Archive for July, 2009

27
Jul
09

manicures, scalp massages, high heels, and Jesus

By wbradfor Leave a Comment
Categories: Uncategorized

IMG_1382 This past Thursday night was one of the greatest nights I have ever experienced. We borrowed the idea from HPC and hosted our own version of “chick night”.  We invited all the ladies in oIMG_1361ur program out for a night of pampering.  We provided them with free manicures, scalp massages, jewelry, roses, high heel shoes, and the men cooked and served them supper. Jennifer Maggio came out and shared a powerful life-giving testimony that really spoke to all of us. We wanted these ladies to know just how valuable they are to us, their families, and the Kingdom. We wanted to honor them and let them know that they are not forgotten.

IMG_1353 Most of the women in our program have little or no self-worth, no dignity, and no notion of what it means to be human. After years and years of incarceration, a life of drugs and alcohol use, mental, physical, and sexual abuse at the hands of those closest to them, its easy to see why these women feel hopeless. On this night, we wanted to give them something different to think about.

foot_washing The Scriptures tell us that Jesus showed the full extent of His love for His disciples by washing their feet, with no strings attached. In a real and practical way, that’s what we attempted to show these ladies on this night. God showed up! They left with such a glow on their faces. In the end it was a win for the city of Baton Rouge. A win for Louisiana. A win for these ladies, and most importantly a win for the Kingdom. You can NEVER go wrong serving out of love with no strings attached!

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09
Jul
09

that’s not good enough

By wbradfor Leave a Comment
Categories: Uncategorized

IMG_0965 I recently returned from vacation in the Smoky Mountains with my mom, sister, and her three children. Go-karts, swimming, amusement parks, picnics. You name it we did it. The three  kids (7, 5, & 3) get to choose at least one activity that they want to do. Emily likes ice skating. Connor wanted to see an Old West gunfight, IMG_1028 and Rachel she wants to swim. She LOVES the water. She wanted to go swimming in the streams with the dolphins, but I had to tell her that wasn’t possible. One of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. :) She, Rachel, has such a sense of humor. She laughs at everything, which makes me laugh at everything, and my soul needs that! The worst part about spending time with the kids is that I eventually have to come back to LA. IMG_1205 Each time I leave, Rachel will ask me, if I would come live with her forever? To which I respond, “I wish I could but I have to go to work and take care of Caesar (my Sheltie), but I’ll live in your heart forever” to which she replies, “that’s not good enough.” IMG_1199 

I love the honesty in her answer. I think that she speaks for a lot of us when it comes to our hang up with God and the  moments when we’re called to walk by faith and not by sight. We want tangible, verifiable, concrete evidence from God, and if it doesn’t happen then faith is just not good enough. The Scriptures tell us, and we may even quote it from time to time “without faith it is impossible please God”, and “we walk by faith not by sight”; yet, in the very next breath we ask God for proof in the form of signs.

When we talk about faith it’s a lot of times in the context of facts, dates, and events, and that’s not really what faith is. Faith is about connecting to the Creator of the universe in a way that cannot be perceived by the five senses. Faith, as the Scriptures talk about, gives us insight to the unlimited possibilities of God that are all around us. Faith allows us, like Moses, to see the invisible God and when we see God; we begin to see everything differently. We begin to see the beauty and wonder of life. We begin to experience what it means to be spiritually alive. I believe this is along the lines of the conversation Jesus was having with Nicodemus (John 3), when he said that you must be born again. “Nicodemus (paraphrasing here) you know the Scriptures, you’re a keeper of the law but it’s all about rules, tradition, and denominations, and at your core you’ve never come alive spiritually through faith.”

 

… Faith unlocks the realities of what it means to be alive! 

 

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I know it would be easier if we had visible evidence of what God was doing around us, or even an explanation from God Himself would seem to make the journey less stressful, but God does not work like that in our time and space.  Why? We see the world through our eyes, but we see God through our soul, and it is our soul that must connect with Him.  When we do that, a spiritual rebirth takes place and we begin to see ALL of life from His perspective.