God forsceawað=God provides

The words above are from the Old English Bible and used in Gen. 22:8. Abraham tells his only son Isaac who, unknown to Isaac, God tells Abraham to sacrifice to Him. Abraham’s use of the word “lamb” is also intriguing but that’s a whole other blog entry.

What I’m getting is this: “God provides”. Take an hour an let the promise sink in. I don’t think we get it. I didn’t until last week.

God talks to me in themes (not showtunes or chorus lines even though that would be cool). When God wants me to learn something, that Message speaks through everything. Sometimes it’s like a whisper but sometimes it like handwritten letter. I received one last week.

Being a campus ministry intern/missionary/full-time student makes one pretty broke (financially speaking). It’s just the way things are. I go through spouts of worry when I have to ask my folks of friends for money to put gas in my truck or for money to go to the market for food. And then last week I lose one pair of jeans out of the two I own. Without a trace they poofed out of existence to no clue of mine. Great! Now I need to spend money I don’t have for a new pair of jeans!

Two days later they reappear. I know what you’re thinking, “Cool story bro. I’m glad you wasted my time with the story of the Traveling Trousers” but you need to know something first. Before disappearing, these jeans were a size 34 waist and were always falling off when I’m somewhere between a 31-32. Now these jeans are 32’s and fit like a dream. Crazy huh? Even the tag reads “32”.

What do you do with that? I’ve heard of God doing some cool things but this is a bit weird, right? But what’s the Message?…

God forsceawað. That’s the Message.

“If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” Matt. 6:30

Unsettling when God says you are “of little faith”? How has your faith in God’s provision grown?

Words have power more than we give them credit.

Essentially, Words are symbols for thoughts, feelings, and ultimately the breath we use to form Words to speak.

The original Jewish name for Jesus is “Y’SHUAH” meaning Salvation. His name is who he is!

Therefore, we should hold our Words sacred.

What words do you use for God? Do they match up with his glory? Do they equate his fullness? Do they build brothers and sisters up?

Or, do our Words fall short of his majesty? Maybe our Words aren’t used to build Strongholds of Hope, Love, and Peace in other’s hearts, but our Words build Crypts of Apathy, Hate, and Complacency in their stead.

The Words of the Enemy are Lies: Hate, Slander, and Deceit. The Enemy comes to Steal, Kill, and Destroy.

The Words, or WORD (scripture it self), are/is Love, Hope, Assurance, and Peace.

a-peck-of-owls:

So here i am: Boulder, CO

The smell of rain and mist off the Flatirons potently fills my nostrils like Vaporub: portents of the work of the Holy Spirit to come. Since the end of the semester something has been groaning inside of me. More like clawing I should say. God is going to do something big this summer. I know it.

It all starts Friday night: the night I arrive

After 12 hours of driving Friday night to Denver and resting and visiting with the Nowell family, Benny invites Johnny and I to Barlow’s (an upscale cigar shop) for some guy time. I love to go there to hear all the stories Sam (the owner and fine gentlemen I should add) and the other very affluent patrons have to share. When Benny, Johnny, and the rest of the crew present a good time is guaranteed. Laughs and smoke rose through the air

As we laughed, a man rode up on his bike and entered the store. Evidently, this man has been here before and is not really well liked amongst some of the patrons so the front room kind of clears out into the back room. Johnny, Benny, and I stay in the front room while the man gets a cigar and sits down with us. We introduce ourselves and he announced himself as Alex.

As the conversation went on, God began to show up. I know this because all of the sudden this half lit, drunk, and possibly mental man starts to talk about Him and asking us about our beliefs. It comes to find out that this guy was an agnostic/Jew/Zoastrian and that he think Jesus was a good prophet and not the Son of God and that good deeds, good thoughts, and good words are basic principles of life. What an amazing opportunity to show the love of God. Did we bash this man for his beliefs and throw the Bible at him? No, we did not. Grace is extended from Christ to all so instead we shared ours and why Benny, Johnny, and I do what we do. Did he bash our beliefs? No, I say again. However, Truth was spoken into his life. As we began to speak of Jesus I think he started to get it and Idiscerned that this man has had a bad experience with the Church and got burned. 

He began to share deeper information about himself about how his brother. His brother is a recovering crack addict and is living with Alex. His brother is doing great and getting his life back on track. He is going to Church, found a good girlfriend and has kicked his crack addiction. Alex has been a big part of his success.

Alex is very rich, keep this in mind. Remember when I wrote of him riding his bike to the shop? Well, it was because he let his brother borrow his Audi to take his girlfriend on a date. What a blessing that is. It reminds me of Acts chapter 2….Well, after a great conversation I think a seed was planted and he began to think. God does amazing things with a 21-year-old college student, a campus minister from Texas, a street pastor/viking, and some cigars. 

This was only the first night.

The next day…

On Saturday, Johnny left back for Texas. Still waiting for our other intern named Ty (who’s a really cool guy by the way) I got to hang out with Nikki Nowell and the kids for a while. Nikki, Pete (their youngest) and I got to have some good time doing errands around town. It’s always a blessing to be around Nikki and the kids. Nikki has such insightful words of direction and encouragement and Pete’s random synapses fires keep the day interesting.

That night, Benny and I took the streets at the Pearl Street Mall to do some outreach to our street friends with some dry socks. The area has had a lot of rain lately and dry socks are like gold. We got to walk around and love on some friends in the name of Jesus…

And prayed for healing.

We met our homeless friend named Lynn by the creek sitting on a ledge with her head in her chest. After talking with her she revealed she was sick and needed help. We didn’t have any Tylenol but Benny offered to pray over her. She took the offer without hesitation. Laying our hands on her we began to pray. Benny’s strong direct words cut straight to the heart. I believe God will heal her. We haven’t seen her since that night, but I am confident God has taken care of it.

I love God and my street friends. Only Day three