Parallel Parking

One thing I’d never done before I moved to DC is parallel park.  When I got here, I had to learn fast, because there are almost no parking lots or driveways in the city.  It’s not a bad thing, just very different.

There are many things in life we need to adapt to.  Think of it: if I relied only on my previous driving training, refusing to change and learn a new thing, I would be completely lost.  Even now, I would still be driving around the city, completely unsettled, never finding rest.

There’s one other thing to which I needed to change my approach: my relationship with God.  My lifestyle is completely different from what it was just three short months ago.  Gone are the days of sleeping on my friend’s floor, reading books all morning and spending all afternoon in the prayer room.  Now I have a job, a commute, a half-hour lunch break.  When I get home, I’m worn out and want to go to sleep.  Where does God fit in all this?  I’m finding out more and more each day.  It really is exciting finding new ways to seek after Him.  It’s difficult, and it’s worth it.

“Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.  Selah“—Psalm 24:6

New Shoes

So here I am, living in a new city, working at an actual job, looking for a new church and finding new friends.  As of last night, I am also the proud new owner of a pair of these grey Converse All-Stars.  I think they’ll be my mascot or something for the beginning of this new season.  They just seem to fit well.

Let me tell you, there have been many times in the past two weeks and the months leading up to the move where I stopped and asked myself, “Why am I doing this?  Why am I leaving all my friends and family, these people I love so much, to go to a place I don’t even care about?”  Honestly, I don’t think I’ve found a good answer yet.  But it’s coming soon.

This has been a time of discovery for me.  I’ve discovered that God really does provide in amazing ways(not that I didn’t know that before, but He continues to amaze).  I can rely on Him for all of my needs.  He is my source, my strength, my light.  Through this lonely time, He remains my best friend.

I’ve done a lot of driving around this past week, going to see monuments and memorials, malls and shopping centers, walking through streets and parks.  They’ve all been okay, but none of them can compare to my relationship with God.  I truly am not of this world.  I am a stranger in a foreign land, come from a kingdom far greater than we can imagine.

Actually, God does have people here.  I’ve found some.  Walking into JHOP DC a couple nights ago felt like the closest thing to home I’ve felt in a while.  National Community Church this morning(even though I missed half the service) was also a great encouragement to me.  God really is everywhere.

“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.”–Ephesians 2:19

Uprooted

Moving is hard.  It really is.  I found myself on Sunday, weeping with the knowledge that it might be my last day ever worshiping with these amazing people I call my church family.

Understand, I found God here in Tallahassee.  Two years ago, when I was at my lowest backslidden state, these people were here to challenge me, pick me up, lead me to the cross and grow alongside me.  I’ve put down roots here: roots that are not easily pulled out.

I know that the investment they’ve made in me will forever remain in my heart, and the investment I’ve made in them will stay here.  God is making a transplant, and it goes exactly according to His greater purpose.  It seems that all of me was poured out here in Tallahassee, on a large metaphorical altar.  God is now taking that sacrifice and using it to feed other souls in a new city.

I will never forget these amazing people of whom I am privileged to be called a friend.  Heh, look at me talking… our lives have only just begun!  God is taking us to greater places!  Whether together or apart, our hearts are forever united in Christ.  He holds us all safely in the palm of His hand.

“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.“–John 3:8

Relentless: the Luke 18 Internship

Today, I start an internship with the International House of Prayer Tallahassee.  I’m doing it because I believe God is calling me to it, which is really the best reason to do anything, I think.  I’m not sure I even fully understand why I’m doing it, but I’m going to step out in faith regardless.  I haven’t been doing much of that lately; I think this is a great place to start.

To give you a little idea of what I’ll be doing, it’s a forty hour per week commitment, plus a little extra sometimes.  I’m taking four classes: Eschatology, Developing a Heart After God, the Heart of the Nazarite and the Lost Art of Intercession.  In addition to that, I’ll be in the prayer room for the most part, and I’ll probably be doing a good bit of worship leading.

My heart for this internship is really just to meet God and receive His love.  I’m devoting the next three months specifically for that purpose.  Maybe I’ll find something significant to run with.  Maybe I’ll get the guts to embrace the call of God on my life.  Will I change?  I don’t doubt it.  Will the world change around me?  I hope so.  So I will make my requests.  And God will be faithful.

“And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night?  Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
–Luke 18:7-8

Inventory

You know, sometimes you need to ask yourself the tough questions.  Where am I?  What am I doing?  Where should I go from here, and is what I’m doing now leading me in the right direction?

I try to be introspective, making sure I’m not in some sin or something, but when it comes to life goals… I don’t think I even have any.  What is my “calling”?  I have no idea.  Do I even want to know?  I don’t know.  I’ve made a point to “live in the moment,” which is good.  Don’t worry about tomorrow, right?  The thing is, though, I’m pretty sure I’m missing the big picture.  Like, who am I really?  I know I belong to God, I’m His son.  I’m created to worship Him, to love.  But still, what does that look like in real life?

I think I’m in a rut.  It feels like I’m striving for nothing.  The things I’m doing right now are great; I enjoy them.  I’ve been able to minister to people, help others and grow closer to God.  And I think I need a change.  I need to obey God.  But what does He want me to do?

Maybe I already know, but I’ve been ignoring it.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”–Proverbs 3:5-6

Babies Deserve To Die

Yeah.  I said it.  It’s true.  This revelation came to me some time ago; I think it was while I was praying for the ending of abortion.  Maybe I was at a Bound4Life event.  I don’t know.  Regardless, I truly believe it.

Of course, I still believe that abortion is wrong.  A fetus is a human life, no question.  I believe that life starts at conception.  Abortions should not happen, ever.  And I’m sickened by the fact that taxpayer dollars are now funding abortions.  These are my convictions.

I believe, however, that many anti-abortion rights people start with the wrong premise.  They assume that those “cute little innocent babies” deserve to live.  Biblically, that’s a wrong assumption.  In fact, according to the Word, we all deserve death.  That any of us are alive at all is a miracle from Heaven.  If fetuses are human, and I believe they are, then they deserve death just as much as you do.

The Bible commands us to love one another.  This is love: a friend, instead of taking a girl to an abortion clinic, offers to adopt the child; a boyfriend, instead of abandoning his girl and unborn child, provides for his new family; two parents, faced with a pregnant daughter, forgive her; a woman, choosing life for her child in the face of impossible circumstances.

No human law will ever force us to love each other.  We need to find that love for ourselves.  We find it by accepting God’s love for us.  Jesus died for the people who whipped him, mocked him, spit on him, killed him.  He had mercy on us.  Can’t we have mercy on the unborn?  Please.  Let’s do it together.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”–John 13:34

One Thing

Last week, I had the privilege of attending the annual One Thing conference in Kansas City.  It was my first time going to that conference, and I had a really great time.   I got to meet some new people, build relationships with friends and, most importantly, grow closer to my God.

God just amazes me more and more each day.  Seriously, how great is He really?  Will any of us ever know?  This was the point of the whole conference, I think: Jesus is coming back, so be ready for Him.  Know Him.  Love Him.

I believe that the conference really was a capstone on what God’s been working in me for the last year and a half.  So, that being said, I’m believing for even greater things in the near future, like the next chapter in my relationship with God.  I’m not sure what that’s going to look like exactly, but I’m sure it will be good.  God has brought me this far.  How could it be anything other than good?

“One thing have I asked of the LORD,
   that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
   all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
   and to inquire in his temple.”–Psalm 27:4

The Lost Bible Adventure

Okay, so here’s how it went down on Saturday.  I had just left a prayer meeting at IHOP, and I was planning on going to a friend’s apartment to watch the FSU game.  I walked over to my station wagon, put my Bible and notebook on the roof and called my friend Othniel for directions.  After a short conversation, and the subsequent receiving of the directions, I hopped into the driver’s seat, started the car and drove off.

After driving about a block down the road, I noticed in the rear-view mirror a white paper thing flying off into the street behind me.  “Hmm,” I thought.  “I hope that wasn’t an important paper or anything.”  I turned and looked into the back seat to see what was missing, but then realized that my back windows weren’t even open.  So I checked the front seat beside me and found everything in it’s place.  “Oh no.”  I realized what it was.  I’d just bought that Bible a few months ago, and the notebook was full of spiritual notes from the last two years: sermon notes, personal thoughts, little poems and such.  You know, I was scared.

Thoughts racing through my head like “what will I do without those notes?” and “I’ll have to buy a new Bible,” I took the first u-turn I could, waiting for what seemed like an eternity for traffic to pass by, all the while staring in my mirrors, hoping that my books wouldn’t be destroyed.  I finally made it back to the intersection where my books lay, and had to watch in dispair as my notebook was run over several times and the pages of my Bible looked like they were about to tear out every time a violent gust from a passing car blew over it.

I pulled in to a Shell station right next to the intersection, jumped out of the car as fast as I could, and ran into the street.  I grabbed my notebook first, since it was closer and because it was more irreplaceable.  Then, throwing it into the grass by the sidewalk, I rushed back out to get my Bible.  Thank God there was hardly any traffic at the time I was running all over the street.  That would have really sucked to have been hit by a car while trying to rescue a Bible.  So I got my Bible and devotional handbook, which had flown out of the Bible a little ways, and made it back safely to the side of the road.  I was happy.

As it turned out, some pages in my Bible got a little wrinkled, and there were a few scratches where it had hit the road going 35MPH initially.  The notebook was perfectly fine, but the pen attached to it was cracked a little.  The devotional handbook had some tread marks on it, but that’s it.  All in all, I got some really fun memories out of the whole situation.  Hopefully it won’t happen again, though.

“Forever, O LORD, your word
   is firmly fixed in the heavens.”–Psalm 119:89

Mistakes And Glories

Well, today was day 3 in California. Today we went to Vallejo to visit our old apartment and church, and my dad’s old workplace. I was actually only 1 year old when we lived there, so I don’t remember any of it. It was nice to see my parents having fun recalling old memories, though.

Memories are a good thing. Not all of them are pleasant to remember; we’ve all made our share of mistakes. But our bad experiences are a huge part of what makes us who we are today. Learning from those mistakes is essential to living our lives wisely.

The opposite side is good as well. We should always hold dear the good memories of our past. Remembering past glories can allow us to praise God even more for those things. Those triumphs of the past can give us hope for the present.

Of course, it’s never good to dwell in the past too much. We shouldn’t live in shame, guilt or condemnation from past mistakes. We shouldn’t live in regret that our lives now aren’t as good as the glory days. We live in the present, not the past. We should make the most of today. Not letting the past get in the way, we should still keep it in mind. We all have our share of mistakes and glories. They’re part of growing up.

“Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” -James 1:23-24

We Need Each Other

Well, we made it to California.  I guess the Lord wasn’t done with me yet, so no airplane crashes.  We visited the Jelly Belly factory today, which was fun.  My youngest brother liked it the most, I think.  Free jelly beans are a good thing.

 

You know, in a factory, no one can do everything on their own.  Each person has a role to play for everything to be accomplished.  The same is true in a family.  I really believe I and the rest of my family would still be starving if it weren’t for my dad.  If it weren’t for my mom, we would probably still be in Pensacola.  This vacation definitely wouldn’t be much fun without my brothers.

 

In the body of Christ, we all have a role to play.  Pastor, intercessor, administrator, secretary, prophet, provider and money-maker, worship leader, musician, teacher: we all have something to contribute.  Each position may butt heads with another from time to time, but that’s to be expected.  We all have a slightly different outlook on life, a different personality, but our diversity is what makes us so great!  We are so different.  That’s amazing.  So many different people, uniting under the one purpose that is Christ: that should be the greatest testimony of all time!  Each one of us should give the greatest respect to our brothers and sisters in Christ, holding each other up as more important than ourselves.  That’s the definition of family.

 

“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” -1 Corinthians 12:27