WHAT? There's Muslims in Houston???

I got this from a friend in my email box this past week. She and I had gone to Harwin earlier in the year and I bought a pair of sunglasses in this very store. This message was forwarded to me from her (NOTE - NONE of these comments are from her):


Ladies: don’t shop here!! Is this for real??? If so, these A-holes need to be introduced to Texas justice. Do Not do business with shops on Harwin or at least the Central Mall. See below.
--------------------------------

This needs to go out to everyone in your address book in Houston and everyone in the U.S. It’s time to stop being pansies sitting on the sidelines. It’s WAR. We need to recognize it and deal with it.
--------------------------------

Never saw this reported by the news, disgusting !!!
--------------------------------

They hate America even though they have the freedom to do this.
I love that they posted it in Spanish as well…don’t want to leave out the illegals!
Kathy
--------------------------------

This is from a friend of mine in Houston and she was the one who witnessed this sign. That is so disgusting!!!!
Chrissy
--------------------------------

I only go to Harwin Drive to buy rhinestones when I don’t have time to order in from my wholesale source. Today I went to the Harwin Central Mall to pick up some crystals.

The very first store that you come to when you walk from the lobby of the building into the shopping area had this sign posted on their door. I couldn’t stay in the building it made me so sick. Feel free to share this with others.


Click on the picture to enlarge it if you want!
...end of email...

I'm sorry, but is there something wrong with me? Because my first reaction was NOT to boycott the store, it was also NOT to bad mouth them, nor was it the angered urge to forward this email to everyone in my address book. My first reaction was... "I wanna go there AGAIN!!" "I wanna shop there every week until I become friends with them."

My second reaction was frustration with people (Christians in particular) who react this way instead of reacting with a burden for people who don't know Christ. How would these guys ever come to have a relationship with Christ if we all reacted this way?

I can certainly tell you that I will be making a lot more trips to Harwin Central Market in the future! You can bank on it!

Progress and Innovation

Post Cereals has a created a series of videos celebrating the fact they haven’t messed with their product since 1892… and the problems with progress and innovation.

My favorite is the second episode, “Speech On Progress” (below).



I love their creativity! These videos make me go hmmmm....To watch the rest of the videos (they are all great, including one I love about advertising!!). You can check out the other episodes by clicking here.

Ungratefulness?

After about 5 drafts for this blog, I think this might be the one that I finally post. I’m not saying everything that I could say about this, because it’s not appropriate. I want to, but I can’t. I don’t know why I like to get my feelings out in blogland. To me there’s something therapeutic about it. I process as I write, and for some reason by releasing it to the world I’m sort of able to give it away or something. I dunno, but I have my reasons for not telling the entire story here.

I’ll just say that I have been very hurt by someone whom I’ve poured my life, heart and soul into for the past 2 years. It’s been ongoing for a while, but came to a head this week. This person is very ungrateful, although I hesitate to even say that word because it makes me sound like I want a thank you. I do not. I love to serve people because God gave me a real heart for serving others, and public thank yous really make me uncomfortable.

ANYWAY, I say all that to say that I’m not upset because this person is not being grateful… I don’t expect this person to be, she never has been. But what I didn’t expect was for this person to blame me for the situation she’s in, all the while I’ve been helping her. That kind of cut me to the core.

I cried pretty much all day on Monday because of it. I don’t know why it hit me so hard on this particular day or this particular week. I was angry, but more so, I was hurt. The blame…I just couldn’t understand. It doesn’t make sense to me. Then I had to wrestle with my feelings. My motivation. Was I helping her to make check marks on my list of things to do? Did I do it out of obligation? Did I do it because I wanted her to be grateful to me?

And if the answers to all these questions were no, then why was I feeling this way? Uggg…sometimes being a Christ-follower is hard!

But I do honestly think after much searching and praying, that I’m just hurt because of the undeserved attack. And I think God is ok with me being hurt by that. It’s not right.

But the more I thought on this whole situation I thought about Christ and how ungrateful we can be at times. Not that we are trying to be, just like this person wasn’t trying to be ungrateful to me; we just go on with our own lives and get caught up in ourselves that we forget to be grateful to HIM for all the things HE gives us and does for us…did for us.

Now, I’m not comparing myself to Jesus…but for a moment there, I could really relate. In my tears and hurt...I wonder how He feels every day when he shows me in so many ways He’s there and I forget to acknowledge Him or talk with Him. Or when people blame Him when all He’s trying to do is Help…because He is ALWAYS for our good, even when it doesn’t feel like it.

There’s this song by Charlie Hall called "Scenes." Basically the song talks about how God shows himself to us everyday in little “scenes,” and even though I have a short memory, He keeps reminding me in the “scenes.”



God, thank You for reminding me every day in the little scenes, of who You are. Help me to see them, to not miss them, to be reminded of who you are, and to not be ungrateful.

How Sweet It Is!

This post of for my non-COF friends! It's just such exciting news, that I have to share it with you! Our church has become friends and partners with a tribe of people in Burundi, Africa. They are the Batwa. This tribe has suffered many hardships and oppression from it's people, the government of Burundi ridicules them and they are considered outcasts in their society. They are very poor (in material wealth) and they've never really owned anything of value because the government will not allow it.

Our pastor and his children met the Batwa last year on a trip to Africa. In conversations with them, a vision was born between our Pastor and the leadership of the Batwa. We decided to form a friendship together. This past year has been amazing as we have prayed for the Batwa and began to partner with them by ways of education for their children and land.

Last year, just shortly after our friendship began, our Country Director, Kelley Johnson posted this on our blog, dated June 12, 2008:

"I believe that there is a Promised Land for the Batwa. I believe that God is bringing a blessed land into their possession in the coming season. I believe that the season of dislocation will soon come to an end, and they will inherit land....But something is coming for the Batwa… and many of you are part of that promised future. We are praying for, believing for, waiting for the Promised Land!"

Almost a year later on May 6th, 2009 - (just a few short weeks ago) here is her post:

"God has given good land to the Batwa. I was reminded of Isaiah 41, where the prophet speaks of transforming the landscape for the downtrodden. Where their land was parched and no water was in sight, God brings forth springs of water in the valleys, pools of water to nourish the community. God takes what is arid and lifeless, like the land where the Batwa now are consigned to live – and He brings newness! In this case, He is giving the Batwa a land with water, a river and even a source of water. He is transforming their landscape, and transforming their community and its future. Can you imagine what it is like for those who have never had ample water to wash, cook, drink and irrigate to now have springs of water in the heart of their land? This is Good News, this is Jubilee!"


A PHOTO OF THE FIRST FAMILIES MOVING ONTO THE LAND!!! Oh Happy Day!

Just this week a team from our church went to Burundi for a visit to our friends, and they are having a party of a lifetime! The Batwa greeted our team, and from the looks of it, the friendship between these sweet people and our church has deepened!


THEY WERE GREETED WITH BEAUTIFUL TRIBAL DANCING!


AND LOTS OF LOVE TO GO AROUND!


I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL IT'S MY TURN TO GO SEE MY FRIENDS WHOM I'VE PRAYED FOR OVER THE PAST YEAR!

I have tears in my eyes even now as I share about this special friendship! It's amazing how you can love a group of people without even meeting them face to face, and I can't imagine how it will be once we are in each others presence. So I'm counting down the days until it's my turn to go hug those that I already love! Keep praying for my friends in Burundi, that God's favor would continue to shine down on them and that our friendship will grow even sweeter over the years! A year ago they asked us "to not forget them," and we haven't!

For more info on this friendship or any of our other partnerships, please check out our website at http://communityfor.org/

Something to make you smile

In honor of the new iphone 3GS release today:



A joke about Britian's Got Talent:



This kid cracks me up!



he releases a new video every friday at http://juliansmith.tv

hmmm....IN the box thinking???....

This video segment challenged me! I'm still processing it....

Congruent?

I'm still reading "Daily With The King," I just haven't blogged about it much. But today is worth blogging about....

The opening line, "I must always remember that God is not looking merely for men (or women), but for congruent men; not merely disciples (or followers), but congruent disciples." Congruent means: alike, exhibiting harmony of parts, agreeing, according...I would define it as same-ness.

You know when God wanted to show men what He was like, He sent Jesus into the world dressed in human flesh. Jesus was congruent (or alike - same as) the personality of God. John 14:9 - Jesus talking..."He who has seen Me has seen the Father."

So could congruency be God's method of using a life to explain a principle or truth? For example...nowhere in the Bible is there a textbook on faith, but the Bible presents Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham to show what faith is, by the way they lived. When God wanted to show us what His love was like, He made it congruent in the death of His son on the cross for us.

We, as Christians, are expected to show the world who Jesus is by our lives. Philippians 1:27 says "Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ." The gospel is simply a collection of words, terms, and phrases...all of which are difficult to understand unless they are made clear by someone's life. So when a person who doesn't know Christ looks at us, they should be able to see a connection between what we are and what the gospel is saying.

Dear Jesus...what parts of me do not look like you?

Social Media

I'm impressed with the use of Social Media when it's used for good! I love the organization Invisible Children and their cause, but more than that, I'm extremely impressed at their excellent use of social media and the web to connect this generation to make a difference in the world! I think churches and organizations need to get on board....this is the next generation! Check out the video!

Ever Felt Like This Before?

Creative Marketing :)

I LOVE when Companies are creative in their marketing strategies! This is just funny! I found this on a blog I follow about Church Marketing. They actually say they will design a billboard for free to recreate this from the church standpoint if anyone was up for it...lol. You can check out the original post here.

You can click the photo to see it more closely and read the signs!