I have never been more passionate about anything in my life
This is what stirs me up, wakes me up, brings me alive and makes me ARISE.
It is the fact that God saves us, forgives us, redeems us, heals us and frees us. He shows us complete Father LOVE. Once we get it, we then can go into dark places and share that hope with others.
It is a battle out there. We need to realize that in this life there is more going on than what we can see in front of us. The enemy wants to steal, kill and destroy creation. God wants to bring life and life in abundance.
We need to ARISE as the lions and lionesses that we were created to be, fully prepared for battle. This first begins in the heart. All of us have had things in our lives that need healing. It's like being in the jungle and getting scrapes, cuts etc. If left unhealed by God they can get infected and grow etc. God is more than able to heal. For many, it's family issues. For myself, I deeply missed my dad. He was an amazing dad and he passed away of cancer when I was 10. God needed to heal me of that sadness and abandonment. When my mom remarried, I assumed my stepdad would be like my first dad who called me princess and spent hours with me, telling stories etc. This was not the case and I had to give God disappointment and feelings of rejection. I now am learning to relate to my stepdad and realize that I had false expectations and that he shows love differently. Once I released these things at the cross, Jesus began the process of redemption. When God loves through us, we can then pour it out onto others.
There is so much injustice in our world. What breaks my heart is that my sisters all around the world are being oppressed and harmed. We have all heard about human trafficking. There are young girls who are trapped in the industry and have no way out. Thankfully, people are ARISING like lions and lionesses and going into the dark battle and bringing light and rescuing these girls.
I once heard the sentence in YWAM, Kona by Steve Ahern "The battle is first of all won or lost in the heart". Once the battle is won in our hearts and we know whose we are, we are prepared to go out. We belong to God. We can then go into battle bringing His light.
Whatever form of justice is on your heart: oppression of children, educating children, poverty etc. ARISE LION AND LIONESSES. I charge you. The world needs Jesus in you.
Sunday, 27 October 2013
Friday, 25 October 2013
DIAMONDS!
What I find interesting about diamonds though is how they are made. The process of bringing them from rough rock to sparkling diamond is intense. Through heat, intensity and refinement they are formed into magnificence. Intense pressure changes the molecular structure of the carbon found on the earths mantle and the carbon becomes a new structure. Under extreme pressure and temperature, the carbon eventually cools and becomes diamonds.
God has been speaking to me about this process a lot lately. A lot of people have tough jobs but I personally have never taught a class with this many multi-varied learning/social-emotional needs. Teachers have told that I have the hardest class in the school for multi-level reasons. I have started learning how to deep breath at the end of the day. I have been enjoying the arts, walking the dog and herbal/vanilla/honey tea. If I had an amazing boyfriend I'm sure I would want to cuddle every day after work to de-stress and thankfully thankfully more than anything, I have God and prayer. Knowing that we can talk to God and He wants to take our burdens and speak into our lives is the best of all. I joke about the other things, but what brings me the most peace and joy is walking with God, talking and listening to Him and worship music. Eternal God is always and will always be the only one who "takes all our cares and burdens". 1 peter 5:7 "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you".
God has been speaking to me while walking the dog. He said it's easy for people to be calm and loving while at a peaceful bible study drinking tea, with candles and baked goods. I believe God was saying... after the tea, candles and baked goods...what happens on Monday morning when running late for work, stuck in traffic, a parent is upset, the kids behaviour is off the wall... are we still in worship?
The day before I may have been raising my hands and my heart fully in awe of God. Receiving His love and there was so much love all around it was amazing. That needs to transfer into every day and moment of the week.
I believe that one way God makes our character more like His is by allowing stress, refinement and fire in our lives. This directly hits our character. If I can go through the fire being honest with God, praying and seeking His face, praising God, remaining in His presence, then I will come out like a diamond. By diamond, I mean "more like His son, Jesus."
So I'm happy to announce that I'm in the fire this year in my classroom. I'm so excited for the diamond ...or to be more radiant like Jesus on the other side :)
Monday, 14 October 2013
those who have ears to hear let him hear
one of my favourite people was in Vancouver last week!
Auntie Donna. Her and her husband helped teach me about missions and lead a team and I to China in 2009. She is 75 years old and her husband is 80. She's been walking closely with God for many years and I just love talking with her and listening to what she has to say.
So this is word for word, what I sent my friend regarding what she spoke about:
Wow, last night w auntie Donna was interesting! Here's what happened. I left work at 430 to get to her speaking for 7pm. I typed directions into GPS and got more lost and stuck in traffic than ever before in my life! It was crazy... 3.5 hours later I was still driving and traffic was not moving. It was in a very residential area if Vancouver... Anyways no mapquest or GPS recognized the address.. So I finally parked and ran to a skytrain, then bus!
I was probably more determined than ever to listen and be in God's presence because of how hard it was to get there. I finally got there at 730pm... I was pretty stressed out getting there and then I was so thankful when I got inside. There was worship going and I saw auntie d, I started crying out of thankfulness. So thankful that I made it, thankful to be in worship, thankful to see one of my favourite people in the world. Then this girl came over to me and said 'I feel I'm suppose to pray for you' ... Lol! Prob cuz I was crying lol. Anyways she prayed that God would stir up dreams in me again.
Auntie D's talk was sooo her and so Jesus. Tons of 'is this right' 'does this speak to you, tony?' (Naming random ppl she knows in the crowd). I was going "amen" and laughing as she shared some funny things.. She shared : those who have ears to hear, listen to the Spirit and walk in obedience. The Spirit is moving quickly and we need to listen. She also said we need to be still and know that He is God because He will lead and speak. It's not about age, its about listening to the Spirit. She reminded us that there's no retirement in the kingdom of God.
Also family is everyone who does the will of our Father. Brother and sisters are those who listen to the Father. Recently her and her husband Peter, were in Hong Kong and Peter fell off a stage and they thought they might lose him.. Everyone prayed and he was ok.. The Chinese said: Lazarus has been raised from the dead. Also 17000 Chinese ppl were there at the conference who love God.
At the end I said hi to her and gave her a hug. It was wonderful to remember:
to listen to the Spirit and walk in obedience
to be still and know that He is God
Family are those who listen and obey our Father God
it's not about age, it's about listening to the Spirit
there's no retirement in the kingdom of God
Asia does not want our structures, they want the kingdom
He is placing us for this time in History
Auntie Donna. Her and her husband helped teach me about missions and lead a team and I to China in 2009. She is 75 years old and her husband is 80. She's been walking closely with God for many years and I just love talking with her and listening to what she has to say.
So this is word for word, what I sent my friend regarding what she spoke about:
Wow, last night w auntie Donna was interesting! Here's what happened. I left work at 430 to get to her speaking for 7pm. I typed directions into GPS and got more lost and stuck in traffic than ever before in my life! It was crazy... 3.5 hours later I was still driving and traffic was not moving. It was in a very residential area if Vancouver... Anyways no mapquest or GPS recognized the address.. So I finally parked and ran to a skytrain, then bus!
I was probably more determined than ever to listen and be in God's presence because of how hard it was to get there. I finally got there at 730pm... I was pretty stressed out getting there and then I was so thankful when I got inside. There was worship going and I saw auntie d, I started crying out of thankfulness. So thankful that I made it, thankful to be in worship, thankful to see one of my favourite people in the world. Then this girl came over to me and said 'I feel I'm suppose to pray for you' ... Lol! Prob cuz I was crying lol. Anyways she prayed that God would stir up dreams in me again.
Auntie D's talk was sooo her and so Jesus. Tons of 'is this right' 'does this speak to you, tony?' (Naming random ppl she knows in the crowd). I was going "amen" and laughing as she shared some funny things.. She shared : those who have ears to hear, listen to the Spirit and walk in obedience. The Spirit is moving quickly and we need to listen. She also said we need to be still and know that He is God because He will lead and speak. It's not about age, its about listening to the Spirit. She reminded us that there's no retirement in the kingdom of God.
Also family is everyone who does the will of our Father. Brother and sisters are those who listen to the Father. Recently her and her husband Peter, were in Hong Kong and Peter fell off a stage and they thought they might lose him.. Everyone prayed and he was ok.. The Chinese said: Lazarus has been raised from the dead. Also 17000 Chinese ppl were there at the conference who love God.
At the end I said hi to her and gave her a hug. It was wonderful to remember:
to listen to the Spirit and walk in obedience
to be still and know that He is God
Family are those who listen and obey our Father God
it's not about age, it's about listening to the Spirit
there's no retirement in the kingdom of God
Asia does not want our structures, they want the kingdom
He is placing us for this time in History
I'm sorry officer
"I'm sorry officer, I'm not waking up my baby just so you can see if it's real."
I push the limits on the road. For a month this summer I was working downtown. Traffic barely moved in the mornings into downtown and yet the HOV lane was coasting along just fine...
So I changed lanes, took a risk and drove in the HOV lane a couple of times a week. Recently, I was talking to a friend about this and he said he used to do it every day. Then I said how I've noticed that some people put fake dolls in the passenger seat so it looks like they have a passenger in the HOV lane. Then we both thought "AHA a fake baby!" If we put a fake baby in a car seat and get pulled over, we can say "sorry officer, I'm not waking up my baby just so you can see if it's real." We were totally joking about all of this, but the conversation came out of some real events.
I got 2 tickets this week. I believe God wanted me to WAKE UP. At times in the bible, God calls peoples names twice to wake them up. For example "Samuel, Samuel."
So here's the deal of my wake up call. Last week and I had a ticket on the dash when I got back to my car. My friend and I had put money in the parking meter so I called the number on the ticket to find out what it was for. I was told that my car insurance had expired a couple days ago. Thankfully the ticket was only for $50! I bought new car insurance right after that phone call.
A couple of days later, I was driving to another teacher's house. She texted me directions to her house since her address does not show up on a GPS. Before leaving my house, I tried the GPS anyways. It didn't work so I did my best to follow these directions that were texted to me. And then I heard sirens behind me. I didn't think the sirens were following me so I drove a few more meters and then I pulled over.
The officer said "I saw you on your phone". I said "Really officer, I wasn't texting, I'm just following these directions so that I can get to my friends house."
After all was said and done, I was slammed with a $176 ticket for using a hand held device.
I was frustrated and then it got me thinking ... I have texted other times while driving. Maybe God is trying to wake me up. Since then I have found that more people every year are killed due to phones while driving even more than drinking.
Then I realized that God does things for our protection. He'd rather wake me up sooner than later. He seems to do that in every area of our lives. We go through trials and lessons and learn boundaries for our own good.
A lot of times, people don't like boundaries. We give children boundaries for playing outside so that they don't run into the road.
God gives boundaries to wait to have sex in marriage so that you are not left with a baby in an uncommitted relationship. etc, etc.
I'm so thankful for a God who protects us and wakes us up for our own good. I encourage you to get to know this God that lived and died so that we could live most free and eternally protected.
I push the limits on the road. For a month this summer I was working downtown. Traffic barely moved in the mornings into downtown and yet the HOV lane was coasting along just fine...
So I changed lanes, took a risk and drove in the HOV lane a couple of times a week. Recently, I was talking to a friend about this and he said he used to do it every day. Then I said how I've noticed that some people put fake dolls in the passenger seat so it looks like they have a passenger in the HOV lane. Then we both thought "AHA a fake baby!" If we put a fake baby in a car seat and get pulled over, we can say "sorry officer, I'm not waking up my baby just so you can see if it's real." We were totally joking about all of this, but the conversation came out of some real events.
I got 2 tickets this week. I believe God wanted me to WAKE UP. At times in the bible, God calls peoples names twice to wake them up. For example "Samuel, Samuel."
So here's the deal of my wake up call. Last week and I had a ticket on the dash when I got back to my car. My friend and I had put money in the parking meter so I called the number on the ticket to find out what it was for. I was told that my car insurance had expired a couple days ago. Thankfully the ticket was only for $50! I bought new car insurance right after that phone call.
A couple of days later, I was driving to another teacher's house. She texted me directions to her house since her address does not show up on a GPS. Before leaving my house, I tried the GPS anyways. It didn't work so I did my best to follow these directions that were texted to me. And then I heard sirens behind me. I didn't think the sirens were following me so I drove a few more meters and then I pulled over.
The officer said "I saw you on your phone". I said "Really officer, I wasn't texting, I'm just following these directions so that I can get to my friends house."
After all was said and done, I was slammed with a $176 ticket for using a hand held device.
I was frustrated and then it got me thinking ... I have texted other times while driving. Maybe God is trying to wake me up. Since then I have found that more people every year are killed due to phones while driving even more than drinking.
Then I realized that God does things for our protection. He'd rather wake me up sooner than later. He seems to do that in every area of our lives. We go through trials and lessons and learn boundaries for our own good.
A lot of times, people don't like boundaries. We give children boundaries for playing outside so that they don't run into the road.
God gives boundaries to wait to have sex in marriage so that you are not left with a baby in an uncommitted relationship. etc, etc.
I'm so thankful for a God who protects us and wakes us up for our own good. I encourage you to get to know this God that lived and died so that we could live most free and eternally protected.
court case and the movie crash
I haven't seen the movie crash in like 8 years so I'm going off some fuzzy memories here. What I do remember in the movie is that our lives are deeply intertwined with other people. We may not realize the impact of our choices on others but usually even strangers will somehow be affected. By the human eye, we cannot and will not ever see the complete picture of how our daily lives have impacted others. Perhaps if could even be through them overhearing our conversation, perhaps through our impatience or perhaps through our compassion.
This came to the for front today as I was sitting in a court room listening to a trial take place.
2 years ago, my friends sister was killed in a hit and run.
What was crazy about today was how many people were affected by this incident, some who knew the family and some who did not. In fact, I personally didn't know the woman who died but have since then become friends with her family and recently babysat her amazing children that she had to leave behind. Today, many witnesses testified as to what they saw that night.
A mother had just picked up her son from his friends house and was driving past when they saw the incident. The son got out of the car and said some comments to the people there.
Another witness was a nurse who stopped to administer cpr.
Another lady had just come from the airport returning home from a business trip when she saw the incident. She testified today as to what she saw.
There were many more stories and many more witnesses. All affected by the incident that took place that night. For some it altered their lives forever.
This lawyer kept showing the witnesses aerial photos so that witnesses could recall more details. This reminded me that God not only sees the aerial views, he sees every angle, knows every relationship, sees every person and how it will affect the course of their life. He alone knows the complete story. He alone knows each ones story. God sees the big picture, while we only see a fraction. For example, the night of the crash the family was grieving the loss of their loved one. The nurse was trying desperately to help a stranger, the waitresses at the bar who had served the drinks earlier that night saw the toll the alcohol took. So many things happening at once and there is God who sees it all at the same time.
I guess it leaves me in awe that have such a huge God and that as people we need to realize that we are not isolated beings. We were created for relationship. God intended our most important relationship to be with Him. Secondly, to be with others. Our words and actions affect others. I want to live aware of this and to live intentionally and purposefully pointing others to God.
This came to the for front today as I was sitting in a court room listening to a trial take place.
2 years ago, my friends sister was killed in a hit and run.
What was crazy about today was how many people were affected by this incident, some who knew the family and some who did not. In fact, I personally didn't know the woman who died but have since then become friends with her family and recently babysat her amazing children that she had to leave behind. Today, many witnesses testified as to what they saw that night.
A mother had just picked up her son from his friends house and was driving past when they saw the incident. The son got out of the car and said some comments to the people there.
Another witness was a nurse who stopped to administer cpr.
Another lady had just come from the airport returning home from a business trip when she saw the incident. She testified today as to what she saw.
There were many more stories and many more witnesses. All affected by the incident that took place that night. For some it altered their lives forever.
This lawyer kept showing the witnesses aerial photos so that witnesses could recall more details. This reminded me that God not only sees the aerial views, he sees every angle, knows every relationship, sees every person and how it will affect the course of their life. He alone knows the complete story. He alone knows each ones story. God sees the big picture, while we only see a fraction. For example, the night of the crash the family was grieving the loss of their loved one. The nurse was trying desperately to help a stranger, the waitresses at the bar who had served the drinks earlier that night saw the toll the alcohol took. So many things happening at once and there is God who sees it all at the same time.
I guess it leaves me in awe that have such a huge God and that as people we need to realize that we are not isolated beings. We were created for relationship. God intended our most important relationship to be with Him. Secondly, to be with others. Our words and actions affect others. I want to live aware of this and to live intentionally and purposefully pointing others to God.
Monday, 7 October 2013
prodigal son
I realized that I had better start documenting the crazy and amazing times that God has powerfully showed up in my life. There are too many to count. Here is one.
I was on a greyhound bus travelling about 17 hours north of Vancouver to work at a Christian camp one summer. I was going to meet up with some university classmates.
On the bus, I overheard a dude a couple seats back talking to the person beside him. "I haven't been home in years. I'm going home tonight." He explained "I left home many years ago on bad terms with my family, haven't spoken to my dad in years. I haven't told him I'm coming home. I'm just gonna show up at the doorstep. I got nothing on me except the clothes I'm wearing. I don't know what my dad's gonna say."
The bus was in the middle of nowhere driving down country roads.
Meanwhile in my head I'm thinking "ok buddy, this is practically word for word the story of the prodigal son". I happened to have a book on me written by Max Lucado about the prodigal son and the story of Jesus. God clearly told me to give the book to the dude.
The story of the prodigal son is a story representing Father God's love for His children. Our Father, always welcomes his children home when they turn around and come back to Him with sincere hearts.
So I was gonna walk over to him and say "Hi, God wants you to have this book."
But those were the old days, days when I was scared to do stuff like that. So I sat there with the book in my hand and a bookmark in the place about the story of the prodigal son.
I kept thinking about how to give him the book. I decided to put $20 inside the front page of the book. I kept trying to get up to give it to him.
The next thing you know I heard him saying that he was getting off the bus in the middle of these dirt roads to walk to his house.
As he walked past me, I said "uhhh, here you go, this is for you."
He said: Thank you!
I don't know the rest of the story but God does. God simply asks us to do our part and He does the supernatural part. He asks us to listen to the Spirit and obey.
I was on a greyhound bus travelling about 17 hours north of Vancouver to work at a Christian camp one summer. I was going to meet up with some university classmates.
On the bus, I overheard a dude a couple seats back talking to the person beside him. "I haven't been home in years. I'm going home tonight." He explained "I left home many years ago on bad terms with my family, haven't spoken to my dad in years. I haven't told him I'm coming home. I'm just gonna show up at the doorstep. I got nothing on me except the clothes I'm wearing. I don't know what my dad's gonna say."
The bus was in the middle of nowhere driving down country roads.
Meanwhile in my head I'm thinking "ok buddy, this is practically word for word the story of the prodigal son". I happened to have a book on me written by Max Lucado about the prodigal son and the story of Jesus. God clearly told me to give the book to the dude.
The story of the prodigal son is a story representing Father God's love for His children. Our Father, always welcomes his children home when they turn around and come back to Him with sincere hearts.
So I was gonna walk over to him and say "Hi, God wants you to have this book."
But those were the old days, days when I was scared to do stuff like that. So I sat there with the book in my hand and a bookmark in the place about the story of the prodigal son.
I kept thinking about how to give him the book. I decided to put $20 inside the front page of the book. I kept trying to get up to give it to him.
The next thing you know I heard him saying that he was getting off the bus in the middle of these dirt roads to walk to his house.
As he walked past me, I said "uhhh, here you go, this is for you."
He said: Thank you!
I don't know the rest of the story but God does. God simply asks us to do our part and He does the supernatural part. He asks us to listen to the Spirit and obey.
Tuesday, 1 October 2013
gospel partners/ teams / community
Jasmine and I first put together the dream of leading a coffee house outreach in November of 2010. Since then it has been a tremendous joy and challenge. There is no way it would have lasted more than a month if either of us had done it on our own. We have prayed together, dreamed together, carried out the vision together. God was faithful to put together a team. When one is weak, the others are strong.
God puts friends in our lives to do life with us. Often they are connected to our purpose. He never intended for us to do life alone. So look around you, who are those friends in your life that God is calling you to partner with for his kingdom. Often those friends are not like you. They will challenge you in the right ways. They will inspire you and encourage you in the right ways, If we want to do something significant, it's possible to do on our own but for anything to be radical and world changing it's going to take a partner, team, a community to get involved.
Our greatest example is the Trinity. God calls himself The Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is not a isolated, He lives in community and invites us into this partnership.
He's smart and I think that's a pretty smart way to do life. It's also A LOT more fun :)
God puts friends in our lives to do life with us. Often they are connected to our purpose. He never intended for us to do life alone. So look around you, who are those friends in your life that God is calling you to partner with for his kingdom. Often those friends are not like you. They will challenge you in the right ways. They will inspire you and encourage you in the right ways, If we want to do something significant, it's possible to do on our own but for anything to be radical and world changing it's going to take a partner, team, a community to get involved.
Our greatest example is the Trinity. God calls himself The Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is not a isolated, He lives in community and invites us into this partnership.
He's smart and I think that's a pretty smart way to do life. It's also A LOT more fun :)
Educator
I'm so blessed to have the best job in the world. It's not the location or the context or the setting, it's the calling.
I happen to currently be an educator in a public elementary school. I'm currently teaching grade 2/3 French immersion. Over the years, I've taught from Kindergarten - grade 3 and also grades 9-11.
Being an educator, started many years before this though. I began educating as a child. My brother is 2 years younger than me and my mom tells me that I tried to teach him everything. From the abc's and on.
This is the gift of being a first born haha. As we grew up, my brother also taught me a lot and I'm so thankful for him.
One of my favourite places to teach is at camp, in creation. I've been blessed to speak to younger girls at camps about relationships and to mixed age groups about God.
These days, I'm more and more excited to speak into girls lives about arising into leadership and into their destiny. I'm excited to speak about a life-giving God who knows us by name, who saves us and gives us purpose.
I'm excited to go into dark places and make Jesus known in order to bring about life and light.
I'm thankful for this calling :)
I happen to currently be an educator in a public elementary school. I'm currently teaching grade 2/3 French immersion. Over the years, I've taught from Kindergarten - grade 3 and also grades 9-11.
Being an educator, started many years before this though. I began educating as a child. My brother is 2 years younger than me and my mom tells me that I tried to teach him everything. From the abc's and on.
This is the gift of being a first born haha. As we grew up, my brother also taught me a lot and I'm so thankful for him.
One of my favourite places to teach is at camp, in creation. I've been blessed to speak to younger girls at camps about relationships and to mixed age groups about God.
These days, I'm more and more excited to speak into girls lives about arising into leadership and into their destiny. I'm excited to speak about a life-giving God who knows us by name, who saves us and gives us purpose.
I'm excited to go into dark places and make Jesus known in order to bring about life and light.
I'm thankful for this calling :)
co-creating speech
One of my favourite speakers says: " words become worlds"
This has huge significance upon the words we speak over each other. Speaking negatively about people can create that kind of world around them.
Consequently speaking life over people, creates a life giving world around them.
So here's the new part that I've been thinking about lately: the importance of speaking out loud every single one of our dreams and every single word of knowledge / prophesy that is life giving and that has been spoken over us.
The other day, I was driving home and decided to boldly STATE these dreams and prophesies out loud. Agreeing with God what He has Already spoken..
When God created the world, he SPOKE it into existence. This goes to show, once again, how powerful speech is.
For example: "God, I'm speaking out in faith that you have called me an educator. You have and are equipping me to speak to generations about you, Jesus".
Speaking is part of co-creating with God. Let's invest into our and other's futures by stating God's truths. The seeds planted in co-creating speech with God today yield gardens and fruit in the future for many generations.
This has huge significance upon the words we speak over each other. Speaking negatively about people can create that kind of world around them.
Consequently speaking life over people, creates a life giving world around them.
So here's the new part that I've been thinking about lately: the importance of speaking out loud every single one of our dreams and every single word of knowledge / prophesy that is life giving and that has been spoken over us.
The other day, I was driving home and decided to boldly STATE these dreams and prophesies out loud. Agreeing with God what He has Already spoken..
When God created the world, he SPOKE it into existence. This goes to show, once again, how powerful speech is.
For example: "God, I'm speaking out in faith that you have called me an educator. You have and are equipping me to speak to generations about you, Jesus".
Speaking is part of co-creating with God. Let's invest into our and other's futures by stating God's truths. The seeds planted in co-creating speech with God today yield gardens and fruit in the future for many generations.
evidence for faith
I love when getting a hair cut is exhilarating.. not because of the cut but because of the conversation with the stylist!
I love Cam. Cam is one of the most outgoing, artistic, creative and fun dudes I know. He's almost 40 and picked up skateboarding again. Him and his wife are sailing to Mexico next year and are going to live there for a while. Recently, he got the craziest phone call in his professional life. He was asked to colour the fur of a black bear, white, for a movie about a polar bear. He took the job because as he said, all of the interesting times in his life have come through an element of risk.
I was sitting in his chair and we were talking about life and sailing and adventures. I mentioned that I knew someone who is a speaker..."I mean Pastor." I said. He said: "oh are you religious?" I said: I have a relationship with God.
This led to a very engaging conversation. He said he liked the idea of a relationship, not a set of rules. He said he has so many questions and that there isn't a lot of proof about the resurrection of Jesus.
We talked about history and historical implications of Jesus being on earth.
I asked him if he's heard of apologetics. He said no. I explained that it's a defense/probability of the faith. Basically it's the cold hard facts of Jesus.
He said he's sick of hearing that in order to follow Jesus it's only blind faith that you need.
A HA. This is simply not true. Whoever came up with the term blind faith is doing a disservice to us all.
I'm thankful to know friends who are spending their entire lives researching the historical, scientific and empirical facts of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. It is simply NOT blind faith.
It is of infinite importance to search for truth. In north America we are able to read, research and seek truth. After all, isn't there too much at stake not to seek truth? I'm so glad there are in fact answers. A website I highly recommend. apologeticscanada.org. Their slogan is: causing believers to think and thinkers to believe. Visit us at: Gallagher's coffee bar and café this year while we do a 5 week study on the historical life of Jesus. It is so important that we use our hearts AND head. We were given both.
At the end of my time with Cam he said: I really enjoyed talking with you. Let's do this again. Let's keep the conversation going, building relationships and engaging each other to think and seek truth together.
I love Cam. Cam is one of the most outgoing, artistic, creative and fun dudes I know. He's almost 40 and picked up skateboarding again. Him and his wife are sailing to Mexico next year and are going to live there for a while. Recently, he got the craziest phone call in his professional life. He was asked to colour the fur of a black bear, white, for a movie about a polar bear. He took the job because as he said, all of the interesting times in his life have come through an element of risk.
I was sitting in his chair and we were talking about life and sailing and adventures. I mentioned that I knew someone who is a speaker..."I mean Pastor." I said. He said: "oh are you religious?" I said: I have a relationship with God.
This led to a very engaging conversation. He said he liked the idea of a relationship, not a set of rules. He said he has so many questions and that there isn't a lot of proof about the resurrection of Jesus.
We talked about history and historical implications of Jesus being on earth.
I asked him if he's heard of apologetics. He said no. I explained that it's a defense/probability of the faith. Basically it's the cold hard facts of Jesus.
He said he's sick of hearing that in order to follow Jesus it's only blind faith that you need.
A HA. This is simply not true. Whoever came up with the term blind faith is doing a disservice to us all.
I'm thankful to know friends who are spending their entire lives researching the historical, scientific and empirical facts of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. It is simply NOT blind faith.
It is of infinite importance to search for truth. In north America we are able to read, research and seek truth. After all, isn't there too much at stake not to seek truth? I'm so glad there are in fact answers. A website I highly recommend. apologeticscanada.org. Their slogan is: causing believers to think and thinkers to believe. Visit us at: Gallagher's coffee bar and café this year while we do a 5 week study on the historical life of Jesus. It is so important that we use our hearts AND head. We were given both.
At the end of my time with Cam he said: I really enjoyed talking with you. Let's do this again. Let's keep the conversation going, building relationships and engaging each other to think and seek truth together.
we can't buy fluffy clouds
In the bible, God states that we are made on purpose for a purpose. He says in His word that we are like clay pots all made for different purposes. Imagine if we were all engineers or all artists. In fact, some of my friends are missionaries and make no money whatsoever, and this does not make their purpose less or more significant. The point and question is: ARE WE DOING WHAT WE WERE CREATED TO DO? Are we fulfilling the calling on our lives.
I'm so thankful that God is creative and created us for so many different purposes on this earth.
I hope to share this message in love, with a world that is searching for purpose.
Amazing grace /Searching for Shin
By now most people in the tri-cities have heard of retired Pastor, Shin No. Shin was last seen 10 days ago by his family. He has Alzheimer's and left his family's house to go for a walk and never returned. Like most residents of the tri-cities, my friends and I have been praying and searching.
Today I went to visit my lovely stylist who is Korean. I got to speak my 10 Korean words with her since she doesn't speak much English. Upon entering the salon, I started with the usual, "anyeung haseo" (hello). She answered, then I said "camsamnida" (thank you). We laughed and smiled. I asked her if she had heard about the Korean "moxanim" (Pastor), Shin who is missing. She said yes and then I said we praying to "Hananim" (God) that he is found. She asked me where I think he is. I paused then I said I don't know, but "Hananim" (God) knows. She smiled. She asked me if I go to church. I said yes, I "Sarange Hananim" (I love God). She smiled and started singing to me a Korean Hymn. So then I sang her Amazing grace which is Shin's favourite song and she hummed along.
Searching for Shin has brought together our communities and beyond. In fact, Shin has created community even while missing. Other people have stepped up and built community during this time. These communities have crossed ages, nations, languages etc. A moment that brought me joy was when a women approached a group of us one night who were searching and she said "are you that Christian group?" She said "I'd like to join but I don't know Christian songs". We said, please join us, it doesn't matter about the songs (or background). We are working together. Through this time, we've been able to meet new friends and build relationships.
I realized today that Shin is not lost in the eternal sense. God knows exactly where he is. Since Shin gave His life to God many years ago, He is not lost, He has been found for all of eternity.
It is so moving that his favourite song contains the lyrics:
I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind but now I see.
Shin was found many years when he met Jesus. Singing that song as we search for him on earth is a reminder that he is only temporarily missing but ultimately has been found for all of eternity.
Praying for you Shin to be found on earth and so thankful that he is eternally found, safe and secure with God.
Today I went to visit my lovely stylist who is Korean. I got to speak my 10 Korean words with her since she doesn't speak much English. Upon entering the salon, I started with the usual, "anyeung haseo" (hello). She answered, then I said "camsamnida" (thank you). We laughed and smiled. I asked her if she had heard about the Korean "moxanim" (Pastor), Shin who is missing. She said yes and then I said we praying to "Hananim" (God) that he is found. She asked me where I think he is. I paused then I said I don't know, but "Hananim" (God) knows. She smiled. She asked me if I go to church. I said yes, I "Sarange Hananim" (I love God). She smiled and started singing to me a Korean Hymn. So then I sang her Amazing grace which is Shin's favourite song and she hummed along.
Searching for Shin has brought together our communities and beyond. In fact, Shin has created community even while missing. Other people have stepped up and built community during this time. These communities have crossed ages, nations, languages etc. A moment that brought me joy was when a women approached a group of us one night who were searching and she said "are you that Christian group?" She said "I'd like to join but I don't know Christian songs". We said, please join us, it doesn't matter about the songs (or background). We are working together. Through this time, we've been able to meet new friends and build relationships.
I realized today that Shin is not lost in the eternal sense. God knows exactly where he is. Since Shin gave His life to God many years ago, He is not lost, He has been found for all of eternity.
It is so moving that his favourite song contains the lyrics:
I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind but now I see.
Shin was found many years when he met Jesus. Singing that song as we search for him on earth is a reminder that he is only temporarily missing but ultimately has been found for all of eternity.
Praying for you Shin to be found on earth and so thankful that he is eternally found, safe and secure with God.
Lions & Lionesses arising
I have never been more passionate about anything in my life
This is what stirs me up, wakes me up, brings me alive and makes me ARISE.
It is the fact that God saves us, redeems us, heals us and frees us. He shows us complete Father LOVE. Once we get it, we then can go into dark places and share that hope with others.
We need to realize that in this life there is more going on than what we can see in front of us. The enemy wants to steal, kill and destroy creation. God wants to bring life and life in abundance. We need to be aware of this and ARISE as the lions and lionesses that we were created to be, fully prepared for battle. This first begins in the heart. All of us have had things in our lives that need healing. It's like being in the jungle and getting scrapes, cuts etc. If left unhealed by God they can get infected and grow etc. God is more than able to heal. For many, it's family issues. For myself, I deeply missed my dad. He was an amazing dad and he passed away of cancer when I was 10. God needed to heal me of that sadness and abandonment. When my mom remarried, I assumed my stepdad would be like my first dad who called me princess and spent hours with me, telling stories etc. This was not the case and I had to give God disappointment and feelings of rejection. Once I finally released these things at the cross, I was healed and God filled every place in my heart with His love. In fact, His love is overflowing that there's so much. It overflows so that we can then pour it out onto others.
There is so much injustice in our world. What breaks my heart is that my sisters all around the world are being oppressed and harmed. We have all heard about human trafficking. There are young girls who trapped in the industry and have no way out. Thankfully, people are ARISING like lions and lionesses and going into the dark battle and bringing light and rescuing these girls.
I once heard the sentence in YWAM, Kona by Steve Ahern "The battle is first of all won or lost in the heart". Once the battle is won in our hearts and we know who's we are, we are prepared to go out. We belong to God. We can then go into battle bringing His light.
Whatever form of justice is on your heart: oppression of children, educating children, poverty etc. ARISE LION AND LIONESSES. I charge you. The world needs you.
This is what stirs me up, wakes me up, brings me alive and makes me ARISE.
It is the fact that God saves us, redeems us, heals us and frees us. He shows us complete Father LOVE. Once we get it, we then can go into dark places and share that hope with others.
We need to realize that in this life there is more going on than what we can see in front of us. The enemy wants to steal, kill and destroy creation. God wants to bring life and life in abundance. We need to be aware of this and ARISE as the lions and lionesses that we were created to be, fully prepared for battle. This first begins in the heart. All of us have had things in our lives that need healing. It's like being in the jungle and getting scrapes, cuts etc. If left unhealed by God they can get infected and grow etc. God is more than able to heal. For many, it's family issues. For myself, I deeply missed my dad. He was an amazing dad and he passed away of cancer when I was 10. God needed to heal me of that sadness and abandonment. When my mom remarried, I assumed my stepdad would be like my first dad who called me princess and spent hours with me, telling stories etc. This was not the case and I had to give God disappointment and feelings of rejection. Once I finally released these things at the cross, I was healed and God filled every place in my heart with His love. In fact, His love is overflowing that there's so much. It overflows so that we can then pour it out onto others.
There is so much injustice in our world. What breaks my heart is that my sisters all around the world are being oppressed and harmed. We have all heard about human trafficking. There are young girls who trapped in the industry and have no way out. Thankfully, people are ARISING like lions and lionesses and going into the dark battle and bringing light and rescuing these girls.
I once heard the sentence in YWAM, Kona by Steve Ahern "The battle is first of all won or lost in the heart". Once the battle is won in our hearts and we know who's we are, we are prepared to go out. We belong to God. We can then go into battle bringing His light.
Whatever form of justice is on your heart: oppression of children, educating children, poverty etc. ARISE LION AND LIONESSES. I charge you. The world needs you.
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