|| the ripple effect ||

 as i sit in my humble abode i can't help but be so thankful. the lord has provided so much for me.. finally after almost a year of living in my home my roommate and I BOTH have beds off of the floor :) my friends are all back from the nations, having returned with WILD testimony of what jesus has done. i am daily reminded that i have some of the best leaders i could ever hope for, who never cease to be the example i need that challenges me to be more humble, purposeful and to love jesus and the lost more and more each day. not to mention ALL the other things i am so thankful for, this is not an all-inclusive list...

there has been so much that has happened in my life since i have last written (you can see some of it here) and i struggled to even know what to share but there has been one story that has continuously come to my mind since i heard it and hope you will be inspired in to action through it.

while with our returning dts outreach teams these past two weeks, we heard testimony of how the lord used them to AWAKEN a generation to know and love him more.  my friend matt was in town teaching our students on principles to use as they head home. he was talking about old joe – barnabas – and how he saw something in paul..the apostle..before he was one..and what his encouragement did in paul’s life, resulting in billions of other lives being effected.
he called on our friend chris to share his story. hearing chris share i was so encouraged and inspired by the truth that it just takes ONE person to have belief and encourage another to see a ripple effect of the lord’s movement. we will never know what the lord will do when we take a step and do something out of the ordinary for us – god might just move in an extraordinary way – and the ripple just might go to the nations.

chris (first ripple) had been attending a well known christian university for a few years before he met matt. matt had been between university and ywam for a few years and went back to college to finish his degree. he met chris and asked him to have dinner one night..chris thought..just the two of us? that’s weird..dudes don’t do that :) little did he know that that one dinner would change the course of his life forever.
they became fast friends and continued to meet. matt brought chris to an AWAKEN gathering – (a gathering of people who have a desire to see the reality that the god of the bible is the god of today awakened in our generation) chris left feeling more challenged in those few short days then he had in his two years in university. 

chris went back to university and shared with his friends all that he had learnt.
he had had an encounter with god that he wanted everyone to have, so he and his friends began "dude church". in addition to dude church, he and his friends began to go away yearly to seek the lord together and grow deeper with jesus as a community (this still continues to this day). after another summer at another AWAKEN gathering chris flew matt to taiwan, during his short stay in taiwan, a few of matt’s friends prayed for chris, they shared with him that they felt prayer would be a significant part of his upcoming year. he took this to heart and on his flight back home he felt the lord highlight the tent of meeting passage to him.
once back at university, he shared with his roommate (jay). he knew the lord meant it was more than the already created space in their home they had set aside for a prayer closet but that this was a word to see the campus effected. soooo, they rented a tent and set it up in the middle of their campus, creating a 40 day, 24 hour prayer movement on their campus. the testimonies from that time are countless. as chris continued to share and bring his friends in to what the lord was doing in his life, the ripple moved amongst his friend group.

jay (second ripple), eventually ended up moving to south africa to work with a church planting movement there. after being there for some time jay was walking through a township one day when a group of young men mugged him, all of his money was stolen. this didn’t offend or stop jay but instead he went back to these same young men the next day, boldly he walked up to them and begin to build a friendship with them. through this encounter jay started a small discipleship bible school with these young men, resulting in many if not all of them encountering the lord and coming to know him (third ripple)!!

this is just a SMALL picture of what happens when we believe in a person and take a step of faith to pursue them and point them to jesus. jesus chose twelve, those twelve young men changed history as we know it. 
so often i think that what i am doing is so insignificant, how can i, one mere person change anything in the world let alone THE world? but then i hear a story like this and i am once again pointed to hope. because one life can make a difference, jesus' life changed the world. old joe, his life changed the world. matt, his life..changing the world. i can do it too! 
there have been many joe's in my life, so many to bring me to this point. i am so thankful for them..for YOU..thank you to you my cherished friend for reading this, for believing in me, hoping in and with me, praying for me, financially supporting me unto seeing the ripple carry on.




loren km roddam

|| fall highlights ||


here are some highlights from the travels i got to do this fall, it was very different from what i originally thought i would do in the fall but through the lord's leading i was never disappointed.
it was a busy and full time but i was able to see the hand of the lord each step of the way. the providence of the lord is a wondrous thing.

proverbs 3.5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.



         sista pear and niece                                                      brother bear
          



                              three princesses                                                vancouver..enough said




                selfies with the niece                                         brother bear getting a facial in the park               






                                                                                 spending time with the 
                                                                                vonderful goot vanderflier family
     my friend cynthia during my                                                                                     
visit to some awakeners at the kings lodge, england                                                                            




 glendalough, ireland

                          
powerscourt, ireland
 
wicklow, ireland


                                                                               st. charles bridge, prague, czech republic


                                                                     
blast from the past, hanging out in beijing with matt, 
a kid i used to babysit

 sickest thing i have ever been a part of.. 




   china, with my chinese friends                                               birthday dinner


a long awaited dream of visiting prague finally came true!


          reunions are the best!                                                  the palace cathedral



                                                                              contemplating on the goodness of the Father
                                                                                   amsterdam 
  
another dream fulfilled, switzerland
  

family time with cousins in italy 



view from my cousins chalet! 
ski jump for 2006 olympics


angelo LOVES maggie!


mamma olga


quality time :)


home

loren km roddam

|| all is for his glory ||

do you ever marvel at the way god seems to weave things together, and connects us to different things? i feel like that is my life...everyday! once again i sit here amazed at how the lord moves. in the past few days as i was putting together a video to share with you all of how the lord is at work in the nations, i got somewhat sidetracked - which is VERY unsual for me :) and went off on a tangent to discover the writer of a song that will forever remind me (and many others) of this season of life and this discipleship training school.
the song is called “all is for your glory” and it tells of how our whole life is for the glory of god, that we can go and be put anywhere because life is all about bringing glory to god. through my searching out the writer i found an article that she wrote. in the article she talks about when she was part of a team worshiping and praying together in kansas city, at the international house of prayer (ihop), during this particular prayer set they were praying from psalm 84 as their foundation for prayer. during this prayer set the lord spoke to her something that changed her life forever, he spoke that it didn’t matter where she was geographically, whether it be at home with her family or singing on a prayer set, that the important thing is that all that her life is brings god glory! resulting in the songs inception. this song has been a constant reminder, encouragement and challenge to me this year!
as i read over the part of the article about psalm 84 it seemed to almost jump out at me..i kept thinking why does this resonate so well with me? then i realised..that psalm 84 was the exact passage that the lord spoke to me months ago for this dts. i couldn’t believe it. the song that was a theme for my life in this season was written out of the passage the lord spoke to me as the foundation of our school!  
my prayer is that you will be encouraged that it doesn’t matter where you are in the world or what you are doing but be reminded that god’s glory is in you and you have the power and influence to make a difference exactly where you are!

loren km roddam

|| around the world in..fifty ||

what a crazy year this has been for me. if you were to ask me in january what i thought my year would look like i can guarantee i would not have said any of what i just lived through. this year brought me to an even greater awareness of the favour of the lord in my life and the deep desire i have to follow him wholeheartedly. it all began while on an outreach to iceland in January. my motive for being there was purely to see the dream of one of my now closest friends become a reality. while in iceland i got a call that would change the course my life would take for the next few years. i was asked to lead the april awaken dts. this again was the last thing on my radar, in fact i had made it really clear last year i didn’t want to lead a school in kona. but little did i know..

now that it is all said and done i can’t imagine having not led the school. i was able to lead with two incredible co-leaders who helped keep me grounded, and more scheduled than i ever like to be and never ceased to amaze me by their encouragement to me through these past 6 months. i gained many new friends and got to do what i love most of all; tell and show people about the love of jesus, while traveling to some of the worlds most unreached people groups. i have learned many many new lessons through this season and learned how to press in in an even greater capacity to trust that i will see the lord move. through these lessons i have had many joys, disappointments, much laughter and tears, and even some new emotions i have never experienced before...but at the end of the day i know it is all to the glory of god. he is so great and faithful to us.

i wanted to share a couple highlights from my time around the world in fifty days as the lord did so much in and through me..

one of my favourite stories came from our nepal team. during a time of prayer and waiting to hear what the lord would speak. one of the gals saw a picture of a man dressed head to toe in a white with a turban on his head. one of the long-termers said she had never seen anyone meet that description before. the gal undiscouraged continued to pray and keep a look out for said man. after a few weeks the team was doing some evangelism in the city and as they were getting out of the van spotted the man! the man dressed all in white with a turban on his head. they ran over to him and were able to share with this hindu sadhu the gospel of jesus and how much he loved him and all that jesus did for him. the man through revelation of the holy spirit decided in that moment to give his heart to the lord!!! what encouragement for our team and this gal as they pressed in in belief that the lord speaks!
on another team in the philippines, our people were handing out rice..with only one bag left they looked around to see whom they could leave this blessing with. they sought out this one particular man but oddly enough he did not want rice, who doesn’t want free food they asked?? but the lord clearly had another plan, so.. they found another man nearby and he received it with great delight. this man was almost blind and with blurry eyes he took them back to his home. the teams desire was to pray for him and to see his sight restored. as they prayed nothing changed in his eyes, but his heart ignited. the man then opened up and said god told him to go out to the corner that morning and it would be there where he (god) would provide for him. it was in the exact location that the lord revealed to him that our team met him and gave him food. he began to speak to them of some visions and dreams that he would have. it became very clear that he had a very real and active relationship with the spirit of god. there are too many details to tell, but i can assure you no one left unmoved by the presence of the lord as he shared visions that came straight out of the book of hebrews.
while in cambodia many peoples lives were touched by teaching english to the khmer people. a highlight for me was to see the number of salvations and the discipleship that followed it, reminding me of our need for follow through as we take the gospel to the nations.
photo by:: isaac ordaz
one of my favourite stories comes from brasil. i have been to many villages in my life time but none like this one...imagine a group of people living in the middle of the amazon who years before fled for their lives from their portuguese captors. these were families who had been brought over as slaves from africa many many moons before. the ran for safety in to the heart of the jungle and our team got to go and minister to them there. while there i met a little blind boy named marlon. never has someone impacted or touched my heart like this little boy. we had the incredible opportunity to pray over him, speak life and destiny in to his heart, hear of his love for singing and worshiping jesus. it rocked me to see how a little bit of releasing his identity to him changed his entire countenance. there was not a dry eye in the room as we the spirit of god fell and we saw his life change forever. I still pray for marlon everyday in hopes that the lord will fully heal and restore his sight.

it was an incredible journey, one that has marked me forever, has opened up new doors to discover more of who jesus created me to be and how he wants to use each one of us to release a future and a hope over every person we meet. i was once again reminded of this today as i was in costco in kona and bumped in to a mother/daughter duo. in our short interaction i learned of much stress in their lives and was able to pray for them both. these women left have encountered the father and forever changed. let me encourage you that we don’t need to go overseas to see these things happen but it is happening right around us everyday, we just need to open our eyes! so let us open our eyes with hope and see how the lord can use you to make an impact and see anothers dream become a reality!
there are so many more stories to tell, with so little time to tell but i will be in the seattle/vancouver area for a few weeks this fall and would love to connect with you while i am there and share more with you in person.

loren km roddam

|| out of the ashes we rise ||



as I fly over nepal {#1 growing christian nation right now} and see this stunning land from how i assume is the way that the father sees it from his heavenly throne, i can only celebrate all that he has done in the past month as my team ministered there. one of my favourite things to do is to people watch, the airport and airplanes are my favourite places. i love to imagine where people are coming from and going to...why are they travelling, what is their life like, do they have famliies?? as i sit on this plane mostly surrounded by brown skinned muslim men, probably due to the fact that i am flying in to the middle east i occasionally spot what is now the anomalous red smear across a forehead, signifying hindu worship.
nepal was my first venture in to a hindu nation, what an eye opening experience it was for me. i have traveled to many buddhist nations and even lived within the borders of one but this was a first for me. we would drive down the streets at full speed, round corners and a pack of dogs would be in the way..we would slam on the breaks for fear of hitting aunty! {the hindus believe in reincarnation, hence that when one dies they often return as another being – animals, insects etc!} my favourite though must have been finding a cow just taking a load off in the middle of the road chilling, then finding the same cow the next morning with a piece of tarp over him like a blanket to keep him warm! amazing..   

sadly my time in kathmandu was too short but thankfully not the least bit dull. my first day in town we went to pashupati, the second most religious place in all of hindu - why ease yourself in to things?! :))
we walked in to the temple which from afar appears to be so stunning, it is build around a river with the himas as their backdrop. the beauty quickly fades when you realise that it is in this temple where the hindu people bring their sick to die. pashupati is the last stage for them, hope is lost knowing death is encroaching so the hindus bring their family members here. the sick are brought up in to a room in the top of one of the buildings and there they wait in the small, dark room finishing out the end of their days. after they have passed the extreme anguish and mourning begins. the bodies are wrapped and taken down to the river where cremation preparations begin. it is only shortly after death that toes are dipped in the river, prayers prayed, incense is lit and the mourning and anguished cries increase to a deafening level as they know their loved one is lost to them forever. it is one of the most heartbreaking things i have ever been exposed to!
after some time, if the deceased person was not famous, the body is then put on a stretcher and moved down stream to the public area to be burned. the family will stand and watch as the body burns and turns to ash. once the body is burned the sadhus then come eat and cover themselves in the ash – again this happens daily! the rest of the ash is then thrown in to the river. a river that many, including the sadhus, will bathe and drink from..

you may be reading this wondering what a sadhu is..well let me enlighten you - sadhus..are the holy religious men of the hindu religion. at pashupati there are two types of sadhus living there. most of the ones we saw were for the tourists, they are legit sadhus but there is a whole other assembly of “authentic” sadhus we didn’t see who are cannibals. these sadhus take things a step further, not only eating the ash that the “public” sadhus eat also BUT they will eat the flesh of the deceased, in their cannibal caves..the sadhus also will all bathe in and drink the river water and are given money by the people who visit the pashupati. this is real life, i can’t make this stuff up people! it is wild!

while at pashupati our main objective was to pray for the sick and continue to build relationship with the sadhu’s that iris (the ministry we worked with) knew. aside from the heavy spiritual war that was warring around us i was thrilled to be able to pray for and share the gospel with two women. one gal was a lady who was in the sick room, she was mute and dying. we got to go in and share jesus with her and her family. i gave the other gal a tract, prayed for her and shared the gospel with her as well. as i was sharing with the second lady we were simultaneously aware of what was happening right in front of us..a woman from the sick room just passed away. the grieving began following closely behind by the wrapping of her body, prayers and then she was taken away.
i stood there thinking how crazy it was that within a few short moments an entire families life was changed forever! i was hit with the realisation that that woman just met her maker. her eyes were open for maybe the first time to the fact that Jesus is real! that hinduism and reincarnation is in fact a lie! as that woman stood before the throne, i wondered if she could see her family below grieving over her life and if she could see them, if she was yelling “NOOOOO STOP…it’s Jesus! it really is all about him! it is not about the hindu gods…they are nothing…mere demons who can’t stand before the throne!!” then what happened? judgement..consequence..eternal separation?! it was wild, all of those things just happened and my friends and i stood there seemingly unaffected when all of eternity had just changed forever!

all we could do was stand and pray in faith that the father is and was moving on the people’s behalf. my heart broke for the dead woman and her family, my heart screamed – what happens now? they had believed a lie their whole life...but it isn’t their fault i reasoned, it is all that they have ever been taught! i then cried out in my heart, “lord have mercy, have mercy on that woman!!!” “i have“ he said!
and then it hit me..yes, yes he has it is true, he has had mercy! we are living right now in the continual mercy and grace of our great god and father! through jesus’ death on the cross the most merciful act in all of history was displayed!
my prayer since pashupati has been that the father would continue to have mercy, again and again and again! that he would reveal himself to the millions of people who come through pashupati yearly. that their hearts would be open and their eyes would see the goodness of our god and to his love and sacrifice. would you join me right now and pray for the next 30 seconds or so for these beautiful people who so desperately need to know sweet jesus!

testimony::
a few weeks ago our team was having a time of intercession and one of the girls had a picture of a man dressed all in white wearing a white turban. one of the iris girls was sort of like, good luck...i have never seen a man like that in the five months i have been here. the weeks were passing and our team continued to look for this man as they were out and about in the streets of kathmandu. one day as they were getting out of the car they spotted him!! it was a miracle. they ran up to him and shared with him that the lord had spoken to them to begin to look for him on the street a few weeks ago. the man turned out to be a sadhu and was so encouraged by what the team said, he spent some time with them and welcomed hearing them preach the gospel to him. the sweetest moment came when this sadhu received jesus as his saviour! what an incredible honour for us that jesus allows us to be a part of changing this man's destiny forever! 
jesus is real friends! aslan is on the move and we get to be a part of it! i hope you are encourgaged and hope filled by this and are compelled to pray more boldly for the veil to be lifted off the eyes of the blind and to step out more and share your faith!!

loren km roddam

|| beauty from ashes ||

this morning I found myself driving through the rich green rice fields of the cambodian countryside toward the airport en route to visit my team in kathmandu, nepal.
during my ride, i felt as though the “first world”, my seeming reality, was colliding with the “third world” i was seeped in. i sat reading an email from some of my dearest friends on the latest iphone, in the air conditioned car {which not too surprisingly was too cold for me}, surfing the free international data i have through my american phone plan blah blah blah..and realising just how fortunate my life really is. it wasn’t shocking that my eyes began to sting with tears as I read their email.

during my ride amidst the instagrams and emails i was scrolling through i would look up and my breath would be taken away - the vastness of the rich colour that detailed scene before me.. the bright cornflower blue of the sky above me, dotted with fluffy white clouds, the intensity of the green rice fields barely hinted at the many secrets cambodia holds. BUT with each lingering look and every breath that was taken away i was confronted with the reality of what lay right before me...the amount of needy children, the multitudes who are separated from the crown of all creation..jesus. no amount of beauty can mask or dull the reality that so many children live so hopelessly,  unloved and far from jesus. a tragedy that no earthly beauty can cover up.

but then there is this email, and with it comes a glimmer of hope..andy and rachel, tysen and pax. they are writing to share about how jesus has once again opened the door for them to add another precious korean baby to their beautiful family through adoption. many many moons ago {and something that I haven’t told many people is that} i made a commitment in my heart that there would one day come a time when i would adopt a little girl from cambodia, giving her an opportunity to be a part of a family who hopes, dreams, loves and cherishes one another,  and who will open the door for her to come to know jesus.
with this being my first trip to cambodia and with that hope deep in my heart, i couldn’t help but stop and admire the beauty of each little brown face I passed by..sometimes i would need to fight against the hopelessness that easily seeped in. but then reminders like this email this morning would arise. i am reminded in those moments that not all hope is lost. jesus is raising up a brave dreamers from all over the world to see the much anticipated hope reformation that is about to spring forth.
i have never ceased to be amazed by my two friends in the almost ten years that they have been a part of my life. their friendship alone has made me a better person and the way they are so bravely and faithfully changing the world one adoption at a time blows my mind. my prayer as I was driving this morning was and still is for many more children to be adopted in to homes like theirs. that we would continue to hear and see more children welcomed in to families where they will come to know the one who loves them and has given their life for them. just like andy and rachel have so selflessly done!! 

as these thoughts ran through my mind this morning I was able to reflect on their other two adoptions {boys from korea}, the perseverance, the tears, the disappointments and disillusionment which came with each adoption, paled in comparison to the surpassing joy that comes as they love, hold and cherish their boys for the rest of their lives. the moments that i get to have with them shape me as well, watching tysen as he tries to beat me at uno :) and when i got to meet and squeeze pax for the first time after praying for years for him to come home to his forever family, there is nothing like it.  it is in those moments that we see that it is always worth it. the seeds that were planted eight years ago through prayer, love and perseverance through their first adoption is still bearing fruit today.
andy and rachel are forerunners in seeing international laws change for adoption within korea, they are literally changing the world one adoption at a time. their lives and bravery continue to release hope that one day many more us will see adoption used to make beauty from ashes. 

if you would like to sow into this dream of andy and rachel’s and catch a glimpse of some of the most courageous people i know you can check the millers out here...

loren km roddam

|| a call to hope ||


For the past few years each time I would step foot on a plane or embark on a new journey I would always ask the Lord, “what do you have in store for me through this trip?”

a few years ago I was heading to Taiwan to surprise some of my friends, when I thought to ask this question for the first time. the response somewhat took me by surprise, I felt the Lord say || “I want to give you hope for the future” ||
every journey since then I have asked the Lord this same question and in His faithfulness He would always and immediately respond with the same answer, He wanted to give me “hope”!
recently as I have travelled I have almost avoided asking because I felt that I already knew the response I was going to get, it was clear, He really wanted to instil “hope” in me.

I would think...”hope”??! Hope for what?? It’s always the same thing...isn’t there anything else you could say? something a little more specific maybe??

I found myself Last night boarding a plane from my home in Kona, Hawaii to Honolulu taking me to the first of many international flights that will fly me around the world this summer. As I was waiting to board I was able to reflect on the generosity and lavishness of Jesus throughout my life. If anyone were to ever ask me what I would want to do with my life || my dream job || I would tell them it would have to include || Jesus, people and; travel...and the obvious good coffee, all the while knowing that I will travel to every nation in the world to minister to people and see them brought in to the fullness of who Jesus created them to be || in my younger years I never thought it were possible to attain a life living out my dreams,. In fact I believe most of us live in that lie, including Chuck, the gentleman I sat next to on the plane last night. even before Chuck knew anything about my life he told he wished he could have a job where he was able to travel all over the world...he was so defeated as he told me...believing that it could never happen, his dream was too impossible.

why is it that we think our dreams are so unattainable? that they are something so far away from us that they just taunt us by slipping through our fingers? We then lose all hope of ever seeing our dreams become a reality?? Why do we allow such hopelessness to rule our lives??

I am sitting on a plane as I write this and once again I ask the Lord almost facetiously...”I know you have hope for me here Lord but what else do you have for me in my short time in Taiwan??” But as surely as the sun rises God’s faithfulness is true, and He responds, “hope, I have hope for you there”! and nothing else!
“okay, I guess hope...it is”!

It was then that I picked up the book I am reading. I am in the middle of a chapter about cultivating a dreaming heart. It wasn’t until right then in that moment that everything from the past few years began to make sense to me. Proverbs tells us that “hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a promise fulfilled is a tree of life”!
this was a huge revelation for me. It didn’t matter how many times in my life I have read that proverb it hit me today that that is what the Lord has been trying to tell me over these past few years.
the book is talking about how when our hope is deferred our heart is sick. A sick heart is hopeless, there are no options, we are angry, disappointed, stop dreaming etc. We enter in to survival mode, we expect too little from life...blah blah blah!! I realised that the Lord wants to save me (us) from this.
He never wants me to stop dreaming! He never wants to stop fulfilling the hope that I have!! He delights in it!!! God’s commitment to me (us) is that He will heal my (our) heart and restore me (us) from failures and disappointments! Hope is our destination, it is where God created us to live!! Hope is confident expectation that something will happen. Hope is the sustaining force that helps me (us) in every storm. It is in the moment that we begin to lose hope that our focus and perspective is taken off of Jesus, and is lost.
“dreams are seeded in intimacy, tested in thewilderness and sustained through hope.”

yesterday as I was preparing for this trip that will take me to 8 nations in 7 short weeks (a formerly unattainable dream of mine), some of my closest friends in the world gathered around me to pray and send me off. I received a word about Deborah, a judge in the bible that met with the Israelites under a palm tree who judged and gave them divine wisdom. She was a woman who was hopeful, she believed in and released destiny over people’s lives.
This is exactly what I have been created to do and will get to do over these next few weeks as I visit my teams. I sit here amazed that the message that the Lord has been speaking to me for years finally hit home. Each journey (and so much more of my life) has been a tree of life planted. Each relationship that the Lord has deemed important enough in my life to maintain has been a promise fulfilled. He wants to give me hope that not only do my dreams matter but that the fulfilment of my dreams really change the world and eternity.
 
Let this be a call to have hope and to dream! To be a generation of hope filled dreamers! Let our culture be one who isn’t afraid to Share our dreams with others, a culture who fights to see trees of life planted, dreams fulfilled. Let’s encourage one another, Write down our dreams and stand together in belief that they will and can actually happen. Let’s meditate and pray over the things the Lord is speaking to us and see the world around us come alive.  

loren km roddam

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