Beyond Understanding

I was recently asked by a professor friend of mine to come talk to some of the seniors in the Central Washington University Business School about Corporate Social Responsibility. So I did. At least I think I did. He asked me to talk about my company's philanthropic efforts and how that ties in with Corporate Social Responsibility. I'm pretty sure I did that, but when I think back about what I said, all I can remember is standing there, sweating, choked up, sharing how the God that loves me, loves me enough to allow me to go through the darkest season of my life so that I would come out the other end a changed man and that I would help Him show His love for His people through what He has me doing.

When you hear the story of my business and how our Home for Home Program has radically changed the face of it, you can't help but share about God's hand in it. It's like telling someone a joke and leaving out the punchline - none of it makes any sense without the punchline. So when I talk to a business class at a university about business vs. Corporate Social Responsibility, I can't help but talk about God. But the weird part about what I had to say that evening, is that at the time, I didn't understand why I felt like I had to camp out on what God was doing in our darkest hour. I didn't understand why there was an overwhelming feeling to make the "Why would a loving God do such a thing?" question the focal point when Corporate Social Responsibility was what I had been asked to talk about. When I left that classroom that evening, I wondered if I would ever know why it was so important that I share in that way.

Well, I spoke on a Wednesday evening. Friday morning, as I met my professor buddy for our Friday morning men's Bible study, I began to get some answers.

One of his students had come up to me after everyone else had left to tell me that she really appreciated my boldness in sharing about God. She told me that she too was a believer, and that we do in fact serve a wonderful God. Little did she know, though, that her 10 year old brother had been involved in a bicycle accident, and had been complaining about intense stomach pains. She found out when she got home that they had taken him to the doctor and done some tests, but found nothing irregular. Later that night, her 10 year old brother woke up their dad, still complaining about the stomach pains, then collapsed on the floor and breathed his last breath.

When I took on the task of sharing in a public university, I hoped that my discussion about God would encourage people searching for the truth. "Preaching to the choir" was not my intention, but maybe a fun side note. God had other plans in place. He needed this one particular, believing, college senior to hear that the God she serves is bigger than any trial in this life. It was as if I spent an hour talking to a group of college seniors not for the group, but for just one of them. I'm thankful that the Lord placed me there that night, and placed the burden on my heart to share what I did. And I pray that as time goes on, I'll get more answers and be perpetually blown away by God's timing.

New Years Resolution

The link to this site sits at the top of my FAVORITES in my web browser. For months I've seen it staring at me. I sit and wonder if I should go and post something creative on my blog, then decide, for whatever reason, not to. The "not to" part is something I'm okay with. Part of me is saying I should at least get on there and tell people why I'm not posting anything. Most of me, though, acknowledges that actions speak louder than words...

It's been over a year now since I started this thing. It's been the biggest, most radical year I can think of in terms of life-altering events. Early on, I was so excited to get out there and share with others about how crazy life gets when you put love first. I still am, but I've seen my expression change from 'spoken', to 'acted.' Early on, I encouraged you, the reader, to get out and put love into practice by starting your own love project. I thought that this blog was my love project, and was happy to sit here and go on and on about love in the privacy of my home. As time went on though, I felt the tugging to get out there and start my own hands-on project. It was as if I couldn't stop asking myself if I'm putting into practice what I've been preaching. So I started a little love project.

Most of you know about the Home for Home Program. If you don't, you can check it out here. The Home for Home Program is my little love project. It's also the reason I haven't been blogging here on this site. The program is currently roto-tilling my thoughts about life and love. I thought implementing my love project into my life would only encourage my blogging. It hasn't. My love project has made it clear to me that I still don't know a thing about love, and that I have a long way to go.

As I sit and type, and look over my last year, I have been to Mexico four times and I've been a part of the construction of six new homes for the needy. I have two more trips planned for the next two months, with a possible three more homes and little store to build. When I think about the Home for Home Program, though, I don't really think about the houses. I don't even think about the families we're building for all that much. I think about myself. It sounds selfish, but I'll explain.

When I come home from a Program trip, for some reason, I feel more blessed than I can imagine anyone else involved being blessed - including the recipient of the new home. I feel like more love was poured out on me than I could have poured out on anyone else. I feel physically exhausted, yet almost like I have been given a shot of adrenaline. So you can imagine it's hard NOT to think about just me. Why me? Why do I feel all these things? I wanted to go and love and bless, but I feel the most loved and the most blessed! I wanted to sacrifice my time and my finances, but feel like all the sacrifices were made for me! What is wrong with this picture?

So when I stare at the link to this blog in my FAVORITES, I usually ask myself, "What would you say, Chad? You thought you had something to share, but when you got down and dirty with love, you realized that you bit off more than you could chew. You know enough about love now to know that you don't have a clue." So here I sit - I still haven't really said anything. And quite frankly, I'm still not sure if I'm supposed to.

I wonder if someday it will all become clear and concise enough in my head to get it out on the pages of this blog. Love has taken over my life. Love is taking me on a journey that I knew would be exciting, but never in a million years thought it would be this intense. But I still can't explain how and why. I can imagine at this point that my lack of a clear definition of my process would drive some to try to find out for themselves what in the world I'm talking about. I so hope it does. I need some help talking about it.

So, I encourage you again. Start your own love project. Start as small as you want, but keep in mind one thing. God is the driver, and sometimes He is a crazy driver. Buckle your seat belt and pull the flaps down tight. You will see your life radically change. I promise. And when you're deep in your process, come talk to me about it. If you can help me explain away my thoughts - great. If you say to me, "You just had to be there," I'll know exactly what you're talking about.

I love you.

Chad

That Didn't Last Long

Disregard the post below. It became clear once we got going with our Home for Home Program that a simple blog site would not suffice. We went ahead and created a full website for the program. You can check it out here.

www.home-for-home.org

New Blog

I set up a blog dedicated solely to our Home for Home Program. Many of the stories that come about from that program will create good material for this blog, but for the sake of time, I'll probably keep those stories in one place. If you follow along on this blog, I encourage you to go check that one out. In the future, there will be some cool stuff, no doubt.

homeforhomeprogram.blogspot.com

Out of Hand

One of my primary reasons for this LOVE blog is to encourage others. Yes, it's a journal of sorts, but I would keep it private if I thought it was just for me. In several posts, I've encouraged people following along to jump in and start their own little love project. Well, it seems my brother Jeremy ran with that and his project got a little out of hand.

I'm partly kidding. I'm kidding about this blog having that big of an impact on my brother's decisions. I'm not kidding about his love project getting out of hand (well, even "getting out of hand" may be a bit facetious). He and his wife Camille are about to embark on one giant love project.

Rather than me tell you all about it, you should really see it for yourself. Check it out.

surfingandserving.blogspot.com

Enjoy.

I love you.

Chad

Just Go

I recently had a vision of a man sitting on a park bench, staring at a mural in front of him. The painting was the map of the earth. All the continents and oceans were there in all their splendor, yet the man seemed conflicted. He sat there, elbows on his knees, chin in his hands, staring at the world before him. I got the sense that the man had a heavy burden, a deep passion, and a sense of not knowing where to start.

I wanted to approach the man, put my hand on his shoulder, and say, "Just go."

There have been so many instances in my life lately of "just go." I have felt the need to make change happen and let love work it's course. Most of the time, several questions surround the details and there is always plenty of opportunity to take the easy road, or bail out all together. At many crossroads, I have had to tell myself to "just go." Without those two little words, some crazy stuff might not have had a chance to happen. I want to share one of those stories with you.

You may have read the 'Give and Take' post a couple months ago - the one about being in Romero's attic. One part of that story that I left out was getting to Romero's house. My good friend Craig and I were to meet Romero at a gas station in order for him to lead us to his home. Craig had been to his home before, but due to many road closures and some crazy detours, he only knew the area in which Romero lived. If any of you have ever been in Tijuana, you know what I'm talking about when I tell you that getting from point A to B in Tijuana can be mind boggling. Anyway, through a communication error, Romero didn't show up to lead us to his home. Craig looked at me and said, "We're supposed to go, man. Should we just go?" There are those two little words again.

We set off in the general direction of where we were supposed to go. Fifteen or so minutes later, we did one little U-turn. Once we were traveling the other direction down a major thoroughfare, Craig looked out over a sea of homes on the right and told me that the home was "out there somewhere." We slowed a bit, looking down each side street. Craig was telling me what the home looked like when suddenly the lane we were in abruptly ended. So we went right. Craig immediately said, "There it is!" He laughed as he said, "I'm surprised, even though I know I shouldn't be." You see, we knew we were supposed to go, so we did. We didn't have all the details. There were a lot of questions that surrounded the process. We could have bailed all together. But we just went. And from that 'Give and Take' post, you know what that little trip to Romero's home meant to me.

Many of you have been very gracious and encouraging to me as I journey through this love process in my life. For those of you that have been inspired, has the inspiration been enough for you to go do something crazy in the name of love? If so, I'm encouraging you to "just go." There might be a lot of questions surrounding the details of your actions. You can take the easy road. You can bail out all together. But don't. The world needs you.

Just go.

I love you.

Chad

Without Fear

I'm currently eight months into the process of shedding all the fear in my life. I've reached a point at which I've asked myself if I've shed it all. I've imagined worst case scenarios. I've imagined my reactions. I can't honestly tell you how I would respond in those circumstances, given the fact that I haven't actually had to experience them, but the excercise has helped me come to grips with the issue. Not only that, but it has helped me notice how much easier it is to love and live free, when the fear is gone.

Fear is a strange dinner table conversation, especially when two other couples are across the table from you. The other night, Jamie and I were enjoying some good food and fellowship with some great friends. The topic of fear came up, and I knew that everyone at the table had varying degrees of it in their life and a wide variety of ways of coping with it. The thing that kept coming to mind is how blind I was to the fear in my life before last Fall. So being sensitive to others and their own process is something I've really had to focus on.

The conversation, however, was a great reminder. It was a reminder to me of where I was and where I'm headed. It was a reminder to me that I wouldn't have as much capacity to love if I held on to fear. It reminded me that when I let the fear go in my life, love came flooding in and I couldn't stop it.

I'm inviting you to take a huge step in your life. I'm inviting you to examine yourself. Are you concerned? Are you anxious? Are you in a state of all-out panic? Scripture says to 'cast your cares on the Lord, and He will sustain you.; He will never let the righteous fall.' It doesn't say cast some or most of your cares on Him.

I've had to do this. I have to do this every day, actually. I don't want to unknowingly slip back into the bind that my life was in. So I continue to question myself and call myself out if I start to get bent out of shape about something. Just that simple life-check does wonders for my attitude and my spirit.

When was the last time you really took a good look at the issues that surround your life and decided to cast your cares away and on Him? If it's been a while, give it a try. You don't have to look too far to find things to worry about. Allow Him to take your burden, and invite him to fill the void with something else. I promise He will fill it with the goods.

I love you.

Chad.

Orchestration

If you haven't read the "Home-For-Home" post below, you're going to want to read that one first.

Baja Christian Ministries is a group out of southern California that focuses on building homes for the poor in Tijuana, Mexico and the surrounding areas. Over time, they have worked with a local lumber yard to put together a home kit that is easily built by anyone with a little or a lot of skill in construction. Groups from all over the country come, pay for a home kit, and go build it for someone that otherwise doesn't have a home. It's a pretty slick program, and an absolute blast to do. Maybe in another post, I'll explain how the home becomes simply the catalyst to get you there so that God can do a number on your heart and those you're serving.

I just wanted to explain what it is we're actually doing by committing to building a home in Baja for every home we build and sell here in Washington. The home is a slab-on-grade, wood framed home with windows and a composition roof. It's 16' x 20', has two small rooms, a larger open room, and a loft. Seems pretty simple because it is. It's a home that would fit in the garage of most of our homes. But when the tears flow from the eyes of a family that gets this home as you hand them the keys and pray for them, you realize that it's not actually simple at all.

So now that you have a little insight as to what I was actually talking about in the last post, I want to share with you some more news.

Last fall, our company had to renew a sizable land development loan. It happened at the height of my panicked state. I pissed and moaned as I worked out the arrangement with the bank, and finally agreed to pay a pretty large fee to renew the loan. The payment of the fee was deferred to a later date.

Monday was the day we committed to our Home-For-Home program. I told you I wasn't sure how to make it work, but that I knew it would work if I just committed to doing it. A little more than 24 hours later, I got a call from the bank. They admitted they had made some mistakes during the loan renewal process last November, and that they weren't going to charge us the renewal fee. The amount is exactly what it will cost to purchase a Baja home. You can call it a coincidence if you want to, but that takes more faith than simply believing that God is orchestrating this thing 100%.

I feel a little like Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams, except the words that keep ringing in my head are "If you come, He will build it."

I am extending an open invitation to join Pillar Development on our Baja trips. We have a home closing next week, and our first Baja home under our new Home-For-Home program will be built in October. Come join us, will you?

I love you.

Chad

Home-For-Home

Enough time has passed now in the current economic climate I find myself in to know one thing for sure. I am not the one making ends meet. Sure, I get up every day and go and do damage control while finding new ways to work my way through life. But because I honestly have no idea why I am not bankrupt, I know beyond a shadow of doubt that somone else is in control.

During a conversation with my brother a few weeks ago, we were marveling at how cool TOMS Shoes is because of their "One for One" campaign. For every pair of shoes TOMS sells, they physically go and give a pair away to someone in a developing country. That's really cool. Jeremy and I were wondering what kind of things we could do in this life to make a difference like that. In jest, I said to him, "For every house I sell or build for a custom client, I can go build a house for someone in a developing country." We both laughed a little and moved on. When I hung up the phone however, I couldn't stop thinking about it.

I thought of how cool it would be to do, but I would get discouraged when I realized that I have absolutely no way of pulling it off. I can't finacially afford it, nor do I have the time. It just isn't possible. Then it dawned on me. I'm not still in business because of anything I have done. As hard as I have tried, I have not been able to control the details. They have just come together. What makes me think that a crazy home-for-home program isn't possible?

I know it's possible. It's possible through Him who gives me strength.

So off we go. My dad and I are committing to building a house for someone that desperately needs a roof over their head for every home that Pillar Development sells in one of our neighborhoods, or builds for a custom home client. I have absoultely no idea how to pull it off, but I know the details don't have to be up to me.

If you're the praying type, I would invite you to join me in prayer throughout this new journey. We have built homes with Baja Christian Ministries in Tijuana, Mexico a couple times now, and plan on using that ministry as our vessel to make our home-for-home program come to fruition. We are excited to see God move both in Mexico and here in Washington as He guides us through how He is going to help this thing unfold.

Give and Take

I recently met a guy named Romero that has an interesting story about the love process in his life.  He has apparently devoted the last few years of his life to giving out love.  Every free opportunity, he was out helping others.  He spent little time on himself as he thoroughly enjoyed sharing what he has been blessed with, with others that aren’t so fortunate.  However, through some colliding circumstances, his faith in ‘love’ has waned.

A few months ago, as he was getting ready to get married and settle in, the home he was moving into was broken into and vandalized.  The thieves proceeded to take all the light switches and fixtures off the walls and ceilings, cut the power at the main breaker panel, and pull all the wire out of the walls and ceilings to sell the copper as scrap metal.  Knowing that he couldn’t bring a new wife home to a house with no lights and electricity, Romero called on his friends to come and help.  The problem was that no one came.  Romero tried and tried again to get some help, but the job was either too much for someone to handle or someone else didn’t have enough time.  A tired and deflated Romero was beginning to give up on love and turn his back on his willingness to serve others.

 It’s an interesting situation when someone serves and serves with no real need for anything in return.  In Romero’s case he was willing to serve no matter what it cost him, and didn’t really care if he didn’t get anything back – until he needed to be served.  I can’t say that I blame him, since I have a similar story that took place recently.

 A few weeks ago, I was helping someone out in their attic.  It was cramped and hot up there.  I won’t go into all the details of how I got in and out of the attic and what I faced when I was up there.  I will, though, simply tell you that it was the most physically difficult thing I have ever done.  I was up there for over an hour, I think – the most uncomfortable hour of my life, bar none.  At one point, I needed some parts.  So rather than try and make my way back to the opening to come down, wait, then get back up there, I decided that it would be easier to simply wait in the attic while my friend ran to the hardware store to get the parts.  Luckily, the hardware store was close, so I only had to wait fifteen minutes or so.  During those fifteen minutes, though, fear crept in.  I was dripping with sweat, extremely fatigued and was getting worried about all the water loss.  I was terribly uncomfortable, and waiting just made it worse.

 I began to pray.  “Lord, I need to know you’re near me.  I’m nervous about what I’m doing, but I know it’s what You would have me do.  Come along side me with your peace and comfort and take my mind off my circumstances.”  Well, He showed up in that tiny, hot, sweaty attic.  A peace and a feeling of being loved came over me that has been impossible to explain (this blog has been waiting in the wings because I still can’t fully explain that feeling).  I knew I was going to be fine.  I knew that I was right where I needed to be.

 The whole thing was over about 20 or 30 minutes later and I was safe back on the ground.  That feeling of peace and love that I experienced in that attic stuck with me, though, and I was glad I couldn’t shake it.  It made the whole thing worth it.

 Well, if you haven’t figured it out by now, I was in Romero’s attic.  I had met Romero about fifteen minutes before entering his attic.  My friend Craig and I had been working in his home about an hour prior to him arriving there.  It wasn’t until after I was gone that I knew Romero’s full story.  A pastor friend told me all about it after this was all over.  The funny thing was that the sheepish and heavy-eyed Romero I met became a vibrant a thankful Romero as we ate lunch and shared great food and stories together after he had been blessed by a couple guys that were willing to help him out..

 Our two stories of needing love while showing love collided in that couple of hours in a small home in Tijuana, Mexico.  Romero doesn’t know my story, as it was unfolding before both of us in my head and heart.  Romero didn’t know that I was going to find out about his story after I left his home.  I’m hoping soon, though, that I’ll get to see Romero again and share with him our similar stories of how exciting God is in our lives and how He works in us to show us what love really is.

I love you.

Chad.