Every Day Things

I arrive at the ship like most days.  I change into work clothes and find all the supplies to clean the boys bathroom.  Broom, dust pan, general cleaner, disenfenctant, and rags.  Starting with the toilet in the corner I clean one at a time, working clockwise and making sure the lids are shut and the doors closed and locked when I'm finished.  I get to one toilet that needs a little extra love and care then continue on.  Next is the urinal. That takes it's own special cleaner.  Once that is finished the mirror above the double sink.  Once the toothpaste splatters are gone, like they never were there, it comes to the vanity.  My brothers here are hard workers.  Inevitably there is some grease or dirt to clean, reminding me of how He created men to work with their hands and to serve Him in the practical.  The floor comes next.  Swish goes the broom until there is no speck of dirt on the floor, but rather in my dustpan.  

Now the rather ugly part.  The showers.  The drains must be scrubbed to try and hold back the ever encroaching mold.  Because living on a ship on the Pacific Ocean, in a tropical climate means that nothing ever really gets dry.  The tile of the shower is also attacked with gusto.  There's that one corner that water never quite drains out of.  The walls, in their peeling beauty also must be scrubbed back to white from black.  More mold that is ever trying to take over the place. 

Empty the garbage, then mop the floor.  That is how I spend most days from 1:45 to about 2:30.  It's work.  Hard work, but every day it allows me time to think about and process a myriad of things going on here in my little corner of the world.  

Some days I think that if I find one more pair of boxers on the floor or one more wet towel, I might explode.  Often times, it's when these thoughts flit across my minds eye that The Lord softly reminds me of the song I'm already humming.  He asks me again and again to give everything I have to Him.  Even if I literally have nothing to give.

This weekend for example.  I woke up on Saturday morning (okay, let's be real... Morning is a relative term for this girl.  Morning does not come before 10:30) and went upstairs.  While I was eating breakfast someone came into the Mess Hall and said that we weren't supposed to do the dishes because people had just been leaving them everywhere.  They wanted us to leave a sink full of dishes until the people responsible came and washed them.  

We have to pause the story here and start another so you understand where I'm coming from next.  I've been reading the book, "Kisses From Katie" and one thing she has taught me is that we have to love with every single ounce of everything we have.  That even when it hurts and people don't necessarily "deserve" it, we are still called to love.  

You may not agree with me, and people on the ship certainly don't, but this is my conviction:  people will not change unless they have revelation.  And most will not receive revelation by shoving dishes down their throats.  

So I washed a sink full of dirty dishes.  Because all I can do in this life is love.  I am not a parent to these people I live with, even though some call me Momma Katie.  They have chosen to, and they would listen.  But those I don't have a relationship like that with, they will never hear words.  They will only see love.  So I love them, and try to be the hands of Christ for half an hour and wash dishes.  Are there other things I would like to do on a Saturday?  Yes.  But God taught me the hard lessons of the simple things in 2013, and washing dishes is something I can do on a Saturday morning.  

I'm not here to preach.  I understand there is a place for correction in the body of Christ.  All I have is my story to share, and this is it.

It's hardly believable that we leave for PNG this Sunday.  I am so excited!  Excited for what the Lord is doing in the people and what the Lord our God is doing in my outreach family.  

Praise Report:  The Lord is faithful and is bringing exactly the right people to come and share with us this week.  We're having some time to bond with Selena, which has been great.  

Prayer Requests:  Our school has about $12,000 still owed, spread out across about 12 people.  Really be praying for a release in finances.  We're trusting God with big, amazing things.  We know He will provide.  

That my outreach family would continue to bond as we get day by day closer to those airplanes.  

I sincerely appreciate every prayer.  I believe with all of my heart that it does make a difference.  I would ask that you continue to lift up my team and whole DTS as we head to PNG and Darwin over the next 7 weeks.  I won't be able to post or respond to anything, but we serve a God who works despite lack of internet. ;) 

Be blessed and until next time,

-Katie