We Are His Hands Reaching Out To The Least Of These...

I've seen Jesus this Christmas.  Much like the dirty, dusty stable where He chose to take on human form over 2000 years ago, He came in human form to another dirty, dusty shelter where the poorest of the poor live, to show His love and to make a way for us to know eternal life through His greatest gift.  This time instead of coming in one human form as God Incarnate, His Spirit filled 18 wonderful people who were His hands and feet to the children of Kilometer 33.

I saw Jesus swing kids around, give them caballito (horsey) rides, polish fingernails, play basketball with boys, hold little girls, feed the hungry ones, hold the crying ones, sing with them, and sit and read the Bible with them.  I saw Him considering others as more important than Himself and serving them with every ounce of His energy.  I would encourage you to follow this link to our photo gallery from our Christmas event and see the love of Jesus in action.  You will be blessed.

We saw God's hand at every turn.  He provided many wonderful toys for the children through people who were prompted by His spirit and obeyed.  We were able to hand out Barbies to each girl that attended the event, in addition to many wonderful baby dolls, many cars and soccer balls to the boys, and each child was given a gift bag of goodies in addition to a large gift.  They heard the real meaning of Christmas, and they were challenged to have hearts of integrity toward God.  They were fed and clothed.  Above all, they were loved.

One of the biggest blessings we received was when some of the children from the shelter performed dances set to praise music for the team.  In a year when there were times we questioned whether the ministry could even survive, we saw the fruit of Una Esperanza, and that it is beginning to grow in depth as well as numbers.  To see our little ones praising God in dance was beautiful.  Several of our teenage girls also prepared some songs and I was brought to tears by God's goodness, knowing that three of these four teenagers had come to know Christ as their Savior in the last two months.   The ladies also showed off their culinary skills for the team with a salsa-making contest, which the team bravely took part in as the taste testers.  No reports of sickness to this point... :)

We just want to say thank you to the many people who held us up in prayer.  We felt the angels all around us.  We knew we were covered, and we are truly appreciative.  We are grateful for the people who enabled us to pull off this event financially.  It's always a very costly event, but God always provides.  We are so grateful for the college students from Iowa State, New Mexico State and Hardin-Simmons University that came and poured themselves out in service and in love, for the families that made this their Christmas and demonstrated the love of God to others in front of their own kids.  We prayed for Jesus to be seen by all, and we believe He was.  We know He showed up in each of the team members that came to Juarez this year, and we believe His presence will continue to change lives as a residual throughout the year.

Christmas Treasures

We're getting ready to head down to Una Esperanza for our annual Christmas outreach in a little over a week, and it's all a little different this year.  We're looking forward to seeing God's hand at work, like we do every year, but the circumstances all seem different.

We're collecting the gifts for the kids, which God is providing through wonderful, compassionate people that are responding to His leading.  That's the only way to explain it this year.  With the US economy in a not-so-great state, many people are not reaching out, including many churches that are having their own financial crises.  It's just what it is this year.  Due to the drug wars in Mexico, many people are concerned for their safety and not wanting to take that risk this year.  In past years, we've had as many as 50 people volunteering for this outreach - this year we only have about 8 confirmed.  We've had many thoughts of canceling the event this year, which is what most ministries that work in Mexico are doing this year, but God has laid on our hearts that it is still in His heart to reach these kids, regardless of what we see around us.

Mexico is indeed a very dangerous place right now, and Juarez in particular.  Depending on the source, there have been between 1300 and nearly 2000 murders in Juarez in 2008, nearly all related to a drug cartel war, and it's getting uglier, more brutal.  It's not in the US news much, but it's very real to our kids.  Mutilated, headless bodies are turning up on elementary school playgrounds.  Gangs are threatening to hurt children if teachers don't hand over their Christmas bonuses.  Kidnappings of store owners are becoming common place.

Fear is a very real, very raw emotion in Kilometer 33 as well as the rest of Juarez.  There is no sense of security from the law, as the government is under seige by these same cartels.  In the midst of this, we MUST bring the hope of Jesus.  We believe that's where He would be (and is going to be) in the midst of this Christmas season.  His perfect love has to be what casts out the fear.  Toys may be just toys in some instances, but this year, they are bringing hope and love, that these kids have not been forgotten, that God has not abandoned them in the middle of all this.  

We are so grateful for all of you that have responded in whatever way you can, and we ask you to continue to pray for God's guidance and provision as we press forward.  We ask you to pray for protection while we are down there, from about the 15th of December to the 22nd.  We ask you to pray that God's hand would be so evident to each child, each person involved in this outreach.  We pray that God would lift some of the heaviness in the hearts of the people during this time, that they can be reminded that God loves them and that He has not left them, that they are His Christmas treasures for which He gave His very own Son in exchange.

The Value of a Life

I've been thinking about the value of a life a lot lately.  By what standards do we measure the value of a life?  By what we can see?  By how it affects us or benefits us?  By one's bank account? By human accolades?  

In addition to the everyday ministry focuses associated with Kingdom Flight and our Una Esperanza ministries, I've had a lot going on in my family of origin over the last several months.  My dad has been in serious need of a kidney transplant for quite some time now and has been on a transplant list with UCLA Medical Center, undergoing dialysis four times a week for many months now.  Now, it's all good and fine to be on a waiting list for a cadaveric kidney, but it's another thing to really think about the fact that someone will have to die in order to get that kidney.  It has made for some soul-searching while I've been praying that God would provide a kidney so that my Dad will live.  At 3:00 AM this past Sunday, my parents got the call that my dad was the match for a kidney that had just come available, so we headed up to UCLA and he had the transplant operation.  He came through the surgery and is recovering well, but it really set my brain in motion considering the person who had provided a life-giving organ for my father.  

Prior to the surgery, the surgeon gave us as much information as he could about the donor.  Honestly, it wasn't a real pretty picture.  I won't go into all the details here, but this man didn't have a lot of value that would be measured by worldly standards - no family ties, a questionable drug history, a questionable cause of death.  Who knows if anyone will even miss him.  Maybe if I had seen him on the street, I wouldn't think too much of him.  But now, the fact that he lived makes a world of difference to my dad and to Mr. Keller, who received his other kidney.  

One of my sisters, Traci, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in early August, underwent surgery, and is now currently undergoing chemotherapy treatment.  Her prognosis is very good, although the present treatment is not pleasant.  Once again, when you're faced with a potential loss of life, you value it a whole lot more.  You're willing to do anything, pay any price to keep it, even subjecting yourself to pain and discomfort.

About the time Brad and I started Kingdom Flight, we read a little book that forever changed our outlook on life, the value of life, and the focus of our lives, The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn.  I cannot recommend it highly enough.  The basic premise of the book is that as followers and representatives of Christ, we are to live our lives with an eternal perspective.  If eternity is a timeline that stretches out endlessly in both directions, backwards and forwards, then our entire lives can be summed up in a dot on that timeline.  Everything we've ever done or accomplished, everything we have poured into our lives.  He makes the point that most people, and even most Christians, give ourselves filling up that dot on the timeline with stuff that has absolutely no value, accumulating things for ourselves, building ourselves up, and then at the end of our lives, we're still just a dot on the timeline.  What can truly give our lives value is when we spend our lives, our finances, our time investing in things that have eternal value.

As I read the Bible, I'm more and more convinced that Christ didn't call us to concentrate on ourselves and our needs, but the needs of others.  That is one of the strongest convictions we have as a ministry.  Every day we have to see the value of the lives placed before us through the eyes of Christ.  Each dirty little child is invaluable to Christ, so they must also be so in our eyes.  We're constantly asking for the eyes and heart of Christ, to value the ones the world would say have no value.    One way to have the mind of Christ is to lay down our lives and our "rights" for the redemption of others.  And there is always a cost.  I was reminded of that anew with my dad's surgery on Sunday.

Another book I'm currently reading is Crazy Love by Francis Chan.  Once again, highly recommended.  It's just reminding me of who God is and who I am, and that anything less than giving my very all to Him is an insult.  It's all about Him, not me.  I was reading Matthew 10 yesterday, and Jesus minces no words in telling his disciples how tough it is to follow him. Why do we think it should be easy in 2008?  

I'm in awe of how much God loves us and values us, even paying the highest price to redeem us, instilling great value where there was none merited.  I want to live this life, this dot on the timeline, spending myself for things that will last, not what will burn away when my days here are over.  I want to value what God values, to have His mindset, to love as He loves.

God Is Good...

We didn't see the rainbows in these pictures when we initially took them, but we feel they are indicative of what God did at Una Esperanza this week.  There were storms to weather, but God turned it all for good, and those little rainbows were treasures of hope for the days to come.

God honored all the prayers for clear communication and breakthroughs, and we are grateful to God for softening hearts and establishing unity once more.  Once we got past the staff "stuff" we had to address, it was wonderful to see how God moved among the children through the Bible lessons, sharing times and the feedings.

The children were a lot thinner than they have been in the past, and you could see the physical toll it has taken on them with the ministry center being shut down for a few months.  The economic hardships in Mexico as well as the crime sprees in Juarez have made it even more difficult for their parents to provide any food for them, and they were so glad to be fed every day we were there, and were so happy to know they were loved and were not forgotten.

I think the highlight of all the many blessings throughout the week was a water baptism service we held Friday afternoon in which about 20 kids that have received Christ as their Savior, either that day or in the past year or so, were dunked in our blow-up pool.  Our son, Noah, bravely led the pack as he knelt in the pool and publicly stated that Jesus is his Lord.  What a wonderful time it was to see child after child going in the pool (which got a bit more dirty with each child!) and affirming their decision to follow Jesus.

We know that these children are the fruit that God has promised, fruit that will remain (John 15:16), and we praise God that He can bring life out of any situation.  We have been praying for the salvation of all of these children, but it was particularly joyful to see our friend, Carolina, come to accept Christ as her Savior.  She's been a part of our ministry from the beginning, but has been a tough Tarahumara to crack in regards to choosing Jesus.  

Never ones to waste an opportunity, following the baptism service, we turned the pool into a much needed hair-washing party, and much fun was had by all.

We are so grateful for the prayers that were lifted on our behalf for blessings, breakthrough, safety and discernment.  We truly felt the weight of all these prayers, and we thank God for His provision in each circumstance.  Juarez is still a dangerous place, as is all of Mexico right now, but it was wonderful to see ground taken back in Christ's name and light being established again in the midst of darkness.  These sweet little faces make it all worthwhile, and we look forward to all that God will do in the lives of these children to bring forth His kingdom.

Calling All Prayer Warriors...

We'll be heading down to Una Esperanza Juarez this coming Sunday, 8/24, and we would love to have your prayer covering.  Juarez has become a very dangerous city, in that there have been roughly 800 murders since January of this year, and some of them have been in close proximity to our shelter.  This is primarily a war between drug cartel lords and the government, but theses killings and the accompanying tensions are taking a toll on the entire country (over 2000 killed nation-wide in this battle), as many innocent bystanders have been killed or injured, including many children.  It seems to us that the entire country is under a cloud of spiritual darkness, and the eye of the storm is over Juarez itself.

We believe that there is truly war in the heavenlies underway for this area, and along with the fear and malice in the air, there is also a sense of spiritual oppression and deception that has been poking up its head and messing with believers that are not well-grounded in their faith.  As a result of this, we'll be dealing with some serious staff issues while on this trip and we're praying to speak both truth and love into these lives.  We pray that God's truth will expose the lies of the enemies and that hearts will soften to follow Christ rather than to exert self-promotion.

For months, God has been impressing II Chronicles 20 on my spirit - a situation where there was no earthly way that God's chosen people would prevail, but God gave them specific instruction to stand firm, praise God, and watch Him fight the battle for them.  I encourage you to read the chapter and be amazed at what God can do.  We have been waging this war through prayer for many months, but we feel God leading us to address it in person at this time, so we head out Sunday.  We are scheduled to be there until Saturday, 8/30. 

 

We know that we are heading into a battle zone that is largely under the control of the enemy right now, but we have peace because we know that God will go before us and that the battle is truly His, not ours.  We would ask for your prayers for wisdom, protection, discernment, clear communication between different languages, and a break-through that would glorify God and lift up His name in that region.  We know that the eternal lives of the children of Kilometer 33 and of Una Esperanza specifically are the treasures at stake, and they are worth the struggles.  The enemy would love nothing more than to destroy the ministry of Kingdom Flight and Una Esperanza, but we are in God's hand, and He will make the determination of what is accomplished through this ministry, not the enemy.  

We look forward to being able to share the news of victory and seeing God's hand at work with you in the near future.

Ministry Update

We’ve been going all out over the past few weeks with the Una Esperanza O.C. Kids ministry here in Orange County, California. Summer is when we typically have our hands full here in California and in Juarez, Mexico at the Una Esperanza children's shelter. We normally spend one week out of each month at Una Esperanza-Juarez and then return to our home base here in California to tend to the administration end of the ministry, and our focus turns to the local Una Esperanza O.C. Kids ministry.

During the school year we only have these local kids on the weekends, but the summer months afford us the opportunity to spend a great deal more time discipling these kids. We take them to church each week throughout the year, but during the summer months we’re also able to take them to a local beach for Bible studies, and our home is generally filled each weekend with these kids. It’s a real blessing watching some of them grow in their faith as a result.






Giving is typically down during the summer months, and this year is no exception. For this reason, we have not been able to go to Una Esperanza-Juarez in a while. We still have some staff issues to deal with in Juarez, so we do hope to get back out there soon. We’re confident that God will work everything out in His timing.

August will mark the one-year anniversary for us without an aircraft to use for our mission flights, and we just found out that the commercial airline we’ve been using this past year is going out of business September 1st. Its easy sharing the praise reports when things are going smoothly, but sharing the tough stuff can be difficult, to say the least.

Even though we don’t always see God's hand at work during our difficulties, we’re doing our best to stand in His goodness, His faithfulness, and His love in this and every situation. Please know that we covet your prayers. Please pray that God would be glorified through Kingdom Flight and that we would be faithful in all that we do.

If We Are HIS Hands, Why Aren't We Reaching?

This past week we gathered up our Una Esperanza O.C. Kids and took them to a Vacation Bible School (VBS) at a local church. There were about 250 kids at this particular VBS and our racially diversified group of mostly Latino kids stood out quite a bit amongst the sea of predominantly blond-haired and blue-eyed kids in attendance. I found this to be a bit disheartening, considering the rather large Latino community in the vicinity of this particular church.

The idea for the Una Esperanza O.C. Kids ministry came about after we led a group of children during a sponsored VBS outreach from another church to this very same community some three years ago. Back then, the church we were attending sent an outreach team into this area offering free sponsorships to their upcoming VBS. The response was overwhelming, and we ended up leading the entire group of sponsored kids during the event. They were so spiritually hungry and receptive to learning about Jesus that we decided to establish the Una Esperanza O.C. Kids ministry for these kids.


We do not presently have any particular church that we call home, and the main reason for us is that we’ve been having difficulty finding a church that seems to live out the biblical model for the church. We believe that the church is here to glorify God primarily through prayer and worship, for training and equipping the saints through sound teaching, and to challenge each follower of Christ in their local body to reach a lost world around us with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We’ve found plenty of churches that focus on one or two of these, but surprisingly, we can’t seem to find one in our area that does them all!

It seems as though the great commission of going forth is the one that often gets lost and the local church itself becomes the end-all to the Christian experience by focusing on numerous events and programs. We live in a world where the vast majority of people around us are lost! Shouldn’t we who call Jesus Lord be living with a sense of urgency for reaching them?


God has not only brought these Una Esperanza O.C. Kids into our lives, but He has also given us immeasurable joy through knowing these kids. The relationships that we’ve developed with these kids are priceless! They each have their own unique personalities and gifts, and it’s an incredible blessing to watch them grow in their faith! We’ll be spending a great deal of time with these kids during these summer months. We’ve already begun our twice-weekly Bible studies and we also have several more events planned for these kids, and hopefully each and every one of these events will point them to our wonderful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.






This post is not intended as a rant against the Church. God has ordained the Body of Christ as a whole to be His ambassadors to the world, and we strongly believe in that calling. It is just so disappointing sometimes to see that calling watered down to the point of primarily focusing on those within the walls of the church. I praise God that a body of believers decided to reach out to these overlooked children three years ago and I pray that God would light a fire under many churches across America to reach out beyond their own walls to a lost and dying world.

Summer is here at last!

Today’s expected high is forecasted to be 106 degrees at Una Esperanza in Juarez, Mexico! Here in South Orange County California it’s a warm but bearable 87 degrees.

Our local ministry with the Una Esperanza O.C. Kids shifts into high gear this week as the school year ends for the kids and their summer vacation begins. We’ll be spending an entire week with these kids during an upcoming vacation bible school (VBS) event at a local church. We’ll also be kicking off our twice-weekly bible studies at the beach. We have several day-trips planned for the kids and even a weekend camping trip later this summer.

We hope to add even more kids to this ministry but we’re very limited to the number of children we can include without additional transportation. We’re in need of a passenger van or SUV capable of hauling all these extra kids around so please keep this need in your prayers!






Una Esperanza-Mexico Update:
Patsy our onsite missionary at Una Esperanza has had some recent health problems and the ministry center has been closed for the past three weeks as a result. She reports that she’s doing much better and we’re hoping to have her back in action and the ministry center opened again sometime this week.



The Kids cool off at Una Esperanza in Juarez, Mexico

Training for Battle

“Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.” Psalm 144:1 Lately, I can truly relate to this particular verse.

It would be wonderful if verses like this relating to battle somehow didn’t apply to us as we lived a peace-filled life as “turn the other cheek” Christians. The sad reality is that there is evil in the world around us, and sometimes we are forced to face and even confront this evil. This is especially true in Kilometer 33. Juarez has had almost 400 murders this year alone, and all of Mexico is at war with the drug lords that have held this country captive for decades. Danger is a reality. We ultimately rely on God’s protection when we travel to Una Esperanza, and we have experienced this divine protection many times, but it’s also wise to prepare the best we can.


I’ve trained in martial arts for years, and after a two-year layoff, I felt the need to hone my skills again so I joined a local MMA (mixed martial arts) fight training gym that teaches Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai kick boxing and wrestling. The idea is to master each unique discipline and combine them all together, i.e. MMA.


Most of my instructors are professional fighters and they very much look the part. My personal trainer Adam looks like he could kill you with his bare hands, and quite honestly, he probably could if he wanted to! He’s covered in tattoos, (which seems to be common in the profession) shaves his head and looks just plain mean!

Adam and the other instructors also train our son Noah three times a week, and I’ve learned (and so has Noah) that you can’t judge a book by its cover. As we’ve gotten to know Adam, we have found that he’s genuinely one of the nicest guys we’ve met in a long time.


I’ve since discovered that many of the instructors at the gym are also Christians, and Noah and I have had a great time establishing friendships and honing our self-defense skills. Lesli and I have even established some meaningful relationships with some of the parents of the other students as we sit in on Noah’s classes. We never know when or where God may use us but it’s exciting to see how He does when we least expect it!

O. C. (Orange County) Kids update:
Our Una Esperanza O.C. Kids spent this past Memorial Day weekend at our home as they often do and it was a great time of building relationships and having fun. We had church at our home with these kids on Sunday and it was a great time of studying God’s word together. We thought we’d give the home church concept a try, and I must say that everyone enjoyed the experience greatly! The kids seemed to get a lot out of it and we were able to share specific needs and pray for each one, and I think that meant a lot to the kids. It reminded me of how the early church must have been where they gathered in homes and sought to meet each other’s spiritual and physical needs.

Una Esperanza Juarez, Mexico Update:
Patsy (our on-site missionary at Una Esperanza) has been reporting that she has been seeing a real breakthrough with the kids at Una Esperanza ever since our January trip where we made a point to hug and pray for each child at the center.

The Easter trip with the Iowa State Navigators also made a huge impact on these kids. She says that they have really been responsive to the bible teaching like never before. Una Esperanza has been doing well, but we still have many obstacles ahead to overcome, and we would greatly appreciate your continued prayers as we seek to reach the “least of these” in Jesus name.

Mother's Day

I just wanted to express how thankful I am that I get to be a mother to quite a few kids, both here in the US and in Mexico.  I couldn't ask for a sweeter son than my Noah.  He has such a sensitive heart for God, and he's always my #1 little man, and he so willingly shares my love with so many other kids who call me "Mom."  I am so grateful that God has opened up our world and our hearts to include all of them.  My heart is full of blessings that each one of the children in my life have brought into my life, and I can't imagine life any other way.

Our Orange County kids fill our home with joy and have added many girls to our lives, which is a wonderful addition, and I love my God-given daughters so very much.  They make me laugh, and they brighten my life and my weekends.

All the little (and big) ones that God has brought into my life through the work of Una Esperanza fill my heart with love and hope for them, that they will have a better future because they are coming to know Christ as their hope.  God has given Brad and I the privilege of unique positions as the father and mother of so many children who know no other love or parenting.  

I'm also so thankful to God for my own mom.  Hopefully she'll forgive my using this picture from our past.  She has taught me and continues to teach me much about living by faith and loving God.  I'm so proud of the legacy of faith that my mom has given me, and I want to always pass that on to my children - God is good, and He is faithful, and He can be trusted with anything and everything.  Thank you God, and thank you, Mom.