The moment we lose hope in people is the same moment we lose faith in God.
&
That mere survival is not what we should seek after but rather thriving in the face of opposition.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Consider
Finals are here. After this week I feel that fatigue is to become a personality trait. I don't like it. I don't feel like myself. I feel an elephant sitting on my chest, making every beat of my heart a personal triumph. I know this isn't worth it.
Lord take this. Take me. You have me. Body & Soul.
To stay sane I am vowing to take time this Christmas season to sit and just meditate on the coming of the precious Messiah. While I was in the library very late the other night I allowed myself to check out a book that has nothing to do with a class.
I am reading 12 Christmas Sermons by Charles Spurgeon.
Glory to God in the Highest! And on earth, peace, good will toward men!" Luke 2:14
"...When they had sung this, they sang what thet had never saved before. "Glory to God in the highest," This was an old song; they had sung it from before the foundations of the world. But, now, they sang as it were a new song before the throne of God: for they added this stanza-"on earth, peace." They did not sing that in the garden. There was peace there, but it seemed a thing of course, scarce worth singing of. There was more than peace there; for there was glory to God there. But, now, man had fallen and since they had the day when cherubim with fiery swords drove out the man, there had been no peace on earth, save in the breast of some believers, who had obtained beast from the living fountain of this incarnation of Christ. Wars had raged from the ends of the world; men had slaughtered one another, heaps on heaps. There had been wars within as well as wars without. Conscience has fought with man; Satan had tormented man with thoughts of sin. There had been no peace on earth since Adam fell. But, no, when the new born King made his appearance, the swaddling band with which he was wrapped up was the white flag of peace. The manger was a place where the treaty was signed, whereby warfare should be stopped between man's conscience and his God. It was then, that day, the trumpet blew-"Sheathe the sword, oh man, sheathe the sword , oh conscience, before God is not at peace with man, and man at peace with God." Do you not feel my bretheren, that the gospel of God is peace to man? Where else can peace be found, but in the message of Jesus? Go legalist, work for peace with toil and and pain and thou shalt never find it. Go, thou, that trustest in the law; go thou, to Sinai; look to the flames that Moses saw, and shrink, and tremble, and despair: for peace is nowhere to be found, but in him, of whom it is said, "This man shall be peace." And what a peace it is beloved! It is peace like a river, and righteousness like the waves of the sea. It is the peace of God that passeth all understanding, which keeps our hearts and mind through Jesus Christ, our Lord. This sacred peace between the pardoned sould and God the pardoner; this marvellous at-one-ment between the sinner, and his judge, this was it the angels sung when they said, "peace on earth"."
Through the grace of God we need to feel and believe with everything that we are that this peace on earth that Jesus brought into the world is still alive and occuring today.
Only the Lord could make peace through righteousness a reality. Man's self-righteousness often brings hate and destruction. Yet Christ Him-self , perfectly embodied both righteousness and peace. I have found a new joy in reading the Old Testament because I believe I am beginning to understand all the hopes and wishes that the coming of Christ fulfilled. Very often peace and righteousness are spoken of together when describing the coming of the Messiah. Its fascinating.
He owns me.
If I decide to get a tattoo, I would consider
"...righteous and peace have kissed one another" from Psalm 85:10
Lord take this. Take me. You have me. Body & Soul.
To stay sane I am vowing to take time this Christmas season to sit and just meditate on the coming of the precious Messiah. While I was in the library very late the other night I allowed myself to check out a book that has nothing to do with a class.
I am reading 12 Christmas Sermons by Charles Spurgeon.
Glory to God in the Highest! And on earth, peace, good will toward men!" Luke 2:14
"...When they had sung this, they sang what thet had never saved before. "Glory to God in the highest," This was an old song; they had sung it from before the foundations of the world. But, now, they sang as it were a new song before the throne of God: for they added this stanza-"on earth, peace." They did not sing that in the garden. There was peace there, but it seemed a thing of course, scarce worth singing of. There was more than peace there; for there was glory to God there. But, now, man had fallen and since they had the day when cherubim with fiery swords drove out the man, there had been no peace on earth, save in the breast of some believers, who had obtained beast from the living fountain of this incarnation of Christ. Wars had raged from the ends of the world; men had slaughtered one another, heaps on heaps. There had been wars within as well as wars without. Conscience has fought with man; Satan had tormented man with thoughts of sin. There had been no peace on earth since Adam fell. But, no, when the new born King made his appearance, the swaddling band with which he was wrapped up was the white flag of peace. The manger was a place where the treaty was signed, whereby warfare should be stopped between man's conscience and his God. It was then, that day, the trumpet blew-"Sheathe the sword, oh man, sheathe the sword , oh conscience, before God is not at peace with man, and man at peace with God." Do you not feel my bretheren, that the gospel of God is peace to man? Where else can peace be found, but in the message of Jesus? Go legalist, work for peace with toil and and pain and thou shalt never find it. Go, thou, that trustest in the law; go thou, to Sinai; look to the flames that Moses saw, and shrink, and tremble, and despair: for peace is nowhere to be found, but in him, of whom it is said, "This man shall be peace." And what a peace it is beloved! It is peace like a river, and righteousness like the waves of the sea. It is the peace of God that passeth all understanding, which keeps our hearts and mind through Jesus Christ, our Lord. This sacred peace between the pardoned sould and God the pardoner; this marvellous at-one-ment between the sinner, and his judge, this was it the angels sung when they said, "peace on earth"."
Through the grace of God we need to feel and believe with everything that we are that this peace on earth that Jesus brought into the world is still alive and occuring today.
Only the Lord could make peace through righteousness a reality. Man's self-righteousness often brings hate and destruction. Yet Christ Him-self , perfectly embodied both righteousness and peace. I have found a new joy in reading the Old Testament because I believe I am beginning to understand all the hopes and wishes that the coming of Christ fulfilled. Very often peace and righteousness are spoken of together when describing the coming of the Messiah. Its fascinating.
He owns me.
If I decide to get a tattoo, I would consider
"...righteous and peace have kissed one another" from Psalm 85:10
Monday, November 30, 2009
Instead Of A Show
I hate all your show and pretense
The hypocrisy of your praise
The hypocrisy of your festivals
I hate all your show
Away with your noisy worship
Away with your noisy hymns
I stomp on my ears when you're singing 'em
I hate all your show
Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living, living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show
Your eyes are closed when you're praying
You sing right along with the band
You shine up your shoes for services
There's blood on your hands
You turned your back on the homeless
And the ones that don't fit in your plan
Quit playing religion games
There's blood on your hands
Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living, living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show
I hate all your show
Let's argue this out
If your sins are blood red
Let's argue this out
You'll be one of the clouds
Let's argue this out
Quit fooling around
Give love to the ones who can't love at all
Give hope to the ones who got no hope at all
Stand up for the ones who can't stand at all, all
I hate all your show
I hate all your show
I hate all your show
I hate all your show
Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living, living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show
I hate all your show
Friday, July 3, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Studied some new faces today.
I am finding that there are more and more people working here at World Impact who studied at Fuller Theological Seminary and this often is the topic of conversation.
A woman named Susie led our devotional today speaking on the topic of spiritual warfare. It is funny to note that the reason why I am bringing this up is not because I have been thinking alot about spiritual warfare today but rather because Susie herself was such an interesting character. She is spunky. There is no other sufficient word that I can think of to honestly describe her except spunky. I love spunky women. I believe there is something about spunk in the spirit of woman that makes her uniquely beautiful. Men with amiable wit are attractive. But women with spunk are stunning and terrifying all at once.
After lunch our staff did what they called a prayer walk around the Imperial Courts projects. It was surprising to me how natural it felt to walk through these building while praying, I expected to be painfully uncomfortable. One thing that really stood out to me was how many young childrent there were playing in the yard. There presence is obvious from their little clothes on the close lines to their playgrounds in between buildings decorated with a wide array of graffiti.
It is strange to say but the community that so obviously exists between these people living in Imperial Courts is almost more evident than in my own neighborhood where I grew up. These people live in such clost quarters that one would have to be intentional to ignore their neighbor. Of course this opprotunity for community is not determined by the best of circumstances but I got to see some places today where hope is actively at work. I also got a thought of how impactful a lover of Jesus Christ within the community could be. In fact that is exactly what a couple of the pastors and their families are doing here; living the community and actively and intentionally serving their neighbor beyond the walls of their church.
I am seeing more and more how there is so much hope in the innocence of children. Though there was a spirit of hardness, and hatred that was evident in the neighborhood there was still the refreshing sound of innocence that came from the children's laughter as they played. A little girl named Arianna jumped on me as I was walking passed her and asked me to pick her up. It was amazing. It was the last thing I expected to be honest. It is such a natural thing for a little girl her age to do but yet it felt so surprising and surreal for it to happen here. We aren't as different or as complicated as we might think.
I believe the Lord is showing me I need to be intentional about loving others through prayer.
I was really grateful for the opprotunity to serve my staff by cooking dinner for them tonight. I am becoming more and more like my mother; and nothing is wrong with that. haha
Last note: Arianna's cousin is a real charmer. He is about six years old and goes up to my waist yet his game is still impressive. He told me I was a princess and that one day I would be his queen. He was quite touchy also. Smooth operator.
I am finding that there are more and more people working here at World Impact who studied at Fuller Theological Seminary and this often is the topic of conversation.
A woman named Susie led our devotional today speaking on the topic of spiritual warfare. It is funny to note that the reason why I am bringing this up is not because I have been thinking alot about spiritual warfare today but rather because Susie herself was such an interesting character. She is spunky. There is no other sufficient word that I can think of to honestly describe her except spunky. I love spunky women. I believe there is something about spunk in the spirit of woman that makes her uniquely beautiful. Men with amiable wit are attractive. But women with spunk are stunning and terrifying all at once.
After lunch our staff did what they called a prayer walk around the Imperial Courts projects. It was surprising to me how natural it felt to walk through these building while praying, I expected to be painfully uncomfortable. One thing that really stood out to me was how many young childrent there were playing in the yard. There presence is obvious from their little clothes on the close lines to their playgrounds in between buildings decorated with a wide array of graffiti.
It is strange to say but the community that so obviously exists between these people living in Imperial Courts is almost more evident than in my own neighborhood where I grew up. These people live in such clost quarters that one would have to be intentional to ignore their neighbor. Of course this opprotunity for community is not determined by the best of circumstances but I got to see some places today where hope is actively at work. I also got a thought of how impactful a lover of Jesus Christ within the community could be. In fact that is exactly what a couple of the pastors and their families are doing here; living the community and actively and intentionally serving their neighbor beyond the walls of their church.
I am seeing more and more how there is so much hope in the innocence of children. Though there was a spirit of hardness, and hatred that was evident in the neighborhood there was still the refreshing sound of innocence that came from the children's laughter as they played. A little girl named Arianna jumped on me as I was walking passed her and asked me to pick her up. It was amazing. It was the last thing I expected to be honest. It is such a natural thing for a little girl her age to do but yet it felt so surprising and surreal for it to happen here. We aren't as different or as complicated as we might think.
I believe the Lord is showing me I need to be intentional about loving others through prayer.
I was really grateful for the opprotunity to serve my staff by cooking dinner for them tonight. I am becoming more and more like my mother; and nothing is wrong with that. haha
Last note: Arianna's cousin is a real charmer. He is about six years old and goes up to my waist yet his game is still impressive. He told me I was a princess and that one day I would be his queen. He was quite touchy also. Smooth operator.
Monday, June 29, 2009
So it has been a little more than twenty fours hours here in Watts.
There is alot to be said about the rest of the staff of World Impact that I have met so far. In their faces I swear I can see joy and some traces of hope but it is if they are streaming through metal bars of despair and exhaustion.
The apartments that we as a staff are staying in are located on top of a World Impact planted church/school. It has a full metal fence with barbed wire around it which I believe whole heartedly relieved my parents when they saw me off yesterday. The apartments that we are living in I like alot. Mostly everything has been donated or bought second-hand which I think I like alot more. I was afraid I would feel like I was living in a hotel but I find that used second hand stuff makes me feel more at home.
The church/school is almost directly off the 105. The passing of cars will probably be a kind of lullaby by the end of the summer. It is also right across the street from the Rosa Parks/Wilmington and Imperial Metro Station. To think I often stood at the station waiting for the train and I was staring at the place I would be living this summer is funny.
The view from the kitchen window:
Though we seem secure here I consider this location still pretty legit. haha There are four maybe five housing projects here in Watts which make what they call "the four corners". These different housing projects are known to host different gangs that normally rival one project against another. The apartments we live in are directly in front of the Imperial Courts projects which is one of the main four corners. In fact I found out yesterday that Imperial Courts was the original home to the founders of the notorious gang called the "Crips". Wow.
Imperial Courts from the balcony:
This morning we went into World Impact headquarters to do some paperwork and receive a history and education on what it means to work for World Impact as and organization. It was great to put a face to the people I have been e-mailing for the past couple months.
We also got to meet the President and founder of World Impact Dr. Keith Phillips. Being my natural lovely self I honestly expected to not like him. I thought he would come and try to sell us a bit about how lovely working for World Impact was and how romantic it almost is to work here in Watts. Fortunately there was none of that. I guess what I didn't want to hear from him was a formula and how his formula for ministry worked. Instead he seemed so humble and sincerely honest about what life is like here. For the president of a big organization I really appreciated how much he spoke of empowerment being so directly entangled with grassroot church efforts. I could also see traces of what his work here has done to him on his face-and I think he was aware that these traces were there.
Tomorrow we are going to see The Oaks which is a summer camp owned by World Impact. The camp was founded as a place for the children in the Watts and inner-city LA community to escape their urban lives during the summer. Tomorrow we are just getting a tour but soon we will be taking the kids there ourselves!
Also we are supposed to be living off of 40$ a week. After grocery shopping and buying stamps I am down to 16.00 hahaha. Oh well. I think being poor suits me.
One last thing: Today we went around doing some service projects for the church and as I was sweeping I noticed the sound of an ice cream truck coming down the street. Though this is a very natural and common occurence what wasn't natural was the song coming out of the large cone on top of the truck. As it drove through the Imperial Courts projects the cone projected the sound of the old civil-war hymn "Glory Glory Hallelujah" also know as "The Battle Hymn of The Republic"...how funny is that?!. The song was interrupted for a couple seconds as little kids came running with change in their hands. It was cute. Only here would this be completely worth noticing.
There is alot to be said about the rest of the staff of World Impact that I have met so far. In their faces I swear I can see joy and some traces of hope but it is if they are streaming through metal bars of despair and exhaustion.
The apartments that we as a staff are staying in are located on top of a World Impact planted church/school. It has a full metal fence with barbed wire around it which I believe whole heartedly relieved my parents when they saw me off yesterday. The apartments that we are living in I like alot. Mostly everything has been donated or bought second-hand which I think I like alot more. I was afraid I would feel like I was living in a hotel but I find that used second hand stuff makes me feel more at home.
The church/school is almost directly off the 105. The passing of cars will probably be a kind of lullaby by the end of the summer. It is also right across the street from the Rosa Parks/Wilmington and Imperial Metro Station. To think I often stood at the station waiting for the train and I was staring at the place I would be living this summer is funny.
The view from the kitchen window:
Though we seem secure here I consider this location still pretty legit. haha There are four maybe five housing projects here in Watts which make what they call "the four corners". These different housing projects are known to host different gangs that normally rival one project against another. The apartments we live in are directly in front of the Imperial Courts projects which is one of the main four corners. In fact I found out yesterday that Imperial Courts was the original home to the founders of the notorious gang called the "Crips". Wow.
Imperial Courts from the balcony:
This morning we went into World Impact headquarters to do some paperwork and receive a history and education on what it means to work for World Impact as and organization. It was great to put a face to the people I have been e-mailing for the past couple months.
We also got to meet the President and founder of World Impact Dr. Keith Phillips. Being my natural lovely self I honestly expected to not like him. I thought he would come and try to sell us a bit about how lovely working for World Impact was and how romantic it almost is to work here in Watts. Fortunately there was none of that. I guess what I didn't want to hear from him was a formula and how his formula for ministry worked. Instead he seemed so humble and sincerely honest about what life is like here. For the president of a big organization I really appreciated how much he spoke of empowerment being so directly entangled with grassroot church efforts. I could also see traces of what his work here has done to him on his face-and I think he was aware that these traces were there.
Tomorrow we are going to see The Oaks which is a summer camp owned by World Impact. The camp was founded as a place for the children in the Watts and inner-city LA community to escape their urban lives during the summer. Tomorrow we are just getting a tour but soon we will be taking the kids there ourselves!
Also we are supposed to be living off of 40$ a week. After grocery shopping and buying stamps I am down to 16.00 hahaha. Oh well. I think being poor suits me.
One last thing: Today we went around doing some service projects for the church and as I was sweeping I noticed the sound of an ice cream truck coming down the street. Though this is a very natural and common occurence what wasn't natural was the song coming out of the large cone on top of the truck. As it drove through the Imperial Courts projects the cone projected the sound of the old civil-war hymn "Glory Glory Hallelujah" also know as "The Battle Hymn of The Republic"...how funny is that?!. The song was interrupted for a couple seconds as little kids came running with change in their hands. It was cute. Only here would this be completely worth noticing.
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