World Fair Trade Day May 10

http://www.worldcraftsvillage.com/featuredcountry.asp

Check out this link to world crafts and enjoy some fair trade shopping. You can purchase from India, China and beyond. We can change a life, change the world :) How awesome!

let justice flow like a river.........

Tonight was an awesome opportunity to see a church reaching out and loving the community around them. I have always heard several people talk about this church "sojourn community" but never went there. It was really sweet to hear the words "let justice flow like a river...." and then hear a list of needs that had been seen in the local blocks around the church. It was a beautiful picture to see a group of twenty-somethings reaching out and taking the church outside the walls. We who believe and love Jesus Christ have a hope and peace that surpasses all else this world has to offer. How awesome to be able and take this out to our neighbors. Im super excited to see what God is up to in Louisville and see how I can be a hand of love to those around me and surrounding....

-----You can not do all the good the world needs, but the world needs all the good you can do. -Anonymous.

living a little more or dying a little bit?

I recently read this amazing book, The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning. I loved it because he really wrote of the deep love and grace of the Father that we so often overlook. Too often we have let our Christianity become what we DO for God and not simply BEING with Him and enjoying the love He lavishes upon us. I think a lot of it comes back to that constant struggle of the Mary and Martha within us. The same struggle of Martha loving the Lord but showing it by buzzing around like a chicken with her head cut off, preparing things for God, and feeling frustrated that her sister wasn't doing likewise. However, Jesus commended Mary and said she had chosen the better thing of simply dwelling at His feet and chilling with Him. I love that! How I want to keep this verse on my forehead all my life,

2Co 11:3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

I want to keep that awe and wonder of the pure and sincere devotion to Christ.
So anyhow, there was this one quote in the book that truly caused me to look at each situation and ask myself am I living in sincerity and pure devotion to Christ and finding myself satisfied in Him OR wanting more, feeling discouraged, unsatisfied, or worried?
Norman Mailer once said, "Each moment of our existence, we are either growing into more or retreating into less. We are either living a little more or dying a little bit."
I want to live more! I want to go deeper in hanging out with God and enjoying what He places in my life and that sweet hang out time with Him!
Most of all I want the words "L'amour de Dieu est folie" (the love of God is folly)
to be true of my life. I want to live in that childlike wonder of a God who created the universe and loves me simply for who I am, a child bought by the blood of His Son Jesus Christ!

red, yellow, black, and white, they are precious in His sight

Racism might be the symptom of a greater disease. What I mean is, as a human, I am flawed in that it is difficult for me to consider others before myself. It feels like I have to fight against this force, this current within me that, more often than not, wants to avoid serious issues and please myself, buy things for myself, feed myself, entertain myself, and all of that. All I’m saying is that if we, as a species, could fix our self-absorption, we could end a lot of pain in the world.
-Blue Like Jazz p. 61



man. if we could get rid of self absorption what would things look like huh? makes you think.....and hopefully causes us to look a little more like Christ....

Know YOU are LOVED

Father how you love me, I’ll never understand,
As I bask under the tree, and the clouds I see,
What is man that you are mindful of me?

The clouds in the purity, a reflection of you,
They float by your direction, as you do what you do.

You place the flower in the place you want it to grow,
Teach me my plot and land that only you know.

The trees range from the light yellow to the darkest of green,
All creatures on earth you have made and seen.

The red ant scurries along to toil and to strive,
How can I rest forever in this simplicity of being alive?

There’s a longing in my inner heart to love the very one who made my being,
I want to reflect to the world the power of His joy and freeing.

To the child who cries over there,
Know you are loved
Come to our Father and lay out your heart bare.

To the young woman who awaits for her knight in shining armor to sweep her away,
Know you are loved
Don’t hide away in your dreams of what may be,
Reality is here, live out loud your life, today.

To the young man working hard and pushing himself to be the best,
Know you are loved
The Father smiles His approval, breathe in and may your spirit rest.

To the couple in love anticipating their next chapter and longing for its start,
Know you are loved
And the fullness of the Lord’s love longs for the top priority in your heart.

To the wife who feels deserted with only her children at her side,
Know you are loved
Come to the garden, meet with your husband, your maker, Come and abide.

To the widowed man whose spirit aches as he cries alone in the night,
Know you are loved
Tell it to Jesus, you are precious and treasured in His sight.

I lay under this sky, the canopy over us all,
Run and meet me here. Do not tarry, do not stall.

Bring your worries, your pains, and your fears. Truth and freedom cry out come and be Healed,
Blood was shed to heal us inside and out, on a hill at Calvary this payment was spilled.

Oh heart within there’s rest to be found,
Know you are loved
Run into His healing arms where love forever will abound.

All they wanna do is "date" God

"There is something in us that makes us afraid of the commitment that comes with real intimacy with God. For one thing, intimacy with God requires purity. The days of fun and games in the Church are over. What do I mean by "fun and games?" If your definition of fun is "low commitment and lots of thrills and chills," then all you've ever wanted to do is "date God." ...God is tired of us wanting to get our thrills from Him without putting on the ring of commitment! Some are more enamored with the "goose bumps" than the glory! They're addicted to the annointing, liking the feeling of being blessed, receiving the "gifts" like a religious "gold-digger", happy with chocolates, flowers and jewelry. The last time I checked, He was still looking for a bride, not a girlfriend; one who will "stick" with Him."
-God Chasers Tommy Tenney

This book really challenged me on so many levels. Its all about learning to give God a full commitment of all that we are. Seeking His face not just His hands, seeking the Giver not just the gifts, seeking the Blesser not just the blessings. It was really convicting to look at how we must die to ourselves to truly experience the absolute fullness of God. Frank Bartleman from the Azusa Revival said, "The depth of your repentance will determine the height of your revival." The more we want of God the more we must let go of ourselves and plunge into HIM!
How awesome that we have the privilege of dwelling with the Creator of the Universe. How awesome that He who sees all things and knows all things wants to simply hang out with us. How beautiful that He takes our mistakes and times that we fail Him and he casts them as far as the east is from the west. How incredible that we can be filled with all that He is until we overflow and splash onto others. What kind of commitment are you giving Him of yourself? How deep do you wanna go into God?

understanding, radically involved, and discovering

James 4:13-17 speaks of not claiming what you will do tomorrow, but rather "If the Lord wants us to, we will......." So my current plan is to head to work with the W.M.U. (woman's missionary union) in april. That is if its God's will. I truly believe this is His will as it has so easily came about. It's so awesome to see their vision statement and how it matches with my vision in life!

"WMU challenges Christian believers to understand and be radically involved in the mission of God. Kentucky WMU equips women, men, girls and boys to discover the joy of missions."

I am so excited to work with them and see others understand, involved, and discovering the JOY of missions :)