update my status?

Facebook says "update status, What's on your mind?"

Alisha speaking ...
Really? What's on my mind? How am I supposed to encapsulate all that is on my mind in just a few words?  This blog entry began as just that, a status update ...

It amazes me how some people can successfully and constantly be updating statuses, twitter-ing, answering emails, returning phone calls, writing articles, baking cakes or reading novels and then blogging about it all, or doing anything that requires ten or more minutes of alone-think-and-reflect-on-your-own time.  I can't remember sometimes what it is even like to have a thought that began on my own merit, and not come from my husband's brilliance, or from the whimsy of my children's creativity or from somewhere else, like those blasted status updates, never-ending opinions, or blogs, but a thought that came from the stillness within my spirit, or just the space between my two ears.  Here it is 1:19 in the AM and I am typing the words that are coming to me because I am afraid that if I do not record them now as they come, the words, the thoughts, the time, the quiet will be forever gone, and will never return to me.

I have to remember I cannot begin to compare my life to others because our lives and circumstances are completely different.  We have chosen the lives that we lead.  There is less quiet because our children are home with us all day for school.  They are begging to be taught at all hours of every day, not just during the 'school day' hours.  I love to cook breakfast, to prepare lunch, and make a nice dinner for my family, where we sit together at the table for almost every meal. We do our best to keep the kids on a schedule, while giving them the freedom to explore the world around them and to indulge them when creativity and curiosity arises.  Plus, we love to laugh.
This is why there is very little quiet.

I forget who I am sometimes.  I have to remind myself, as I am doing right now, that I am an individual, uniquely created by God with a perfectly matched combination of talents, gifts, and personality to be exactly whom He made me to be.

I am a teacher, a writer, a photographer, a homemaker, a cook, a singer.
I am a wife, a mother, a counselor, a daughter, a sister, a friend.
I am a follower of the Living God and His son, Jesus, the promised Messiah.
I am a missionary.
I am a seed crafted by God to produce a particular type of fruit.
God crafted me.

So a status update? I guess that is really asking, how am I walking out all these things today?
Well, we are in the middle of an international move, so we've been trying to pack up our lives (the shippers-of-our-stuff come on Tuesday, so we have to pack suitcases and boxes as if we're already getting on the plane, and in the process, decide what's going with us and what's not important enough to go, and pray that we have enough money to pay for it all once it arrives in Ireland), sell off or give away the rest of what isn't really, really necessary (just finished another garage sale Thursday through today; oh and by the way, it is really difficult to let the things that has made your house for the past two years go for pennies; we had to do this when leaving Panama too), make sure my kids are transitioning well, that they are fed, warm, rested, know that they are loved, and not killing each other or the house we are living in ... So, to say the least, it's been a bit stressful lately, and I haven't been a very good communicator or blogger to update statuses frequently ... so, I apologize.

Please continue to pray for us, through our seeming silence ... We really need the comfort, strength, and confidence of the Holy Spirit ministering to us because of the prayers of those who love us.
Please pray that we don't lose sight of Jesus in the craziness of it all.  Please pray that my husband and I will deal well with each other and our sweet children through the overwhelming stress.  And we will do our best to sit at the computer every now and again to update our statuses and to let you know what else might be new ...

to be continued ...

notes from Panama

(alisha writing)
just so you know, this is literally my notes from my trip to Panama.  God really answered my prayer by revealing some things to me through the circumstances of each of these few days.  i felt like i needed to write down each part of my journey, in order to see the whole.  Read on if you wish...

I cried when he told me he had bought the tickets for me to go.  I was so very happy and couldn't wait!

now, as i sit at the gate, waiting for the flight, i want to cry again... i am ecstatic to have the opportunity to be with friends, be loved on, feel the 'greenhouse' again, but i already miss my kids, and my husband... 

On the airplane, riding, listening, trying not to cry... why do i feel like i already want to go home... i don't belong away from my family, my children,... Father give me the strength please to endure this time and also to enjoy it... i ask for protection and provision for my family ~while I am away... please... 

My emotions, my memories, my weakness got me here, .. Father, help me to learn and understand ... Please father, wisdom- and the strength to obey and to follow through... 

"If you live in constant fear of mistakes, you never live; just live - love without fear; give without fear or expectation."

i am finally Here.   Retreat, reunion, renew, rest, rethink... FOCUS!! this time alone (without my family) will be difficult, but it is necessary.  Quiet yourself and listen, listen, listen!!!

It's as if i had never left... love, smiles, truth, encouragement, giving... it continues like a constant river of life and love... I immerse myself within it and soak it up to be squeezed out elsewhere.

'Thank you Father for this time; fill me i pray to be poured out and planted, spread out as seed for your heart, your sewing... '  low and slow.

It is a homecoming.
love and family;
an overwhelming love - a blanket of warmth

"we set our eyes upon you; we gaze upon you; we look to you."

See God unveiled; get a glimpse of God himself!  
* 2 Corinthians 3.16  But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

love God.
love people.
get real.
get personal.

Be models of community.

"The spirit of God is within you - whether in Panama or USA or Ireland - you have the Spirit of the living God, and He has given you the seed, the source, of everything he wants to do with you among his people and those around you - spread it, sew it, water it, nourish it, make sure it has enough sunlight (sonlight) to do what it was made to do - feed itself, grow, and produce more seed and more fruit than your one seed could ever do on it's own.  encourage growth without walls, or darkness or cover - open to the elements in order to do what God created it to become... move and transplant a mini-greenhouse wherever you go."

A seed has everything inside of it that it needs to become a full grown plant.  If it was created to produce fruit, that information is within the seed before it ever even grows a single leaf.  God created it for a purpose, and that purpose is in that seed.  It will never be what it was made to become if it is malnourished, in the dark, or without life giving water.  It will sit dormant and be basically dead.  But if this same seed is planted, watered, allowed time in the sun, it has the possibility of growing into what it was meant to be from the beginning...  

John 11 ( the account of Lazarus being raised from the dead)...

^38-39 Then Jesus, the anger again welling up within him, arrived at the tomb. It was a simple cave in the hillside with a slab of stone laid against it. Jesus said, “Remove the stone.”
The sister of the dead man, Martha, said, “Master, by this time there’s a stench. He’s been dead four days!”
⁴⁰ Jesus looked her in the eye. “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
^41-42 Then, to the others, “Go ahead, take away the stone.”
They removed the stone. Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and prayed, “Father, I’m grateful that you have listened to me. I know you always do listen, but on account of this crowd standing here I’ve spoken so that they might believe that you sent me.”
^43-44 Then he shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And he came out, a cadaver, wrapped from head to toe, and with a kerchief over his face.
Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him loose.”

You can participate in miracles --> by listening to Jesus and moving the stones that entomb others or removing the grave-clothes that bind those around you...

The love of God is the ultimate connector: 
Reconcile God's love to the people.

Q: What has God put in you? What is the desire of your heart? what is it that stirs you? what is your holy ambition to God?

A: health, healing, nurturing, community, nourishment...
    I AM A SOWER!        

Mark 4 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. ² He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said:³ “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”
⁹ Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
¹⁰ When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.¹¹ He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables ¹² so that,

“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
    and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’^[a]”

¹³ Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? ¹⁴ The farmer sows the word. ¹⁵ Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. ¹⁶ Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. ¹⁷ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ¹⁸ Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; ¹⁹ but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealthand the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. ²⁰ Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

Scared to jump!

(Phillip writing)

Rewind with me for a second. 

You are a kid, staring over the edge of this massive, abysmally-deep swimming pool with your toes resolutely gripping the rough concrete rim. You are psyching yourself into plunging into the frigid, near gender-shrinking waters. Frantically, you offer up your best impression of Cameron from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, - “He'll keep calling me, he'll keep calling me until I come over. He'll make me feel guilty. This is uh... This is ridiculous, ok I'll go, I'll go, I'll go, I'll go, I'll go. What - I'LL GO. $@*#!!” 

How can you let your dad down? He is standing behind you, “Come on, son! Jump!” You feel his presence at your back and your knees lock in sudden fear. And all at once, in the eternity of a second, as you feel his loving hands shove your shoulders forward to what you feel is certain aquatic death, you try to match his force with all of your might in the completely opposite direction! A few seconds later, you bob to the surface of the water, floating! In all of your fears, you numbingly overlooked the floats that your dad secured to your arms.

You know that feeling that comes over your whole body and deep in the core of your gut during that brief moment of resistance, and then that feeling of giving in? That is where I am, RIGHT NOW, toes locked over the edge of these remaining 111 days left here in the states. I struggle with faith in believing that we will be taken care of, even though God has wrapped floats of remembrance around my arms. We have lived His provision. We have breathed in His miracles. HE HAS ALWAYS TAKEN CARE OF US.

So I sit here, watching the seconds peel away from our website’s countdown clock and going back and forth with God. “He'll keep calling me, he'll keep calling me until I come over. This is ridiculous, ok I'll go, I'll go, I'll go, I'll go, I'll go. What - I'LL GO. $@*#!!” No matter what, we must keep moving forward as a result of His loving hands, I have to move from resistance to relinquish. How can I let my Heavenly Father down?

We have a new website!!

Hello, Hello Friends and Family!

Here is the latest news from our Brummett clan.

WE HAVE A NEW WEBSITE!!!

http://www.brummettclan.org/

Phillip has been working tirelessly to build the site and get it online. Along with his will be the main means of our communication. We will be posting our blogs regularly to the site. The website features:

Latest, Who We Are, What We Do, Where We Work, Ways To Partner, and Photos

The new website also makes it terrifically easy to set up your financial support online! (http://brummettclan.org/Brummett_Clan/WAYS_TO_PARTNER.html)
Please take some time and check it out! We would love to hear your feedback.

Samaritans Journey also sponsors us here in Mesquite, Texas and abroad. They are our sending organization. You may also use their website to set up your financial support to our ministry. (http://www.samaritansjourney.org/)

We are also praying about sponsorship by the Amazing Grace Church in the town of Westport, Ireland where we will be moving. (http://www.amazing-grace-westport.com/) We are currently introducing ourselves to Pastor Peter Finch of Amazing Grace Church. More info can be found on our website!

Please consider venturing with us to Ireland by way of financially supporting our work. When we left Panama our financial support began to dwindle, but God provided everything we needed. In 2010 when we landed in the states, we had no idea how we were going to survive. Through His providence, we were sustained with everything we needed during our time at Youth-Reach. Now we have stepped out of the boat, so to speak, and are completely relying on God to provide!

Since 2001 we have given our lives to missional living. The majority of our income has come through sacrificial gifts from generous supporters. Does this mean that we are looking for a free handout? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Please heart our hearts. We have given our lives to go wherever He leads, to stay for however long He says, and do whatever He puts before us; linking arms with others, living our lives out, the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful, the insane! And we completely rely on the Lord to provide.

We believe that He will move on the hearts of those He is calling to be involved with us in Ireland. We lay this before you, our family, friends, and partners. Please give as the Lord leads you. Thank you for prayerfully considering investing in us financially each month, continually in the coming year.

We will continue to serve here in the Dallas area with Samaritans Journey until we leave January 15th, 2013. We would absolutely love to visit with you, and share with you what God is doing in our lives. We can be reached at 832-289-1151.

With Much Love, Grace and Peace,
The Brummett Clan
Phillip, Alisha, Lily, Noah, Ella, and Ezra

Resurgam: i shall rise again.

This week we are in back in Houston. Months ago, we planned this weekend trip to be a part of the first services of Ecclesia in their new location. Ecclesia is the community of believers we have been a part of for two years since returning from Panama. We have grown to love this community.


At first, I wasn't sure what I would think about it. The way they 'did church' was different than anything I had ever been a part of. It is a stirring-together of such opposing denominational practices, of what some might even call irreconcilable differences in denomination... but, somehow, they make it work because the bottom line is Jesus. Liturgical corporate prayers and the taking of the eucharist every week, coupled with immersive water-baptisms and the belief that Jesus gives art, music, dance, and a myriad of other gifts to his people in order to share His love.

It is a unique and beautiful combination of old traditions and modern worship; all alongside tattoo controversy-ing, homeless-people-loving, feast-sharing, occasional alcohol drinking, God-fearing folks who are walking The Path of God the best they know how, journeying together to make our way towards Jesus-likeness ever day. This community shares love with one another, with the homeless, with the rich, with the high-names, and with the lowly. It is a common-unity kind of a place... but the place isn't within the structure, the facade of a building, but all know that it is within the hearts of the people that make up the church. You can't go to church, you go to be with the church.

This learned attitude and mindset is not difficult, and is what normal should look like. I often say that these 'shared corporate practices of the church' grew on me. I learned to appreciate the 'togetherness' of the responsive readings, the intimacy of the worship through music, as well as the unity of sharing the same cup and loaves for remembering Christ's sacrifice during the partaking of the eucharist every week. Perfect church? Oh no! Of course there are and will be issues with this group of people, as with any, because it is just that, a group of people... imperfect and broken, but what makes it work, is that they, know that about themselves and freely admit it, journeying together with one another to bring each other along... in the way we should all go. This has been my experience with these people of Ecclesia, followers of Christ our Liberating King.


Prior to these two years in Houston, we were in Panama for three years. It became our forever home-in-our-hearts. Three years we spent making a new country our home. We grew to be a part of a family of followers of Christ in a way we had never known before this. In this place, where we thought God sent us to the mission field, was actually part of a series of training years for what we believe is still to come in our ministry. Then with Phillip's stroke, God used every single one of the members of this particular family to minister to us, to show His heart to us through the love, generosity, sacrifice, care of those around us.

My husband, children and I all learned about how to minister to other followers, because of the way we were ministered to by others. We learned how to give generously even while in the midst of great need; we learned to trust in our Father-God in all things, no matter what the circumstance. We learned to love one another, everyone, with a love that was unconditional, brotherly, and eternal. Our hearts will forever be connected with the family we knew during our journey-piece in Panama. Our hearts were therefore rent into pieces when God told us it was time to leave; to leave this place, family, culture, people that we had poured our hearts into, had been poured into us, and made home. It was time to leave, and a we left a huge chunk of our hearts in among the people in Panama City, Panama.

So, now, here we are again, at another 'port' in our lives, where it is now time again, to leave. Once again, after learning to understand, beginning to partner, learning to love these people in Houston, who have journeyed a while with us, we have to go. We must again separate from a group we have grown to love. It pains my heart to have to rip a piece of my heart again. Like leaving Panama, or more specifically the body of believers here, this will, we know, be a painful process. I guess what makes it less painful, is the knowledge that there is more to come.

A very good friend once encouraged me by saying out loud to me some things that I already knew, but just never realized. I always felt so sorry for myself when I thought about what we used to have in Panama, and didn't have anymore. I would so long to be there again, to feel the love that we grew accustomed to among those precious people. This dear friend, who was a part of that group, said, 'Do you not think that God would do that again for you, that maybe He has more true, and better things in store for you?' A jaw-dropping question, I know. I had been so bitter with God for taking me away from this beautiful thing, that I wasn't trusting Him to bring me to something else differently beautiful, but beautiful still. Lesson learned.


God loves me and wants good things for me, for my husband and for our family. God knows the pain in my heart when I think of what I miss in Panama; God knows the trepidation I feel when I think of moving again away from a people I have learned to love in order to go to a new country, a new people, a new piece of my heart to give away. I must trust and follow, and never guard my heart in fear of pain. Pain and brokenness can sometimes be necessary in order to know what healing and beauty and wholeness feels like.

Here we go...

So, way back in April, we bought our one-way, non-refundable tickets to Ireland for January! When we bought the tickets, I asked Phillip, "Are we really doing this?" I was so nervous!  We don't know yet where we will live, or what our income will look like, but I was sure I had to trust God and not be afraid.  We know that moving is an exercise in trusting God.  There are lots of uncertainties, but we are certain that 'where God guides, He will provide'.  We are learning to live by this idea.

When discussing our move, the two questions we have been asked: 'How long will you be there?' and 'What will will you do?'.  Well... 

The first is a bit easier to answer; we have no idea how long we will be there, because God hasn't given us that bit of information yet.  Yet, like the Israelites in the desert following the cloud by day and the fire by night, we can't just ask 'the cloud' how long it will be in a certain area; we can only watch for the movement and follow wherever it leads.

The answer to the second question is a bit more ambiguous than we would like, and it may be ever-growing, changing, and evolving. We believe we are called to love and share in Christ's love through community.  It is most important for us to be faithful to God, and faithful to whatever He may put in front of us.   We also feel as though our ministry will be mainly to the existing church; we want to work alongside believers already there, in order to encourage and help them reach their own community. We never know what this is going to look like. Our last work in Panama evolved to be something quite different than when we first started.

We have begun dialogue with a church in Westport, Ireland, who have been in the community for three years.  We came to know about this body of believers from our dear friends, Simon and Sarai Morrow, who have been in relationship with the pastors for some time now.  The Amazing Grace Church has now opened a charity shoppe (thrift store), and a coffee shoppe is in development with the possibilities of hosting open mic nights, art & music lessons, and even community events.  The Morrows also just recently moved to Westport in order to be a part of what is happening there. We are super excited to have the opportunity to journey again with our close friends, the Morrows.

This is how we feel like God is leading.  We ask of you, our friends, to please continue to pray for our family during these last four months here in The States. We are working diligently to assure, as best possible, a smooth transition. Please pray for unity, wisdom, diligence, peace, 
and finances! 


Much Love!
The Brummett Clan
Phillip and Alisha
Lily, Noah, Ella, and Ezra


P.S. Within the next four months we will continue to sort & pack our belongings. Phillip is working on an all-inclusive website for our family (brummettclan.org) as well as a website for Samaritans Journey, our sending organization (www.samaritansjourney.org). Our website will include our most current blogs, what we are about, and a brand new, online giving page! So please stay on the lookout!

So, here we are, moved out and moved in... feeling like we are on our way, but not moving... I guess it's like when you go on a trip and you're at the airport but not on the plane yet?  We feel like that.  We are super excited about what God has for us and where we are going, but are feeling a bit apprehensive about the flight, about the journey, and how our little family will adjust to all the changes that are in process... We said goodbye to most of our friends and family in Houston, and now, are trying to find a new normal.  It isn't so much a new place because we are living in my father and step-mother's house which we have visited many times over the last ten years,  but it is a new situation.  We are so very grateful for their hospitality, but I think Lily said it perfectly the other day when she said, "I keep having to remind myself that we are not going home."  So, we are adjusting.

We have lots to do to prepare ourselves physically, emotionally, spiritually, and financially for our journey that is set to begin in January.  But even before that, we have lots to do now... we must finish the Summer.  Coming next on the agenda?  Our family reunion in Arkansas. Lily will miss it this year because she will be on a short term mission trip to Glorietta, New Mexico.  She will be with her Gran and Papa and people from their church at First Baptist Crosby, so I know she will be alright.  We have taught her through the years that as a family, we are missionaries, and that not just her parents.  So, I am so proud that she has chosen to go and be a servant in this way.  They will be going, as I understand it, to babysit missionary kids.  A missionary kid taking care of missionary kids?  Sounds like a perfect fit to me.

Please pray for us all as we go through these adjustments, for safety through our travels, and for God's continued provision for our family.  We have left the comforts of a regular paycheck to step into the realm of missionary financial living, which means we don't know when money will come in; but God is faithful and has never let us go hungry before.  We must trust Him.  Please pray that He will give us wisdom in our financial support raising.

Thank you for spending these few minutes reading up on us.

Missing friends already...

Alisha