bought at a price...

1 Cor 6:20 for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.

I was shopping at a drug store last week in desperate need of sinus medication, which (don’t ask me why) was located next to contraceptives. While looking for my particular medicine, I saw a young boy looking for condoms. He was about the age of, oh I don’t know, FIVE?! I desperately wanted to shake his acne-scarred shoulders and tell him that he was making the biggest mistake in his life. But I didn’t. I quietly prayed in my head that he would have a Damascus Road experience and God would cosmically intervene. Because really, the Holy Spirit can convict in ways I cannot.

I know this to be true because I was tremendously convicted while walking out the electronic doors. 1 Corinthians 6:19 asks a rhetorical question, do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? Therefore, the degree we take care of our body is going to affect our abiding relationship with God.

I remember reading an article about some kids who broke into a church and ran amuck in the sanctuary. Chairs were over turned, trash thrown on the floor, and worse of all, they graffitied their names onto the walls, permanently leaving their mark. I was outraged. This was someone’s place of worship and it was ruined in minutes. But my rage flattened when I thought of how many temples are being ruined in metaphoric fashion and I’m not saying a word. I have friends who are allowing vandals to “break into their temple,” run amuck, and permanently leave their mark in the temple where the Holy Spirit dwells.

Today let’s glorify God with our bodies and remind those who have forgotten that they were purchased at a price. Internet, if I see that kid again at CVS I promise you I’m going to hug him, slap him upside his head, then sit down and talk about abstinence! Can I get an amen? J

a super model doing super things....

I wanted to look like her. I wanted to talk in low tones like her. I wanted to smile like her and laugh like her and catch the light on her face the way she knew how. Bottom line, I wanted to be her.

I remember looking at her aqua blue eyes and milky skin and thinking to myself, Could anyone be more beautiful?! I was about eight years old and supermodel Kathy Ireland was at the pinnacle of her modeling career... you know, when models actually modeled and were super at it. She lived a glamorous life featured on magazine covers and spent time with rock stars spending money like it wasn't important.

Today this supermodel has become a bona fide superwoman in my book. Instead of hanging out with rock stars, she spends her time hanging out with those in need; in need of hope, joy, and reasons for living. She gives money away because deep down inside, she knows it's not important. I know this for a fact because I got the honor of partnering with her for her annual Kathy Ireland Mentor Tea last year. Years have passed but in the few moments that I got to speak with her, I felt like the eight year-old little girl again; I wanted to be her. But this time it was because of the lives she was changing, not the life she was living.

Her organization takes inner-city teen mothers and pairs them with mentors to encourage and guide them in their first year of teen-parenting. Here's where YOU come in. As keynote speaker for this event, I was asked if I knew any professional women who would be interested in making a difference in the life of a inner-city teen mother. If you live in the Los Angeles or Orange Country area and would like to make a difference in the life of a young woman, contact 9-1-1 for Kids at (714) 894-5450 and ask to speak to Shumaila or Nichole.

Note: The comments have been turned off. For more mentor information, contact the number above :)

speaking in silence...

They gathered around the atrium and hoped upon hope that their prayers would be heard and answers given through raindrops. Every drop which dripped onto the floor of the villa spoke of hope. Hope that the divine would speak into the deafening silence of life. Stiff as the marble statues in the garden before them, they waited for the oracle to speak through splashes or see answers pictured in puddles. For the ancient Romans, their gods would speak through rain and thunder when the answers to life were lost.

I remembered this art history fact while visiting the Getty Villa in Malibu. I touched the marble columns and stared at marble statues which once adorned Romans villas. I stared at the blue, cloud-less California sky and prayed for rain. And wind. And fire. And something miraculous. I didn't want to hear from Zeus on power or Athena on love, but from God Almighty. I was tired of asking the same questions because the deafening silence was too painful to listen to. The questions echoed internally and ricocheted off the walls of my mind. I wanted answers, but I received silence.

God are you there? Are you even listening to me?

“A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering cliffs before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was a voice, a soft whisper. When Elijah heard [it], he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave”(1 Kings 19:11-13).

God put on a real show with the wind blowing, the earth shaking, and fire darting, but he wasn’t speaking to Elijah in any of those powerful and visible ways. Elijah was learning that God, who once spoke by fire that consumed a soaked altar sacrifice, does not always reveal himself in powerful, miraculous ways. What does this say to us? Some people think that the only place to find God is in something big, the impressive, or the miraculous. We look for God in the spectacular but miss him in the silence. I'm currently in silence, but I know that it's the still, small voice that will answer me when I finally shut my mouth and listen.

(in)courage...

Several years ago when my friends and I were in high school, the concept of blogs and internet communities were farcical to me. I would scoff at people who met online, snicker at people who met friends in a cyber chat room, and smile blankly at bloggers wondering if anyone actually read their online diary. It was all very odd to me. You know, the online community.

A few years later, I'm the weirdo who is blogging and excited to be connected via the web to people in various locations. Prior to the blog, I was a Christian speaker and bible teacher who loved ministry and hugging people. Now I'm a Christian speaker and bible teacher who loves ministry and hugging people AND I have cyber friends who I can connect with. {Whoa, that was SO dorky, I can't believe I said it. But I did. So there.} The blog has been a platform to share the hope, love, and faith in Jesus Christ. But through my new cyber community, I've connected with other amazing women who share this same passion.

A new website has been started by Hallmark/Dayspring as a place for women to be encouraged... or rather, (in)couraged :) I've been asked to be a contributing author and I'm VERY excited to partner with these amazing women in a community of those who believe in hope, faith, and love. I'd encourage you to check out the site and be blessed by the authors who post everyday.

For those who read this blog daily, I really am touched. I've been blessed to actually meet some followers and super stoked that they were not cyber weirdos or video gamers, but actually normal like me... well, I'm almost normal--minus the whole cleaning the shower with a toothbrush thing and counting syllables in spoken paragraphs. But that's a whole other blog!

come-to-jesus moment...

Ok, so I'm not sure I'm using the expression correctly, but a friend of mine says, I had a come-to-Jesus moment with my kids. I guess it's kinda when you're all stressed out and about to beat your child to a pulp and the only thing that prevents that is having a sublime moment of intervention. I think it's hilarious and now I'm always saying it all the time in reference to a wit's-end moment.

Last week I had a come-to-Jesus moment when I was at my wit's end (if it indeed has an end). It's like I proverbially vomited my problems out to the Lord at His feet and in some weird paranormal experience, it was appreciated. As much as I try not to, I walk around like the mythological Atlas with the weight of the world on my shoulders. Decisions to be made, deadlines to be kept, budgets to keep; it's a daunting task and one that was never asked to complete. Matthew 11:29-30, Jesus tells us to take His yoke for it is easy and His burden is light. When I lay down my burdens through talking to the Lord, I get to trade it in for something easy and light. Amazing trade off!

Blind Bartinaeus was a non-entity of society who loudly vocalized his belief in Jesus. He yelled out to the Lord to heal him, which was an odd request because obviously Jesus knew he was blind. But things got a little bit more ridiculous when Jesus asked Bartimaeus what he wanted. Really?! He was blind--was he going to ask for world peace? No. Yet Jesus patiently asked him so he could vocalize his need. In the middle of my come-to-Jesus moment, I realized that God knew my needs, but I need to vocalize them. It's so easy for me to call out like Bartimaeus my belief, but what about my needs? I equally need to yell above the masses, to push past the disciples, and ask the Lord to heal me from my spiritual blindness.

In your next come-to-Jesus moment, take the weight of the world off your back, realize that He cares, and allow him to hear your requests.

sweet tweets...

I've admitted several times before that I'm not afraid to admit I'm a nerd. In fact, I'm quite proud of reading books at the gym, visiting the Getty museum to watch the sunset on a Friday night, and listening to National Public Radio. I was home-schooled as a child so I think I'm naturally qualified to wear the crown of Nerdom and carry the scepter of constant affirmation.

It's no surprise then to discuss a statistic I learned while listening to NPR at the gym. New research shows that 73% of Twitter updates are "pointless babble." When I heard this statistic, I immediately grabbed my phone and tweeted that I can wink with both eyes just to perpetuate this stat (note: I'm obtuse when offended).

But in discussion with a good friend about Twitter and this new statistic, he encouraged me to use Twitter as a vehicle of change, discussion, dialogue. Sometimes I tweet scriptures or update facebook with encouraging words just to generate discussion, he said. A lot of my friends aren't Christian so I rarely include the scripture reference just start a dialogue about the words of Christ without them even knowing it. It was an interesting thought. But not a novel one. Scripture is full of life-changing tweets... you know, maxims and proverbs less than 140 characters. Ever since I discussed this, I've decided to make my words count! People, redeem the time for it is short. We only have one life to live and soon it will pass; only what we do for Jesus Christ will last.

Every day during my daily reading I am finding one scripture to tweet or update my facebook as an encouragement or chastening that is beyond my wisdom... for the power of God's word is far more capable of reaching my Twitter followers or facebook friends.

If you have 140 characters to dispense encouragement or wisdom, what would it be? Francis of Assisi said, Preach the gospel at all times. When necessary use words. People, it's necessary.

just be real...

We've all made committed a fashion faux pas at some point in time, it just seems that lately I'm getting really good and laughing at my mistakes because they occur quite often. Don't be surprised if I show up dressed like Punky Brewster and sport my new copper colored coif. Oh, you didn't know I butchered my hair on vacation? Well, if you follow me on Twitter then you know that I was charged WAY too much for a haircut and color that only a mother could love. Remember those mermaid Barbies from the 90s that when dipped in water their hair changed color? Yeah well, that's me every time I wash out the purple/red/rustish color from my long rat-tail now.

But what's worse: having a bad haircut or having a bad haircut and having no one tell you? I spoke to several people in the past few days and I knew they saw my copper-colored, anorexic ponytail and said nothing. I saw their eyes glance towards my scalp... then my eyes... glance at my ponytail... then my eyes again and still remained silent. I'm sure the blind Ray Charles knows my hair is ugly, but he has an excuse not to say anything. Do you? If your friend looked as heinous as I do, would you have the courage to say something? Proverbs 27:6 says that wounds from a friends are better than kisses from an enemy. Essentially, it's better to hurt someone you love by telling them the truth, then having them believe lies from people who don't even like them.

Somewhere in our PC culture, it became uncouth to tell the truth if it meant being honest. Yesterday I sat down with someone I love and told them candidly that they were making a huge mistake. They had purchased a ticket, decided to move, live out every 20 year-old's dream, and I felt like a jerk because I had to be a dream-killer at the expense of speaking forth the truth. Because sometimes the truth hurts. I love people and when they are making a mistake, whether it's wearing a stone-washed fanny pack, having spinach in their teeth, or dating someone they shouldn't, I'm going to call them out. Can we be a generation and a culture that stops acting like we are on the set of the OC and start acting R.E.A.L. Just keep it real, friends! Be honest. Be authentic. Be real. Isn't that what we want more than anything?

Speak the truth in love... even when it hurts.

**Edit to post: Since a few people wanted to see the rat's tail (aka my hair), I posted a picture on Twitter here.

forbidden fruit... (part II of II)

Temptation is something we all face as Christians, no matter how long we have been following Christ. Yesterday I used mangoes as a personal temptation, but really, there are WAY more tempting things in my life... but I would like to be perceived as holy so I'll plead the fifth on this one :) There are a few practical things, however, that we can do to grow stronger and smarter in our struggle against sin. You can learn how to avoid temptation by practicing these five steps.

1. Recognize your tendency toward sin.

   James 1:14 explains that we are tempted when we become enticed by our own natural desires. The first step toward avoiding temptation, is recognizing our human tendency to be tempted by our own fleshly desires. Temptation is a given, so don't be surprised by it. Rather, expect to be tempted. Be prepared for it.

2. Run away from the temptation.

   I love the New Living Translation of 1 Corinthians 10:13. It says, "But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can't stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it."

   When you are face to face with temptation, look for the way out that God has promised and then run as fast as you can.

3. Resist with the Word of truth.

   Hebrews 4:12 says God's Word is living and active. Did you know you can carry a weapon that will make your thoughts obey Jesus Christ? If you don't believe me, read 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 One of these weapons is the Word of God.

   Though it can be helpful to read God's Word when you're being tempted, sometimes that's not practical. Even better is to practice reading the Word daily, so that eventually you have so much of it inside, you are ready whenever temptation comes. If you are reading through the Bible regularly, you will have the full counsel of God at your disposal.

4. Refocus with praise.

   How often have you been tempted to sin when your heart and mind were fully concentrated on worship to the Lord? Praising God takes your focus off of yourself and puts it on God. You may not be strong enough to resist temptation on your own, but as you focus on God, he will inhabit your praise. He will give you the strength to resist and walk away from the temptation. May I suggest Psalm 147 as a good place to start.

5. Repent quickly when you fail.

   In several places the Bible tells us the best way to resist temptation is to flee from it (1 Corinthians 6:18; 1 Corinthians 10:14; 1 Timothy 6:11; 2 Timothy 2:22). Yet still we all fail from time to time. We fail to flee. Notice I didn't say, repent quickly if you fail. Having a more realistic view—knowing that at times you will fail—should help you to repent quickly when you do. It is not the end of the world when you fail, but it is very dangerous to persist in your sin. Going back to James 1, verse 15 explains that sin "when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."