Crazy Love

This summer I was given more examples of true love than I can remember much less write down. This is a list of my favorite examples throughout my Summer in Memphis, Tennessee:

Love is running into pouring rain to pull a car around for your wife who doesn't want to get wet.

Love is walking two miles in the scorching heat because you promised you would be there

Love is looking past mistakes and believing in someone when you have no reason to

Love is wanting the best for someone regardless of where that leaves you.

Love is giving half of your sandwich to a hungry friend when you haven't eaten that day.

Love is sending brand new clothes, toys and gifts to people you will likely never meet.

Love is offering trust and faith where no one has offered it before.

Love is giving a second, and many times a third chance.

Love is carrying a child on your back for miles because their flip-flop broke.

Love never fails.

God is Awesome

I've been back in Atlanta for three days now and I'm starting to get used to things back home. I promise the Memphis stories will stop soon but I just had to share this one. Two weeks ago we were having share time with our teams that were in that week when my friend Sam shared this story. He said that he was sitting next to a boy at Bible club who was making a craft. The kid was apparently a little bit rambunctious but overall a good kid. Sam happened to look down as the boy was writing something on the front of his craft. He started with the words "I love...." Sam could only imagine what the boy would write. He looked up for a second and when he looked back down was pleasantly surprised to see that the boy had finished his sentence with the word "God." Sam asked the boy why he loved God to get the reply "Because he's awesome." Sam then asked the boy if he knew that God loved him to which he received a firm nodding of the child's head in return. When Sam asked the boy why God loved him he again answered with "Because he's awesome."
This little boy made such a huge impression on Sam because of his simple but strong faith in God. We have so many "church answers" branded into our minds when really the only answer that matters is that God is awesome. Whether the boy knew it or not, he had the answer for contentment, happiness, joy, peace and true friendship all because God IS awesome. It's reassuring to hear about someone who knew the answer and didn't try to make it sound complicated or technical. That said, lets take a step back from our hectic lives and try to remember how awesome God really is and that He is the only reason for living. And try to remember that only God is awesome. So awesome.

Eighteen Days...well technically Seventeen

Yesterday morning my dad texted me and said "18 days left!" Thats how many days I have left here in Memphis. It didn't really hit me until I got that text that I have eighteen days to make it count. Eighteen days to give everything I can to God and ask Him to glorify Himself through me. It's been such a great Summer. Such a wonderful learning experience. Meeting people from all over the United States who share a same passion and love for the same awesome God that I do. There have been some long days. Days where the struggles of the children here become way too much for me to handle. Those are the times where I have no other choice than to give everything to God. Those are also the times where I can find myself at rest in His loving arms. I've made so many friends here many of which I believe will remain life-long. God has taught me so much that it would take me hours to even begin to explain. I would like to say that I've grown up a lot this Summer. Been doing my own laundry not to mention leading teams around inner-city Memphis...haha. I miss my family and my friends but I don't even want to begin to think about saying goodbye to my sweet children from Bible clubs or all of my dear friends at the nursing home. That's all I've got here in Memphis at the moment. All the praise and glory be to God!

Day 18

Its day 18 here in Memphis. The best description of what we're dealing with here was spoken at debriefing last night. Our supervisor said this..."Memphis is a battle that God is winning." You can feel it. You can feel the warfare and hurt that these people are living in. You can taste the defeat that they've been dealing with for years, maybe even a lifetime. It's heart breaking but at the same time it's exciting. It's encouraging to see a generation so ready to be the change. I've spent the last two afternoons at a local community center and I can't even begin to describe that. The kids there were so inviting, welcoming and loving. They would do anything just to have someone to chase around the playground or have a princess club with. It's made me grateful for the family that I have and the neighborhood that I live in but even more than that it's made me ready to step up and change what I can. My afternoon project got changed back to the nursing home which has been quite and experience. It's crazy to go really from one end of the spectrum to another. Working with people at the very beginning of their lives in the morning and then people who might not have that much longer at the end. One of my good friends is Mr. Art. We win bingo and sing Elvis songs. I know you're all probably jealous. I've already learned so much this Summer and I can't wait to keep going. The farmers tan is steadily improving and my Elvis knowledge is growing daily.

Walking in Memphis

This is day twelve in Memphis. God has already been working in ways I can't begin to explain. Working with these kids every day has wrecked my life. Kids that cry when they hear sirens and come to Bible camp with black eyes. Kids who will do anything for a positive word or a quick hug. It's a culture that is so different than everything I'm used to. It's hard for me to understand what keeps these kids going when sometimes the only thing they go home to is an empty house. Looking into their eyes you see brokenness and sadness that would take years to even explain. They need Jesus more than I can understand. God give me strength.

Give Me Revolution

I've been doing a lot of thinking on the matter and finally reached the conclusion that the main thing holding Christians back from being revolutionary is our lack of faith. If we really trusted God with everything we wouldn't be concerned with asking Him "where will I go to school next fall" or "what mission trip am I going on next," we would ask "How can I best glorify You with my life?" We should ask that. It's a humbling thought to know that God doesn't need us. Not at all. He chooses to use us so that we might glorify Him. We can do that through many ways like worship, loving His people and simply living in faith. Since it's the only reason we're still here after getting saved why aren't we doing a better job of that? Why do we still concentrate on outward appearances over the heart? Why do we get caught up in the church's standards opposed to God's? Why do we pay attention to any opinions other than God's?
So many times I catch myself wanting a revolution. Wanting to see this world revolutionized for Jesus Christ. Wanting to see walls broken down in the church and just to see people that love Jesus with all their hearts and aren't afraid to live like it. But we can't sit around waiting for a radical change in life and society as we know it. Revolutions begin with a thought and then action. Revolutions begin when one person takes a stand for what they believe in no matter the cost. They begin when something makes so much sense that you can't help but to forget everything you thought you knew and change the direction your heading.
We know all the right answers. We know about the power and love that God abounds with. We know stories about martyrs who died happy, simply knowing that they had glorified God with their life. What's stopping us from forgetting about everything that people might think of us and living our lives with reckless abandon because we know the Creator of the Universe? What are we waiting for? Sometimes we need to stop looking and waiting for someone to start something and start it ourselves. Put everything aside and live like we love Jesus. We can't wait for a revolution to come along for us to join. We have to be the revolution. Why? Because we have personal relationships with the The Alpha and Omega. The Beginning and The End. The First and the Last. The One that Was, That IS, that Is to Come. Why not?

From NYC to Memphis

I just realized I haven't written in a long time. I've been sort of busy lately between a benefit concert for Atlanta and then a mission trip to New York City. But let me back up and start with Memphis. As you probably know, God has given me a huge heart for inner city missions. In fact I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it's what He wants me to do with my life right now. A few months ago I applied for a sojourners position with the North American Mission Board in Memphis, Tennessee. Two weeks ago I got accepted and I couldn't be more excited! I know God is calling me there and I can't think of spending my Summer in a better way. Here's where it gets crazy...
Three days ago I got back from a mission trip to New York City with the Journey Church. I went with twenty-two students and adults from my church and we stayed at the David Dean House in Brooklyn. The David Dean house was so nice and the owners, Mike and Amanda were more than hospitable. On our first night there I heard Mike mention that he and Amanda had lived in Memphis for a few years before moving to NYC. I asked them if they had heard of Street Reach ministries (where I'm working this Summer) and not only had they heard of it, but they worked there! I was completely speechless and we immediately realized that this was completely a God thing because what are the odds? Needless to say that was a HUGE confirmation from God that I am in His will. That was just the beginning to a wonderful week where I made the following realizations:

1. The people living in New York are no different than the people living anywhere else. They may walk a little bit faster but they're still just people and they have good days and bad days just like we do.
2. If you have a friend that looks strangely like Michael Phelps it's fun to scream "IS THAT MICHAEL PHELPS!?!?" when you are in Central Park and watch all the tourists freak out.
3. When it's twenty degrees, raining and windy, Starbucks caramel macchiatos are simply H-E-A-V-E-N.
4. Some of the friendliest people are the ones you meet in the subway or on Wall Street on rainy mornings.
5. The best directions come from those who speak the same language you do.
6. If a purse vendor tells you to "get these purses before the police do" that usually means that they aren't the legal kind...
7. When you ask God for opportunities to witness He isn't going to leave you hanging :)
8. You don't really know what turbulence is until the flight attendants start buckling their seatbelts.
9. The Toys R Us inside of Times Square has a ferris wheel inside of it.
10. Mr. Softee's ice cream is in a league of it's own.