To The Next Stage.

I need to be packing, GOOD GRACIOUS, I need to pack. But as normal, I am a procrastinator and things do not get done the way that I plan them out (buying season 7 of Supernatural doesn't help the cause). However, I will get this done by Saturday. Right now I am just sailing along until the 5th of October where I will be moving back to good ol' Jamesville.

This is a plan that excites me and yet I know I'm leaving behind a lot of good friends here at the Outer Banks. Though I don't think the move is a bad thing I just know that there are people here I have really grown to care about and it will be hard to leave them but it will be nice to spend some time with these guys:

Well tomorrow will come and maybe I'll find the motivation to pack up most everything I own and get back to these people you see in the picture above at least for a good while. Also...could you be praying that I find a way to make some money while I live with dear mom and dad? I may be a 22 year old about to live with her parents again but I know that I ain't gonna be mooching off of them. So thanks for saying a lil' prayer for me :)

So on to another day of work.

All to God

People of Peace

People have been on my mind lately. No specific person or group of people but my heart has been full with how much we are all really walking through this life together and how different we are. I know that there are people in this world that are not good people, as in they have bent their hearts in the direction that Satan leads them to believe. That is not me saying that anyone who does not believe in God or Jesus are bad people. I have met wonderful people who do not necessarily believe in these things.

But back to my point, people in general have been on my heart. How we relate, work, believe, support, and love each other has been the focus of my attention lately. Media will turn our attention to incredible things such as anti-America rallies across Northern Africa in the Muslim world. But somehow in my small little dreamworld of a brain I can see it.....you know...I can see people looking at one another with joyous, not opposing, grateful eyes.

I can see the small gestures of one stranger to another doing a kindness in the grocery store when they mistook that $20 for a $50 and pitches in to make sure that person had what they needed. Or simply forgiving someone face to face for a trespass that has weighed heavy on the relationship. I can see it, I have seen it, I want to be an advocate for peace as a soldier for Christ as ironic as that might sound. Because people are worth it.

In reality humanity will never get tired of torturing one another. We will never just look peace in the face and say "it's your turn to reign."

Brother against brother, mother against daughter, father against son.
We will never stop destroying until all damage is done.
And only then when we have nothing left,
We will say, "imagine if peace would have won."

We are people, if we have nothing else in common it is that we all must walk this earth at the mercy of it's happenings. Also, though there are those who do not believe in the same way that I do, I know that there will come a day when peace will reign and it will win because the Prince of Peace is faithful. That's enough to make a person's soul stir, it's enough to bring a tear to my eye. It's enough to make me want to share this peace with others, because people matter...they just do.

"All will be made new....." Hallelujah.

All to God

Making Good On A Promise

One of the most debilitating things to the human soul is fear. Fear is this big stupid monster that charms us into things like exaggerating, justifying, rejecting, or avoiding, and a whole lot more. This monster not only invades when something is physically alarming like riding a roller coaster, or flying in an airplane, but it also invades when we are challenged with something we feel uncomfortable with.

Unfortunately fear infiltrates how we share our faith, how we live our faith, and how we make our faith known to others. Fear is one of the biggest tools that Satan can use to shut our mouths. It is a tool that can be used to steer our lively faith into an outwardly dull action hidden away underneath the cloak that we accept from the world.

It isn't love, it isn't wholly faith, it isn't trust, it isn't submission, it is very much the opposite of Christ-like courage. 

Take the cup you knew you would have to drink.

God has blessed me with beautiful non-Christian friends this summer and I have been adamant about letting them understand what it is I really believe. It has helped in reaffirming my faith, and refining my faith as well as my trust and submission. They have received the words I have spoken with openness and fairness, and with legitimate questions. They have blessed me even without knowing it, they are wonderful people.

So go try and warm the chill that fear brings on our faith, talk to the Father that he might give you instances to shine his glory on someone else. Don't let the darkness of fear become the light of your reasoning, or be stronger than it's lion of a counterpart; courage. It's your cup, you accepted it, as did I, as did Jesus. 

Let's do this.

All to God  

And Go Be It

Right now my desktop background is not a picture of Bosnia, anything in or around the place itself. Right now my desktop background is something that meets me right here, right where I am. For a while every time I would open my computer I would see a lovely picture of something from my days in the good ol' Balkans reminding me of where I want to be, why I want to be there, and the memories that remain.

But last night I changed that photo to one I didn't take myself and with words that I did not write. It is blunt, still reminds me where I should be and what I should do but it resonates. My love for the band who wrote these lyrics is not part of the equation (theyaremyultimatefavorite). So here it is, what I currently open my computer and see every time:

The Avett Brothers say it simple and plain (they sing it even better). This simplistic reminder is a great way to get my brain working; I've decided what to be, so why don't I just go be it? Well of course there is more to this than just being it, but the determination to reach the goal and be it, is most important to me. Many people waver about what they want to be and accomplish in life. This sounds good, but this sounds better, but what is our gift? What would help me or you or the person sitting next to you be it? What is our God-given gift or passion that becomes the catalyst to just being it.

What have you decided to be? How are you intending to be it? Because somehow I believe we never stop becoming who we want to be but the journey is there and in the journey we are being it.

All to God

Cloudy

I love reading the Bible. I love reading it for many reasons; it's the inspired and guiding Word of God from God for us, it's legitimate history, It tells us how and why Jews and Gentiles alike received salvation, it shows us how to live consistent Christian lives, and so much more.

Reading through Genesis, I have enjoyed the story, the history, and also what is left to my imagination. Like, who else may have been created soon after Adam and Eve, what went on in Isaac's mind when he found out that Abraham was about to slaughter him, how weird it must have been when Jacob came out holding Esau's ankle.

Of course none of what is left to my imagination is essential to the plan of salvation and thus whatever my suspicions may uncover, and if they are even correct assumptions they are not essential to the ultimate reason the story is laid out like it is.

And people don't seem to understand that.

People get hung up on why the Scriptures don't tell us more about the other people at the beginning of time. Or whatever happened to Joseph? Why do we need to know about Joseph if it wasn't important to the salvation plan. I'm sure Joseph was a wholesome man, probably a fine father and husband, but Jesus belonged in the limelight because he is the fulfillment. 

But I do like to imagine the different things in and around the story, however I don't let it cloud the wonderful truth that is the story of salvation. Because the story itself is enthralling enough, I mean it's only the history of how no matter what...we win...because Jesus did, and that's wonderful.

All to God

Fall Brings Change

Summer is fading, those days of sandy toes, wet bathing suits, fruity smoothies, and all that lie within is going with the birds about to migrate south. To some (like the school children) are not so happy about these things fluttering away. However, there is something about the coming fall weather that seems intimate. Something that makes blankets and coffee, movies and food, and some other third thing, really inviting.

It's a change that gets me excited for the holiday seasons, family gatherings, and the different things that fall brings. To me it is a welcome change. Of course I am never satisfied and at some point in this season I will probably be complaining about how chilly it's getting.

Nevertheless, this season has always brought about a more focused side of me. Hopefully it will bring about something different from this fleeting summer. This summer has been helpful in many ways, but I do feel that there is something new or at least something bigger that needs to happen or that will happen. I know that my focus this fall needs to be emphasized on support raising, not on some job I'm holding.

Ironically money-making is a distracting factor in support raising, and a distracting factor in purpose. This fall season I pledge to make my purpose more apparent even within myself. I wish to make this seasonal change a change within my focus...my focus on the temporary to the immovable, unshakable commission and how I play a role in that with the passion I find in my heart for global ministry.

So in this season of change I implore you, to be a part of this ministry. Pray, give, send words of encouragement, tell your church about this, be in this part of life with me and be an essential part of life as we know it here on earth for the Kingdom.

Bring on the season of change.

All to God.