Bicycling in the rain.

This past week has been a fun week. We got a new sponsor at youth...Steven. I think he will fit right in! Youth was really awesome! A youth that I have been praying for since I met them raised their hand to accept Christ. As soon as I saw that hand go up the tears were soon to follow. I had tears just rolling down my face. I have really learned to control the urge to cry when God does something awesome (which is often), just because most of the time if someone sees you cry they think something is wrong but usually when I cry it's happy. Anyways, this was just one of those oh my gosh God I already knew you were amazing but this is like super amazing moments. So, yeah. Praise God! Youth besides that was great. We started our new series "Bringing Sexy Back" and as always Adam/God amazed me at the unique applicable and biblical teaching!

Yesterday I went to my friend Heaven's house and we hung out and played with her two boys Kaleb and Kason. Kaleb kept yelling in this deep voice and scrunching his face up kind of like a mad wrestler...it was so funny. He yelled "HIT ME IN THE FACE WITH THE BALL!" Oh he is two almost three by the way.... So he is yelling this at Heaven so she throws the ball at his face! Oh my. He thought it was awesome. I got it on video but have no clue how to put it on here.

Then I went home and Adam and I went bike riding in the rain. It was really fun splashing through puddles...we acted like we were the olympic racers who had to race in a down pour the other day...lol. He won. After that we went home and watched Nastia and Shawn dominate in the womens gymnastics all-around! Yay!

So, that has been my week which I mainly write about because has been so fun and relaxing and if you know Adam and my normal schedule you know that it isn't always that way.

:)K

Thank God for Everyday with Denise! :)

So, I was on myspace a bit ago and my friend Heaven had a post that said she was on a strangers blog with a link...so of course I had to see!!! A little background....Heaven is my super amazing friend who I have known since I was like born practically...she has two kids with her husband who is in Iraq right now. He has made some good Christian friends there and so all of there wives have become friends. So....all four of these girls have anniversaries close together and they decided since their hubbies are gone they would go out to celebrate their anniversaries together. How sweet.

So, they go to Zio's to eat all dressed up and meet this couple with their kids (i think) and they tell the couple that they are celebrating and the whole story. This couple was very sweet, a real blessing to them and blessed them by thanking them and paying for their celebration dinner! Isn't that so amazing! Thank God for wonderful people like Denise and her husband! There is a pic of the girls on her blog which I think is www.everydaywithdenise.blogspot.com.

Don't forget to pray for our troops and their families that miss them!

The Irresistable Revolution

A couple of our students recently reccommended this book by Shane Claiborne to me. The Irresistable Revolution. They had loved it so much I just had to read it. As I started to read I knew that I did not fully agree with everything this man thought about theology and yada yada but was determined to keep an open mind.

I couldn't put this book down. What was really cool for me is I had no idea that he lived in Philly but I was reading it on our way to the Philly mission trip. (and part of the book sort of knocks mission trips but I get his point:) ). Anyway, this made me actually really strongly care about some things that I sort of always knew in the back of my mind but never took the time to really....I mean really care.

I realized that the american church can be crazy. It can spend way too much money on stuff and forget about it's brothers and sisters and Christ who are starving and dying. Christians are longing to feel God and to have an intimate experience with Him but we keep God at a safe distance. We don't talk to the unlovely, the homeless, the sinners (because we never sin right?), we do not see God the way we want to because we avoid the places where He is. We go to church and sit all complacent in our pews and listen to a good sermon, but we are not being Christ's hands and feet. We are consumers. I want to be consumed with Christ, and Christ would be out on the streets loving the unlovely...don't get me wrong He would still be spending time with the church folk because we resemble the tax collecter so much of the time more than anyone else. I am not saying church is bad(obviously since I am a pastor's wife)....I personally feel that I do experience God in a real in powerful way but that is because I am learning to let Him lead me into places that are not only the church, to let Him show me that a homeless person is human and may understand God better than I and may be able to teach me more than I could ever teach. I just simply realized that the church is pointless unless it's truly honoring God the way he calls us to.

I want to know where my stuff is coming from more than ever. I want to know if a child is being abused and slaving for nothing so that I can have the best clothing. I want to help and put a face to a cause...I want it to be personal when one of God's children is dying and I could help.

I want to do something....not to just accuse others of needing to change but to see my own need.

It is so easy to get trapped into a routine of church on Sunday and Wednesday....of waiting for those times to receive God. Who ever said church is there for us? We are there for Him....we exist to be the body of Christ...if we are not doing that then what is the point?

I thank God for sending this book my way...I have a new passion for God and for people. I would say a renewed passion because I have always loved people deeply but this is new...it's different...it's uncomfortable and amazing.

"The greatest cause of atheism is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny him with their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world finds simply unbelievable" -Brennan Manning

I love this quote, not because any of us can or will wake up one day and not sin, but because it challenges me that in the midst of my imperfections, Christ's light should shine in my life through my love and grace for God's children. It challenges me to not be a complacent Christian.

Awesome Quote

"Perhaps somewhere in the subterranean chambers of your life you have heard the call to deeper, fuller living… Every now and then you have caught glimpses… hints of something more than you have known. Inwardly you have longed to launch out into the deep." - Richard Foster



I love this! I think so many people could identify with this...they have felt the tug, they know there is more and they are standing on the edge wanting more than anything to close their eyes and jump into a life of joy in Christ. I know I have been in that spot and the launch is so beyond worth it! Knowing that this is something that many many people feel is a great motivation to spread the love of Christ and share what God has done in my life and heart! Let's let God use us to help others take that launch!

God Bless!:)

I just noticed...

That my posts are very long! I don't write often or if I don't really have much to say so when I do post...it's at length. So I decided to write something short. lol

There you go :D

-k