surrender

recently i have been enjoying one of those insanely obvious seasons when you know you are part of something that God is doing. there's no other explanation.

not long ago God led us to take a faith step and commit to the Boys Academy vision. pictured to the right are some BV boys playing on the property where the future academy will be. (more info on that here if interested.) after freaking out for a minute, we told God we were in.

we committed. we'll transition our family further out - into the town of Buena Vista. we'll commit however many years it takes to see through a generation of boys to adulthood, and see what God does with that. our kids will likely graduate high school in guatemala.

we bought land (another cool story), met with builders, and broke ground. despite every ounce of practicality in me, we plunged in. my flesh kept crying out, "wait, we need to think about this more... we need to raise funds, go slow, talk to everyone we know...etc, etc."

but God had no time for that. He brought Mynor & Walda, our guatemalan friends who share the passion and are leaving their careers to help. He brought the land to our front door (as well as the funds), and brought us a contractor and architect. we drew up blue prints. we've been dreaming and talking a lot about how it can work. most of all, praying.

we shared the entire vision with the lead contractor and architect. they were excited, especially after visiting Buena Vista and meeting the boys. after we told the contractor "we don't really have the money for this... but we believe God is going to provide it", he shook my hand and said "then lets do this."

so... the machinery is on site and the builders are working. we still haven't made one phone call to raise funds.

since then: a few different groups have contacted us. ALL of them i barely knew, if knew at all. ALL of them i never would have considered contacting. ALL of them, unsolicited, interested in building this facility and making this vision become a reality. ALL of them with giant hearts leaping out of their chests... longing to help people, and heavily drawn to the idea of breaking generational chains of poverty.

in each case, some special people helped connect the dots. people who knew what we are trying to do here and immediately thought of that someone who might connect with the vision. these special friends are the facilitators that make things happen by being in tune with the spirit of God.

God thank you for continuing to amaze! Please etch these moments into my heart and brain so deeply that i never forget them. let them encourage me to continue a life of surrender and letting go. i want to live by faith every day. use all of this, use me, use all of us, to bring glory to yourself.