Lisa is a Photographer

When I was living in Mexico City, the other people on our little day tours could not figure out WHAT I was taking photographs of. Finally one lady got brave enough to ask me and said, “Lisa, I’ve been watching you, and I can’t figure you out. What are your pictures going to be like?” A little surprised that I’d been scrutinized, I gave my honest answer: “I am following the light.” It was then that I realized that I was in love with the light. Catching it on film was the way to study it and know it. I think the poet in me also suddenly saw that’s what happens when I follow Jesus. I’m just following the light Because it changes everything, and I’m in love with it.

Lisa is an Artist

I’ve had years of art education, but my favorite way of defining an artist is this: Being an artist is not about what you produce with your hands, or even your performance. Being an artist is about how you see the world. When I was still very young, my grandfather would take me on his lap and show me that the trees were not just green, they were this green and that green and a touch of a surprise green. I am grateful that he taught me to see. Artists then spend the rest of their life trying to communicate what they see. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but they keep getting it out of them. Thank God.

Lisa is a Worship Leader

When I moved back to the United States from Mexico City, God began to craft a worship leader out of me, without my awareness or permission. He did it by throwing me into a small outreach to the Spanish speaking community in my new church. I wasn’t even sure I could play piano, and before I knew it, God had pulled all the support out and I was alone, leading a small group of people to sing and pray and call out to God. An unnoticed place, in a language that was not my own and I was still struggling with. But that is how God makes a worshipper. And the only way he can then make a worship leader. It must be all about him, even if no one comes to the service. I have spent many a happy time in a sanctuary empty of people, but full of God. That is the only way I have learned how to then take sanctuary full of people and find the full heart of God.

Lisa is a Youth Leader

Being a youth leader was never in my life plan, but I am glad it’s part of my identity now. There are so many young people out there who just need us to be real. I was terrified with my first youth group. I hope that makes you all go out and find a teenager and have a good silly time with them. Bubbles, books, giant smiley balls (see Fred’s story), it all works. As long as you’re real and not trying to be anything. God is the one who trains a good youth leader, because really without God we can’t help anyone else beyond our own reach. When life gets too serious, I go hang out with some youth and we play with our food. It’s good for you, but don’t tell my mother!

Lisa is a Song Writer

In my struggle with learning music, I never had any inclination to write songs. So it was a great surprise to me to find that my time at the piano was producing things that were not written down. Things I couldn’t stop playing. Songs that were healing me and helping me. But I prayed and asked God: Why aren’t you giving me words for these songs? His answer: “If I gave you the words first, you’d think you wrote the songs. I’m giving you the music first, while you are still a child in your learning, so that you will know it came from me.” As I’ve grown in my knowledge of his language, the words have come too, and are that great mix of his heart poured out through mine. The songs belong to him, though he crafts them through me if I’m willing to receive them. They continue to heal me first, and then others as I share.

Lisa is a Poet

So many people say they don’t understand poetry. I’ve always loved words and how they could open up whole new worlds. For me, poetry is part of finding a new world. My favorite moment in the movie Contact is when Jodie Foster is seeing the universe, and, as a scientist she exclaims, “They should have sent a poet!” Poets use words as paint…every word is precious and adds a new color...Gladys Hunt says: “Life is enriched by what poets notice.” (see her book: Honey For a Woman’s Heart: Growing Your World Through Reading Great Books)

Lisa is a Kid Magnet

Put me in a room with a bunch of adults and one child, the child will inevitably find me. And we’ll have a great conversation. Maybe it’s because I’m really a kid on the inside. But I’ve tested this out: I’ve tried to ignore them, and well, they find me out pretty soon. I think they can tell which adults know how great the world is when seen through a child’s eyes. Given a choice, you’ll find me drawing at the kitchen table with them rather than talking like a grown-up in the living room. It’s a good way to live.

Lisa is a Musician

Of all the definitions of who I am, this one is both the most difficult to explain and the most wonderful to describe. I grew up taking piano lessons for ten years, but I knew I was just a mediocre musician. I could learn the song for the recital, but three weeks later couldn’t play it. It was ten years later that I sat at the piano again, and asked God to help me. I really wanted to play again. He began to teach me that there are many doors into the language of music. I had just been using the wrong door. Suddenly, music came alive. It was like I’d been using the wrong ingredients in a favorite recipe from grandma, and wondering why it wasn’t working. Suddenly I could communicate, learn, listen, and create in this language. It was a humble moment, since I knew I didn’t bring anything to that table. So I know, that without God I am really just a mediocre musician. But with him, there is nothing of that language that I can’t understand.

Lisa is a Cat Lady

In the deep south, they tell the stories of Hobos who would mark the houses. A drawing of a dagger meant: “Don’t stop here! They won’t welcome you!” A drawing of a cat would mean: “You can get a good meal here.” Over the years, anyone who knows me can say that I have been marked. It doesn’t matter what country I am in, the cats find me. They come to my door and have kittens. And by some crazy plan in the heart of God, I have all the skills necessary for taming cats. Patience, gentleness, and the ability to laugh at cat hair on your clothes all the time seem to be the primary skills. The way I figure it, some of you out there are not doing your share, which is why God has to double, I mean quadruple, my fair share of caring for the needy cats in the world. My father would just say I’ve been marked.

Lisa is a Tupperbaby

From the womb I have known how to burp a piece of Tupperware®, know exactly how many leftovers will fit in the container at hand, and can match tops and bottoms. All because Mom was TupperSalesLady and made sure I knew the product. So even though I gained a nickname and played with it more than toys, I never sold it. But you should see our cupboards. Who knows which piece of Tupperware is in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City? (No, not in the Lost ‘n Found, displayed in the Industrial Design section.) ...scroll down for answer

Lisa is a Painter

I tried to paint once in middle school. It was a mushy mess of layers of oil paint that took weeks to dry in the attic where I banned it. I tried watercolor and decided I wasn’t free enough. I loved pastels because I could be messy and make any color I could dream of. But I knew I was not a painter. I could draw, I could make things pretty on a page, and I could write. But one day at the NY Warwick CFO camp, I found myself reaching for the watercolor paints. Suddenly, years of how it was supposed to work came from inside of me where I had tucked them away in some mild frustration and resignation. I painted, and part of me was a child experiencing something without boundaries. Then shock of all shocks someone wanted to buy it. I said no, because it meant something to me. I needed to keep it as a reminder that I am a painter.

Lisa is an Adventurer

Oh, what a glorious day when I finally stopped fighting the idea that God was going to keep sending me on adventures! I began to see detours as the main attraction! I caught moments of beauty that wouldn’t be picked up on anyone’s radar. Those moments shape my favorite memories now. So if Lisa is off on an adventure, you can be sure that there will be a great story of not only unusuall moments, but God showing up. I like it when He does. Life as a follower of Jesus Christ is the best adventure I’ve ever been on.

Lisa is an Exhorter

All the youth in my youth groups know this word now. I am their definition of what an exhorter is! Most adults have forgotten what it’s supposed to mean. It means to fan the flame of someone’s faith and purpose! We are the cheerleaders of the Body of Christ: You can do it! We watch for those moments when you need to have someone come alongside you and find something good in what you did, even if you can’t see it. The real secret is that the exhorter in me is happiest when I’m exhorting. It’s a pretty good deal for all of us!

Lisa is a Storyteller

I spent my formative years reading anything I could get my young hands on. I escaped to the most fantastic of worlds, and often didn’t want to come back. My happiest weekend was spent in a book. I always thought I would write books. I didn’t realize I’d live them first. When I stand up to talk to a group of young people, I can see the story they are in. And we talk about that story and then the exhorter in me fans the flame of their storyline. Then the artist in me begins to paint the possibilities for them. And the poet helps them notice something they hadn’t seen before. A storyteller is a composite, rather like a chameleon, who can enter anybody’s reality and help find the way through it. The storyteller knows that in a story, there is not always a happily ever after, but there is always the chance for redemption.