Prior Hiatus

   Ariel is awesome, but I bet you guys already knew that. Awesome Ariel - that's how I like to think of her. One reason she's so awesome is that she's been the sole poster here for the past month and with nothing but love and grace for me throughout. That's why she's my best friend. Are you jealous? You should be.

   I'm sorry. I hate breaking commitments, and if nothing else I had committed to posting about the Old Testament each week. I'm afraid I'm terribly behind on that. The last piece I wrote was about Exodus and here we are this week on Joshua and Judges. I'm sorry. I'll have the next Old Testament post up next week because I haven't actually started this week's reading yet (whoops!). And here is something else in the meantime.

   Our friend Meaghan went to a conference in Austin back at the beginning of March. After talking with her, these have been some of my thoughts:

Being missional doesn't come from wanting to make non-believers a project. It doesn't come even from wanting to follow the Biblical mandate to "go to the nations". It comes from a love for people. It comes from having your life changed and wanting others to experience the same thing. It comes from being so filled with love that you're overflowing with it and want to share it. It comes from seeing broken people and wanting to walk alongside them.

That's what Jesus did.

When we love and serve them genuinely because we want to, not because we're wanting to check off some religious boxes, that's when people want to know how and why. That's when they see who God is and want to find that in their own lives.

That's how Jesus did it.

He loved and served and healed and spent quality time with people. He didn't drop a bunch of church-y words and make people uncomfortable by telling them how much they needed him before they even knew who he was and what he was all about. Jesus isn't physically here anymore to do miracles and stuff for people. He reveals himself through us. Through our actions and relationships. Through the love that we have for other people.

Happy Easter everyone!
Courtney

An Overwhelming Feeling Of Not Caring At All

I had a post planned for today, and then something happened on Facebook (when is that ever not the case?) and decided I would write about something else; something I’ve always been passionate about. A beautiful individual spoke the words of this title to me, and I believe I know exactly where (or from Whom, I should say) that feeling came from.

Why the heck do so many people, Christians and non alike (although it’s especially unacceptable among believers) steer away from “strange” people. You know exactly who I’m talking about. Those people who say odd things in social settings, or who are obsessed with anime, or wear outrageous clothing, or color/cut their hair in abnormal ways, or are simply all around “socially awkward”. It makes me so incredibly angry. These people get teased and mocked (usually not to their face, which only makes it ten times worse) and are not accepted into “normal” social circles. Why??

I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another.

2 John verse 5  (Not too easy to love when we're preoccupied with snickering under our breaths)

Sweet Courtney has the precious gift of befriending and loving anyone, no matter their “social status”. Particularly, God draws people to her who do not know Him. Some of these people, however, are what others name “odd”. Whenever Court talks to me about them, she never utters more than a few words on this topic, and they’re never in mockery. She only makes note of it because she is astute, analytical, and pretty much makes note of everything because she is a super genius. Regardless, she notes how others see these people, and just doesn’t care. She is relentlessly patient with them (a trait I am forever in awe of), talks with them and invests in them, and loves them, just as we all ought. There is no doubt in my mind that our sweet Lord has anointed Court for just such a purpose, and draws these particular sheep to her so they might feel a whisper of the warmth of that ever-radiant Sunlight He pours out.
Finally, ALL OF YOU, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.
1 Peter 3:3
The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Galatians 5:6

I’ve had many other good friends, however, even at my sweet Christian school, who shy from the strange and unusual. One girl once said to me “She’s nice, but she’s just not the kind of person I would be friends with, and that’s ok” and for days her words circulated through my mind. I kept thinking, “But it’s not ok”. The only times I haven’t made friends with someone were when those people didn’t allow me to truly come into their presence. I would never willingly not befriend someone, and every time I think about that girl’s words, I become more frustrated! Yes, some people are difficult. Yes, some people are awkward. SO. WHAT. GOD made them! What does that mean?? It means they are beautiful!!!!!! End of discussion!!
The King is enthralled by your beauty. Honor Him, for He is your Lord.
Psalm 45:11
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
Psalm 139:14


I have a wonderful, dear, sweet friend who fits the category I’m describing here of unusual. I’m so ashamed to admit that when I first met her, I wanted to turn away with everyone else. So I prayed. I asked Lord to show her to me through His eyes. Turns out mine weren’t working so well. So what did He do?? HE. WAS. FAITHFUL. Even when I so heartlessly and cruelly was not. God showed me what beauty and joy she had to offer, and she is now one of my closest sisters. My point in sharing her is that when we encounter these people who we at first want to put on the “do not disturb” shelf, we ought to pray. We ought to realize that God adores this person, and we ought to ask Him to help us adore them in just the same way He does. We are all His children. He died for ALL of us because He loves EACH and EVERY ONE OF US. I don’t know about you, but I am ridiculously unworthy of His love and adoration, and yet He showers me with it daily. So why the HECK wouldn’t I do the same to all of His other children???
God, who has called you into fellowship with His son Jesus Christ our Lord, IS FAITHFUL.
1 Corinthians 1:9
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 2:2
For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
1 Timothy 4:4


 
Most importantly, or so I feel, these people are gems. True jewels amidst porous rocks and grains of sand. These people stand against the wind, embrace who they are, and do not relent when others try to make them “more like everyone else”. These people know who they are and what they love and do not forsake any of it for the sake of “fitting in”. I gawk at these people. I drool over them, because they are not afraid. In such an individualistic culture, in a country where individuality and uniqueness are praised, still we struggle to truly embrace who and what we are. WHY?? Perhaps lies from that loser lucy (not capitalized my friends) have led us to believe that standing out to a certain degree is acceptable, but any further and we will be cast into no mans land where we will be silently mocked and ridiculed for our love of the unusual. OR, perhaps they are lies we ourselves have leaked into society. Perhaps we are in fact the virus that endorses a quiet character that follows the rules of “societal norms” and does not stand out too much. To that my challenge is this: that we all may take our stand, embrace the heart which God has so beautifully and artistically crafted within us, and fight for those who sometimes don’t even know they need to fight for themselves. I challenge you to befriend someone who does not conform to the mold your personal social circle has always held. And of course, I challenge you to break your own mold and discover the strange things about yourself that make you so uniquely and beautifully....... you. We live in a world where there are billions upon billions of human beings, and yet EVER SINGLE ONE is different. The depth of that fact is so flooring, so immense, and so beautiful. RUN with it.
I love you with every depth of my heart.
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect.
1 Corinthians 15:10
Ariel

THE ENTIRE LAW IS SUMMED UP IN A SINGLE COMMAND: LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.
Galatians 5:14

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness

1 John 2:9 (Granted, hate is a strong word here, but what is the absence of love? And how do we love those we keep at a very long arms length?)