Sin City- A Warning from the Rug.

We spent our last night with our group from California on a trail overlooking the city of Las Vegas. I admit it was tempting to stand in awe of the dazzling lights that filled the valley but it is death that we mistake for life. It is deceitful destruction that we mistake for beauty.

God reminded me of Abu, the precious little monkey from Aladdin. Aladdin and his best friend Abu were on a mission for one purpose...to retrieve the lamp. They were to take the lamp and nothing more but Abu marveled at the gold and riches that surrounded him. Once the right jewel caught his eye, his focus changed. He began pursuing what he wanted, "needed", and selfishly desired. As Abu reached for the jewel, Aladdin yelled with all his might, "ABU NOOO!" The rug rushed to restrain him from the destruction but it was too late. Abu turned his back on what he knew and who he loved and sought his own fulfillment. As soon as his hands touched what he was so sure would make him happy and complete, his world felt apart. What looked like precious gold and rubies quickly turned to consuming lava. Everything around him came crashing down. The beauty they walked through to get there became a dark cave with no way out. 

"The fruit for which your soul longed has gone from you, and all your delicacies and your splendors are lost to you, never to be found again!" -Rev. 18:14

After spending a week here in Las Vegas, this has become its' story and the team from Forerunner Christian spent their time being Aladdin and the rug. With their words, actions, and obedience, they cried out for the people of Las Vegas to turn away from the darkness and find life in Jesus Christ. This city feeds the world lies and tempts all who gaze upon it with its beauty. It lures people in with promises of riches, fulfillment, and satisfaction but only to expose the burning flames of destruction that lies underneath its' captivating lights. 

Las Vegas is indeed sin city. The industry here consists of casinos, bars, night clubs, strip clubs, and prostitution. The city thrives on debauchery and is leaving so many broken lives in its path of destruction. Captain Jameson from the salvation army told us of how so many people in the city came here seeking their "big break" and after pouring all they had into things that never gave back, they are now stuck here with no way out. It is a sad and solemn place here in the dessert. The night life goes on and the lights continue to shine. We watched planes go in circles around the city flying people in just as fast and they were flying them out. From the lookout point, we saw the city for what it really is...a prostitute- promising so much but taking more than it will ever give.

"Come, I will show you the judgement of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immortality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk...I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: "Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations. And I saw a woman drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her,  marveled greatly. But the angel said to me, 'Why do you marvel?" -Rev. 17:1-7

Ketchup.

Last week we shadowed an AIM trip in Denver and guided about 43 students from Minnesota around the city. The kids were exposed to a variety of different ministries and outreaches throughout the week. We served at food banks, worked with service projects, put on VBS, and spent time at the local skatepark. During our debriefing time, the students revealed what God was doing in and through them that week.

Some learned what it meant to work whole heartedly for the Lord at the service projects and food banks.

Others found the fruit in praying, listening, and obeying the Holy Spirit while at the skatepark. 

Many found joy in loving children as Jesus did through the VBS.

Once upon a time we drove into the grand canyon at night and missed all the scenery. When we woke up the next morning, it was pouring down rain. It was a good first time experience of the great grand canyon. We did manage to see some incredible views via bus shuttles despite the weather.

Our second day there, we woke up at 4:40 a.m., walked to a lookout point, and watched God start the day with a beautiful sunrise. That morning we took a 3 hour descending hike below the rim and captured pictures of it all. Unfortunately, pictures do not do justice for God's glorious creation.....and it is a good thing because we dropped our camera into the depths of the canyon- oops.

Title We Cant Think Of.

I went to bed a week ago full of questions that led to confusions and doubts that led to slow falling tears.  Our van was broken down and consequently we had to spend the week stranded away from the people that God had recently broken our hearts for. I fought over different ways that we could show them/ tell them the truth about their maker.  I felt all of the weight of their salvation upon my shoulders.  I was physically tired from seeing the distance between God and his children...yet I couldn't fall asleep.  Anxiety filled my soul and God's answer seemed...so far away.

That night I had a dream.  I usually do not remember very many dreams but I remember this dream.  

I was running around Aamco (The transmission shop) asking everybody, "Why does this have to cost so much?" 

Everybody was laughing at me. They were making a mockery of my confusions and my lack of trust in them.  I was so stressed out throughout the whole course of the dream.

Eventually I found a corner and hid.  Jenna was sitting beside me hugging me as I cried out to God from the depths of my soul.  Then I heard a load voice full of authority say to me, 

          "Though the fig tree does not bud 

       and there are no grapes on the vines, 
       though the olive crop fails 
       and the fields produce no food, 
       though there are no sheep in the pen 
       and no cattle in the stalls, 
              yet I will rejoice in the LORD, 
       I will be joyful in God my Savior - Habakkuk 3."

I heard him say every word of that prayer from Habakkuk.  When I woke up the next morning, before my teeth were brushed, I opened my bible and checked to make sure.  God reminded me that there is joy to be had in him, under all circumstances.  Habakkuk saw the hurts in the worlds and wrestled with God for the entire book...yet God reminds him in the end that in the midst of a hurting and sometimes cruel world, we have to have trust.  We have to believe.  We have to know that He is faithful to complete his good works, according to his greater plans.   

        And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. 

        And on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" 

        And they told him,"John the Baptist; and others say,Elijah; and others, one                     

        of the prophets." 

        And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" 

        Peter answered him, "You are the Christ." 

The people in Manitou are diverse.  Some said they hated Jesus.  Some said Jesus was a great prophet.  Some say he was just a great teacher.  Some say Jesus is one of the Christs or one of many gods.  

We say Jesus is THE CHRIST.  

Because he truly is our only Christ our only Messiah, we can rejoice in the midst of barren lands. We can lay our burdens down at his feet in trust.  

And He did.  By the end of the week, our van was fixed.  He provided money through friends, family, and people that we have never even met before.  We were able to go see our friends in Manitou again! Though they have not accepted that Jesus is the only way, God has reminded us so much of his power and his sovereignty that we can now go to bed at night, peacefully.   

(We're now in Denver preparing to shadow an AIM project for the next week)

        

Heavy Load to Bear

Our thoughts are everywhere right now.  But we will try our hardest to put them into sentences because we need you to understand...we need your prayers.

The Lord is so big.  He is so famous.  But there have been so many rumors spread about him that are not true.  People are confused in Manitou Springs, Colorado.

We walked the park earlier this week looking for people who needed to see his love.  God pulled us down towards the creek where we found a lady sitting on the rocks. Her back was facing us but we could see that she was holding a baby in her lap.  As we prayed over her, we could see that she was holding some feathers.  She was wiping the feathers over her baby's body.  Soon after she sat the feathers down, she started lifting her hands up as if she was worshipping.  Eventually, she started acting as though she was pulling something invisible from the air onto her head. God was pulling us towards her.  So Stacie went and sat with her while Jenna walked away and interceded.


Disclaimer: We will now try to explain the beliefs in Manitou Springs.  Please understand that what we write does not even come close to fully explaining who they are and what they live for.  We cannot put in a short blog the beliefs that these people spent years forming.  

The ladies name is Fairlight.  She said that she had just been meditating, trying to replace her negative energies with positive ones.  Fairlight does this through her imagination.  She pictures a light coming from the sky and then tries to pull it down into her head.  Along with the light she pictures and pulls down different colors...she says that all of the different colors mean different things.  She meditates on various quotes, some of which she hears at her church (Religion Science or something...).  The church reads from things like Quran, the bible, and book of Mormon and quotes people like Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and Jesus.

Soon after we met Fairlight, we began to meet numerous other people who hang around the Manitou area.  Dillion, Josh, Ben, Steven, and Brooke.  They are all fans of this type of lifestyle.  The majority of Manitou is made up of shops that sell all natural foods, medicines, and various meditation accessories like incense.  The majority of the people smoke pot in the open and talk of other drugs that they do on the side.  However, they only choose the naturally made and grown...healthier drugs.  They hate everything conformist and try to live the simplest form of life.  They love each other and help each other at all costs because they say, God is love.  When we say God created the heavens and the earth...they say the "literal translation is..the gods created the heaven and the earth." When we say "Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life," they say, "Jesus is a way, a truth, and a good example of life."  When we say, "Jesus is the only one to ever rise from the dead," they say, "We all rise from our own metaphorical form of death when we choose good things..things that will better humanity." They fight to live in peace and harmony with one another, with mother earth, and with the God that we have within ourselves.  After a conversation with Josh he said, "Be warned, the people here hate Jesus."

The only belief in the community that seems to counteract with them all is called the Twelve Tribes.  They run a local shop that sells all natural teas and matas.  The women all wear long, very baggy dresses and the males all have beards and pony tails (that they call tie backs).  They try to imitate the disciples in Acts 2.  They share all of their belongings with one another.."Distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need."  In order to become a part of their community, you have to sign a covenant.  In order to leave the community, you condemn yourself to hell and lose everything that you had....including your job (because it was given to you from the community).  Their beliefs are thick.  They are filled with just enough truth to disguise the lies.  As Josh said, "Every lie is built up with just enough truth...or else people would not believe it."  Some people believe it. The rest call them a cult.  Regardless, this is the closest to thing to Christianity that they see and it is pushing the majority away.

Starting with Fairlight and ending with Josh, we exhausted ourselves listening to them rant and argue about their passionate beliefs while simultaneously trying to share with them the truth of Jesus.

Then our van broke. Transmission.

So we spent a sleepless night on the streets of Manitou. Our blankets and pillows were at Mallory's apartment in Colorado Springs.  We laid in the van, cold, lonely in our beliefs, and discouraged in our ability to spread the Gospel.

"...In toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure...And apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches." 2 Cor. 11: 27-28

We want them to know....we want them to taste and see that the the true Lord is so good.  But it seems that no matter what we say, they do not hear us.  It is a heavy load to bear...physically and spiritually.

Today we woke up and called for a tow truck who carried us to a mechanic.  We learned that it will cost anywhere between 800-2500 dollars to fix.  Depending on what they find.  Our van is barely worth that much these days.

We left the van with the mechanic asking if he would hold it for the weekend while we sought the Lord's guidance.

We are sitting at the McDonald's beside his shop.

Officially homeless.
Longing to break through to the people in Manitou, we can't even get to them now.

"So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.  For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but the the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." 2 Cor. 4:16

We do not know what the Lord is doing right now...but we are fighting to keep our eyes focused on Him and His plans.  Please pray as we seek to learn what decisions we should make right now.  We could use them now more than ever.

Patience...its a hard fruit to grow.

We are back on the road! It is so exciting to be back.  There is a strange joy that overwhelms us when we know that we are doing what God wants us to do.  It makes no sense...we were once again leaving the comforts of home and stability yet somehow God made us/makes us happy because of it.  Crazy.

Although we are happy to be back on the road, we cannot pretend like the difficulties are not already beginning to seep in.  We have been in Colorado Springs for 3 days now.  We have spent much of it before God, asking him to lead us in the direction that he would have us go.  We asked guidance from the people who live in the area.  When we went to all of the places that they sent us, we did not feel pulled towards any of them.  We have driven throughout the city begging God to show us where the people are that He would have us talk to.  Today we walked along a creek that runs beneath a few small overpasses.  The creek is filled with trash and footprints.  We were told that some people once gathered under there who were followers of witchcraft.  After about an hour of walking and looking, we found 2 sites that single homeless people probably live at...but nobody was home.

Doors have been shut over and over again.  We are still trying to hear his voice.  We are aware of the fact that there are people all around Colorado Springs.  We could walk up and share the love of Christ with any of them.  However, we believe that God has us here for certain people.  We are of no influence to the people that are not ready to hear.  There are people here who God has prepared for us....whose soil is good for the seed that he wants to plant through our lives.  We are trying to be "led by the holy spirit" as Paul was throughout his journey. We are not trying to force any moves....and that is so hard.  Our hearts are ready to serve but our God wants us to be patient.

"Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with complete patience and teaching." 2 Tim. 4:2

So, join us in prayer as we seek to serve. :)
        

From "I" to "us"

Yesterday, my dog alerted me to a stranger passing by our house. He was an older man in a cut off t-shirt, a black skull cap, and a scruffy white beard covered his face. His appearance wasn’t what caught my eye. It was the huge bag of cans he was carrying on his back. I’ve lived here for years but I have never seen him before. I watched him walk to the end of my road searching the ditches and trashcans as he went. When he reached the end, he made his way back on the other side. He reminded me of the many friends that we have met along our journey...and here he was...my neighbor. I grabbed a cup of ice water and met him on the street. As I approached him, he was defensive...as if he had done something wrong. I interrupted his explanation with a smile and introduction. His demeanor changed and he immediately began conversation with me while he drank his water. We talked about weather, work, life, family, and God. He did most of the talking and was delighted that someone wanted to listen. 

His name his William, he’s 58 years old, and he’s been picking up cans for 20 years...he has the warped back to prove it. Throughout the course of this journey, God has made it apparent that before I lived in a van, I only showed true compassion and love to the neighbors in my inner circle. In marshall, I would quickly pass through the ghettos, avoid the passing man or woman on the street, and overlook the hurt that was so apparent around me. At home, things weren't any different. Many people go on mission trips out of town, out of state, and across boarders all the time but for some reason there is a hesitation when it comes to being the hands and feet in our own communities. Maybe it is because the local outreaches are not as fulfilling to the participants. Maybe it is because we are too busy with our own lives at home. Most of the time I think it is because there is a discomfort in stepping out amongst people we know. What if someone sees me here talking to them? What if I know the person I’m talking to? Who am I to help anyone? What do I do or what do I say? Even Jesus said, “...Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” Today God showed me that opportunities to love as Christ did are right in our front yard. The problem is that we are often too concerned with our own lives to notice or invest in the needs of others. 

My encounter with William was only about 15 or 20 minutes but my conviction has lasted all day. We, as believers, often focus on loving the Lord God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength and with all our mind but we fail to love our neighbor as ourself. To love our neighbor as ourselves is to think about others as much as we think about ourselves, to care for others as much as we care for ourselves, to pray for others as much as we pray for ourselves...it is shifting our thoughts from “I” to “us.” 

I am writing this for myself just as much (if not more) for those of you reading. Please join us in fighting to remove the blinders and tunnel vision of our flesh and see the world through spiritual eyes. Through the process, God’s glory will shine.

LoveLove.

Kingdom Dreams

Dear friends whom we love!

We are back on the road!  This break has been incredible, beautiful, refreshing, cleansing, renewing....all things that are good.  We have hung out with our families and friends, shared with some churches what God has been up to, and had some amazing intimacy with our Jesus.  He has excited us all over again about what he is going to do with and through us throughout the next six months of this journey.

We are actually not headed to the northwest quite yet.  Through some neat people that we met while we were in Atlanta, we were hooked up with some equally as neat people named Glenn and Teri who are just now beginning a ministry called Kingdom Dreams.  After a skype date with Teri mixed with checking out their website Kingdom Dreams Tour it was apparent that we share similar hearts for this nation. God has called us to different work but given us the same desire to see his kingdom come. We have joined them to share life as the beginning stages of their dream unfolds.


Kingdom Dreams has a heart that beats for the people in America who want to find their God given desires, passions, and ultimate visions.  They are equipped with coaches who are ready and willing to help people fight through the questions and difficulties that come alongside a desire to dream big.  They also put on conferences in each city that they travel to with hopes of making connections.  They want dreamers to meet other dreamers so that passion can be stirred and connections can be made. They have taken these desires to the streets of America on a six week tour. God gave the team a Luke 10 style vision for this journey. They packed their cars as well as their families and hit the road prepared to live in tents for the next six weeks.  They cling to the leading of the holy spirit as they walk through each day knowing that He alone is the one who brings clarity and He alone brings joy when the rest of the world would be anxious (Phil. 4). They are true and pure examples of what it means to love the Lord at all costs...and they are more than happy to do it.

They were  unsure how things would go since it was their first conference but they were faithful in prayer that God would receive glory....and he did. We watched the Holy Spirit stir up the hearts of his people. Seeds were planted, dreams were pushed forward, and connections were made. As the conference came to a close, we rejoiced and gave glory to God for the work he had done that day. The marveling didn't stop at the church. We returned to our campsite with the team.  The founder of AIM (Adventures in Missions), Seth Barnes also joined us. There we sat with a lakeside view in our lawn chairs eating hot dogs and chips. In the midst of all of his beauty, which literally does scream of God's eternal power and divine nature (Romans 1:20), we bragged on God and encouraged one another in our faith. There is a love that God has given his people that surpasses any type of worldly love.  1 Peter tells us to love one another deeply, from a pure heart.  Because of our common first love, our love for one another seemed to flow pretty naturally.

We talked for hours about what God is doing in VanGo, Kingdom dreams, and AIM.  Though we are heading in different directions across this world, we are leaving with the same purpose....that is, showing off our Jesus in whatever way we can.

We will be working alongside Kingdom Dreams for another week before we prepare to head to the northwest. Holler! :)