A Bake Sale?! Really....

So today as I was just on FB, checking out what was going on... ya know.. the usual.. And the ever so inspiring Esther Gualtieri had posted a link to a news article from ABC News.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/portland-emerges-hub-child-sex-trafficking/story?id=11690544&page=1

I read the article. My heart broke. My mind was racing... how can I make a difference? What can I do to help? And why can't the police get this thing under control? I don't understand...

I then decided to watch the video, actually meeting "Katie" from the article. She got tangled up and trapped in prostitution when she was 13... 13 years old! She still sounded so young in the interview, because she is so young. Incredibly too young for a life of working strip clubs and the streets.

But what I'm more fired up about right now is the last few statements of the video. The news anchor spoke of how few shelters there are in Portland and how expensive they are... And then the anchor said that Katie's church had a bake sale to help pay for her to be in a shelter...

A BAKE SALE?!?!?!???!?!?!!! REALLY!??!?! ok. I'm sorry, but where are we church? Why does the world think that all we can come up with to help a beautiful, precious girl get out of prostitution is a bake sale? Where are our ideas? Where are our resources going? And why can't we do more than a bake sale?!?

A few weeks ago I was reading in Daniel, and just so impressed about how intelligent he was. This dude and his friends, they were the cream of the crop. God has created us to be the cream of the crop people. We are made in HIS image and He is the creator of the stinkin universe! I am so tired of cheesy Christian bake sales and stealing the world's ideas and adding God or Jesus to it and calling it our own. Ask God for ideas. He will give them to you. Let's get out of the box, stop putting God in a box and CREATE something original!

I do know there are great churches out there, that are coming up with incredible ideas and reaching the world in relevant and creative ways. But it just kinda stinks that ABC News has to tell the world that Katie's church did a bake sale to get her into a shelter. Why wasn't someone from the church bringing Katie into their home? She needs real love, not a shelter to tell her that no one wants her and there's no other place for her.

So in conclusion... I feel as if I have rambled quite a bit. I should work on organizing my thoughts a little better when I'm so fired up. But I'm sorry. There's my rant for the day. My heart is aching. Let's break the bake sale mold of Christianity and start restoring value into people out there who are hurting and searching for something more.

God is BIG

Well first off... it's been incredibly too long since I've written a blog. Coming up on a year. Wow. I'm a blog slacker. So life has been crazy, awesome and epic in the past 11 months... lots of change... lots and lots of change, but epic.

So back to my actual title... God is BIG.

I was driving home from babysitting tonight and the stars were absolutely incredible! And so i drove out to my favorite place in my neighborhood... the dock/boat landing area into a creek. And the sky seems ginormous and I can see the milky way and a zillion constellations and i just smile. :)

God is so incredibly BIG! And I think we forget that too easily... we get caught up in the day to day stuff and forget how big our God is! I'm such a "sucker for the sky". As I've said time and time again... but I'm so thankful for the sky and how God uses it to remind me how big He is! He is bigger than our finances, our insecurities, our failures, or any mountain we face.

I hope I'm not the only sucker for the sky that looks up on a clear night and smiles and tries to fathom just how big our God really is...

I fell hard for Fall

This past weekend I went camping with some amazing friends in Brevard, NC. I didn't get to stay up there too long... but it was beyond worth it! Aside from the amazing company... i totally fell in love with the Fall in the mountains all over again! I had completely forgotten how incredibly gorgeous it was! The lowcountry doesn't compare to the upstate this time of year!!! I'm so thankful that I got to enjoy the peak weekend of the leaves with incredible friends and I'm also thankful that i had 5 incredible years living in that area. I miss it sometimes... a lot of times. But I'm onto the next season of my life! (which isn't autumn in the upstate). Right now it's home, but I'm taking it a day at a time and going wherever God wants me to go! 

But the whole point was to say that God rocks! Every region of the country is beautiful in its own way! And the mountains in the fall.... sigh... are BREATHTAKING! 

earth SHAKER

So I just watched several short films from the Invisible Children organization.. which i am a huge advocate of btw. I know that their cause is great.. they're fighting for something bigger than themselves. But shouldn't we as Christians be doing that every day. If we are living for Christ, we are fighting for something bigger than ourselves.. we should be fighting for the thousands upon thousands of lost souls who need hope. The hope thats found in Jesus Christ alone. Yes, Invisible Children is an amazing organization and their videos inspire me and bring me to tears nearly every time.. but when these children are rescued... and then recovered.. they are only being educated with earthly knowledge. What about the gospel? Who's going to tell them that Jesus loves them. I'm sure there are plenty of Christians involved in Invisible Children and the guys who started it may very well know Jesus. But they are not necessarily professing it for one reason or another. But if their organization can do all of this on their "own".. what more can we do? What more can we do as children of God? 

"For with God nothing is impossible."

Luke 1:37 (NKJV)

I am an earth SHAKER. Not going to be, not will be one day. But I AM an earth shaker. I am shaking the earth for God's glory. I am starting here, where I am NOW and God will take me all over the world to show His love. He's already started and my adventures are going to do nothing but continue.

"I won't delay. I won't hesitate. I will obey your call and abandon all to see the power of God. Your glory revealed. My nation healed."    -Israel Houghton 'My Nation Healed'

Tear Down The Walls!

So the Hillsong Conference- Encounter in Miami absolutely rocked my stinkin socks off! (Although I don't think I wore socks the entire time, which therefore means they did not actually stink...) But alas, wow. I think EVERY believer needs to experience being in an arena with thousands of people all there worshipping with everything that they have! It was beyond amazing.. and of course Hillsong always brings their best! The worship was OUTSTANDING! and the videos... EVEN BETTER! brought me to tears nearly every time. wow. One of the phrases that has just stuck with me since the conference and listening to United's most recent album a million times.. is "let HOPE rise!" 

Here are the lyrics to Tear Down the Walls... where you find the phrase "HOPE RISE!"

Tear down the walls see the world
Is there something we have missed
Turn from ourselves
Look beyond
There is so much more than this

And I don’t need to see it to believe it
I don’t need to see it to believe it
Cause I can’t shake this
Fire deep inside my heart

Look to the skies hope rise
See His majesty revealed
More than this life there is love
There is hope and this is real

Cause I don’t need to see it to believe it
I don’t need to see it to believe it
Cause I can’t shake this fire burning
Deep inside my heart

This life is Yours and hope is rising
As Your glory floods our hearts
Let love tear down these walls
That all creation would
Come back to You
It’s all for You

Your Name is glorious
Glorious
Your love is changing us
Calling us
To worship in spirit and in truth
As all creation returns to You

Oh for all the sons and daughters
Who are walking in the darkness
You are calling us to lead them back to You
We will see Your spirit rising
As the lost come out of hiding
Every heart will see this hope we have in You

Cause I don’t need to see it to believe it
I don’t need to see it to believe it
Cause I can’t shake this fire burning
Deep inside my heart

This life is Yours and hope is rising
As Your glory floods our hearts
Let love tear down these walls
That all creation would
Come back to You
It’s all for You

Your Name is glorious
Glorious
Your love is changing us
Calling us
To worship in spirit and in truth
As all creation returns to You
(x2)

ok... so all of the lyrics in this song are amazing... man. phew. love it. and I LOVE JESUS!!!!!!!!!

A fun new Greek word

So i was started reading Hebrews, didn't get too far before I came upon a fun new Greek word in my super awesome study bible. It's the Greek word for Ministers... (verse reference: Heb 1:7)

Leitourgos- from laos, "people," and ergon, "work"; hence, working for the people. The word first denoted someone who rendered public service at his own expense, then generally signified a public servant, a minister.

WOAH. just chew on that for a while. i had to.... still am... 

missing my interns like woah.

aren't they adorable????

i sure do miss my interns. a lot. they all made my summer soooo incredibly memorable and amazing. i'm pretty sure i got frustrated with all of them at one time or another. but that's what made us family. lol. we were with each other so much. and went through so much change and growth and just craziness that you can't help but grow to love each other even more through it. we're all spread out in different places and i am already looking forward to our reunion. these interns weren't just the fantastic four.. mighty interns who pulled off camp when it seemed impossible. they were like my kids. lol. which is why they affectionately refer to me as mom (and quincy as dad.. how our children look like this i'll never know.. haha). but yeah.. the 6 of us made one heck of a team. and it was a summer like no other. i wouldn't have had it any other way. we were all there for a reason, for that specific time and God worked and moved in all of our lives. every summer i say that was the best summer yet, and i hope it continues that way. although this one will be hard to beat. :)