worst post ever.

Yes, this is a horrible blog posting. However, I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I followed through with it regardless. I drove by Winn Dixie today, and the check mark really bothers me. Bothers me so much I wrote a blog about it. I need either: the short part of the check mark to not be 10 times as fat as the long part, or to be longer. One of the two. Please Mr. Dixie.

Dreamer.

"Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger, A brotherhood of man...
Imagine all the people, sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer, But I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one"

David Archuleta is my favorite American Idol contestant this season... partly because of the songs he chooses.

We're in this together.

I have found that some of Satan's biggest tools in our lives are shame and feeling alone. Some of our deepest struggles, we feel alone in. It's easy to look at others and decide they seemingly have it together. But if we rid ourselves of pride, of insecurities, so that we are real, so that we could start something different in our community, so that darkness would no longer exist, so that deep struggles would be brought to the light, in order for freedom to be had, in order for authentic community to exist, in order for us to grasp the truthfulness of this statement:
"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man." 1 Corinthians 10:13
There is freedom in knowing that we are not alone in our battles. If there had been no Rehab in the story of Joshua, how different would the story be? Those individuals we are surrounded by are present for a reason. We are all in this together.

Trusting.

"For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened." Matthew 7:8

Am I the only one that has a difficult time completely trusting these words? Doesn't this call me to have full confidence that if I ask, I will receive? If these people that I care about so much are seeking answers and seeking to discover who the Lord is, they WILL find. I often times find myself doubting this. But today, I find myself trusting.

My heart.

I cannot look at this picture without smiling. I can't look at any pictures of my students without smiling. I hope there is something that does the same thing to you. Before this summer, yes, I loved people... but never like this. If you haven't found that place makes your heart beat a little faster when you remember it, find it. My heart aches for these kids. Yes, it hurts at times, but I wouldn't trade the feeling for anything.

"and nations that do not know you will hasten you..." Isaiah 55:5

Urgency.

Why is it more difficult to talk to our friends, family, co-workers, you fill in the blank, about Jesus than with a complete stranger? So many of us go on "mission trips" and live life so differently for those few days. We actually live as though it is our responsibility to tell those we meet about the Lord. We actually believe that it is our reason for being there. Isn't that true here? Now?

If I lived my life as though it was MY responsibility to make sure that each person I came in contact with experienced Jesus because of our interaction... oh how life would be different. I want to live that way. I want to live as though that is my sole purpose of being here in Cambridge right now sitting next to the guy I am sitting next to... or live as though my very purpose of working at Chappy's is to give my co-workers a glimpse of my Creator... or have conversations with my friends that remind them that He is the ONLY way. I want to live with more urgency to tell others, ALL others, around me that my God is Mighty to Save.

As I write this, I mean it. I really do want this. But, I wrote in my journal just a few moments ago that "my wants, desires, do not line up with my actions". I say I want this, I say I want to love all people, I say I want to glorify Him in every thing that I do, but my actions reflect otherwise. Reminds me of something...
"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate to do I do." --Romans 7:15

Ripple Effect

Whether we decide to pay for the next car's coffee in the Starbucks line, flick someone off that pulled out in front of us, choose to support a friend moving to China or decide not to call that person back... we affect those around us. Sometimes in great ways, sometimes in minute ways. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. It amazes me though how much effect we have on those around us.
Since B is leaving for China very shortly, I have noticed this a lot because I have been taken back by how much affect he has had on this place, on these people. The words that we speak, the lives that we live... are being watched by those around us and they WILL have an affect... we just determine what kind. I pray that I can leave a mark on a city like Biscuet has left here. Let us live our lives in such ways that bring people to know Christ, that cause people to see Jesus in us, that remind people that Christ in us means LOVE flows out of us.
I believe that if we live reminded constantly that the way we live affects the world around us, we would live differently.