Beautiful Feet

Some of your feet will be wounded. Others bruised. Some broken. Some feet will be tired, others happy, some running, others stumbling. Some lying, ceased living, trapped, confused, deceived. Some feet dancing, leaping, springing, bounding...His were pierced. And though risen, the feet of Jesus still bear those wounds. His hands and His feet have been run through by whatever yours feel and face today. How beautiful are His feet, and the feet of those who bring the good news of Jesus

~ Passion Blog, December 7, 2006

One thing that I think people forget when they are preparing for something like a missions trip or a conference, or even just when they are getting ready for church or Bible study, is that every time you come into contact with God, you have to respond. Because something of yourself is revealed in that time. When you come into contact with the Creator, the Father, Emmanuel (God with us), the Christ, you see in stark detail the difference between you and He.

We bring our baggage with us everywhere we go, and especially when we go to a place with the purpose of experiencing God. For a long time I felt like I had to have everything right before I went before the throne of God. I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get over things, why I kept dwelling on the past, why I didn't feel joyful.

It's not easy to realize that you will always bear your wounds, but then again, so does Jesus. The holes in his hands, feet, and side were still there after his resurrection. I don't know how that plays into the fact that we get new bodies once we go to heaven, but that's not what I'm speculating about now. :)

The wounds of Jesus remind us that He made Himself as one of us so that He could relate to us. They remind us that He took our sin and cross to make us whole, and He understands everything we are going through. Our wounds should do something similar. Not exactly the same, but think about it.

Because we are wounded, we can give testimony to the glory and grace of God. Keeping things to ourselves not only hurts us, but it prevents our brothers and sisters from knowing the fullness of God and what He has done for us. We're called to testify to His love, glory, and grace. I'm not saying that you need to spill about everything that has happened to you to everyone, but when we are open about our lives, when we show the scars and the joys on our feet, it brings us into fellowship with others and it fosters joy and reconciliation in our lives.

Prayer for today: that everyone getting ready to go to Passion and Urbana prepares their hearts to meet God, because there is no way anyone can go there and not see something about themselves that they don't like, but that's why there's grace

Passion Blog

I've added a link to the Passion/268 Generation Blog. Yesterday, they started a 28 day prayer preparation for Passion 07. If you're looking for something to pray through, I'd encourage you to check it out! See the link on the right column...

Seminars and Support

Sorry about the lack of updates...the past few weeks have been very busy with Ring Figure, Thanksgiving, and then finishing up classes. I still have another week of classes, but I'm mostly done with what I have to do, so praise God for that!

Two very nice things happened last week. Firstly, I went over my support money goal, so I have everything I need to attend Passion and Urbana! It's very cool seeing how God provides when you open yourself up to it. I highly encourage it. :)

Secondly, the seminars were posted on the Urbana website. This probably went un-noticed by a large part of the attending population, but I have been waiting in anticipation for them since about June. Yeah.

The way Urbana works is that there are general sessions twice a day (morning and evening), group Bible study and prayer in the morning and at night, and then in the afternoon there are two seminar periods every day except for the second to last day. So, you can attend a total of 6 seminars. Also during seminar time, there is a prayer room, a worship room, and a missions agency fair, every day.

There are seminars for almost anything you can think of. The ones I am most excited about focus on worship, careers (public school teaching and journalism), campus ministry, and evangelism. Check out the seminars here.

Prayer Requests:

• health...physical, mental, emotional, spiritual
• my exams and final projects
• safe travels for my friends and family
• guidance and discernment as I prepare to attend Urbana and Passion in just 23 days!