Living Hidden Lives

Attention!!!

2011-07-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

this blog is on hold.

we have parted ways and please please please follow our separate blogs! hopefully we will be back to this one one day, but for now, this is where we'll be posting:

MC: http://marycrawfordjames.blogspot.com/

Clair: http://dreamandsail.blogspot.com/

we appreciate you loyal followers and look forward to sharing our lives with you separately.

Giving and Receiving

2011-06-27T11:35:00.000-07:00

The past few days, my church (St. Andrew's Mt. Pleasant) hosted a conference called New Wine. We've hosted it the past three years, and I've been going since we started. This year, I met with the youth ministers and jumped on board with the leadership team for the youth. I can't even explain to you the experience I had. Besides creating a life size angry birds game with angry bird stuffed animals, a water balloon launcher, and a cardboard box tower, it was amazing to build relationships with the students and witness how God was moving and working in their hearts throughout the weekend. It is crazy how God shows up when you ask him to. It's crazy how the Holy Spirit fills our hearts when we ask it to. It's crazy how we can learn so much about the heart of God if we meet him halfway and seek to get to know him. I was blown away this weekend by how much I received from giving. Who knew that giving and serving would be so rewarding.

Mary Crawford

A Good Shepherd

2011-06-22T16:06:00.001-07:00

story time!
but first, i apologize for hogging this blog. to be fair, mary crawford can split her posts between 2 blogs. i only have this one, so you guys are stuck with everything i want to say.
now that that’s out of the way, i have another story to share! this one isn’t as long, but the main character is just as awesome.

he's the one on the right

this is the retired Bishop Gideon Oboma. he’s great. he was the bishop of Northern Uganda 2 bishops ago…i don’t remember the dates. this guy has lived through Uganda as a British colony, Idi Amin’s reign, and the civil war led by the LRA. he is one tough cookie. we learned a lot from him about how the country has evolved over the years. the part of his life that i’m going to tell you about is his experiences during the civil war.

Bishop Gideon lives at the bottom of a small hill. he said that during the war, he and his family could see the rebel soldiers at the top of the hill, preparing to run down and attack the village he lived in. when these guys are so close to you, there is no use running. he gathered his family up and, as shots began to fire, they laid down on the floor of their home and prayed. it wasn’t long before the rebels burst into his house, strafing with all kinds of guns, yelling, beating and torturing. these attacks happened multiple times, and the bishop lost his wife and his son to the soldiers. as he was telling the story he lifted up the piece of carpet that was covering the bullet holes in the floor where they had shot his son so that we could see, then pointed to the collection of bullet holes covering the walls. he showed us his scars and opened his mouth so we could see the teeth he was missing because of the torture. it was surreal, that we were sitting with this man who survived these attacks, sitting in this home where he and his family were tortured and some murdered, that bullets had once showered this room where he served us tea and sang us hymns. what different lives we’ve lived.

lots and lots of bullet holes

through all of those attacks, all of the suffering and losses he dealt with, the bishop refused to leave the church. he was the leader of the church in Northern Uganda and he had the means to escape. he could have fled to other cities, abandoned his clerical duties. heck i wouldn’t have blamed him. but he didn’t. as he said to us, he couldn’t leave his ‘flock,' especially not in a time like this; a time of despair and suffering, a time when the people renounced God more than ever when they really needed Him more than ever. he endured through the attacks, with the family he had left, and stayed with his people to encourage them and to pray for them. now that is a good shepherd.

this is the bishop and his family singing us a song!

-clair

Lillian

2011-06-19T19:59:00.001-07:00

in the last post i explained how thousands of children were abducted by the LRA and forced to join their army. when i was at the missions conference with a group from my church and the Bishop of Northern Uganda (again, referencing my last post), the Bishop got an email from home that said a girl that he knew had escaped from the LRA and returned to Gulu from the bush.

meet Lillian. she seems like your average Christian girl, 22 years old, who is joyful as can be, real sweet and loves the Lord. you’d never guess the horrors this girl has lived through. as we began talking with her, listening to her tell her story, we saw her scars. physically and emotionally, Lillian has been so hurt. she grew up with one of the Bishop’s daughters. they were in primary school together. but when the war started getting more and more dangerous, the Bishop had his children sent to southern Uganda where they would be safer. he sent his girls away just in time. the LRA started attacking schools, especially primary schools, where they could get young children. one day, the LRA attacked Lillian’s primary school and kidnapped a bunch of children including 11 year old Lillian.

like i said, boys become soldiers and some girls become wives. the most important, highest-ranked officers get first pick of the girls. Lillian was chosen by an officer and forced to be his wife. the children were taken into the bush with the army. Lillian, among others, were beaten practically daily, and raped, by their husbands and by other officers. children born of rape were not uncommon; Lillian herself had 2 children by rape. she remained in the bush as a prisoner and sex slave for 11 years.

by 2010, the LRA was in the Congo. at this point, most people considered it hopeless to try and escape, as, even if they made it out, finding their way back home would be extremely difficult. but in January 2010, Lillian made it.

she had tried to escape before, but was recaptured and beaten. this particular morning, Lillian woke to beatings. she was whipped on her back, so badly that she says there was hardly any skin left. she was in horrible shape, but she knew she needed to get out. a Congolese woman she had met tried to stop her, but Lillian had made up her mind. she snuck away from the camp with her two children and two water jugs, and made it all the way to the Nile.

now if you haven’t seen the Nile, its big and bad and scary. there are so many things in that water that could kill you, its absurd. Lillian strapped her children to her torn-up (from the beatings) back, tied the water jugs together, and proceeded to paddle across the river. she paddled across the Nile on water jugs. seriously. how legit is she. the LRA had caught up with her at this point, but she was already on the Nile, so they gave up. because nobody crosses the Nile without a boat! she made it across the river, into Uganda, and was rescued by someone who brought her to the rehabilitation program and, finally, home.

Lillian is so great. she lives with her mother (her father had passed away sometime in the 11 years that she was in the bush) and her 2 children. she went back and finished primary school at 22 and is hoping to continue to secondary school. she loves the Lord, and her faith and joy in her relationship with Him is so amazing! after all she’s been through, i did not hear any bitterness when she told us her story. only gratefulness and joy and love, especially for her children.

i was so moved and inspired by her story, and i hope maybe some of you are too! there will probably be more stories to come so get excited.

-clair

Uganda. (you knew this was coming)

2011-06-18T12:53:00.000-07:00

my life is pretty uneventful at the moment. but that is NO excuse to leave you loyal followers hanging, which brings me to this post.

if you’ve read my profile on the right there (yes, i know you 3 followers actually know me in real life, but just humor me…one day we may have strangers following us-- creepyyy), you hopefully perceived that i really like Africa. the people there, the animals there, let's just say the continent as a whole. specifically, i have quite the heart for Uganda. funny enough, i found this passion for the people of Uganda by reading someone else’s blog!
[PLEASE read this blog. this post talks about how she got where she is, and after you read that one just go to town. any of my friends can tell you, i’m basically obsessed with this blog…it might be unhealthy. this girl is amazing and has seen and done incredible things, all thanks to Jesus. i’m sure i’ll mention her blog a whole lot more in future posts.]

I know this picture placement is random, but there are a ton of words

in this post, i just want to make sure i don't lose your attention.

i learned about this war-torn country and how the citizens of Uganda have been affected by the war through that blog and through Invisible Children. i won’t go on too much of a tangent describing the war, but basically there's this rebel group, the LRA, that started a civil war. their main course of action was attacking villages and abducting children. young children. children were kidnapped by this army and forced to become soldiers or wives to soldiers. often they were forced to kill their families and then commit other unspeakable evils to avoid torture and death. there are awful stories out there, true stories, of how kids had to spend their childhoods. it makes me sick. its not fair, its not right, its not okay, but it is real. this war began in 1986 and “ended”* in 2008. so.recent.

stay with me now, you're about halfway through!

when I learned about all this, it was the first time i felt my heart break for what breaks God’s. there’s a song called Hosanna by Brooke Fraser (she is the BEST) with Hillsong, and one line says ‘break my heart for what breaks Yours.’ i loved that. so i prayed it. He answered it. i was horrified, disgusted, enraged, all those awful words. but the more i was heartbroken, the more i wanted to learn. it was the first time that i could not let myself just put this injustice on the back-burner, i could not let myself be simply comfortable anymore. complacency became dangerous; it meant that i was losing my fire for Uganda. when i felt the temptation of comfort trying to sneak in, i read more stories and quickly became uncomfortable again. i was in love with this country and its people before i’d even been. God has given me such a passion for Uganda, especially for the kids. He has blessed me with being able to feel just a smidgen of the heartbreak that He feels for His children there. its not a fun feeling, but God’s given it to me so i can act on it.

now the discovery of that blog was in the fall of 2009. in the winter of 2009-2010, i learned that my church was beginning a partnership with the Diocese of Northern Uganda. out of the blue. before long, the Bishop of Northern Uganda came to my church and i went to a missions conference with him and some other people from my church. what are the odds?! and so, a little over a year after finding that blog, i finally got to go to Uganda on a foundational mission trip with 5 other people from my church this past january. is that God-orchestrated or what? that is a rhetorical question. it was totally God-orchestrated.

so close. one more short paragraph.

i didn’t have this neat blog back then, so i didn’t get the chance to post stories and pictures. don’t worry, i’m not going to go type out my daily journal and put up my one thousand and something pictures (that’s no exaggeration…i literally took one thousand and something pictures in 2 weeks; it was a new camera, give me a break). but i am going to share some of the stories i heard while i was there, accompanied by some pictures. this post just gives you some background on how i got so crazy about Africa; now you’ll have a little bit of context when you read these stories.

SO, all of that to say to stay tuned: the incredible incredible story of a girl i met there will be posted very shortly. till then, look at those pictures!

good work, you made it! yay!!!

too cute. can't even handle it.

*it didn’t really end. it moved into the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for now. the rebel group is still active, still killing, torturing, abducting. children are still in the hands of those soldiers. even ones that managed to escape are still suffering, trying to work through the trauma they’ve experienced. EVERYONE there was and is affected by this war. they are still suffering and trying to rebuild their lives. they still need help, but the rebel group is no longer actively bothering them specifically, praise the Lord!

-clair

Sabbath

2011-06-14T18:01:00.000-07:00

People always say that the Sabbath is meant to be a day of rest- actually the Bible suggests it too. well I thought about that this Sunday and although I didn't plan to rest as much as I did, I ended up resting for most of the day. After going to church and being joined by many of my favorite people, I went to a lovely brunch at Hall's with some relatives. the best part about this lunch wasn't that we were at a fancy restaurant that cost a fortune- it was the fact that it was "Sunday Gospel Brunch" when we got there. I figured, like most I'm sure, that this was just a clever name for a brunch that falls of Sunday. I meant I guess it technically was, but there was a little something extra that made this the most enjoyable meal I have had in a good while- there was a man playing the piano and singing legit gospel tunes like this one-

After this lovely brunch, I headed to my aunts house to set up my ENO in her back yard. She lives on the water in the Old Village and I just couldn't resist the view. Within approximately 3 minutes of climbing into my ENO, which might I add was not an easy climb, I was passed out asleep. Two hours later I woke up to the most beautiful weather and the perfect breeze. I continued in my ENO for another extended period of time as I read my book- Forgotten God. I am on on page 50 and I am already convicted, inspired, and encouraged. this is truly a great book so far and I would already recommend it to anyone. It really got my brain juices flowing while I was resting. Here is some evidence:

It really doesn't get too much better than this! At least that is what I was thinking after leaving my aunts. But then I got home, closed all the blinds, and watch the movie Knight and Day. Just some more resting... Once the movie came to t's happy ending like all movies do- we had a picnic in the backyard. I love my backyard- flowers, a pool to swim in, and the best part of all: THE GRILL. I don't know what I would do if we didn't have that thing, because it made this meal to sustain me through the rest of my night:

You can't tell me that doesn't look good. I went to some worship at a friend's house downtown to end this perfectly restful day. I thank God for giving me this restful day to prepare for my crazy week ahead (wisdom teeth came out today)! He is so good to me!

That seems to be all for now,

Mary Crawford

hanging out with kids like its my job.

2011-06-10T19:17:00.000-07:00

so i’m still not sure how i feel about blogging. i love love love reading other people’s blogs and i’m a big fan of journaling, but I’m just not sure that there’s enough going on in my life that’s worth sharing (if we ever get followers). but we’ll see how it goes!

this week, i’ve hung out with kids left and right. i was a counselor at Camp Saint Christopher. the best. seriously, if you’ve never been, that needs to change. i had a great cabin with awesome girls. everyone on staff is great, as usual. it was a good week, but gollayyy it was exhausting. 2^ndthrough 4^th graders are ridiculously energetic. imagine trying to take 30 of them rock climbing or control 200 of them at meal times. its outrageous. aaaaand 3 of the girls in my cabin went home sick. but somehow God didn’t get tired and still did awesome things. its funny, every time i go expecting to help the kids learn more about God and it seems its always me who does most of the learning. the theme was freedom (Galatians 5:1). God showed me my chains, which sins had put them there, and showed me how Jesus’ sacrifice has set me free. not a dull moment at camp.

it ended yesterday, but that didn’t stop me from hanging out with kids today, no sir. a few months ago, my friend discovered a group of college students that go to the corner of America and Columbus Street (if you’re from Charleston, you’re thinking they’re crazy, maybe feeling a little nervous for them; if you aren’t from Charleston, America street is the most dangerous street downtown, and Columbus isn’t much safer…) every Friday to play with kids and tell them about Jesus. the coolest, right? last week, we finally got to go along with the group. and they are awesome!! what they've started is amazing. they play basketball, play with bubbles, play on the jungle gym, play on the swings, play with jump ropes (lots of playing), eat snacks, and usually read a Bible story. we loved it. so we came back this week and it was just as fun. --highlight: helping some cute kids make sand castles (they'd never made them before), which became birthday cakes with sprinkles, cinnamon, peanuts and macaroni.-- the kids are so sweet and just want to be loved. we push them on swings even though they know how to swing themselves; we help them across the monkey bars even though we just watched them do it without help; we jump rope with them and play all kinds of games they make up. they love having new people around, people who want to give them some attention and food and hang out for a couple hours. the people that regularly do this thing are great and i’m excited to keep helping out. Love to America Street. check it out!

that’s all I’ve got for ya.

-clair

Please Check My Blog

2011-06-04T18:27:00.000-07:00

We hope this video has you PUMPED to check our blog!! This pretty much sums up how excited we are about blogging. We weren't (and still aren't) really sure if this is a good idea; our lives aren't that exciting. But we've learned so much through reading other people's blogs, we figured we might as well share our experiences with the hope of encouraging, challenging, or just helping with procrastination.

And so, for the billion of you followers we've already gained with this video, we hope you enjoy reading about the randomness of our lives. Although our lives aren't exactly hidden from the billion of you, we hope that, from the stories and ramblings you read here, you see how our lives really are hidden and covered by the grace and blood of Jesus*.

We were considering writing a little bit about ourselves, but hey just read our profiles! We're just two friends/roomies/inventors/cinematographers/ninjas/entrepreneurs/athletes/carpenters/farmers/horticulturalists/secret agents** (we're quite ambitious) and we're excited to share all our adventures with you!

*warning: we'll probably talk about this guy a lot.
**in case you don't know us very well, only the first 2 on this list are true...so far.