Something has been stirring in me. And by stirring, I mean more of a tornado of tillers in my soul. I have becoming more and more aware of the times and seasons in life and though far from where I can be, I know that when we made the first crazy act of obedience a little over two years ago to launch One Child Campaign, we opened Pandora’s Box. Typically, the “Box” has negative implications but for us this was good. It’s been the hardest two years of life, yet the most rewarding.
Let me say this with complete authenticity, this post is not a “hey, look what I can do!” post…in fact, it might be more of “look what I haven’t been able to do”. What we are feeling is raw, it’s real, and it’s fresh. So, if anything shared is offensive to you or you just don’t get it…it’s ok, because a lot of this post is to keep myself accountable to what God is doing inside of us.
To give you an idea of the past two years, it’s consisted of us starting One Child with zero seed money, zero monthly supporters and more zeros that I care to ever see again in my lifetime until there is a larger number and commas involved. We sold our paid-off dream vehicle – Blue Steel, yes she had a name – our 2005 Toyota 4Runner in exchange for a gift given to us in the form of a 1996 Lincoln Town Car dubbed, the Tuna Boat. We have gone several months at a time with no income and trying to cut down the budget to the bare minimum – goodbye HGTV, Food Network and Bravo. No income meaning, pretty much nothing other than what personal items we could sell on Craigslist. We still don’t know how we will pay family bills month to month, but God is faithful. To be honest, much of what we have accomplished was done in our own strength and through a works mindset…and as a result, we have ended up with loads of personal debt to see the ministry get off the ground. I can admit this isn’t the ideal situation but we did the best that we could in our humanness. Didn’t I mention this would be raw?
Just when we thought we couldn’t last another day of fighting, and we just wanted to “cruise” through life a little, God decides it’s time to peel off another layer to go deeper and those aforementioned tornadoes arrived…
Discontent - the good kind - has officially set in. Even after all that we have given up as a family, we’re discovering that things still own us and our Western mindset and culture has created a sense of misguided independence that sometimes rears it’s head in the form of community isolation. I’m frustrated with the church, I don’t mean my church per se, but the church as a whole. This is not me pointing a finger outward, it’s a realization that I am the church and I’m frustrated with what we’ve become. I don’t want the church to be a weekly club with all its programs, for me personally, I want the Acts church full of fellowship, meetings needs of orphans and widows, shared food and no hidden agendas – genuine Gospel community. Hang on with me, though it’s going to seem like I’m all over the place (I am), it all ties in together. Trust me…or don’t, it’s your prerogative.
The past year especially has been a time that God has brought a slew of new friends and contacts into our life and it’s almost like He knows what He is doing. I find it ironic that I didn’t realize that it was Ash Wednesday until the restlessness inside of us got so intense that we made the decision this morning that today was the day we were going to make some drastic changes and start to simplify. Now, don’t judge us because what is drastic to us might be commonplace to you…nevertheless, we know we are about to get our butt kicked with an early spiritual, emotional and physical spring-cleaning of sorts. God needed us in this place and has worked on us for over two years using authors, friends, family, pastors and leadership.
What pushed us over the edge this time? Well, I’d like to happily (and slightly begrudgingly) point the finger at two of our new friends that we met this past year. Enter: Brandon and Jen Hatmaker. We met under dire circumstances in both of our families’ adoptions from Ethiopia in 2011. We knew we loved them, enjoyed our time together eating, comparing tattoos (you guys totally win) and the such amid a glory cloud of frankincense (thanks, Jimmy!). What we didn’t know was that they were both authors and that they would one day return to our lives with conviction veiled in fun and sarcastic banter.
If you haven’t read “Barefoot Church” by Brandon or “7-An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess” by Jen – go to Amazon or your local bookstore and join the company of many of my friends. We are using those two books to launch into a family/life makeover of sorts. We are adjusting the premises as described in “7” to what will work best for our family and ministry – if you don’t know these “premises” that I’m talking about, go buy the books. Now. Then you’ll be in the “cool group”, just kidding, but really go get those books – they will change your life, while you laugh and cry simultaneously…you’ll then get my “begrudgingly” comment above.
Here is what our family is committing to do for the next 7 weeks, starting Monday, February 27th and will go through Lent until the week after Easter Sunday. Feel free to follow our journey that we assume will involve caffeine headaches, rage, photos, joy, freedom and a new sense of Gospel community at www.davidfamilyadventures.com and also on our ministry blog at http://theofficialonechildcampaign.blogspot.com , you can also get there from our main website: www.onechildcampaign.com
Welcome to the David family “7” Manifesto!
1. Food
For all 7 weeks, we are committing to eating only 7 types of food: fruits, vegetables, chicken, cheese, whole grain bread, yogurt/butter and eggs. This means I (Caleb) will be giving up coffee (gasp) but I refuse to let go of butter – Julia Childs would be proud.
2. Clothes
On week two, we will wear a combination of only 7 pieces of clothing/shoes the whole week.
3. Possessions
On week three, we will purge our entire home and give away to those less fortunate. Our minimum goal is to give away 210 possessions, something tells me we’ll find much more. Anything in excess of the 210 items will be sold for debt reduction.
4. Media
For all 7 weeks, we will limit our media consumption to 7 hours per week. The exception will be media that is necessary to keep the ministry work functioning, this also however, will be limited and streamlined to checking email, texts and FB twice a day. We will limit the amount of personal texting to only what is vital for real life communication. This one is going to be hard for us!
5. Waste
For all 7 weeks, we will focus on recycling, composting and conserving energy. During this time, we will also begin a garden project that we hope to include our family and friends in…aka…I stink at building things and hate pulling weeds, but think if I had some help, I’d love to share the fruits of our labor.
6. Spending
For all 7 weeks, we will limit our spending to 7 places: monthly bills/expenses, gas, Sakari’s school, Walmart, Whole Foods, Target and buying local as much as possible.
7. Stress
For all 7 weeks, we will be participating in the Seven Sacred Pauses daily and weekly observing the Sabbath. For us, it works best to observe from Saturday sundown to Sunday sundown.
Who knows what else God has in store for our family and ministry calling, but we’ve decided to make this drastic change in our life for the next 7 weeks as our next steps of obedience in our walk of faith. Will you join us?
Jesus said that He set eternity in our hearts. I never fully understood this statement, but I have a very strong feeling that after the “7” experience, we will understand more as He removes more layers of what we’ve become through the temporary trappings of our culture into more of who He has created us to be. It could get ugly, but we’re willing to take the risk for the beauty of getting to know Him and His people more. I pray this turns into a full lifestyle change and that the simplicity of the Gospel becomes more real to us: to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Caleb, Becca, Sakari and Huxley David
