Friday, September 5, 2008

Reality is not a word used in my Vocabulary

Something i just learned is that i believe in God.. Not reality. I Go by what God says, not reality. Because you know what, when Moses parted the red sea and him and all the Israelites walked on dry ground, reality is.. that is not possible! But God makes it possible. When Jesus would heal the blind, raise the dead and cleanse the leapers.. reality says not possible, God makes it possible. So ya that was a long time ago, but it still applies today. I go to a youth group where each month they need a thousand dollars to pay the rent, and each week somehow God provides with broke college students, and strangers.. sometime in one night, with one check they have the whole month paid for! I see healings happen that aren't suppose to be possible. I hear stories of broken fingers straighten out right in front of their eyes. I have seen God provide money for ME personally in the the craziest ways! This whole YWAM thing, Lauren and I together, he provided over $10,000! People we didn't even know, they have never seen us, they just heard what we were doing would hand us a $500 check. At church i would set my purse down and forget about it, and then get home, look inside and there would be an envelope in my purse with $200 in it. I have seen my friends of deadly illness and make it out alive. Reality is.. none of this stuff should have happened!! That is why Reality is not one of the words in my vocab, because when someone says, "Reality is...." I know that nothing is impossible for God. As Christ follower, we should want to see the impossible made possible! Because that is what HE does.

This is a passage about Faith. The reality is, God is BIGGER than reality.

Hebrews 11
By Faith 1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2This is what the ancients were commended for.
3By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. 4By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.
5By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
7By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
11By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he[
a]considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
13All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
17By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring[
b] will be reckoned."[c] 19Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
20By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
21By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
22By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.
23By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict.
24By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. 25He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
29By faith the people passed through the Red Sea[
d] as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
30By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.
31By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.[
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32And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37They were stoned[
f]; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
39These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Camp <3

Camp....awesome :) this camp was everything and more than i thought it would be. So all the families are poor inner city black families and i love them! The staff at camp made up a very diverse group.... There were blacks, whites, Straight people, Homosexual, Christians, Jewish people, all different kind of beautiful people! This camp was so loving and non judgmental and just so excepting of everyone, like everyone greeting each other with a kiss on the check and a hug and i was talking to a campers mom and she said i just love this camp because its a place where i come to just be myself and i love it here because there is so much love. and as i was talking to her i got really sad that like she can't get that out in the real world and then i started to think about Christians and where is the love? Jesus when he was on this earth talked to tax collect and prostitutes and talked and loved the least of them, he loved them, he didn't even say you are a tax collect or a leaper i can't talk to you So these weeks at camp i learned i am not called to judge but i am just called to love them.

The children think they are coming just for a normal summer camp where they do arts and crafts and go swimming in the lake, which they are, that is what they are at camp for. But the parents are there because they know it is a camp for HIV and they are at the camp to get help on how to tell their children that they have HIV, or sometimes the kids are taking pills 3 times a day because they have HIV but they don't even know it! My first week i has pre-teen girls and they have all been told about HIV. One girl who was HIV positive, the rest just their parents were but they were not. So since everyone knew about HIV we had a social worker come in just for like 30 min to tell them if you have any questions or concerns we can talk about it... and no one talked! and then she asked do you guys talk about this at home with your family... and they all said no!! I really think people need to talk about this more, i mean it is just crazy, its like this big elephant in the room! i think the parents need to talk to their children about it more and ask them if they have any questions.

That same week one of my campers her mom wasn't feeling well. So her mom came up to me right before lunch and said Leslie can you please make sure she stays here as i go to the Med Room because I'm not feeling good. Right away the young girl dropped her head and became really sad and wouldn't talk to anyone. So i asked her what was wrong and then she told me... I;m just worried, my mom has fainted before in the grocery store and it was really scary, i just don't want anything to happy to her. And that is when i realized that this poor 12 year old girl, she thinks that whenever her mom gets a headache she is going to die!! that is on situation that i was really able to see how HIV affects the families.
Another girl, is 12 years old, and her parents have HIV and her Grandpa and 2 uncles have died from it. So she is now bisexual because she says she doesn't want to Die of HIV and she knows that if she is with the same sex that her chances are lower of getting HIV.....

The 2nd week was totally different i had 10 yr old and none of them knew about HIV. I had 2 Girls who were positive and they didn't know why they took pills 3 times a day. So that was crazy to witness also.
This camp is an amazing place that helps these families deal with this Major issue in their lives. I pray God has me go back next year!! Because I'm already looking forward to it :)

I wish I could show you pictures of these beautiful families but because of privacy issues i am not allowed to post any pictures of the family.

Fun Facts

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to write an update... but i shall start at the beginning!
Being home at first.. was very hard. I really missed the amazing friends i had made overseas. It was also really hard being back in America after spending 3 months in a very poor country. I find myself missing my friends and the countries, Switzerland and India a lot! Now It is September and being home is becoming much easier! Thanks to God :) He is teaching me new things and putting me through new adventures each day, so i can't complain because I'm having fun :) So here is some fun stuff.....

THE HOLY SPIRIT
I have been a christian my whole life, i just did YWAM ....but no one told me about the holy spirit no one told me about the Power we have as Christ followers! Like seriously...Romans 8... the same spirit that rose Jesus Christ from the grave lives in me! it just blows my mind! And so i have been learning about that a lot, and it was just cool how it all happened because i wanted to start hanging out with non believers and love on them and tell them about Jesus but like i go to this Starbucks trying to do that and God has me read in the bible about the holy spirit, because God was telling me like I'm not ready to outreach into the community because he wanted to show me/ tell me how much the holy spirit really can use me. Like Galatians 2 :20 i know longer live but Christ lives in me... I get it now! i really do die to myself, die to my flesh, so that the holy spirit lives in me... the same spirit that raised JC from the dead is in me.. is in us! as Christ followers, that blows my mind!! Its just crazy i have been a christian my whole life but my walk with God has dramatically changed!

What to know more about the Holy Spirit? Read: Matthew 3, Luke 3, John 14:15-31, John 16, Acts 1 and 2, Romans 8, 1 Corinthians 12, 2 Corinthians 12-18, Ephesians 4:30

WHY CAN'T WE BE ONE???
Like i said i have never really been told about this, and this brings me to another topic. I asked my mom why i haven't had any teachings about the Holy Spirit and she said because we were raised in the Lutheran Church and they don't focus on the HS. Also i have heard of other denominations that believe that speaking in tongues is from the devil. The thing that i don't understand is that right in the bible.. Acts 2 it says the speaking in tongues if from the HS. I have been really confused lately why Christianity has sooo soo many denominations??? And they all have different rules and they all pick and choose what they want to study and believe out of the bible... But here is the thing... It is ONE God and ONE bible.. where do ALL these denominations come from?!?!

Jesus Prays for All Believers (John 17:20-23)
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Dude right there Jesus is asking us to be one... to be united.. If the church thinks having all these different denominations is being in unity... I think the church has a twisted image of what it means to be united. You know we are always praying to Jesus for this, and for that, and for this job, or this health issue... But do we realize that Jesus has a prayer for us! that he wants us to answer! and sadly i don't think we are answering it.
I Pray one day the church can answer His prayer.