Yurt Snoozin'

I’m blogging tonight from the yurt. I’d rather be sleeping right now, but two things are keeping me from it: 1. How often do you get the chance to say you’re blogging from a yurt? And 2. My yurt-mates, Emily, Alia, and Abigail are still in chat and chuckle mode. (This is fake sleeping below!)





We’re hanging in the yurt tonight because ten of our friends are in Kazakhstan and we want to remember them and pray for them. They’ve gone off for a brief trip to love on some young folks who are “graduating” from an orphanage.

This is something I never thought of for the first 42 years of my life: Orphans eventually outgrow the orphanage. "Graduate" is a nice word for what happens at that point. You’ve heard how tough it is for some former inmates to adjust to the world outside of prison. Imagine growing up your entire life in the regimented environment of an orphanage, then all of a sudden heading out into the real world. To soft pedal it in a big way: It’s a bit of an adjustment.

So our friends are over there helping some friends make the adjustment. I can see Jesus doing that sort of thing. In fact, I can see Jesus in them now, doing the sort of stuff he likes to do.

Because we care for our friends, and want in some measure to care for these graduating orphans through them, we set up the yurt in the gym at church. It fills up most of the stage and covers some of the powerpoint screen, but the worship team is flexing. Over the course of ten days maybe thirty of us will spend the night here. If you're in driving distance and want to stay tomorrow (Friday) night, let me know.