real quick....

Hello! I am writing a very quick email because i'm in a location that I actually have internet! yay! I went downtown last night and it was INCREDIBLE! We went all down Michigan Ave and then over to the Navy Pier...the view from Navy Pier was breathtaking. I was just walking down the street and I was like, this is my life now...these huge skyscrapers, the sites and the scenes, this is where I live...although I don't see it everyday because i'm living in the "projects" :) i still love that all i have to do is jump on the train and i'll be there in ten minutes. I almost got a little teary eyed though because it was just so incredible that God has brought me here. I know i'm a little sentimental at times but i'm just in awe of how good God is and how when you answer his call, and step out on faith, He will reward you. I know tough times are to come and i know some days i'll be missing home so much but I also know that I'll never be completely alone and I know that as long as I am in God's will, no matter what happens, i'll be okay. I hope I continue to meditate on what I know and believe and not how I feel...I don't think we do that often enough.

Anyways, one great thing about my roommie is that she is an urban ministry major, i.e. has a lot of wonderful urban ministry books. I just finished "Their's is the Kingdom" and am now reading "Street Code". Their's is the Kingdom is amazing and it has really made me think about stuff. I'm actually going to let you read two of the sections that really spoke to me and hopefully, you'll let me know what you think about them! Here they are:

I’m beginning to see that fixing people is a dangerous business. Fixing assumes I know what the final form should be, as if I were a spiritual orthodontist who knew just what wires need tightening to produce the perfect smile. When I presume to fix someone, I shape that person with my values, doctrine, hygiene, parenting, vocabulary, housekeeping, nutrition, and a host of other things. Fixing is a license to fashion after my image one who may be uniquely created to flower in quite a different form. It is a dangerous business because it may block or skew the growth of another. And it may unwittingly intrude on the work that God reserves for himself alone.

Wow...how great is that? I don't know about you but I know I sometimes try to mold someone into my idea of what a "good" Christian should look and act like...I do get into the "fix" mode wit my kids sometimes and who am I to fix anyone? I'm a mess myself! haha...seriously though, God is the only one who can change someone or "fix" them. But the cool part is, no matter what or how big a mess we are, God loves us...No he doesn't want us to stay the same, but YES, he loves us, messes and all!

Here's the other one...
But one of the things that troubles me as I take up causes for the kingdom is this: our Lord has told us the essential I.D. for all “card-carrying” Christians is “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). There is nothing distinguishing about holding certain political positions, engaging in debates, staging protests. Whether we pledge allegiance to the moral majority or the radical minority, whether we vote Republican or democrat, there is no visible statement to the world about our commitment to the lordship of Christ. We may join pro or anti-nuke, life, draft, ERA, Contra, or defense bandwagons and do so for all the right reasons, but this will not cause us to shine like lights in darkness. Such affiliations may express our convictions, but they do not set us apart as “Christ-ones.” There is only activity so unique to this world that Christ distinguished it as proof of his deity and of our authenticity as his followers. It is more disarming than SALT talks. It is more reconciling than Camp David peace accords, more convincing than arguments for and against abortion or gay rights, or the authority of scripture. It illuminates the minds of men and women more than Christian television or political debates, and it is not an option for a Christian. It is a command. It is love. Love of a special sort. Unfortunately, we seldom see this love. We talk about it, but quickly abandon it in the pursuit of “rightness.” Perhaps building cases for issues is much more exciting than loving each other; issues allow us to win, or at least compete. Love, on the other hand, lays down its ego, its case, its defenses for the sake of another-and that isn’t fun. And yet our Lord saw love as so vital that he spent his last night emphasizing and reemphasizing it to his disciples. He assured them and us that he would reveal himself to them, give his Holy Spirit to teach them, grant all that they ask, give them peach and joy, and call them his friends if they would but obey him by living out his love (John 13-15). Would it be easy? Is laying down your life easy? Yet, said Christ, this is how love is measured. But what about the issues? Shouldn’t we take stands on important issues like human rights, war, and even life itself? Of course, we must. This isn’t to say that all Christians will take the same stand. As long as we are fallen and our perceptions are colored by our experience, a long as we have blind spots and different personalities, we will continue coming up with different answers. We will disagree over disarmament and genetic planning, over movie going and laetrile. Yet somehow in the tension between the poles, God continues to work. Love leads us to an appreciative understanding of the unique contribution each member makes to the body of Christ, and thus the tension is creative. But without the willingness to lay aside, at least for a time, our own position in order to affirm a dissenting brother or sister, the tension will undoubtedly be destructive. I suspect that Christ is working overtime these days healing the ears (and egos) of those we have slashed in his defense. Perhaps it is time we put away our swords and began displaying the mark of “Christ-ones”: Love.

Again, WOW. Seriously, I say this all the time..."Christians" have went so far from what God says being a follower of Christ is....love. Loving him and loving others. God is love, yet, if you walked down the street and asked random people, describe Christians in 3 words, how often would they say, love or loving? probably not very often. Yet, thats the greatest commandments, Love God and Love others. It hurts my heart sometimes to see how far we've fallen from the most important thing God calls us to do...one of the greatest sentences i've ever read was, God's love is undiginfied. This guy writes, "The nature of God’s love for us in outrageous. Why doesn’t this God of ours display some taste and discretion in dealing with us? Why doesn’t he show more restraint? To be blunt about it, couldn’t God arrange to have a little more dignity? Wow! No, the love of our God isn’t dignified at all, and apparently that’s the way he expects our love to be for others." We are to love even when it isn't returned...you know, a smart man once said that if you love just your friends, then what does that say? doesn't even evil people love their friends, no it's when we choose to love those who are unlovable, it's when we choose to love whether it's returned or not....that's what God talks about. Loving unconditionally...loving even when it's hard....letting God love them through you....seeing other's through God's eyes....have you ever tried that? Looking at a child who is sooo obstinate or a homeless drunk man walking down the street...and say, God loves them just as much as he loves me. Look at them through God's eyes...and see who God sees them as...

Sorry, sometimes I like to get off on my tangents...I will say this, I pray that when I die someday, people don't look back at my life and say, well, she was a sweet kid and she loved kids...no that's not what I want them to say....i want them to say she loved....she loved Passionately.....she loved Jesus...she loved others!

have a great weekend!