You Are Adored!

My attempt to make a video-- here is a video of the Adored Conference that I went to with another leader and 4 of our jr. high/high school girls. It was an awesome weekend where we were able to talk about what it means to be adored by God and grow in our relationship with Him. God adores you-- for He has fearfully and wonderfully made you!! Hope you like it! :)

May God's Love Overwhelm You Today!!

Oh man. I start this blog post with an overwhelming joy and thankfulness for how BIG God's love is!!

First, I want to update you on my challenge for community. As I have stepped outside the box a little, and tried to make community greater in all aspects of my life, I have seen a great sense of joy and love overcome me, along with some interesting observations. Here is just an excerpt of one of my days:

7:45 am: Grabbed a coffee at Starbucks. As I ordered, the gentleman said "Are you sure you don't want anything else? Like, maybe a sandwich to split with me?" A good way to start off my challenge for community in all places :)

8:00 am: Get on the bus. Before getting on the bus, i noticed about 8 people waiting, standing individually and alone. I practically ran to the bus that day to make it, but noticed this as I walked towards the station. 8 individual people with their own stories and own lives, standing in their own comfortable spots. I wonder what it would be like if there was a greater sense of community and love between these regular bus riders?

9:00 am: Talk to my first customer of the day. Sometimes when I talk to customers all day, I say the same things over and over and don't completely embrace the opportunity to really love each customer. I tried to be more aware of that today, and show a deeper sense of love and compassion for each customer. To say the least, it was reciprocated.

12:00 pm: Lunchtime. I went to buy a sandwich at a local shop (I promise I don't stop for Starbucks and lunch every day-- I was just completely out of food at my apartment...). The man making my sandwich had his music on so loud that he could hardly hear what sandwich I wanted. So needless to say, it was a little difficult to communicate here.

6:00 pm: Went to change my car battery Spoke to the man taking care of my car and he was a very friendly guy-- just casual conversation "how's the day been going?" etc. As I waited for my car to be fixed, there were three of us sitting in the waiting room. Looking back, this is a time I totally missed an opportunity to embrace community. Each was reading their own magazine, on the phone with someone else, etc, doing their own thing.

7:00 pm: Went to the grocery store. The girl that helped me at the register started saying something and said "man, i sound like a script," I responded telling her I was in a customer service position and sometimes can relate to that, which led to more conversation and a greater sense of love because we could relate to each other.

7:30 pm: Went to Best Buy because my iPod was not working. The man didn't seem like he wanted to talk, but I decided to be that annoying customer and try to talk to him anyways! Like other encounters today, I noticed that when love was shown and love was reciprocated.

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Evaluation of the Challenge So Far:

-I noticed many encounters in the day where people preferred to keep to themselves. We are very individualistic people (especially as Americans), and tend to shy away from uncomfortable or potentially awkward conversations. Like the man who turned up his music when making the sandwich, which allows a conversation to be avoided all together.

-I also noticed that when I showed a greater love towards others, the love was usually in some way reciprocated... which leads me to another thought that a very close friend made earlier this week in our small group. As we talked about how easy it can be sometimes to love friends, family, those who are closest to us, she asked "if they didn't show love to us, would we still love them back? Would we still reciprocate that love?" So in times that we do not receive love from others, even though it's hard, can we still love them anyways?? Even if love is not given to us, we can ask God to still show us how to deeply love someone even though it seems impossible or difficult. Now it's just the application part that gets hard.

So far-- those are my observations on this new challenge. Good stuff.

On another note, another youth leader and friend, Leah, and myself took a few of our jr. high and high school girls to a conference called Adored, where the focus was on how much each of the girls are adored by God. It was such an incredible weekend, where we were able to grow closer with each other, and to the Lord. I'm overwhelmed by how big God's love is for us-- that He made each of us in His image and loves us just AS WE ARE!

So many times we look for self-worth in worldly things-- success/money, fashion, popularity, the friends we choose, our image, etc., but ultimately, Jesus Christ is the only one who can truly satisfy our hunger eternally.

"No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." - 1 John 4:12

My prayer today is that you too will be overwhelmed by God's love for you, just as you are-- that you will be made complete by His great and unconditional love for you!

Love and Community: A Challenge To Consider

While we’re on the subject of love, here’s another question to think about: What does it mean to live in community with one another? Last night, my small group reflected on this question, and what it means to live in community with people in all areas of our lives, rather than just in the church.

I reflected a little bit on my missions trip to the community of Aguas Negras in the Dominican Republic, and remembered how much I learned from the way they lived life together and in community with each other. There was a sense that everyone watched out for each other, protected one another, and loved in a very self-less way. They all knew everyone’s names, wandered into each other’s homes as if family, and if there was someone in need, they were quick to respond.

As I recalled this, we talked about how that translates to coming back to Denver. Aguas Negras was a small and close-knit community— Denver is huge, with many neighborhoods and people, and hustle and bustle everywhere. So, how do I take the kind of community I was shown in Aguas Negras, to downtown urban Denver?

One of our group members brought up the idea of simplifying our lives. So the first step is prioritizing— what is complicating our lives? What is making it chaotic? Why is it so hard to have community here? Is there anything we can eliminate in our lives to make this easier?

As humans, and especially as Americans, we like to be busy. I am so guilty of that myself. I always want to be on the go, to be doing something, to always have something that is occupying my day and time. I like to plan in advance, and somehow by the time the next week comes around, I find no breaks in my schedule. How does that always seem to happen? What IF, I slowed down? What IF I looked at the busy-ness of my life, and took out a few of those things that make me run around like my head is being cut off? What if instead of trying to fill up my schedule with meetings and events and get-togethers, I tried just the opposite— to NOT completely fill my schedule?

So here’s the first step:
Prioritize. What are some things I can simplify in my life?

And as I re-prioritize, I’m sure I’ll find a few things that just can’t be taken out of my life for one reason or another. Things that must be done. Obvious ones being— taking time to pay the bills, grocery shopping, exercise, sleep-- things that I NEED to do in my life.

So then, for the things that we can't simplify in our life, how do we allow those things to come together with our effort to live a richer communal life?

As we explored these questions together last night, I felt encouraged to search a little bit deeper for a greater sense of community in all aspects of my life as I’m trying to love more deeply— not just in church, but on the things that happen in my life each day— knowing my bus driver’s name, making conversation with the barista at the coffee shop, showing greater love towards others at work, wanting to know people on a greater level than just the “hi”. Being fearless in learning more about people— about strangers, acquaintances, people who are hard for me to love, and knowing the ones I already love on an even deeper level.

So, for the next week, I’m going to challenge myself to search for community in all places and areas of my life, and plan to journal on what that looks like. I plan on journaling what happens in each part of my day, and my attempt to take each of those parts of my life into deeper community. Parts that are comfortable, uncomfortable, challenging, and surprising.

Will you join me, too?

I hope you will join me in this challenge and share your experiences, as we all try to explore a greater sense of community in our lives. Who's in??

What is Love?

What is love? Love's a big word. Sometimes a scary word. But ultimately, God is love and the source of all love. Love is not God, because that would mean we get to make up what it means and twist it around to fit to our beliefs and culture, which are not always biblical. The high school girls in my youth group want to spend the next semester studying Love. I've been searching through Scripture, old notes, past bible studies, sermons, etc. to put together a study on love. It's an interesting and challenging task, but one that is humbling, convicting, and worthy of praise. I thought I might share some of the things I've been reflecting on as I put together this study, and hope that it might help you reflect a little, too.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 defines love-- I'm sure you've heard this verse in weddings, church, and even many who are not Christian are familiar with this Scripture:

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."

How are we reflecting this definition? How are we loving others? I know I'm not always patient (especially in grocery lines or behind the Sunday cruise drivers), I know I have moments where I am easily angered and respond before I think. So how can I love deeper? Lately a constant prayer of mine has been "Lord, help me to love so deeply, to love others regardless of the cost, and to fall so deeply in love with you that your love is resonated through me to others. Break my heart for what breaks yours and put my heart in such a state that it has no will of its own." It's an ongoing prayer-- because I know I am not close to perfect, that I will always fall short and am a sinner, but it's something that we can always grow in. I know I'm impatient, that I hate standing in lines, that I can get upset when my neighbors play music extra loud, but I also rejoice in knowing that God IS love and that He will show me how to love like Him, even if it means loving my enemies, strangers, and in uncomfortable places and situations.

What does it mean to love so deeply? In this new year, I encourage you to think about this. How can we love deeper? How does our love for others reflect God's definition of what love is, and what can we do better?

So I know I'm not very consistent on this blogging thing...

Okay, so I know I'm not very consistent on this blogging thing. I know I didn't completely follow through the first time, but with a new year, comes a new attempt. Although I don't promise to update this on a daily or weekly basis, I will try and be more consistent with updating it. Now that my service journey is over, my hope is that this blog will be a way for me to show you the things God is teaching me from day-to-day, and that hopefully it will in some way draw you closer to the Lord as well. I hope to continue to share what it means to live a life of service, through things that happen in my life, and by sharing other awesome ministries and missions on this blog so that you might find where it is that God wants to use you, too!

With that being said, I'll start off by saying Happy 2011, and want to share this video with you to think about what it means to reach outside our own little world, outside of our comfort zone, to share the love of Christ with others... enjoy! :)