a message for kai from shu=shu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1j9oSFfbAY

A message for Kai Kai

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j805cvn1srg

A Story From A Friend.

God's desperation

I was praying a few months back that God would begin to break my heart with what breaks His. I felt so far removed from that burden because truthfully, I was apathetic to the thoughts and ways of God. I asked Him for the ability to love the unloved, the broken, the unsuspecting, and the doubting. He pointed inward, straight at myself. Use your doubts, fears, and failures to begin to know how to love others, Liz. I had to start from the inside.

What would God love and value about me? It meant changing my belief system. It meant changing the lies and exchanging it for beautiful truth with every thought that ran through my head. Scripture tells us to take EVERY thought captive and to think on what is good, pleasing, and perfect. It is SO hard to do those things; but, I don't regret any of this time of purifying. It hurts. It aches. And it is raw and beautiful.I asked God to give me a heart from the homeless. I don't know why that word was placed so deeply ingrained within my heart but it was. I had a vision of people so broken and cast aside...of men and women whose names I do not know but their eyes questioning and pleading for Truth that saves haunts me.

I asked God for the ability to love the homeless, to remove my prejudices that lay dormant. He showed me a man in my town named Reggie with beautiful eyes that sparkle with a hope that I did not yet know. His hands are scarred. His flannel shirt is faded. His southern accent speaks music to the heart of God because he knows what it is to want, fear, and need to hide in the cleft of the rock. Jesus is HIS Rock. Reggie and I shared a meal of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and talked about love, faith, and the fact that we're both broken. I gave Reggie what I had in my wallet, but he gave me something so much deeper and more intimate. I hugged him and felt his shoulders shake. He said, "You're just a little girl. You don't know what I've done and you don't know how long it's been since I've had a hug." Tears poured down my face when he said that. "You're just a little girl and your heart is beautiful."Gently, I put my hand on his face, and said, "Reggie, I'm the little girl that Jesus commanded to arise from that room of death. You're the man outside of the gate called Beautiful, rise up and walk, friend."

I haven't seen Reggie again after our last peanut butter and jelly meal. But he changed my heart and my life. I feel like I met an angel who dared me to wrestle with him. Not to wrestle in the physical sense, but in the cultural and emotional realms where I've been taught to avoid the eyes of those I do not know, to judge immediately, to cast blame and suspicion. I walked away with a limp. I realized my blindness. He is beautiful and so very loved.

If I do nothing significant for the rest of my life career-wise, I want to hug people.That said, on May 28th, I am moving to Denver to intern at the Denver Rescue Mission. This mission feeds, clothes, loves, and educates the people of Denver. But they also take the time to look at the hearts of those so desperately hurt and desire to see them transformed with the love and power of God. Only God can produce heart-change, not man.

Is that not just an amazing story told by a young girl just totally annointed by the Holy Spirit. I asked Liz for permission to post her story on my blog because it is so evident that she has been blessed. Thank You Jesus for allowing us to be your hands and feet.

What is Happening in Our World?

This is a great article I came across. How inspirational when you have Jesus working behind the scenes for you. "When God is with you, who can be against you"? I love that scripture.

What Is Happening in Our World?
by Barbara Rainey

Since the U.S. economy started its sharp slide last fall, I've done a lot of thinking about what this all means to me, to my family, and to our nation and world. While watching this downturn, my thoughts have gone from, "This is interesting" to "This is perplexing." If it keeps falling, the prevailing emotions could inch nearer to frightening.

For now, the word "perplexing" accurately describes my vantage point. My family has been affected in several ways. My husband, Dennis, is working harder than ever here at FamilyLife, putting in 50-hour weeks trying to find ways to cut expenses and increase revenue. I just talked to one of our sons who said they are living hand to mouth, barely making ends meet. And I know it's true. Their pantry was bare when we visited last month. Another son and our son-in-law are both doing the same, working harder than ever trying to keep their families fed and their payments made.

These are not "business as usual" days. What our country is experiencing clearly isn't a brief downturn where things will return to normal in a few months.
What complicates it even further is that the American economy is a global issue. This leads to the question, What is God up to?

While I do not have the answer, I think it's good that we ask questions like this. We who claim to belong to God must be measuring our experience against the truth. We know that God is not passive. He is not sitting idly by just watching. That is not His character. Instead, God is intricately and intimately involved in the rise and fall of nations and in the comings and goings of all people.

Yesterday in my Bible study class I heard a verse that I do not think I've ever noticed before. It was as if lights flashed around it, dramatically grabbing my attention. This one short phrase fits this season of our American life perfectly: "And He will be the stability of your times" (Isaiah 33:6). That's the bottom line. No matter what God is up to in the world today, no matter what course the current economic crisis takes, no matter what the political leaders in Washington do, God is the stability of our times.

It reminds me of the first line of an old hymn: "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness." Our hope cannot be in money, a job, our house, our friends or family, and certainly our hope cannot be in Washington, D.C. All of those will disappoint.

Our hope must be in Christ alone for only there will we find true stability as individuals, in our marriages and in our families. In Christ alone, and in the power of His Word, we can find the strength we need to face the challenges of today.

I remain perplexed at our current state. And at the same time I am cautiously optimistic and even hesitantly excited at what God might be doing. Could this be part of the end times? It's possible. Will our businesses and families be better for this pruning and winnowing work of God? If we cooperate with Him in this there is no question we will be better for having been pruned.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:8 that he was "perplexed, but not despairing" when he was in the midst of trials and troubles. I have found great comfort in recent seasons of suffering in that short phrase. It is okay to be confused, baffled, and even mystified at the circumstances of my life. I can be perplexed and still be found having faith. Only when I move to despair, which means hopelessness, am I not living in faith.

We cannot know what tomorrow will bring but we know the One who will bring it. And that alone can keep us from despair as He brings stability to our times.