Truthes

                                                                                               

Sweater: CAbi Leggings: Tulle Boots: Gifted

Yesterday there was a speaker in chapel, Mattie Montogomery (apparently he's this famous musician, I had never heard of him) and he said something that I hadn't exactly heard before, and I wonder if you had heard of it either.

See, when he first started I was slightly skeptical, he proposed the idea of a sinless life style. Yes, a sinless lifestyle. 

But human nature is to sin, yes? Well, yes. 

Then..a sinless lifestyle?
Well see, if you're a Christian you are to be dead to sin, alive in Christ (Romans 6:11).
You're a new creation- the old is all gone (1 Corinth. 5:17).
Jesus actually lives inside of you (Galatians 2:20).
And yet we try to relate to others by saying, "I'm broken too, I'm a sinner too. I understand because I'm just like you. I sin everyday but God loves me anyways."
But that's not it.
Yes, Christ came to Earth, He was crucified and took on our sins so that God's wrath could be taken out on him and not on us. And Yes, that was all because of how much he loves us, that's awesome, but he came to put an end to sin. An end to sin in our lives means we don't have to give into the sinful nature. It's all new, see? With the Holy Spirit we can actually live sinless lives where a mess up isn't the standard but an unfortunate moment that we can recover from.
If you're stuck in sin, where's the liberation? Salvation becomes this ticket to heaven, not a lifestyle or a radical change, just a trick in your back pocket to make you feel better when you mess up.
That's not what it is.
Jesus said to count the cost before you follow him, and that's because he knew. Following Jesus means a lifestyle of righteousness, of sinlessness. Not because you never mess up, not because you never fall down, but because you believe in him and in the truth that he has taken over your life. Jesus isn't broken, Jesus isn't struggling with sin. Therefore believers are no longer broken, believers no longer have to struggle with sin, they are new. You are new!

Mattie said a lot more, and he said it all more eloquently than I can, but here's one thing he said that I think my brain really needed to chew on;
Christians tend to do this thing, "Oh yeah, I'm broken too!" "Oh yeah, I sin too!" As if we want to fit in. Why would we say that? Of course no sinner wants to try church, it's full of people just as broken as they are. If Jesus has taken you over, then he's made you whole, you're not broken, you're radiating Jesus. God looks at you and sees righteousness. You have the fix for this whole..living thing. Why would you try to downplay that?

You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
                                                                         -Romans 6:18

The Perfect Weather

Today was the most perfect-est of all fall weather days.

It was that not-quite-gloomy, not-quite-sunny of days. The kind of day you can bundle up in your jacket and scarf but don't need your mittens (which is good because last winter you sort of lost all your mittens..ehem..). It would have been the perfect day for Halloween, it really would have.

wouldn't you just love to go trick-or-treating on a day like today?

It was also the perfect day to stroll campus and go to my favorite spot. The perfect day not to be sad even when I realized my pumpkin latte was almost gone (which wasn't that sad to begin with because grumpy barista lady did not realize what a treat it is for me to buy any type of fancy coffee shop beverage and made it with too much coffee and too little pumpkin. So really the enjoyment was in the warmth and the look-at-me-being-all-collegiate-with-a-coffee-cup-in-my-hand feeling).

                              

Today is one of those good thinking days too, those not-quite-gloomy, not-quite-sunny days are always quite good for thinking. So I must leave you something to ponder. 

"For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?"                                                                                     -Esther 4:14

This is my very favorite verse, it has been for forever, in fact it's what I named the blog after. I know it's not really the orthodox type of verse to be a person's favorite, but here's why it's mine; It says that God will always win and He can do it just fine on his own, but he uses normal people to to it. He puts everyday, normal, seemingly boring, ordinary people such places so that they might be extraordinary! He does it all the time. With this in mind, every day becomes a chance for something extraordinary to happen doesn't it? And everyplace has a purpose, yes? I think this is my favorite verse because I forget this all the time. It's nice to remember that no matter where you are (even if you're not yet in Africa, or where ever your Africa may be) that you are still there for "such a time as this."

                           

                           

                           

What I Wore

Because clothes are fun. 

dress: Nordstrom, jacket: UO, tights & boots: target

My Mom got me into clothes about three or four years ago. She's just great at all things style, color and ensbmble. (Is that how you spell ensmble? Did you read that in a french accent?) Anyways, my mom's genetics have totally been passed on, I like clothes..a lot. They're so much fun. Part of the reason I wanted to blog was to fashion blog, serious stuff too, but who doesn't like pretty clothes?

In a further note, this is what I wore yesterday- the day that I overslept my alarm, missed my morning class, drove all the way back to school, realized I left my computer charger at home and then made the trip all over again. That outfit did some serious trekking. 

Latest News

"In furtherance of Congress' stated policy, I have authorized a small number of combat-equipped U.S. forces to deploy to Central Africa to provide assistance to regional forces that are working toward the removal of Joseph Kony from the battlefield."

-President Barak Obama, October 14, 2011

"Mr. President, Invisible Children Supports Your Action Against the LRA."

This is the beginning of the end.
Joseph Kony is the number one wanted war criminal in the WORLD.

12 counts of crimes against humanity.
21 counts of war crimes.
He is Africa's Hitler.

In May of 2010, the United State's Congress signed the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009 without a single objection, however until this past week nothing had been done about it. As you can read above and may have heard on the news, this law is finally  being acted on.
You've probably been hearing conflicting views on this new action of our president. I know that many Americans have never even heard of the LRA and now our troops are headed over to fight them? I totally understand the confusion, but here's the thing. This situation? It's unique. It's unique in quite a few ways:

1. It's the LONGEST running war in Africa- the LRA has been terrorizing for a horrific 25 years. Since January alone they have killed a reported 137 innocent civilians and abducted 509 to use as soldiers and/or sex slaves.
2. They operate without any state authority whatsoever
3. They have no political or government backing which means they have no one enemy
4. They have crossed international boundaries
5. All five of the countries in the war effected region have requested assistance in Kony's apprehension6. There are no longer any procedural stumbling blocks in the way of Kony's arrest
7. As I have said before, not only is Joseph Kony the number one wanted war criminal in the world not only wanted for war crimes but also for crimes against humanity, it is U.S. law to provide assistance in his arrest

Personally, I support President Obama's action against the LRA and I encourage you to do the same, even if you don't support the President and decisions he has made in the past.

This is not political, this is human. 

If you are interested in being apart of the ending of the longest running war in Africa, here are a few resources for you:
The First is a link to a three & a half minute video explaining further who the LRA is and what they have done.

The Second  is a link to an instructional video about how you can support this action against the LRA.

&

The Third is a link to my fundraising page, the money donated will immediately go to the development of the first rehabilitation center in the Congo for former child soldiers, HF radio towers so that villages can be warned of LRA activity and FM radio towers so that we can reach out to the child soldiers of the LRA through their personal radios. These FM broadcasts to the LRA have brought countless children home.

Fall in love with the impossible, because the impossible is happening. We are ending the longest running war in Africa!

What is impossible with man is possible with God.

-Luke 18:28

Roadtrip to Indiana

                                        

My Friday class was cancelled! To celebrate? I took off to Indiana to see one of my very best friends (the lovely lady above), Haley Halbert. Haley resides at Indiana Wesleyan University, which an absolutely picturesque campus even when it's windy and raining. Also, they have a chick-fil-a on campus, which would probably add beauty to any university. 

We had oh-such-fun driving a half hour over to visit our good friend Maggie at Huntington University (Indiana has claimed more than a few of my friends for educational purposes) and eating at an train station. Then we headed back to IWU to make Haley's curfew (mwahaha, ohh freshman) and ended up staying up till 5 in the morning writing Haley's journal article review (I use the term "writing" rather loosely). Also, I got to go to their chapel and guess what? It was missions week! I love hearing about missions, I'm telling you, God loves reminding me of what an exciting future I have.

Anyways! I just wanted you to meet Haley. She likes photography, long walks on the beach, pina coladas and getting lost in the rain. She also has an eight-foot-tall, 340 pound pure muscle body guard. Watch out, gentlemen.

The Fourth Estate

These 650 amazing people gathered in San Diego this past August. We were brought together by Invisible Children in order to have a summit to be trained and to have a massive brain storming session. 

It was BIGGER than any of us could have imagined. 

And here's the thing, it's difficult to describe the event. It was four days of listening to incredible speakers- from Jason Russell (one of the founders of Invisible Children) to Tom Shadyac (a famous Hollywood director and producer) to Carl Wilkens (the only American to stay in Rwanda during the genocide) and over a dozen others. We were inspired and angered and filled with joy. 

We were also broken into four groups: The Creatives (those who worked on the IC blog, designed t-shirts and took video of the event), The Captains (those who are natural born leaders), The Connectors (those who are the advocates, working the phones, getting others involved for the cause) and then The Cultivators- my group. The people who are on the ground in Africa- the ones who get to do the really cool stuff (well, that's my very unbiased opinion). 

Now to tell you all we did and learned and trained to do? Well we could be here a while and to be perfectly honest I have a bit of homework to finish, but here's the bit I want to share with you:

My first night there I was scared, nervous and feeling rather, well.. under-qualified. You see, I've known about IC for six years, but it wasn't until my freshman year in college that I really got involved and I'm not one for asking people for money so my fundraising efforts were pretty minimal. In fact, when I applied to get into the Fourth Estate I was wait listed (and the way I was able to get there was such a God thing, but alas, another story for another day). So there I am, sitting in this incredible auditorium with all these passionate, amazing people feeling rather intimidated when the lights go down. Then there's a creepy, epic voice is heard and the welcome video starts. The video highlights the revolutions of history, and you know what? Not one of them were made by the powerful- the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Civil Rights Movement, the uprisings in the Arabic world- it was the little people. The video showed us our pictures- the coordinators of this event? They knew us, they had studied our applications, introduction video and posts to the Fourth Estate page prior to coming. And lastly, the video told us, "You have been chosen, and you are worthy." Now, I know what you're thinking, I was wait-listed (that's sort of the opposite of chosen, right?) but that was truly only so God could get the glory for me getting to San Diego- He was who chose me. 

Now here is what I leave you with, we are all small people. None of us take up much more than a square foot of ground, but we all have passions. We all see injustice and something inside of us says "that's not right!" And then we cower and we figure nothing can be done. "I'm a college student, I could maybe give ten bucks, what good would that do?" "No one would hear me if I spoke up anyhow." "No one takes me seriously." Those were just my excuses! I'm certain you have a few of your own. But you are the people who can do something, and you never know unless you ask, unless you try. Without asking? The answer is no. Without trying? You've failed at your task. So what's the worst that could happen?

I hope to share bits and pieces of the true inspiration that way Fourth Estate along the way, but I've rambled for quite some time, so:

"People are not fearful of their inadequacies, they are fearful of their limitless power as children of God."

-Jason Russell

To Start

This is me (the human in the picture) and this is my blog.

I've been talking about starting one of these lovely little fellows for a while now, and here we are.

I hope to learn about you and I'll tell you more about me later, but here's the Basics:

I Love Jesus

My Heart Lives in Uganda

My Family is Pretty Dandy

I'm an Advocate for Invisible Children

I Rather Enjoy Clothes

Lovely to meet you.