Dorm night encounter

Wow, so after possibly weeks of feeling very spiritually disconnected from the Father I had an awesome experience in His awe-inspiring presence.

It all started when my best friend asked me about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and what it was exactly.  So I talked with another good friend who was over at the time and we put our heads together.  Both of us having the gifts of speaking in tongues we of course decided to say that that as well as prophecy, and so on were obvious signs.

I gave my friend scriptures like the ones found in Galatians referring to the fruits of the Spirit, but then I continued to read on, furthering now my own curiosity.

I turned to Acts looking for more evidence of what the "baptism of the Holy Spirit" was.  Instead I found this verse in Acts 5: 12-16 and read it aloud to my roommate as we discussed this spiritual characteristic to our faith.  It reads a little something like this:


 ¹² The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade (porch). ¹³ No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. ¹⁵ As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. ¹⁶ Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.


The part that  got me was this...they brought the sick INTO THE STREETS yo!! So that if only  Peter's shadow could fall on them they would be healed! Crazyyy. That's when I started to feel that feeling where it can be described as fire in my very bones, where I couldn't help but be filled with this revelation that the Holy Spirit is so vast so powerful that it can fill a man so that even his shadow can deliver people...woahhhh.  These people were desperate for it and just as Jesus promised, with His Holy Spirit came those greater works and thousands we're added to faith in Jesus.

And that got me thinking that no matter how far I stray, His Spirit is always in me I just need to activate it! Because that feeling I got from simply reading that passage was a feeling that the disciples like Peter had everyday of their lives, and thats why all men and women and children were set free.

A writer's love

It was the year I was homeschooled, 4^th grade, that I can recount reading the first “grown-up” book that seemed to captivate my heart and soul. The author was a majestic woman, whose graceful words could even be used to describe even the most painful times within a person’s life.  The book I read, and would love even enough to do a book report on in my young academic career was, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.  Having too young of a mind to realize that this was her early childhood memoir, I was captivated by the story of a young girl growing up in Stamps, Arkansas who had to with hold a dark secret after moving up north with her mother.  The words seemed to literally take hold of me and every page became more and more of a reason for me to hardly ever put the book down.  It was at the end when Angelou finally disclosed that those memories were hers, that that painfully experience of being abused by her stepfather was hers as well.  But even then I understood Angelou’s tone, and there was never once a hint of defeat in her cool voice that can still be echoed through my mind.

As I grew up I went through high school trying to fit in, never mind that, WANTING to fit in! I never once forgot my love for the writings of Maya Angelou in those simple yet complex years full of school girl drama.  When it came time to take junior high English I was kind of excited. I always loved both reading and writing and it was cool to know we’d have a new teacher! But as the school year progressed this new teacher failed, tried…and failed again.  After “mysteriously” losing her sense of taste AND smell she left half way through the year.  Quite fortunate it was for the 8^th period English class full of girls with rolled up skirts and minds no longer on The Great Gatsby but rather on the St. Joes boys awaiting them outside.  As one always assumes this dream can not last forever.  That was when our new new teacher entered the room.  She was tall and rather skinny and with dark wavy hair she gave the radiance of a young college graduate.  She was pretty, and immediately everyone took attraction to her. 

As the school year progressed the new teacher made sure that what was taught to us was learned, and that included and end of the year biography on one of our favorite writers.  That is when I again was introduced to the love I had for Maya Angelou and her work.  Immediately I began my research and again I re-read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.   It brought back a swarm of emotions, even more than the mind of an innocent 12 year old girl could remember.  Now I had experienced life to a deeper extent and the innocence I once had, had slowly begun to fade away, and I knew more about the growing pains of life.  During the report I had encountered a famed poem of Angelou’s entitled, Still I Rise.  I read it over and over again and each time I felt the strong voice of endurance and strength rise from the page!  It reminded me of the voice of my mother, and still it seemed even stronger and even more relentless towards collapsing under the pressure of life.  Even after the English project was done, I was known through out the rest of my high school career to fervently recount the lines of Angelou’s poem Still I Rise.  At that moment in life it seemed to be a coping mechanism for crappy grades or petty girl moments, it even became a phrase used between my best friend an I and we ALWAYS got a few laughs out of our system.

But now as I find myself once again recounting the work of Maya Angelou in a sophomore college level oral interpretation class, I realize that the fire has not died. I find myself back where I started, preparing to read and excerpt from he memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and I find it almost impossible to capture the voice of this commanding woman.  How can I come close to her years of capturing an audience with a voice that could make you feel as though you were in the cool of night in one moment, then the next on the sands of a coastline experiencing a love like never before?  I find that writing this helps me to believe that it is not meant for me to become Maya Angelou reincarnate, but to pay homage to a beloved writer to not just myself but to many across the world.  I can think of nothing else as a writer than to do such a thing, and I can only hope that this piece is embodied well enough that it lives on for many generations to come.

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of 'happyness': My trip to DC

If you are familiar with the movie Pursuit of happyness starring Will Smith and his son then you would most likely understand the reference that was made in my title.  A short synopsis of this movie is simply this, a broken hearted man is left behind by his wife and mother of his child, she was a woman tired of his big dreams that seemed to hold no results.  From this they move from a livable apartment to a the bathroom of a subway station where they must both sleep, father and son, for one unforgettable night.  Soon the father finds his way up again for a fresh breath of hope as he receives the opportunity of a lifetime: working on Wall Street.  Its quite the challenge at first as he must beat out all competition for the only position available in this mecca of a company in the stock market.  Eventually he is chosen for what he was meant to do all along, blessed with what seems to be a super brain he gets past all the many hardships and survives.

This movie is a true story and this man still lives today never forgetting how struggle and despair feel.  I guess I reference this movie because on my first trip to D.C. I was shocked by the homeless men and women who slept on the very sidewalks and park benches that were merely miles away from our Capitol.

I was perplexed, I didn't understand how this could be?! Men and woman walk around in there fancy dresses and Italian suits and never look this pain in the eye.

Even I couldn't look this pain in the eye, it hurt to much and it made me realize that our nation will never understand the plight of poverty not even when we live amongst democracy and the well being for all people.

But there was one man who brought great hope to me, when I could feel the very heaviness of despair.  There was a guy in the center of one of the en-campents where some men and women were sleeping one night who suddenly came my way as 3 other friends and I stood at the crossing lines.

He began to tell his story how he had been sent to jail, was released then sent back again with a sentence for 15 years but was thankfully was released because he was wrongfully accused.  You may ask what sparked such a conversation, well it was the simple response that many Christians know how to give, "God bless you"

At the very moment he was enthused, he began to say "God bless you too!  I dont know if ya'll know him like I do but he is good!"

Wow, God was his actual lifesaver, his all in all and he could not help but share his testimony on how God saved his life and turned all that was bad into good.

Even in the midst of the in-between moment of his life now living on the streets he had great hope! He had such a joy that NOTHING and I mean NOTHING could take that away, and he could not help but tell of this life changing God to people he never knew and might never see again.

That's when it hit me how could I not speak of this life-saving God who brought me out of such darkness and death that I almost lost my way totally.  How could I not tell perfect strangers such as that man did about the grace of God who could restore all and any?!

I always say that there is someone out there with a story to tell but the question is who will listen?  Seeing these people who have now made the streets their homes I realized they all have a story to tell, but who will tell them of redemption?
Will it be you or I?
 Will we realize that Christ came to save the entire world and especially those who were seperated from society because they weren't smart enough, religious enough, or rich enough?

It is our duty and our challenge to become who we profess to be: followers of Christ.

Sometimes it takes a reality check to again realize such things, and to see that it must become our way of life until the day when perfect shalom will reign.

Who said this Postmodern generation was lazy?

For those of you who have become observant of the days were living in it might be deemed as one of the most radical times in our world's history.  As I've already discussed before there has been revolutions and complete over throws of governments by today's YOUTH in the last few months, but there is another side to this sudden shift in today's generation.  It is being labeled as the Postmodern age, and with this age comes new and even unthought of forms to reach out to today's world.  This age of young people push for heavy efforts of justice and peace to be made across the world and nation, and the difference being is that they just don't talk about it but risk everything to make sure it's done.  Now as a young person AND Christian I have seen how this transformation has come into the young people of our churches and have radically changed their lives.  We not only want to know Jesus more than anything else but we are willing to risk everything so that all may know freedom and know it through Jesus Christ.  They are willing to cry out on their faces to God when they see that their cities are in turmoil and their fellow peers seem to be following a path of never ending destruction.  And the craziest thing is they are doing it wearing skinny jeans and t-shirts, while rocking out on guitars and drums to a stadium full of youth desperate to see and perform the signs and miracles Jesus gave us the power to do!  It's funny one day I heard a preacher on t.v. talk about today's Postmodern youth and how lazy we have become, as we stray farther and farther away from Jesus' original doctrine.  If I had the chance to ask that  minister one question it would be, "What kind of people are you hanging out with?! Cause the people I'm around can't help but be radical for Christ!"  Now I am aware that there is a more popularly seen side to this Postmodern age, which has become very liberal and almost lukewarm in their faith, but there are STILL those crazy about Jesus' salvation and His unchanging Word.  There's a song that say's "Where giving all away, where giving it all to go Your way," which I think sums up my point exactly.  We're not all lazy about spreading the amazing gospel of Jesus, or to liberal to the point where our kingdom building has now become socially acceptable.  We're aware that Jesus ruffled the feathers of politicians and hypocrites, and we're aware that not everyone is going to like how we are commanded to live as Christians, but guess what we take the risk to do so.  No matter what the cost.  God told Jeremiah, "Do not say 'I am a youth,' for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you" (Jer. 1:7-8).   I believe that God will show His face and reveal His truth through this generation, and all I can say is I'm sooo happy that I'm being used by God to become a part of something bigger than I ever imagined.

Peace is not won by war but through surrender

Today I heard a message that once again transformed my heart and my mind.  I attended a church here in Rochester called The Father's House and I admit when I walked through the doors I felt like crap.  I didn't understand why God had me there or what He had in store for me, but I knew I needed something from Him to give me the will to keep running this race.  Little did I know or expect I was going to receive just that.  The new series message beginning today was on the ECHO that our lives send as Christians and children of God.  As the pastor continued to teach he spoke of how even though our "being" has changed our "doing" has not.  We begin to think all I need is to be a new creature in Christ and that's it, but our doing must show that transformation as well.  We can't go out and DO things like the rest of the world and claim to be a child of God.  That is why the world is confused to this day.  They see us speaking the Word and quoting scriptures like many theologians of our time but our actions show no sign that we actually believe those scriptures.  We have to think in every way, are our lives echoing Christ?  For we are the children that have come after Him and now is the time for us to become TRUE kingdom builders.  Another part of the sermon that refocused me on the goal at hand was when he made a point that by being a child of God we must follow Christ way of meekness and humility.  We know the world we live in and as it has become cutthroat we sometimes don't see anyway of getting ahead than likening to that characteristic of humanity.  But when we are about kingdom building and our goal has now become eternal, getting the corner office or the biggest raise won't matter.  When we become humble with meekness Jesus will bless us with these things not just to be an example to others but to further His kingdom.  When our lives echo His in every way there won't the thought of the "survival of the fittest" or the best finish first but there will be a true mentality of self-sacrifice and humbleness.  When we take on Jesus' yoke (teaching) the competition of the world won't matter because we've already got the best.

Repairing the breach

Well seeing this is my first blog EVER I figured why not start with a bang!  Today I read an article entitled "Libyan Exodus" from WORLD magazine (a Christian magazine) and it discussed the unrest in Libya, but more specifically the refugees that are now suffering from "Libya's crossfire."  Some of these refugees are returning back to Egypt but only to a "post-revolution" where they have no form of economic stability. Meaning their true home lends no form of rest or true peace.  Then there are those refugees traveling through the Libyan desert and some whom have even been kept in Tripoli, 2,500 according to the article in WORLD.  Many refugees from Somali now find that in escape from war within their own countries they find that they have encountered a much greater evil in Libya.  They are not only discriminated against for being dark Africans in a Muslim country but are being forced to fight in Qaddafi's government forces.  Wow, just think from lesser hope to no hope at all.  I mean these refugees have experienced horrific things unheard of here in America, yet we complain over things so miniscule.  Many of them have lost entire families and see no reason to live; there is no light at the end of their tunnel.  So i present a question how is it that you will shed light to such darkness?  How will you become repairers of the breach?  The time is more important than ever that we, as Christians, spread true hope for proverbs said that hope planted is like a tree of life.   Don't sit where you are in your comfortability thinking that what is going on in these foreign places doesn't affect you.  Right now we have the opportunity to PRAY for and if possible reach out to these broken children of Christ seeking for true freedom in their political dictatorships.  Their hearts have now become willing and open to a life where even if they find no peace in economic and political systems, they will find everlasting peace in Christ Jesus.  It starts with us, youth of the nation.  NOW is the time to pray like never before; to fast expecting the "chains of injustice to be broken and the yoke of oppression to be loose" (Isaiah 58)! What will you do when it's your time to stand against injustice? Now we see that it only takes one for thousands to follow.