For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works...

2010-01-12T20:43:00.000-08:00

What really matters... just doesn't.

2009-08-23T22:13:00.000-07:00

These past few weeks have been filled with heartache, tears, laughs, old friends, and fond memories.

My friend Chris Champion lost his battle to cancer.

It is so hard to let go of someone when they are so young. Even though our Lord took him at 20, he still touched more people than I can ever imagine to.

Chris was full of God's love. He was strong in his faith and never lost sight of who God was even when the cancer wouldn't let up.

I am so proud of him. I don't know what else to say. I will always admire him. He was just as great of a man as his father was.

I miss them both terribly.

I am not going to pretend that I understand why God needed to take both John and Chris because I really don't.

I am not going to pretend that I understand why a family that I love has to suffer with the loss of two loved ones within months of eachother.

Chris' Memorial was beautiful.

I do know that Chris is no longer suffering.

He is walking right now with God.
How I so longed for him to be able to get out of his bed and walk and now he can.

Thank you Jesus.

I wish I could have been there to see Chris and his father hug for the first time in months. What an amazing sight.

It brings a sense of comfort knowing that John was able to be there first and was able to greet Chris.

Luckily I don't have so say good bye because for us death has no sting only a promise of eternity with our Lord.

So see you later Chrissy Poo.

With all that said I just wanted to share something I learned this weekend.

Since Chris passed I feel as if there is this weight upon my heart.

I feel as if things that mattered to me really just don't.

There are more important things in life than holding onto hurt.

I was able to see my mom's dad Ted this weekend at a wedding. I must admit when I thought about how I was going to interact with him I just cringed. He has done and said some pretty hurtful things to my family. The last time I saw him I said something very hurtful and I don't think he really understood why I said it, but when I saw him on Saturday night my first thought was Chris. I want to be able to make the impact that Chris made on all of his friends and family. I was overwhelmed with a feeling of guilt. What would God want me to do?

What did I want to do?

It was as if that weight was lifted and I just didn't care anymore. Everything that happened in the past was just that. The past. It didn't matter.

I quitely got up from my table and walked over to Ted and wrapped my arms around him and and said "Grandpa I love you and I am sorry" and that was it. From there God just helped us talk about things.

Things are not great between us. I really barely know the man, but God opened up a window and helped me.

Thank you Lord.

And thank you Chris for being such a great example in my life.

All glory and praise be to you God.

Forever.

Champions

2009-01-01T20:07:00.000-08:00

It has taken me forever to even begin to blog what I want to say... and I didn't even begin to put a dent in it!

I have never in my life met a family who I care about so deeply.

John and Dawn:
I love you both so much. You have both encouraged me in every way possible. My life has been changed with not only the love you guys have shown me, but through all the times you both believed in me even when I didn’t think I could do it.

The worship team is probably my favorite memory I must admit. I remember us all trying to learn the song “Great King”. The song you both brought to us from across seas. I still remember Johns face every time we would sing it. We never quite did it the right way, but instead of correcting us John would just put his hand on the side of his face and just smile. It was a smile that always made my heart happy. We were going to make it our own sound not because we wanted to, but just because we couldn’t get the song right now matter how many times we tried. Every time I would look back at John I would think to myself “Uh oh… I think he just gave me the look… did he?” The look always made me feel a little self conscious. Not in a bad way, just in a way of whatever I did with the Champions I wanted to succeed. I wanted to give it my all because John and Dawn never held anything back when it came to serving us teenagers.
We started out with a girl who could sing but not play an instrument, a boy who could play and instrument but not sing, a drummer who couldn’t keep beat, and a bass player who had ADD when it came to the practices. There were frustrations and laughs.

Dawn I remember when you wanted me and the rest of the team to “Free Flow” as you would call it. I thought you were crazy.

You showed me how to worship outside of the box.

And now look at us!

The girl who couldn’t play an instrument is now leading worship with her brand new guitar at The Way!
The boy who could play but not sing is leading worship in Colorado with an amazing voice that he worked hard to develop.
The drummer that had no beat just finished serving at the Oaks as a Jr. High youth leader and is now waiting for the next step from God.
And the bass player who had ADD is a strong warrior for Christ and continues to teach all those around him that no matter the circumstance God is good and faithful!

With all this said I am just trying to get to the point of letting everyone know that if you have ever been lucky enough to meet this couple you know you can’t walk away and not be changed.

They allowed God to use them in many ways and in all of those ways I can guarantee not only for myself, but to many others you were both a great stepping stone in all of our lives because you listened to God soft voice and trusted.

I end this blog with a heavy heart as we say good bye to one of our dearest friends John Champion.

You were a man of God.

An encourager.

A servant.

A Husband and a father.

You were a great mentor who I was proud to tell people that I always looked at you as another dad in my life.

You cared for me and loved me.

Thank You John.

I will greatly miss you, but I am looking forward to the day where we meet in the Golden city of the New Jerusalem.
I love you.

Dawn, as we continue down this road just know you are never alone and God has new and exciting things for you. I am here with you always.

Dan, Chris, and Mihi... I love you guys so much! I thank God often for your friendships... every one is very unique and different... God is great at placing people in others lives...

To God be all the glory and honor and power.
Amen

Broken Record

2008-12-13T19:51:00.000-08:00

"What do you want to do?"

Do you know how many times I have heard that question this past year?

Sheesh...

Who knows...

1. I had hoped to be a worship leader overseas.
2. I thought I would have been almost done with school.
3. Married... or at least with Mr. Right in sight. (Yeah right, I know.)
4. Serving under people who craved to know God's words because it is unavailable to them.
5. Sitting with someone in the middle of no where just listening to their fears and telling them of hope that Jesus Christ has to offer.
6. Sending letters home to Mom and Dad telling them how much I miss them and how thankful I am for all of their support and encouragement.
7. I figured I would be a better person than who I use to be... in reality I don't think I am.

Just some of the things I had hoped to accomplish by now.

Life goes by too fast and I don't want to waste it.

but this has been a year of blessings as well...

1. I have a great job with adorable children that drive me crazy but when I go home on the weekends I find myself missing them....
2. Friends. New and Old. Always there for me when I need them. (Thanks guys)
3. My family. I have grown so close to them this past year and I can't live without them.
4. The Way is still going strong through God's provision.
5. My new worship team family... (Karen, Boozer, Dawn, Sarai, and Katie)
6. The encouragement and confidence I get from my Oaks family to keep going.
7. Most importantly... God's reassurance that he is and has been watching out for me and will never leave me.

Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.
~Hebrews 13:15

Thats all.

I am a friend of God...

2008-12-03T19:02:00.000-08:00

So I don't really like the song Friend of God.... but as I listen to the worship team practice it right now in my living room... They sound nice... Good jobs guys!

Its nice to have everyone back together....

These things I will never...

2008-11-26T18:31:00.000-08:00

Take for granted.

Standing in the rain...
Strumming a chord on my guitar...
Being able to tell some one how much I love them...
Waking up every morning and praising God for all he has given to me...
Being able to put one foot in front of the other without a second thought on how...
Reading, writing, and even talking...
Singing praises to the Lord...
Being with family...
The laughter from friends...
The hugs I get from my nephews and nieces...

These are some of the things I will never take for granted.
God has blessed me greatly...

Thank you Lord.

Just a simple prayer...

2008-08-16T18:25:00.000-07:00

God...

You are so Good.

So encouraging.
So loving.
So full of grace.
So powerful.

You lift us up in time of need and you hear us as we come to you with burdened hearts and overwhelming circumstances that we can not over come on our own.

You are beautiful.
Wonderful.

You are exalted.

Nothing can hold us down even when we see no end to our problems.
When it seems like the floods are closing in you hold us in your arms and carry us to higher ground.

God pour your Spirit into our lives that we may daily overflow into others.

You say your burden is light and your yoke is a feather.

Your name holds power.

Jesus.
Jesus.
Jesus.

Lead us.
Mold us into your masterpiece.

Be exalted.

Let our worship be our offering.
Let our praise be unto you a heavenly sound.

Let this prayer be the prayer of many.
Thousands.

We are loved.

It is because of your love that we are able to love others.
Let your love be our weapon against the ones who try to knock us down.

God you are Master.
You are Savior.

And you...

You alone are God.

Our creator.
Our father.
Our strength.

And our refuge.

Amen.

So I was looking back...

2008-03-18T13:06:00.000-07:00

So I was reading some old posts and I came across this one...

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Gods Constant Reminder
Sometimes I get so set in my routine.

Last night when talking to my worship leader about who needed to worship for our Celebrating Recovery class I was the lucky one chosen.

This sounds selfish.... so remember I am human and I constantly fail.First of all...I didn't want to give up part of my Friday night.

I wanted to just hang out and relax.

So I go down to the church and I am setting everything up. I felt as if everything was going wrong. I could tell that God was wanting me to break my routine.

So I grab a stool and I go and sit on the same level as the small group to worship. (Like instead of standing on the stage)

As I feel like I am about to ruin everything God presses on my heart to tell them its okay to sing to him within a small group. Don't be concerened about the people next to you.

So we proceed to do a couple of worship songs and I am just messing up left and right with my fingers.

For some reason my fingers and my guitar are in a dispute.

I am just thinking to myself why am I so disoriented tonight?

Then it hits me.

God is still waiting for me to meet him.

I lower my voice and listen to the other eight people singing. It was beautiful. They were in his presence and I was not.

I stop playing the guitar.

I lift my hands and I sing out to God.

Then I relize its not that my fingers arent meeting my guitar.

Im not meeting God.

I never cease to be in awe at what God has to tell me.

I still tend to make the same mistake sometimes. Sometimes I get so caught up in myself I forget what I am doing.

So I am definately thankful for all the constant reminders God blesses me with.

Thats all.

The Contemplative State

2007-12-18T14:11:00.001-08:00

1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—

whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the stronghold of my life—

of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When evil men advance against me

to devour my flesh,

when my enemies and my foes attack me,

they will stumble and fall.
3 Though an army besiege me,

my heart will not fear;

though war break out against me,

even then will I be confident.
4 One thing I ask of the LORD,

this is what I seek:

that I may dwell in the house of the LORD

all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD

and to seek him in his temple.
5 For in the day of trouble

he will keep me safe in his dwelling;

he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle

and set me high upon a rock.
6 Then my head will be exalted

above the enemies who surround me;

at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy;

I will sing and make music to the LORD.
7 Hear my voice when I call, O LORD;

be merciful to me and answer me.
8 My heart says of you, "Seek his face!"

Your face, LORD, I will seek.
9 Do not hide your face from me,

do not turn your servant away in anger;

you have been my helper.

Do not reject me or forsake me,

O God my Savior.
10 Though my father and mother forsake me,

the LORD will receive me.
11 Teach me your way, O LORD;

lead me in a straight path

because of my oppressors.
12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,

for false witnesses rise up against me,

breathing out violence.
13 I am still confident of this:

I will see the goodness of the LORD

in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the LORD;

be strong and take heart

and wait for the LORD.

Psalms 27

Last night as I was spending some quiet time with God I came upon this Psalm. As I was reading it my heart became calm.

My life has been full of chaos it seems. Too many choices and not enough communication.

But through everything

God is always with me.

Unfailing Love

2007-12-06T15:41:00.000-08:00

You have my heart

And I am yours forever

You are my strength

God of grace and power

And everything

You hold in Your hand

Still You make time for me

I can't understand

Praise You, God of earth and sky

How beautiful is Your unfailing love

Unfailing love

And You never change,

God, You remain

The Holy One and my unfailing love

Unfailing love

You are my rock

The One I hold on to

You are my song

And I sing for You

These Lyrics are Beautiful.

These words make my heart happy.

Everything I do I give my heart and soul.

2007-07-29T20:06:00.000-07:00

Everything I do I give my heart and soul.

Plain and simple.

God is cool.

Do you Trust?

2007-06-21T13:47:00.000-07:00

Have you ever really thought of that?

It is so hard to trust God because you loose control.

But...

Whatever we put in God's hands we can be assured it is safe

(~Nneka said this~)

Trust in God.

Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

Psalm 9:10

If you fully trust in God and you seek him out will he not grant you the desires of your heart? If your desires are for God's Glory and His Power will he not provide it?

God is so amazing.

This week has been Good.

Through fasting I am learning that I am content.

I am content in where I am at with God.

God has shown me that he is pleased with me and loves me for me.

I am set apart.

For His works.

For His people.

I have been chosen by God.

What calling is better than that?

I trust.

Strengthen Yourself to Lead

2007-06-19T14:25:00.001-07:00

Hebrews 12:12-13

Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

I was looking through my bible last night and I found this highlighted and next to it I wrote Strengthen Yourself to Lead. When I saw this my heart just started racing. I realized I am straighting my paths before God and I am preparing myself to Lead. These past couple of days have been amazing. God has given my taste of things that I can't even explain.

Yesterday my church began a 7 day fast. I have committed to that because I feel it is important to support my pastors and leaders. Not only will I grow with God but I will be growing with my church family.
Another reason is I fully trust and believe my Pastors and Leaders. Every time I have ever doubted them I have asked and when they explain to me and I understand.

God has really poured out his blessing on these people. There is no one better I would want to follow when it comes to God's plan.

Unity has always been a big thing on my heart.
This week that is going to be a Key Factor!

We must be one in the spirit. We must be one in the Lord.

Just thinking...

2007-05-30T19:16:00.000-07:00

"In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?"- Psalm 56:4

My first thought when I saw this verse was ick yeah right. We are horrible (as in all living beings). Then I thought of sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me... and once again i said to myself ick yeah right... words are always hurtful.
But Gods words are so calming. So relaxing. One word whispered in our ears by God is worth more than a million compliments coming from friends and family...

But why does this verse say what can mortal man do to me?

The truth is God allows things to happen...

Why?

Becuase its part of this huge scheme that we will never understand or even begin to comprehend!

But if we just have faith in God and truly trust him and serve him through are trials.... how amazing will that day be when God turns to you and says... Well done good and Faithful servent...

Why fear? Does God not say in Mathew "who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life.".... Fear I believe is from the devil.... without fear we would totally trust God... and that is exactly what the devil does not want us to do....

So when it comes down to it... by removing fear we remove satan. By trusting God we allow change.

Not just any change...

A Good Change.

"In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?"

Im a Going All the Way...

2007-05-11T12:39:00.000-07:00

So yesturday I was able to go to the usual meetings for the Way Fellowship Church Plant.

I haven't been in a long time... too long... but since there was a power outage at work I got the day off... Yay!

The meeting was crazy.

As John Bryant was talking I found myself looking at him differently.

Not a bad different... just... different.

I am really taking a step into my future.

As he talked about Abraham, Issac, and Jacob and plenty of other things.. such as how we will be blessed... and all that fun stuff... I looked at him with deep thought.

I found myself talking to God in my head the whole time.

Do we match up spiritually?
Am I really going to give up my full time job and work part time to dedicate the rest of my time to Gods ministry under this man?
Is he a good leader?

and many more questions....

I was kinda in a daze when I left the meeting.

I prayed about it all day yesturday while accompishing a lot of stuff for this Saturday....

The more I prayed about it the more I felt comfortable...

The answers were all yes...

I know I want to follow God and know God has told me to go with The Way... but now it comes down to really placing everything in Gods hand...

Placing everything in Gods hands is one thing...
but at the same time I know that God also wants to me to trust John. And I do completly... but it was hard enough giving control to God...

Arghhh...

Just my thoughts....

I am so excited at where I am in my life...

So remind me of that when I get upset... Haha...

Whoa.

2007-04-16T12:47:00.000-07:00

Long time no Blog.

I got a TB test today.

In case you didn't know...

Needles and I don't mix.

I only cried once... and that was before I even saw the needle.

Then I felt bad because there was a little boy who had an IV next to me and his mom was telling me how he didn't even flinch.

I am a sissy.

Oh well.

God is so good to me.

I had a crisis.

A "Im 20 and still living at home" crisis.

So I went out and got a job.

...Full Time...

My goal:
Be out of the house by September!

Yay!

I start this week.

I am way excited...

Plus
I still have the internship.

Whoa... This just in....

I am watching the news.

President Bush is giving a speech about a shooting happening right now as I type this.

Twenty-nine are dead...

Lord I pray for the famlies of the students from Virgina Tech who are now gone. Lord hold their families in your arms and show them your love.
Amen.

Demetri Martin Standup Comedy

2007-03-23T08:55:00.001-07:00

Ha... Wait till the End...

Heart Rate is Rapidly Increasing

2007-03-23T06:43:00.000-07:00

Massive Heart Attack!

No not Really.

As we continue to meet every Thursday morning for our Way meetings, God is continually showing me the wisdom he has given to the other team members.

Not only wisdom, but heart.

These team members are amazing.

God has placed us together knowing that our personalities are different, our walks with Him are different, our family life and all of our struggles are different... but yet... none the less... We all fall into perfect little niches and fit right together.

Like a puzzle.

I love it.

Yesterday as I was sitting there listening to all of them talk... I really felt as if I had a whole new group of friends.

They were all ready family... but to me family means always having to care for them... but with friends you choose whether or not you want to care for them.

And I have chosen.

As Christians we are called to love all people.
(I constantly fail at that.)

I Keep On Pressing.

2007-03-21T21:00:00.000-07:00

Speak to me, when all you got to keep is strong
Move along, move along like I know you do
And even when your hope is gone
Move along, move along just to make it through
~All American Reject Lyrics

So this is what comes to mind.

If God could say something to me right now... it would be those lyrics.

I love being an intern... but sometimes... you get a kick in the butt.

I feel as if there is so much I want to share with the students, but there is a HUGE WALL!

These past couple of months have been the hardest of all.

I personally... am disapointed in myself. I feel as if I am missing the mark. I can feel God telling me that "Its okay. Just keep going. Your heart is in this for the students not for you."

It is times like this where I want to step back and say "I Quit."

But... I can't. I am way stronger than this... I just have to press through.

Please keep me in your prayers.

I'll keep on pressing.

I Have a Secret

2007-03-11T22:24:00.000-07:00

I have a secret.

Its a secret that only God knows.

Tonight we did a night of Praise and Worship.

Plus we met two missionary women from Thailand. They are Extraordinary.

There is a need for a Worship Leader in Bancock. (If thats how you spell it.)

Can you imagine that?

Someone, some where in the world is being called to fulfill this need whether they know it or not. God is planting seeds and placing people in their path all within His perfect timing.

I am praying about going to Thailand this summer. It has to be a God thing.

Not a me thing.

So Please pray.

And

Yes I do have a secret that I will share one day, but not yet.

Gods Constant Reminder

2007-03-10T09:41:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I get so set in my routine.

Last night when talking to my worship leader about who needed to worship for our Celebrating Recovery class I was the lucky one chosen.

This sounds selfish.... so remember I am human and I constantly fail.

First of all...
I didn't want to give up part of my Friday night.
I wanted to just hang out and relax.

So I go down to the church and I am setting everything up. I felt as if everything was going wrong. I could tell that God was wanting me to break my routine.

So I grab a stool and I go and sit on the same level as the small group to worship. (Like instead of standing on the stage)

As I feel like I am about to ruin everything God presses on my heart to tell them its okay to sing to him within a small group. Don't be concerened about the people next to you.

So we proceed to do a couple of worship songs and I am just messing up left and right with my fingers.

For some reason my fingers and my guitar are in a dispute.

I am just thinking to myself why are so disoriented tonight?

Then it hits me.

God is still waiting for me to meet him.

I lower my voice and listen to the other eight people singing. It was beautiful. They were in his presence and I was not.

I stop playing the guitar.

I lift my hands and I sing out to God.

Then I relize its not that my fingers arent meeting my guitar.

Im not meeting God.

I never cease to be in awe at what God has to tell me.

Seeker vs Believer

2007-03-09T10:57:00.000-08:00

Love God
Love People
Love the World

Easy Right?

So our meeting on Thursday morning for The Way was good. We talked a lot about being Gods masterpiece.

Ephesians 2:10
(NIV)
10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

(NASB)
10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

(NLT)
10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Isn't that way cool? We were crafted in such a way that is unexplainable that we are called his masterpiece!
So not only are we a beautiful masterpiece, but we have good things prepared by God for us to walk in.

TIGHT!

Okay.

Believer vs Seekers

When begining a church plant which direction do you want to go?

Trick Question.

Niether.

As I told John Bryant "How can you possibly choose? Whatever one you pick you are leaving out the other."

What do I mean by this?

Okay... Its pretty simple.

Believer Focus: We dig into the Bible with Great Depth and learn more of Gods word. Hopefully you will have some knowledge of who Christ is before you come. Because we want to grow and not wait for you to catch up.

Seeker Focus: We have an alter call every week and God is saving people left and right! Everywhere you look a new believer is popping up. Now what? What do you we do with them? Ahh... Who knows... but lets keep saving them!

Now I know I sound a little sarcastic and a bit over exagerated, but I was trying to do that so you understand what I mean.

If we aren't Believer centered and we aren't Seeker centered...

Then what are we?

...Drum Roll Please...

Jesus Centered.

Too easy right?

Jesus appealed to both the Believer and the Seeker.

Did he not?

We Focus on Jesus and who he was and what he did and how.

Our ultimate Focus is God.

The Way Vision

What is our vision you might ask?
Ahh... Who knows. We can try to make what up, but whats the point?

Gods Vision for they way?
Wow I am glad you asked!

Love God
Love People
Love the World

The Way Fellowship

2007-03-02T11:19:00.000-08:00

Well this is where you all can read my thoughts.
Good and Bad.
Peace Out!
God is Cool.