The Sunny Side

DIY Ceramic Coasters

2012-01-03T21:53:00.001-08:00

I apologize for the lack of pictures of the process of this craft, but I would love to share it with you anyway! I have recently gotten the knack for making fun cute CHEAP coasters for Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, I-just-love-you gifts, you name it! They cost approximately 1$ to make!

...athough you can get them all made for you at my etsy store here for 10$ for a set of 3 ... I feel like a money grubber! But I guess there are people out there that would much rather buy something handmade than go through all the oh-so-pain-staking-trouble of making them themselves.

But if you are crafty, you might like this one because it's so easy!

What you will need:

-Scrapbook paper: a variety of colors that coordinate or 1-2 standard sheets of the same color

-Scissors or a paper cutter

-Glossy Mod Podge (or Elmers Glue mixed with H2O) Tutorial found here

-Polyurethane or Embossed Clear Spray Paint

-Standard Size Ceramic Tile (1-4+ depending on how many you want to make)

-4 felt squares

-Glue Gun

Step One

Cut the scrapbook paper to the appropriate size of the coaster. Make sure you cut just a little bit smaller than the actual size of the coaster to ensure proper sealing.

Step Two

With a foam brush or large painter's brush, brush on the mod podge to the top of the tile. Adhere the cut piece of scrapbook paper to the top of the tile. Smooth out edges and ensure there are no bubbles in the paper.

Step Three

Add an additional layer of Mod Podge to the top of the scrapbook that is stuck to the tile. Smooth it out. It will look white at first, but after it dries, it will be clear.

Step Four

Wait about 2-3 minutes to allow the tile to dry. After you think it is sufficiently dry, spray a coat of clear spray paint over the tops of the tile. This makes the surface of the tile water, coffee, and tea proof.

Step Five

Cut out four felt pieces to adhere with hot glue to each of the four corners on the bottom of the time. This ensures that the ceramic does not scrape the top of a coffee top or counter.

Step Six

Shout with glee that you have made a cute ceramic coaster for less than 5$! Make them for all of your friends, family, and pets! :)

With Love,

Monica

lovelytomme.etsy.com

DIY Scarf

2012-01-02T21:04:00.000-08:00

Made this today. Thought it was cool. :) Its from a DIY tutorial found here

I love that I can recycle my old t-shirts. This one was a bleach stained ill-fitting blue shirt. Makes a cute necklace/scarf! You can even add a brooch or make a rosette from

the same fabric to attach to it.

Crafts, Please!

2011-12-22T06:33:00.000-08:00

So I have gotten a bit crafty lately. And I started an Etsy store! It all started last Christmas when I really wanted to make something special and homemade for my small group girls. I had bought a cute feather headband at a store and realized I could totally make them! I started experimenting and after a trip to Hobby Lobby, I found a fun cathartic activity! Since then, on and off, I have made some fun creations!

Here are a few pictures of what I have... all of them are on sale here

Mod Podge Fabric Covered Journals

Pretty Pink Flower Rosette

One Year Later

2011-11-30T09:08:00.000-08:00

Hello 2011! Wow, it has been almost exactly one year since I posted on my blog last!

A lot has happened.... and a lot hasn't happened. I enrolled in, suffered through, and finished my TESOL certification to teach English overseas! I have a new (almost one year old!) nephew! Isn't he the cutest??

I had a boyfriend, didn't work out, now I'm single! (yay? no.) I am involved in the church I have gone to my whole life through being a small group leader to some AWESOME girls. I am an ESL tutor at a local English Language School where I've been investing and making friendships with many Saudi Arabian women. (yay!)

And I have also found a heart and knack for creating! I have started my very own etsy shop to sell my handmade feather headbands, custom coasters, fabric hair clips, and fabric covered journals! Visit my shop here.
(lovelytomme.etsy.com)

Here's a little taste of whats up there! :)

Here's a Magenta Hair Clip modeled so beautifully by my sista.

Tree Inspired Journal

Mustard Yellow Rosette

Black and White Paisley Coasters: DIY tutorial to come!!

Much love,
Mon

Let's Look at the Future

2010-11-25T21:22:00.000-08:00

So. I just graduated from Moody. A Bible college. You may be wondering what am I going to do with my life?? Yes, I am asking that same question. Last week, I was going to go to Korea. This week, I am a full-time nanny.

I have been job searching ever since I got back from my internship in France. I had a little job for two months working at a camp, but if you have seen the weather outside right now in Michigan, people aren't really going to camps right about now. So that temporary job has finished and I have searched and searched and searched to find a job remotely in what I feel called to do. My dream is to work overseas sharing Jesus. But right now I have no life experience or financial independance or real direction from God to warrant me jumping on the first available ship to Timbuktu (is that really a place?) (ok, apparently it's in Mali...) I am sort of a skitzo when it comes to real life future plans, so when I feel a nudge to do something drastic, my family is always reigning me in, trying to make sure it's really God's will and not crazy Monica on another adventure tangent.

I really don't know where I am going with this post, but I do know that I have finally gotten a job! (yaaaay!) and with that, comes the commitment of at least a year with these kids. I will be working 55 hours a week (eek!) taking care of a 2 year old and a 6 year old. Girl and a boy. I am pretty excited about this, it will give me the time to really seek the Lord on His direction for my life and give me time to save for either: Grad School, TESOL certification courses (or both).

I am really believing at this point that I need a solid skill to go on the mission field with. Graduating with a degree in International Ministries and Bible goes far with mission agencies and churches, but the rest of the world barely thumbs their noses. I want to be a missionary in a country where people see me as helping the way they do life, not just someone who's sole objective is to shove an ideology down their throat. Even if that ideology is the difference between eternal life and eternal damnation. I want to work with refugees, the hopeless, the poor, the dissillusioned of this world. If it is overseas, praise the Lord, if it is here in America, praise the Lord. "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." Proverbs 16:9.

There are many things I don't know, but one thing I know for sure: I want to serve the Lord and be a contageous Christian wherever he plants me.

Josh Groban and Tofu

2010-11-23T15:43:00.000-08:00

I shall update you on my wonderful weekend of Josh Groban!

(Like anyone actually reads this...)

Just a short update and then on to something more interesting, tofu!

So my sister and I went to Chicago to see JOSH GROBAN! You know, like the most glorious man to ever walk the earth who has the more angelic voice ever. I think I just sounded like a brace-faced Justin Bieber fan.... Oh well. For HIM I will do that.

We bought his new CD, Illuminations (Buy it!)

And we went to Border's on State street for him to sign it. We got to talk to him for about 40 seconds, get his autograph, and then we were ushered away. But it was 40 seconds in Heaven!

Train Ride: four hours
Train Tickets: 60$

Time in line: three hours

40 seconds with Josh Groban: priceless.

Does that make me a fanatic?

On another note! I have decided that I need to get my health into gear. After living on a college campus for four years, I have had my fair share of the ice cream machine, Taco Tuesdays, Big Burger Thursdays, and Starbucks around EVERY corner. (yeah, it was Chicago)

SO now that I am living at home for a time, I have a health nut mother who readily buys anything and everything organic, green, gluten-free, fat-free, fun-free that she can.

So I am now giving this losing weight, being healthy thing a real effort. I HATE gyms. But we are members of the Y (the best gym around) and I. must. start. liking. it.

With that said, I have also decided to be a sort-of vegetarian. Don't get me wrong, I love meat and I believe that God put animals on this earth for us to enjoy, but it is something in my diet that I can live without. I am not going to become a crazy high-maintenance weirdo when I am out with friends or when there is absolutely no option, but when I am at home, I am going to try and not eat meat. The other week I bought this wonderful package of tofu that I wanted to see if I could cook. Well, I tried it tonight and LOVED it!

I googled "tofu recipe" and found this blog with a woman who cooked it. I decided to try it.

I took some pictures. :)

Here are all my ingredients.

I modified it from the original recipe (here) to accommodate what I had in the kitchen.

14 oz. extra firm organic tofu

2 T grape-seed oil

2 tsp. finely minced garlic

2 tsp. finely grated ginger root

1 cup scallions, sliced into 2 inch pieces (Keep white parts separate from green parts)

3 T chicken stock (I know, if I'm going veggie, why kill a Chicken for the stock??! Well, that's all I had. You can use vegetable stock. And besides, they were free-range chickies, at least they were treated humanely!)

1 1/2 T lite soy sauce

1 tsp. Chia life seeds (original recipe calls for sesame seeds, but I didn't have them and these seeds give great omega 3's and fiber!)

Anyway, at the risk of making this a super long post that no one reads, I will just have you refer to the original recipe for the directions. Here are some pictures though!

Yeah, that's me.

The tofu doesn't look to good in its original state...

I also decided to add roasted asparagus to the mix. Grape-seed oil, salt, pepper, dash of soy sauce, lemon squirt. ;)

The finished product!

Chicago

2010-11-16T09:57:00.000-08:00

So tomorrow my sister and I are going on an adventure! Well, it's an adventure that I have been on many, many times, but this time its different. I will be with my sista and I will be a non-student, non-resident! Yes, we are going to the most beautiful city, Chicago! Oh I love Chicago.

I want to live there again some day. Maybe I will.

So, why do I love Chicago so much?

Maybe its the city lights

Or maybe it's the many many memories I have made there.

Chicago has so many cool things! Like Improv Everywhere's MP3 Experiment!

Like the summer I house-sat for a super nice wealthy lady in the Gold-Coast (posh neighborhood!) in a million-dollar high rise and got to drive her Mercedes!

Or like the time when I met the BEST friends ever on Houghton 7-West

Anyway, I am going to Chi-town with my lovely sister to....

MEET JOSH GROBAN! yes, MEET him! Ok, so it will probably only be for about a minute, but we shall MEET him! He is coming to Border's on State street to promote his new album. The album which I just bought and is amazing!!

>>>>Check it out!

Anyway, Bon Voyage. See you lata!

-Mon.

WAR

2010-10-31T12:34:00.000-07:00

Women at Risk International

Last year, I had the extreme blessing and heart-wrenching burden of writing my senior college thesis on the reality of human trafficking. While I was doing my research, I came across this most amazing organization called Women at Risk International (WAR Int'l). This organization has its hands in so many different ways of reaching out to men, women, and children in abusive and trafficking situations and people who are at risk of getting into them. I also realized that they are centered in Rockford, MI, right around the corner from me in Grand Rapids, MI. These people have a goat donation program where they donate goats and cows to women in Sudan and other parts of Africa in order to give them status and help them earn a living for their family. By doing this, they are giving them a way out of prostitution.

Many of the women WAR Int'l works with are women who have no way of surviving except to go into prostitution. Even if these women weren't "tricked" into prostitution, they are forced into it for monetary reasons. Other women are rescued from brothels in Thailand and Laos, and given a second chance, working making jewelry that is sold in the U.S. or making jute tote bags and selling them in the market. The possibilities are endless when it comes to helping the vulnerable. My paper last year was about the new missiological approach of BAM, Business as Mission. WAR, Int'l is using this approach in many of their ministries. They use business to bring about the Kingdom of God. They use a for-profit business to get women out of trafficking situations and rehabilitate them.

Its amazing at how missions is changing. It shows that you don't need to be a Bible School educated, seminary graduate living in the desert to be a missionary. You can be a missionary by hosting a jewelry party in your home in Rockford, Michigan, or you can move to Thailand and train ex-prostitutes to make bracelets. All for the cause of Christ.

Holy the Firm

2010-07-29T10:15:00.000-07:00

I read this book last year in a class called "Violence and Grace in the Novel". The class was centered on how God uses violence to bestow grace upon us in our time of need. C.S. Lewis once wrote, "violence is God's megaphone". Holy the Firm by Annie Dillard is a book wracked with violence and filled with a woman crying "why?".

“I know only enough of God to want to worship him, by any means ready to hand. There is an anomalous specificity to all our experience in space, a scandal of particularity, by which God burgeons up or showers down into the shabbiest of occasions, and leaves his creation’s dealings with him in the hands of purblind and clumsy amateurs. This is all we are and all we ever were; God kann nicht anders. This process in time is history; in space, at such shocking random, it is mystery.

A blur of romance clings to our notions of “publicans,” “sinners,” “the poor,” “the people in the marketplace,” “our neighbors,” “as though of course God should reveal himself, if at all, to these simple people, these Sunday school watercolor figures, who are so purely themselves in their tattered robes, who are single in themselves, while we now are various, complex and full at heart. We are busy. So, I see now, were they. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? There is no one but us. There is no one to send, nor a clean hand, nor a pure heart on the face of the earth, nor in the earth, but only us, a generation comforting ourselves with the notion that we have come at an awkward time, that our innocent fathers are all dead- as if innocence had every been- and our children busy and troubled, and we ourselves unfit, not yet ready, having each of us chosen wrongly, made a false start, failed, yielded to impulse and the tangled comfort of pleasures, and grown exhausted, unable to seek the thread, weak, and involved. But there is no one but us. There never has been. There have been generations which remembered, and generations which forgot; there has never been a generation of whole men and women who lived well for even one day. Yet some have imagined well, with honesty and art, the detail of such a life, and have described it with such grace, that we mistake vision for history, dream for description, and fancy that life has devolved. So. You learn this studying any history at all, especially the lives of artists and visionaries; you learn it from Emerson, who noticed that the meanness of our day itself worth our thought; and you learn it, fitful in your pew, at church”

–Annie Dillard Holy the Firm

Change

2010-07-20T01:47:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I am blogging on two consecutive days! It must be a record for me. I just wanted to put one thought out there. As I make the transition from Paris to Grand Rapids, Michigan, I'm constantly thinking, how can I keep this fire for life alive? It seems to me that I crave change and transition. Any time I experience a big change of scenery in my life, I whole-heartedly embrace it. I think the big changes started when I transferred high schools from Grand Rapids Baptist High School (now Northpointe) to Northview High School. I relished the changes. I loved the new scenery, new friends, new classes, new teachers, and a new tennis team. I loved that I could re-make myself. And then I hit college and I was so excited to change again. High school was getting boring. I moved to Chicago and nestled right in to city life. I loved Chicago with the hustle and bustle, I loved the dorm life with something new happening every week. I loved the classes, finally going deeper in my faith.

I then craved to get out of freshman year and be a camp counselor for the summer. Although I was super excited to be "roughing it" for a whole summer, it didn't take long for me to HATE it. It wasn't the change that I didn't like, it was the atmosphere, the heavy dark overcoat that the devil put over me. Some relationships were too hard to handle, and there were many theological questions I had in regards to the camp. So I started craving change again. I didn't try to just deal, I wanted to bail.

This time, it was a huge change. I would be moving to Belfast, Northern Ireland for a semester abroad! I was so excited and made the most of my time in "Norn Iron" where the green leprechauns roam and the say "cheers!" and "dodgy". I even spent some time traveling other places such as Bristol, England, and Barcelona, Spain. But yet again, I started craving change. Once it started getting hard, I was ready to bail. When I felt lonely or lost, I just dreamed of coming home. When the accent was too hard to understand or when I just wanted to hear someone pronounce the sound "ou" the RIGHT way, I would just think, "ok, only x-days left until I come home!".

And of course, scenery changed yet again. I went home for Christmas, and then started another semester at Moody in Chicago. At the risk of making this post way too long, I won't type out all of the changes in my life up until now, but as you can see, there is a pattern. I would crave change, get the change, relish the change, get bored, crave change again...etc. And now I sit here in my room on the outskirts of Paris, France after a 6-week internship at the tail end of my 4-years of college. I have gone from High School to college, to camp, to Ireland, back to Chicago, to a double room, to a single room, to a Jenkins apartment, to a single room, to a double room, to graduation, to choir tour of UK, to 6-weeks in Paris, to NOW. Ive gone from wanting to be a missionary in Sudan, to being a social worker in Uganda, to being a midwife in the Philippines, to being a nurse in Sudan, to being a librarian in Thailand, to being a church planter in Europe, to being an English teacher in Korea, to being a missionary in Paris, to being a refugee placement worker in Grand Rapids.

I change hairstyles, hair colors, hand writing, room arrangement, geography, friends, crushes, political ideologies, career goals. And now I crave change yet again. After thinking about my predicament, I need to be still. I need to stop thinking about my life. I need to stop thinking I need to change, re-make myself, re-direct myself, better myself. I need to be still and know that He is GOD.

The two constants in my life have been God and Family. I think I must go seek God and relish family for this time.

I leave Paris in two days and I AM relishing this change, but I hope that I can look back and see how God has directed me, molded me, not of my own doing or my own restlessness, but by HIS sovereignty to direct my paths. I now seek for ultimate and continued fulfillment in my Creator and for ultimate contentment wherever he places me.

Baba Papa, Mont Blanc, Eiffel Tower, and Last Thoughts

2010-07-19T13:24:00.000-07:00

This past friday, my host parents and their two sweet grand kids and I went into Paris for a fun drive around. We stopped at the Tuileries (The gardens right outside the Louvre) and there was a fun carnival going on. My host dad (Christian) bought us all cotton candy. My host mom (Rose-Marie) is English and she calls it "Candy Floss", the French call is "Baba Papa" (Papa's Beard) ew! and I (American) call it "Cotton Candy". I think the Americans won on this one. I don't really want to be thinking of eating "papa's beard" when I eat the stuff and it has nothing to do with flossing you teeth! ...although I should after I eat it! Here's a pic of Gillian, Benjamin, and I at the carnival.

Last weekend I was invited by a woman from the church I am going to to go to her family Chalet in the French Alps! It was so amazing to see a different part of France. The Alps are absolutely gorgeous! It was a great weekend to get away and relax. I had some great conversations with the family (who are not Christians) and had some good time with the Lord. There is something different about doing your devotions on a mountain on a bridge over a waterfall. :)

This picture is from a couple weeks ago, I finally got up close and personal with the Eiffel Tower! Its a lot bigger than I expected!

I am finished with French classes and on Thursday I come home! My time in France has been good. It has had many ups and downs and different experiences. I have learned a lot over these past 6 weeks. I have learned a lot about the French people and about real ministry. Ministry is hard. Especially in Europe. Europe is dark and closed. It is not for the faint of heart.

We Battle Not Against Flesh and Blood

2010-07-16T16:12:00.000-07:00

Today I realized that people aren't always going to like you. And people aren't always going to think that what you want to do with your life is worth doing. Coming from a home and a school where everyone thought that what I have chosen as my life's desire was courageous, I was not prepared to get outside of the bubble and realize that the world doesn't want Christians to make a difference. The world doesn't want those "intolerant" "presumptuous" people trying to change other's beliefs. But the way I see it, I know the truth and not only did it change my life, but it set me free. I live with a purpose and I have true fulfillment and freedom in Christ and that is what I want to tell the world about. When I try to see it from their point of view, I can understand. In their eyes, I think something is truth when it really is relative. In their eyes, I am just trying to push my agenda--an agenda that is not correct to the outside world. I just "want to convert them"

I knew there would be persecution but I didn't realize that it would be hard not to agree with those who persecute me. The battle is from without and within.

Seeing What God is Doing

2010-07-06T11:52:00.000-07:00

So it has been a few weeks or so, I can't remember when I posted last on this thing. It seems like I can journal for days and even write on the computer long drawn out entries, but when it comes to blogging, I am suddenly blank. Maybe it is because I think people will judge me on my grammar. Or maybe I think I'm not quirky or cool enough to write a trendy blog. well, the people who read this want to know what is going on in my life, so I shall just ramble.

I finally saw the Eiffel Tower today. Some cool kids from Moody who are doing the Europe Study Abroad program with Moody came by Paris on their week off. It was great to see Nick Parish again and meet two new people, Tara Fairty and Matt Knapp. They are all so awesome! They have been traveling all over Europe, taking classes from different Moody professors, visiting great historic sites. I definitely wish I could have done that! I guess studying abroad in Belfast was pretty cool, and hanging out in Paris for the summer is also pretty cool, so I will just marvel in the blessings God has given us all. :)I took them up the Champs Elysse to the Arc de Triumphe and we walked to the Eiffel Tower and actually ran into another group of Moodies! We then went to dinner by the Hotel Des Invalides. The food was great and the time with friends was even better!

As for the daily happenings, I am plugging along in French. These classes are so packed full of information and great useful things, but I am just not liking the mornings! I have to get up at 6:30am every morning and leave for the train at 7:15, take an hour and 15min train ride and then walk to class. Its kind of a hassle, but I should NOT complain! If you know me at all, I am NOT a morning person. I am definitely far from it. I could sleep all day. But God has given me this great opportunity to learn French and I cannot take it for granted.

Today I met with a lovely lady from South Africa. Her and her husband are missionaries here in Paris. Her husband is the field leader of France for OM and she works in the Muslim community, teaching French literacy classes to Muslim women. I was struck by what a great opportunity her and her team have with these women! All of the women she teaches are immigrants who speak little to no French. The women are from Sri Lanka, Iraq, Nepal, Sudan, everywhere! And God has specifically molded her, as a foreigner, to reach out to these women. It is amazing what God is doing. It really got me thinking. There are some great opportunities here.

Recently I have had to really sit and think about what I am doing here and where I am headed. It's amazing what tricks Satan can play in your mind. I must lean on God for every breath I breathe or life will come crumbling down.

I go home in 2 weeks! My how time has flown!

Ins and Outs

2010-06-19T10:19:00.000-07:00

So I have started classes, finished my first week! It's coming! Being immersed in it is really helping. I also am really good at making people think I understand them! haha...

I moved in with Monsieur and Madame Bauge, the greatest couple ever! He is French, she is English. They are a sweet retired couple that are so hospitable and generous enough to have me stay with them for these next 5 weeks. Dinner conversations are great and the food is even better!

I have come to realize that my internship is going to look a lot different than I thought. I won't be able to be very useful here. I know that sounds weird, but it's because A) You cannot do ANYTHING if you do not know the language. and B) It takes a lot of time and trust for the French people to open up. BUT, with that said, I am learnng A LOT and know that I will learn more. And that is what my internship should be about anyway. I am learning the language. I am observing the culture. I am getting to know the city of Paris. I am meeting some great people, French and others. I am understanding missionary life!

All in all, this has been and will be a great experience for me and something that will hopefully shape my future! Whether I spend it in France or somewhere else.

Anyway, things are great over here and now I am off to bed!

P.S. Congrats to Ben and Kim Tyler!! They were married today :)

The First Few Days in a Foreign Land

2010-06-12T06:15:00.000-07:00

I have settled a bit into life in Paris. I signed up for French classes yesterday and they start on Monday. I will be doing the 5-week intensive class, 4 hours a day! It really is a humbling experience when you come in, thinking you know a bit of the language (I took 3 years, for crying out loud!) and realize you know NOTHING. I am a bit scared to start on Monday, but I know it will be worth it all in the end. I now feel like a child, unable to communicate with people.

I have spent some time exploring the city a bit, although its not as fun when you are alone! I went to the Louvre, walked along the Seine, walked along the Champs-Elysees, saw the Arc D'Triumph, saw the Eiffel Tower, and went to the Luxembourg gardens. I feel though that I am a bit touristed out. I don't know how people can just go backpacking all the way through Europe for months at a time. I have done about 3 weeks of it and I am done. Touring through London, Cardif, Dublin, Belfast, Portadown, Glasgow, Edinburgh, York, and now Paris, I am kaputz! And I haven't hardly touched Paris. But it's ok, I am here all summer!

I am slowly learning the "ins" and "outs" of missionary life, from the finance side of it to the language and the fears of offending someone! I definitely know this summer isn't going to be a piece of cake. It will be hard but good. Language learning will be difficult. Communication will be hard, but through God's mercies I will prevail.

It looks like I will be able to lead a Bible study for some French girls that want to go to America. They know a bit English and want to practice, and I want to practice my French! I will also be able to play my viola in the praise band. I'm also going to be connecting with some missionaries that are working with Northern African Muslim women. I may be teaching english, or learning French with them!

Here are some pictures!

Bon soir for now, thanks for all your prayers!

Monica

Bonjour de France!

2010-06-09T04:00:00.000-07:00

We have ended our 3-week tour of the UK and now I am off to the next phase of life! My Moody part has now ended, seeking the Lord about my future has begun!

I arrived in Paris yesterday via the train from London. I was met by Doug, the missionary field leader in Paris, and we took the local train to a little village outside of the Paris called Lognes. Last night I basically got situated in the Mission house where I will be staying for two weeks and then I will be moving to a family's house. Today I will meet Doug's family and go over what my summer will look like.

Here are some pictures of the first half of my trip to the UK. My camera died halfway through.

Friends at Stonehenge

Me at Stonehenge. Of course you had to pay to get behind the fence, so we stayed out.

This is me with our favorite host home, Ruth and Alexander! This was in Wales, by the sea.

This is Giant's Causeway, on the north coast of Northern Ireland

Nathan and I at the Giant's Causeway

More to come later!

Blessings,

Monica

Concert Itinerary

2010-05-25T16:36:00.000-07:00

Hello from Northern Ireland!!

We just finished three days in Belfast staying with my favorite couple, Lindsey and Cris Ile! The top picture is a cool one of the Northern Irish Parliament building in Belfast. The last two are from the Giant's Causeway on the north coast of Northern Ireland. It has been a fun time!

I will post more information later, but I wanted to let you know (especially people who are living in the London area: aka, Tracey, Steven, Melanie, and Andrew!)of the rest of our choir tour schedule. I would love to see people in London if anyone is around!

Tour is going very well. We all have seen God work amazing ways these last few days. One woman in Wales accepted Christ after our concert!

Here is the itinerary for the next week and a half!

Wed 26 Ferry Belfast to Stranraer

Irvine C of N

Thurs May 27
7.30pm
Mosspark Baptist, Glasgow
155 Corkerhill Road
Glasgow G52 1PG

Fri 28 No Concert

Sat 29 Sightseeing Glasgow Concert 7.00 pm
Dalziel St Andrews Church
The Cross
Motherwell

Sun May 30 Morning Worship 11.00 am
St Matthews Church of the Nazarene
Gordon Street
Paisley

Evening 6.00pm
Trinity Church of the Nazarene
York Place
Perth PH2 8EH

Mon May 31
Inverness East Church
Academy Street
Inverness

Tues June 1 No concert
Wed June 2 No concert
Thurs June 03 Concert 7.30 pm
Faith Mission Bible College

Fri 04 Concert 7.30 pm
Albion United Reform Church
Stamford Street East
Ashton under Lyne
OL6 6QQ

Sat 05 No Concert

Sun 06 London Church service 11.30am
All Souls church
London

London

2010-05-17T14:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I have officially embarked on the first leg of my summer journey. The chorale took off to the UK right after graduation. (MY GRADUATION!) We got into England just as the Ash cloud was grounding all flights to and from the UK. We were the last flight into the airport!

We sang a concert last night (sunday) after being up 30+ hours. It was definitely a hard time to get through the service, but the Lord gave us strength! We had a free day today to recouperate and tour the great city of London! We stayed in host homes last night and today. It is such a blessing to spend time with believers from across the oceans. God is truly the God of everything. Our perspectives keep widening. I am very happy that the Chorale is able to come and minister these three weeks.

After this 3-week tour, I take a train to Paris and spend the remaining 6-weeks doing my internship. I do not know all the ins and outs of what I will be doing there, but some of my objectives are to get a better understanding of French culture, observe and help out with muslim ministry in Paris, brush up on French (aka, RE-learn it!), help conduct an English camp, observe/help out with ESL or TESOL ministries, and understand the ins and outs of ministry in France.
My internship is a time where I hope God will use it to lean my heart toward a specific ministry and destination. I will be seeking the Lord in his will for my life, specifically in what to do when the summer is over!

Thank you all for reading this update and supporting me on my internship for this summer. I will keep this blog updated as often as I can!

In His Grace,

Monica

future.

2010-04-30T11:52:00.000-07:00

There has been so much that has happened since I wrote on this thing in the fall. I had a great Christmas spent with family and friends and embarked on my last semester of college! Ready to take the world by storm.

Amidst the hustle and bustle of homework, papers, youth group, chorale, friends, and work, I began to think the ominous question, "What do I do when I get out of here??" As you probably know, I am a missions major at Moody Bible Institute so that means I want to be in full-time Christian ministry overseas. But what does that really mean, practically speaking? Being a full-time missionary seems so far off in the distant future, with months and months, maybe years in between preparing, strategizing, raising funds, seeking the Lord. I didn't (and I still don't) know how to even start preparing for leaving the country, figuring out what God wants me to do.

While in the middle of this struggle to figure out what I should do, I was in the commons one day sitting eating lunch when I looked over to a recruiting table by the windows. Honestly, I just kind of felt bad for the two people standing there because no one was stopping and hearing what they had to say. I felt sympathy, so I walked over to see what ministry they were "selling". They were with BCIS, Bangkok Christian International School in Thailand. They were looking for missions minded teachers to come and work at the school. They had a spot for a librarian.

Long story short, I applied to work at this school in Thailand for a year. I prayed and prayed about it and felt no closed door, so I took the plunge and applied, putting it all in His hands. I have been waiting a month and there is no email, no call, no letter from these people. I am still waiting, but as graduation inches closer and leaving the country for chorale tour and my France internship, it seems that God is closing the door.

All I want in this life is to make much of God and less of me. I want to glorify the Lord of my life, so whether that means being in Thailand or Paris, or Grand Rapids, MI, I am going to do it. It seems like I will be in Grand Rapids in the fall, figuring out life. I know of an organization that works with refugees that come into Grand Rapids, helping them get accustomed to life in America. When I come home in the fall, I would LOVE to do that. Then I seek the Lord's direction and GO. I know I am called to overseas ministry. The WHERE and the WHO is what I need to find out.

Just one day at a time. One step at a time.

Fall and Ukraine

2009-10-13T22:54:00.000-07:00

Fall is here and school is in full swing. As of late I have been venturing out to the Ukrainian Village here in Chicago for a semester long research project on the Ukrainian people. As I understand and learn more about this rich culture, I am amazed at the craftwork of our Lord as well as the dire need for the Gospel. It is missions conference this week and I hope that He will speak to me in a new and passionate way.

Brick Lane

2009-07-18T22:16:00.001-07:00

I just watched a movie that made me mad. It was a wonderfully created film with beautiful cinematography and acting, great story and plot line, yet it has reminded me of how depraved we all are and how much we all lean toward sin.

It was set in 2001 London. It tells the story of a woman who grew up in the jungle of Bangladesh who was arranged to marry an "educated" man living abroad. She finds herself in a loveless marriage to an older overweight man who thinks more of himself and money than he does his wife or children. You can feel the sorrow and pain she feels as she goes about her life. Her existence is mundane, her youth was taken from her and she was forced away from her family to an unknown world where little happiness exists. She lives this way for 16 years, although still keeps her youthful beauty. She has two beautiful daughters but still married to this selfish pig of a husband. One day a new woman moves in next door and invites her for tea. The woman is a seamstress and intrigues her to start sewing. She starts her sewing job against the wishes of her husband. He says that if a wife works it says that the husband can't make enough to support his family. It takes a blow to his pride, a virtue too close to his heart.

Although he isn't too fond of it, she starts sewing and every week a new delivery of sewing materials comes in for her to work on. The supplies are delivered by a handsome young Muslim. Although the woman is uncomfortable with another man coming into her house while her husband is away, she lets him and they form a friendship. This friendship leads into something more, and before she knows it, she finds herself in a passionate affair. Here are where my thoughts come in. At this point in the movie I am rooting for the affair, even getting butterflies in my own stomach when they are together. I am a hopeless romantic and I love the mushy gushy stuff. But what I didn't like was what it made me feel as the movie went on... The story progresses, and to spare you the details, her husband decides to move back to Bangladesh and start a new life over there. The story then shows a series of events that portrays the husband as more lovable than previously seen and the woman actually leaves the man she was having an affair with, although they had spoken about her divorcing her husband and marring him. She reunites with her husband, although he goes back to Bangladesh and she stays there with her two daughters.

The movie ended up on the right side of the moral tracks, but it left me saddened inside. I wasn't sad that the wrong thing was done, because she did do the right thing... I was sad that she didn't end up with the handsome man who she was passionately "in love" with. I was angry that she ended up with the fat old man with a greasy comb-over. I was mad that she didn't divorce her husband and run off with another man. And that is why this movie made me mad- because of the way it made me feel. I actually wanted her to leave her husband. It is so interesting sometimes how I can (and I assume many women out there) get wrapped up in the emotion of it all and forget about right and wrong, forget about black and white. This movie was a good reminder of what love is really about. It isn't the lust you have for any piece of meat walking down Chicago avenue... it is about real love that comes from the Father and trickles down to the love between two people God has put together.

Here is a good quote from the movie...

"No one told me there were different kinds of love... the kind that starts big and slowly wears away. It seems that you will never use it up then one day it is finished. Then there is the kind that you do not notice at first which adds a little bit to itself everyday like an oyster makes a pearl, grain by grain, a jewel from the sand, that is the kind that I have come to know..."

2009-04-15T15:13:00.000-07:00

The Lord has been teaching me some great things as of late. Namely, He has given me a joy in.... (look out, you post-modernists!) the great hymns of old. I recently travelled with the Moody Chorale down to Texas where we sung over 20 concerts in the span of two weeks. God really spoke to me through the various testimonies of how our songs spoke to others. We sang a variety of types of music, spanning from classical to gospel to ultra-modern. There is so much truth in songs such as "Holy, Holy, Holy" and "Jesus I am Resting". We sung an arrangement of both songs, written by our director, Gerald Edmonds. Both are so beautifully woven together and richly harmonized. I get shivers every time we proclaim, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God almighty" in a beautifully dissonant 8-part chord. Music has such an affect on people. It speaks the language of the soul. When put to scripture, it speaks truth in a way so powerful even the hardest of hearts is softened. I have seen the Holy Spirit work in miraculous ways through music.

Jesus I am Resting, Resting has quickly become one of my favorite hymns.

Jesus, I am resting, resting
In the joy of what Thou art;
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart;
Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee,
And Thy beauty fills my soul,
For by Thy transforming power,
Thou hast made me whole.

O, how great Thy loving kindness,
Vaster, broader than the sea!
O, how marvelous Thy goodness,
Lavished all on me!
Yes, I rest in Thee, Beloved,
Know what wealth of grace is Thine,
Know Thy certainty of promise,
And have made it mine.

Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus,
I behold Thee as Thou art,
And Thy love, so pure, so changeless,
Satisfies my heart;
Satisfies its deepest longings,
Meets, supplies its ev'ry need,
Compasseth me round with blessings:
Thine is love indeed!

Ever lift Thy face upon me,
As I work and wait for Thee;
Resting 'neath Thy smile, Lord Jesus,
Earth's dark shadows flee.
Brightness of my Father's glory,
Sunshine of my Father's face,
Keep me ever trusting, resting,
Fill me with Thy grace.

Jesus, I am resting, resting,
In the joy of what Thou art,
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart.

Fruits of My Shutter

2009-01-26T11:30:00.000-08:00

I love this picture. It reminds me of how we are pearls of great price and we must guard our hearts. The box is not the prize. It's what is inside.

Resolutions

2009-01-06T16:05:00.000-08:00

Happy 2009!

New Year's is a time of new beginnings and resolutions. Although we tend to make a futile attempt at keeping these resolutions and there are many skeptics who refuse to even make resolutions for fear of breaking them... But I would beg to differ. Even if we end up breaking these new resolutions, isn't it better if we tried? If we hold on for a month, or two months, or even half a year, haven't we made ourselves a better person, even if it was short lived?

So I have decided to become a more disciplined person. I want to eat healthier, do better in school, exercise more regularly, and have a consistent time with God. Don and I are going through Romans together and I hope that this will help my personal devotion time. I know this may come as a shock to some people, (ha!) but I have never been consistent in my personal time with God. I pray this will change this year as I start planning out what my future will look like... internship, graduation looming...

May you look to find a resolution that will make you a better person, even if it is only for a month or two... trying is better than sitting.

2008-11-22T10:52:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving time is rolling around... and then Christmas. Let us all strive to seek Him wholeheartedly and surrender with utter abandon. Give thanks every day for the blessings we have in this life and in the life to come.

more later...

Cycles...

2008-10-21T13:16:00.000-07:00

So I have decided that it is really hard to be a Christian. Day after day I feel like I fail. I feel as if I am sliding down this slope toward utter abandon. And then Something reaches down out of the miry depths and picks be back up again. He picks me up, brushes me off, and breathes new hope into my soul. He gently reminds me of the reason for life.

I wonder sometimes why life is so hard. I wonder why I struggle to keep on top of things at school. I wonder why I seem to loose connections with the ones I love the most. I wonder why I struggle to keep my integrity in tact... and then... when I feel as though I cannot try any longer, a gentle tug at my heart tells me to reach. Reach toward Him- the one who sustains, comforts, controls, loves. Reach toward Him and He will entange your heart with His love. As I read through old diary entries, I see myself in a cycle, like the children of Israel. I struggle in sin, I look to anywhere else but to Him, I cry out to Him, He saves me, I praise Him for a time, and then fall right back into my old habits again. Each cycle gets worse and worse. The sin gets more entrapping, the desire to seek to fulfill my need in anything but God gets all the more desirable, but His presence is all the more astounding. When times are the toughest, the Lord is the strongest.

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12:9

Is Life Sacred Anymore?

2008-08-31T19:18:00.000-07:00

Look at this: A key issue on the sanctity of life....

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/08/voters_should_be_trouble.html

His Word Graven on My Heart

2008-08-28T21:12:00.000-07:00

God has changed me in some extraordinary ways this summer. I have been stretched and grown into more of a godly woman. And I am not saying that to be boastful of myself, but to be boastful of my God! God has convicted me of many things and has incited desires in my heart that were not there two months ago.

I have recently taken on the task of memorizing the book of James. Through the prodding of the Spirit, I have realized that scripture memorization is utterly important to a Christian'sk with Christ. I found this verse to be rather persuasive: "The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward." Psalm 19:7-11 NIV

His precepts are RIGHT, His commands are RADIANT, His ordinances are SURE and RIGHTEOUS, more precious than gold, more sweeter than honey....

How can we not meditate on His law? How can we not take his word and hide it in our hearts??

While I was in Northern Ireland last fall, Gracia Burnham came to the college I was studing at. She, along with her husband, Martin Burnham, were missionaries in the Philippines. In 2001, they were kidnapped and held hostage by Al-Kida linked terrorists. Due to their native country (the US) they were held for a year and a half in hopes of reaching a ransom agreement with the US. They were held for a YEAR AND A HALF! That is over 550 days! They were held as hostages, running from village to village with these terrorists who were fighting against the people trying to save the hostages. Long story short, Martin was killed a day before they were rescued. Gracia now travels the world telling their story and bringing others to the saving knowledge of Christ. She wrote a book of their story and I have read it. The thing that really has been on my mind lately, as it refers to scripture memorization is that this couple had no Bible during their year and a half of imprisonment. All they had was what they had commited to memory. Gracia talked about how they sat down and wrote every verse that they could remember out on little scraps of paper, candy wrappers, toilet paper... anything. That was their Bible.

What if we ended up in a place where we had no Bible? I have gotten so used to carrying a Bible right in my purse, wherever I go , i have the Word. I keep thinking... I am going on the mission field, and if that word gets taken from me, do I have it in my heart and mind? Stored up to use?

That is why I am memorizing James. Not just to be encouraged strengthened by the words, but also to prepare myself for the possibility of an unaccessible Bible. I know it may sound crazy, but hiding the Word in your heart, for any reason, is reason enough. :)

well, that is all for now. i will write more on what God has been teaching me at a later date....

God Bless.

Meaningless Circles

2008-06-29T20:13:00.000-07:00

Today all I wanted was to lounge around and watch a movie. I did not want to do anything remotely resembling work. I did not want to do my quiet time. I did not want to think about anything but myself. But something was telling me, open your Bible, you numb-scull! So I went outside to a nearby outdoor cafe, and opened my Bible. I nonchalantly opened to Joshua. I have no clue why I did, but something was drawing me to the Old Testament. (That "something" of course was the Holy Spirit) I read the story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho. I have read that story a million times. I have heard it preached on a million and one times. But something stuck out to me today. The Israelites were commanded to march around the city, not once, but SEVEN times for SEVEN days! And they weren't even allowed to utter one battle cry. If I was there, I would have wanted to scream and shout all day long just to make sure those enemies knew we were there... and it probably would have made that seven circle task a little more interesting. But they were commanded to wait. But in the end, they were allowed to scream all they want and the walls just came a tumblin down!

How many times in my life do I want to just grab life by the horns and make it happen? I want to move to Africa right NOW. But I can't. God has me in this "meaningless circling" called school for another two years and then he will usher in his bigger purposes for my life.

Sometimes He will teach you something when you least expect it.... listen to Him....

Obama on Religion and Politics

2008-06-26T14:47:00.000-07:00

Here is a speech by Sen. Barack Obama: Read it and see what you think.... Side note: I, in no way, am either condoning Obama or discrediting him. My professor at Moody recommended this to us. It really made me think. See for yourself!

Call to Renewal Keynote Address

Washington, DC

Wednesday, June 28th, 2006

Good morning. I appreciate the opportunity to speak here at the Call to Renewal’s Building a Covenant for a New America conference, and I’d like to congratulate you all on the thoughtful presentations you’ve given so far about poverty and justice in America. I think all of us would affirm that caring for the poor finds root in all of our religious traditions – certainly that’s true for my own.

But today I’d like to talk about the connection between religion and politics and perhaps offer some thoughts about how we can sort through some of the often bitter arguments over this issue over the last several years.

I do so because, as you all know, we can affirm the importance of poverty in the Bible and discuss the religious call to environmental stewardship all we want, but it won’t have an impact if we don’t tackle head-on the mutual suspicion that sometimes exists between religious America and secular America.

For me, this need was illustrated during my 2004 face for the U.S. Senate. My opponent, Alan Keyes, was well-versed in the Jerry Falwell-Pat Robertson style of rhetoric that often labels progressives as both immoral and godless.

Indeed, towards the end of the campaign, Mr. Keyes said that, “Jesus Christ would not vote for Barack Obama. Christ would not vote for Barack Obama because Barack Obama has behaved in a way that it is inconceivable for Christ to have behaved.

Now, I was urged by some of my liberal supporters not to take this statement seriously. To them, Mr. Keyes was an extremist, his arguments not worth entertaining.

What they didn’t understand, however, was that I had to take him seriously. For he claimed to speak for my religion – he claimed knowledge of certain truths.

Mr. Obama says he’s a Christian, he would say, and yet he supports a lifestyle that the Bible calls an abomination.

Mr. Obama says he’s a Christian, but supports the destruction of innocent and sacred life.

What would my supporters have me say? That a literalist reading of the Bible was folly? That Mr. Keyes, a Roman Catholic, should ignore the teachings of the Pope?

Unwilling to go there, I answered with the typically liberal response in some debates – namely, that we live in a pluralistic society, that I can’t impose my religious views on another, that I was running to be the U.S. Senator of Illinois and not the Minister of Illinois.

But Mr. Keyes implicit accusation that I was not a true Christian nagged at me, and I was also aware that my answer didn’t adequately address the role my faith has in guiding my own values and beliefs.

My dilemma was by no means unique. In a way, it reflected the broader debate we’ve been having in this country for the last thirty years over the role of religion in politics.

For some time now, there has been plenty of talk among pundits and pollsters that the political divide in this country has fallen sharply along religious lines. Indeed, the single biggest “gap" in party affiliation among white Americans today is not between men and women, or those who reside in so-called Red States and those who reside in Blue, but between those who attend church regularly and those who don’t.

Conservative leaders, from Falwell and Robertson to Karl Rove and Ralph Reed, have been all too happy to exploit this gap, consistently reminding evangelical Christians that Democrats disrespect their values and dislike their Church, while suggesting to the rest of the country that religious Americans care only about issues like abortion and gay marriage; school prayer and intelligent design.

Democrats, for the most part, have taken the bait. At best, we may try to avoid the conversation about religious values altogether, fearful of offending anyone and claiming that – regardless of our personal beliefs – constitutional principles tie our hands. At worst, some liberals dismiss religion in the public square as inherently irrational or intolerant, insisting on a caricature of religious Americans that paints them as fanatical, or thinking that the very word "Christian" describes one’s political opponents, not people of faith.

Such strategies of avoidance may work for progressives when the opponent is Alan Keyes. But over the long haul, I think we make a mistake when we fail to acknowledge the power of faith in the lives of the American people, and join a serious debate about how to reconcile faith with our modern, pluralistic democracy.

We first need to understand that Americans are a religious people. 90 percent of us believe in God, 70 percent affiliate themselves with an organized religion, 38 percent call themselves committed Christians, and substantially more people believe in angels than do those who believe in evolution.

This religious tendency is not simply the result of successful marketing by skilled preachers or the draw of popular mega-churches. In fact, it speaks to a hunger that’s deeper than that – a hunger that goes beyond any particular issue or cause.

Each day, it seems, thousands of Americans are going about their daily round – dropping off the kids at school, driving to the office, flying to a business meeting, shopping at the mall, trying to stay on their diets – and coming to the realization that something is missing. They are deciding that their work, their possessions, their diversions, their sheer busyness, is not enough.

They want a sense of purpose, a narrative arc to their lives. They’re looking to relieve a chronic loneliness, a feeling supported by a recent study that shows Americans have fewer close friends and confidants than ever before. And so they need an assurance that somebody out there cares about them, is listening to them – that they are not just destined to travel down a long highway towards nothingness.

I speak from experience here. I was not raised in a particularly religious household. My father, who returned to Kenya when I was just two, was Muslim but as an adult became an atheist. My mother, whose parents were non-practicing Baptists and Methodists, grew up with a healthy skepticism of organized religion herself. As a consequence, I did too.

It wasn’t until after college, when I went to Chicago to work as a community organizer for a group of Christian churches, that I confronted my own spiritual dilemma.

The Christians who I worked with recognized themselves in me; they saw that I knew their Book and shared their values and sang their songs. But they sensed a part of me that remained removed, detached, an observer in their midst. In time, I too came to realize that something was missing – that without a vessel for my beliefs, without a commitment to a particular community of faith, at some level I would always remain apart and alone.

If not for the particular attributes of the historically black church, I may have accepted this fate. But as the months passed in Chicago, I found myself drawn to the church.

For one thing, I believed and still believe in the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change, a power made real by some of the leaders here today. Because of its past, the black church understands in an intimate way the Biblical call to feed the hungry and cloth the naked and challenge powers and principalities. And in its historical struggles for freedom and the rights of man, I was able to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death; it is an active, palpable agent in the world. It is a source of hope.

And perhaps it was out of this intimate knowledge of hardship, the grounding of faith in struggle, that the church offered me a second insight: that faith doesn’t mean that you don’t have doubts. You need to come to church precisely because you are of this world, not apart from it; you need to embrace Christ precisely because you have sins to wash away – because you are human and need an ally in your difficult journey.

It was because of these newfound understandings that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity United Church of Christ one day and affirm my Christian faith. It came about as a choice, and not an epiphany; the questions I had did not magically disappear. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side of Chicago, I felt I heard God’s spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth.

The path I traveled has been shared by millions upon millions of Americans – evangelicals, Catholics, Protestants, Jews and Muslims alike; some since birth, others at a turning point in their lives. It is not something they set apart from the rest of their beliefs and values. In fact, it is often what drives them.

This is why, if we truly hope to speak to people where they’re at – to communicate our hopes and values in a way that’s relevant to their own – we cannot abandon the field of religious discourse.

Because when we ignore the debate about what it means to be a good Christian or Muslim or Jew; when we discuss religion only in the negative sense of where or how it should not be practiced, rather than in the positive sense of what it tells us about our obligations towards one another; when we shy away from religious venues and religious broadcasts because we assume that we will be unwelcome – others will fill the vacuum, those with the most insular views of faith, or those who cynically use religion to justify partisan ends.

In other words, if we don’t reach out to evangelical Christians and other religious Americans and tell them what we stand for, Jerry Falwell’s and Pat Robertson’s will continue to hold sway.

More fundamentally, the discomfort of some progressives with any hint of religion has often prevented us from effectively addressing issues in moral terms. Some of the problem here is rhetorical – if we scrub language of all religious content, we forfeit the imagery and terminology through which millions of Americans understand both their personal morality and social justice. Imagine Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address without reference to "the judgments of the Lord", or King’s I Have a Dream speech without reference to "all of God’s children". Their summoning of a higher truth helped inspire what had seemed impossible and move the nation to embrace a common destiny.

Our failure as progressives to tap into the moral underpinnings of the nation is not just rhetorical. Our fear of getting "preachy" may also lead us to discount the role that values and culture play in some of our most urgent social problems.

After all, the problems of poverty and racism, the uninsured and the unemployed, are not simply technical problems in search of the perfect ten point plan. They are rooted in both societal indifference and individual callousness – in the imperfections of man.

Solving these problems will require changes in government policy; it will also require changes in hearts and minds. I believe in keeping guns out of our inner cities, and that our leaders must say so in the face of the gun manufacturer’s lobby – but I also believe that when a gang-banger shoots indiscriminately into a crowd because he feels somebody disrespected him, we have a problem of morality; there’s a hole in that young man’s heart – a hole that government programs alone cannot fix.

I believe in vigorous enforcement of our non-discrimination laws; but I also believe that a transformation of conscience and a genuine commitment to diversity on the part of the nation’s CEOs can bring quicker results than a battalion of lawyers.

I think we should put more of our tax dollars into educating poor girls and boys, and give them the information about contraception that can prevent unwanted pregnancies, lower abortion rates, and help assure that that every child is loved and cherished. But my bible tells me that if we train a child in the way he should go, when he is old he will not turn from it. I think faith and guidance can help fortify a young woman’s sense of self, a young man’s sense of responsibility, and a sense of reverence all young people for the act of sexual intimacy.

I am not suggesting that every progressive suddenly latch on to religious terminology. Nothing is more transparent than inauthentic expressions of faith – the politician who shows up at a black church around election time and claps – off rhythm – to the gospel choir.

But what I am suggesting is this – secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square. Frederick Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, Williams Jennings Bryant, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King – indeed, the majority of great reformers in American history – were not only motivated by faith, but repeatedly used religious language to argue for their cause. To say that men and women should not inject their “personal morality" into public policy debates is a practical absurdity; our law is by definition a codification of morality, much of it grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Moreover, if we progressives shed some of these biases, we might recognize the overlapping values that both religious and secular people share when it comes to the moral and material direction of our country. We might recognize that the call to sacrifice on behalf of the next generation, the need to think in terms of "thou" and not just "I", resonates in religious congregations across the country. And we might realize that we have the ability to reach out to the evangelical community and engage millions of religious Americans in the larger project of America’s renewal.

Some of this is already beginning to happen. Pastors like Rick Warren and T.D. Jakes are wielding their enormous influences to confront AIDS, Third World debt relief, and the genocide in Darfur. Religious thinkers and activists like my friend Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo are lifting up the Biblical injunction to help the poor as a means of mobilizing Christians against budget cuts to social programs and growing inequality. National denominations have shown themselves as a force on Capitol Hill, on issues such as immigration and the federal budget. And across the country, individual churches like my own are sponsoring day care programs, building senior centers, helping ex-offenders reclaim their lives, and rebuilding our gulf coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

To build on these still-tentative partnerships between the religious and secular worlds will take work – a lot more work than we’ve done so far. The tensions and suspicions on each side of the religious divide will have to be squarely addressed, and each side will need to accept some ground rules for collaboration.

While I’ve already laid out some of the work that progressives need to do on this, I that the conservative leaders of the Religious Right will need to acknowledge a few things as well.

For one, they need to understand the critical role that the separation of church and state has played in preserving not only our democracy, but the robustness of our religious practice. That during our founding, it was not the atheists or the civil libertarians who were the most effective champions of this separation; it was the persecuted religious minorities, Baptists like John Leland, who were most concerned that any state-sponsored religion might hinder their ability to practice their faith.

Moreover, given the increasing diversity of America’s population, the dangers of sectarianism have never been greater. Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.

And even if we did have only Christians within our borders, who’s Christianity would we teach in the schools? James Dobson’s, or Al Sharpton’s? Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Levitacus, which suggests slavery is ok and that eating shellfish is abomination? How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount – a passage so radical that it’s doubtful that our Defense Department would survive its application?

This brings me to my second point. Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument, and amenable to reason. I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God’s will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all.

This may be difficult for those who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, as many evangelicals do. But in a pluralistic democracy, we have no choice. Politics depends on our ability to persuade each other of common aims based on a common reality. It involves the compromise, the art of the possible. At some fundamental level, religion does not allow for compromise. It insists on the impossible. If God has spoken, then followers are expected to live up to God’s edicts, regardless of the consequences. To base one’s life on such uncompromising commitments may be sublime; to base our policy making on such commitments would be a dangerous thing.

We all know the story of Abraham and Isaac. Abraham is ordered by God to offer up his only son, and without argument, he takes Isaac to the mountaintop, binds him to an altar, and raises his knife, prepared to act as God has commanded.

Of course, in the end God sends down an angel to intercede at the very last minute, and Abraham passes God’s test of devotion.

But it’s fair to say that if any of us saw a twenty-first century Abraham raising the knife on the roof of his apartment building, we would, at the very least, call the police and expect the Department of Children and Family Services to take Isaac away from Abraham. We would do so because we do not hear what Abraham hears, do not see what Abraham sees, true as those experiences may be. So the best we can do is act in accordance with those things that are possible for all of us to know, be it common laws or basic reason.

Finally, any reconciliation between faith and democratic pluralism requires some sense of proportion.

This goes for both sides.

Even those who claim the Bible’s inerrancy make distinctions between Scriptural edicts, a sense that some passages – the Ten Commandments, say, or a belief in Christ’s divinity – are central to Christian faith, while others are more culturally specific and may be modified to accommodate modern life.

The American people intuitively understand this, which is why the majority of Catholics practice birth control and some of those opposed to gay marriage nevertheless are opposed to a Constitutional amendment to ban it. Religious leadership need not accept such wisdom in counseling their flocks, but they should recognize this wisdom in their politics.

But a sense of proportion should also guide those who police the boundaries between church and state. Not every mention of God in public is a breach to the wall of separation – context matters. It is doubtful that children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance feel oppressed or brainwashed as a consequence of muttering the phrase "under God"; I certainly didn’t. Having voluntary student prayer groups using school property to meet should not be a threat, any more than its use by the High School Republicans should threaten Democrats. And one can envision certain faith-based programs – targeting ex-offenders or substance abusers – that offer a uniquely powerful way of solving problems.

So we all have some work to do here. But I am hopeful that we can bridge the gaps that exist and overcome the prejudices each of us bring to this debate. And I have faith that millions of believing Americans want that to happen. No matter how religious they may or may not be, people are tired of seeing faith used as a tool to attack and belittle and divide – they’re tired of hearing folks deliver more screed than sermon. Because in the end, that’s not how they think about faith in their own lives.

.

So let me end with another interaction I had during my campaign. A few days after I won the Democratic nomination in my U.S. Senate race, I received an email from a doctor at the University of Chicago Medical School that said the following:

“Congratulations on your overwhelming and inspiring primary win. I was happy to vote for you, and I will tell you that I am seriously considering voting for you in the general election. I write to express my concerns that may, in the end, prevent me from supporting you".

The doctor described himself as a Christian who understood his commitments to be "totalizing". His faith led him to a strong opposition to abortion and gay marriage, although he said that his faith also led him to question the idolatry of the free market and quick resort to militarism that seemed to characterize much of President Bush’s foreign policy.

But the reason the doctor was considering not voting for me was not simply my position on abortion. Rather, he had read an entry that my campaign had posted on my website, which suggested that I would fight “right wing ideologues who want to take away a woman’s right to choose". He went on to write:

“I sense that you have a strong sense of justice…and I also sense that you are a fair minded person with a high regard for reason…Whatever your convictions, if you truly believe that those who oppose abortion are all ideologues driven by perverse desires to inflict suffering on women, then you, in my judgment, are not fair-minded….You know that we enter times that are fraught with possibilities for good and for harm, times when we are struggling to make sense of a common polity in the context of plurality, when we are unsure of what grounds we have for making any claims that involve others…I do not ask at this point that you oppose abortion, only that you speak about this issue in fair-minded words".

I checked my web-site and found the offending words. My staff had written them to summarize my pro-choice position during the Democratic primary, at a time when some of my opponents were questioning my commitment to protect Roe v. Wade.

Re-reading the doctor’s letter, though, I felt a pang of shame. It is people like him who are looking for a deeper, fuller conversation about religion in this country. They may not change their positions, but they are willing to listen and learn from those who are willing to speak in reasonable terms – those who know of the central and awesome place that God holds in the lives of so many, and who refuse to treat faith as simply another political issue with which to score points.

I wrote back to the doctor and thanked him for his advice. The next day, I circulated the email to my staff and changed the language on my website to state in clear but simple terms my pro-choice position. And that night, before I went to bed, I said a prayer of my own – a prayer that I might extend the same presumption of good faith to others that the doctor had extended to me.

It is a prayer I still say for America today – a hope that we can live with one another in a way that reconciles the beliefs of each with the good of all. It’s a prayer worth praying, and a conversation worth having in this country in the months and years to come. Thank you.

Blessings

2008-06-22T19:34:00.000-07:00

Summer. It's a beautiful thing. These past few weeks, the Lord has blessed me beyond compare. 3 weeks ago I was working at Crowell desk, just answering phone calls, doing the same old stuff, and I got a phone call from a nice woman asking if there would be a Moody student willing to stay at her apartment and take care of her pets while she went on vacation for a month. Least to say, I took up the offer! Long story short, I have been living it up the last week in a gorgeous 3-bedroom apartment in the Gold Coast on the 22nd floor of a posh high rise. I can see the whole city from the apartment and can see the sun rise over the lake in the morning. On top of all that, she has a car that she wants me to drive and I have been out and about the city in a 2-seater convertible Mercedes Benz!!

Thank you Lord for these extravagances. I undoubtedly do not deserve them, but I will enjoy them while they last!

Party at my place!

ponderings.

2008-06-09T15:54:00.000-07:00

As I sit here day after day, on the same chair, in the same desk, doing the same things, working my life away, I get to pondering. What does God have for me in this life? Am I meant to be a missionary midwife in Africa? Or am I meant to stay in the states, become a pastor's wife and work with underprivileged children and unwed mothers? Does he want me to go to nursing school and travel to the Philippines? Does he want me to play my viola in a worship band in Chicago?

There are so many possibilities, so many opportunities, so many choices. Where is the manual to life? Can't I just google "Monica's Life" and get answers? Of course not. The Lord likes to make it tricky... Or at least in my little puny mind. I know that I will never know all there is to know about God and all there is to know about my future... but I have this little incling that I may find something in that little book called the Bible...

those are my ramblings for the day.

Conclusion: read that book.

2008-03-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

"It is an achievement for a man to do his duty on earth irrespective of the consequences."
-Nelson Mandela

The Gospel or Cotton Candy: Joel Osteen's Prosperity Gospel

2008-02-07T12:59:00.000-08:00

When you think of God, what do you think of? Loving, merciful, powerful, kind? Don't you also think of just, sovereign, and redemptive? I am so sick of preachers such as Joel Osteen (who, by the way, will make over $10 million in tour sales this year). giving the Christian faith a sappy boneless twist. He paints only half of the picture. Only half of the redemptive plan of humanity. He says that Christianity is all about living "your best life now" and his books are all about 7 easy steps to live the best life you can. You may ask what is wrong with that? There isn't anything about wanting to live the best life you can, but when you label the best life in terms of money and fame, it gets a little shady. In Colossians 3:2, it says set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."

Christ lived a life of poverty. He knew that his disciple's lives were going to be hard because they were living a life opposite of the world. Should we deny the fact that 11 out of the 12 disciples died for the cause of Christ? Should we deny the words of Jesus when he countlessly exhorted the rich and applauded the poor? Should we forget it when He said that "I tell you again, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 19:24) It is easy to understand an accept the part of God that loves us and wants the best for us, but its hard to accept the God of justice and the one who hates sin. Osteen said that he doesn't want to bombard people with the their sin. He wants to show them that all they have to do is think good thoughts, be a better person, and God will bless you. When did the gospel become about us? Becoming a Christian is about surrendering the control of our lives up to God to pilot.

Just a thought..

Deepness.

2008-02-05T16:28:00.000-08:00

How deep should relationships go? Should we have different types of relationships? Ones that we can go deep with and share our hearts desires and others with whom we can just have fun? I'm torn. Deep or fun? I want both...

Midwife?

2008-01-28T21:01:00.000-08:00

I know I have been called. Called to reach for something higher than myself. Something beyond the mundane, beyond the comfortable. From an early age I knew I was to help people. I had not in my wildest of dreams thought to be traveling the world reaching others for Christ, but His ways are mysterious. Here I sit in my college dorm ready for the world. I want to go! I want to be out there reaching others..... but I'm stuck writing a research paper. And what does it happen to talk about? reaching others. I'm here writing about what I really just want to be doing. God give me peace to understand and accept my current situation.

God has put on my heart something which i never thought existed.... midwifery. I want to reach out to women by giving them an incalculable gift, a safe delivery. The infant/maternal mortality rates in developing countries are low and have been for years. Something practical but life-giving! I have been praying that God would give me direction in what kind of missions he wants me in. I think I've got it.... missions midwifery.

On another note, this song hit me hard this week.

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong, a perfect plea:
A great High Priest, whose name is Love,
Who ever lives and pleads for me.

My name is graven on his hands,
My name is written on his heart;
I know that while in heaven he stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look, and see him there
Who made an end of all my sin.

Because a sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God, the Just, is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Praise the One,
Risen Son of God!

Behold him there, the risen Lamb
My perfect, spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace!

One in himself, I cannot die
My soul is purchased by his blood
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ, my Savior and my God
With Christ, my Savior and my God

Back....

2008-01-25T15:30:00.001-08:00

So Im back at Moody, ready for a challenge. I have been thrust into a busy schedule wit 18 credit hours, work 3 days a week, PCM, and Gospel Choir. Kind of crazy... but all worth it.

2007-11-15T06:12:00.000-08:00

Love....

2007-11-13T08:00:00.001-08:00

Love...When you find it.... keep it.

When friends get engaged... its pretty great. Congrats, Maddy and Josh.

Already Two Months...

2007-11-08T03:58:00.000-08:00

Well, its been quite a while since I wrote. Life is going well over here in N. Ireland. I have been here over two months! It's hard to believe that it has been that long!

My friends and I have been traveling a little bit. Last weekend Lindsey and I travelled to Bristol, England to visit some of Lindsey's relatives. It was an awesome weekend of fun and relaxation.

I plan on going to Barcelona, Spain over Thanksgiving. It will be a very different Thanksgiving, but it will be spent with good friends and fellowship.

Today is "Quiet Day" on campus, where classes are cancelled and we spend the day wating and listening on the Lord. God has really shown me what it really means to be still. Its amazing what an afternoon of quiet-time can really do!

I hope this update finds you well and blessed!

Continue to seek Him daily and serve Him wholeheartedly.

2007-09-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends!

I have been in Ireland for two weeks now, although it seems like an eternity! We have endured a whole week of orientation and the school begins classes tomorrow. I have had the opportunity to travel to Dublin and stay there a night as well as explore all over the city of Belfast. The people here in Northern Ireland are so welcoming and friendly! I have met some great people. The people that live on the campus are mainly international students, which I think is awesome! I have made friends from Ghana, Slovenia, Canada, Romania, South Africa, Sweden, Ireland, Rwanda, England, Germany, Taiwan, and Tanzania! Its truly an international setting!

2007-09-12T09:28:00.000-07:00

Hello from Northern Ireland!

I have arrived safely in Ireland and absolutely love it! We all arrived on Monday into Dublin about 5:30 am and we then took a bus to Belfast. We got settled into our rooms and took a tour around campus. The landscaping is beautiful and the campus is small and quaint. I don't have much time to write, but I wanted to drop a note. I'm not really sure if anyone reads this... but Ill get it out there just in case.... For some reason my computer won't download pictures onto the internet right now, but Ill try and get them working sometime...

<>< Monica

Finally

2007-09-09T08:48:00.000-07:00

Im FINALLY leaving! I have been in Chicago visiting some Moody friends before I leave. Im so thankful to have been able to spend time with these people before I go to Ireland! I leave in a couple of hours to fly to Dublin (overnight) and then take a bus to Belfast. Please pray for safe travels and that my luggage will meet the weight requirements! I will update soon with pictures!

<><

Bon Voyage!

2007-09-02T10:36:00.001-07:00

I will soon be embarking on the journey of a lifetime. I hope to see things I have never seen before, taste things I have never tasted, and experience things I have never experienced. My hope is that God molds me more than ever before, more into the woman He wants me to be. I desire to be more like him and in the coming months, regardless of the fact that I will be in a different country, I want to yearn more for Him.

I learned many things this past summer that I thought i would never have learned. I learned what it truly meant to need Christ. Every day was a struggle. A struggle to get up, a struggle to get to work, a struggle to meet people where they were at. I learned more of what it means to have a servants heart and to have a positive attitude both inside and out. God stretched me so much this summer and although it was the hardest summer I have yet experienced, I know it was for the best.

I am excited to start this new chapter of my life, spending 4 months in a foreign country with my best friend; meeting new people and seeing new things, God has truly blessed me with this opportunity. I pray that this journey will open my eyes to the world and give me a wider perspective on life.

Bon Voyage,

MTP

PS: I will updating this blog as I travel and study in Ireland. Ill try hard to get pictures up as well!

A Passion for the Lost

2007-07-23T11:25:00.000-07:00

God has been opening doors left and right for my internship coming soon. As you probably know, and if you don't know then I will tell you, I have a passion for Africa that transcends anything that I have ever believed in beyond God. I desire to dedicate my life to the need in Africa. A family friend has been working with a non-profit organization in Malawi, Africa, planning on setting up air bases and MASH units in Lilongwe. These bases will teach nationals how to fly rotocraft aircraft around the country to help supply the villages with fresh drinking water, food, and needed medical supplies. The base will also teach the locals how to plant crops and do other useful things. In the long run, they want to start a Bible school and church.

This is exactly what I want to do. I have always felt that in order to reach others with the gospel, they must first have their biological needs met. If someone is starving to death, they will only dwell on their hunger and fail to see the relevancy of the gospel. If we teach them how to sustain themselves, and with that, save their lives, they will in turn be open to what we have to say. So many times these people have been preached at but not loved. There have been missionaries who have come, planted a "church" and left. We want to leave a lasting legacy that will impact generations to come. Caring for the widows and orphans in their distress was one of Jesus' top priorities.

So you may be thinking where I come in to the the picture. Well, this whole program is still in the planning stages. There have been a couple airstrips built and the ground breaking will happen in early fall, but we are still a year or so out from actually working with the nationals. And what will happen in a year or so? My need for an internship! My heart's desire is to work with these people, teaching them how to plant crops and sustain their families. I want to work with the women, teaching them proper nutrition and care for their young ones. I want to teach them handicrafts or knitting so they can make things for their family. And most importantly, I want to share the love of Christ with them in very practical ways. They are a lost people in need of a Savior. My dream is for God to enable me to reach these people with the hope I have in Jesus.

2007-06-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

I am at camp right now, enduring the hardest work I have ever experienced. I am tired and worn out but only through leaning on His strength will I be able to endure it.

Lately...

2007-06-02T13:43:00.000-07:00

So camp is just around the corner and I am going to be thrust into a life of organized chaos. My shift starts at 5:30 AM. Need I say more? My summer up to this point has been a conglomeration of getting up late, working with my sister on her research paper, getting coffee, cleaning, making dinner, and the occasional hang out with friends. I need a change. I need to do something productive and exciting with my day!! And SpringHill is just the answer. Between working in the kitchen, playing tennis as much as I can, horseback riding, swimming, hanging out with the kids, and loving every minute of it, I am going to have an active summer! and then it's off to Ireland.

How God has blessed me! He is truly amazing. I have great plans ahead of me. Working at camp and then shipping off to Ireland. Going to school for a semester in Ireland is probably the most adventurous thing I have ever done. And I havent even done it yet! Man am I stoked. You see that picture of the castle up above? The first weekend I'm in Ireland, we are staying THERE. Yeah, be jealous. :)

This was a pretty much meaningless post, and Im not sure anyone reads it, but it's nice to relay my thoughs.

God Bless. <><

Passions?

2007-05-29T14:54:00.000-07:00

What is your purpose in life? Do we have a purpose in life? Is there really a reason why we are on this earth?

Some people say it's to live life to the fullest, have fun, party, be adventurous. Some say it's to travel the world and discover new uncharted territories. Some say it's to live a good life and do more good than harm. Others say it's to live life to honor and glorify the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. To share the love they have in Christ to others and love others as Christ loved us.

What is your passion? What makes you tick? Where do you see yourself in 5, 10 years? When you die, what will you have to show for yourself? Will you leave a legacy for your children? Will you leave a trail of kindness wherever you go?

I have a passion, and that is Africa. I feel as though no one can go on living the life they have set for themselves after they see and understand what is going on in africa. How can Americans live their lives in their bubble of wealth, medocricy, and selfishness? Maybe your calling is not to drop everything and fly to Africa, but what are we doing to reach out to the community we live in? How can we say that we are followers of Christ when we are in our comfortable cacoon, reading about the terrors of the world but doing nothing to stop them? How can we rationalize our actions?

Personal History

2007-05-21T16:41:00.000-07:00

As a student at a prestigious Bible school, there is always the lingering danger of indoctrination. There is always the possibility of knowing multitudes of information but not really knowing Jesus. In an intellectual environment, we sometimes lose the flare we first set out with. Through endless readings about Calvinism, Armenianism, and the meanderings of Ryrie and Strong, through the debates over Dispensationalism and Covenental theology, we get hopelessly lost. We get hung up on the 5 points of Calvinism and forget the real reason we are here. We forget to love. We cease loving others and in turn, we cease loving God.

Why was Mary weeping at Jesus' tomb? She cared nothing for doctrine or theology. Pharasees could have easily made a fool out of Mary doctrinally, but they couldn't deny the fact that Jesus had cast 7 demons out of her. He blessed her immensely through that but she also knew Him. "... she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and did not know that it was Jesus ... Jesus said to her, Mary!" When she heard her name she knew at once that she has a personal history with the Christ and that she knew Him. "...She immediately turned to Him and said to Him, Rabboni!" (John 20:14, 16)

"The one true sign of discipleship is intimate oneness with Him- a knowledge of Jesus that nothing can shake" Oswald Chambers

My Commitment as a Christian

2007-05-21T14:06:00.000-07:00

I'm part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I'm a disciple of His. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I'm finished with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way rough, my companions few, my guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won't give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops me. And when He comes for His own, He will have no problems recognizing me - my banner will be clear!

-Author Unknown