hallelujah!

the following is a recent post from the love146 blog:

Dear Friends,

If you have been involved in Love146, you will remember our Campaign to end trafficking on Craigslist. It has been a long road, and so many of you have been involved. Out of our efforts a coalition was formed to combat human trafficking on the Internet (End Internet Trafficking Coalition: ). We received some good news today. Jim Buckmaster, CEO of Craigslist, has been working with Attorneys General throughout the country, law enforcement, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). Craigslist will be working together to fight predators, which includes verifying phone numbers, and charging the "erotic services" category. 100% of profits from this will be contributed to charity. An external accounting firm will be retained to track the details. Craigslist will not profit from this. For more info. visit Craigslist blog at:
Thank you for taking action!
Together we made a difference.
Be Proud.
Keep Fighting.

Desirea

here is the info straight from craig's list
http://blog.craigslist.org/


praise the Lord!

"The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he." - Deuteronomy 32:4

our God saves.

heaven to earth.

when i was an impact co-chair a few years ago, our t-shirts had a quote on them that said this:

"Because with every decision, conversation, gesture, comment, action, and attitude, we're inviting heaven or hell to earth."
-- Rob Bell (this is from his book Sex God which i highly recommend.)

1000 Wells TAMU exists as a part of Blood:Water Mission - an organization seeking to build clean water wells in Africa in order to reduce the horrors of the ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis. starting Monday, students will be asked to give up all beverages except water for 2 weeks and donate the money they would have spent to the cause. this year, they'll be kicking the 2 weeks off with a free derek webb concert at fbc bryan on sunday at 7:30.

i'd say that's bringing some heaven to earth. and i'd say Jesus cares a lot about heaven and earth.

the battalion (A&M's student newspaper), featured an article about 1000 Wells yesterday if you want some more insight.

join us!

be careful, believer.

there are a lot of facebook statuses and overheard conversations i've encountered recently about people being "scared" about the election, fearful for our country, likening political candidates to figures such as....Satan.

be careful, believer. be careful.

For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. - Col 1:16

Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work - Titus 3:1.

i am not telling you to not pray for our country, to not pray for godly decision making, to not stand up for what you believe. but as a follower of Jesus Christ - you are called to submit to the authorities He has put in place. He has put in place. God is in control. our perspectives are very narrow, very small. God has gone before, behind, and with us into all of time.

stop being disrespectful. stop thinking you know everything.

do what you can (i.e. vote according to the convictions God has placed on your life) in faith and let God be God.

and stop slandering people. now.

watch the election tomorrow night in faith that whoever becomes the next ruler of our nation God has placed there for a reason. "be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution" (1 peter).

do not be afraid, believer, do not be afraid.

"the Lord your God is with you" and He longs for your eyes to be fixed on Him, on eternity. "be anxious for nothing." He is in control.

God establishes governments to maintain some level of order in a broken world - not to fix anything, not to play god.

let's stop believing that God for a millisecond can stop being God. let's recognize that if Jesus Christ ceased thinking of us for a moment - life would end. "He is before all things and in Him all things hold together."

do not be afraid.

are your thoughts results of static cling?

a whole month since i've posted?

i didn't want to be "that blogger."

"those bloggers" bug me - why have a blog and not blog, blogger?

sometimes life just gets a little crazy, or maybe its that it gets so uncrazy - so "nothing's really going on"ish - that you're not too sure what to write. i think that's where i am at the moment. life is sweet, moving quickly, approaching with more adulthood and decision making in every breath i take, it seems, but nothing is so concrete or palpable that i feel i can blog about it. i would love to have that little creative flare that seems to enable some to blog a quote or story or craft or project and explore a little depth without attempting to establish a new theory or save the world or anything of that sort, and perhaps i will someday. but, for now, i find it an immense challenge to write without swinging between scratching no surface at all and sticking my hand deep into my soul and tossing whatever i find onto the page. we'll see if the middle comes.

i just read a book called "my sister's keeper" by jodi picoult. excellent. you'll want to read it in about 2 days because of the subject matter - you just have to know what happens. i love that.

we're going to see jason mraz in houston tonight, one of our favorite musicians who actually inspired the name of my blog. so, for today i write and read and tonight "we sing, we dance." enjoy your saturday.

quest...ing.

i knew this would happen.

as soon i say i'm going to start "planning" to write about something, i kinda spaz out inside and say to myself "self, you will never begin to scratch the surface of said plan, so just...go erase that 'getting there' post and give yourself a break, put up some more wedding pictures or something..."

then the little overachiever self says, "now self, you really do want to write this post. you really do want to expound brilliantly on some profound discovery of spirituality, rhetoric, creativity, whatever it may be. push yourself, get there, accomplish, accomplish, accomplish."

so, here i sit, potentially schizophrenic, most likely just an extremist wallowing through the mire of "finding balance" and hearing this little voice from somewhere saying - just love Jesus and quit worrying about all this nothingness.

great idea.

oh, and it's not really a little voice -there's a great example of not having a very good grasp on reverence.

regardless of whatever everything i just wrote meant here's a few thoughts on what i don't think reverence for God looks like...

- i don't think it means cleaning up your actions for the sake of cleaning up your actions, having a sterlized vocabulary, swearing off the bubbly, or any other list controlled type living
- i'm also pretty sure it doesn't mean scoffing at anyone who chooses to do any of the above.

and therein lies the prob....i mean paradox. it's really not a problem, it's fantastic and full of freedom (alliterate much?). and come to think of it, it's not much of a paradox either - really it's a rather simple rhythm of life God set up that we decided we would complicate.

a prime example: gossip.

(i am not about to stand on a soapbox, promise.)

let's just think about what we say about people. let's not become obsessed with phrasing things in such a way that we then don't feel guilty for what we just said when in reality we said "that person really kind of makes me insane and/or represents all that is liscentious/legalistic/lame to me." don't know what i mean? little things like - "i really shouldn't say this, but" or asking inappropriate questions then following them up by - "that was probably kinda rude" or "this really isn't any of my business, but..."

c'mon now.

am i saying we shouldn't have honest, real, potentially less than pristine conversation?

...do you know me?

clearly, i'm not.

what i am saying is this - "let no unwholesome speech come from your mouth"

let's just think about what that means. let's stop thinking that cussing is any worse/less holy than slandering a brother or sister or discussing matters that aren't ours to discuss.

"to everything (turn, turn, turn) there is a season (turn, turn, turn) and a time to every purpose under heaven" (i know that's a verse. its also a great song from the big chill soundtrack i grew up on)

in my world, there is next to nothing that "should never" be discussed. just last night i told my high school senior girls that i wanted to represent a safe place for them to talk about things/struggles/desires they may feel insane for having. how else will we cultivate community, joy, gladness, comfort, compassion, reality?

...but, there is a time and a purpose.

this is why we need our inner few friends. this is why we need our big circles. this is why we need older people to tell us about life, and younger people to help along the way. this is why we need all these relational dynamics we engage in - because there is a time and purpose for everything under heaven. let's have the reverence for the Lord who created those times and purposes by living in such a way that we honor those creations.

lastly, i am in absolutely no way saying that you shouldn't ever break the mold in how conversation in certain circles of your life usually goes. i'm just saying there's a difference between honesty and speech for the sake of attention and/or filling the silence.

i am guilty of all of the above and more so really, there's no reason to think i'm preaching here. i'm hoping for renewal in this area of my life as well as in other's lives because i think it will change the way we interact and are perceived.

i would love thoughts/disagreements/additions on anything i've said here. really, really.