Intentional Community

When I was placed in Atlanta to do mission work, the whole thing was set up for me, where I would live, what I would do, everything. And honestly in where I was in my life it was the perfect fit, I would have had no idea how to figure all that out on my own. I was assigned to live in a house called the Community of Hospitality. It was a house that was set up by people in the neighborhood for mission workers and volunteers to live in. All resources were pooled, we were given a monthly allowance of $80 and a weekly stipend for groceries of $25 a person that we pooled so we could buy food. It was an intentional community. As we read from Acts this week it made me think more and more about my experience there. I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. I moved in sight unseen and my mother often says that she about didn't leave me there. I was the only girl in a house of four guys, my room was dark and dingy and the house was infested with the largest cockroaches I had ever seen. But I was 22 and thought this was going to be a grand adventure, which in many ways it was.
I had read Acts before I moved there and really have read the Book of Acts many times since then but it really wasn't until this week that I truly saw what was going on there. The goal was for us to live and work in the neighborhood, to pool everything we had and share, as a community to meet each others needs. It might have been successful at one time and in some ways it was successful when I lived there but at the same time it was 5 young adults in their early 20s that were assigned to live there, the goal was not really explained to us, and if it was I have no recollection of it. Part of the deal was eating at least one meal a week together and doing one activity a week together, it was an interesting experience. Things were by no means perfect, conflict arose because of course we all had our own personalities but at the same time, it was amazing.
8 years later here I am again, listening to a story in the Book of Acts, about intentional community and how people flocked to this idea to live together and share the good news. We didn't know then in Atlanta what we were doing, our work was with the homeless and in many ways I think we did spread the good news but I imagine it was different then how the disciples were doing it in the Book of Acts.
Community of Hospitality no longer exists in the same form as it did when I lived there. I believe they are now a home for the mentally disabled. But for me it is an experience that I will never forget and if given the opportunity I suppose I would be willing to do it again, and hopefully I would be wiser and be able to help it be more successful.
The New Visions Community is trying to be intentional in our interactions as a community. I don't ever see us living in a commune but we can still be willing to be generous with our gifts and willing to help those around us with what we have in abundance, whatever that may be. The door is wide open, we just have to be ready to walk down the road that is in front of us. We have to be ready to be intentional about our interactions with each other and others in our community. Are you ready?
Until next time,
~Michelle

God sighting

Last week as country group, Lady Antebellum was traveling to Dallas, Hillary Scott's bus started on fire. Luckily she and her family were able to get off the bus but she lost all of her stuff. All but one item. Her Bible. She posted this on Facebook:

I just got this picture from the scene of the fire and HAD to share this. Today, when our bus caught on fire we had quite a few personal belongings in the back (where I was asleep before evacuating the bus) one of them being my Bible. I kid you not, EVERYTHING in the back lounge was destroyed from the flames, except my Bible. The outside cover was burned and messed up but NOT ONE PAGE was missing. Yall, God's Word will always stand. He is FOR YOU, WILL PROTECT YOU, AND HIS LOVE FOR YOU WILL NEVER FADE. My faith is forever deepened because of today. I hope this story deepens yours. - hills

This just struck me as something so amazing! I was overcome with the awesomeness. I then started reading the comments and heard story after story of firefighters and people that have experienced a house fire and they said everything was gone but the family Bible.
Now I know the skeptics will say that all books that are made of similar things as the Bible will also burn slowly or not at all but I don't think that is true. To me it is sign of how strong the Word of the Lord truly is and all that it can overcome. If we rely on it think what we could overcome! A book that is living and breathing, a book that has been around as long as the written word has been, and really even before then. It is a book that continues to be relevant, a book that continues to guide us down the path of a better life. A book that can be protected from fire, is a book that I want to get behind.
This was my God sighting this week, it was something that renewed my faith and vision. Something that reaffirmed that I made the right decision all those years ago to give my life to God and follow the path that he has set before me.
What was your God sighting this week? I look forward to hearing from you. Have a great week.
Until next time.
~Michelle

Step it up

The challenge for this Easter season is to step it up for God. But what does that mean? How do we step up? How do we change what we are doing and do it better than before?
God is not expecting giant steps. He wants to see something, some change, some deviation from our old ways.
Roman Catholics believe that when they sin they must go to confession but one should only confess for a sin that you never plan to do again. To see a change, to work towards not making that mistake again.
Big ideas change the world but so do small ideas. We often get overwhelmed with the big ideas that we aren't able to do anything. We freeze, not able to move forward, not able to change so we stay in the same pattern. Doing the same things and no change happens. But God doesn't expect the big steps, at least not right away. You start with something small, a small idea, a small change and if you continue to take one small step at a time you soon have traveled a distance and that small idea has turned into something big.
Watching Emerson develop and grow has been a great example of this for me. He didn't learn to just walk. First he rolled everywhere,  then he scooted, crawled, stood up and slowly walked around the furniture.  It took him a long time to gain the confidence to walk on his own but now he is a walking fool. He is walking farther everyday and with more confidence.  We are that infant, I mean literally and figuratively. In our Christian journey we must learn how to roll, scoot, crawl and then walk. Each move gets us closer to our goal of living the ultimate Christian life but we must first be brave enough to make the move.
How are you going to step up for God? I would love to hear your thoughts.
Until next time,
~Michelle

#Holyweekhangover

Holy Week is over. The tomb is empty and after such an intense week of activity. I am feeling hungover. I didn't want to get out of bed this morning, I felt that it was too much. I mean Jesus died on the cross, he was laid in the tomb and on Sunday morning the tomb was empty. It is amazing, a miracle. A fulfillment of the scripture. It was everything that Jesus had been telling us about. Jesus died on the cross for us. But now what? How could things get any better?
The crazy part is that it does get better. The book of Acts shows us that. The more the disciples spread the Good News the more people were saved, the bigger the Christian community became. The same is still true today. Churches that are growing are ones that aren't afraid to share the Good News. Those that aren't afraid to share what they believe and that Jesus allows us to make mistakes and He still loves us. We as Christians can't move forward or grow in our faith if we don't share what we are learning and who we are. You don't not tell your friends what you do in your everyday life right? So why are we keeping our prayer life a secret. Why are we so afraid to share what should be the most important part of our lives? If someone doesn't accept your life as a Christian do you really feel that they are worth being around? I am not saying that you need to only talk about God, and your relationship with Him but are you talking about Him at all?
We need to move past our fears and speak out. In the end of the Gospel of Mark the ladies that found the tomb empty ran away in fear and didn't tell anyone what they had seen. If they had really kept it a secret, we probably wouldn't be sitting here now talking about our need to continue spreading the word.
I think that a little let down after Holy Week is normal but we can't let it stop us from moving forward, spreading the word and letting others know the Good News that the tomb is empty, Jesus is alive and we have been forgiven! To not tremble in fear but shot the Good News from the mountain tops for all to hear. HE IS RISEN!
Until next time,
~Michelle

Overwhelmed by the decision

The last few weeks I have really be struggling. I have been struggling with the feeling of being overwhelmed. As I think about Lent and the completion of it this week I think I realize why. I am overwhelmed by the power that Jesus had to say yes to dying for us.
Jesus came to this Earth, took human form, tried to teach us the way to God and then died on a cross, not a real pleasant death I might add, for our sins. He knew it was the only way, the only thing that he could do to give us a path to his Father and Heaven. Have you ever thought of the strength that must have taken? I mean he could have said no, he could have refused to die on the cross. He could have commanded the angels to lift him into Heaven as he is tempted to in the desert but instead he makes the ultimate sacrifice, to die for our sins, to suffer for us.
I once read an email about a father that would have his son pound a nail into their wooden fence every time he did something wrong, and when he asked for forgiveness for all these sins, they removed the nails. The father was illustrating to the boy that even though he had been forgiven that damage had still been done. The story goes on to say that Jesus is the one that pays for our damage. Yes we have to deal with the hurt and pain here but Jesus deals with the eternal pain of our wrong doing. He takes all that on so that we may go to Heaven to be with God.
Could you do that? If someone came to you and told you that if you died by being crucified that your children would get to go to Heaven? Not that they wouldn't experience pain, or suffer or make wrong choices, because they are still human. But that you will feel all of their pain, suffering and wrong doing and they will get to go to Heaven. I would like to be able to say yes I would make that sacrifice, but man it would come with some serious doubts. I mean Jesus, whom lived on this Earth, was perfect, and knew from the beginning exactly what was going to happen and accepted that as his fate, even he had doubts. He was/is a divine being and had doubts! No wonder we have problems with this! I mean seriously, how crazy do you have to be to make that kind of choice, that kind of sacrifice! But still even in his doubt, Jesus knew exactly what he had to do. He had to die, on the cross, so that we could have salvation. What an amazing gift! One that we can not repay. The only thing we can do is strive to be better, to be obedient to his word, to follow his teachings and be thankful that Jesus did this for us!
We are blessed to have such an amazing God! Happy Holy Week all. Let us be thankful for the wonderful sacrifice and gift we have been given this week! I look forward to hearing from you all soon.
Until next time,
~Michelle

Your body is a temple

John 2:13-22
In the gospel of John there is the story of Jesus going to Jerusalem on the Sabbath and finding people running a market there. He gets angry and kicks everyone out and when questioned told the leaders that they can tear down the temple and he will rebuild it in 3 days. The leaders don't understand that Jesus is talking about himself as the temple not the actual physical building.
This idea of your body as a temple is one that I think is important. We as humans tend not to take care of our body like we should. We let it get lazy, out of shape, we ingest bad stuff all the time. We don't think to value this gift we have been given. We forget that we were given this body to do the work of God, just as the temple building in the scripture was meant to do God's work as well.
We are charged to be a walking temple, a holy space that worships God, does his good works and show others the way of the Lord. We are responsible for taking care of the wonderful gift that God gave us, our human body. A body made in His image, He breathed His breath, His spirit into Adam, the first human. We share God's breath. Are we doing right by that? With such immense responsibility how are we supposed to succeed?
We can only do what our humanness allows. We can't be God, we are not perfect because Adam and Eve committed original sin. But we can strive to do the best we can and to honor God every day. There are certainly times we will fail but in this time of Lent, we must spend time reflecting on what we have done to both succeed and fail and what we can do better in the future. God is forever forgiving of our short comings, so failing doesn't mean giving up. Failing is showing you a way that didn't work, it eliminates a possibility, so you just move on to the next one. It is not easy but it is our duty.
God made your body, gave it to us as a gift to take care of and do His good works. What are you doing with your gifts? I look forward to hearing from you.
Until next time,
~ Michelle

Even a broken crayon colors just as bright

The other day I was coloring with some kids at Foodnet. We got a new set of twisty, crayon/colored pencil type things. Do you know what I am talking about? Anyway, we were talking about how cool they are because never break, and even if they do they are still pointy. One of the girls said that makes her so happy because she doesn't like crayons after they lose their point or they break. It got me thinking, what is wrong with old crayons? Do they not spread color just as well as new crayons?
I think often times we treat people kind of like crayons. We like the new shiny ones and they are so much fun to play with and are pointy...:-) But then we grow up and get a little older, and we aren't as pure of a color as we once were, and we are not as pointy...although some of us become more pointy...all about perspective I guess. But the point is once we grow and get some life experience under our belt, we are often aren't as appealing to people. Especially if those life experiences leave us like a broken, mis-colored, old crayon.
The thing we forget is that even the broken, old crayons that don't look as shiny and new as the ones in the box are still crayons and they still have great potential and they can be sharpened and will color our pages just as well as the new ones. People are the same way, we all make mistakes, fall and become broken and what we need is someone to believe that we can still be useful, that just because we are broken doesn't mean that we are should be discarded.
God provides those people to us, exactly when we need it. When we are broken, God puts people that believe with us and help us find meaning again in what we are doing. But God also puts broken people in our lives for us to help, to believe in, to work with to find purpose and to work in conjunction with.
Crayons, even broken ones, color just as bright, and will color the page just as well as a new one. It might not be exactly what we thought it would be, it might not look like we thought it would when we started, but sometimes those are things are turn out the best.
God has a plan for us, and even when we are broken we still have a purpose. God doesn't throw us away when we come to him broken and used, he uses our brokenness and he puts us back together. We will never look like we did before we were broken, when we were new and shiny but we can be put back together, we can be made whole again and we can find our new purpose. Don't give up my crayon friends, you have purpose and you can be sharp and will continue to be colorful. Keep working forward, keep coloring the world for God.
I look forward to hearing from you. Have a great week.
Until next time,
~Michelle