Xapa to the World

  • Release Sherif Hassan – detained in Egypt because of his faith

    Check out this page for information on how you can help Sherif Hassan – Christian man arrested in Egypt for his faith, wife deported.

    Release Sherif Hassan – detained in Egypt because of his faith.

  • Review: Gabby’s Café – Wyoming, OH

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    515 Wyoming Ave.,
    Wyoming, OH

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    Per Cincinnati Magazine:

    Wyoming is known for good schools, good housing stock, and now, good burgers.  Gabby’s Angus beef burger is a smoky half-pounder made sweeter with a buttery bun that’s neither too soft nor too hard.  Savor the fresh pickles, lettuce, and tomato on this tender monument to meat.

    Well, I am not starting off so well on this if I’m only writing this two weeks after the fact!  But, here, without more delay is the gist of the trip to Gabby’s.

    Cincinnati Magazine rated Gabby’s Angus Beef Burger to be the #13 best burger in the city.  Why did I start with the 13th?  Well, it was on my way to an event at the Underground Railroad Freedom Museum that day, and I thought it’d be fun.  Plus, I’m not really going to the restaurants in the list for their burgers.  I’m not really a burger person myself, so I was super-glad that Gabby’s is a good ole Italian (mi familia!) restaurant with many other Café-ish type foods.  Yum!

    So, me and two of my girlfriends from church went over for an early lunch and were thoroughly pleased with our meal.  But first things first. 

    I love Wyoming, OH.  It is a pretty cute and beautiful part of the city.  My dad lived there for a while and I have fond memories of getting on my bicycle and riding down to the library for a book…and making a pit stop at Le Cezanne, which, sadly, has not been there for several years.  I also was in a summer orchestra camp there one year and, although being entirely intimidating, the Wyoming Fine Arts building is beautiful and I was much too young to fully appreciate being there.  That said, beyond the Larosas around the corner and the live Nativity down the street at Christmas, I didn’t explore much more of the town and I wish I had.

    The picture above is what we saw once we parked the car (there’s a great lot across the street and so long as it isn’t Tuesday, or some odd deal, you can park there for free).  And our noses were assaulted by the glorious smells from the Wyoming Meat Market.

    The smells totally playing on our already famished stomachs, we clamored our way to the door of the restaurant.  Once seated we had a dickens of a time getting through the menu because there were so many good options to choose from. 

    I really enjoyed the interior…I felt like I was in Chicago for some reason.  The waitress came over to get our orders and tell us the soup of the day – lamb and chickpeas.  Here’s what our order was:

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    Me:  Meatball Hoagie – Homemade meatballs topped with marinara and cheese blend on a toasted hoagie bun.

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    .     B:  Wyoming Club Sandwich
          – A double-decker
          sandwich stacked with
          turkey, bacon, lettuce,
          tomato and mayonnaise on
          toasted white bread

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    and C: Lamb Gyro – This was a special, so I don’t have any specs on it.  Sorry…but my friend loved it!

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    We were so stuffed from our lunch that we had no room for dessert.  Plus, we were on our way here for the Unbound Movement Fair Trade Expo.

    I will have more reviews coming up, so stay tuned.  Also, I’ll try to keep tabs on my “as Vagabondess” page of what review is coming up next.  I hope you all enjoy! 🙂

     – Sarah ><>

    Find more reviews and promos by clicking on the links to the right.  Go ‘head, you know you want to.

  • Pepsi Refresh – November *Hot Projects*

    Thought I’d send you some links to great projects that could use your support this month.  You can go each day to Pepsi Refresh and vote for up to 10 projects!  Quite a few to fight against Human Trafficking, how exciting!

    These are the projects with my vote (for more info and to vote for them, click on their Project Title):

    Empowering DC teens to avoid & escape exploitation & human trafficking
    by FAIR Fund, Inc. – $50k (top 10 get funding)
    *Running again in December!*

    FAIR Fund is a registered 501 (c) 3 nonprofit working to prevent human
    trafficking of youth worldwide by building community leadership, providing education and empowerment programs, and offering compassionate intervention services. We have reached over 15,000 young people 11 countries since 2003.

    Goals

    • Educate 1,000 at-risk teens to stay safe from trafficking
    • Support teens in danger
    • Provide access to shelter, medical services, and more for teens
    • Build a community that can better assist exploited teens

    Rebuild the lives of homeless, throwaway and trafficked youth
    by Covenant House – $250k (top 2 get funding)
    *Running again in December!*

    (Also registered for a $50k grant here)

    Covenant House is the largest privately-funded agency in America providing food, shelter, immediate crisis care and other important services to homeless, throwaway, and runaway kids. We strive to move each kid forward toward an independent adulthood free from the risk of future homelessness.

    Goals

    • To provide food to 1000 infants & toddlers in our Mother/Child program
    • To help homeless mothers build a future for themselves & their babies
    • To stay open 24/7/365 to any kid who comes to our door

    Create a SMS: Freedom Helplines to combat trafficking in California!
    by Survivors Connect – $50k (top 10 get funding)

    I am an anthropologist who has spent the last 5 years studying modern-day slavery around the world. I have worked on the issue in several capacities – from Hill advocacy, victim service and research. My work earned me the Freedom Award in 2008 and since I have launched Survivors Connect.

    Goals

    • To create a text-based helpline for people to contact about slavery
    • Train human rights advocates and aid workers about slavery
    • Coordinate a network of first responders to rescue victims
    • Prevent young people from becoming victim to slavery in the US

    Fight Against Human Trafficking & Empower Survivors
    by She Shall Go Free – $25k (top 10 get funding)
    *Yay!  They got their funding!*

    She Shall Go Free was founded by two USC college students dedicated to fighting against human trafficking, gender based violence, and exploitation of women and girls. We focus on empowering survivors, raising awareness of sex trafficking, and supporting projects that aid at-risk women and survivors.

    Goals

    • To purchase 1,000 shirts for our AWARENESS & FUNDRAISING campaign
    • To fund SCHOLARSHIPS for survivors for job training/basic education
    • To purchase requested items for LOCAL SHELTERS aiding women/survivors
    • To provide emergency financial ASSISTANCE to women in need

    Teach immigrants English in Philadelphia, PA tended by Project SHINE
    by Project SHINE

    Develop the Next Generation of Civic Leaders
    by Center for Progressive Leadership – $250k (top 2 get funding)
    *Running again in December!*

    Educate and empower young adults in PA to improve their communities
    by Haile B. Johnston
    *Yay! They got their funding!*

    Teach Hip-Hop and Respect to inner-city youth
    by Elementz Youth Center for Hip-Hop and Respect
    *Yay! They got their funding!*

    Open a home and youth center for teens in downtown Birmingham, AL
    by The Village

     

  • Luke Bucklin and Sons Update

    On Tuesday, November 2nd, a search and rescue team found the wreckage of the plane Luke Bucklin and his three sons (14, 14, 12) were flying.  There were no survivors of the crash.  Please pray for the wife/mother and three younger siblings left behind after this terrible accident.

    As before, you can keep up with the family by going to their blog:

    Luke and Ginger | Six kids, four cars, two houses, and a few crustaceans.

  • Luke Bucklin and Sons Missing After Plane Disappears

    Praying a ton for this family; please join me. 😦

    Luke and three of his boys, Nate, Nick (both 14), and Noah (12) went missing over the mountains of Wyoming on Monday afternoon (10/25).  Teams began the search for them on 10/26 but have been hampered by bad weather.

    You can find more information on the family blog by following this link:

    Luke and Ginger | Six kids, four cars, two houses, and a few crustaceans..

  • Poem: The Something Hidden

    October 21, 2010

    The Hunt.  The Search.
    The Discovery.  The Find.

    I loved it as a child.
    At Easter or in Hide ‘n’ Seek
    Or a puzzle.
    To be the one hunted was ok,
    But to seek out what was wanted –
    The joy was there.

    My favorite is when I’m not looking
    And the thing is suddenly there.
    God woos like that;
    Hidden, yet not hiding,
    Sought, and yet seeking.

    The Hunt.  The Search.
    The Discovery.  The Find.

    My teachers, mostly patient,
    Letting me find on my own.
    Recognizing the joy of realizing
    The point, the aim.

    Now a teacher myself –
    Learning to guide but not uncover –
    Like hunting for eggs with a young one,
    Letting the blue peek out behind a leaf,
    Just to see the delight in their eyes.
    Watching God peek out behind the pages
    And people and stories.

    He is a masterful Lover,
    Well-equipped to be found by anyone –
    Often in places I’d never look.
    The joy is now leading others
    To seek and find with their own eyes.

    The Hunt.  The Search.
    The Discovery.  The Find.

    Sarah ><>

  • Day 5 – Love

    I think the way people love changes over time.  God’s love stays the same.  God loves me the same as He did when He put my body together.  He loves me the same as when I took my first breath.  The same as when I first sang, “Jesus Loves Me.” The same as when I asked Him into my heart.  The same as when I was obsessed with boy bands.  The same as when my heart was broken and  I was crying for a Father.  The same as when I heard Him call to me from Russia.  The same as when I set foot in China.  The same as when my heart was broken and crying for a lover.  The same as when I shut my ears to Him.  The same as when I opened them again.

    My love for Him has changed though.  It’s been childish, inconstant, genuine, self-serving, impatient, joyous, grieving, etc.  But is that then love?  The difference could be that God loves outside of my circumstances and I can’t help but love within them.  But the goal is to do the same.  Can I do that?  I’ve found that with certain things I am able to, but not in everything.  But God’s ability to love me constantly and continually outside of my circumstances is not a sign of His apathy to those circumstances, but a mark of how great His love truly is.

    I could sing of Your love forever, I could sing of Your love forever…

    This isn’t a commentary of my ability or desire to sing to God for all time, but a showing of the greatness of His love.  It would take more than eternity to sing all of it, and I would still need more time. 

    Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens.  Your faithfulness stretches to the sky.  Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, yeah.  Your justice flows like the ocean’s tide.

  • Day 4 – God is Sovereign

    My favorite places are those where the sky is wide open in front of me.  For my current location, these include Harbin Park, at the top of the hill and the tiny regional airport, parked next to the fence running long-wise to the runway.  There’s something about the vastness of the sky, the length of the ground, being able to see a horizon without any obstructions.  It’s why I love mountains so much and why, yes, even Kansas is my favorite state.  You can see for miles!  Alright, it’s a close tie with Pennsylvania. 😉  Sitting in a place like this, it’s so easy to think about and understand God being sovereign.

    “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?  Tell me, if you have understanding.  Who determined its measurements – surely you know?  Or who stretched the line upon it?  On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” – Job 38:4-7 –

    “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all these earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens.” – Psalm 8:1 –

    And as a thundercloud approaches me…

    “The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over many waters.  The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.” – Psalm 29:3-4 –

    “When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place,…” – Psalm 8:3 –

    But when I think of the little things, back when I descend and the world comes back up around me, is God still sovereign, or am I too small?

    “…what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him?” – Psalm 8:4 –

    Is He concerned with me and my issues?

    “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.  But even the hairs of your head are numbered.  Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” – Matthew 10:29-31 –

    “…you are of more value than many sparrows.”  I try to make myself too small for God to see at times, and yet He does.  He values me and keeps me in His thoughts.  Even when I don’t keep Him in mine.  And He has the best in mind for me.

    “For I know the plans I have for you, declared the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11 –

    I am at His mercy, like trees to a strong wind.  And yet, God is not just an indeterminate thing, like the wind, not choosing where to go and what to do.  God is in charge of Himself and of what He does.  And His goodness dictates that He do good things. 

    I can see far sitting up here on this hill or on a mountains, but I can’t see the future.  god can see further and beyond the future.

    I will trust my God, the One who Sees, to handle the direction of my path.

    I will trust my God, the One who Creates, to have given me every quality I need to do His will.

    I will trust my God, the One who Shapes, to continue working and growing me into what He wants me to be.

    I will trust my God, the One who Knows, to only give me what I can handle.

    I will trust my God, the One who Provides, to prepare and preserve me through anything I go through.

    I will trust my God, the One who Loves, to pour His love out of me when I have none to give.

    I will trust my God.
    I will trust my God.
    I will trust my God.

  • Day 3 – Schedules and Expectations

    Kelly’s Day 3 was about “To-Do Lists” and mine is about schedules. Plans.  Expectations.  As I reflected on the list of things causing me bitterness and why they do so, I found it was because they don’t fit my schedule.  God and I have fought many times on this before.  Or rather, I’ve fought and He’s patiently waited for me to fall in step with Him. 

    I don’t always know it either.  I will feel anxious out of no where and I’m sure that on reflection, “schedule” would be at the heart of it.  There are some areas that I am not anxious about planning for.  I’ve let go of my expectations.  One such area is what field God calls me to work in.  I could really care less WHERE I go or what I’m doing when I get there.  What I am concerned about is WHEN.

    Ok, so, as I’m thinking about it, the “WHERE” factor is pretty much the only area that I’m not concerned about.  And even my anxiety right now to get away is not so much because I feel it’s time for God to send me somewhere, but more that I just want to get away. 

    But let’s throw all the rest aside.  When I was “picky” about where I would serve, if God called me somewhere else, I would fight Him tooth and nail.  God had to hit me upside the heard…in several ways…to get me to agree to go to one such place.  When Japan came up, thankfully, I learned from that mistake and was willing to go, even though I knew nothing about the country and had never had any, ANY desire to go there.  And it was one of the best experiences of my life.

    But that trip brought up something I have struggled with before – my expectations of others.  Especially of other believers.  but I am a work in progress, why shouldn’t others be too?

    My expectations of how members of the family should be or friends, or boyfriends…whatever “position” someone holds…it reflects an expectation you have for them. 

    God is the only One who we can expect to be just like He is described in Scripture and for Him to be exactly like that.  Anyone else has free license to go against your expectations, whether for good or for bad.

    So, I’m asking God (not man…) to help me release my faulty expectations and the schedules I make in my mind.  His ways are not my own and I can never expect Him to keep to my own desires and whims.  I can expect Him to be good, to love me, and to be sovereign over all.  And as the meaning of those things trickle down in to my mind, my expectations will fall into line with who He really is and who I really am.

  • Day 1 & 2 – 10 Days of Prayer

    One of my favorite Christian artists went and got married a few years ago to an amazing woman and…as most amazing women should, she started a blog.  It’s probably one of the few that I read consistently.  Her name is Kelly Needham and recently, she decided to do a 10 day Prayer and Repentance deal while her husband was out-of-town/country. You can find the start to her 10 day adventure here.

    But I decided to do my own 10 day time, starting yesterday.  I’ve been feeling a little in a rut and recent events have left me wondering if God is trying to tell me something and I’m not listening to Him. 

    I felt yesterday, that it would be good to start with what Kelly began within her reflections.  Her first point was, “It’s not about me.”  And I really like the Scripture she started each day with, so I’m definitely keeping that.  Here it is:

    “Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts,
    See if there is any offensive way in me;
    and lead me in the way everlasting.
     – Psalm 139:23-24 –

    I was saying over and over in my mind, “It’s not about me, it’s not about me,” but nothing was coming.  And then I realized that I had forgotten how to pray.  I’m not saying totally, as in, I never talk to God…but I definitely have opted for the whole “pray continually” throughout the day without much concern for God speaking back to me.  To spend an hour, in determined prayer…it’s hard if you’re out of practice.  I went away thinking that it had all been a waste of time.  I didn’t feel like my prayer had been anything substantial.  Or had it?  I was determined to reflect on one thing and that one thing only while God was seeking to open my eyes to something else: my double-mindedness.

    I’m caught between the two sides – truly investing my heart and mind in God and all that He is and pretending to do so, which is to say, to not invest my heart and mind in God.  I have been well-trained in looking the part.  But not only that, it is easier to camp in the place of “Do well” and not mean it, than to face the reality of my double-heart.  It’s easy to go in with purpose and meaning, and then live out your time steadily more for yourself and out of habit. 

    And so, for today, the sermon on Contentment and the joy thereby was great and touched me, but I think God wants me to reflect on my bitterness.

    “The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy.”
     – Proverbs 14:10 –

    “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.”
     – Ephesians 4:31 –

    “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no ‘root of bitterness’ springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.”
     – Hebrews 12:15 –

    I’m very good at hiding my own bitterness.  In truth, I hardly recognize it myself.

    [Insert list of things bitter about]

    “…and many become defiled.”   It’s like when something begins to burn in the kitchen and you slowly realize the smell is there.  Then it takes a long time to get rid of the smoke and smell.  That’s how this bitterness feels in me.  What is contained in that list is not what matters.  That’s between me and God.  He has known it for some time and some of it I only just realized today. 

    But I am bitter about these things because I am thinking that I know best what I need.  And as God shows me that and how, I flip back and forth between joy and sadness.  I can try to force myself to joy, but I don’t think that’s what God wants.  He could do that, if He wanted to.  But He desires me to want it, and not just to show it or know that I need to want it.

    “Jesus, You are my greatest treasure,
    Nothing this world can offer
    Could ever compare to You.

    ~Nani yori mo
    Nani yori mo
    Nani yori mo
    Anata-o~”
    (Jap – Above all else, give me Yourself)
    Above All Else by Vicki Beeching