Being civilized is overrated

Ya'll Jesus has blessed me with such a relaxing day!  Went to this random but not so random church, ate a really great burger, threw frisbee and ran in Central Park, and just laid around all evening...I feel so rested and that is something I have not felt since I have been here! I got to talk to my Daddy twice(HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD!), talked to my Grandpa(Papa), my Mom, and my little brothers...not to mention one great conversation with my girl Hannah Price...she is amazing and I lover her :)

So I wanted to blog about my church experience today...So we meant to go to this church called Trinity Grace annnnd since there are so many churches with the name trinity in it we went to some random baptist church on the upper east side by accident.  So we realized what happened and decided to just stay put...totally a God thing!  I am not going to get too detailed but the message was based on MATTHEW 11.  The pastor talked about John the Baptist and how he was seen as a messy, wandering, crazy kind of guy...or a barbarian.  He offered the idea of what it might look like if Christians stopped living a life of civilized Christianity and started living like barbarians for Christ...so many people (especially christians) play it safe and miss out on living a life for Christ.  What would it look like if we were all barbarians for Christ...being crazy for him, telling people about him and not caring what anyone thinks.  Sometimes the church can be the greatest offender to the kingdom simply because we are lazy, ignorant, afraid, prideful, stuck in our ways people...but THANKFULLY our God created grace and Jesus has offered it for us to take...I don't deserve it, you don't deserve it, truth is no one will ever deserve it but he gave it to us anyways...and if we take it he promises us abundant life, fellowship with him, and the opportunity to live our lives for him...but what he doesn't promise us is a safe life...from hurt, brokenness, death, pain, persecution...but he does promise that he will be there every step of the way AND that he has been through it all!  I think sometimes we think...oh woe is me im going through this intense struggle and no one understands...well NO cuz Jesus does...I mean he died for us, he carried the sins and burdens of the entire world on his back...he knew our struggles before we knew them...why in the world would we think the he wouldn't understand.  This sermon really got me this morning...cuz this is stuff I tend to struggle with...prime example, fear.  I actually read a passage later that was really encouraging to me...its 2 Corinthians 4! You should prolly read it.  So yeah I guess my challenge for myself and for you is just to ask...what have I done for God lately?  Have I stepped outside of the box of civilized christianity at all, or even considered it?

Please pray for us tomorrow as we continue our work on campus...pray that the Lord will use us to reach students with the gospel, his love, grace, that they will come to have a relationship with him and become barbarians for Christ!