The Tapestry of Our Lives
If love is not the center of your life, you have yet to live life!
Hello everyone,
I hope this finds you safe and sound on your journey. Merry late Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone as well:)! I hope you had great holidays and could enjoy the things that are most important. A child, born in a manger who would be the hope of the world. A Son, who would be given the name, Eternal Father (Is.9:6).
I know that once again its been forever since I wrote here, sorry, I just can't ever seem to catch up on everything. My brother told me that blogs are supposed to be short posts daily or updated often, so my blog would be the opposite :) 90,000 words posted every 90 years:)! Just kidding:)
I coordinate a lot of our events, and especially here in the US, there is so much paperwork required to gain authorization to different venues, especially correctional facilities and prisons, that it takes a lot of time, emails, letters and phone calls to take our performance to those that are suffering. Then after our visits, we receive hundreds of letters and emails from those we touch and it takes most of our down time to keep up. (So thats my excuse:))
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| Performing our therapeutic show of magic, dance, theater and comedy in a correctional facility. |
On a long drive one day, my dad shared a story of when he was young. One day his brother, who was in the Navy, brought back a beautiful tapestry rug like wall hanging. It was hand sewn with amazing design and color. It was fascinating, and he would love to just study it. One time his mom cleaned it and hung it backwards to dry. From the back, it appeared so ugly, damaged and ragged.
At times, we see only the nitty gritty backside of our life and it can look so chaotic and useless. But if we trust and yield to God our Father, then He can weave our life into a beautiful tapestry that one day He will turn around for us to see.
Each day another thread is added to the tapestry of our lives. Some we choose to put there, some are added by others, some by our Father, and some are added by perhaps a tragedy, mistake or something we see as negative in our life. But each thread has a place, each thread makes us who we are. Even that thing you regret, that memory that causes you pain, can be like a thread that helped create the entire beautiful picture, of you.
So don't loose time regretting, but rather forgetting, the past. Don't let what you have done, determine who you are because what matters is not where we have been, but rather what we are made out of. Jesus chooses those that are week, broken and lowly (1Cor.1:18ff). Your scars can be the most beautiful part in your entire tapestry because suffering, produces character (Rm.5).
Maybe even you can add a "thread" to someone else tapestry that will help them become who they are meant to be. Love is a "thread" like no other. It mends, heals, forgives, and rescues. It remembers and yet it forgets. It laughs with someone and also cries with them. It stands tall and lays low and brings another up by going under them. God is love. And if love is not the center of your life, you have yet to live life.
So don't loose time regretting, but rather forgetting, the past. Don't let what you have done, determine who you are because what matters is not where we have been, but rather what we are made out of. Jesus chooses those that are week, broken and lowly (1Cor.1:18ff). Your scars can be the most beautiful part in your entire tapestry because suffering, produces character (Rm.5).
Maybe even you can add a "thread" to someone else tapestry that will help them become who they are meant to be. Love is a "thread" like no other. It mends, heals, forgives, and rescues. It remembers and yet it forgets. It laughs with someone and also cries with them. It stands tall and lays low and brings another up by going under them. God is love. And if love is not the center of your life, you have yet to live life.
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| Speaking to men in a prison about the beauty of our "scars", before I perform an Irish step dance. |
Since I last wrote, we returned to the US, and have been touring across the country performing in many correctional facilities, schools, universities and cities. We traveled over 10,000 miles from Idaho to New York, west, east, north, south and everywhere in between.
The Lord Jesus has really been with us and given us grace and courage to face many difficult situations and take His love to the forgotten. We have been overwhelmed as so many correctional facilities wants at least two performances and it is tough to do back to backs 4 to 5 times a week. We have been running on nothing but grace (and a boat load of coffee:)).
When we were in the west, it was only October, but we got hit by a few serious snow storms. We already had confirmed dates at prisons in Wyoming, Colorado and Idaho, so we did not want to cancel. We had a few close calls with icy roads, bad traffic accidents and issues with our vehicles caused by the cold, but in every case angels surrounded us.
At a few different prisons we visited, the facility went on lock down while we were inside. The Lord worked it for the good as it allowed us more time with the inmates and we could go even deeper into the Gospel. Usually we have to keep our time really tight since everything is so restricted.
My favorite part of every performance we do, is when we get to talk one on one with the guys, shake their hands and hear their stories. We work with a lot of inmates who are serving a life sentence. So many stories of injustice that just break your heart.
There are a lot of guys who committed a crime at 16, and are serving life without parole. I mean think about yourself at 16! The brain is not even fully developed at that age and highly influenced by our circumstances. Many stories were of mistakes that ended in tragedy. One guy I talked to was defending his little sister from someone who attacked her. His punch accidentally killed the guy and he's in for life.
There are a lot of guys who committed a crime at 16, and are serving life without parole. I mean think about yourself at 16! The brain is not even fully developed at that age and highly influenced by our circumstances. Many stories were of mistakes that ended in tragedy. One guy I talked to was defending his little sister from someone who attacked her. His punch accidentally killed the guy and he's in for life.
We did a performance for war veterans that was really special. These guys have served our country and many suffered serious injuries as a result. Then after, the PTSD and mental anguish was too much, there was no help and so many ended up homeless or in prison. It is absolutely tragic. One older man named Mike, told me that shortly after he got back from Iraq, his wife died of cancer. He just couldn't take the pain and so he robbed a bank hoping to get shot. He didn't and ended up in prison, but just that thought is so tragic.
We also performed in one of the oldest facilities in the US. So old that Abraham Lincoln was president when it was opened! It is a maximum security prison and most of the guys are serving really long sentences. We performed in an auditorium on a stage and it was so beautiful to spend that time with them. After we left, the warden called us and asked if we could please come back to the facility and perform again for other inmates in other cell blocks. He said the positive response they were receiving after our show was overwhelming.
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| Performing a theatrical dance conveying how are brain is like a machine. |
Did you know that the largest computer in the world is in Japan? It is the size of a large room yet it takes 45 min to do what your brain can do in One second! The problem is that sometimes things happen in our past that can cause a "frozen moment" in our brain. Something that causes our brain to "shut down" so to speak, and stop operating at the capacity it could. We have endless potential to think, create, write and speak. We live thousands of moments each day, yet sadly, at times, we focus and live in only in one moment that happen in our past. Only our Father can heal this "frozen moment".
The word "repent" can sound so religious and out there. But it really just means "to change our mind". To change one thought. One thought will lead to another and then another and gradually change the way we act and live. So in short, this dance communicates this idea and we have had guys write us to tell us how much it helped them understand what they were dealing with and how to change.
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| Performing hip hop dance at a youth center. |
We spent a lot of time especially in Chicago and New York working with the homeless. It seems like every time I visit these cities the number of men, women and families that are homeless has increased. It was just freezing when we were there, and some of these folks were literally shivering and shaking from the cold. I had a bunch of those Myler aluminum blankets as well as clothes and lunches and it was a blessing to touch as many as we could. Feels like a drop in the bucket when there are so many, but if each of us could do something to help someone, something little could be the first step to something bigger. We could give them the hope they need to weave through their "'tapestry".
They found a sense of belonging in a gang, or with drug dealers that then led to where they are now. It is so precious how even the "bad" tough kids, really want a hug at the end.
One of my favorite acts is our finale that is like a circus type setting with clowns, magic, bubbles and confetti. We intro asking our audience to remember one of their favorite childhood memories. Back to before all this heartache and pain, back to when things were ok. So quickly each guy is shouting out, "when I got my first bike", "when I used to roll a tire down by the river", "christmas" or "trick or treating". Then we say how they can go back to that frame of mind, that heart. We grew, but the child is still within in us and Jesus says, WE MUST be like a child. No matter what we have done or been t through, God is a perfect Father who wants us to return to Him. A perfect Father, makes allowance for His children's weakness and failure.
Anyway, then I come out flying a huge red kite that I made. I perform and speak as if a child who realizes she has to grow up and can't play with a stupid kite any more when life is tragic. I throw the kite aside and give up. Then my father, communicating our Father, comes to me, helps me up and gives me back the kite. He embraces me and then makes me laugh. The act is hard to write out but very moving and powerful and many have told us this was very impactful for them.
One time, a guy shouted that his favorite childhood memory was playing with a red kite, right before I came out with a red kite! He later wrote us and told us that others at the facility thought he was in it with us. It was cool. One inmate wrote that through this act it was as if He could imagine what heaven would be like. Free, fun, full of laughter and joy. IT meant a lot to us because we work so hard to design our show to touch people in places that words cannot. At so many schools and high schools, this act is a big hit too:)
At one of the largest correctional facilities in Colorado, we performed two shows in the yard. This was in the summer and it was so hot my dad got bad heat stroke and we almost were not able to stay for the second one. But the organize told us that the next group were all guys serving a life sentence and that they had been looking forward to this for a long time. We were able to get some water and cool down in air-conditioning and able to kick it out for the next show.
By the time the let the men out into the yard, the sun was setting and a full moon was rising. There were around 500 men who sat on the grace in front of us and it was just a beautiful night. As I danced my Irish step dance under a full moon, with a cool breeze and 500 men clapping to the beat, I thought to myself, this is what life all about.
At a facility we visited around Christmas, we were allowed to give the guys candy. It's funny, something I noticed right away was the way they all took it carefully and saved it. There were no wrappers on the ground after. And it hit me, these guys are in here for life! They want to spread out and save these three little pieces of candy. Can you wrap your head around life in prison?
I don't know, of course some guys have done horrible, horrible things, but I think 20 years is a hell of a long sentence and plenty of time to "rehabilitate" (in my last post I covered a lot of the thinking of why we go to prisons and the "they get what they deserve" mindset).
Often the main problem are the prosecutors. Since they are elected, not appointed, they are driven to make their careers by, "being tough on crime", so they overlook key evidence, or push past a lack of evidence, to advance their careers. They will offer "plea bargains", where guys who may be innocent, but are too poor to have a good lawyer, except, say a ten year sentence to avoid life, for something they didn't even do. I have witnessed this first hand.
Many guys who have substance abuse problems or battle addiction, end up in prison instead of getting treatment at facilities who are trained to help these issues. So the US prison system spends on average 33,000$ per inmate, per year. Around 80 BILLION$ annually! Each American is paying around 260$ a year to keep men in prison.
Problem is, they are not being rehabilitated, just punished, so when they get released and reinstated into society, they have no answers, no where to turn and nothing to their name. Guess what? They turn back to crime to earn a living, or back to drugs to hide the pain, then back to prison. Thus the endless cycle.
I know guys who got released with literally the clothes on their back and a little cash. Former felons have an impossible time renting an apartment because when they were arrested they lost their former residents without explanation so now they have no credit. It's also nearly impossible to get a job when you have to put "felony" on your application.
Well, anyway, sorry I don't mean to ramble about things you may not be concerned about. I know that perhaps you and I could never directly change these things, but I guess maybe my point is that we have to hold compassion near to us and be quick to give it.
It's easy to judge, to point the finger and say "they get what they deserve", or "society is safer with them locked up", but the whole issue is a lot more complex then we may know. God says "Mercy triumph over judgment." We are quick to judge and put others down if it lifts us up a little. But compassion, Mercy triumph over this natural thinking(Jm.2:13).
So if you know someone who is on the road to prison, help them. If you know someone who is or was in prison, be understanding, maybe even visit someone you don't know. I guarantee it will change your perspective if you were to talk to a "criminal". We are all human right?
We will now begin to prepare to go back to Brazil soon. We received an invitation to work in the prison system in one of the largest cities in the world, as well as with the secretary of education, so we are praying for the Father to grant us His grace, courage and strength to begin this next chapter.
Well, bye for now beautiful people. Stand strong, stand tall. Don't let the craziness around you, steal that which is within you....your heart. Let the Father weave His love in and through the tapestry of your life.
Love ya - Ruth
Check out some of these facts about the US prison system I got online:
By the time the let the men out into the yard, the sun was setting and a full moon was rising. There were around 500 men who sat on the grace in front of us and it was just a beautiful night. As I danced my Irish step dance under a full moon, with a cool breeze and 500 men clapping to the beat, I thought to myself, this is what life all about.
At a facility we visited around Christmas, we were allowed to give the guys candy. It's funny, something I noticed right away was the way they all took it carefully and saved it. There were no wrappers on the ground after. And it hit me, these guys are in here for life! They want to spread out and save these three little pieces of candy. Can you wrap your head around life in prison?
I don't know, of course some guys have done horrible, horrible things, but I think 20 years is a hell of a long sentence and plenty of time to "rehabilitate" (in my last post I covered a lot of the thinking of why we go to prisons and the "they get what they deserve" mindset).
Often the main problem are the prosecutors. Since they are elected, not appointed, they are driven to make their careers by, "being tough on crime", so they overlook key evidence, or push past a lack of evidence, to advance their careers. They will offer "plea bargains", where guys who may be innocent, but are too poor to have a good lawyer, except, say a ten year sentence to avoid life, for something they didn't even do. I have witnessed this first hand.
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| My dad and I :) |
Problem is, they are not being rehabilitated, just punished, so when they get released and reinstated into society, they have no answers, no where to turn and nothing to their name. Guess what? They turn back to crime to earn a living, or back to drugs to hide the pain, then back to prison. Thus the endless cycle.
I know guys who got released with literally the clothes on their back and a little cash. Former felons have an impossible time renting an apartment because when they were arrested they lost their former residents without explanation so now they have no credit. It's also nearly impossible to get a job when you have to put "felony" on your application.
Well, anyway, sorry I don't mean to ramble about things you may not be concerned about. I know that perhaps you and I could never directly change these things, but I guess maybe my point is that we have to hold compassion near to us and be quick to give it.
It's easy to judge, to point the finger and say "they get what they deserve", or "society is safer with them locked up", but the whole issue is a lot more complex then we may know. God says "Mercy triumph over judgment." We are quick to judge and put others down if it lifts us up a little. But compassion, Mercy triumph over this natural thinking(Jm.2:13).
So if you know someone who is on the road to prison, help them. If you know someone who is or was in prison, be understanding, maybe even visit someone you don't know. I guarantee it will change your perspective if you were to talk to a "criminal". We are all human right?
We will now begin to prepare to go back to Brazil soon. We received an invitation to work in the prison system in one of the largest cities in the world, as well as with the secretary of education, so we are praying for the Father to grant us His grace, courage and strength to begin this next chapter.
Well, bye for now beautiful people. Stand strong, stand tall. Don't let the craziness around you, steal that which is within you....your heart. Let the Father weave His love in and through the tapestry of your life.
Love ya - Ruth
Check out some of these facts about the US prison system I got online:
1. The United States has 5% of the world's population, but 25% of the world's prisoners.
2. The total incarcerated population in the U.S. is a staggering 2.4 million — a 500% increase over the past 30 years.
3. One in every 108 adults was in prison or jail in 2012.
4. One in 28 American children has a parent behind bars
5. At the end of 2007, 1 in 31 adults was behind bars, on probation or on parole.
6. Currently, 65 million Americans have a criminal record..
7. A first-time drug offense carries a sentence of 5-10 years. In other developed countries, that sentence would be six months of jail time, if any at all. . .
8. More than 96% of convictions in the federal system result from guilty pleas rather than decisions by juries.
9. Conservative estimates put innocent people who plead guilty between 2% and 5%, which translates to tens of thousands of innocent people behind bars today.
10. Eighty percent of defendants cannot afford a lawyer. Tens of thousands of people go to jail every year without ever talking to a lawyer or going to trial.
11. A public defender will routinely have a caseload of more than 100 clients at a time.
