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! :)

Home Sweet Home.

Hello all! We are alive and back in Texas. Do forgive us for missing in action for so long. We have been hugging our family and friends as well as sharing  with a few churches what the Lord has been up to these last six months. We will be mapping out our next six months while we're here and it looks like we'll be heading northwest. Thank you all for walking through this journey with us. We will get back to you as soon as we hit the road in a few weeks.

P.S. we got new shirts and will be uploading pics shortly! :)

Secret Blog

This blog is not going to be well written. It is not going to flow and it probably will not even make sense.  I do not really know how to start and I have no idea where it will end.

There is an image that I cannot seem to get out of my head.

It goes like this:

Jenna, Thomas, and I were walking away from Charles and John one day kind of disheartened by their refusal to drop their alcohol.  We could all feel the weight of God's broken heart falling on our shoulders.   We know that God has so much in store for them.  We also understand the power that alcohol holds on so many people's lives.  We have been told so many times that beer makes life's problems fade away.  Beer makes reality disappear as they fade into an easier escape.

Anyways, the picture is this.

Jenna could not stand it any more and in all of the boldness of Christ she left Thomas and I in hopes of really breaking through with these guys.  I could see her from the distance as she knelt down on her knees in front of John and Charles.  Unafraid of their homelessness, she became their friend.  She got down on their level and looked at both of them through their eyes and into their souls. I watched her from a distance as she showed them her breaking heart.  As tears flooded down her face she pleaded with them to let go of the lifestyle that has been pulling them down for so long.  With every ounce of heart and energy that she had, she showed these guys the gospel of Christ.  I could see John wiping the tears off her face as the Holy Spirit filled the bridge that they sat on.

This picture shows me what it means to Love Deeply and Fervently.  As I watched Jenna and John and Charles....I felt the weight lift off of my shoulders.  Not because John and Charles came off of the bottle....because to our knowledge they haven't....but because I knew that through Jenna we were doing all that we could do to show them the truth.  I knew that God was using the hands that she laid on them, the feet that carried her there, the knees that she bent in front of them, the mouth that she boldly opened, and every single one of her tears to show these guys that Jesus means it when he says he loves them.

Then there is a second image that is stuck in my head. It looks something like this:

The inside of our van.

It is stuck in my head because for the last few days we have not been able to pull ourselves out of it.  We are tired.  Really tired.  We have both verbally said that we have grown weary in doing good and are ready to have consistent showers and a comfy couch for a few days.

Somehow these two images come together in this verse. "But you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.  For I am already being poured out as  a drink offering..." 2 Tim 4:5-6

We know that we are called to rest.  And we are taking that time now.  But we also know the crazy joy that comes from knowing that we are pouring ourselves out as drink offerings unto the Lord and into the lives of the people like John and Charles.  We do not have to do anything but yield to God and He blows our minds up with images like these.

So....I don't know.....this is what the Lord is showing us.  So please, pray for John and Charles.  Pray for us. Pray for God to do what only He can do.  Pray hard.

This is the fancy ending....
:)

The Way of Holiness

Soon after arriving in Chattanooga, TN we drove to the top of the highest mountain.  From there we could see the entire city as well as hear the still, small, whispering voice of the Lord more clearly. We could hear the heart of the Lord beating for the needs of His people in Chattanooga. There are people roaming the streets of this city with no home, no shower, no doctor, and consequently no hope. God's heart overflows with a desire to cloth the homeless and feed the forgotten.  As our hearts began beating in sync with His we began reading and proclaiming Isaiah 35 over the area.

"The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice...Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.  Say to those who have an anxious heart, 'Be strong; fear not!'...Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame man leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing for joy."

As we came down off of the mountain, we began meeting the people that the Lord had in store for us. He immediately began to reveal to us people whose lives were full of dry areas in desperate need of some living water.  We met Tammy, Sammy, John, Charles, and Jerry.  Jerry was our first friend.  Thomas, our new friend and temporary VanGoer, picked him up off of a corner because he was holding a sign that said "Hungry." We met with Jerry a couple times to feed him physically with hopes of feeding him spiritually.  Jerry grew up in foster care.  He moved from family to family and says that "some of them" treated him ok.  He dropped out of high school after deciding that his one and only goal in life was to get out of the government's control.  When he turned 18 he emancipated himself.  As far as we know, freedom from foster care brought Jerry the most happiness that he has ever felt.  What is even sadder, Jerry has no desire to find happiness beyond that.  He is content with living on the streets.  He brags about how much money he can make on the corner some days and admits that he spends most of it on alcohol and marijuana.  

John and Charles have been friends for about 15 years.  They met each other on the bridge and have been roughing it on the streets together ever since.  John was married in 1993.  Together they had a baby girl.  He said, "We were going to church, baptized, and saved...I guess I have just backslidden." After the divorce John says that he just stopped caring.  To John life became seemingly meaningless.  He hit the streets and the alcohol and has been content there for far too long.  Charles has three kids that he raised on his own after his wife left him.  His 2 girls became nurses and his son, a computer technician.  They really want their daddy around but they do not want the drunkenness that comes with it.  Charles says, "I ain't gonna lie to ya, I really like alcohol.  It helps me stop hurting for a little bit." Some nights the beer makes him feel ok about his life and some nights he "still goes to bed crying." Both of them are finally ready to get out of their lifestyles.  They just cannot find the strength and the courage to do so. John said he is finally ready to live his life again and Charles said that God has been calling him to Himself for awhile. He felt the power of God when his knee started feeling better after we prayed for it and is continually feeling that power as God asks him to set down the bottle and pick up the cross. Though they are still so deep in their walks away from the Lord, they are now beginning to see a small light at the end of the tunnel.  

Tammy and Sammy are a married couple from Knoxville. They've lived a life of hard drugs and alcohol until seven months ago. They decided there was more to life than the bondage they were in and it was time to take hold of the life God intended them to live. After throwing out their needles, the dark world they were in got even darker. Sammy lost his job, they couldn't afford housing with heat or electricity, and they found themselves worse off than they ever were while doing and selling drugs. They felt Satan tempting them to return to his world of lies and temporary satisfaction so they packed up and fled to Chattanooga. In their words, "If you wanna change your ways, you have to change your playground." They both brag about the freedom the Lord has brought them and how the joy He has given them is better than any high they've ever gotten (and they've tried it all). Since we've met them, we've watched as God provides for them in such a timely fashion. When they ran out of money for a motel, a church deacon showed up to cover the fees. When they needed clothes for interviews, a man named Greg clothed them. When they were overdue for a hot meal, the Lord allowed us to feed them. After applying at every place they could find, Sammy finally said, "I've done all I can do and now I feel like its time to wait on the Lord." Two days later he gets a roofing job making $12 and hour. They admit that changing their ways was far from easy and they still have a long way to go but because they were willing to live according to the Spirit and set their minds on what the Spirit desires, the Lord has become their rock.

Charles told us how its hard to be looked down on and judge by those who "have it together." They either glance in pity, look past them as if they aren't even there, or change routes to avoid them all together. We forget that these people on the streets, no matter why they are there, are still people with beating hearts and feelings just like ours. They have faces, names and stories to go with their lifestyle. No one dreams of being a drunk or wants to grow up and be homeless.  Nobody wakes up and says to themselves "I hope people look at me in disgust today." Each of the people that we were blessed with in Chattanooga is in a different stage of their life and we are in no position to judge them or to justify our choosing not to help them.  We are called to love at all costs.  For Jerry we may have watered and for John we may have planted but either way we played the part that God called us to play in their lives...and all we had to do was show up. As followers of Christ we are called to invite people to the sweet life in Christ through loving them beyond, and even because of, their choices. 

We are learning that we lead people to salvation through walking alongside them towards the cross.  We  help them as they work out their own salvation with fear and trembling.  We just have to be there with love....and they will see the sweet Spirit of Jesus in us.  A random man named Tom told us today, "There is something sweet about your spirit." After showing up over and over for John he said, "Nobody has ever treated us this way." So....we are challenging anybody that made it all the way through this entire blog.  We want you to pick somebody in your town.  Pick one person to be consistent with.  Consistency shows somebody that you care about them, that you are concerned about them, that you respect them, and more importantly that you love them.  Love your neighbor this week by giving them whatever they need and then watch as God gives the growth.  If you decide to commit, let us know who you pick and everything that God does because we want to pray with you.  

Isaiah 35 goes on to say....

"For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water...and a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness." 

Let this be true of our country.