Dispelling the Whispers: Rumour Has It...

:sigh:


I guess it's about time to address the whispers going around and speeding through the grapevine. I always knew that word traveled fast around Journey but it's just different when I experience is first hand. 1. It ruins all surprises and 2. It gets to important people well before I can get to these certain important people...

However, now that I have informed confirmed certain things to certain important people, I felt it would be good for the rest of the populace to hear straight from the horse's mouth.

The rumours are true. I have decided to be a part of a core team of people to help launch LifeCity Church in August! LifeCity is led by Darby Jurls and his wife Amy and I'm behind them 100%. I believe in the vision they have and I trust Darby implicitly. I'm very excited and completely terrified in the best way possible haha!

I always knew that I was supposed to make a big move of faith this year and this is it! Of course, I thought it was Europe but I'm actually quite thrilled that it isn't. In fact, I'm pretty sure that this is better that Europe. I can already feel God stretching me to do things and step out in faith in a completely different way and it's awesome!

It's also kind of sad because Journey has been my home for 6 years and just as I'm getting into a comfortable swing, God is scooping me out and setting me on my way lol But that's also a part of the problem. I have become quite comfortable at Journey and kind of plateaued spiritually. In Jimmy's message, something that stuck out to me is that growing isn't comfortable. That convicted me for quite a while so I decided to do something about it.

In all of this, in leaving Journey, I've actually come to understand it better which is completely weird. I'm finally understanding the vision of Journey and the strategy that Jimmy has. Journey is a launching pad. It trains up new believers to maturity and then launches them into the world to fulfill the mission Christ set out for the Church. I always sort of understood it in a way while I was attending but looking back I can see it clearly now. I grew up so much in these past 6 years and now I'm nearing the launching zone with these great people.

I can already feel like it's going to be hard making the transition but it's not going to actually hit home until March 18th (yes, March) when we branch off from Journey and meet as a core team for 6 months until we launch. However, this does not mean the end of all friendships at Journey; I am not falling off the face of the planet. I live like 2 blocks away from the church for crying out loud! I'm trying to hold on to that fact to keep from emotionally spiraling haha!

So the journey begins, and I'm ready for it. I'm currently actively looking for a car and getting started with things in that regard. It's going to be tough because I have a super low budget but my God is greater! I told God, "I have $1,000. I need a car. I'm giving this to You and trusting that You will come through." So that's that! I'm still searching but I know God is working already :)

Till Next Time...

The Weightiness of the Gospel

Today is the day that I wished I lived in China.

Like no joke.

At college group tonight we watched Francis Chan's message from Passion this year and he was talking about weighing our lives to the Gospel. He started talking about the underground church in China and how they are literally running for their lives for the sake of Christ. And the thing about it is that they are glad! They are glad that their lives are reflecting what Jesus said in Mark 13:13 where he says "they will hate you because of me". The Chinese people welcome this persecution because it says to them that what they are believing is true!

Francis also said that he was speaking to the Chinese people and telling them how we do things in America and they just laughed. They are laughing at us. We call ourselves Christians, I included mind you, and choose not to be bold about our faith. Over in China, if you proclaim yourself a Christian, you better mean it because you lose everything. People have died, lost their families, lost entire communities, hunted down, thrown into the street, beaten and countless other things just because they stood up and were bold about Jesus's grace.

And what pisses me off is that so many people, Americas to be exact, are bold about animal rights, women's rights, gay rights and all these other things but the majority of Christians choose to sit back and be silent. Now I'm not talking about these people who are speaking hatred into people's lives in the name of our Lord. That is wrong and the Lord sees it. I'm talking about speaking out about the love and saving grace of Jesus Christ! This is what we should be shouting about. I know I'm probably just running on adrenaline but it's true. And if you are reading this and are stirred then you know it's true too.

Personally, I don't understand why people hate the Gospel. It's saying that if you accept Jesus's sacrifice as payment for your sin that the God who created the universe and set time and reality in place looks at His children and says "You are Mine" because all He sees is His child. He doesn't see the sin we were cursed with. That curse is BROKEN! All He sees is us clean and pure and is anxious to be close to us. He adores us. He looks at us and get excited! When we speak to him he listens with intent. I could go on and on but isn't that amazing?? Sometimes I think we forget and we get caught up in our lives to the point that we kind of take God's love for granted. And please don't think I'm am speaking at people. This is coming right back to me and convicting me. I desire to be closer to God. I allow things in my life to distract me from Him. Nothing else should matter to me. Nothing else should matter to me.

All in all, I just want to have my life weigh in comparison to the Bible. Need that. I don't want to get to the end of my life, stand before God and just have indentations in a seat in a building to show for it. I want the Lord to be able to place a Bible in front of my life and not know where the Bible starts and I begin.