Random stuff

So Wednesday I spoke at Teen MOPS. And I was reminded how my testimony, all of the sordid situations I put myself in...and all of the time I spent wandering...was for a purpose. I have specific things to share with those girls. I have specific ways that I can relate to them. I have specific gifts to touch them with. Had my path been different, it probably wouldn't be so. I know what it's like to feel lost and broken in a sinful world, making sinful choices. I know what it's like to feel like you could never be a "good" Christian because of how others will judge your past. I know what it's like to feel ill-equipped to share the gospel because reciting scripture isn't second nature. And I know that all of that is a farce. While I do have a responsibility to grow in my knowledge and mature in my faith...I don't have to meet certain qualifications before I can spread the truth about who God is and the transforming way He has touched my life. When I see them...those young girls chasing after no good boys, laughing at sex and making it a joke, using their sexuality to "get ahead", choosing to live in denial and choosing to ignore the warnings that their behavior needs to change...I see myself. What I used to be.

I don't want them to wait until their mid to late 20s as I did to seek out the Lord. I want them...at 15, at 18, at 20...to see that the kingdom of the Lord can be theirs too. It's better to allow Him in now, than think you have tomorrow to shape up. Tomorrow isn't granted and your eternal salvation is nothing to play with.

I look around Elmbrook-at the staff, at the pastors and at the congregation...and I see how little I have in common with many of them and yet how much. Little because there are few there who've hung in the hood and ran from shots next door at a 4th of July party. Little because there are few there who've dealt with the racism that my family has had to. Much because Christ has laid down His life for each of us. Much because my God of all is theirs too. We can learn much from each other. I like being different and am so grateful to God that He made me just who I am. I pray that I continue to go exactly where He wants me to go, exactly when He wants me to.