Love

The Beatles had it about right with their song titled "Love is all you need". Ok, so ultimately we need Jesus but is said that He IS love. He is the prime example of love and sacrifice. He sacrificed His own life out of love. That is the most loving act possible. Now we also need faith to believe that. We need faith hope and love but the greatest among those is love. It's so cliche but really, if everyone loved each other we would all get along and our world as we know it would be a MUCH different place. Now I realize that there will always be hate in this world that is a far cry from perfect. However, I think Christians need to step it up in this love game. Actually that might be the issue, it's treated like a game. Christians should take it seriously and take action. We should make love an action, because it is a verb, not a feeling. We do get a feeling from love. We get different types of feelings from different types of love. Agape love a and phileo love are different and produce different feelings. I truly believe that if Christians would stop with the hate and pointing fingers and would focus time and energy on loving people then we could totally change the world. Let's start a love movement! Let's start a revolution. Love on people who openly do things you disagree with. Love on the ones who you think are below you. Love on the poor and the sick and the broken hearted. Love on those who dont seem needy at all, everyone is. Love on your friends and your family and your fellow church members. Love on strangers. Love on your enemies. Don't get me wrong here, I am NOT saying to tolerate sin. There is so much sin within the church and even our lives though, that we can not stand around pointing fingers and dropping hate.
“Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her"


"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." (1 Corinthians 13:1-3 ESV) love is where it's at. I am resolving I am resolving right now to love God and love people.

Lord Jesus please help me to love like you love. "Show me how to love the unloveable and show me how to reach the unreachable." Lord,God, give me your eyes. Break my heart for what breaks yours. Fill me with love. May it spill over in my life. Break down my pride and help me to love the ones that are hard to love. Abba, Father, papa give me Your love and may my life be pleasing to you. Amen.


Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. (1 Corinthians 13:4-6 ESV)

Coram Deo

As Christian, our life motto should be "Coram Deo" to live before the face of God. To live in His presence. If we keep the phrase in our minds, "Coram Deo", when we are tempted to sin we can remember that we are living before God's face. We are ever in His presence and we should live holy and blameless lives before Him, instead of sneaking around and sinning. This was just something I had on my mind. Now go out and live Coram Deo!

Don't call it a comeback

Five suggestions to reaching the next generation:
1. Grab them with passion
2. Win them with love
3. Hold them with holiness
4. Challeng them with truth
5. Amaze them with God

It's not about the programs, it's not about how in tune with youth culture you can be. It's about being real, bein passionate, being loving,building relationships. It takes mature, growing Christians to produce mature growing Christians. This is what young people want. I know because I am one.

Taken from Don't call it a comeback by Kevin DeYoung and others.

Camp Barnabas

Sunday morning, bright and early...and I mean EARLY, we are leaving out (at 5:30 in the AM) for Camp Barnabas!!! Huzzah! Ashley, Naomi, Iain, Jonathan P., Jonathan H., Brian and I are going to Missouri to hang out with children with special needs. They may be physically or mentally handicapped or both. Camp Barnabas provides for them a fun summer camp experience just like any other. Kids with disabilities are generally the ones on the side lines watching everyone else. Everything at Camp Barnabas has been adapted so that they too can experience summer camp fun. Swimming, ropes course, horse back riding...these are just a few of the fun things we will do at camp. It is a Christ centered camp and organization. Every night we have a different themed party and will dress up and have some fun! We are each placed with one child for the whole week. We get to love on, bond with and devote everything to that one child:)

Please be in prayer for the campers, that they will see Christ in each of the staff members and volunteers and that they will have a memorable and fun week that will effect their lives for the better.

Please also pray for the staff and volunteers. Specifically for our group, as the nerves are riding high right now. Pray that the Lord will meet us at every challenge and that we would be willing and able to do whatever is demanded of us, even if it's hard and we don't feel that we can. This will be a very demanding, challenging and maybe even a little bit stressful week and we will have to rely on God. Pray that we will trust Him and not only make it through, have some fun along the way! Pray for our attitudes and our health. Me specifically, I get head aches quite frequently and sometimes they get really bad. I do not want them to get in the way of what I am doing. I want to be able to give my camper 101% 23 hours of the day (we get an hour a day to ourselves and of course we do get to sleep as well.) Lastly pray for us, that we would take something away from the week, that God would not only meet our physical needs, but also spiritual. Pray that we will build friendships, learn and grow.

Thank you!

"God, you are my God; I earnestly seek you; my soul thirsts for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands." Psalm 63:1-4
Good stuff....

My Identity: Christ's Identity

Self depreciation is a big struggle that I have had for many years. Over the past year or so I have gotten a little bit better about it, but I still fall into it. It is a sin rooted in a pride issue.

Every time a comment like "ugh my hair looks funny" or "I don't like the way I sound" or "I don't know why you would want to be friends with me", it just goes to show what I am looking to for my identity. Looks, talents, friends...they are all things that can be used for identity. False identity.

While at youth conference last week, I was reminded of something. As a christian, when I became saved, I died to myself. I took up Christ's righteousness. I took up Christ's identity.

In turn, I believe that as a christian, by being self depreciating, I am being Christ depreciating. When I degrade myself, I degrade Christ. It is as if I do not trust in who He is and in what He has done for me. Jesus didn't save me for my talents, looks or popularity. "If that were the case, he wouldn't have saved me!" (see it's easy to throw self depreciation into anything!) (*Joking*) Seriously though, by acting like I suck at life, it downplays what's important, The Cross.

I know I am not the only person that struggles with this. Give it some thought. Don't let people give you and identity. Find your identity in Christ and what the bible says you are as a child of Christ.

Psalm 139:13-16
"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them."