if you dont stand for something, you'll fall for anything.

this skit brings me to tears every time i watch it.

it challenges me to think of what is holding me back from Jesus.

it makes me really look through my life and get rid of things that could be in the way of my relationship with God.

better yet, it reminds me of just what He has done for me.

"Sometimes God allows what He hates to gain what He loves."

questions

recently i have been wondering a lot about where God is leading me. 

i have been praying that i would follow His Will for my life... 

but what exactly is that will?

how do i know what exactly God wants me to do

sometimes i just wish God would smack me over the head with it, instead of giving me all these options.

but something my professor said this week, resonated with me...

"mature faith is being able to live with questions."

this is one thing that i pray for all the time.

...the ability to live with questions.

being an organized person and all, it's hard not knowing what's coming next. or when. or why.

But that's what faith is all about right?

Dictionary.com defines faith as: "Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence"

i don't know what God has planned for me.

but whatever it is, i know that i can trust Him to reveal that to me in his timing... 

i just need to learn to be patient and live with the unanswered questions i have.

i challenge you to do the same.

and trust me, i'm still a work-in-progress. haha :)

bucket list.

as i was looking through one of my old journals

i stumbled across a really old list labeled "life goals"
i don't remember writing it, but there were things on that list that were pretty interesting.
some were serious like get married, graduate high school, have kids, travel, and so on...
but others were hilarious, and made me wonder

just how old i was when i wrote them down.
never get overweight, ride in a hot air balloon, own ten pairs of chucks.
haha. but as stupid as some of these sound,

it motivated me to start a new list. a real one.
so i did.
and now im encouraging you to do the same.
but dont just write a list, start thinking about ways that

you can make some of these things start happening.
it shouldnt just be a checklist...

and don't just think about yourself

how could you benefit someone else?

maybe contribute to sponsoring a kid in a foreign country or go on a missions trip?

the possibilities are endless.
we only have one life to live, let's make it memorable.

TODAY IS A GIFT, THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT THE PRESENT

  :D

numbered breaths

What would you do if you could know the number of days you had left on earth?
would you be acting any different?
what would you change?


LOOK AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY AS GOD'S GIFT TO YOU, WHAT YOU DO WITH THAT OPPORTUNITY IS YOUR GIFT TO GOD...

Crazy.Love

God is the one we deserve the least, but we need the most

 I have been reading this book lately called "CrazyLove" by Francis Chan.

 So far I'm only half way through, but the book has challenged me more than I could have imagined it would.

It talks about how the God of the universe loves us and gave himself to die for us, that we should be living our lives in total thanks to Him.

instead, most of us are what the Bible calls "lukewarm"

we are neither hot or cold.

imagine God drinking a coffee and going to sip it and it's that awful temperature, where you cannot drink it..

God spits us out. He's disgusted.

But if God Almighty loves us like He does, who are we to only give Him leftovers or half of what He wants?

to be not "hot" or "pleasant"?

We need to be in an all-out pursuit of Him.

This is what this book has challenged me with lately and I can say that I am so glad I picked it up!

I'm providing the link to the website of CrazyLove.

Chan gives chapter videos that relate to the themes in his book and overall videos to challenge your faith.

I encourage you ((if you have the time)) to watch "just stop and think" 

It blows my mind just how much God cares for us!

CrazyLove

.comfort zone.

I had the chance recently to be a part of an activity that changed my perspective pretty drastically.

I went to inner city Philadelphia last weekend simply to spend time with the homeless.

We took them lunch and sat around for a couple hours talking to them.

When we first got there there were crowds of them standing and waiting for meals. 

They had been waiting there for hours and when we came up, they snatched the bags right out of our hands and ate them on the spot.

After all the meals were gone, we got to sit down with them in Love Park and just talk about their situations and how they got to be on the streets. 

Some of them felt comfortable talking about this, others would just change the subject.

However, we would sit there and listen to whatever they had to say.

Some of them smelled and you could tell they had not had showers in days.

Their clothes were torn and their hair was very scruffed, and not very kept up with

 

At the end of the day, looking back at it, I was taken back a little.

I was going back to my air conditioned dorm room.

under a roof. with four walls.

and eat my college campus food, three meals a day.

 I almost didn't feel comfortable with living these daily processes that I would have never thought of otherwise...

We have it so well and don't even think about it.

At the end of the day though, we have to realize that the homeless are still people.

they still have souls and feelings.

it reminds me of a quote from Bono that is on my poster in my room:

"Where you live does not determine whether you live"

 This is Charlie :)

I cannot wait to go back and talk to my new friends again. 

Hopefully I will get the chance to share my faith and talk about God's plan for their life...

always in awe.

We have all seen the postcards from cruises and exotic beaches with the crystal clear waters and always perfect sunsets...

Up until about a year ago, I thought places like that never existed. Or at least I have never been to a place that beautiful. But it was last summer that I had the opportunity to go on my third foreign missions trip with my youth group. We had been doing ministry all week long and on the last day the team had the chance to go on the beach and just marvel at God's creation. Look at the blue waters and see dolphin fins pop up out of the waves. Our pastor even took us snorkeling! It was the most awesome experience! We all took our underwater cameras and swam beneath the ocean with the fish and coral. I have never seen something more vibrantly astounding in all my life!

If you thought you had it in you to hold your breath for long periods of time, you could swim to the sea bottom and grab a star fish to swim back up. I mean how cool is that?!

 

The very next day was when we were leaving to catch our flight back home.

While we were in the air, night fall started to come and God had painted this beautiful sunset. It was incredible to see. So not only was my week filled with underwater adventures, but now with breathtaking views!

God definitely had it in store for to blow us away some amazing sights that week. And it kind of got me thinking...

While snorkeling, everything seemed to have so much detail, even from the tiniest of fish.

God has given each one of those fish intricate gills that help them survive and specific traits to help them stay away from predators. I mean if it were me creating the world, I never would have thought of that kind of thing.

But yet a day later, I was sitting over top of it all... on top of the oceans, mountains, and clouds. And even up there I sensed God's beauty and creativity through the colors and shapes of the clouds.

It brings me back to those verses in Job 38 where God is talking about all that He has created like the sun and snow and lightning.

He is no doubt the best artist I have ever come to know [: