Spare Change

Time just seems to fly. It feels like it was just yesterday Gissela was welcoming me to Honduras, but I now sit in the Houston airport awaiting my flight back to Lexington. It was wonderful six days of ministry and God continues to use the people of Honduras to teach me.

Yesterday was just a perfect day of ministry to finish my time. We had spent quite a bit of the week planning and preparing for the upcoming summer, but on Sunday we switched gears and dedicated the day to just doing ministry.

We started the day at church, which was great (Rosetta Stone and I have a lot of work!!). It was Fathers Day in Honduras and it was great to see families worship the Lord. I missed having Tara and the kids along side, but I know they will be one day hopefully soon!

Next we headed over to the Bordos to just hang out and play with the kids. I got to see some of the children our family had been praying for and Justin shared a bible story with many of them. We played soccer, duck-duck goose, and spun kids until we were all wore out (try swinging two kids at once!) It is overwhelming at times, but I am convinced that God has created some of the most beautiful children in places just as this. While we were there a team of college students from Tulsa stopped by. It was pretty encouraging to see people coming to serve. It was as if God reminded me that we aren’t alone in this. My pray is that believers will flock to the Bordos, one day soon having a daily presence within the area.

Our final stop was to spend some time with a local pastor by the name of Ernesto. Gissela had meet him and just raved about some of the things God was doing through him. She was spot on.

Pastor Ernesto is silently and humbly making Christ known. He is investing his life in many of the Bordos, poorest communities, and rural areas outside of SPS. One of the interested things Gissela had learned was that Pastor had helped some of the poorer neighborhoods build a small church/community building. Building a ministry spot in the Bordos has long been a desire for Justin, Ashley, and Gissela so just hearing about it wasn’t enough. Pastor Ernesto graciously offered to show us one of the recently completed buildings.

We drove about 15 minutes out of town until we reached a very poor community. It was just before dark as we walked back towards the church when the light from the building filled the area. It was simple by any standards. It was basically a park shelter, with a concrete pad. But it lite up the entire neighborhood. Next thing we know, people are running over to greet us. One of them was the Pastor of this little church. He showed us around (one room!) and walked us back to a well that was also dug to give them water. His joy couldn’t be missed as he described the services they had and how happy he was to lead. As I stood there (like I said, me and Rosetta have some work to do), I was just struck with how “central” this church was to the neighborhood. There were probably 20 or so homes around, but the church literally connected all of them together. Everything revolved around that building and they were so proud of the space of worship God had blessed them with.

Heading home I couldn’t help but think of how cool it was to see families come together and BECOME the Church. It made me think about the Cracrafts. Are we connecting with those God has planted around us (our kids, neighbors, coworkers, etc) to BECOME the church. Not just GOING to a building, but our family actually BECOMING a church! The more I see people come to know Christ and respond to His gift of grace, the more I am convicted that MY family needs to be more obedient. As pastor Jeff would say, “Take the next obedient step.”

Lastly, I want to thank all those who have been praying and supporting my family. This trip was wonderful and I can’t wait until June when I’m back. My prayer for each person reading is to pray about taking a trip just like I did last July. Let God overcome any fears, worries, or questions you may have. Let him provide the funds you think can’t be raised and protect you from danger that you believe is near. I have no doubt it will change your life. And this kind change is Good!!

God Bless, Bo

“Commit your activities to the Lord, and your plans will be achieved.” Proverbs 16:3

God is good. All the time. Being back in Honduras has been amazing. Justin and I have finished to first two days, which have been filled with ministry and opportunities to share the gospel.

Wednesday after landing, we immediately headed over to a all girls orphanage called Las Casitas. It is a regular ministry spot of Sparrow Missions and I have had the opportunity to visit three or four times in the past. It’s government run and generally has 90-100 girls.

The girls are always excited to see visitors and today was no exception. In addition they were working on Bible memorization and it was amazing to see some of the girls recite up to 15-17 verses from memory. They are beautiful children of God, who continue to teach me a great deal about what is truly worth living for.

One of the other neat things that happen was an introduction that only God could of orchestrated. One of the big goals of Sparrow Missions is to connect with, and possible run, an orphanage. San Pedro Sula had once been home to one of the largest orphanages in Central America, called the ABC Orphanage. It closed several years ago, but has recently been ordered to reopen. An organization called Orphan Helpers is working with the local government to revitalize and open what is now being called the Genesis orphanage. Justin and Ashley had made several introductory contacts with Orphan Helpers, but recently had run into difficulty accessing the needed people. In fact, on the trip to Casitas I had asked Justin if he had any luck getting a meeting set up. He said emails had been sent, but to date nothing had been firmed up. In truth, I felt like it was probably going to be a wasted opportunity while we were down here and really didn’t put much though to it.

About 30 minutes into our ministry at Casitas, a group of about 6-7 folks walked in. They spoke with some of the administrators and looked to be checking in. They made their way over to Justin and Gissela and introduced themselves. You guessed it; they were from Orphan Helpers. But not just that, the group included the Executive Director of the organization, Richard, along with the Project Director for the Genesis project, Erin. Yes I said the EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR!! Justin shared his testimony, they talked about Genesis and 20 minutes later we had a meeting set up to tour Genesis with Erin. If only to remind us how faithful He is, God added one more nugget. Richard was actually headed to Panama for the week. He was headed to the Airport when they decided to make a quick stop at Casitas. HE WASN’T EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE THERE!

Nonetheless, Yesterday we had the opportunity to check out the Orphange site. It is in need of significant improvements, but it has unbelievable potential. The property is just huge. There are over 20 acres or land, with room to house as many as 300 orphans. There are a number of classrooms, some dedicated to help the children learn a trade such as a woodworking shop and mechanical room. There is also a dedicated medical center, basketball court and futbol field.

Leaving the facility we were just overwhelmed by the amount of work needed. It seems at times like it could be too big for us and anyone to complete. There are concerns of the government’s (who ultimately runs it) involvement, the money needed, and the volunteered required.

As I and Justin reflected on the entire thing, we just kept coming back to the same point. It is a big job. Bigger than Sparrow Missions. Bigger than Orphan Helpers. It is crazy to think of all the hurdles. But we feel called to connect with the lives of those orphaned. This place could change their lives. Give them a future. And thankfully we serve a God who can overcome any hurdles we think exist.

Proverbs 16:3 really points to it all. Commit you activities the God, who can achieve all! We don’t know where this is leading, but we do know that God wanted us to meet Richard and tour the facility. He is preparing Sparrow for a summer full of talented people who want to serve. Maybe Genesis is the purpose. Maybe meeting Richard is for something else, Sparrow’s own orphange. Regardless, we just keep praying, keep seeking, and remain committed to the activities of the Lord.

God Bless. Gotta run. Time to grab a baleada!!

So the Cracraft’s have been pretty poor about this whole blog thing.  It’s not like we don’t have enough things going on to talk about.  Every night leads us on new adventures.  The problem is those adventures generally don’t occur at HOME….

But excuses are just that.  So here I am and I got to say it is good to sit down, even if for only a few minutes, to just “defrag” my brain at little.  It seems like I am developing adult attention issues, because everyday I seem to read something or hear something that causes me to lose focus.  It’s not always a bad thing, but it seems like my mind just races from one thing to the next.  Truthfully, many of these are a bit uncomfortable, but very exciting at the same time.

Which brings us to tomorrow and the start of Lent.  For the majority of my life, Lent had often not been taught or even really discussed.  I just knew it as the period of time where a group people ate a lot of fish on Fridays!  (Fish Fry Friday!!  Who wouldn’t love that?)  But over the course of the past couple years, our pastor team at Hope Church has began the process of leading our church family through this very neat season.  Most people know it as a period of fasting, but it is also a time of re-orienting your life and sacrificing one’s self for the larger kingdom of God.  At Hope Church, we are focusing on 4 specific disciplines:

• Reading – Over the course of 40 days, we will be reading together the Gospel of John.  (Check out the reading schedule at HERE and join us!) Reading the Bible is good by the way!
• Fasting – Mentioned above, Fasting is the most easily identified discipline of Lent.  This idea of fasting is based upon the example of Jesus, who fasted 40 days before starting his ministry.  Individually, and as families, this season calls for each to sacrificially give up something that is noticeable enough to move us to rely on God’s power.
• Giving – We are being encouraged to look for new ways to bless others through our giving.  Maybe money, maybe time.  Regardless, giving means looking for beyond my current situation and seeking opportunities to interfere with someone else’ life.
• Serving – Our only response to the sacrifice of Jesus should be to serve others.  Jesus’ life was about meeting people’s needs for His purpose.  It’s how we make disciples.  During Lent, we have been challenged to look for opportunities to serve and then DO it! 

I got to say that I am pretty excited about it.  Last year I focused more on the fasting portion, which included me giving up music for the 40 day period.  It sounded silly to many, but I filled many minutes with music, especially driving to and from work, where my time could be used more efficiently.  Instead I committed to using the silence as a time to pray, and to this day I still use my morning drive as a time of prayer.

Beyond the practice of starting my morning in prayer, I firmly believe God used the season of Lent last year to prepare my family for what was to come.  He knew I would be changed while serving in Honduras.  He knew our family was going to change our course.  Our kids were going to go through change.  And He knew that our desires were about to change.  He used Lent to prepare me.  Give me a new prayer life.  And open my eyes.

With all this said, I know it is no coincidence that tomorrow morning at 6am, I will be stepping on a plane headed back to San Pedro Sula.  It was God designed that I start this season of Lent by spending a week with many who are poor, broken, and hungry.  Giving, Serving, Fasting, and Reading!

God Bless, Bo

So Bo is out of the house until late tonight and I am supposed to be working on our budget.  This means one thing.  I m doing anything to keep from working on the budget.  In my search for other computer related things to occupy my time, I accidentally hit the “iphoto” button.  Our photos are sorted by month and year, so I decided to go back and see how Colby looked when he was the age that Kallee is now.  (They are 3 years and 10 days apart.)  The video above is what I found.  I’ve realized 2 things in the last 10 minutes; (1)they really do grow up so fast and (2) we’ve got to get to work with Kallee on those bible verses!!

Hope you all enjoy and have a blessed day!!

What is it about fear of something new or unknown?  I mean, why did I get so anxious when asked to teach for the first time?  What is it that causes me to get fearful when I think about the real possibility that God is calling me to change occupations?  Or better yet maybe move my family?  As a follower of Christ, I know that being fearful is not the design of God for my life;

For God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness; but of power and love and discipline.               (2 Timothy 1:7)

What makes it worse is that even when I see the Lord deliver me from fear over and over, I still find myself getting worked up about that next move, presentation, or test.  This week, I got the first hand experience of watching Colby overcome a fear and celebrate in the freedom that came with its defeat.  As his father, I at first thought it would be a perfect teaching moment for him, but as usually, God has used it more to teach me.

For the past two years, since starting preschool, Tara and I have always walked Colby into school.  There has always been the option of just dropping him off at the front door, but he had always shown so fear of doing so.  I really hadn’t pushed the subject to much because honestly I liked walking him in each morning.  We would generally say a pray for his day and it provided me an opportunity to get to know some of his fellow classmates and teachers. But recently, Tara and I had both noticed that Colby seemd to be getting more and more uncomfortable with change.  I though this could be a good opportunity for him to experience a change in his normal routine. 

So, a few weeks ago, I started dropping the idea of us dropping him off at the front door.  He really didn’t bite at all, but I kept pressing a little more and more.  He still didn’t bite.  Then this week I told him on Monday that he WAS going to be dropped off at least one day during the week.  I was going to give him the opportunity to pick, but it wasn’t up for discussion.  He didn’t agree with the plan, but every morning I would asked him if this was the day he wanted to give it a try.  Let’s just say that when I asked him which day he had picked, he responded with “NEVERday”  (which I actually chuckled at!)

But then something happened on Wednesday as we turned into the parking lot.  I asked him one last time.  He said “NEVER” as with the pervious couple days.  Then I asked him why?  And he said he was afraid.  I jumped all over that and responded “Do you believe I would ask you to do something that I know you couldn’t do or would hurt you?”  I don’t know if he just needed to hear me say that or what, but he looked up and told me he would give it a try.  The next thing I know we pulled up and one of his Principals opened the door.  Colby jumped out, turned and walked right in.  In fact, when asked if he wanted to “say goodbye to Dad”, he didn’t even turn around.  As I drove off, I watched him and his batman backpack disappear into the school from my rear view mirror.  For a moment I wanted to stop, run into the school, and make sure everything was okay.  But I didn’t.  I had confiedntly told him that he could do it.  Walking in behind him would have shown him differently.

As expected, walking about 20 yards on your own is not as scary as Colby though it was.  As with us silly adults, generally once you face the fear, you realize it’s was nothing to fear in the first place.  Colby has since requested that “Dad NEVER walk him into school again” and I have dropped him off that last two days. 

Since Wednesday, I have had a couple opportunities to joke with Colby about how silly it was for him to be afraid.  I have reminded him that he can “trust” me and his mom.  I have tried to explain that our relationship with God is much the same.  He loves us, wants us to overcome fear, and trust in His guidance.  But as I studied a little this week, I have realized that I am selling God way short when I teach Colby this way.  Just look at Isaiah 41 and Deuteronomy 31:

For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. (Isaiah 41:13)

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. (Deuteronomy 31:6)

God totally loves Colby just as I love him.  He totally wants him to overcome fear, just as I want him to overcome fear.  And God totally wants Colby to trust in His guidance, just as I want Colby to trust my fatherly guidance.  But, God gives Colby something that I can’t as a father.  God gives Colby the promise that he will go with him, holding his hand if needed, forever.  As much as I love Colby, I can’t (and won’t) be there all the time.  God can though and I sorely need to make sure Colby knows and recognizes that.   Why rely on Dad, when you have God!

Sounds simple doesn’t it.  It’s definetly not as complicated as I make it.  I scratch my head almost daily as I find myself getting worked up about something.  I am getting better at recognizing those fears, but that doesn’t mean I don’t exhaust much energy on them.  The truth, as I have learned this week, is that I often place to much trust on myself, rather than relying on my Lord and my God, who is waiting for me to give him my right hand.

God Bless!  Bo

I got to admit it.  I must be having a hard time totally grasping a hold of what God is trying to convey to me.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, I am totally trying to listen, read, and spend time with my creator, but it seems like the more time I spend, the more He just continues to bring me back to Matthew 25.  Whether reading a book, grabbing an online devotional, or listening to a sermon I keep finding myself reading or hearing this:

 “I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these; you did not do for me.”  Matthew 25:45

In one sense, I am really concerned.  I mean, what is the deal with me?  This seems pretty straightforward.  Have I totally missed something?  Have I come in contact with the “least of these” and ignored them? Maybe I haven’t ignored them, but worse yet, maybe I haven’t even been attentive enough to see them, blinded by my own flesh so to speak.  Honestly, I don’t feel like I have. At least I hope I haven’t. I pray each morning for God to give my day a purpose and there have been a number of days that I have seen take crazy turns because of it.  Tara and I have earnestly sought out opportunities to help those we see and our family continues to consciously seek the Lord’s discernment in decisions so we can help even more.

But why do I keep landing on this section of scripture?

This morning I was preparing for a bible study I will be a part of tonight by reviewing and reading a chapter out of Crazy Love.  As you can expect, Matthew 25 came to light again.  Using this verse as reference, Francis Chan poses a pretty simple question to the reader (and more importantly me):

How would my life change if I actually thought of each person I came into contact with as Christ?   

I got to be honest.  I have read this book before and this really didn’t connect with me.  No, to be really transparent, I have read this book twice.  But this morning, it was as if the text was doing one of those crazy (and dumb!) Microsoft PowerPoint animations across the page!  I stopped reading for a second and really dwelled on it.  What if I really did think of everyone I came in contact with as Jesus himself?  Boy I would treat some people differently wouldn’t I…..wouldn’t each of us.

This morning it started to make more sense.  It’s not just a theoretical question I should be asking myself.  The real question I must answer is WHY AM I NOT considering each person I come in contact with as Christ.  I mean seriously, Christ himself tells me just a few verses earlier that “whatever I do for one of the least of these, I do for Him.” If I do nothing, I do nothing for HIM.  If I respond, I am responding to HIM.

It’s easy for me to let Satan grab a small foothold in my daily walk.  I can start to look at all that our family is doing.  The changes we have made and I can become proud.  It’s stupid I know.  It’s shameful.  But I can also easily find myself picking and choosing who I think the Lord is “calling me” to help.  Maybe it’s that small child in Honduras.  Sure.  Maybe it’s running down to the soup kitchen to volunteer.  Absolutely.  Maybe it’s investing in your sister-in-law’s life because she needs wisdom and truth?  Really?  Or maybe it’s love your next door neighbor “that drives you insane” as yourself.  Surely Not …..

Brother Jeff at Hope Community Church often tells us that he is going to “keep teaching us the same ole’ stuff” because he is waiting for us to respond to the Lord’s direction.  Once we figure that out and start taking the next obedient step, only then we will move on to the next topic!  We can get tired of hearing it, but it doesn’t mean that He is going to stop preaching about it.  He always says, “If you want me to stop preaching on it, start responding to it.”

That’s how I felt today as I read Chapter 7 for the third time.  It’s time for me to start seeing more faces as Christ, stop typing about it and act accordingly. 

‘Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth”      I John 3:18

God Bless, Bo 

Kids say the craziest things.  Yesterday Kallee was watching “Dora the Explorer” whose mission for the day was to rescue “Backpack and Map” from the junk pile.  She looked up at me and said “can we pray for dem?”  Later in the day, after we’d picked up Colby from school and checked out 13 books and 5 movies from the library to prepare for the snow, she was watching Pocahontas.  ”The naked daddies (also known as the native americans in loin cloths) are making the man (John Smith) sad.  Can we pray for dem?”  Although this is so very cute, it may sound silly to most…to pray for a cartoon.  Someone that isn’t even real.  But it really taught me something.  Kallee saw a need, and immediately took it to the Lord.  We didn’t just pray for Backpack and Map to be safe, but anyone who might be in danger or afraid.  These are people I honestly don’t pray for very often, as they aren’t specifics on a list.  We didn’t just pray for John Smith to not be sad anymore, but we prayed for those who are sad, that they would feel the comfort of our Father!   No wonder Jesus said we must become like children.  He was the first person Kallee looked to when she saw a need.  Let’s learn from her.  When we see people and feel helpless to their circumstances, let’s take my 2 year old’s advice, and simply pray for them!