Absolam

I have yet to find a real meaning behind the name Absolam in the Bible. But it holds deep significance to me ever since Emily and I created a scene at a bar months back at a punk rock show.

I don't remember the exact extent of how things happened but basically a man came up and tried talking to us and basically just wanted us or maybe just emily and our response as typical was, "Do you know Jesus?" Because what a better question to ask if you wanted someone A) to leave you alone or B) talk to you about Jesus duh. Well in our case we did not get anything that we expected but instead went into a lengthy time of prayer and intense spiritual warfare.

The man was possessed in my mind. There is a difference between being possessed and being afflicted by unclean spirits. After the question, he showed us his cross necklace. Then He showed us the cross that he had branded into his chest. After that, there was no question in what we were dealing with. Emily started talking to him and I started praying for her and him. His anger raged and his muscles flexed to the point where people were looking at us. To the point that Ted wanted to come over and help us but i told him to go away. He wasn't going to hurt us, though he could have if we were stupid.

It was a heated conversation and very different. In the end he told us he was Absolam as emily repeated to him that Jesus Reigns. And any normal person would have called her crazy and walked away but for some reason as his muscles flexed and his anger raged he stuck around to hear that "Jesus Reigns" And rightly so, because He does and this guy needed to hear that. It was a good night. A good night for learning what it means to be spiritually drained. And that is what Emily was.

God does strange things. And exciting stories like this seem obsolete months after, but they aren't.

I love you.

Jesus loves you more.

Moments

Tim H. shared his story tonight at lighthouse. It was an amazing story of life and fear and God of course. The kairos feast was after and i was so very excited to see the books we might be reading. One was donald millers new book, "a million miles in a thousand years" or something like that. So Tim and Donald actually do go together. Tim shared a story of a mission he went on in Nycity and preached the gospel to a subway car. Donald Miller writes a book about life and moments and I read the inside flap and it talked about how a guy wrote down every memory he ever had because if he doesn't remember then it fails to exist in his life. He wants to remember it all. Significant or not.

So I got to thinking and I want to have a significant life. I want to be the lady at the dinner table and her grandkids look at her in amazement as she shares her life stories with them. And She has so many that her kids still listen because they haven't heard them all. I want to be able to tell a good story. I want to make my taco bell trips life stories. I want to tell stories of extraordinary efforts for Jesus. And extraordinary doesn't necessarily mean you had a gun held to your head and you shared the gospel with him and he accepted Jesus and you live to tell. Extraordinary could just be the things we forget. So my next blogs will be my memories. My extraordinary feats that may seam mundane but remembered are inspiring.

Coffee

I don't know if I've blogged about it, but if I have you'll (meaning emily most likely who reads my blog) will have to deal with it again.

I really want to like coffee. A lot actually. I see pictures of piping hot coffee with little bubbles on top because it's just been poured in the really awesome looking mug and i want to drink it. Not because it looks good or because I know it tastes delicious (because i think it tastes nasty and therefore looks nasty) but because when i think of coffee I think of really awesome things. Things like sitting in a coffee shop getting to know someone and you've got your hand held firm to this wonderful cup of coffee. Or sitting on a couch in front of a warm fire place, with a blanket wrapped around you, your best friend next to you and your talking about life with two hands grasping one mug and sipping ever so carefully. Or.... reading a wonderful book sipping coffee.

There's so many things that could be going on with cup of coffee. And when I say coffee i don't mean a coffee drenched in white mocha or wonderfully sugary flavors, but a plain black cup of coffee. And I miss all those moments and have to settle with a cup of tea, or a wonderfully sugary coffee. And it's just not the same. It's a completely different effect.

As for now, I don't think i'll ever like coffee. It would take a major life changing moment, like drink coffee or die.

All things New

God takes us through seasons in our life. Good things and bad. Regardless the outcome, we always get a fresh start. Soon, I will have to really buckle down and find a new job. Soon, my soul mate will be gone and living in california. Soon, I will be done with school. Soon, I will be living at my parents house again.

Every comfort that I may or may not really have is about to be shattered to pieces with only bits of old hanging on. I'm excited. Truly. A new job opportunity means I'll have money to make it to school when i have to start driving (so not looking forward to that). It also means I'll get to meet new people. Expand my horizons a little. I'm looking forward to wherever He places me.
Emily leaving is bittersweet for me. I'm so excited for her new start in California. i know it will be hard, but it will be so fun at the same time. Sometimes I long for a new start like she is getting the opportunity to do. I'm not exactly sure how my days will look like with out her in them. I suppose they'd look like they did when I didn't call her my soul mate but just some chick i thought was way too good and much too in love with Jesus to be seen with the likes of me. I like these days much better so I'd rather not go back. I will have exciting times in California with her now :) There's so much that could happen and I'm so very excited.
Being done with school is a joy that needs a whole blog all to it's own. Let's just say I'm really really excited for that and super anxious to find out where I end up!
Moving back home is very nerve racking to me. I have no idea what will happen or come of that. I truly have to trust that God will do what He needs to do and I pray He leads me every step of the way.

I'm ready for new things. I embrace them with open arms.

Onething'09

God is so very good. All the way before time. He always has been. Rob, Andrew, and I drove down in my Grandpa's sweet Honda. And that alone is a story in itself. But God is so very good.

We got there Tuesday and stayed until Thursday. Pretty much the world is ending and we need to love Jesus as much as we can in the same way He loves us. Really though, God is doing something amazing in the hearts of believers. Something more than what we have experienced before. His Spirit will be manifested in ways that most people believed does not happen anymore. I watched it first hand among the thousands of people at onething.

Worship was awesome. We worshiped for over an hour each time and about 4 songs in that whole time. Legitimately.

Words cannot describe how amazing it was. I wish more people experienced it with us. I would not have changed a thing about it.