2 New Faves

I'm in the middle of composing a blog right now in response to one of the blogs I am about to mention... but it needs mad prayer and revision as it is coming across way too bitter and harsh. The harsh part I don't mind, in fact we all need that sometimes, but the bitter part? Yeah... need to work on that part. Coming soon!

(See what I did? Now all you faithful followers will be waiting on the edge of your seats for my next blog. "Jen harsh? and bitter??" and then you will be disappointed when it's not as Francis Chan Harsh or "insert bitter person's name here (don't act like you don't know someone... and of course we all know it's not you)" Bitter as you had hoped... but by then it will be too late... you will already have read it. I'm so sneaky...)

Anyway... here are two of my new favorite blogs!

To fit this criteria, you have to:

-Bring information to me that is new and fresh
-Have an element of shock value
-Challenge me in the way I think or the way I live (or is that the same thing? Hmmm)
-Have a really witty blog title
-And be female (apparently... since they are both female. But actually that's not true at all. And actually I don't usually have 'favorites'... so scratch this whole criteria thing anyway...)


My first new favorite is written by a 30 something year old missionary in Costa Rica. She lives there with her husband and 3(?) kids as they do God's work. Her element of shock value? She can be a bit... crass? (I don't know if that's the right word...) Ok so she cusses sometimes. and she is brutally honest about what it's like to be a missionary, wife, mother, female, sinner, etc... and I love her for it! She's definitely not one to restrain herself just to please the :::cough::: church crowd :::cough::: Let's face it... she says what we are all thinking, but wouldn't dare say!

Jamie the Very Worst Missionary is rocking my socks lately. And if you want to read a couple of her entries that almost made me cry... at work? BAM! and Moded!


The second 'favorite' new blog of mine is not one you would expect. It's written by a Used-to-be-Christian-now-Athiest-who-writes-about-her-issues-with-Christians... in a nutshell ;) And?? I LOVE this girl! There are things (of course) that I don't agree with, but there are so many things that she says that makes me want to change myself, yell at others, and go hug her and ask her to come back to Jesus because with what she has experienced and seen, she would make the best Christian ever and then when the rest of us are being near-sighted, unloving, judgmental, etc... she can slap us around a bit. It would be wonderful! Well... you know what I mean! It's her blog that I am writing a response to (which I do AGREE with!) but I won't let you know which entry it is yet... that will spoil the surprise!


Hope you enjoy some new fresh reading. I hope it stretches you like it's stretching me! :)


P.S. I've been grumpy today... for no reason. So if I seem extra weird today, it's because I am trying to pull myself out of it by being goofy. But I might be the only one who gets my weird humor. Oh well!

Outreach 9/24/10

Thanks Cynthia for writing about this weekend's outreach! *copying and pasting*


I just got home and although it is late, I wanted to write down a few thoughts from tonight's outreach while they were still fresh in my mind. The night started out slow and we were driving down the track wondering where the girls were until we saw the first one of the evening. Julia and I went to meet her - her name is W**** and she was a sweet girl who was genuinely pleased to talk to us. She told us she'd been doing this "all her life" and that she was concerned about her health since she had high blood pressure and was a drug addict. She said she was tired of this lifestyle and was open to us praying for her later (she didn't seem comfortable with us praying in her presence). My heart broke for her and Julia and I prayed for her as we walked away. Meanwhile Jen and Daryl were talking with another girl across the street.

The next couple of girls we met were S**** and M**** both of which were open to talking to us as well. We had seen S**** before and she remembered us. She sounded surprised when I told her she could call the number on the matchbook we had given her if she was ready to leave the game - she acted as though she might actually call - I pray that she does. She also stated that every time she's in a funk, we show up...coincidence? I think not! M**** asked for prayer for deliverance and salvation and admitted she was addicted to drugs too.

We came across a few others - some who would simply take the gift bag but not really talk to us and some who refused all together. Later we saw K***** on the same corner we've seen her before - when Daryl suggested she call the number on the matchbook she simply stated she wasn't ready yet (said she had a bunch of the matchbooks already lol). All in God's timing...

Lastly we met with P**, another girl we had seen before. She's an older lady and remembers Julia from a while back. She claimed to know Jesus and stated he was the reason for her standing there. At first I thought she meant he was the reason she was standing on the corner but then realized she meant it literally - that he was the only reason she was still standing period! She let know that tomorrow was her birthday and let us pray for her on that corner tonight.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” - Luke 4:18-19

Cartoons Taught Me Everything I Know

When it comes down to it, I am more of a Simpsons girl than anything else, but from time to time, I have found myself enjoying 'King of the Hill.'

While there can be a lot of stupidity found in shows like these, every so often nuggets of gold show up when you don't expect it. And they are usually from the father, Hank, which you really don't expect even more.



The episode, 'Reborn to be Wild,' when Bobby joins up with a church where they all insist that you have to have a Mohawk and piercings to follow Christ, is one of those examples! (P.S. I'm not against Mohawks or anything else they mention in this episode... I LOVE that Christians come in all shapes, sizes, and colors! I just really appreciate the lessons taught through this...)


Bobby: I can't believe you are making me do this. It is so UNCOOL!
Hank: You know what's not cool? HELL!

(Uh oh! Does Mark Driscoll get his material from King of the Hill also?? hehe)


Bobby: (Referring to his planned tattoo) Dad, it's just my way of giving mad respect to the Lord.
Hank: Bobby, the Lord has been getting mad respect since the beginning of time, he does not want you defacing your body.

(Like I said, I'm not against tattoos... AT ALL! I just like the mad respect part lol)

My Favorite:

BOBBY: When I turn 18, I'm going to do whatever I want for the Lord. Tattoos, piercings, you name it.
HANK: Well, I'll take that chance. Come here, there's something I want you to see. (Hank takes down a box from the shelf and opens it up) Remember this?
BOBBY: My beanbag buddy? Oh, man, I can't believe I collected those things. They're so lame.
HANK: You didn't think so five years ago. And how about your virtual pet? You used to carry this thing everywhere. Then you got tired of it, forgot to feed it, and it died.
BOBBY: (looks at a photo of himself in a Ninja Turtles costume): I look like such a dork.
HANK: I know how you feel. I never thought that "Members Only" jacket would go out of style, but it did. I know you think stuff you're doing now is cool, but in a few years you're going to think it's lame. And I don't want the Lord to end up in this box.

Amen!

5 Hundred 25 Thousand 6 Hundred Minutes

I really don't like chain email. I never pass them forward which is probably why I lose all my friends, I never fall in love, and my feet always smell. Or... that could be totally unrelated to my unforwarded emails... anyway...

This one I liked. Enjoy.

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Imagine that you had won the following prize in a contest:
Each morning your bank would deposit $86,400.00 in your private account for your use.

However,this prize has rules, just as any game has certain rules.

The first set of rules would be:
Everything that you didn't spend during each day would be taken away from you.
You may not simply transfer money into some other account.
You may only spend it.
Each morning upon awakening, the bank opens your account with another $86,400.00 for that day.

The second set of rules:
The bank can end the game without warning; at any time it can say,
Its over,the game is over!
It can close the account and you will not receive a new one.

What would you personally do?
You would buy anything and everything you wanted, right?
Not only for yourself, but for all people you love, right?

Even for people you don't know, because you couldn't possibly spend it all on yourself, right?
You would try to spend every cent, and use it all, right?

Actually, this GAME is REALITY!

Each of us is in possession of such a magical bank. We just can't seem to see it.
The MAGICAL BANK is TIME!

Each morning we awaken to receive 86,400 seconds as a gift of life, and when we go to sleep at night, any remaining time is NOT credited to us.
What we haven't lived up that day is forever lost.

Yesterday is forever gone.

Each morning the account is refilled, but the bank can dissolve your account at any time....WITHOUT WARNING.

SO, what will YOU do with your 86,400 seconds?

Aren't they worth so much more than the same amount in dollars?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Don't boast about tomorrow; You don't know what will happen." Proverbs 27:1

#42

A WEEK (yes... only a week) after I decided to take my World Impact jump (and yes... I am still working on the application...), the unthinkable happened!

Ok wait... it wasn't THAT unthinkable. Hold on. Let's back track...


A few weeks BEFORE I decided to apply for World Impact, I had a little bit of car trouble. I had a clunking in my engine that worried me. My extremely honest and honorable mechanic told me it was because my struts needed to be replaced. While I didn't doubt that that was true, something in my doesn't-know-any-about-cars-whatsoever mind doubted that struts would cause noises in my engine. The little logic that I have as a women (there I said it!) still screamed that something didn't make sense...

Luckily I chose to hold off on such an expense because less than a week later, my headlights went out. It ended up being a short in the wiring. While I was there (a different mechanic in LA) the clunking noise stopped happening. My new friend had noticed a loose spark plug and tightened it for free! How nice! He also noticed I had a coolant leak but he wasn't too concerned and said to keep an eye on it and check up on it in a month or so. Month... sure...

FAST FORWARD to the week after my WI decision (and only a couple weeks after the 'minor leak' was noticed), my sister and I were driving home from Target when my car decided it didn't want to drive fast. "Oh no, not again," is what flashed through my mind (and if we knew exactly why I had thought that, we would know a lot more about the nature of the universe than we currently do...) I pulled over into a park and ride, turned off the car, and then, acting like I knew what I was looking at, I popped the hood. "Hmmm... engine is still there..." but then I noticed a TON of water pouring from the bottom of my car. Ummm... not good.

What it came down to? Replaced the radiator, replaced the thermostat, and fixed a leak in the manifold. That meant some fairly expensive parts and a LOT of labor... which meant a lot of money and a week with no car.


"Ok wait God... so I tell you that I am ready to take the next step, to trust you with my finances and to lay down my pride to let others help me, and THIS happens? Makes sense actually..."


The irony, or not, of the situation was, well, ironic enough that I couldn't even be upset. It seems that whenever I make new commitments or promises to God, He immediately works to test me to see if I will actually stick to it. (Someday I will tell you about my 'remove my idols' prayer to God which left me with 4 unusable bridesmaids dresses! It's funny now that I look back on it...)



Through it all, I learned to let others drive me around...


(best hitchhiking picture EVER!)


To let others help me with my finances (something all missionaries HAVE to do... but I don't like it!)...

To let God take care of me in ways that I am not used to...

To be thankful for what I do have, and not always focus on what I don't have...

To never forget my towel... (hehehe)

Oh and one other thing I learned...

Prostitute Outreach - 09/10/10

Last night's outreach from Jen C's perspective. Thank you all for praying!

Love will always find the open door

"Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" John 4:29


Jesus tells us exactly who we are and we rejoice because of who He is...He is the one who is able to cover all our sins and we do not need to fear who we are when He comes to us, instead we rejoice and worship Him.


Tonight we went on outreach and there was a slight difference to what we were saying to the women and men we met..."we are here to reach out to men and women who are in the game" ...that one phrase let them know that we knew who they were, we didn't just happen to see them on street or think they were there for some other reason and we were going to offer them something real.


We met a lot of girls tonight, many didn't give us their names, some were very straightforward about wanting nothing to do with us, but many received our gifts, talked with us and prayed with us and there was a marked difference in their countenance when they realized why we were there. I'll tell you about just a few of them...


K***** we drove around and around to finally catch up to this girl, we would see her, turn around and she would all of a sudden be on the other side of the street, once she disappeared completely with a trick and then she was there again. At first she seemed like she was just going to walk quickly by us but when I offered her a gift she stopped cold and her face changed completely, I could see the heartbreak in her face, she immediately asked me my name which may not seem like a big deal but it was a wall coming down...not just us trying to connect with her but her connecting with us. She wanted us to pray for her but not there, so we prayed as she left.


Next we saw S**** and she was sweet but probably new to the game and was quickly joined by her friend who was not happy that she was talking to us, however; when her friend approached us and found out who we were she became very attentive and as a third girl approached she said, "so we can call you if we want to get out of this life?" yes!!! We gave them all gifts and our phone number.


S***** and C***** were together and were obviously being watched by a guy who stood nearby, so Daryl went to talk to the guy and give him a pimp track while Jen and I approached the girls. The one girl thought we were cops and pretended to be looking for the bus but when she saw us engage the other girl she came back and they both opened up to us, they wanted out and C***** especially was brokenhearted because her son had just been taken away by CPS, she began to cry and both were eager to receive prayer right then and there.


G***, when we told her we were there for men and women in the game she said, "that's me"...I really don't know if I've seen so many honest reactions in one night but it really seemed that our honesty and willingness to seek them out gave them the freedom to be honest with us.


I am so thankful that Jesus loves us based on who He is, not who we are and I am privileged to share that love with others. Praise Him for an awesome night!

Tolerance - D.A. Carson

“Twenty five years ago ‘tolerance’ was understood to be a virtue that operated something like this: If I hold strong views on any particular subject I am nevertheless judged to be ‘tolerant’ if I think that your views are bad, immoral, improper, even disgusting, wicked or stupid, but still insist you have the right to defend them. In other words, a ‘tolerant’ person puts up with somebody else’s views and insists they have the right to hold them even while – in the vigorous arena of debate – we might disagree fundamentally on who is right or who is wrong. Such a person is a ‘tolerant’ person.

But nowadays, that is not what ‘tolerance’ means. Now ‘tolerance’ means that you don’t hold that anybody is right or wrong. Everybody is equally right or wrong. Nobody is more right than another person. If you don’t hold that then you are ‘intolerant.’ Now that is a huge shift … Under this new definition of ‘tolerance’ I don’t even know what ‘tolerance’ means because in the old view of ‘tolerance’ you had to disagree with someone before you could actually tolerate them. How do you say ‘Oh, yes, you are entirely right – I tolerate you?’ … This new ‘tolerance’ actually becomes extremely intolerant of anybody who does not buy into this view of ‘tolerance’ because if you actually come right out and say that some view is wrong or silly or foolish or indefensible or even questionable, then you are judged to be ‘intolerant.’ Thus, in the name of this newfangled tolerance it turns out, at profoundly deep levels, to be the most intolerant thing of all!”

- D.A. Carson, Evangelism in the 21st Century (session 2)
http://spurgeon.wordpress.com/category/da-carson/


P.S. I like it when I can steal someone else's words to say what I think. The end. ;)