Kevin DeShazo

Sorry for posting so many videos lately.  Except for this one.  This one, once they showed it this weekend, I couldn’t wait to throw up on the ol blog.  This lady, Leonie Webster is, well, a modern day Mother Teresa.  I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I’m not sure I’ve seen faith like this.  Or it could just be her English accent.  Kidding.  Sort of.  If I could have 10% of this woman’s faith, dang.  I don’t even know.  Leonie is a missionary in Honduras, originally from Yorkshire, England.  And she straight up dominates.  Her story is incredibly powerful.  The confidence she speaks with, confidence in God and what he’s doing through her is, literally, awesome.  It’s stories like hers that give me hope.  Hope that I don’t have to have a certain set of tools to be used by God.  Hope that God really is at work in this crazy world.  Hope that I don’t have to do it…that I can’t do it.  But He can.  And does.

My favorite quote: “I can run this ministry and it can be successful in man’s eyes.  But if I’m not being who God wants me to be, then I ain’t impressing anybody.”

Inspired much?

This video is of some friends of ours that adopted a little boy from Ethiopia (it was shown this weekend at church).  Get your Kleenex ready.  You can read about their story here.  The cliff-notes version is that they had tried, unsuccessfully, to have a baby and eventually felt called to adopt.  They both had a heart for Africa (both came from missionary families), and it seemed a natural fit to adopt from there.  Ethiopia, at the time, was the only country allowing US adoptions, so the choice was an easy one.  Malak has now been home (US) for about 2 years, and is the cutest kid not named Gabe that you’ll ever see.  Serious stud.  Megan and I plan to adopt at some point in time, and being around these types of stories makes us that much more excited.  (side note: some of the pictures in the video were taken by my uber-talented wife).  It really is an incredible story and shows, clearly, the heart and character of Jesus.

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. – John 14:18 (ESV)

Have you adopted?  Have you thought about it? Do you know anybody that has?  Share stories/thoughts

Our worship team played this song after our service this Sunday (go watch the official video here).  This, after a seriously powerful message by this guy.  Needless to say, I lost it.  I can’t watch/listen to this song without losing it.  Driving Gabe to the babysitter this morning, I was playing this song, bawling.  I missed the ATM (sorry babysitter, you will get paid, promise).  Your task: listen to the video, but look at these pictures.  Think of these people.  Don’t think “how he loves us, sitting in this church, in this room.”  Think “oh, how he loves us in Haiti.  He loves us in New Orleans.  He loves us in Chile.  He loves us in downtown Oklahoma City.”

If His grace is an ocean, we are all sinking…