To Pray…

Written by on July 13, 2011 in Daily Life With Jesus, Fears and Blessings, Hope - 29 Comments

Pray for Olivia.

This is Olivia.

She is 17.

She first presents herself as shy, but then if you work hard enough you get to see her sass. And once you see her sensitivity, you have become a friend.

When you are friend to Olivia, she shares her heart, her time, her everything. She leaves behind shy and adds to the sass and is full of sensitivity and is something altogether unexpected in a little girl of 17. She loves mercy and is fierce about it, supporting TOMS and Love146 and spearheading our $2,000+ fundraiser for Mercy Ministries with our 1LongRoad2Gethr. The bracelets in those pictures? She made every single one.

It’s her way.

Yesterday afternoon at 2:15 Olivia was driving home from the mall. The tire skid marks tell a story; that she drifted slightly to the side of the road, overcorrected, lost control, and hit a tree.

She has a cut on her shoulder and an injury to her spleen. She looks perfect, like a doll lying in her bed, except for the neck brace and the oxygen mask and the mitts on her hands to keep her from scratching at her face. She has a brain injury, one that makes the nurses and doctors whisper about “swelling” and “blood clots” and “time.”

She wrote a post about her One Word Resolution this year, a tradition started by Alece to “shape you, guide your decisions and help you grow.” She is a beautiful, expressive writer. Alece and Lindsay retweeted her post and she was bashful but proud.

Her word was “Break.”

And now she is broken, at least for what we and the doctors can see. And we are broken too, with a desperate desire for more faith to believe that God loves miracles.

Tonight at Hope we gathered to pray, to boldly ask for her healing, to comfort her family. Her sister Chrissy, a carbon-copy of Olivia from hair to smile to mannerisms, prayed first. She asked, boldly, simply, for God to hear our prayers.

And I ask you to join with me to pray. For God to express his tender mercy for this child and this family. Whatever that means, that he would show his presence, his glory, his love and his mercy for Olivia.

Pray fiercely, friends.

The U

Written by on June 7, 2011 in Hope, Leadership - 3 Comments

College students seeking faith are like candy to me.

Irresistable.

There’s something so compelling about a young person embracing a life with God. I think most people–regardless of how they were raised–still wrestle with what it means to have a personal, committed, individual relationship with Jesus Christ. And that wrestling–and discovery–is awesome to watch. So when I was asked to spearhead our summer college ministry, I started jumping around and screaming (at least on the inside.)

This Thursday we kick off the first-ever “U” at Hope Church. Can I introduce you to some of the team?

Drew is going to help lead worship. He’s a summer intern, a college student, and a guy passionate about the worship experience. Um, sign me up. You can listen to the acapella group he’s part of here: (He’s not on this recording, but he could have been. He’s that talented!)

Jeremiah and Brianna are the Ken and Barbie college team. By Ken and Barbie, I mean if Ken was a legit rapper AND had a mountain-man beard and Barbie was pregnant. Jeremiah will do some teaching, along with myself, and Brianna will do all things related to keeping either of us for talking too long, laughing too loud, or thinking it’s a good idea to rap together (alright, that’s kind of my issue).

Ryan is helping with all things atmosphere. I tell Ryan all the time that there’s a future gig for him as an HGTV star. The guy can create some fantastic stuff, as evidenced by what he created last month for Meals With Hope. By the way, did I ever tell you we raised almost $20,000 with this Five-Day Challenge? Praise the Lord!!

Ryan's handiwork (with some help from his friends)


It may seem like a small thing, but the diligence and excellence with which these guys want to make something, carve out some space for the U is inspiring.

Then there’s a whole crew of amazing leaders ready for our breakout sessions. This team was prayed for and selected for their ability to invest relationally and their excitement about creating community in the nomadic stage of college life.

And it all starts this Thursday at 8pm. All summer I’ll be teaching with the team from Matthew 5–about we should expect from life with Christ. We are calling the series B.A. As in, BeAttitude. BeAstounded. But can I be honest? It’s at this stage in the planning that I start getting nervous.
What if it doesn’t come together?
What if it’s kind of boring?
What if we don’t deliver what we promise?
What if…no one comes?

And when I finish listing off all my “what ifs” to God, he reminds me.
This. Is. Mine.

So would you join me in prayer as the Creator creates something new in our community, comes and makes himself known among the young adults in Richmond? We are believing (or trying hard to believe!) that He has gone before us, will be present with us, and is already planning for what the U will mean in people’s lives. (But hey, we can remind him and praise him for what he will do!)

Lenten Blog Tour: Let’s Make a List.

Written by on March 28, 2011 in Daily Life With Jesus, Hope - 8 Comments

Today’s post is part of the Lenten Blog Tour, hosted by the Common English Bible, a new translation focused on “clarity and readability.” OOooo, YAY, a giveaway: comment on today’s post for a chance to win a copy of the CEB New Testament!

I. love. lists.

I could swim through the torn-off bits of paper, receipt backs, and used envelopes I’ve filled with lists, scattered through my house like obsessive-conpulsive confetti.

But can….or should…I ever make a list about how to love God?

Pssshh, I say, Relationships and lists don’t work. But what if they did? What if I made a list of “ways to be a good friend,” or a list of “priorities in mothering” or “how to honor my husband”?  I think if I made those lists, I’d be more likely to think deeply and systematically about those relationships. Lists don’t define the relationship, but perhaps they can sharpen it.

So I was so pleased to find today’s scripture passage is…a LIST from Hebrews 10:

19 Brothers and sisters, we have confidence that we can enter the holy of holies by means of Jesus’ blood, 20 through a new and living way that he opened up for us through the curtain, which is his body, 21 and we have a great high priest over God’s house.

22 Therefore, let’s draw near with a genuine heart with the certainty that our faith gives us, since our hearts are sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies are washed with pure water.

1. We draw near to God because Jesus is everything. He’s the answer to every human condition, the hero of every story. He’s the restorer of our truest image, He’s the one who cleans us up and makes us right before the perfection and holiness of God. Because of this walking, talking, breathing example of love, we are made confident, rejuvenated before Him.

23 Let’s hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, because the one who made the promises is reliable.

2. We hope. We dig our fingernails in, gripping tightly to hope and remembering it every moment we are awake, not because of who we are or what we can do, but because of the promises He’s made and the way He’s proven them, in our hearts as well as the human heart throughout history.

24 Let’s also think about how to motivate each other to show love and to do good works.25 Don’t stop meeting together with other believers, which some people have gotten into the habit of doing. Instead, encourage each other, especially as you see the day drawing near.

3. We do all of this with others. There’s an us in all of this, there’s the promise that’s made certain in our own hearts and cemented into our souls when we celebrate its certainty together. The promise of God is that we do not believe in truth and hold to hope alone, and we carry each other along, despite our differences and annoyances and all the ways we bump heads and elbows and hearts. We do it because God practically shouts through his Word that we are made for togetherness.

This is my list on loving God.

Which of these three do you need to be reminded of today?

Happy Valentine’s Day?

Written by on February 14, 2011 in Hope - 4 Comments

Love, according to our culture:

Pass it on. (and click here to watch on Youtube.)

Vlog: 3 things about your twenties….

Written by on January 7, 2011 in Hope, RESOURCES - 6 Comments

Hey all, here’s a video recap of a talk I gave this week at Hope regarding the twentysomethings.

Question for you: (if you are in your twenties): what’s the most challenging part of this stage of life?
(if you are anything else): what’s one thing you’ve noticed about the twentysomething generation?

And then, Youth Group.

Written by on September 19, 2010 in Hope - 2 Comments

 

I just got home from my first evening back with students at Hope. Youth Group began tonight.We kicked it off with a dunk tank this morning, and then we proved we were “ALL IN” by getting, well, all in. This is Cody. He’s a rockstar in every middle schooler’s eyes. Did I mention this is him in the tank before church?

And then, it was youth group, first middle school, then high school. Hundreds of them. Still processing it all. So many names and faces and hearts.  Between the noise and fun, the confusion and awkwardness that always accompanies adolescent gatherings, there was one true thing: God is in our midst. God is moving in the next generation of young people. Despite (or because) of a world that is so clearly screwed up–the next generation rises up with a desire to know him.

This week was the anniversary of Sept. 11th. It was the VMAs. It was pop music and first tests and new drivers and night football games. It was gossip and whispers, it was looks of honesty and real hugs. It was someone dying in a car accident, tears at a worship service. It was little Cokes and silly games and hormones and shyness and happiness and sadness and sorrow and joy.

Nothing puts me more in touch with the confusion and complexity of our world than working with young people. Their honesty in the face of it all makes me want to be more honest with myself, makes me want to jump back into the wrestling with God over hearts and lives and finding Him in crazy places, like middle school lunch rooms and high school hallways.

When these students show emotion on their faces, I’m reminded that just a few Falls ago, they were kids. But now–they are pressing forward into the jungle of the world. They fall down and get scraped. They get lost and disoriented. They forge new paths.

They are amazing. They inspire me. They drive me to pray, to seek, and to plead with God to be real for them tonight. Did I mention I love my job?