Vulnerability

"Vulnerability is not weakness, it is courage.  Our most accurate measure of our courage is whether or not we are willing to be vulnerable.

"Vulnerability is the birthplae of innovation, creativity and change."  Brené Brown

A great leader knows when to be vulnerable in order to create the human space where dignity outshines shame allowing others to risk being vulnerable themselves creating a safe space for innovation, creativity and transformation.  - Elena Huegel

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost (1874–1963).  Mountain Interval.  1920.

1. The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;         5   Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,         10   And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.         15   I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.         20

Stop! Look and Listen!

STOP! LOOK! and LISTEN!

The theme at the Shalom Center this last summer (January to March in the southern hemisphere) was traveling along the Pan American highway that stretches from Canada 30,000 miles south to Argentina with a small gap in Central America.  We have been reflecting on the signposts, markers and city names as symbols of the guidance of God in the voyage of our lives.  The small group Bible study areas have been names with villages and towns in Chile that are along the highway: Nueva Esperanza (New Hope), Tolerancia (Tolerance),  Peor es nada (Better Than Nothing) have become our meeting places. 

In the middle of the camp season, I had to take a trip along a road feeding into  the Pan American highway,  and I made a wrong turn in the village of La Huerta (The Orchard).  As soon as I made the turn, I knew I was heading in a direction different from the one I wanted  to get back on the Pan American highway, so I began looking for  a place to turn around.  In the process, I spotted a young man by the side of the road in front of me.  He must have been about 13 or 14 years old, sitting all alone in a patch of morning sunlight that made his blue wheelchair glisten.  He looked at me intently, with a warning or surprised look on his face, as I drove slowly past and straight into a steep dead end where I could barely turn around.  After some maneuvering to avoid the barbed wire, the steep gulley, a light post and someone's carefully tended bed of flowers, I got the car turned around and stopped, facing the young man again.  From this new perspective, I could see he was sitting directly under a red "disco pare" or stop sign!  Since the signpost was facing the dead end, and unseen from the main highway, I had driven right past it.    

And I stopped.  I turned off the car, and I looked and listened.  All summer we had been talking about watching out for the signs.  The young man under the stop sign looked back at me bemused - I am sure I was his morning entertainment!   If only I had looked backwards, or at least glanced in my rearview mirror, maybe I would have stopped to heed the young man's warning look.  Before turning on the motor again and heading back to the Pan American highway,  I remembered the song my four year old nephew, Joel, used to sing to me...

STOP! LOOK! and LISTEN! is the teaching of a popular children's song about crossing the street, but maybe I should adopt it as a theme song for my life.  As the craziness of summer camps, retreats and delegations threatens to absorb my energy, I need to stop, look and listen to God's signs along the highway of my life. 

Rhett Smith in the June 2013 edition of  Relevent magazine speaks of the need to develop "mindfulness."  This is some of what he says:

So when I talk about being mindful, I’m speaking of that self-awareness that allows someone to truly be present and engaged in the moment. It creates an environment that fosters wisdom and discernment. And ultimately it leads to healthy action, rather than just reacting to something.

So let’s look at some simple practices you can experiment with over the next month:

First, slow down and breathe. It’s interesting to note that the word anxiety has some of its roots in the Latin word angere, which conveys the meaning of “choking off” or “closing/shutting in.” And for the Greeks, the word for mind, phren, relates to the diaphragm, as they saw a connection of the mind and body as it relates to breathing.

So one of the first things that we need to remind ourselves when we are anxious in marriage—which is often—is to simply breathe.

Second, practice being present. You need to make a conscious effort each day to be present in your life and in the lives of others. That can sound very vague and complicated, but it actually just takes effort and practice. So let me start with two simple suggestions:

1.               Listen. Anytime someone is speaking, concentrate on just listening, rather than forming what you are going to say next.

2. Be patient. Anxiety often emerges when we aren’t patient and we are trying to live into the future.

Third, practice being curious. This also takes a conscious effort each day. We often assume a lot about what we think our spouse or someone else is saying or thinking. Over time, we lose curiosity for this person who at one time in our lives was a mystery we couldn’t get enough of. And when curiosity leaves our relationships, they often dry up and become stagnant. Here are two suggestions to get the ball rolling:

1.               Ask questions of curiosity. Questions like, “Tell me what you experienced this week at work that was life giving?” “Where did you feel most connected to God today? Where did you feel most distant from God today?” “What is something that you have been really passionate about this year, and how can I best support that passion?”

2. Make a rule that when you go on a date with your spouse (or in my case, out with a friend - EH)  that you will create space to get to know them—that you will be curious. Often we spend a lot of time gossiping about friends, neighbors, family or talking about work and the business of family life.

I promise that as you begin to practice being more mindful in your life, you will take notice of these things in your own life and marriage. And as you notice these things, you will be compelled to actions that lead to positive changes. So practice these things over the next month and I believe God will lead you ...  into a new stage of connection and growth. 

The challenge of facilitative leadership

The challenge of facilitative leadership is:
Be strong, but flexible;
Be just, but merciful;
Be kind, but not weak;
Be humble, but not timid;
Be proud, but not arrogant;
Be committed, but accessible;
Be fun, but not a tease;
Be true, but tempered by love.

Elena Huegel based on
"The Challenge of Leadership" by Jim Rohn

Thank you, Lord

Thank you, Lord.
   For your protection during the summer activities at the Shalom Center.
   For the committed staff  and Patricia Gómez the new director of the Shalom Center.
   For the beauty of the Andes Mountains and the privilege of nature's embrace.
   For safe travels to Texas.
   For the love of family.
   For the joy of goals achieved.
Amen

From Summer Camps at the Shalom Center

Sharon Kimball

MACUCC

Feb. 2015

Jeremiah 29:13  You will seek me, and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart.

I believe that God is omnipresent.  He is present in my waking and in my sleeping.  He is at my left hand and my right.  He is my sun by day and my moon by night.  However, I do not take God's presence lightly.  I believe we must invest ourselves in our relationship with God.  We are the ones who must seek God.  We must listen for God's word and look for God´s guidance and be thankful for the gifts God gives us in and through others.

I cannot just assume God will knock on the door and say, "Sharon, I am here!" though I do believe that is exactly what happens sometimes.  As followers of Jesus Christ, as children of God, we must work to seek God every day.  We must open our ears to listen and to truly hear his word.  It may be the word a friend, a pastor, a child, a stranger.  How will we hear if we are not listening?  We may find it in the silence and meditation and I truly believe we hear it in prayer.  We may hear it as we struggle with our labors and personal challenges.  But first we must listen, we must be open to listening.  If we simply set our minds firmly on one path or one idea - we may not hear what God is saying.  This week we have heard God in so many ways.  In what ways have you heard the voice of God this week?

 Jeremiah reminds us to open our eyes to see, and open our hearts.  It has warmed my heart to experience to kinds of open hearts this week.  One heart is open to give love - to share a hug, to share a home, to share a meal, to share a faith, to share a concern, to share a worry, to share a hidden prayer o secret. The other open heart receives this concern, this generosity with love, with care, with an open mind and willingness to share the other's burden and a commitment to pray for the other's need.  These two hearts exist within one body, within our own bodies and within the church body of Christ.  And individual needs as much to love as to receive love.  The Psalmist  writes: ”I lift my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come?  My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.” 

We in the MACUCC delegation are so blessed to have been able to lift our eyes unto the hills this week.  We with your youth were surrounded by the beauty of the Shalom Center of the Pentecostal Church of Chile.  There it may be easier to realize how very close to us God really is.  There, working, singing, sleeping, eating, laughing, praying, paying and worshipping side by side, it is easy to feel the presence of God.  But none of us need leave our homes and travel thousands of miles to know that we may seek God wherever we are.   We must only open our hearts. We must look into the eyes of another and follow the commandments of Jesus:  Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and all of your mind and all of your soul and love your neighbor as yourself.

How is it that we can come from the North and South and East and West and find community and peace?  We can seek Good with all our hearts.  May God´s blessing be with all of you as you seek God every day with an open heart.

The Shalom Center celebrates 15 years!

Enjoy this photographic walk through the years of the Shalom Center!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb5quYMdj2g&list=UU2A1Nzq95qV64byZCm5GyVw