Francis Chan

What an amazing man of God. His faith is so inspiring. I found out last night that he would be speaking at Auza Pacific, which is like five minutes from LPC. So even though I had to wake up a lot earlier than I had expected to on Monday mornings, i managed to get myself out of bed. Let me tell you it was so worth not sleeping in. I can not explain how excited I was to meet this guy. All the way there I was bursting with excitement. We got seats pretty close up, and I could barely contain myself. I looked around at this huge gym as the students kept piling in. For some reason though they did not seem to excited. It was then that it hit me, we as a generation are not on fire for Jesus. Azuza is a Christian university, and they showed about zero excitement to be there in chapel. It broke my heart. Where are the next generation leaders? Why did they not share the same excitement for God that the few of us from LIFE did during worship. We are in a serious spiritual drought and if we don't do something about it things can only get worse. God brought us to live on this world, but to not be of this world. He brought us to seek out those who have lost their way, but how many of us are actually living that out? How many disciples have we raised up personally to go out and fight the good fight of faith? There is so much that we have been putting off that we can not afford to be putting off. It is not that we are to  busy it is that we are to scared and  lazy. Why not share God's love with that person in line who has pain in their eyes? What will it hurt us to reach out and help someone? Sorry for the rant I just felt it on my heart to share this.
Well going back to Mr. Chan. He came out a few minutes before chapel started, and the friends I went with told me to go introduce myself. Oh  boy was I nervous. Let us take a step back, and explain why. Earlier this year when I really started following Christ I joined a small group, and Crazy Love was the study.It ended up being just me and the leader going through this service, but I am so glad it was. Francis' book makes you think of the really hard questions you never want to ask yourself as a believer. He pushes you to dig deep, and excits you with his passion. The number one thing that I learned from his book is that I do not want to be a luke warm Christian. I want my life to resemble Christ in all its meaning. This book at this time helped to really seek out more of God, and not only that but to stand firm in my decision to follow Christ. I wish I would have fully explained that to Francis today, but none the less I was honored just to meet the man who has given his life to God. Today during his teaching he spoke about how we are all human, and that we all have the power of Christ in us. That we will do not only the amazing miracles that Jesus did, but that with His power we could do more. Wow. What a concept, that I a new follower of Christ, could do the miracles of Jesus! Could this really be true? It was mind blowing to think of how true this statement is, and how often we do not see it. I want my faith to grow so that I may know that no matter what I face that Christ Jesus resides in me and through that simple truth I have the ability to be like Him.

There was one question that he asked that stood out above all else: "if someone were to put your life in the Bible would it be worth reading, or would they just flip on to the next story?" Don't let anyone tell you that what you are doing out of faith is crazy if it matches up with the Word of God.

courage

It's amazing how we can touch people's lives by simply having courage.
People are looking for hope.
Searching for an answer
I have never been so open about God and my belief as I have since I have been at LIFE.
Tonight was one of my quad girl's birthday and we went out to dinner.
As the entire group of 18 of us sat there I felt the tension from one of the waters.
At first I thought he was just being a jerk, and decided to be a bit of a brat in the way I responded.
As the night went  on I felt something else.
Towards the end of dinner he was coming around to fill drinks, and I asked him how his night was going.
He was kind, but heavy hearted.
I noticed he had a tattoo on his arm, and asked him what it was.
It was a tattoo in memory of his 5mo. old son who had passed away two months ago of a heart attack.
Way to go Bianca!
Not only was I rude in the beginning, but I brought up the pain again.
A friend and I talked about praying for him.
So the next time he came around we asked if we could pray for him.
To my complete surprise he said yes.
We laid hands on him and prayed.
Immediately after there was a change in his face.
Almost as if he had just been given a candle in a pitch black room.
What an amazing thing I got to witness.
God used me and Jamie to bring comfort to this guy who was working so hard, and dealing with this loss.
Though sometimes we don't understand why we feel compelled to do it we need to remember, it has absolutely nothing to do with us.
NOTHING.
We are called to say something or do something, not because we are something special.
God wants to speak, and keeping quiet is to deny Him.
I can not explain what was in his eyes once he said Amen tonight.
He needed to hear from God that everything would be ok, and that his son Mauricio was home in heaven.
I urge you to read this prayer and make it your own, and pray for Miguel and his family as they deal with this loss.
Father God as I sit here I pray that you bring a peace into Miguel's heart. One that only you Lord God can bring into his life. We know that you have a plan for Miguel and Mauricio was apart of it. I pray that you guide Miguel and strengthen him as he learns how you will use him.. Lord lift this families pain, and help them to understand there plan. I pray this in your Holy and Precious Name,
Amen.

It is time to step outside the box. I know there is nothing else for my life, why haven't I taken full advantage to make disciples in all nations yet. I can start here in my nation. I ask for courage for my life, and anyone else who might possibly look at this. Let us do your will Lord God because your plan is always so much better than anything we can ever come up with.

recruited

So its the beginning of week three. WHAT? I can barely believe this to be true. Week one was awesome after worship night we had a series of events including a trip to donut man, bowling, and a movie night. We have gotten together and gone to places like Hunington Beach and now yogurtland. Classes are amazing! My professors have so much passion for what they are doing, it's amazing. We had retreat this past weekend, and it was amazing. Our speaker Keith Jakins just brought such a powerful message about unity and sticking together. Worship was awesome! It was so great that I lost my voice over it.  Being here has been such a huge change. God is present in every conversation in one way or another. We support each other in evangelising where ever we go, and it's ok to talk about God openly. As great as this all is the course work has been tough. There is so much material to cover. I wish I would have documented all these events as they were happening, there could have been so much more detail. Out of all this good I know that I am being attacked right now by the enemy, and its getting hard to stand my ground. I am trying so hard to not be alone right now because I know that is when he goes after me, well it's either him or my own self. As Keith spoke this weekend he spoke of the war that is to come. That is truly what I am facing today is the mini battles for going out to war. It's funny because my dad was in the marines for a period of time, and growing up he told me I should join. My first reaction would always be, "Heck NO! You are crazy dad! What if I were shipped to war? I couldn't deal with that!" Little did we both know that I would later be recruited to join an army that would be more powerful, and would face a battle field every day of my life. With God I can be a solider and stand my ground, with out God I will run and not stop running until I can never go back. I don't want to be running anymore. I need to take a stand, but I can't do it alone.