IMMEASUREABLY MORE....

What a absolutely amazing week this has been. So amazing, that it legitimately feels much more like a month. I called my mom yesterday saying "I haven't talked to you in foreverrrrr!" to which she responded, "Jordan, we talked for over an hour two days ago!" So amazing that I texted a friend saying "If God blesses me in one more way this week, I think I may just explode. I don't think I can handle anymore!"

So amazing that at 2am as I lay in the middle of  my living room floor studying for the two midterms I have in a few short hours, my mind is wandering.  I want to meditate on everything except for school.

I want to blog it all. I want to tell you the way God is working in my life and the lives of those around me. I want to tell you how He has provided for me in astounding ways. The ways He has answered prayers in ways I couldn't have imagined. The way He has spoken to me. The way He has taught me. The way He has convicted me. The way He has placed  a calling on my life. I want to.  But I can't even form words (feel free to call though, because we  all know I am perfectly capable of talking!).

As I write down my heart in blog form throughout the next few weeks, I will tell you some fun  and exciting stories! For now, I will leave you with this:

As I sat in Bruggers Thursday morning, I began to cry. It was embarrassing. Very embarrassing, but more than anything I wanted someone to come ask me why I was crying. I wanted to tell them what was behind those tears of joy. This is what I jotted down in my journal a few moments later:

"God, today I am completely overwhelmed by your presence. Broken by Your goodness. So thankful for Your blessings. Awakened by Your truths and called to action by the realization of the shortness of life - but thankful for the victory in death! Through me - add to Your Kingdom. This day is Your day. For that, I rejoice. For that, I am glad!"

My pastor said it so well when you said, "That is who He is and therefore that is what He does. He blows minds for a livin'" 

Pray God blows your mind, because He will. Pray that God does immeasurable more in your life, because He can. 

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us!" - Ephesians 3:20 

The Great Dance Floor

Psalm 149:3 says, "Let them praise His name with  dancing..." 

Scripture tells us of David dancing for the Lord. 2 Samuel 6:14 says, "And David  danced before the  Lord  with all his might." 

Scripture continually commands us to dance for the Lord. I recently began reflecting on this when I found a video from my trip to Uganda this past May. I remember the little boys who were literally dancing for the Lord. By dancing I mean, breaking it down!!! I remember the first Sunday we were there in that little church in the village, I couldn't wipe the big smile off my face! I was surrounded by over 20 boys who were once street children. Who once had no family, no home, no food, no hope. These boys now have Jesus in their hearts. They now have a family. They now have a home. They now have food. They now have hope. They now have a overwhelming sense of Joy; and for that, they danced for the Lord! 

Christ Tomlin just came out with a song called "Gods Great Dance Floor."  The lyrics say:

I’m coming back to the start
Where You found me
I’m coming back to Your heart
Now I surrender
Take me
This is all I can bring

You’ll never stop loving us
No matter how far we run
You’ll never give up on us
All of heaven shouts: let the future begin
Let the future begin

I feel alive, I come alive
I am alive on God’s great dance floor

God has found us. Sinners like us. Just like those street boys in Africa, we once had no hope. God gave it to us. His love will never end, even when we wonder away from him over and over again. He will NEVER give up on us. For that we are thankful. For that we are joyful. For that we should come alive on Gods great dance floor. Whats Gods great dance floor? Look down. Look down at your feet... wherever you are, that is Gods great dance floor. We should be living joyfully for him every second of every day. Maybe that doesn't look like physically dancing. But maybe it could mean we are so filled with joy, we feel as if we could break out in dance at any moment! 

A man who has greatly influenced my life over the past several years once said this, "I was standing at a state football game and with hundreds of others jumped up and down and screamed on the top of my lungs. Cheering with great joy each time the Wolfpack played well on the field. The fans loved the wolfpack and were excited to exclaim their joy and proclaim their loyalty. The next day in church I looked around as we "worshiped" our Savior. The One we should be the biggest fan of. The One who should bring us the most joy. The One who we should express our deepest love and commitment too. There, there was no expression of excitement! 

I'm no way suggesting you should dance around church Sunday (though it wouldn't be a bad idea). I am saying, we should be excited about the Lord! We should feel alive, come alive on God's great dance floor! 

Sweet, Ibra praising the Lord. He once was a street kid and now lives in one of the "A Perfect Injustice" homes. Watching him worship during my time in Uganda greatly touched my heart!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIu_sRF8rSU ... I encourage you to listen to "Gods Great Dance Floor." 

Obiedience

Sunday night I had the great joy of picking up "A Perfect Injustice" founder Abby Kaketo and her husband David from the airport with my sweet friends Elisa. As we stood there we both agreed that it felt weird having the picking-up duty  We much  rather had been departing. I exclaimed, "Get me out of America!" As we stood there memories started flooding our minds and the reminiscing began.

Monday, David and Abby spoke in a Home to a small group of people  about their journey God has led them on this far, and what God is doing through them in Uganda. Abby told me before she began, "sorry, I know you have heard all this many times before," but somehow every word that came from her mouth seemed new, as if I had never heard it before.

I chocked back tears the entire time as God very loudly spoke to my heart! Here are a few things He showed me through Abby!

1. Abby first began by saying that she went to Africa when she was 13, and she hated it! It made me laugh as I  too understand the comical ways of the Lord. He calls us to the places we least expect. Am I going to be o.k. with that when He calls me?

2. Abby said she began to pray every day in her high school years that God would reveal Himself to her, that He would lead her in the way He wanted her to go. Everyday. God began to make himself clear.... She was going to Africa!

In this time of stress and confusion about what I will do when I graduate, how often do I pray about it. It should be daily, and it isn't! Worrying doesn't help... prayer does!

3. A year or so later she found herself sitting in a church service where the Pastor was speaking on obeying God. He explained there were different phases. First, we think we feel God tugging at our heart, and leading us in the way He wants us to go. Secondly, we, through prayers and reflection can often feel certainty in this calling. Thirdly, there are too opinions. We either act on that calling or we reach a phase of disobedience ... because when God says go... you go!

I don't know exactly what God is calling me too, but when He does, I want to be ready to go! I don't want to sit back and listen... entering a phase of disobedience. Am I ready to act on my calling when God speaks?

4. Abby went to Uganda to reach out to street children, and had no intention of opening boys homes. In fact, she did not want to. Through a series of events, she rented some rooms that she was going to allow street boys to gather and sleep in at night. A place where they could lock a door and protect themselves from harm, especially sexual abuse. A week before these rooms would be hers she was surprised with the new knowledge that by law she would have to provide them each a bed, food, and a caregiver. What she thought she was doing was opening a shelter. What she did open was a boys home. Since that day (long story short) Abby's organization has 22 acres of land, two boys homes, each housing 14 boys, a street program in the slums, and they now are in the process of opening a discipleship home for order boys to move into, building a bakery for them to work at, and have hopes of building more homes. She said, "I think God had to surprise me like that for me to obey Him. As much as I would like to think I would have started a home if He told me to, I don't know if I would have!"

Surprises happen often in life. Usually, I don't like them. Change isn't my forte! But, what if God intentionally springs things on us without warning so that we will obey Him. Also, when God does (because he probably will at some point) call me to something I don't necessarily want to do, am I going to obey?

I could literally write a book about Abby. She has a amazing story. A story that has touched my life in immeasurable ways! Her obedience to the Lord has convicted me and taught me. When I think about the hundreds of boys lives who wouldn't have been touched if Abby did not listen to the voice of the Lord, I see the great importance of obedience!  I pray that I learn to have a heart like hers. A heart willing to serve... wherever that may be! 

"Through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations!" -Romans 1:5 

Learn more about Abby from her blog http://aperfectinjustice.blogspot.com/ or more about the organization at www.aperfectinjustice.com

You can also read about my Uganda experience by clicking the "Africa" or "journals" label on the right.

Abby is on the far left. These are the boys in her boys home, each who have been extremely blessed by her!