Enraged.

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Today I was texting with a girl that I am going to Cambodia with and we were discussing the money that is going towards getting women out of the sex trade while we are there. $1,400 of the money that came in for my trip is going directly to this cause; Praise God. Naturally, I was curious to know how many girls that money will "buy". Google is a great friend when I'm looking for quick information... What I found is disgusting. This multibillion dollar industry preys on what we know as "prostitutes". We believe them to be women; however, a good amount of them are little girls below the age of ten years old.

The going rates of purchasing these girls are sometimes as low as $2-$5 dollars for a half hour; $20-$25 for an entire night. To put a value on a human life is appalling; to put such a low value on a couple minutes to fulfill a fantasy is absolutely petrifying.

We fall under this illusion that men are simply looking for a quick fix for their corrupt lifestyle, but this is far from the extent of what goes on behind those windows and doors. These girls experience horendous circumstances that quickly suck the life and fight right out of them. They are robbed of their youth and innocence, and they are forever imprinted. If they refuse to take part in the "favors" for these men they are brutally beaten. In the article below one girl remembers how she was tied up with rope as they shoved crushed hot peppers inside of her; another time her owner tied her down and dumped hundreds of biting ants on her naked body. One girl describes her fear of being locked in a coffin with live maggots eating at her skin because she knew they had done that to her friend... One article tells us that many men are not only looking for sex, but violence as well.

If knowing that doesn't do something to your heart to make you want to move, I don't know what will. These women and children are crying for help. They don't know of any way out, and they have no choice but to give themselves away over and over again. Very seldom do they ever escape, and if they do find a way out many of them return to the industry. These girls are people. They need us to teach them how to work so they can feed their families. They need us to tell them they are beautiful and that they were created to dream and laugh and dance. They need to know that they can be redeemed; they are princess, and they deserve to be treated like it. These girls are not merely objects, they are daughters of the King.

I have no choice but to go into these very jaws of hell to help these girls. I don't believe I can do it all by myself, and thank God I don't have to. All I know is that I cannot sit comfortably in America, enjoying my pleasant lifestyle, when I know the suffering that these women and children are enduring each and every day. It stirs something in my heart- a holy rage if you will. Jesus really loved the children; I will not refrain from fighting on their behalf.

In a couple weeks I'll be walking through the villages and bars of Phnom Penh, Cambodia spending time with these very women and children. However, it cost money to spend time with these women. The more money we raise, the higher the number of women we can get to with the message of Jesus.

If you are interested in giving to this portion of the trip, please please do not hesitate to email me. Your money will go directly to investing into the lives of these women, and they will walk with us in Heaven for eternity. Please, they need your help.

My email address is - kirby.olson@ou.edu - email me, and we can discuss how to get the money to my team.

Below is the story of one sex-trafficking survivor Sreypov Chan, written by Abigail Pesta in the international news segment of a Marie Claire magazine. Sreypov's story of liberation has rippled into many more women being set free. Take a minute and read her story:


The road to Kampong Cham, a town about two hours outside Phnom Penh, is a bumpy one; punishing rains have left the dirt thoroughfare dented with colossal potholes. Sreypov, Chanthan, and I are on our way to a center for rescued sex slaves. Sreypov, who once stayed at the center herself, returns often to talk with the girls, all of whom are under age 18. Some are as young as 5.

As we bounce along, we pass oxcarts, open-air homes on stilts, bony goats, and naked kids playing close to the road. A puppy bounds out in front of our car; with no time to maneuver, we hit it with a thud, leaving it dead in the road.

At the center, called AFESIP (an acronym for its French name), several dozen girls are getting a lesson in hygiene from a nurse. When the class breaks up, the girls, dressed in their public-school uniforms—white cotton blouses, knee-length blue skirts—excitedly swarm around Sreypov, practically tackling her to the ground. The girls live at the center, which is run by a former victim of sex slavery named Somaly Mam, and attend a nearby school, as well as learn job skills like sewing and hairstyling.

Sitting on a metal swing with Chanthan on the grassy grounds of the center, Sreypov continues her tale. "At first, it was quiet," she says, recalling her initial days in the brothel. "Then one day, a man opened the door and said, 'Do you want a client?' I didn't know what he meant, but I knew it was bad. I said no. Then he brought me to a room for punishment." She pauses for a moment. "I had to drink the man's urine." The abuses escalated in the following days. She was tied up and covered with biting ants, whipped with an electric cable. Finally, she said yes.

Sreypov stares off into the distance, awaiting the next question. She is uneasy telling her story; it doesn't tumble forth freely, but rather comes in short, staccato, emotionless bursts. It's as if she becomes someone else to cope with recounting her own past.

When Sreypov saw her first client—"an Asian man with a cruel look in his eyes," she recalls—she changed her mind and said no again, and started to cry. Furious at her behavior, the pimp took his abuse to a new level, crushing up a handful of hot chili peppers with his foot and stuffing them in her vagina. Then he took a hot metal rod and jammed it inside her as well. "The pain was so terrible," she says. "I couldn't speak." Soon after, the client raped her.

Sreypov doesn't know if the client paid a high fee for her virginity; she never saw any money at the brothel. In general, sex with girls can cost as little as $5 (that's less than the $9 I paid to take a taxi from the airport to my hotel), but virgins usually command a far higher price. Clients can pay as much as $800 to $4000, according to the Trafficking in Persons Report. And virgins can fetch that price more than once, as the pimps often stitch up the girls (without an anesthetic) after the first time they have sex, so they'll scream in pain the next time, tricking clients.

After Sreypov's initiation into sex slavery, she spent the next few months imprisoned in her room, with a guard stationed at the door. If she didn't meet her quota of men for the day, she would be shocked with a loose wire from a socket in the wall. "On some days, I was so tired, I couldn't get out of bed. The men would just come to my bed, one after another, like a gang rape," she says. "I became numb. My life grew dark. I thought everything was finished for me."

Sreypov sits silently for a moment. Her eyes, distant a few moments earlier, now seem deeply sad. Chanthan looks over at me; then, as if to explain Sreypov's past, she sighs and says simply, "This is Cambodia." Chanthan, like many here, blames the country's problems on the Khmer Rouge, which tortured and executed as many as 2 million teachers, lawyers, doctors, and city dwellers—about a third of the population—during the '70s, in an attempt to turn the country into a purely agrarian society.

It's late afternoon, and we rejoin the girls in the center to say good-bye. They're entertaining themselves by doing a traditional Cambodian dance, with the older girls teaching the younger ones—among them, Sreypov's 8-year-old sister, Opekha. The girl is mentally disabled, but Sreypov was afraid her mother would try to sell Opekha anyway, so she brought her here. When we try to leave, the girls don't want to let us go. Even though they've just met me, they hug me, tightly. A pretty Vietnamese teenager whispers to me, "Promise you will never forget me."

That evening in the car, I sit in the backseat next to a tiny girl named Sreymach, who was sold as a sex slave a year ago, at age 5. She stares, wide-eyed, out the window as we hit the outskirts of Phnom Penh, its hotels and bars gleaming in the night. She is traveling to the city to visit a health clinic. She has HIV.


Phnom Penh's most notorious sex district is called the White Building, so named for an ominous, decaying, grayish-white structure that stretches over several city blocks. Its tenants are sex workers, many of whom have been booted from smaller brothels because they're either too old—in their teens and 20s—or too sick to be of much use anymore. With no education or job skills, they've had to find new pimps here.

We walk down the street in the shadow of the gloomy building, past vendors selling bright-yellow jackfruit, bike parts, dried nuts. All eyes are on us. A man on a motorbike trails our group a little too closely, watching. Sreypov is here to try to help women escape the sex trade. It's part of a job she took with Somaly's organization, after a job at a local clothing factory didn't work out so well (she worked for seven months there, but received pay for only three). In her backpack, she carries boxes of condoms and soap to give to the sex workers—which is why the pimps let her in. Her face looks remarkably calm for someone who is about to step into a reminder of her nightmarish past.

Down a dim corridor on the ground floor of the White Building, a dozen women have gathered in a cramped room, along with a few of their kids. An ancient relic of a TV blares cartoons. In a sleeping loft overhead, the walls are lined with posters of Thai movie stars and photos of mansions—inconceivable aspirations considering the conditions in this room, where perhaps a dozen women sleep. It's around 10 a.m. and the women are wearing pajamas and earrings, resting from the night's work. They look beaten up. Their garish evening dresses hang in the bathroom, beside a door frame that's been decimated by termites.

Sreypov, in a crisp white cotton button-down blouse, black pants, and white heels with sparkling silver trim, kneels on the floor as the women circle round. Sitting there, with her perfect posture, she looks like hope personified. When she introduces herself and describes her past, a man peers into the doorway. Then another.

Undaunted, Sreypov continues, inviting the women to talk about their problems. A painfully thin young woman with high cheekbones, long legs, and hair swept up in a loose knot says she was approached one night by a group of men. Afraid they would gang rape her, she sought help from a man driving by in a car. He opened the door and let her in, but then later raped her himself. Another woman in pink pj's says her stepfather raped her, then sold her to a brothel.

Sreypov says she understands—she was sold, too. Then she tells the women she can help them get trained for other jobs. The first woman is skeptical. She has kids and doesn't think a job as a seamstress will pay the bills. Sreypov tells her it's worth a try, adding, "My own future has changed." Later, she hands out boxes of condoms; a toddler neatly stacks them up.

It's hard to imagine why men would want to have sex in a place like this. It's joyless, grimy, dangerous. The reasons vary: Some local men believe myths that sex with a virgin brings luck or good health; foreigners are usually pedophiles or men who want to play out violent fantasies they've picked up from porn films. They know they can do so in Cambodia. Prostitution and human trafficking are illegal here, but officials are often paid to look the other way.

Our White Building visit continues in another sweltering room on the second floor. Sreypov and her colleagues pile their shoes at the door, a futile gesture of politeness and cleanliness in a room where the walls are splattered with stains and the hallway is littered with chicken bones and rotten vegetable scraps. The women here look younger and prettier than the ones downstairs. "They have foreign clients," Chanthan explains. "Some are married, but their husbands are their pimps." In contrast, the women we met in the previous room service local clients.

The mysterious man who followed us on the motorbike pokes his head in and stares—a pimp, perhaps? The women sit on the floor with their babies on their laps; one young mother eats noodles from a bowl. A teenager in a floral cotton top says she didn't have any clients last night and needs money. Another young woman with glittery purple fingernails and an ankle bracelet says she finds her foreign clients in restaurants. Sreypov listens and nods; she hopes that by developing a relationship with these women, they will eventually enlist her help to break free. If so, her colleagues would work with the authorities on a rescue mission or raid. It's a risky business, to be sure. Sreypov knows the dangers of angering pimps, but says, "I just want to help girls get free."

Later, after a lunch of coconut-curry fish with friends, Sreypov admits that it's hard to revisit the sex districts. But, she adds, even if she didn't go back to these places, the memory would still be with her. "I can never forget my past or the cruelty of those men. I'll never understand it," she says, sitting under a pagoda in a friend's leafy garden. "But I use it as power to push for change. I feel better knowing that I'm helping other girls."

Then she returns to the story of her own escape, years ago. "I knew ever since my first client that I had to run," she says. Of course, she also knew what could happen to her if she failed—she'd heard about girls being chained up for days or locked in coffins, covered with live maggots—but she didn't care. "They could kill me if they wanted," she says. "Death seemed better than that life."

One night, when her client was in the bathroom and the guard had left her door, she saw her chance. She bolted from the bedroom and made it as far as the entrance to the building, where she was caught. The pimp marched her to the torture room, where he strung her up, arms spread, "like Jesus," she says, and whipped her with a rattan cane until she bled, then rubbed hot chilies into her wounds. After that, the pimp sold her to another brothel.

As she speaks, a blustery afternoon storm kicks up, breaking the heat. She stares out at the downpour for a minute, then quietly describes her second attempt at escape, which went much like the first—she got captured, beaten, and sold to another brothel.

What gave her the nerve to run for a third time? "I knew if I stayed, I would get sick and die," she says. "I had nothing to lose." So one night, when her guard had left the doorway, she fled again. This time, she made it out into the street. She ran as fast as she could, until she bumped smack into a man, nearly knocking him down. "He grabbed my arm and asked why I was running," she says. "I told him everything."

She was lucky. He could have escorted her right back to the brothel to collect a finder's fee. Instead, he delivered her to a police station. There, she got lucky again: Corrupt police often return girls to brothels as well. Instead, the officers phoned Somaly Mam.

When Sreypov first arrived at Somaly's center for rescued girls in Kampong Cham, she saw the other girls and thought she had been sold to another brothel. "It wasn't until I saw them going to school that I knew I was safe," she says. She was 10 years old.

Sreypov's mentor, Somaly, sits in a bustling, bright-orange beauty salon in the town of Siem Reap, as a pair of former sex slaves brush and braid her hair. Her cell phone rings every few minutes. "My ear hurts," she says with a grin. "But I have to be busy all the time. It's how I survive." Somaly, who is in her late 30s, laughs easily, but she has lived a rough life. Sold into sexual slavery as a teen, she spent more than a decade in the brothels before escaping the trade with the help of a French aid worker.

She remembers Sreypov being angry when the two first met, which is not unusual for newly rescued girls. Some have been tortured so badly, they have deep cuts and welts or, astonishingly, nails hammered into their skulls. Little surprise, then, that they have "problems with authority," Somaly says. "You can guide them, but they have to learn things for themselves." Case in point: After three years at the center, Sreypov wanted to see her mother. The visit was brief, and painful. The mother claimed she didn't know Sreypov had been sent to a brothel. Her daughter didn't believe that.

Since then, Sreypov has formed a replacement family of sorts, with all the rescued girls. As for marriage and children? "I don't want that," she says, shaking her head. She can't imagine herself ever being with men.

To this day, her past haunts her in new and unexpected ways. The week I was in Cambodia, Sreypov's mother returned—knocking on her daughter's door for the first time in years. The mother's motives were unclear: Did she just want to see her daughter, or to sell her? Sreypov isn't sure. The incident left her in tears. But when she has a low moment, she says, she can always call her friends. And the bad dreams are fading; she hasn't had one for a couple of years now. "After I escaped, I tried to keep everything in, and the nightmares were the worst," she says. "But now I talk about it, I help other girls, and I don't hurt so much."

The path Sreypov has chosen isn't easy, she openly acknowledges. Telling her story will always be a struggle. But, she says, turning to me with a steady gaze, "If no one knows, nothing will change."

For information on the Somaly Mam Foundation, go to somaly.org.

What are you doing to reach out? to better someone else? to further the Kingdom of Heaven?

The Uttermost Bounds of the Earth

As I was thinking about those words, "the uttermost bounds of the earth" I was trying to decide where exactly that is. As the years go by, it gets easier and easier to travel. We have easy access to international affairs, and so it seems that the world is getting smaller.

Our generation has a grip on a world vision, and we have a desire and a need for adventure and discovery. My mom and I were talking about this one day and she said, "my generation grew up believing we needed to go to school, get a job, get married, and raise the next generation." Which does sound familiar, but I believe that we are no longer limited to that.

Of course I still want to go to school, get a job, get married and raise my babies- but I am hungry to experience the culture and diversity outside of the American borders. God didn't create only America... He created Mozambique, Kenya, Haiti, North Korea, The Netherlands, China, Japan, Denmark, Thailand, Cambodia, Panama, Nicaragua, Italy, Columbia, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Cuba, Iraq, Afghanistan, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Russia, Mexico, Phillipines, Vietnam, Germany, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Turkey, Dominican Republic, France, United Kingdom, South Africa, South Korea, Myanmar, Spain, Ukraine, Sudan, Tanzania, Morocco, Uganda, Venezuela, Argentina, Poland, Algeria, Canada, Nepal, Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Taiwan, Australia, Yemen, Romania, Syria, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Cameroon, Angolia, Kazakhstan, Burkina Faso, Niger, Malawi, Mali, Guatemala, Ecuador, Zamia, Zimbabwe, Senegal, Greece, Chad, Belgium, Portugal, Tunisia, Czech Republic, Bolivia, Rwanda, Hungary, Guinea, Belarus, Sweden, Somalia, Benin, Austria, Burundi, Honduras, Switerland, Isreal, Bulgaria, Serbia, Tajikistan, Papua New Guina, Libya, Laos, Paraguay, El Salvador, Jordan, Togo, Denmark, Slovakia, Finland, Singapore... and the list goes on.

Each of these countries represents billions of people on the globe. There is a fire inside of me, and I refuse to let it be extinguished.

In a couple weeks I'll be on a plane headed for Cambodia- I have no idea what God has in store for me while I am there, all I know is that I am going there to be a voice in the wilderness. John 1:5 says "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it."
No doubt, I will be doing scary things while I am there - but...

I am equipped.

"Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you." Psalm 91:7

"For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12

"We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but never destroyed." 2 Cor 4:9

"And the same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus." Phil 4:19

"He will cover you with his feathers, He will shelter you with His wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection." Psalm 91:4

"We live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life." 2 Cor 4:12

We have been called to the uttermost bounds of the earth - we are equipped, and we are protected.

Each one of those countries is a home to millions of people. Each person has a story. Many of them have been silenced. It is my job to walk alongside them - to speak and fight on their behalf, and to introduce them to the man who sets captives free.

"You must do it, you can't hold back. You have enjoyed yourself in christianity long enough. You've had pleasant feelings, pleasant songs, pleasant meetings, pleasant prospects. There has been much of human happiness, much clapping of hands and shouting of praises- very much heaven on earth. Now then, go to God and tell Him that you are prepared as much as necessary to turn your back upon it all, and that you are willing to spend the rest of your days struggling in the midst of these parishing multitudes, whatever it may cost. You must do it! With the light that is now broken in upon your mind and the call that is now sounding in your hearts, and the beckoning hands that are now before your eyes, You have no alternative. To go down among the perishing crowds is your duty. Your happiness from now on will consist of sharing their misery, your ease in sharing their pain, your crown in helping them to bear their cross, and your heaven in going into the very jaws of hell to rescue them." -William Booth

Jesus went into the darkest of places. He was not kidding when He said, "Take up your cross, and follow Me."

Hourglass

Maybe we are all looking for a little motivation. It's dead week for some of us students and it seems that we spend more time on facebook in this single week than we do all year. I know for me, I find things to do that I usually dread doing; running, showering, etc. Just about anything sounds better than sitting, trapped in a building with my nose in a book. We have little motivation until we realize we have only a little bit of time left before the exams. We realize that the sand in the hourglass is running out, so we force ourselves to get busy.

Luckily, we have an hourglass that we can plan our study habits around. We are given a date that we can put in our planners which reminds us that after that date, we will never have to worry about that material again. However, this is not the case in most other areas of life.

If you have been around for a minute, you've picked up on my passion for women who have been forced into the sex trade by human trafficking. There are also other issues that are heavy on my heart... depression, self-mutilation - all dealing with bondage and satan's strongholds.

Many of us don't deal with these issues today. Some of us have, some of us do, but none of us have to. We were not created to be held hostage by these horrific chains.

For those of us who do struggle with these issues, it is vital that we reach out and ask for help. We were not created to do life alone, and God never intended for us to figure out all of life's scary questions by ourselves.

If you have never struggled with these issues, perfect. If you have, and you've been set free, even better. We have to do something about this for our friends. We can never be sure when their hourglass will run out. We do not have time to mess around.

Currently, 27 million people are enslaved around the world due to human trafficking. The United States is the prime destination for sex-trafficked victims, and Oklahoma is the 4th leading state where sex-trafficking occurs.

Today, 1 in 5 teenage girls and 1 in 7 teenage boys partake in cutting themselves. Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death for people between the ages of 10 and 24. It is the 2nd leading cause of death for college students.

This is a cry for help.

Be intentional in everything you do and say to the people around you. You have absolutely no idea how close to the end of their rope they are - your words bring either heaven or hell to earth.

We have the resources to transform these numbers. These cases are real people with faces and stories. We must devote ourselves to loving people. People must always be restored. Invest your time into someone. Walk alongside someone. See that you are intentionally interrupting peoples' lives with the utmost respect, love and grace. Meet people where they are.

We don't have all day - the hourglass is running.

Victory

Easter Sunday is the monumental day and focal point of our faith. As I think about the resurrection of Jesus, I can't help but think about the the way He was tortured and beaten on the Friday before... Isaiah 52 says, "his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness"... He was so disfigured that He was unrecognizable as a human being. I get sick to my stomach when I think about how that kind of treatment could be put on anyone, let alone the savior or the world.

He knew that all of that was going to happen to him, and instead of removing himself from the cross, He endured the pain. He hung there because He knew the affect it would have on the rest of mankind. He knew that the only way to redemption was through His sacrifice. Here's the coolest part: He took that place for me. Had it only been me that was going to walk on this earth after Him, He still would have spilled His blood for me. A sinner; unworthy; so extremely undeserving... I could never earn my place into Heaven, but the moment he let His son be crucified on that cross, He gave me the opportunity to accept the gift of free grace and enter into His family. He invited me into his family, and secures me in His love. I can't escape Him. I am His forever, and He is mine.

I think too often we see the outer shell of the lives that the people around us live and we feel like we can't compare to them; we think that they are so much more deserving than we are. The good news is: the ground at the foot of the cross is level for everyone. We are all saved by grace. There isn't a single one of us that is more deserving than the next... "and all of our righteous acts are like filthy rags..." (Isaiah 64:6)

The blood of Jesus washes me. His sacrifice saved my life. His blood is my victory.

It's easy to get upset when we think about the treatment that Jesus persevered through... but that is exactly what he did! He persevered! He rose again. He rolled the stone away, and went to go celebrate with His friends! He defeated death, sin, hell, satan... He destroyed all the things that come against us in life.

When we accept Jesus into our hearts, we are a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says that we are a new creation, the old is gone and the new has come. We are redeemed, and we are co-heirs with Christ. We are victorious in Jesus!

We are victorious in Jesus.

We live in this world, but we are not of it. We know that we are here to love and to serve people. We are here to sing praises, and to carry the good news to our peers; to our offices; to our campuses; to the homeless; to the widows; to the Nations. We are here to be Jesus to the world - We bare the name of Jesus.

Don't you ever forget that YOU were created in God's image. He sent His one and ONLY son to die for YOU. He endured through the crucifixion for YOU. He rose again for YOU. Through Him, YOU are victorious. Walk in Victory today - You are a new creation. His grace and mercy is made new every single morning. He loves you far beyond what You could ever imagine in your wildest dreams, and He marvels at Your beauty.

"Today suggests we're part of a bigger story, one in which Love wins." -TWLOHA

to be known...

I was watching a youtube video of a woman. She illustrates the story of the woman at the well that is written in John 4. A story about a woman who believes she is unworthy to be in the presence of Jesus and tells Him she is no fit to give Him a drink. He looks into her eyes and tells her He knows her and describes to her a place where she can drink water that is everlasting; a water that will quench her thirst... a drink that will satisify her soul. When she realizes the man that she is encountering, she wants everyone to know. She can't keep it to herself; the message is too powerful to not tell anyone. She discovers a fire that has been lit inside of her; a passion to spread the good news. Tonight I was sitting in Brookies room with about 10 girls and we were talking about the things that were going on in our lives and the lives of our friends. We began to speak about the ways we are seeing God move within our friendships with our sorority sisters, our guy friends, our roommates and people we have never even met. We also talked about the areas of our lives that we are expecting to see Jesus intervene. Because we have seen it first hand, we are convinced that God has the power to transform anything we ask Him to... At the beginning of spring break my roommate Rachael was staying at my house with me and my family because her parents were out of town. She has had some issues with her hearing, so she had gone to the doctor to have some tests done. The doctors had diagnosed her with a hearing problem that was going to result in her having hearing aids for the rest of her life; keep in mind, she is 18. (sidenote: the poor girl has all kinds of health issues. she was once told that she would live the rest of her life sitting in a wheel chair, but by the power of faith and the grace of God she gets to enjoy the simplicity of skipping.) Anyway, we had just gotten home from getting her blood drawn so they could run some tests, and Barb and Craig (my parents) were sitting on their bed when we walked in. We told them the story of the doctors concerns, and Craig was quick to suggest we lay hands on her ears and pray for her to be healed. This past weekend Rachael had to go back home to have more tests done; the results of her tests showed that her hearing was equivelent to the hearing of any perfectly well 18 year old; elimating the need for hearing aids. The doctor was blown away, certain that what the results said was impossible. Jesus had something different to say about it. How cool is it that Jesus knew everything about the samaritan woman who He found at the well? He knew she would be there; He knew she didn't have a husband. He knew she had been married five times, and that she was currently living with a man she was not married to. He knew she was a sinner, and he looked into her eyes and offered her hope. He offered her something solid, something distinct that she would never forget. The woman is an illustration of all of us. Do you ever have one of those days, or weeks, when you feel like your actions are completely out of character? Or you get stuck into a lifestyle for so long that no one believes that you can change for the better? Have you ever been with a group of people who refuse to believe the best for others... and constantly talk about "reality"? It has to stop. In order to be the body of Christ we have to stick together. We must call forth the good in people, and encourage each other to be the best we can be. We are brothers and sisters, and we are only as strong as our weakest member. It is time that we act in a way that draws people to us. We have the gift of eternal life, and it's crucial that we give it away. When we wear the name of Jesus, we are constantly selling him to the world around us by what we say, do, watch... Believe the best for people. Pursue people in a way that you're seeing who they are, not what they do. Be vulnerable. Let people see you. We were created for community. Ask God to intervene, and then watch Him. Through you, His power is spread throughout the world, and He is made even more famous. I once read something that said, "God welcomes us to punctuate our faith with as many exclamation points as question marks. Be careful with the quotation marks." How are you selling Jesus? His message is a message of furious and redeeming Love. Once you encounter Jesus, you can't escape Him. The torch has been lit; spread the fire.

Completely Fearless

A couple summers ago I went to Amsterdam with six girls. The purpose of the trip was to get interviews for a Thesis paper that was being written about Post Traumatic Stress Discorder and the affect it has on prostitutes; however, the meaning behind it was much deeper. We were going because we wanted to intercede on behalf of the women who were behind the windows. We had no idea what would happen while we walked those streets of that dark yet beautiful city, but we knew we were called so we fearlessly walked through the alleys and pleaded to God on behalf of those women. It was almost as if we were invisible; not a single man heckled us or even acknowledged us. We were hiding in the shelter of the Almighty and walking through the valley of the shadow of death at the same time.

The day I left for that adventure, my friend wrote me a letter about the importance of the work that was about to be done in that city to further the kingdom of Heaven. He told me that the characteristics of a disciple were three things: Absurdly Happy, Completely Fearless and in Constant Trouble. These three things have stuck with me since I read them for the first time, and they are the epitome of what I strive to embody.

God proves Himself faithful every single day.

I was talking to a friend this weekend about the things God was doing in his life and his eyes lit up with excitement. I could see how eager he was to tell me about the way he was touching Heaven with one hand and earth with the other. He told me that he was a firm believe in that everything we own belongs to God, not only ten percent. As he often claimed his belief in this, he hadn't ever literally given everything he owned away. He told me that God had been telling him, "if everything belongs to me, then give it all to me." So, he literally emptied his account and put it into his Community Group account, which is used to serve people in the community by financially meeting their needs. He had $0.00 in his account, and thirty dollars in his wallet.

Most of you are probably thinking, "Sounds radical. How foolish of him to have no money to support himself, what is he ever going to do without being able to buy food or pay rent?" The coolest part is that God never calls us to do something that we can't handle. However, he does call us to do things that stretch us to the point that we can no longer depend on ourselves, our success, our jobs and our bank accounts. When we are absolutely reliant on God, we experience the fullness of His provision and His grace.

So, as he was driving down the street one day, he sees a guy on the side of the road kicking dirt. God tells him to pick up the stranger, so he turns around and asked the guy if he needs a ride. The guy gets in the car, and after a long conversation explains that he can't work because he has a disabled shoulder and his electricity bill is due and he doesn't have any money to pay it. so my friend askes him how much the bill is, and the guy says around twenty dollars. He pulls out his wallet, gives this stranger the thirty dollars he has left and he tells him to pay his bill and buy himself something to eat. He prays for this guy's shoulder and he tells him the power of prayer and encourages him to keep believing and to expect God for healing, and it will be his. When they arrive at the boy's destination, he gets out of the car and my friend is left with absolutely no money. As he told me this story, his eyes were big and he explained it as the most freeing state he has ever been in throughout his entire life.

"With every decision, we bring either Heaven or Hell to earth." -Rob Bell

He survied the next couple weeks by eating at school, and refraining from buying anything until his next paid check came in. He was completely fearless.

He knew that if he was going to say He was following God then he was going to do it with his whole heart. He knew it would be easy to preach, and not nearly as easy to practice, but he made the decision to trust in a God who had plans to prosper Him. He knew that the Lord is mighty to save, and he expected God to teach him that first hand.

It had nothing to do with explaining theology, or demanding answers to his questions... it had everything to do with being stretched to where he could bring Heaven to earth for one man who needed his electricity bill paid. It was the drive to take Jesus literally when He told his disciples, "drop your nets, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."

It may sound radical, it may even be radical; but what will our success driven, money hungry society turn into if we continue to let those things control our lives? It is absolutely crucial that we take a completely fearless approach to living - our eyes will be opened, our hearts softened and our horizons broadened if we give God the opportunity to stretch us. It won't be easy, and certainly not comfortable but it will change the world.

"...I will make you fishers of men." Matt 4:19

Medals and Wash Rags

Today at church Pastor Clark was speaking directly to the men in the church about the way they are called to treat their wives, or future wives. As a girl it was easy for me to sit back and "Amen" every single thing he said - He talked about multiple issues that Men are called to take care of, issues that any of us women could talk about for days...

Towards the end of the sermon, He looked into the eyes of the Men in the congregation and said "Be her biggest fan." This struck a cord with me. It is a small idea that transforms relationships and ultimately lives. You could say that it's important to me because words of affirmation are important to me, but I refuse to believe thats it...

His main point was to be her biggest fan - but the subdivisions of this one point blew my mind and stirred my heart. The Holy Spirit was flowing out of him as he spoke about the way husbands should always call forth the potential in their wives. Here are some of the things he said that are worthy of note taking:

"Be her biggest fan. Your words should always bring more healing to her than hurt. We are all visionaries, and I know this because God is a visionary and we were created in His image - Ask Him to give you a glimpse of His vision for your wife's life. Tap into the presence and the power of God and catch a glimpse of the things God is doing in Her life. Listen to her. When we are fully being lead by God, we are leading our wives and our children to follow in the way of the Lord. He has plans for her the same way he has plans for you. It is our job and our duty as men to speak life into her and to encourage her, reminding her that she is dazzling and beauitful and worthy and flawless. When she is discouraged and battling insecurity and we say, "oh that's just how she is..." we are settling for what Satan has to say about her. God created her to wake up, ever single morning, in all humility and say, "I am the result of God's creation and I will walk with confidence in Christ praising Him for all He is, regardless of what comes at me today." As husbands, we must breathe life into her, into her dreams, into her potential."

What if, with every person we come in contact with, we looked them in the eyes and truly believed in their potential? Not just the people who have college degrees; not just the CEOs; not just the ones dressed in fancy labels; not just the ones who seem to be going somewhere in life; and especially not just the ones who might better us and help us out in return. What if we spent our lives encouraging and pouring ourselves into people?

When will we realize that life is not all about the things this world has to offer?! When will we acknowledge the truth that our lives come and go in a flash? we are here today and gone tomorrow... When will we stop carrying on comfortable casual conversation, and begin to rip off the masks and tear down the walls? When will our achievements and our trophies stop getting the best of us?!

I am so tired of the world getting the best of our generation. It's draining. Yes, school is so important and yes our resumes looks better when it has lots of pretty things on it... but man, how dangerous is it that Satan has such a hold on us that those earthly desires of being so successful and rich and achieved can consume us. When we will drop the rich, beautiful, materialistic lifestyle that we hold onto for dear life, and fall on our face before the Lord?

I don't just mean physically, I mean spiritually - we have to wake up. it's time we start doing what we are here to do. What are you investing your heart in? which kingdom are you so desperately clinging to? what are you putting your time into? What is defining you? What consumes your thoughts when you close your eyes at night? What consumes your thoughts when you're practicing piano, or football, or physics? What consumes your thoughts when you walk through the double doors of your dream job? Where is your life headed? Who are you speaking life into? Does it stop with your wife?

What will it take for you to exchange the medals of worldy success for a bucket of water, some soap and a wash rag?

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21

You were created for victory. It may not look the way you draw it out in your head, but that doesn't mean you've failed. You are an overcomer, and you are victorious.

For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 1 John 5:4

How cool would it be to see Jesus and be able to look at Him, hand him the baton, and say, "Finally, after 2000 years, we got it done for you."

Do something about it.