Back to Blogging (And it feels so good!)

Ah, it's been a while since I've blogged. It feels good to be typing in this little text box again.

An update on my life: Bolivar living is a little slower than New Orleans, but I'm certainly enjoying my time here and being closer to my fiance. School is going well (all A's so far :) ) and I've been loving the mail I get from my super friends and family! It's an adjustment, but I'm praising God that He is faithful and always sees me through.

I'm currently raising support for the  next year to be on TouchGlobal's staff as a part-time member. My duties will be:

1.       Writing articles for TouchGlobal's blog and the TouchGlobal Bridge (the newsletter).

2.       Helping to recruit interns and invest in my generation as they are called to be in the mission    field.

3.       Traveling to a response site to assess the damage and write stories.

It is a little less involved than as if I were actually living in Louisiana and working in the Covington office. Because of that, I'm raising less support than I did last year. This support includes the money that I will put back and access when there is a natural disaster or crisis that I must travel to (i.e. - Colorado wildfires this past summer).

Please let me know if you want to receive a letter from me with more details. If you are interested in supporting me, please email me at chelsea.buffington@efca.org.

I'm so excited about this opportunity! I'm praying that God will continue to use me and allow me to spread word of the work of his kingdom!

"He said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.'"
Matthew 9:36 
 

One More Day

I've taken a break from staring at boxes and wishing they would pack themselves and now I'm sitting at our kitchen table, eating Skittles and telling Ronnie I can't believe we only have one more day left.

One more day.

This year flew by. It's hard to believe that there were times when my days seemed long.

It's not hard to believe how my God provided for me this year. I looked at my donor report this week and realized that there are people that I've never met, sending me support every month. Wow.  If you are reading this, and I've never met you but  you still faithfully pray for  me and help me do the ministry I'm called to do, THANK YOU. You are an amazing blessing from God!!

My time in New Orleans is drawing to a close and it's hard. It's hard not knowing when I'll be back. But I understand that there is a different plan for me right now. It's amazing how I've felt the Holy Spirit move me in certain directions this year. Just like I knew for a fact last fall that I needed to be in New Orleans, I know for a fact I'm supposed to be moving on now. I love New Orleans but this is not where I'm supposed to be living during this season of life. Although, I'm so so so so SO excited about this awesome opportunity to continue serving with TouchGlobal!!! I have a lot to look forward to: college, marriage, ministry...and this is only the beginning!

Enjoy some of the pictures from this year!

Thank you, everyone, for all the support you've given me both through prayer and financially this year! I thank God for you every time I think about you! I'm so excited for the next chapter of my life and I'm excited that I'll be able to continue to share it with you!

-Chelsea Buffington

Love is Marching and I'm Following

My eyes and ears were opened last week. I saw and heard Jesus.


Cardboard houses.


Jesus.


Blue, tattered tarps used as roofs.



Jesus.

A cerulean sea.


Jesus.

Tears wetting little faces that peaked around doors and watched me.


Jesus.

Tiny brown hands lifted high, clinging to me.


Jesus.


I learned that the poverty we see on television, the homeless, the orphaned, the widowed are not government 'problems'. They are a mission field for churches. Not churches, The Church. The Body of Christ.

The church sends people. She sends 'the called'.

"I'm not called to go there. I'm not equipped. I have my job, my kids, my parents, my house, my car to worry about. Someone else will go."



No, that someone is you. God commands it . I saw Jesus, I heard Him. He is every person that has ever needed help, love, healing (Matthew 25:40). We are called to action.

"He ensures that orphans and widows receive justice. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing." Deuteronomy 10:18

 "Thus says the LORD, 'Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place.'"  Jeremiah 22:3

 “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.’ But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry." Zechariah 7:9-12

I learned that compassion is not feeling badly. When Jesus had compassion, he went, he suffered with them, he healed them and raised them up.

I learned that I have this deep, God-given desire in my heart to get down on my hands and knees and love a person exactly where they are at. My heart is breaking -- breaking -- for the orphans that tugged on my clothes in Haiti, for the man on the street with one leg and a crutch -- watching cars race past, for the kids in New Orleans whose parents don't come home until midnight. I learned that this desire won't, can't and should not stop when I 'leave' this harvest in New Orleans. I need people to know that there is suffering all over the world. They need to go. We need to be the hands and feet of Christ.

Which brings me to the next step of my journey and my decision to stay on with TouchGlobal. I am commanded by God to use my talents, abilities and resources for His glory. I am still going to college and moving to Missouri in the fall, but I'll write stories for the ministry from a distance. This is one way I can use words to bring to light the desperate needs of people in crisis and poverty.

Because I am doing this, I need to continue to raise support so that I can travel for the ministry and take pictures and write down what I see.

Thank you for your prayers and support throughout this past year. Please pray about partnering with me, to let God's people know that they also need to step up and take action when they see something that breaks His heart.

"And when our hearts begin to break along with His, this world will change."

-"Love is Marching", Barlowgirl 

-Chelsea Buffington

The Travelling Summary

Hey y'all!!
I'm back from Haiti and Colorado and done with Challenge! Wow, what a crazy two weeks, but I loved every minute of it :) Thank you for the prayers that kept me going. I'm still feeling energized for my last 4 weeks in New Orleans!

Smoke rising out of the canyon. All the trees in front are burnt.

Colorado was a great experience. It was a quick, 14-hour trip but I learned a lot about our ministry and why we do what we do. The people I met there were incredible, the way they trusted God even without knowing if their houses were still standing. I hope I have that kind of faith! Please continue to pray for them and read the story I wrote for EFCA after coming back from CO. I was extremely impacted by my time there.

Jess and Liz and I at Challenge. I met them at our
awesome Haiti experience!

Challenge was just as awesome. I think I thrive on youth, or maybe I'm just subconsciously missing my youth group days as well. But being surrounded by over 5300 teens and lifting high the name of Jesus corporately was something I never experienced at their age. Plus, I was able to meet some of our Haiti staff before I even got to Haiti, practically live at the New Orleans convention center, and spend almost every waking moment with Katie Hooks.

Anika and I. This little girl attached herself to me. So cute!

And last, but not least, Haiti was incredible. At Challenge we set up an entire exhibition hall to look like Haiti. While I think we did a great job, it's nothing like experiencing it in person. If you saw our Love Moves Haiti exhibit and were impacted, go to Haiti. You will fall in love just like I did. What a beautiful country with an ongoing list of problems. Please, pray for Haiti.

Next week, my blog will be about the new direction I'm headed. Sorry for missing a week, but please keep checking back!

Love,
Chelsea :)

Wild Fires and Craziness that Ensues

The last blog post that I wrote, I had thought that the next place I was headed to was Haiti. That's been changed.
I heard the incredible story of Pastor Rob fleeing from the wild fire that broke out in Colorado and immediately my heart went out to him, his family and the people in Colorado Springs. I was able to write a communications piece for EFCA (check out www.efca.org and the TouchGlobal blog) on the Waldo Canyon Fire. I knew that Mark Lewis was headed there this weekend on a trip to assess damage and minister to those affected along with coming up with an action plan for response. I'm going to go with him and Ella to help and learn and listen. Yes, TouchGlobal is responding to this disaster.
Please, please pray for me, Mark and Ella as we visit Colorado. I leave tomorrow night (Friday) and return the following day. Right after, Challenge begins. It will be a busy week. I've had a lot of responsibilities with designing our booth and working with the Love Moves Haiti exhibit (to learn more, visit www.challengeconference.org), so I'm so thankful for the people who will be adopting my New Orleans duties while I'm in Colorado.
Thank you for your prayers and support!

Chelsea

Running Blind

Meet Simon Wheatcroft:

Simon was chosen to be a torchbearer in the 2012 Summer Olympic games. He'll be carrying the Flame through a small English village on June 26th, cheered on by friends and family. There is one thing that makes him pretty special: he's blind.

I thought about Wheatcroft as I was running today. I looked at my feet and watched them avoid every dip, step over sticks and roots and turn with the sidewalk. I couldn't imagine closing my eyes and running the rest of my route in the dark, even though I run it every day.

Sometimes, I feel like I'm running blind when it comes to my life, though. I really don't know what this next year will look like, exactly. Who does? I have plans...marriage, for example. A lot of things are unknown, though. I know what I want to do, I'm just not sure if it's what God wants me to do. But, I do have confidence. I know that Christ has gotten me this far, and I could not have done it myself. I depend on Him for strength and guidance. Proverbs 16:9 keeps coming into my head: "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."

One thing I feel like I'm running blindly into is Haiti. I've decided to go there with Ronnie and Katie in less than 3 weeks. It wasn't necessarily in my budget and it took almost my entire support for the month to buy the ticket, but I firmly believe that I'm called to go there this summer. I'll be there from July 8th - 12th. Please join me in prayer that, if it's His will, God will provide the funds to make up for the ticket I purchased.

There are various other decisions that I need to make that I feel in the dark about. Again, please pray for me, for wisdom and that I'll act on that wisdom, seeking the will of my Lord. I'm thinking that maybe we have to run blind in order to bring Christ glory. Because if we could do it all by ourselves, we wouldn't need Him.

Simon Wheatcroft is quoted, saying, "Belief in yourself gets you a long way. Don’t achieve what someone believes you are capable of, achieve what you believe you are capable of.” (ABC article about Simon Wheatcroft)

In my life, I want to say that belief in CHRIST gets you a long way. And that I don't achieve anything without His power and the passion for Him that burns inside me.

-Chelsea

Tearing Down Idols

"'Now then,' said Joshua, 'throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.'
And the people said to Joshua, 'We will serve the Lord our God and obey him.'" 

-Joshua 24:23-24

My theme this week is tearing down idols. This passage in Joshua really convicted me. Joshua asks the Israelites 3 times whom they will serve. Each time they answer with an emphatic "We will serve the Lord!"
Joshua even calls them out, challenges them saying that the Lord is holy and He is a jealous God and the Israelites are not able to fully serve Him if they will turn to foreign gods so easily. Again, their answer is the same.

How often do I tell God I'll serve Him and only Him? And how often do I say that and keep those little 'g' gods in the back of my head? Music, movies, friendships, worry, fear, pride....the list can go on forever. I don't care what it is, if it's taking the throne of God, it's an idol.

In the book of Judges, taking place directly after Joshua's death, we see the Israelites fall again and again and again. The vicious cycle continues for years and years. The Israelites replace the God of Jacob with idols, they are enslaved by another nation, they cry out to Jehovah, the Lord raises up a judge to  lead them, they are freed, and then they fall back into sin.

What happened to that commitment to serve the Lord and obey him? What happened to the fervor that gripped their hearts and the remembrance that kept them in awe of the God that rescued them from Egypt? What happened to my fervor? Where is my awe in remembering how Christ brought me up out of the miry clay and redeemed my soul?

I've had a couple goals in the past week to help me throw away my foreign gods and return to my First Love. One of these goals included cleaning out my media. I did it and it was surprisingly easy. As I looked at each song, it wasn't necessarily a question of whether or not it was 'bad' by any standards. The question was "What is distracting me from my walk with God?" What feelings or emotions does it evoke? What do I think about? When I considered what I was doing, I realized that of course my God is more important than any entertainment I own! How could I even compare the two? It made it so easy to listen with disgust to the songs that I ended up permanently deleting off of my computer.

So, now I want to ask you...What are your foreign gods and what will you do with them?

"But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve..." - Joshua 24:15a