i found this poem today…

This poem is called “The Church – A Poem” and it is by Robert Fergusson…

She is the plan of God on earth; always in her Father’s eye: Cherished, mysterious, beautiful and potent beyond measure: King empowered and life infused. She emerges triumphant; limitless with potential; a harbour for the hopeless and an answer for the ages: The church resplendent – a bride for His Son.

She is the body of Christ on earth; born, like her Head, amidst tribulation, under jealous skies. Cradled in her innocence and guarded for His purpose. She grows in wisdom and stature with victory on her lips and freedom in her hands. Hers is an unstoppable cause. She embraces the world with dignity, honour and compassion; gives vision to the sightless and life to the dying.

She is the family of God on earth. Within her compass, the hungry find sustenance and the weary receive strength. She is a haven for recovering humanity, enthralled by grace. She invites the broken, the vulnerable and the outcast to be immersed in love. She stands imperfect but perfection resides within her. She is flawed but is washed with forgiveness. She has a treasury of faith and a wealth of belonging.

She is the house of heaven on earth: A representative, resolute to reconcile. The Word within her accepts the receptive but challenges the heartless. She is the ecclesia, called out to serve the world: Calling out to welcome in. Blood-washed and armed with testimony, the cross on her lips liberates the chained and offends the unchanging. Like her Master she is pursued and persecuted. Yet she rises with strength in her heart and fire in her soul.

She is the bride of Christ on earth; readying herself for the day when all eyes will be upon her. Prepared and presented before the Lord: The Lamb for whom the world waits, who comes like the rising sun, majestic and magnificent beyond description, while she dazzles with reflected glory. Spotless, perfect and mature, she bows low to cast her crowns and passionately worship Him. Her temporal focus becomes her eternal gaze. She is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

this perfectly describes the church and all it should be..

and when i talk about the church, i am not only talking about hpc or first baptist ____…
no.
we are the church, now will we act like it??

…the turning of a new page

we are switching gears, turning to a new page if you will in my blog..

the name is now “this is it…”

basically i will be putting dreams/plans on here that i have to do things to change my world..

i will be walking you through big things going on in my life and hopefully inspiring you to LIVE and i mean really live. to stop thinking there is nothing you can do and start seeing all that you can do…
every person on this planet has the  opportunity{and ability}to change something{or someone} for the better
now i just want to see you do it…

ill start this new blog season off with a quote from the i-heart film..

“…the future will be written by the way we respond to the moment that is in front of us.”

calling all people! go see this! spread the word!

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We’re All In This Together

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hello blog it’s been some time…

since I don’t have anything else to blog about now, here’s a picture of mr. potato head…yes

…have a good day!

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Africa!

This past week I had a chance to go to Africa on a mission trip with 19 people from my college group The Hub. We went to Mozambique where we stayed in Maputo, which is the capital. Mozambique is a broken place. Poverty is everywhere. During the days we were going out to our church campus there in Mozambique which was about 30-45 minutes outside of the city and just served the people out there through construction and playing with the kids. Those kids in that place are amazing. Absolutely amazing. I wanted to bring all of them home with me. They get their joy from such little things its amazing. They walk 2 miles in the sand to the church everyday in order to get fed their 1 meal of the day. My heart is broken for those kids. They humbled me so much on this trip. We also got the chance to go to their youth service on Saturday night, which was amazing! To see all those young people with so much not going their way in life so joyful and worship God all out was amazing! They didn’t care what the person next to them was thinking, they were so undignified and that’s how it should always be. Being on that stage, watching those young people worshipping God so intimately, and with an African sunset to my right is something I will never, ever, forget. It was one of the most humbling moments of my life. I thank God so much for what Isaac, Carol, and Deborah are doing in that broken place. They are definitely being a light in the darkness. I praise God for the chance that I had to go over there and be torn up and humbled so much. But, back to what we did. On Sunday we got to go out to their normal service and it was awesome! Like 150 adults and 300+ crazy kids on a Sunday morning is an awesome sight! After church we got to go eat right across the street from the Indian Ocean and got the chance to actually go out to it after and it was a cool experience. No lie though, that was a nasty beach! Apparently in Maputo you can stop and go to the bathroom wherever you want. Monday morning we headed back out to the church and finished all the work we could do and said goodbye to all those kids before heading to Swaziland that night. In Swazi we got to go to a game park and go on a safari which was an absolutely incredible experience! After the safari Steve talked Isaac into taking us to HPC Swaziland in Mbabane, Swaziland which was another hour and a half away and it was awesome! Its up in the mountains in a fairly nice town and it looks alot like our annex campus. HPC Swazi and HPC Mozambique are 2 different churches for 2 very different environments following 1 vision, being a healing place for a hurting world. It was an awesome experience to see the Swazi campus though, especially because it wasn’t on the original agenda! The views were absolutely gorgeous up in the mountains looking over huge valleys! That night we got back to Mozambique and enjoyed our last night in Africa together before heading back on a very, very, very long trip to the States.
God did so much for me in this trip. I truly hope to go back to Africa again in my lifetime and visit our churches there again. I will never, ever, forget this trip and what God did for me on it. Africa and her children are in my heart forever. I never want to forget the faces of those kids and the view looking off the backside of the church in the sunset looking at the surrounding village. I am, like Paul was, an ambassador in chains not only for the Gospel, but for those kids over there. I have to tell of what I’ve seen. I cannot keep quiet, I will not be quiet.

ran upon this…

When I got online to check my email something caught my eye. My home page is MSN and I saw this small picture and link to a list of the world’s holiest places (http://travel.msn.com//Guides/MSNTravelSlideShow.aspx?cp-documentid=990433&GT1=41000) so I figured I would look at it. I stopped on the 8th image which is the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina, Saudi Arabia. I looked at it and I was reading the caption telling me all about it and I read “It is said that praying at the Mosque of the Prophet is equivalent to praying at least 1,000 times anywhere else.” and “many believe that prayers offered here are never rejected.” Something just clicked. First of all why would prayers offered at this building be worth more than a prayer offered anywhere else? And second, why would you have any desire to believe in a god that rejects prayers? That is what is different about Christianity. In no other religions are the “holy places” your body. My body is the temple of the living God! My God dwells within me! And to know that I have a God that will answer every prayer that I offer up to Him, no matter where I am praying from, is amazing. The answer may not be what I want, but it will be answered.