Resurrection Sunday

Easter/Resurrection Sunday was so awesome!  I helped set up the sun rise service at the old airport where the community was also invited to come celebrate.  I was also a greeter and surprise surprise LOVED it!  And if that wasn’t exciting enough, it became even more worth it to get up at 4am to help when the extraordinary sun rise beamed up over the mountain at 6:30 am shining down on the praise and worship that was going on in celebration of the day that Jesus rose from the grave.  He is alive.  Jesus was beaten and crucified, wrapped in pounds of linen per the customs of Hebrew burial and then placed in a tomb.  Jesus was the messiah, the son of God,  that the people had been in high anticipation for, waiting for thousands of years, their redeemer, their help, and their savior.  Not only did Jesus state this when he was alive but in the Old Testament it was prophesized that when the messiah came he would be beaten and sentenced to death for our sin and then rise on the third day.  With the Jewish religious leaders (those who most opposed Jesus and wanted him dead) being well seasoned in the Torah, which is the Old Testament of the bible, they set an extremely heavy rock over the entrance of the tomb.  There were guards constantly at watch to ensure Jesus would not rise.  Jesus first appeared to Mary, a woman, in which in those days the word of a woman was not valued even over a slave’s word.  If a woman wanted to speak truth to a court she would need three men to agree with her for validity.  The tomb was empty when the disciples got there, the linens left behind.  He then came to His disciples and they believed.  All 9 prophecies were filled by Jesus' life in a matter of 24 hours, no other death was like His.

Jesus is alive.

Colossians 1:13-15

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.  He is the image of the invisible God, the first born over all creation.

I have seen this redemption power, the resurrection power of the cross.  We can attain it.  God is freely giving it to us and just wants us to say yes to His offer.  Say yes to our almighty father, accept His sacrifice for us and the Holy Spirit of God is given to you -  the power that raised Jesus from the dead.  The stories and testimonies of this campus are completely astounding.  I see God’s glory in every single one of these students of all ages as they have chosen to walk with God and accept His healing power and love.  A beautiful girl, on meth and heroin for 12 years, from age 11 to 23.  During the last year of her addiction she was going to a friends funeral each month and she knew she was on the same path but couldn’t seem to stop, too addicting, to hard to change now.  Once she heard the gospel of Jesus and chose to give Him her life, she was completely delivered from her addiction, without withdrawals or rebound episodes.  Instantly healed.  Instantly felt love and forgiveness once she chose Him.  An amazing young man with 9 brothers and sisters whose parents were married due to getting pregnant before marriage.  He had a life of an alcoholic father, depressed mother (who did believe in Jesus), being beaten and told he was worthless his entire life, no relationship with his father although he slept in the next room, never spoke with him.  After 15 years of this his mother one day said I give your father one week, if nothing changes we are leaving, we have to get out, we have endured enough pain and suffering.  A week passed.  The mother had everything in the car, all their belongings and the kids were ready to leave the home where they had spent their whole life.  It was just like any other night, their father drunk at the bar, so they thought.  They were gathering the last of their items in the house.  This was it.  All of a sudden their father busted through the door, bible in hand, fell on his knees weeping and cried out “Don’t leave, I chose Jesus.”  Although this didn’t completely change how the family was in one day, it was the beginning of a road of healing.

The power that raised Jesus from the dead, we have that instilled in us if we just believe.  When you hear of miracles, healings, restoration, being delivered of meaninglessness - that is the power of the Holy Spirit that is available to us.  He is always with us.  He loves you so much and all He asks of you is to choose Him and believe.

Holy Friday

In Spain, Korea, as well as many other countries this day is called Holy Friday, which really I prefer, because good as an adjective doesn’t nearly describe the profound meaning of this day.  This is the day; almost 2000 years ago that Jesus was betrayed by his friends that he had walked with for 3 years, teaching and training them in the ways of the Father.  And what was in it for the betrayer was 30 pieces of silver, basically the cost of an average slave.  This day, as it was occurring was full of deceit, lies overtaking the truth, torture, despair, injustice, greed and all sorts of terrible feelings, emotional and physical pain.  Jesus endured all of it and He knew it had to be done.  Many of us today often feel these exact things that went on that Friday so long ago; signs of our brokenness.  If that Friday was only viewed as what was on the surface, evil overcoming good, then that day absolutely would never be called Good Friday.  Even the sun refused to shine that day and the earth quaked.  But what was good on that day was God; His mercy, love, compassion, and forgiveness.  No one took Jesus’ life that day, He freely gave it.  This is the mark of ultimate love. 

I have often forgotten or push aside in my mind the significance of Easter.  It’s so easy to do, as humans are so prone to forget, therefore we must constantly remind ourselves.  This is the basis of Christianity.  Why do we celebrate it?  What is its meaning?  Ok yea I get God, but why Jesus?

Before Jesus, man was separated from God by sin, there was a barrier.  We were (and still are) imperfect and could never truly know God because of His Holy and divine nature.  There were Major and Minor Prophets in which God would speak to them in various ways so that the people would know of God and how their creator intended them to prosper on earth.  If you commit a crime today, justice must be paid in some sort of way, whether it is by spending time in jail, paying a large fee etc.  God instilled justice in our human nature to be true since we came into being.  When sin/crime was committed before Jesus, the people would sacrifice their best and most perfect lambs/animals as an offering and replacement for the injustices they have committed in their lives, and so that God would forgive them.  There had to be some sort of payment.  God began speaking to the profits over a thousand years before Jesus was born.  God said that there is to be born a perfect and spotless lamb, which will be the final sacrifice to end all sacrifices and cover all sin.  Specific details were given to the profits of Jesus’ birth, what city he was to be born, in what family line, that he was to be born of a virgin, etc, and that this was the son of God.  There were 12 major profits before Jesus, each hearing specific details of this coming savior.  When Jesus was born, His birth fulfilled every one of these details.  Not only did Jesus’ have a perfect life in the sense that He committed no sin, but He was the sacrifice, our sacrifice, so that all of humanity would be forgiven.  He performed miracles before people’s eyes, healed the sick, tended to the poor, and lived as what the world would call a poor man, but in eternities eyes He would be a very rich man.  Jesus knew He was going to die from the beginning.  He was fully man and fully God.  He not only spoke of Gods character but portrayed it in His life. 

John 5:7 “…the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”  Jesus was an imitator of God, which we are called to as well.

When Jesus was executed on the cross that day, to the eye it was a day of sadness, despair, and hopelessness.  But truly it was a day that fulfilled what had been written thousands and thousands of years before.  It was a day that the world would place their calendars and base holidays around.  This one man.  The ultimate, perfect sacrifice.  He died for you, to wash away your burdens and wrong doings that dwell in your mind and heart and so that you could truly know God.  He bridged the gap.  And you can know God.

You are no longer broken, allow Him to wipe away your feelings of anxiety, lies, deceit, greed, fear, pride… He died for you.  Choose Him and experience the unexplainable joy of being in Gods presence yourself. 

This is ultimate love.

You don’t know until you know and it is easy to play it safe.  You don’t even have to take my word for it, test it for yourself, the bible says to.

Isaiah 65:24 "I will answer them before they even call to Me.  While they are still talking about their needs, I will go and answer their prayers!"  

Away From the Line

Each day I wake up with a song of praise in my heart that automatically is expressed on my tongue.  Joy explodes in every step I take throughout the day.  Today we get our first guest speaker, Mark Anderson.  He has 30 plus years behind him of global experience in evangelism, church-planting, being a pastor as well as the president of the Call to All organization.  I know today was going to blow my mind at the truths God was going to pour out through this man. 

One of my girls in the class, Kelly and I have the work duty of hospitality.  We make sure the guests feel so welcome and have a comfortable stay.  We clean and prepare their rooms, prepare snacks, make coffee and make lays for the guests.  Mark Anderson’s home base is Kona, but he just returned less than 24 before from the Philippians.  He arrive at our class and Kelly and I went up on stage and gave him the lay and gift basket.  Then Aaron, our main leader, asked that we stay on stage and pray for Mark’s time teaching.  Oh my goodness, I thought who am I to pray for this Godly man that has had traveled the world and has even been in leadership roles with Billy Graham!  All I thought was ok God, your going to have to pull this off because I was trying to find anyway to get out of it!  But it was so awesome and such an honor to be able to bless and encourage his time with our class.  And wow.  What he had to say was like a fire hose.

Many of you know my passion and love for dance.  I have been on dance teams before and one of my biggest dreams was always to be an NFL cheerleader.  Since I really started perusing my faith a year ago I began to feel differently about this dream of mine.  I struggled with the question of if being a dancer for a pro football team would be representing my faith well.  When it came down to it I knew my answer, but I didn’t want to give up my dream.  In my heart I tried to compromise with the fact that I am purely doing it for my love of dance and performing and maybe I could even be an encourager and hold bible studies for girls on the team!  It wasn’t until I was in the third round of the San Diego Charger Cheerleader tryouts that the Holy Spirit was so present in my heart.  I began to look around at the girls left who were going for the 30 or so spots.  They were beautiful, stunning girls complete with tiny little outfits, loaded on make up and many with their fake hair extensions.  There were a few groups gossiping and others taking pictures trying to make these seductive faces.  My heart sank and for the first time I thought, “What am I doing?”  Would I even get along with these girls?  Are these the type of girls that I want to have influencing me?  Would I be strong enough to stick to my faith or would I want to fit in, because it always feels better when you fit in with the group.  This was such a hard thing to have hit me.  I loved dance, is this really the truth I’m feeling!?  But I felt such a relief when my number wasn’t called to go onto the final round.  Most of all my heart broke for those girls.  I just hope and pray that their validation doesn’t come from their looks, being a great dancer, or getting any negative attention.  I hope and pray they know how much the God of the Universe loves and adores them.  So long story short, giving up that dream was such an emotional struggle and still is and I still have the desire at times but truly hope that I can soon find a way to dance that fulfills my desire and that also completely glorifies God.  If you honestly want to follow Jesus there is a line.  It is black and white.  There is no gray space.  I decided that I didn’t want to be wavering in the grey anymore, and in fact I wanted to get as far away from the line as possible. 

God is totally moving in this place.  He is always present of coarse but I’ve never felt it like this before.  We start every class with worship.  On the very first day of class during worship, one of the leaders came by my side.  I thought she was going to pray for me or just stand next to me.  She then leaned over and said, “God says that He gets extreme joy when you dance.”  I was shocked, I had to have her repeat what she said to make sure that I heard her correctly.  Tears began to uncontrollably stream from my face.  She had no idea my passion for dance and the dreams I gave up and what a sensitive topic it was for me.  God, The God, gets not only joy but extreme joy when I dance!?

If you just take one baby step toward Him, He will pull you up on His lap.  He knows the desires of your heart.  He will fulfill them and will never limit you with just what you want but pour out things you didn’t even know you wanted.

University of the Nations

I may be in Kona, Hawaii but this truly is a University of the Nations.  There are 46 nations represented on campus with different cultures and backgrounds.  It is almost as if the world has come to Kona.  I have 4 roommates, three so cute girls from South Korea and one amazing girl from South Africa.  The particular school I am apart of is Call to All. 

From the moment I stepped off the plane in Kona such a sense of peace came over me.  I can not even begin to think of words to explain the environment of the campus.  Everyone is here ultimately for the same purpose: to get a deeper sense of who God is and to truly know Him and seek Him with all our hearts.  Out of every place I have ever been, honestly this place feels the most like home.  Already I have made such deep friendships, everything unveiled, sharing the deepest parts of our hearts.  This is true community, how it was meant to be lived - Completely loving on one another, encouraging each other, being respectful, patient, embracing differences and bearing each other burdens. 

Our Call to All class is growing to be more like family than just classmates and this is only the beginning.  We have had beach days and we play all kinds of games (which I thought was so childish at first), but it seriously is the most pure fun I’ve had in so long!  There are all ages on campus as well and many families.  It is a spotless, raw, authentic community.  Such a blessing.

The sunsets are absolutely stunning every day and geckos are becoming my favorite animal.  We have our meals at the cafeteria which is outside and the food is actually so good.  

I am so excited for tomorrow as it will be our first guest speaker.  God is always at work in everyone’s lives, but it is when you take time to stop and recognize it, that is when you will be blown away.

Prov 4:18

But the path of the just is like the shining sun.  That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.


At the end of each day I am in such awe of how amazing it was.  I think it can not get any better but somehow it always does.  

Stepping Out of the Boat

When you are distinctly called by God, you can do nothing but follow Him.  Nothing else will satisfy, except to follow Him with what He is pressing on your heart.  But getting to that point is the hardest part.  I am currently in Kona Hawaii at University of the Nations.  This University is affiliated with YWAM,  (Youth With A Mission) that began over 50 years ago, distinctly from the voice of God.  YWAM is more than just about missions.  It is about nations and cultures that come together through the passion of Jesus.  Through schooling the students learn to truly know and seek God and to make Him known to all the ends of the world. 

I just recently felt this calling on my life.  My deep faith is something fairly new to me and it has been an eventful past few years.  I first felt this pull to live differently my last year of college.  My life from the outside appeared to be very successful and accomplished to any eye.  I was about to graduate from pharmacy school and was ensured a six figure income right off.  I began to pursue the entertainment world and was selected for a part in a movie with famous actors.  I was on a semi-pro football dance team in which I was busy doing promotions and perusing my passion of dance.  And in the midst of all these great things of conquering the world, I was still not satisfied.  In fact I was even more lost and uneasy about the future and my purpose than ever.  That is when I remembered my faith.  I would have said I was a Christian my entire life but with what God was about to reveal to me, I can honestly say that I had no idea what being a Christian was.  As I began going to church again, suddenly everything became so real.  The bible became real.  The words from the pages were true words from God, our Father, who created us, the meaning of why we are living.  I then thought if I truly believed what I say I do and it is the meaning of life and why we are on earth… that’s huge!  It was all or nothing for me.  If I truly believed, I am going to whole heartedly give my all. 

Just a few weeks ago I committed to giving it my all.  I gave up my job, left my friends and family and finally listened to the pulling on my heart to completely pursue Jesus.  Hawaii was a very special place for me.  Just about a year ago I was on Oahu’ for pharmacy rotations and that is where my eyes were truly opened up to Gods boundless presence.  Now, here I am once again in Hawaii, on the Big Island in Kona.  I am currently in the lecture phase of my discipleship school which lasts three months and then I will be going on an outreach to a different country for three months.  And I have never been more stoked and excited to live life than in these moments now!  It is all because I shed off any bit of discomfort and took a leap of faith into something that I knew was the first step in discovering my calling. 

Matthew 14:29-31

So He said, “Come,” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.  But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”  And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Have faith.  Take a chance.  Step out of the boat, walk towards Him, you can walk on water too.