons really.

The first is pretty basic- I'm trying to live a better story, to live a life with less regrets and more memorable moments and pushing the limits. In high school my best friend and I made a pact to shave our heads on graduation day, but because she backed out I did too. I've always regretted that.

Then, years later, I came on the World Race.

I knew at the start that personally this year would be a lot about figuring out what it means to be a woman of God. I don't feel like a girl anymore, but I didn't feel like I'd earned the title of being a woman yet either. I mean, what makes a woman a woman anyways? Is it having kids? Finishing school? Acting mature? Moving out of your parent's home? I didn't think any of these things encompassed what being a woman meant to me.

So I was stuck in the middle, struggling with the differences between who God says a woman is and who society expects a woman to be. God outlines his expectations of a woman in Proverbs 31, while society outlines its expectations for women in magazine pages, TV shows, music, and cultural norms. They don't line up, not in the least. God is about our hearts, society is about our appearance. Both our physical beauty and managing to put on an act like we've got it all together all the time.

And I'm pretty sure that most women would agree that our beauty tends to revolve around our hair. It is the pinnacle of the expectation of beauty. That's why I decided to shave it off.

It's a social experiment on myself if you will. I wanted to test my confidence... my identity really. Without it am I still the woman I claim to be? Am I still beautiful? strong? influential? Can I still bring light to the darkest places of the world? Can I still offer hope to the hopeless and joy to the sad at heart? Can I still serve my brothers and sisters, can I still serve the people I come into contact with? Can I walk out the great commission and bring the Kingdom to earth? Could I look past my outer appearance and be confident in my heart�s intent?

Common sense would say yes, but the reality is I wasn't certain.

So on New Years, just after our midnight celebration, my sister Brittany Grant buzzed my head.

I'll be sending my hair home to donate to locks of love.

And if you're wondering how I feel.... I feel great. I feel beautiful, I feel strong, I feel influential. I honestly don't feel any different, if anything I feel more confident and empowered.

As the India Arie Song says:

Does the way I wear my hair make me a better person?

Does the way I wear my hair make me a better friend?

Does the way I wear my hair determine my integrity?

I am not my hair

I am not this skin

I am not your expectations

I am not my hair

I am not this skin

I am the soul that lives within

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WR 12 Days of Christmas Video

Posted in General Posts by Aubrey Rainbow on 12/25/2009

Check out Team Chrysalis' 12 Days of Christmas Video put together by our very own Matt Patch.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

12 Days of World Race Christmas! from Matt Patch on Vimeo.

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Prioritizing the Vertical

Posted in General Posts by Aubrey Rainbow on 12/24/2009

Often when we try to solve horizontal issues we experience vertical consequences.

What I mean by that is this... there are so often times in my life where I struggle with a situation I'm in or the people around me, and instead of looking to God for the answers or praising God even in the storms I try to fix the issues in my own strength. I try to change people, rearrange circumstances, or wait it out. In those struggles I get so overwhelmed with the effort it requires to try and make headway that I often let my prayer life slip, my Bible reading fade into the background, and my thirst for God run dry.

I've had it all backwards.

I need to start with the vertical.

You can find multiple examples of this in the scriptures.

Take Paul and Silas for instance. They've just been beaten, bound, and tossed into prison... and instead of trying to manipulate the system, talk the guard into letting them out, or making any change happen from their own power they turn to praising God.

Acts 16:23-25 reads, "²³After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. ²⁴Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

²⁵About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them."

And do you know what happened next?

²⁶Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose."

God gave them precisely what they needed without them even having to ask. They maintained their vertical relationship, their love for God, before worrying about their horizontal circumstances.

And it gets even better, because through these events the jailor and his entire family came to be saved and baptized!

Through their praises Paul and Silas turned a horrible circumstance into a day of glory. They praised God before it even seemed like there was anything to praise him for, and God answered with a series of miracles!

A similar event happened a few months on the race.

We had arrived in Albania at 1:30am (instead of the 6am arrival time we were given by the bus station), our ATM cards wouldn't work (aka no money and no telephone), and we knew no one (it was an ATL month after all). We slept in a park while the guys took turns keeping guard, and woke up with no more an idea of what the day would hold than we had at 1:30am. That fact alone was daunting enough without adding the fact that people were taking our photos and there were ladies watering the grass all along where we were sleeping. We had all pretty much resigned to sleeping in the park for a while.

Then one of the guys from the other team suggested praise and worship. "Why not?" we thought, so out came the guitars and our voices. This sparked even greater interest of passerby's, and next thing we knew a guy was offering to help us find a place to stay, telling us there was a backpacker's hostel nearby. We sent off a few of our people with him and with the contact info of some Campus Crusades workers we had heard about through the ministry grapevine.

A few hours later our people returned, telling us to grab our bags because we had a place to stay and ministry to do for the month!

The hostel was way out of our meager lodging budget, and when the guy figured that out he ditched our people. Little did we know that the Campus Crusades offices were just across the street! A few of our teammates went inside to find the guy we had a name for, and he greeted them with such enthusiasm. He apologized for not having contacted us sooner, and said that he had woken up just past one in the morning (the same time we were arriving to the city) and was burdened for us and felt guilty for having not yet responded to the emails we had previously sent him. He said he spent a few hours in prayer for us, and here we were showing up at his office! In no time at all one of his staff members agreed to put all thirteen of us up for the month, as they had just recently finished renovating the lower level of their home to host missionary teams! We each had a bed to sleep in and there were hot showers!

In just a few hours we went from sleeping in the park to lying in a warm bed.

When we simply decided to praise God despite the circumstances he came through with even greater provision than we could have asked for.

And in our month of ministry there close to two hundred people came to accept the Lord as a result of the conference we were a part of.

All that to say God proves himself worthy of our praise time and time again when we first love him enough to praise him even when things may not look ideal or like there are any doors of opportunity open to pass through.

It is a reminder to myself to prioritize my time and relationship with him and he will provide health in my relationships and ministry... not the other way around.

I cannot reach God through people, but I can certainly reach people through God.

It turns out that prioritizing the vertical leads to horizontal blessings!

Some of Team Chrysalis along with our squad leaders, Dan and Brandy, standing on "Paul's Stairs", the location where Paul first arrived to Turkey during his travels.

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