Recently, our team has been in conversation about the importance of prayer in our mission. We are constantly reminded by the Lord and others that what we do will only come together if there is some major prayer behind what we do.
Wanna help with that? :)
If you are interested in committing to pray for us, please email me, Facebook message me, text me, or comment on this post with your email address and we will get you added to the network. We would love to partner with you!!!
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Independence Day in D.C.
I've heard Christians described a lot of ways. Honestly, a lot of times, they are not described favorably. The world loves to twist and turn the vision of what God has us doing on Earth.
Unfortunately, Christians don't really help. We give them plenty of material to make fun of and talk about. This has become overwhelmingly obvious to me as I live in DC after the Prop 8 Supreme Court ruling. You think people are talking about it in your city? Try living in a place where the LGBT flag is hung in lots of businesses already and gay marriage is already very much legalized and pretty much accepted and welcomed. The day the ruling happened, Zac and I couldn't set one foot on a metro without hearing SOMEONE talking about it.... and reacting to those crazy Christians out there yelling that God hates gay people. Can't say I blame them...if I wasn't a believer, I'd talk about it too.
My point is, and it's not a new point, that we seem to be known for the wrong reasons.
Around the same time as the ruling, Zac and I had a wonderful conversation with a man from Somalia. Christian missionaries are killed in Somalia and the country is kind of known for its turmoil in Africa. Somalians tend to be "extreme" Muslims.
We ended up in this conversation because this man actually started it! We had wandered into his restaurant that was filled with African men. He found out that Zac and I had a background from his continent so he offered us tea and asked us to sit down. Next thing out of his mouth is, "SO... the biggest difference between Islam and Christianity is...."
We sat for the next 30-40 minutes and listened to this man explain all the ins and outs of the Islamic faith and why its so important and how holy Allah is. As he spoke, Zac and I just sat, listened, and waited for that opportunity to share.
The man finally got to Judgement Day, which is a big deal in the Muslim and Christian worlds. He started telling us that on Judgement Day, it was going to be a great day because Allah would come to Earth and judge the people on it based on their works on a scale. The scale would literally weigh the individuals good deeds vs their bad deeds while they were on earth. If their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds then they get to go to paradise.
I finally spoke up.
"I have a question. What if the scales are close?" I used my hands as a visual.
"What if they are almost even with a little bit more good.... will I still get into paradise according to Allah?"
The man looked at me.... then looked down... and said, "Allah is a good judge so he will decide what is right in that situation."
"So there's no way to be sure that I'm in?" I asked.
"No."
My heart broke. I knew this fact about Islam, and everytime I've asked this question, heard the answer, it breaks my heart.
We went on to tell him that THAT was the biggest difference between Islam and Christianity. We told him "JESUS GOT RID OF THE SCALES!!! Because of what Jesus did while he was on earth, he secured that we would get to be in heaven FOR SURE."
The man looked up at us, saw our smiling faces, looked me in the eyes with confusion and then dropped his head in discouragement and whispered, "if only that were true...."
First off, pray for his man.We are going to be continuing our relationship with him and continuing to try and share hope with him. Secondly, I have to ask the question.... why doesn't the World think of Christianity as the religion of HOPE?
Perhaps it's because Christ's followers in America don't reflect Hope and Freedom. Maybe in the noise, the obligation, the business, the checklists, the rules, the tradition, etc. we have forgotten that we are FREE. I believe that Satan loves to do this to the American church. If we lived as though we were free, I can't imagine us being unattractive as a group in a world that is so entangled in the enemy's tricks.
So that's my challenge for this Independence Day. I realize that we are supposed to be celebrating our country today, but let us not forget the real freedom that we have in Christ.
Freedom from sin.
Freedom from bondage.
Freedom.
Unfortunately, Christians don't really help. We give them plenty of material to make fun of and talk about. This has become overwhelmingly obvious to me as I live in DC after the Prop 8 Supreme Court ruling. You think people are talking about it in your city? Try living in a place where the LGBT flag is hung in lots of businesses already and gay marriage is already very much legalized and pretty much accepted and welcomed. The day the ruling happened, Zac and I couldn't set one foot on a metro without hearing SOMEONE talking about it.... and reacting to those crazy Christians out there yelling that God hates gay people. Can't say I blame them...if I wasn't a believer, I'd talk about it too.
My point is, and it's not a new point, that we seem to be known for the wrong reasons.
Around the same time as the ruling, Zac and I had a wonderful conversation with a man from Somalia. Christian missionaries are killed in Somalia and the country is kind of known for its turmoil in Africa. Somalians tend to be "extreme" Muslims.
We ended up in this conversation because this man actually started it! We had wandered into his restaurant that was filled with African men. He found out that Zac and I had a background from his continent so he offered us tea and asked us to sit down. Next thing out of his mouth is, "SO... the biggest difference between Islam and Christianity is...."
We sat for the next 30-40 minutes and listened to this man explain all the ins and outs of the Islamic faith and why its so important and how holy Allah is. As he spoke, Zac and I just sat, listened, and waited for that opportunity to share.
The man finally got to Judgement Day, which is a big deal in the Muslim and Christian worlds. He started telling us that on Judgement Day, it was going to be a great day because Allah would come to Earth and judge the people on it based on their works on a scale. The scale would literally weigh the individuals good deeds vs their bad deeds while they were on earth. If their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds then they get to go to paradise.
I finally spoke up.
"I have a question. What if the scales are close?" I used my hands as a visual.
"What if they are almost even with a little bit more good.... will I still get into paradise according to Allah?"
The man looked at me.... then looked down... and said, "Allah is a good judge so he will decide what is right in that situation."
"So there's no way to be sure that I'm in?" I asked.
"No."
My heart broke. I knew this fact about Islam, and everytime I've asked this question, heard the answer, it breaks my heart.
We went on to tell him that THAT was the biggest difference between Islam and Christianity. We told him "JESUS GOT RID OF THE SCALES!!! Because of what Jesus did while he was on earth, he secured that we would get to be in heaven FOR SURE."
The man looked up at us, saw our smiling faces, looked me in the eyes with confusion and then dropped his head in discouragement and whispered, "if only that were true...."
First off, pray for his man.We are going to be continuing our relationship with him and continuing to try and share hope with him. Secondly, I have to ask the question.... why doesn't the World think of Christianity as the religion of HOPE?
Perhaps it's because Christ's followers in America don't reflect Hope and Freedom. Maybe in the noise, the obligation, the business, the checklists, the rules, the tradition, etc. we have forgotten that we are FREE. I believe that Satan loves to do this to the American church. If we lived as though we were free, I can't imagine us being unattractive as a group in a world that is so entangled in the enemy's tricks.
So that's my challenge for this Independence Day. I realize that we are supposed to be celebrating our country today, but let us not forget the real freedom that we have in Christ.
Freedom from sin.
Freedom from bondage.
Freedom.
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