I have been struggling for days to figure out what to say with so much happening and not enough words to articulate it….. i was at a loss and then this morning i learned a dear friend of mine passed away after a long battle with cancer.......Geri entered my life in 2009 with a quizzical look and many questions about cats; as i grew into a place in the Rampi family Geri was the one who kept things in army order and on your toes, she constantly directed my missteps around the kitchen and one night i had the pleasure of hearing her love of professional wrestling; Hulk Holgan being her untouchable favorite..Geri was a woman were innocence was not lost…… she managed a task i know i have failed…. she loved everyone unconditional, (except obviously any opponent of her hero Hulk) her love for baby daniel was showered in her affectionate tones and attention to all his movements, just as her love for her cat lucky and my dog ophie-baby! Her ability to see the world in a lens so her own leaves me to believe that her relationship with her heavenly father was far beyond a depth i will ever understand......Geri was a fighter...whether it came to the use of the dryer on her time schedule or cancer, she fought!
And as i sit in a country referred to as the cradle of civilization on a mission to fight against the perils of sex trafficking i am reminded that whether i am home or here….. death is death, pain is pain, joy is joy and life is life...people are people, tears are tears and GOD is GOD.......the questions that flood my mind struggle to find words to express how one is to grapple with the passing of a friend so far away or how to fight for the freedom of woman in a man made system of slavery……and I think how it is that when death comes or a child is sold the world does not come to a stop, there should be a moment were everything should stop because a beautiful well fought life has left or a precious, innocent life has been stolen. Why is it the my breath is uneven or my heart skips a beat but life must go on……
SO i am resolved to look at these questions of passing and pain cushioned in the arms of mystery and love......I am honored to
have known Geri, to have heard her story's, prayed with her, lived with her and loved her.........I am honored to be here with these amazing young girls who fight a battle I can’t even imagine, to walk with them if only for a short time and I am honored to learn more then I ever thought possible……
I came to work with woman rescued from sex trafficking to see what Jesus would do, to see what new weapons he had to defeat the darkness and two months in He has begun to teach me a lesson that will take me a life time to master...He has begun to teach me that...His truth is the same for all who want it, His healing is just as powerful where ever it is accepted and in the face of such pain, such wounds, such death His love is real.........I have not rescued a single girl from a dark alley or slugged any traffickers in the face but I have LOVED far beyond my limitation, i have stood in the face of lies and shouted HIS TRUTH…..I have held the exhausted bodies of His warriors and seen Him RESTORE, and I have had a joy that follows far beyond my boundaries…..because the fight is not against flesh and blood......but against the limitations we put on each other, against the lies we spread amongst ourselves, against the expectations we build and then proceed to fail and the destruction we create..
SO what i have learned is the fight lies in the way i allow His transformation into my life, in the joy i hold on to tight, in the truth i seek and the most importunately the love i share... The fight lives in our love for one another, to go to uncomfortable places, to push past differences, to see with eyes renewed in hope and the belief that no one is beyond transformation or so lost they cannot be found.... to live with a love that should never change according to the person, the community, or the country.........
I am grateful for the time I had to get to know Geri and I am grateful for the time here in India and the month I have left as I go further, see more and learn more about this weapon of LOVE!!
Here’s to an another amazing year following the LORD!!
Happy NEW YEAR suckers!! Lol I mean friends and family!!
