Tweet It’s really easy to get involved in charity these days. Drop off some canned goods, donate some clothes, write a check, and boom! You have crossed charity off your list. You are now free to move on with your life feeling good that you contributed to society.   Have you ever thought about the people on the other side of that equation?   I have. A lot.  And thankfully, so has the leadership of my church. This is why we are committed to not just building a great church, but building a great city. And we started this process by listening. Listening to the people on the other side…

Tweet This year TOMS did some incredible. They opened up their giving trip contest to anyone and everyone who wanted to enter. You just had to create a flag, write a story, and hit enter. Then the decision is left up to the world.   Of course I entered. Not only do I love to travel, I want to go on a trip so stinking bad. I would honestly pay to go on one, but TOMS doesn’t really just let anyone go on them. And regardless of your opinion,  since I bought my first pair of TOMS, I have been in love with the company, the shoes, and the business…

Tweet Last night I hung out with a group of college students. I shared a little bit of my heart and passion for fighting human trafficking and a pretty cool opportunity to get involved in the global fight on a very local level.  I have to admit, if someone would pay me to go around and talk about human trafficking, I would quit my job in a second. Sometimes I seriously contemplate just quitting anyways and figuring out how to pay the bills later. (Don’t worry mom, I won’t really do that!)   The coolest part was they got it. They listened intently and they got on board. After I…

Tweet If there is one thing I will remember most from my trip to Myanmar it is the sound of laughter.  While language barriers may prevent deep conversation, laughter is universally recognizable and communicates a clear message. The message of joy, happiness, enjoyment, acceptance.  It fills a void where words are absent. And it communicates a sense of hope. Where laughter abounds, hope also abounds.   As I spent time in our orphanages, I was amazed at the hope that hung in the air. You could feel it. You could also hear it. All across our various campuses the sounds that filled the air were joyful squeals and laughter from…

Tweet My pastor on Sunday was talking about resolutions and he said that studies have shown one of the easiest ways to stick to a decision is to make it part of a story. Thus as we say goodbye to 2012 and hello to 2013, I am going to use this time to weave a story throughout the next year of my life. It may not end up being a story anyone else reads, but nevertheless it will be my story.   The overarching component of a story is the theme. Perhaps one reason resolutions end up broken by February (if we make it that long) is because they are…

Tweet First off, I apologize for the lack of blogging lately. My schedule has gotten a bit ridiculous as of late. A master’s degree and a full-time job are plenty to keep me busy, but add a relationship, an extra grant writing class, trying to get a paper published, a volunteer project at the YWCA, an avid exercise program, church, trying to fundraise for my Myanmar trip, occasionally a social event and well, I feel accomplished if I have eaten three meals that day!   However, it’s October 26th and in a little over two months, I will be getting on a plane and flying a VERY long way to Myanmar.  And so…

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Tweet “Stand up, Stand up, Stand up, all you dreamers..” *   Spend five minutes talking to anyone under the age of 12 and you will more than likely hear about some dream they have. Especially if you ask them. It is one of my favorite things about listening to little children-they have so many dreams. Sometimes they are dreams like wanting to be doctors or singers and sometimes they are dreams like wanting orphans to be adopted or children to have food. In every case, in their mind, the world is limitless.   But something happens as we get older. We start to see limits. We listen to voices who try to quiet…