I'm scared to ask...

Two guys are talking to each other, and one of them says he has a question for God. He wants to ask why God allows all of this poverty and war and suffering to exist in the world. And his friend says, "Well, why don't you ask?" The fellow shakes his head and says he is scared. When his friend asks why, he mutters, "I'm scared God will ask me the same question." Over and over, when I ask God why all of these injustices are allowed to exist in the world, I can feel the Spirit whisper to me, "You tell me why we allow this to happen. You are my body, my hands, my feet."

We do indeed have a God of resurrection, a God who can create beauty from the messes we make of our world.

This is an excerpt from the book, The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. Read it! It will challenge you to truly live life like Christ.

Extending Mercy

Last weekend I had an amazing experience with the CHBC Young Adults/College Encounter. I attended an event title "Feed the Homeless". The idea behind the event was not to end poverty in Durham/Chapel Hill but simply extend mercy to those in need (I think we are all in need of mercy, but our focus was on the homeless).

I went to Ninth St. in Durham with a team of six. None of us knew what to expect and I was certainly alittle nervous about the whole idea of encountering homeless. But we just prayed that the Lord would lead us, show up, and make it clear where we needed to extend mercy. Within minutes of praying we meet three "traveling street kids". Basically these kids left their homes and now hop freight trains to travel the country, they sleep on the streets and get food wherever they can. I was shocked, there is a whole community of kids around the country that do this. We ended up taking these guys to eat dinner and than spent the next hour simply hanging out with them on Ninth St.

Here are two things that I cannot get out of my head when I think about these kids.

1-People long to belong to a community. To leave your home and to choose this lifestyle, leads me to believe they must have felt like an outsider or outcast at home and this is the better option, they have found friendship & companionship with each other. They really do depend on each other for survival.

2-Jesus sees these kids as treasures. Why do I so often walk by and not see them at all?

Please pray for Crash, Fish, & Carrot. Pray that they find their identity in Christ alone, pray that they feel loved, pray that they are accepted, pray for their safety, & pray for their families.

My Playground

I really think that when God decided to create the beach He said to Himself, "Julie is going to love this place!" I mean, I didn't quote that from Genesis but I really do believe that God is that personal. I love...sitting by the water with a book in hand or a friend by my side, the wind that is blowing my hair crazy (and not caring one bit about it), floating on my back with my feet high in the air, the sun shining on my face or that one little cloud that covers the sun and cools me off, playing sand games and feeling like a kid, the millions of freckles that pop out when lying on the beach , and walking on the beach with water running between my toes. God was so creative and for that I am thankful.