Hope.Coffee.Melody.

Ive got some blogs marinating so stay tuned. This blog isn’t dead.

Summer is going by quickly. Registered for fall classes and only have 10 credits this year. Wow. Good ones though. Major Prophets, Vision Leadership and Senior research are the three main ones. I’m excited for all of them. It is a new season of life And I am excited for what is ahead.

Apartment Life is great.

Stay tuned…..

With School ending next week I have already begun to think of some books Id like to read this summer. Here is my tentative list

Orthodoxy : GK Chesterton
My friend Freedom and I are going to read this one together. Its a classic that I have been meaning to get to for a while.

Chasing the Dragon : Jackie Pullinger
This has been on my to read list for a while now too. The story of a woman who goes into some of the most dangerous areas of China to reach out to the Youth.

Developing the Leader Within You : John Maxwell
Leadership is vital to the Church and I Have a lot to learn.

The Hole In Our Gospel : Rich Stearns
The President of World Vision wrote this book on what it means to live out our Christianity just as Jesus taught.

Unstoppable Force : Erwin Mcmanus
If I had a dollar for everytime someone recommended this to me… It is about being the church that is transforming communities and cities.

If you have read any of these let me know your thoughts. Also feel free to share some other recommendations.

Tonight was a reminder of why I am involved with Children’s Ministry. Every other Monday evening a group of us head out to the two neighborhoods where we pick kids up for church on Sundays. Since it is getting close to the end of the semester, Lots of people are busy with homework and Music Recitals. So tonight there was just two of us. You never know what to expect when you go visit.

At one apartment we are invited in by the mom. The eleven year old girl had just gotten a new glass collector fairy and is excited to show us all of the ones she has collected over the past year. I have known this family since I first started helping out with this ministry. So for the past three years Ive seen her grow so much. Her mom has been in and out of jail and her father died two years ago from a car crash. Despite all the hard times she has had to go through, she loves God and she isn’t afraid to share that. She also loves to sing and every time she comes to church she asks to join the worship team.(we are working on getting her to worship workshops) Whenever I see her I see Hope breaking through darkness. I see Joy in the midst of pain. She is a blessing.

There is another family that is always fun to visit. When I knock on the door I hear kids running and screaming and through the door I hear “Don’t open that door” as the mother tries to prevent her four year old from letting complete strangers in. Once they realize its us, the little girl who was at the door yells “The Church is Here!”. Tonight when we stopped by, the mom greeted us at the door, she seemed very tired and stressed out. (Who wouldn’t be with five kids under the ages of 10 to take care of while working and going to school?) She all the sudden got this look in her eye and exclaimed “Will you please pray for us, please come inside and pray for us.” Dawn and I looked at each other and without hesitation headed inside. While fighting back tears she began to tell us how unexpectedly several things had just happened today. She was laid off from her job, the job that also had a child care benefit that made it possible for her to go to school. And on top of that, the father of two of her kids has a restraining order and they had been to a counselor just that day because of some problems. So we prayed for her, with kids jumping on my lap and playing with my hood, we prayed for God to come through, we prayed for hope and peace and joy to fill their home. She was crying hopeful tears by the time we where done. She was just praying earlier today that she had no idea what she was going to do and when we came to the door she was encouraged that God had heard her prayers. Sure by showing up tonight we didn’t solve any of her problems but what God did was bring hope. He used us as servants to be able to bring life to a place where darkness is trying to break in.

This is why I do it. Because the fact that Jesus gave his entire life for us that we could have hope. He shed blood to make it possible for us to know God and then he rose from the grave, conquering death. The same power that brought him to life is inside of me. It is inside of the Church. God’s light is shining brighter and brighter and I am lucky to be a part of that. Hope is breaking through.

Strength through weakness:
I am realizing more and more how much I try to do on my own. I have spent a lot of energy in my life being independent. But my own ability is nothing without Christ. Nothing I do apart from him is of any value. The only way to find real strength is through giving up my own strength and allowing God to take care of things. I must be fully reliant upon him.

Confidence through humility:
True Boldness and Confidence in who I am is found in who God is. Knowing that all I am is found in the creator of the universe and not out of my own feats gives me true confidence. Pride creates a complete false humility. And usually pride is what we hide behind when we lack true confidence.

Freedom in Surrender:
When we give up all we have we will have freedom. When All is given to God he sets us free. There is a song by Hillsong with the line “With arms high and hearts abandoned”. I had a bit of trouble with that when I first heard it. Abandoned? To abandon is to give up or give control. Hearts abandoned means that there may be risk involved. I have to abandon my heart with faith that God will take it. My tendency is to feel like my heart is not worth giving to God, but that is not true. When I give my life completely, I find freedom.

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Here is a play list that I have been Loving lately

1. Your Love Is Strong – Jon Foreman
2. Wonderful, Beautiful – New Life Worship
3. How He Loves – John Markmcmillan
4. God of this City – Chris Tomlin
5. Where The Love Lasts Forever – Hillsong United
6. I’m Coming Your way – Desperation Band
7. How He loves – Kim Walker
8. All I Need Is You (Cape Town, South Africa) – Hillsong United
9.Singing Over Me – Kari Jobe
10. Rise – Chris Tomlin
11. The Anthem – Planetshakers
12. Sing Redemption’s song – Israel Houghton

Current Books Im working on that arent for school:
Chasing The Dragon – Jackie Pullinger
David – Charles Swindoll
The Cross and the Switchblade – David Wilkerson

“Its not fair that a generation is choking on their obesity when 30,000 children will die today from a lack of food.”
“when we forsake the lives of others we actual forsake our own”

1 John 3:17
“But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?”

Hope is breaking through. Will you help it or hinder it?

Religion. What does this word even mean? In many Christian circles the word takes on a sort of Pharisaical tone. We tend to use it to imply that someone has replaced their faith with ritual and tradition. I recently saw the christian t-shirt with the cliche phrase “It’s not about religion, It’s about a relationship”. It is true,relationship is a huge part of our faith, but when did “religion” turn into a bad thing?

The word is derived from two parts “ligare” which means “to bind or connect” as well as the prefix “re” which means “again”. So originally Religion meant to reconnect. To be reconnected with God.

So we could try to stop everyone from using the word religion or we could truly live out true religion. People who are reconnected to God. That is what the cross did for us.It made it possible for us to be reconnected with our Creator, our Father our God. God’s heart is restoration. He longs for us to be connected to him.

I was recently reading an article from a worship leader who just put out an album. She was talking about how her job as a worship leader was simply to connect people to God. She made the point that it’s not about her but about the connection between the listener/worshiper and the living God. I may not be a worship leader but I want to connect people to God in that same way. I want to see people encounter God. I want to see peoples lives changed by his presence, by his love.

As Christians it is our job to be connectors. To connect others to God. Everyone is looking to be connected. Many don’t know where to look or even how they would connect.

My goal is to be a connector everyday. I want to constantly be directing people to God. If I am not connecting them to God then what am I doing? Let’s make religion what it was meant to be, lets reconnect with God and show others that God wants that relationship with them.

A little Music Video we did.
Remix of The Standard by Jeremy Scott
Remixed and recorded by Freedom Noble