I'm going back!

To New Orleans!  With Crossroads!  I'm so excited!  So before our first pre-trip meeting my sister and I met Moose, Stevie, her son Aidrien and friend Lauren for lunch and some Orange Leaf.  There was a sticker on the window at Orange Leaf that looked a lot like Moose so we all did our best impression.

 

Then it was off to meet our GO Group and hear a little more about our trip to New Orleans.  I had the privilege of going in 2010 and it was really one of the best experiences I've ever had.  I'm so excited for my sister to experience it and to be able to go down now that I'm a lot further along in my own spiritual journey.  This year I've hopped from the photo team and will be with Habitat building houses.  Time to hit up the gym so I can swing a hammer with conviction.  More to come!

Cake batter in almost anything makes it better

I have had all of the necessary items in my pantry for this recipe for over a month, I couldn't resist making them anymore.  So yummy!

Click here for the recipe!

Peace.

This is a season that is usually pretty sad for me.  My dad's birthday is March 14th and the anniversary of his passing is April 3rd.  I went to see him this Sunday because I had just left the funeral of his father-in-law, Grandpa Koblitz.  I also had gone to a prayer experience Saturday that kind of dug some deep gunk out of my heart that I had no idea I had been carrying around since he passed away.  I guess I just wanted to stop by and tell him about it.  That both of us can be free from the mess that was left behind. 

As I was kneeling down I saw someone out of the corner of my eye walking behind me on the road.  He had a hoodie on, a hat and was carrying a backpack.  I assumed he would just keep walking but he started to approach me.  For some reason, even though he looked like he could have been up to no good I didn't feel like he had any intention of harming me.  He asked me if I needed a tissue and started to ask me about my dad.  Then he started quoting scripture about how beautiful the place he's in now is.  About how we'd all meet there someday.  Talk about blowing stereotypes away.  How beautiful was it that God sent one of my brothers in Christ to me to comfort me that day.  To reassure me that we're everywhere.  We all have sorrow, but we all have hope.  We all know what's being prepared for us.  We need each other, we've been given each other.  I was so thankful for that reminder in this boy who looked to be maybe 20 years old.  He let me be and made his way to visit his uncle that had passed 8 years ago. 

How sweet it is to have peace.

The House that Built Me

I took one of those silly surveys this morning that you find on facebook.  I liked this one though because it was called "What Miranda Lambert song are you?"  I love Miranda.  Ironically I was pegged as a "House that Built Me" song.  I can't remember the formal description but it struck a chord with me because I drove past the spot of one of my favorite houses that built me this weekend.  My mom's parents home in Ft. Thomas was one of my favorite places in the world.  My grandmother died when I was 12 but I can still smell her cooking.  I can still remember what it felt like to rock to sleep in her arms.  I can still remember sitting on her over-sized screened in back porch.  Or in the summer, only being allowed indoors during the Price is Right/lunchtime.  I can still remember wondering what it would be like to be allowed to sit at the adult table during Thanksgiving.  Oh, to press rewind to a time when a skinned knee was my biggest problem. 

It's a little sad to drive past that spot on Tremont Ave now, because it no longer stands.  It burned down.  I drove past this spot on my way to a funeral.  In the same spot we have laid to rest everyone that I love.  My step-mother's father had passed away.  It just got to feeling so nostalgic.  I had shed some weight the day before that I had been carrying around since my dad passed.  How beautiful was my childhood?  How amazing are my blessings?  While it's sad to see the past behind us, how much can I rejoice in what was given to me?  How important is it to build this into the next generation?  Things are so different now, people are so different now.  But they don't have to be.  Time to press rewind, I guess I could have gotten the song Automatic too...

Crazy Love- Francis Chan

I loved this book.  From start to finish.

Francis Chan- Marriage: The Picture of Christ and His Church

What a great sermon on the importance of having a Godly marriage.  The meaning of it, the symbolism of it.

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,30 because we are members of his body.  Ephesians 5:25-30

The God of the universe loves and cares for me as an extension of His own body.  The body of Christ.  Husbands, love your wives as if she were an extension of your body.  A marriage prepares us for our life with God in heaven. 

Click here for the sermon.

Francis Chan- Humble Before God's Greatness- Numbers 11:31-35; 12:12-16

Click here for the sermon

The greatest reward for humitily is intimacy with God.

40 Acts: do Lent generously

What a great idea this is

 This website will give you ideas to live generously during lent, Click here to sign up!

Beach Vacation

The fam has booked our beach house in Florida!  I'm so excited to spend a week with some of my favorite people on the beach!

Lent

Lent is something that I grew up observing in the Catholic church with my family, and now that I've made my way back into a church, one that doesn't necessarily observe lent, I still like what it can do for your faith.  So last year during lent I gave up my iPad games, which I played around with way too much, and I began reading the new testament.  

This year as my faith has grown and my relationship with Christ has grown, this season of sacrifice means a bit more.  I'm starting to understand the depth of it.  While some may say that Christ died for us so that we don't have to suffer or so that we may enjoy our lives, I respectfully say, you just may have it wrong. Philippians 1:29 says "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake."  I think a lot of Christians today really need to be reminded of how Christ suffered for us so that we understand the magnitude of it.  He died so that we may have eternal life, not so that we could live comfortably and do whatever we wanted.  All of his disciples except for John died for his cause, Romans 8:17 says "and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."  I think we lose sight of this a lot.  I know I do.  So during this Lenten season I really want to do things that make me feel that sacrifice.  I'm doing a few things, like giving up the iPad games again but I'm not going to share the other things, why? because says this Matthew 6:16-18 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,  that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret.And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." .

If you are a Christian, if you truly follow Jesus I would encourage you to make a sacrifice a true sacrifice, I'm not just talking about iPad games, chocolate, or beer (while to some those are great sacrifices,) I think Lent is supposed to be a little bit more.  Read this passage about the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert being tempted by the devil:

Matthew 4:1-11

4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
    and him only shall you serve.’”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’and

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,

7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone,Satan! For it is written,

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God

11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

See what God can do when you really sacrifice something big, or take on a task that seems bigger than you.  Depend on Him completely to get you through these 40 days of sacrifice.  It won't be perfect and we'll stumble but we're not perfect and we're expected to stumble.  Either way there's a good chance you get more out of the experience.  This is an opportunity to come closer to our Father, to Jesus before we experience the time where we remember the ulitmate sacrifice He made for us.  Without complaint or bragging to others about what He was doing for us.

Timothy Keller- Sin as Slavery- Numbers 11: 4-6, 10-20

God's mercies are the only mercies that are new every single morning.  Every time we long for something it loses it's luster after we receive it.  If only I had this, if only I had that.  We look for the perfect car, job, boyfriend, house, clothes all of them lose their luster after we've had them for a while.  Scripture breathes new life into us every single day.  Don't be a slave to wanting that next best thing.  Look to God, for everything.

Click here for Timothy Keller's sermon on Sin as Slavery

Crazy Love

I started this book today and I'm so excited about it.  This world is so distracting we need constant reminders of our purpose.  I think this is going to be a good one.  I've only read about 30 pages and I've already had one kairos moment.

"Psalm 115:3 reveals, “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.”  Yet we keep questioning Him: “Why did You make me with this body, instead of that one?”  “Why are so many people dying of starvation?”  “Why are there so many planets with nothing living on them?”  “Why is my family so messed up?”  “Why don’t You make Yourself more obvious to the people who need You?”

                The answer to each of these questions is simply because He’s God.  He has more of a right to ask us why so  many people are starving.”

I love that last line.  God created us, He created the Earth in which we live.  He doesn't make us do anything because we have a choice.  Forcing someone to love and obey you isn't love.  He has the right to ask US, why WE aren't doing anything about it.

More to come...

Here is the website for the book www.crazylovebook.com

Dr. Timothy Keller- Inside- Out Living

Luke 18:9-14 

Dr. Timothy Keller- Inside- Out Living, click here to listen


 It's such a great reminder to humble ourselves. There was a point in my faith where I did think that if I was a good Christian that God would give me what I wanted in life.  That's an outside in type of life style.  God is not a vending machine.  You don't do works to get something out of it.  It's a great reminder that no matter how wonderful you think you are in the eyes of God, humble yourself.  Recognize that we're all broken.  We all need a savior and we should all be acting from a place of gratitude.  Most people either try and control their lives through good works to God, but wind up mad and disappointed if their life doesn't go their way or they ignore God completely and do whatever they wish.  The person who is trying to 'impress God' is in more danger because they have no idea that they're lost.  This sermon is wonderful.