The Journey Has Just Begun

I’m sitting in the airport reflecting on the past 9 weeks (I was sitting in the airport when I wrote this, posting a little late) and could not be even a little bit happier than I am right now. I have so many emotions right now; so sad to be leaving this beautiful country, overjoyed to be headed home to see Kat, my family, and my friends, and so filled with joy and happiness.

We do things that we like, we do things that make us happy. We all want to get the most out of our lives. In the process of getting the most out of our lives our intentions get clouded with things we think we need to accomplish that goal. Money, success, school, image, and security sneak themselves into our minds to give us a false image of happiness. I don’t think we intentionally do this, society and culture promote it and I think it’s human nature to follow society. What defines ‘happiness’ and how does God’s plan fit into all of this?

Doing mission work we think we’re going places to help the helpless and be beacons of Christ’s love. I guess in a small small way we do this, or at least try to do this. What happens is almost the opposite of that. Who is more helpless, a man with 6 figure job that doesn’t have the time for his kids and wife, who works like a dog at a desk or the man who would never trade the time he spends with his family and those close to him for an extra 10 hours of work a week? There are definitely arguments to each side and that only answer is that there is no 100% correct answer.

We come to opinions in our live based on experiences, this summer I experienced a people so rich in love and culture. In essence, I experienced life in it’s truest form. When you boil life down to the bare minimum and slow down enough to hear the voice of the Lord, you are truly living. The quote my buddy Matthew (actually Jesus) “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?” (Matt. 6:25)

I have a new family, a family that loves me tremendously and whom I love equally as much back. A family that drops what they’re doing to throw me a surprise party on my last morning with everything including a piñata. I have learned so much more than I taught, been given more than I gave, and have been served more than I served. I am undoubtedly a stronger listener, leader and lover. I have been loved so well and I fully intend to take that love home with me.

So, my friends the journey has just begun. Life is a journey and it never ends and it never ceases to be beautiful. I’m ready for the next chapter in my life. Thank you everyone who prayed this summer for me and for Nicaragua. Thank you to all of the friends I made this summer that came to El Ayudante. Thank you for your hearts and your time. (Special shoutout to Will Henke, keep Franklin ‘rich’.) My heart is so amazingly full.

So much love,

B-rad

I don’t ever plan on having a real job…

It’s been a while, I’m sorry! I’ve been super busy down here in my second home!

I have a wicked imagination, if you know me, you know that could be an understatement. My brain has the retention of a goldfish I think. I am constantly looking for new ideas and places to go. This summer has very much changed my opinions on life, work, and travel. Mom and Dad, I’m sorry that the whole summer internship/class/job thing isn’t what I look for.

Most kids my age are starting to act like adults, boooooooooo. Here’s the thing, I’ve got literally my whole life to be a grown up. I want to work and have a job but I just want to do it in different countries where my salary may look a little different and involve food and a bed. God has blessed me with an amazing family that’s nothing but supportive of my want to do mission work and a girlfriend that is willing to FaceTime me from around the world.

Money is important and doing well in school is important and doing stuff to gain connections in the “business world” is important. It may be that I’m naive but that stuff just isn’t at the top of my priority list. I have began to scratch the surface of idea that relationships and following God’s plan is more important.

I believe that God has called me to a life in missions in some capacity. I don’t really know what He wants but I know it’s not sitting at a desk selling things to people and wearing a tie and looking at a screen from 9-5 everyday. I want to do what God wants and I think that is to make relationships and learn from people who have less material things. From what I’ve learned from the people here in Nicaragua family, friends and relationships are what make you rich.

That being said I’ve spent the better part of this summer thinking about what that is going to look like next summer. I just have an itch to go to some remote jungle and hang out with people. I have no idea how that is going to happen but I am looking and praying. (If anyone knows an non-profit Christian organizations around the world that will feed me and put me in a bed in exchange for work hmu.)

I think that while living out what the Lord wants, you never work. It may feel like work sometimes when it gets hard or uncomfortable but that usually only lasts for a little bit. When you slow down and see Jesus working in people the feeling of work disappears and the feeling of living, truly living comes.

When I say I don’t want to be a grown up I don’t mean that I don’t want responsibility or a family or to be mature. I think you can have all the benefits of being an adult while having the faith and excitement of a child. I want to glorify God and I don’t think that making myself unhappy by doing something I don’t want to do is glorifying God.

I was so inspired to hear that Francis Chan left his church, comfort bubble, and home to follow was God was calling him to do. He packed up and moved to Asia to be a missionary. Just like that, his life changed and I’m sure a lot of people didn’t understand what he was doing but he must have had the faith of a child and the adventurous spirit of a kid to do that.

This is kind of all random and not very organized or whatever but that goes to show that my mind is a little off. To sum it up, I want to live out God’s plan for me by loving people and loving Him. Right now, I feel that to do that my life may look a little different than most kids my age. I have nothing against money, business success, or 401K’s, I just don’t think that’s the life that God has planned for me.

Much love, can’t wait to be back in the States and see everyone (except I kinda can wait lol),

For real though, Love God Love People.

B-Rad

Love Your Neighboor

I’m back!

First, I just want to say thank you for reading these posts, the fact that there are people out there who care enough about me and my adventures is a beautifully humbling truth. My life is good, really good (in a Nacho Libre accent). Life here in Nicaragua is everything I’ve ever hoped for and more. The things that the Lord is doing through the teams that come here and the staff here at El Ayudante is incredible and a testament that God is good, all the time and all over the world.

I keep being reminded of a simple truth that encompasses what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. That is to love God, and to love people. This is the most important thing we can do as Christians. Going to church and learning theology is important but I’m a fan of keeping it simple. God put us in community with other human beings so that we can love each other and help them love God more, too. This is what Jesus said was our most important commandment.

Without sounding egotistical, I believe that the Lord has blessed me with a gift to make friends very quickly and even more so than that, I have been given an open soul. I love to make friends and I love to get into deep issues very early on in a relationship. I can’t focus well in school and I can’t do a lot of other great things but one thing I can do is love people and the only reason I am able to love is because the One who created me loved me first. Without the love of Christ, we are hopeless and without the love we receive from others we are bound to a life that is less than what God planned for us.

I’ve had the amazing opportunity to meet a LOT of people here, Nicaraguans, Americans and all sorts of people. This past week, a team from Huntsville, Alabama was here and it really hit me that ministry isn’t building houses and giving away food. Ministry, in its simplest form in making relationships. I made friends that God willing, can be lifelong friendships. I came to the realization that people are people and everyone has the same type of issues and Christ calls us to love and to love well. Big shoutout to Huntsville for diving into serious friendships with me and the people here, not knowing them at all when they arrived. It’s an incredible picture of what life should be like.

To all my friends stateside and around the world, slow down. Slow down enough to see the people that God has placed in your life at this moment and make some dang friends. Slow down and breath in the air that’s in front of you. Don’t worry about the future or the past( Big Al), love the life you live and trust the God that created you and life will work itself out.

Much love,

B-rad

Some Things I’ve Learned

Living in a different country gives you a pretty awesome perspective on life. Most of which, I can’t even begin to put into words but I will try my best!

1. God is at work all over the world. America isn’t the only place where christians live and people here love Jesus…a lot.

2. People are awesome. Relationships are the building blocks of life and here in Nica, they’re way more important than in the states. Whether it be a stranger on a public bus or a stranger on the street people here are, in my opinion, are more friendly than in the US. Everyone talks to everyone, buses and taxis are quiet like they are back home. Everyone talks to everyone and everyone helps everyone. I have a trust for everyone I meet here even if it is just some guy I’m sitting next to on a bus. 

3. Time really isn’t as important here. People would trade a conversation, meal, or hanging out over being on time to everything. “Nica time” is a real thing and it’s awesome. No one is too busy to help or too busy to be with family. Schedules are suggested and nothing goes as planned and yet there is ALWAYS enough time in the day to get everything done. 

4. Ministry is ministry. Groups come here every week and we get to help them as they help people here. Meeting folks that are giving up time from jobs, vacation, or a million other things is great and I get to make a new set of friends with every group that comes in. 

5. I’ve still never had a real boss. In the two jobs I’ve had in my life both of my bosses have been so much more than a boss. Working for my grandpa’s business is a fancy way of saying that I get to hang out with him all day and we also work. Working for Vanessa here at El Ayudante is like working for an angel in the flesh. She is like a mother to me and is the sweetest soul. She teaches me about ministry, Spanish, and loving folks while joking about everything and treating me like a son.

6. Going to bed at 8:30 is ok. I’ve woken up at 6:30 for like 2 and a half weeks now and I get tired and sleep is cool.

7. Also, to go along with that, construction work, playing with kids and helping coordinate teams is really tiring.

8. Culture is key. People here have their own way of life and it’s beautiful and it’s really cool to not be a tourist and soak in as much culture as possible. With that comes a large growth in the size of my comfort zone. Packing 200 people on a bus is something that everyone should try and living life with no fear of embarrassment (talking in spanish) makes everything way cooler.

9. Loving people thousands of miles and hours away is hard. Just because I’m lovin life doesn’t mean I don’t miss people tremendously. I miss my family, girlfriend, and friends a lot but I know that those relationships are only getting stronger and firmer. 

10. Happiness is a choice. People here don’t have a whole lot and they’re 13723457896 times happier than a lot people I know, including myself. Pretty coooooool if you ask me.

There’s a lot of stuff missing but I’ll think of it eventually. I’m growing a ton and I feel like this is exactly where I’m supposed to be. Learning to be joyful no matter what and being a professional “hanger out” are some things that I’ve always worked really hard at and this is perfect place to grow those qualities. 

Shoot me an email or text or something. I like to talk. 

Peace, love, & Nica,

B-rad

P.S. here’s a pic of some of a real cool group of folks from the good ole ATL, it was awesome meeting them and becoming great friends with them in just a week

s time.

Week 1 Down

Today marks the end of the first week here at El Ayudante. I have been blessed to say the least. Thanks to a great staff and some great other interns, I’ve settled in quite nicely and already I feel at home. It’s been so awesome to have students from Peachtree Road UMC here as well as a team from Hyde Park UMC from Tampa. Together the teams built 6 houses in two different communities and touched countless people.

The love and support from Vanessa and the staff here has been incredible. This makes me so excited for the rest of the summer. Two more teams are coming tomorrow and we’ll have another busy, hard, and fulfilling week here in the always beautiful Nicaragua.

I pray that I can become more like the people here everyday. The love they have for each other and their relationships never ceases to amaze me. I love how nothing is as important to them as that. Time isn’t an issue, miscommunications are overlooked, and anger never lasts between the people here. As I lay here in my hammock listening to bugs and birds singing along side of churches around me nothing much matters and I don’t really want anything to matter.

From Nica with love,

B-rad

Sleep easy fam!

Mi primera correo en NIca

That means my first post from Nicaragua!

It was a beautiful Sunday here in Nica, I woke up to a thousand birds singing and roosters crowing. We had the opportunity to go to a church that a team here helped build and listen to a sermon from a wonderful pastor. We also spent a lot of time playing with the local kids at the church. It’s so fun meeting all the folks that are giving a week or so of their time to share God’s love to the people here! This week we have a team from Hyde Park UMC and a team from Peachtree Road UMC, a total of 78 people staying with us at El Ayudante this week. That makes for a VERY full house. I am excited to get to know as many of the team members as I can this week.

We took the HCN (HCN is the orphanage here on the campus) to the pool and play with them for a while. One thing that stuck out to me today however, came from a kid I met at the church. The Hyde Park team brought snacks and juice for the kids and one of the little boys tried to give me one of his cookies and I about lost it! He was so giving and selfless even though he has almost nothing! I pray that I can learn from him as well as all the friends I meet down here.

Stay tuned for more updates on life here!

Mucho amor y Dios te bendiga!

B-Rad

Day 1

It’s finally here, the day I’ve been waiting for ever since I got the call that I had been accepted to serve as an intern at El Ayudante in Leon, Nicaragua. I thank God for this amazing opportunity, Kat for letting me go (jk), and also my family for funding and encouraging me to do this. I love you all and will miss home very much. I know that God will bless this time away, though. Pray for me, so that I may have stamina and safety throughout this summer. More importantly, pray for the people of Nicaragua, they stole my heart when I was 12 and I’m so excited to bring the word of God to them. 

I’ll be posting on this blog as often as I can to tell the stories of the amazing events that I’m sure will occur. 

Much love, 

B-rad

Conversations

Friends,

I just wrote almost a full blog and then erased the entire thing cause I had a better idea. LOL. Probably shouldn’t have done that because there’s a save button. Anyways, here we are. It’s not going to be too long so bear with me. Y’all are actually the greatest for reading this.

I try to keep these less “preachy” and more just regular writing but I have to talk about prayer today. Prayer is the most powerful weapon we have and the hardest thing to be good at.

Lets define prayer: prayer is talking to the Guy who made us, it’s petitioning our requests to the Lord, it’s begging for souls to be won over from darkness, it’s a last resort for some, and it’s the first thing done for some. YOU, yes you, pray everyday. Even if you don’t call yourself a Christian or any other religion. All those times you’re “talking to yourself” yeah that’s prayer, you just don’t know who it’s directed to! So that’s a great start, now we have to understand why we pray.

We pray because Jesus prayed, mainly. We also pray because we believe that there’s someone out there listening. We pray because somewhere deep down inside our souls we know that we aren’t able to accomplish what we want to see done. Well what you may or may not know is that God is so able to do anything and He calls us to talk through life with him. He is our Father right? I like talk to my Dad so why wouldn’t I want to talk to my heavenly Dad?

Why is prayer so hard? I think that God is a concept that is so large and tough for us to wrap our heads around. This makes it really weird and awkward to talk to him. I sometimes feel like I’m talking to air, not a deity that encompasses everything in the known world. God is so big that it seems almost impossible for him to have a personal relationship with 7 billion people. The good news is that all those aforementioned things that make prayer hard are FALSE! God IS huge, but He still wants to talk to you and have a personal relationship with you. In fact, God wants you to pray to Him even if you’re not a “christian”. The awkwardness also goes away because as we begin to pray more we begin to know God more. It’s a pretty simple idea, the first time you talk to Joe in class it’s really awkward but it gets less and less awkward every time right?

Another reason why prayer is hard is because many times our prayers seem unanswered. If our prayers don’t roll over to what we were asking, it sure seems like they weren’t answered. This is a tough concept. God hears everything we ask Him and sometimes He doesn’t answer our prayers like we want Him to. When James and Peter were arrested by Ceaser the Jews were praying EARNESTLY for their lives. James was killed and Peter was saved by an angel. Why wasn’t James saved, too?  This seems really unfair. Peter went on to be arguably the most influential Christian of all time, becoming the first Pope and being the rock that God built His church on. God’s timing is perfect and His reasoning for everything is just and fair.

I encourage all of you to pray and to pray hard. It’s not easy and it’s not always fun either. Prayer isn’t the preparation for the battle, it is the battle. ( I didn’t come up with that quote.) It’s our greatest weapon and it can be as easy and having a conversation.

I also would ask you to pray for Nicaragua. They have had some pretty terrible earthquakes in the past week and it is beginning to look like bad news as far as more to come and volcanic activity. Pray for my summer there, that my heart would be prepared for the things I will do and the people I will meet.

Mucho Amor,

B-Rad

Waffle House Joy

Waffle House consists of some of the greatest things this earth has ever seen. For one, it has bacon. Bacon is good. Second, it has waffles. Now combine the two and some other delicious treats and you have what is quite possibly my favorite meal on God’s green earth. Now, you may be thinking to yourself, ‘Bradley, tell me what this famed meal is!’ Well today is your lucky day because the best meal you can possibly get at Waffle House is something that isn’t on the menu. It’s joy. Pure Joy.

“But Bradley, I thought you were talking about the All Star Breakfast with a waffle, white toast, eggs scrambled light with cheese, hashbrowns covered, and bacon.” Yes, that is what I was actually talking about. BUT, joy is seen and received by every costumer that goes into a 65 degree, dirty, and most likely failing health score Waffle House. I can’t remember the last time I stuffed my face there and wasn’t amazed at the joy my servers or the cooks had.

These may seem a strange combination of things to write about but I think that there is a mystery here. People wonder how it is the amazing employees have the stamina and strength to work a 14 hour day and still be so darn happy all the time. How do those cooks remember everything that the waitress seem to scream into what seems like busy ears?

I think what this boils down to is the false relation between money and happiness that our culture so adamantly throws upon us. We look at people who might not have a lot of money and assume that they did something wrong to put themselves in that situation. This may be true for a lot of people but I don’t think it’s fair to assume that for people. In my experience, the poorest people I have ever seen have had more joy than anyone that lives in my gated “American Dream” community.

I’ve been so lucky to spend a lot of time in the beautiful of Nicaragua and I’ve seen kids playing their hearts out screaming and laughing with something that we would throw in the trash. I can remember on numerous occasions giving little girls bracelets made out of rubber bands and they accept it like it was the featured bracelet on the cover of Vogue  magazine. I’ve seen mothers sweep the dirt as we walk into their homes, trying to make what they have look as nice as they can. They take pride in floors made of dirt. They take pride in rubber bands. We cower behind our cars that are dented and old. We feel poor when we don’t have a finished basement. We feel like a wedding ring for less than $5000 is cheap!

I’ve learned a lot of things from my Dad, and I’ve seen myself become more and more like him as I’ve grown up. One of the things my Dad does is sit at the bar at Waffle House and talk to the staff and make real relationships with the people he meets there. When he walks in the Waffle House in my home town everyone working knows him and says “Hey Brad, you want the usual?” I think that’s pretty cool. It’s cool because these folks are buying into the people they serve and I genuinely believe that it’s not to get a big tip. My dad has watched and become friends with countless employees and seen them work their tails off to accomplish their goals. He knows one young lady who works all day and takes classes all night so that she can be a nurse. He knows a cook that has been at the same Waffle House for as long as I can remember and they have become great friends.

So, I’ve been thinking about starting this sort of thing. Last week I went into waffle house by myself and sat at the bar and tried to get to know some folks. My server Niki was on the 13th hour of her shift and was still as bubbly as a sorority girl on bid day. She told me about her baby squirrels that she rescued (and was keeping in the back room, probably pretty sanitary). We talked about the regulars that come in and how they make her laugh and how they annoy her. I walked out of that restaurant feeling hopeful for people. I sometimes get bogged down about all the bad things in the world but I walked out that place and thought to myself ‘you know what, we all ought to be like waffle house people’.

I don’t know who’s going to read this and I don’t know everyones’ story but I do know that God’s love gives us great joy (Philemon 1:7). God also calls us to hang out with other people who are also doing life. Which is everyone, in case you forgot! We can’t forget to do this and help each other out (Hebrews 10:24-25) because we’re all sharing the same life waiting and praying for the day Jesus returns.

I leave you with this quote that some chick on the internet said, “You should eat a waffle! You can’t be sad if you eat a waffle!” That’s pure gold folks. Eat waffles and makes friends with the folks that cook those waffles.

Love and waffles,

Bradley “I spend way to much money at Waffle House” Carr

Living By a Standard

So, I’m back. I was so amazed at how many people looked at my last post! To be completely honest I didn’t think that many people would look at it. I was picturing my Mom and Dad raving on and on about it and being the only people that saw it… I hope and pray that God has shown up in your lives since the last time I posted. God has shown up in my life in many many ways and I’ve got a lot to write about and give thanks for so I think you should all lean in and listen because what God is doing is pretty incredible.

One of the biggest reasons I started this blog is so that it will be established before this summer. I have the incredibly awesome opportunity to be an intern at El Ayudante in Nicaragua this summer. I’m literally forgetting about things I have to do in my daily life because I’ve been thinking about it so much. I’ve been praying constantly for God to show up and pave the road for me this summer. There will be HUGE things done this summer and I can’t wait to write them all down and soak everything I can in.

The reason why I mentioned that is because, like I said, I’m forgetting to do things because I’ve been thinking about it so much. One of those “things” that I kind of tend to forget about is school. I’ve been struggling a bunch with school ever since I got to college and once I got involved with Young Life it made it even harder to do well in school. I never really understood why it was harder to study when I made the transition from the big time partier to a more Christ filled person. You’d think that it would be the opposite right? Like, I don’t go out or drink like every day anymore so I should study. The thing is, when I was filled with the Holy Spirit ( /refilled with the Holy Spirit after drifting away) I came into the realization that my life is meant to be so much more than a freaking test or homework assignment. My life is God’s primarily, the people with whom I share it with secondly, and then my own. 

I know what you’re thinking. Ok Bradley this is real good excuse for you to fail all of your tests and not study and be able to blame it on something good. ATTENTION: I don’t think it is right to not try hard (Colossians 3:23). I fully believe that school and other things besides ministry (work, play, etc.) are important and I think that it is right to work hard because that glorifies the One who gave us those gifts. 

God created us all so differently and Jesus came and died for every different person. Some people are a lot better at hanging out with high school kids than taking test (MEEEE). If I’m being honest, I’m totally cool with that. I have the assurance of Christ that I am smart and that I am worthy of what He has in store for me. I don’t need to have the assurance of anything else besides that to be joyful and grateful. I watch some of my friends and people I don’t know feel miserable and waste great opportunities because they are working so hard to please a teacher or their parents by getting that “A”. I don’t think that it’s unfaithful to work really hard. I’m not going to claim to be the best studier or study a ton, but I think that the amount of work I put into school isn’t too little. On one hand, I don’t have a 4.0 by any means but on the other hand, I get to spend a ton of time with high school kids, college kids, and adults all going through life and I get to help people and be helped by people everyday. 

I don’t recall anywhere in the Bible where it says, “Thou shall make all A’s”. God calls us all to work hard at what we’re doing and to bring glory to Him over everything. This is such a difficult concept for us to grab in our culture today. Our culture tells us, especially as students that the only way to be successful in the world to make an A on that Bio test, or to really write a great paper. Our culture tells us that success in school is the only way to get a good job. Our culture tells us that a good job is the only way to be happy. These are great big lies. God calls us to be obedient and to abide in Him to find joy. Joy trumps happiness everyday of the week and God provides for those who trust in Him. Jesus told us to look at the flowers in all their beauty, how much more important are we to Him? How much more will God give to us if we just trust in Him and measure ourselves on His scale?

All this being said, go and work hard my friends! Work hard for the kingdom always glorifying God. If that is killin it at school, then make a 4.0. If it’s being an average student and still working hard at it, then work hard and make C’s! I want to encourage all of us to be ever mindful of God’s scale and measure ourselves on it only. Remember that you are different and have different strengths than everyone else. Above all, we are all the heirs to the throne of God and we can take faith in that and hold ourselves to that standard!

Much Love,

Bradley 

Shout out to Vince and Dixon because they asked for it.