Home

I just wrote a quick post on my adventure blog (liz's great adventure 2013) titled the same thing: home.

When I was in MN this last week, I overheard my mom telling someone that Colorado is really my home now. MN will always be where I was born and grew up. It will always be an important place for me where a home of mine is b/c my family is there. My parents, my brother & sister-in-law, grandma, aunts & uncles, cousins, etc. I have good friends there. It is a part of my history and my story. MN is a wonderful place that I love to visit and I will probably live there again one day in a very long time from now. :)

My mom is right though - Colorado is home for me in this season of life. I am so grateful to live in a place where the sun shines over 300 days a year. Where there are majestic mountains that I get to look at everyday. Where I live with amazing people who I get to walk life with, even when they aren't actually at home. :) I have an amazing dog - TEVA! - who isn't really my dog - but she lives in the house I live in and pretty soon I will be taking care of her - so let's just pretend she is my dog. I have an amazing church family here. Even though I don't work at CCPC anymore I am still going there b/c its family and home. SO much joy going back this morning after two months of being away. So looking forward to reconnecting with everyone.

Anyway - I'm home. At peace. Full. Grateful.

Lessons from a Chocolate Chip Cookie

Its confession time. I ate a few chocolate chip cookies a few days ago. In a moment of blatant rebellion I ate them. I broke my commitment to eat only rice and beans with a cookie. Really??

The wave of guilt and shame have sufficiently washed over me. Thinking of all the people I let down: my team of Advocates, my Partners, the hungry children around the world, God, myself, etc. And all for the immediate gratification of a cookie. Wow.

So first, I ask for your forgiveness. I know some of you reading this are thinking, "Liz - its just a cookie! Move on with your life!" And yes - that is true. This was not a life altering choice in the sense that there is a negative domino affect. But I made a commitment, and I broke it. So for that I am truly sorry and ask your forgiveness. I am not going to stay stuck in guilt and shame and I have moved forward with a renewed commitment to finish my 25 days of rice and beans, covered by God's grace and yours.

As per usual, God has used this failing of mine to interject some life lessons:

• I am a broken human being. Prone to wander! But God is bigger than my wanderings.
• How often do I settle for immediate gratification of what is right in front of me or of what I want? When I do this, I miss out on the RICHES of all that God has for me.
• When I am overwhelmed, lonely, fearful or sometimes even happy - I try and feed those emotions with things that don't satisfy. Only God can satisfy. I know this. I struggle with living it.

"You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You."

- Augustine of Hippo

Beans & Rice

Day #4 of beans and rice. 

This is the recipe we were given for our beans and rice. It is what the World Food Program gives people in the DR Congo. 

8oz. (cooked) rice
4oz. (cooked) beans
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/3 teaspoon iodized salt


I eat this bland meal 3 times a day, so far. (Remember - we only eat if the 100 school children around the world eat - which requires Partners!) 

Here is what I have learned on a surface level:

• Beans and rice are boring (unless they are cooked by Paula Thomas!!)
• Pinto beans make me gag
• My nose is now super sensitive to the smell of beans and rice
• Whole Foods has a great bulk selection of beans and rice 

Side note: Don't you feel more healthy just by being present in Whole Foods? Where everyone is super shiny and looks like they stepped out of a Patagonia catalog. Its such a pleasant experience.

Here is what I have learned a little below the surface:

• I am used to options. I am an American. I deserve options. When I get upset at people for making entitled statements like these, I should probably start taking the PLANK out of my own eye.
• My mind and heart so easily turn to judgment and cynicism. Lord, have mercy on me a sinner!
• The choices I make, including the food I eat, have an impact on others.
• Jesus is the only way I make it. Even when I go through days where I don't acknowledge Him at all - He is still the reason. Walking through the last few days and all that has been stirred up in me - the only good in me is Jesus. Period.

Thank you for those of you who have Partnered with me on this! It is a blessing! We still need many more Partners! As a team of 25 (we are doing this together) we can only eat through lunch tomorrow. The less meals we eat - the less meals for the kids around the world. Its for the children!!! (Does that sound familiar?? I'm in youth ministry - what can I say!)

Partner with us today! Just $25 and a commitment to not eat fast food for 25 days. Go to 25inchange.org/advocate/liz-guille/ and sponsor today!

Advocacy

So I signed up to be an Advocate. What exactly does that mean? Well where better to look than the good ol' dictionary:

ad·vo·cate [v. ad-vuh-keyt; n. ad-vuh-kit, -keyt]

verb 

1.

to speak or write in favor of; support or urge by argument;recommend publicly: He advocated higher salaries for teachers.

noun

2.

a person who speaks or writes in support or defense of aperson, cause, etc. (usually followed by of  ): an advocate of peace.

3.

a person who pleads for or in behalf of another; intercessor.

4.

a person who pleads the cause of another in a court of law.

This is who I am and what I am doing until May 1st. Myself and 24 others from my church are writing emails. We are posting on Facebook and Twitter. We are pleading for others to become Partners so that children around the world do not go hungry. We are urging people to Partner with us so that there will be a renewing of the mind when it comes to the way we see and eat food in America.

And we are interceding both in voice and through prayer. We are praying for people to raise up and be Partners. We are praying we get to eat every day. :) When we do eat, we are giving thanks for the one who provide that meal and for the children who get to share it with us. When we go without, we are praying for the children that go without as well.

Being an advocate is a big job. Honestly, I didn't realize all it would entail. It irritates me that I have to get on Facebook and email all of the time. I am annoyed when I realize that there is one more lunch or dinner that I have to either cancel or show up at with my tupperware of rice and beans. And ugh - when I come home to grab another container of my rice and beans mixture to take to class - just to realize that I forgot I didn't have any beans and I can't just grab something else to eat. Me. My time. What I want to do. Me. Me. ME!

Pretty, isn't it!? NO! So ugly! But I think that is part of why being an Advocate is so important. Yes, there are people around the world that don't have a voice so they need to be spoken for. That is obvious. Along with it, being an Advocate is giving up yourself on behalf of another. And giving up yourself takes knowing what is there to give up.

So today, Day 3 of 25, the Lord is once again reminding me that it isn't about me. It isn't about my time. It isn't about what I want to do. My selfishness needs to go. It is about Him. It is about the people around the world and in this country that He has asked me to join in the fight for. So a little wounded - I battle on!

We still need many more Partners to join with us to fight hunger and obesity around the world! $25 (which 100% goes to feed 100 school children) and a commitment to not eat fast food for 25 days. Will you join us? Go to 25inchange.org/advocate/liz-guille/ and sponsor today! Thank you!

25 in Change: The Beginning

25 in Change. 

A church revolution to change the way we eat, think, and live in the world. 

3 billion people suffer from malnutrition: 

• 1 billion are suffering from chronic hunger
• 1 billion are suffering from eating foods without nutrients
• 1 billion are suffering from eating too much food

For the next 25 days, myself and 49 others from my church and another church in our area, have committed to be Advocates for 25 in Change. As an Advocate, we commit to eating only 12 oz. of beans and rice, three times a day, for 25 days. But there is a catch! Wait for it...

We only eat a 12 oz cup of rice and beans if we have a Partner for that meal! No Partner - no meal. 

Partners are people who join with us by:

• Giving $25 (100% of it goes to provide 100 meals for school children around the world through the World Food Program)
• Committing to not eat any fast food for 25 days

The awareness is two-fold. The world has a hunger problem. America has an obesity problem. So let's take a step back and gain some perspective.

I am going to try and be good about blogging. If you look at the last time I blogged on here - what - 5 yrs ago? So I don't know what that says about me and my blogging skills. But I am committed to taking these next 25 days seriously and desire to learn what God has to teach me. Would appreciate your prayers!

If you would like to be one of my Partners - please go to 25inchange.org/advocate/liz-guille/ and sponsor me now. Help provide much needed meals for school children around the world.