What is life about?

What are you thoughts?

What is life about? How are we called to live our lives? What are the non-negotiables? What is negotiable?

List in progress:
> To love the ones you are with. Whether you are on the bus, in the line at the grocery store, in your home, at work....
>To receive love from God and obey him in return

Advent :-)

"There's a time to get ready by rejoicing that our God is not far away and unfamiliar with the struggles of human life, that Christ is here right now among His followers, that God has already begun to bring in the Kingdom, and that Christ will come again to make it clear who really runs the place.

That's Advent."

http://www.spirithome.com/advent.html

School Uniforms

I caught the bus earlier this morning and was blessed to meet up with a friend who I've developed a relationship with on the bus over about a year and a half. She is Muslim from Gambia with a loving smile and a generous heart. I'm really happy that God has created me to find joy in meeting and talking to new people because I get to find friends like her.

Anyway, we got to talking about life and God's blessing and provision and how we are called to serve with what God has given us. She then shared something that I could, yet couldn't believe, was happening in my neighborhood.

She shared about one of her son's friends. She said that this is a good kid and very bright. He wants to go to college and on top of his school work, take classes at LAtradetech to learn more. However, my friend found out that he quit the football team, and recently that he dropped out of the college prep program called Upward Bound.

She had exhorted him to not give up, but then later found out it was not because of something in his character, but because he didn't have the money to pay for the bus to go to and from Upward Bound. It turns out this is also why he quit the football team. He couldn't pay the $50 needed for the football gear (shoes, mouth guard, stretchy pants...). He also started missing school, and my friend's son found out it was because he didn't have money for a uniform. Some of his friends were letting him borrow their collard shirts...but isn't that crazy! Stereotypically, you'd think kids were not coming to school because they were rebelling or gang banging or something, but here it's because he doesn't have the proper attire to attend school. This was a problem in the squatter community we visited in the Philippines as a result of poverty and different systems at work. But in a city of such wealth, I am deeply disappointed that kids can't go to school because they don't have a uniform or money for a bus pass!

And what makes this situation even more difficult is that even if the school or the Upward Bound program or others in the community could and wanted to help with the bus pass or uniform...many of these students are too embarrased to share their situation in order to get help. I mean you have got to admit...it's pretty humbling. How many of you would feel fine about asking your co-workers for a shirt so you could come to work? And not just as a favor, but because who couldn't buy one yourself.

There is beauty in all this however. The beauty is in this kid's friends letting him borrow their uniforms. My friend's son gave one of his newer shirts to his friend along with a pair of shoes he doesn't wear as much. My friend encouraged her son saying that this is what friends do, they take care of each other. It's also in the generosity of my friend who's a single mom living on $1100 a month, some of which she sends to support her extended family in Africa.

My friend is torn because she wants to help, and feels that it would be helpful to talk to this kid's mom about their situation. However, her son doesn't want her to say anything in case it might mess up his relationship with his friend...violate trust or something. This is a hard place. I want to do something. I know we could find the help he needs.

I can go around the world, or just walk around my block.

So I just returned from an awesome adventure to Switzerland and Italy where I sought out relatives of the Terribilini family in the Ticino Mountains above Locarno, Switzerland, and visited old friends and made some new all over Florence and the surrounding area. It was beautiful.

While I was there, I wasn't that enthusiastic about returning to the busy, dirty city of Los Angeles. However, last night while I was walking to USC, to find some time away from the oven that is my house during these hot summer days, I found something I do enjoy about my city and my neighborhood. I found my Oaxacan neighbor outside laying brick (ladrios) like "they did once upon a time". I considered just waving and continuing on my way, but instead I turned around to say hi and asked if I could come inside and see what he was doing. Struggling with communicating in Spanish (I had Italian on the brain) we shared a wonderful evening. I learned about laying brick, using the earth, rather than cement to seal in the cracks. I learned about plans for the garden that he was going to plant around his house and some new vocab words like herba buena (mint) and ortaliza (vegetable garden), and how Flor de Hawaii is called Flor de Mayo in Oaxaca. Then I just sat on the steps while he worked away eventually spending some time talking to his wife when she got home from work. I learned that their little chihuahua mix is named Trevi after the artist Gloria Trevi because apparently she was a bit crazy and that fit's Trevi's personality well. I was happy. It was like a little piece of Italy around the corner in the sense that I got to operate in a different language, that I got to learn about gardening and simple living, and the joy of just sitting and being with people.

At one point the fruit truck drove by and I went and picked out a mango, some bananas and plums. My fruit vendor blessed me in Spanish and told me to take care of myself and I shared some smiles with another neighbor, who was also out buying fruit this evening, after she tried to explain on my behalf why I didn't need plastic bags for my fruit :-).

It was a good night. Thank you God for the gifts you give your children.

Enter His Rest

Enter His Rest

In the last two messages, we've considered the glory of the Lord. We saw how we are now God's Temple and are to "reflect the Lord's glory" (2 Corinthians 3:18) into the world as we are transformed into the likeness of Christ. It is a great honor to be in the presence of the Lord and we have been given the awesome responsibility to reflect an "ever-increasing" amount of His glory. But what does this really mean? How can we increase the glory which our life reflects? When we place our life in the Hands of God through faith in Jesus Christ, we are given His Spirit "with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption" (Ephesians 4:30). We reflect His glory as we submit to His leading and allow the fruit of His Spirit to be evident in our life; "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23). As we further submit and allow His fruit to define the character of our life, God's glory will shine with ever greater intensity! Notice that the focus of reflecting His glory is on submission, not on our effort. When the glory of the Lord filled Solomon's Temple, "the priests could not perform their service" (2 Chronicles 5:14). God's glory and the work we perform through our own effort are incompatible - our work hinders His reflection. Hebrews 4:10-11 "For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest." God created the heavens and the earth in six days; "By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all His work" (Genesis 2:2). God was satisfied with His work and entered His rest for all eternity. He is still intimately involved, but God accomplishes everything from a confident and calm position of rest because He KNOWS the final outcome. Likewise, we must not cease from doing what God calls us to do, but we must cease from working in our own strength and for self-righteous rewards. God will certainly keep us active, but the focus of our effort must be on serving and growing from a position of rest with a true desire to do ALL for the love of God. Many of us are attempting to walk His path in our own strength by working hard and carrying the burdens which are rightfully His. This is not our call! We must love Him with all our heart and serve Him with all our strength. But we must do so through joyful surrender, submission, and obedience. He will accomplish His work in His time and according to His purpose. Let's continue to reflect more and more of His glory. Let's draw closer into His presence and make every effort to enter His rest. Have a Christ Centered Day! Steve Troxel God's Daily Word Ministries I am thankful for this piece. Thank you Steve for writing it. I desire for laboring in rest to be a characteristic of my life. Lord teach me to trust you and experience the joy and peace that there can be in responding to your calling on my life. - Amen.

Dancing with my Father

"He said to me,
'Come dance with me,
my Darling, my Angel, my Delight.'
So I grabbed His hands,
placed my feet on His
and we danced all through the night."
-Me 2/16/2009

Why the City?

Check out this sermon by Tim Keller at the Redeemer Sermon Store. Scroll down to number 3 and download "Love for the City."

This is a beautiful sermon out of the book of Acts about discovering God more deeply in the city and making him known. God is alive and moving in the cities and the cities are hungry for Jesus.

What is God saying to you about the city? Are you being called out of your comfort in order to learn to love God and to love people more? Do you want your faith to be refined? Do you want to experience a rekindling of your love and desperate need for Jesus? Do you want to be a witness of the transforming love and power of Jesus?

The city is not the only place God works, but praise His name, it is a place He loves and dwells and moves.