Sunday, January 15, 2012

Untitled.

This is untitled because I'm in awe. I don't have any words. I am speechless. The Lord is so good. I am amazed by the way he works things out for us

Over the last week, I have had so many divine appointments that I don't know what to do other than thank the Lord. Monday night, God gave a friend of mine vision for a worship event to raise awareness of Human Trafficking in Wichita. I jumped at it because I have had the same vision in one way or another, so we got together Tuesday afternoon. We got some of our ideas together and by Thursday night, a venue was booked, we had a name, the twitter page @freedomT214 was made, and the Facebook Event was created (COME!). By Friday afternoon, we had a musician to lead worship. Thanks, Matt Allen! By Friday night, we had an organization to partner with. By this afternoon, almost all of the plans have been made. I have met about 8 people in the last week that I didn't know before who all happen to be passionate about this issue and will be helping in one way or another. God has just opened doors and thrown us all onto the same path and now by his grace, on Monday, January 30th, at Meads Corner, FREEDOM 214 will happen.

FREEDOM 214 is a name that my friend @AaronLew92 came up with after the verse in Titus 2:14 that declares Jesus as the one "who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works." Brilliant. Its amazing what happens sometimes when you ask the Lord for vision. He will give it to you. I'm kind of convinced that we must respond with obedience. Its just a matter of working out what that obedience looks like.


FREEDOM in the name of Jesus, that is what I long for. It is what WE long for. I could go off on a rant about this, but I will save it for later. Check out this website. This is ICT S.O.S. They are legit, and they are brand new! Their mission is to act as a liaison between the professional groups working with trafficked youth and the volunteers of the general public who seek ways to be involved in finding solutions. Check out this site if you are at all interested in getting involved and plugged in somewhere in Wichita.

The pieces are coming together in front of our eyes. God's brilliant design is being revealed piece by piece. And it freaking pumps me up. Its unbelievable.

God has a plan for this city that is Wichita. I'm just proud to have a very small part in it.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Coincidence or Divine?

I don't believe in coincidence. I honestly believe that everything in this life happens for a reason. A divine reason. God is not a God of chaos; he is a God who creates order out of chaos.

A question that many seem to be asking a lot recently is whether or not God cares about football. I don't think God cares who wins and who loses any football game. But he does care about his people who are playing in that game. And many that play recognize him and give him the glory.

You probably wonder w here I'm going from here. Actually, you probably know exactly where I'm going.

The most popular verse in the bible (at least the verse that's been searched the most on google in the last week) is John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that whoever would believe in him would not die but have eternal life." Incredible verse. Its also Tim Tebow's (My favorite athlete) favorite verse.

On January 8, 2008, Tim Tebow wore that verse on his eyeblack in the National Championship game and sent millions to google to look it up. January 8, 2011 (last Sunday), exactly three years to that day, something even more incredible happened involving Tim. I don't know how many of my readers are into football or sports, but Tim Tebow shocked the world when he beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in overtime on an 80 yard pass. That wasn't supposed to happen. That game-winning pass pushed him to 316 yards for the night. That's ironic. Also, throughout the week, the entire sports world was going nuts because Tim's boss who happens to be named John urged Tim multiple times to "pull the trigger." John, 316 yards, John 3:16. Crazy. But that's not all. It gets way more ridiculous.

He had ten completions so he averaged 31.6 yards per completion.



In the second quarter, the Steelers threw an interception that the Broncos converted into a crucial field goal making it 17-6. The play was on a third-and-16.

The Steelers held the ball through the game for a total of 31 minutes and yes, 6 seconds.

The last one is probably the most ridiculous. The TV ratings for CBS' final quarter-hour overnight ratings were exactly 31.6.

What do you do with that? Is there a message being hinted here? I don't know. Does God work like that? I'm just going to say "probably."

I respect Tim Tebow a lot. Not just because he plays for my favorite team, the Broncos, but because he is an outstanding role-model and an outspoken man of God. Without fail and without skipping a beat, the dude gives all of the glory to Jesus after every game, win or lose. I am not afraid to say that I think God has blessed Tim Tebow.

But maybe this, these stats, are a special message to the world? The world is responding.

This is a link to an article written by Adam Schefter who talks about these stats. I encourage you to at least read the beginning of it. I should say that I did get some of these stats from this article.

Here's another incredible article about the man Tim Tebow written by the best sports writer in the country, Rick Reilly.

Read them both, let me know what you think.

Is God using these silly football stats to speak to the world? I guess Tim just needs to keep "pulling the trigger."