Light Vs. Dark

I had the weirdest experience tonight where God's reign in every one's life, Christian or not, became very real to me in a way I had never seen it before. I realized this reign can be shown in two ways... either we embrace His power and allow Him to control our lives, or we run from His power which causes fear and shame in our lives.

I was sitting on the metro subway on my way back to my car from Union Station. Before our train started to move, a man came and sat next to the man at the front of the car. He started talking to him, the man seemed disinterested, so he soon moved away once we started moving. He then went on to the next person on the train. I could hear faintly that he was telling him about some method of meditation. This method, whatever it is, is used by many celebrities, is cheaper than drugs or whatever, and it is meant to get rid of all stress. Say this odd chant once a day for fifteen minutes and all your stress will be gone.

As this man was talking to the second person, I realized this could be an awesome opportunity to share Christ with him. When he came to me and asked me if I wanted to know about whatever this method was called, that would be my chance to say "Sure! As long as I can tell you about Jesus also!" I then perked up in my seat, made room next to me by moving my purse to my lap, and made sure to have a friendly inviting smile that would tell this man, "Come talk to me!" He finished talking to the man, looked at me, then went to the person across the row from me.

"I am next," I thought as I then prayed more for a pure heart, to get rid of the pride of wanting to just prove him wrong, but instead show him the Truth. I had time to pray and purify my heart as the young boy he was talking to was very receptive to what he was saying and was even chanting along with him.

The man finished, looked at me as I smiled, and went to the next person sitting behind me.

He talked to everyone on the train but me. He talked to everyone, even those sleeping, reading, and with iPods blasting in their ears. Not to mention the apparent drug addicts and the just amazingly grumpy people who must have been held up at work late. He talked to them all not matter what type of wall they had up or no matter how non-receptive they seemed.

All of them except me. The one person who, from his pespective, really wanted to hear what he had to say. Why did he not talk to me? Does he even know why he didn't? I think I know...

"You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder." - James 2:19

Light scares those who live in darkness. Wow...

Think fast!

My sister refuses to believe that a blog can be written without hours and hours of contemplation. As she sits here beside me, I am composing a fantastic blog... I am sure of it. See Courtney? You, who hasn't written a blog in over a month, it is possible to write a blog...or a bloog... as you seem to think it is so funny to hit the keyboard as I write... It is possible to write a blog even with distractions!

... the end...

Love youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!

Trusting in Jesus

Here is a more extensive update on Fennie that was recently emailed to me:

"Fennie was at Kaiser in Hollywood undergoing her scheduled surgery. It was her heart valve and ran into complications and transferred her to UCLA Medical Center. The complication was that they found out that her ventricle (Heart Chamber) was weak. The bottom line is that she will need a heart transplant. Currently, she is still in critical condition but stable.

The main focus now is to get her completely stable so she can be eligible for a donor. The process takes 3.5 weeks to 1.5 years to get one. Please continue to pray for her. She is currently on life support and her family is there with her."

Please continue to be praying for her and Rachel.

"Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. " - Psalm 20:7

Prayer DOES Work!

Update on Rachel:

She is starting to wake up! She opened her eyes twice and even reached out for her sister yesterday! She also yawned a couple times too!

She is still in critical condition so keep praying.

There are some problems still getting a Visa for her oldest sister. Luckily, people in the church have friends on the city and state level to help get her approved and a phone call was made to the embassy of Lukasa, Zambia last night to plead her case. All waits on her Visa to get her here as God brought together the finances needed.


Update on Fennie:

She had complications during her surgery and was transferred to UCLA on Monday for a heart bypass which happened last night. Dave, our fearless leader, will be visiting her this morning so I should have more of an update later today. Thank you for your prayers. I truly believe she is well taken care of at UCLA... and even more by God! :)


Thank you everyone again for the prayers! It has already felt like such a long journey but I know it will all be in God's timing for the complete healing of these two awesome sisters!

A Reason to Share My Life with Internet Strangers

Well, here it is. After much kicking and screaming, Jen Unander has a blog... and apparently refers to herself in third person. Wow... what a start!

I finally agreed to having one after this last week when some things in my life and in the lives of my Christian brothers and sisters got a little turned upside down. Prayers have been requested (and answered!) but sometimes facebook isn't the most convenient for much detail, so getting a blog proved to be a practical decision.

So to start all this off, I will bring up two important prayer requests.

The first is for my dear friend Rachel.

Rachel is an exchange student from Zambia who has been here for a year or two. She was in the first car of the Metrolink accident last week, suffered a cracked skull and pelvis and skin lacerations.

She was rushed to the USC trauma center immediately following the crash. Through last weekend, she had a few brain surgeries to stop the bleeding in the brain and reduce swelling. She was in a 72 hour medical coma. As the days have gone, her swelling has gone down and she had a fever at one point... a good thing because it means her body is fighting. Monday, as she was brought out of her coma, she responded on command by wiggling her toes, squeezing hands and helping the nurse by lifting her arm. She has experienced some other minor complications but God in His faithfulness has only been using these to show His glory even more as He pulls her through... and all the while pulling the rest of us closer to Him and each other.

I had the opportunity to spend some time with her on Friday night as her family was being ministered to at church. My new and lovely friend Lena and I got to read cards to her from some of her classmates. During that time we saw her as she readjusted her arm, stretched her neck, and reacted to the touch of the nurses. She is slowly becoming more aware of what is going on around her.

Keep her in your prayers as she continues to heal. Also pray for her family. We hope to have her sister come here from Zambia this week if all goes well.


The second prayer request is for our friend Fennie. I don't know a lot of the details about this but she will be going into open heart surgery tomorrow. Please pray God's hand is on her and guiding the hands of the doctors.


"Naked I came from my mother's womb,
and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised."
-Job 1:20


Finishing my first blog. Signing out. Oh and more to come on the car crash and Lima Beans... I know it was invigorating!

New Blog

Testing!