Updates Yeah!

Though I haven’t been posting consistently, many of us have been gathering regularly like we began. Some have found that they need to be elsewhere on Sunday evenings and others have found that they need to be with us. Either way, God has worked in strange ways in every attendee, past, present or future.

We’ve  started to get into some more deep studying of scripture. For example: Tonight we read Romans 8 and then went through and talked about everything that stuck out to us, anything that bothered or confused us, and how it all adds to the character of God. Studying this way has led me to many more Biblical accurate conclusions in the recent months. Instead of believing I understand everything in the Bible, taking a more humble and curious approach has allowed me to breach the boundaries I previously placed upon myself.

It’s been good. It’s been fun. And it’s been real fun. There’s only six weeks left of school till we seniors graduate – I wonder what God’s final plans are for us at Coronado.

Aha! I’ve also been discovering how amazing parkour can be. It’s fun, communal, and non-competitive. I’m currently wearing these new parkour shoes I got called Onitsuka Tigers that have awesome grip and are helping me train. You should look into parkour!

Prayer Walking – A Kingdom Experience

On Sunday I was able to participate in a prayer walk around Coronado (crazy how we don’t have Bible study and my church ends up doing that) and I was super excited about doing it with my Gospel community at school. I told some people and sure enough a small group of seven gathered outside of the main offices that are famous for having bathroom tile walls.

We walked around the perimeter of Coronado, stopping to pray when specific things came to mind: teachers, people, events. A cheer clinic/camp for younger kids was just ending as we rounded one corner and families slowly trickled from the gymnasium. Potential victims. Leave it to a girl to be more manly than I and be the first to ask someone if we could pray for them… Everyone was very kind and we prayed over many small children and their families.

We decided to walk inside the school since the doors were wide open and found a janitor to pray for. Except he prayed for us! Turns out he is a reverend at a local church. What a blessing it was to have the coin flipped and to be prayed for. We walked to many teacher’s rooms and prayed for them and even left a couple of notes saying that we did so.

Overall, the experience was incredibly humbling. The faith of my friends, the faith of the families, the surprise reverend, the nearly empty school, the sincere prayers – all of it was God revealing portions of himself to us. I didn’t expect it take more than forty-five minutes, but we were there for an hour and a half! The Kingdom of God was so beautiful, even in our simple gestures of prayer.

I cannot wait to prayer walk at Coronado again and work toward the new goal of praying specifically for every single teacher. God’s plans are not finished. No, much power is yet to be poured out.

Oops, Prayer Walk

You know those times when you think you’re forgetting something but you can’t remember what it is, despite it being right on the tip of your tongue? That’s how I’ve felt about this blog. I have completely forgotten to write what’s been happening the last few weeks! It really hasn’t been too exciting. We’ve gathered a couple of times, met some new Christians, and have continued our adventures at Coronado.

Tonight, instead of hosting Bible study I decided to visit my own church’s Sunday night activity. It always varies but tonight was something planned by no other than God himself. About fifty people from my youth group went to Coronado and did a prayer walk. It was almost like God slapping me so that I would look in His direction and understand that He’s still got many plans for this year and for the current students.

It gets a little discouraging when others don’t seem to put forth effort to make sure Bible study occurs (and I’m guilty of that also), but tonight I was reassured by the spirit that there is still work to be done, songs to be sung, joy to be expressed, tears to be cried, people to meet, flowers to grow, habits to reverse, prayers to be prayed, and glory to be given.

Time Will Tell

Nearly out of time.

With the Super Bowl once again spoiling serious plans to meet, this is the third Sunday we’ll go without Bible study. It’s a bit sad. With lots of trips out of town, prior engagements, and now the most-watched sporting event ever, we’ve had a rough time getting together. Partially  because of other priorities, but also because of lack of coordination. Thursday morning Bible study is consistent, let by an adult who can host every week, but Sunday evenings are more of a voluntary thing.

I am starting to feel it’s imperative that we gather, the urgency. My high school career is about to end, along with many of my fellow believers. Plus, I’ve met several people in the last week who have recently dedicated their lives to the pursuit of God and would love to be a part of a community at school.

I still feel it that God isn’t gonna leave this year without something incredible, but I’m starting to realize that He wouldn’t need me or anyone I know. It could be something just totally unrelated to the efforts of myself and my fellow believers. Only time will tell – and there’s not a whole lot left.

Monday Night Prayers

I’ve been attending Monday Night Prayer for nearly a year and a half now at one of our local churches, Experience life, and several of my fellow believers from Coronado have begun coming as well. Tonight was special because we prayed the entire time for something that this blog is devoted to: revival.

The worship, the prayer topics, it was all centered on the idea of revival – something the people at elife have been praying about for a long time. I’ve even experienced many nights similar to this one, but tonight really hit home for me. God really can and will revive and refresh us if we continue to ask him to. I know it.

This is Monday Night Prayer, but I'm not sure when it was taken exactly.

Pharisee vs Tax Collector

Tonight we had the largest number of people present at one time than normal. Twelve. All of them are involved and frequent studiers but it has been a while since all of us were able to make it together. Six of us started the evening at Rosas and were met later by six more once we reached my house. We worshiped a bit and then discussed the fatal issue of pride and how it’s really easy as a Christian to look down upon others in pride.

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable:  “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” ~ Luke 18:9-14

Back in my apologetic days I constantly and passionately looked down on atheists, evolutionists, and democrats (yeah I was a hater). I was quick to judge and slow to forgive, so tonight’s topic really hit home for me. Yet somehow I was able to find truth in the places I tried so hard to attack. I was once the Pharisee, but now I am the tax collector. Well – at least I try to be.

Thursday Mornings and Reddit

I’m not sure why I’ve never written about our Thursday morning Bible studies… Papa McNelly has been hosting them ever since the third week of school. I haven’t totally associated it with our sort of Gospel community but I now realize that even though Thursday morning and Sunday evening started independently, they are both part of the same movement. Thus, I will write about them from now on!

Pigs in a blanket. Yum. Instead of an in depth study of scripture provided by Papa McNelly, two brothers simply led worship for nearly forty minutes. It was wonderfully refreshing! Even for so early in the morning everyone’s voices were raised and hearts were in sync with the Spirit’s. We read several psalms about the greatness and magnitude of God between songs, saturating the time with even more sustenance. Nobody left the same.

On a lighter note, I made a rage comic yesterday about the disturbing mixture of Christianity and politics and posted it on the Christian Reddit. It got first page =] Note: I have nothing against Bachmann – she just says things that don’t always make sense.

Here Begins the Last Semester

Bleh. That’s how I feel about my spiritual life these past few weeks. Not meeting with all of my believer friends (I honestly didn’t put forth much effort to) and not taking time to draw close to God on my own has taken a toll on me. It’s made me think how far I could go personally if I really did put in the time that I wish I did. Soooo…

In an effort to expand my comfort zone and spiritual boundaries I’m gonna commit to getting up a whole THIRTY MINUTES EARLY in order to read scripture and pray for this semester. In addition I’m going to actually try hard to randomly share the Gospel at school. I’ve definitely put forth effort in the past, but I often found myself making excuses such as, “It may be awkward,” or “This may not be the right time.” That’s stupid. There’s no wrong time to share the love of God.

This semester is gonna be one that shakes the walls of Coronado High School with the immeasurable glory of God. I know it.

Christmas Party! (Week 14)

So this evening instead of partaking in the normal Bible study agenda we just had a simple Christmas party. Food, games, candy canes, and laughter filled the evening. Though we never got into scripture (kinda wish we would have) we were able to build community and enjoy fellowship together.

Amazingly, I was never in any of the pictures!! Crazy…

On a random note: I found these awesome posters made for books of the Bible. Check them out!

Wisdom, Action, Revival (Week 13)

Hi there! It’s been a while! For three weeks I haven’t posted on here despite two meetings. I apologize.

Tonight was incredible. The nine of us worshiped for a bit and dived head first into scripture. I taught on Matthew 7:21-23 and Luke 14:25-35 (Look them up! They’re incredibly convicting!). We discussed the verses and how there are many Christians who don’t live like Jesus did. They probably think that they are on their way to Heaven, but they’re also probably that will call “Lord, Lord” and not be saved.

The passage in Luke was extremely convicting as well – read it! We discussed how our Gospel community was only a half-built tower: we definitely laid the foundation but we had a lot of height to cover, unanimously agreeing that Sunday nights cannot be the end to our journey. We all know that the mission is not to have a successful Bible study every week, but to spread the glory and love of God.

These two pictures were shown to me once and it completely ruined my perception of Christianity:

The booming church: the staple of American Christianity. This is what many people believe God came for: church!

The starving. How can the first picture make sense when looking at this one? Jesus came to serve, no to establish wealthy churches.

We were all so convicted and amazed at the differences between Jesus’ Christianity and America’s Christianity. The two pictures next to each other just didn’t make any sense, only prayer did.

We prayed intensely for eight minutes about wisdom, action, and revival and came up with a couple ideas we could begin initiating to encourage one another and further progress the tower of our group. A lunch period devoted to prayer, random conversations about Jesus at school, and possibly an assembly aimed at sharing the Gospel through promoting causes were all proposed and discussed. Good things are coming – we can all feel it!

It’s really nice to know that these eight people are willing to do some crazy things to share the good news. It’s wonderful having people on the same page! I can’t wait for our gatherings before Christmas break and for the second semester as we go hardcore all the way.

Good night and God bless.