Love. Blessing. Life. Death.

Pastor's sermon today that left a mark. It was titled "To Be A Blessing". And as he started out speaking and preaching, I honestly was feeling completely out of. Seriously, though I got at least 6 hours of sleep the night before, I felt as if I had stayed up all night banging my head against my desk or something because I had a pounding headache and could not focus for the life of me. Odd.

And as I began to think to myself 'geez this guy is goin long on his sermon' that's when he introduced to us all a story... and I thought he was going to be wrapping it up his message!

The story he shared goes something like this:

There was a certain hairstylist named Jane who was accustomed to having a busy and tight schedule of clients that would come into her salon to get their hair done and styled for important events. Those people that came to have their hair done by Jane, loved her because of the awesome job that she did and also for the special attention and care that she gave each person whose hair she styled or cut... Now one day, Jane receives a phone call from Sarah, a usual client of hers, asking if she could fit her into her schedule of daily appointments for a very important event that she has later in the evening. While on the phone, she flips to her appointment page and sees just how full the day is with people coming in to have her do their hair. But after looking through and making some switches here and there with the appointments that she already had, she was able to pencil her in for later that same day!

So though Jane was busy busy all day working on fixing and styling her clients hair, when Sarah came in, she welcomed her in and as she started to work on Sarah's hair styling Jane asked her all about how her day was going and about random stuff. Though she didn't ask anything too personal or deep, she gave Sarah special attention and a loving touch that is tough to find nowadays. When Jane finished up with her hair, she commented on just how beautiful and dazzling Sarah looked for her evening event!

Sarah left smiling and feeling beautiful inside and out.

Later that day nearing the end of the work day, Jane receives a note from Liz, the salon receptionist.

She open it up and reads it.

Jane, I wanted to thank you for the beautiful job you did on styling my hair earlier today. But I must let you know that you ruined my evening plans. You see what I didn't tell you was that I wanted to get my hair styled today because I wanted to look good for my own funeral. I indeed had important plans this evening- plans to end my life and commit suicide. But your love and your care made me realize that there is hope and meaning to this life. You gave me more than a beautiful hairdo; you helped me gain a second chance a staying alive in this life.

Thank you for the love. Thank you for the hope. Thank you.

-Sarah

After listening to this story and the rest of the pastor's message, it was as if I was slapped in the face, had the wind knocked out of me, and kicked in the pants...

Love. Love is all you need. We can overcome the burdens, pain, and hopelessness of this world with love. And its simple. but not easy. Follow Christ in the love that is poured out in the cross of His sacrifice. God is Love and we must BE God's love to everyone in everything that we do. In the end of the day, its not so much about what we do, but rather who we are.

May we be God's Love to all and be the blessing to others... a blessing that can mean life or death...

more to come.

sooner than later.

PEACE.

Because the flesh is weak!...

howdy howdy. I don't know how your last month or so has been during this summer so please share and let me know how its all goin. I would love to hear about what you're learning, doing, etc... But anyways, I do hope that your summer time is all good and that you're getting readied for greater things to come.
As for me, my weeks have pretty much been filled up with working two jobs M-F (7-3 at HYP then 4-9/10 at the restaurant), sometimes working Saturdays, waking up at 4am in order to exercise before my full days, spending time with close bros on my time off, aaand sleeping when I can.

Though this may all sound crazy and probably makes you a bit more physically exhausted when you start to really think about it, some words that describe how it all is for me:

overworked, underpaid, overjoyed

Yeah, I am busy. But I love it. I have learned so much every week and every day that I look forward to it all. Whether it be serving people craving some cheap good sushi or hanging out with kids at camp, there is always something to give and to learn. *And btw, spend time with kids and they will teach you more than you even imagined; a lot of times its more than what you try to teach them...

Over the course of these past recent weeks that have constituted to become one of my busiest summers, one major major lesson and truth that has been continually reinforced in my mind and heart is the utter weakness of our flesh and bodies and the supernatural power of God's spiritual strength that He provides us when we seek it and depend on it.

"Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." ~MT26:41~

"Be anxious for nothing. But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." ~Phil4:6&7~

Two pieces of scripture that have been with me all this past week.

Truly the flesh is weak and it limits us and it weighs us down. Yet the spirit of God is beyond the limits of the flesh.

The Power of Prayer. It blows my mind to think of how crazy powerful it is and how brings us into the great peace, joy, love of God above.

stop worrying or daydreaming or whatever and be intentional to pray throughout the day and memorize a verse or more- you will see a change in you and in your daily life.

+Pros/Random Good Stuff+

-time with the guys. always random. always good.

-being disciplined in going to the gym throughout the week-Its spiritual. discipline yourself physically and that discipline leaks into other areas of your life.

-regularly going to my new church- First United Methodist Church- and realizing that tradition and structure are good to have...and I'm not a traditional person.

-AGO Epsilon's new house... we used to have a frat tent compared to the huge house we now are blessed to have.

-time with my big bro; I get more brown every time I'm with him.

-the Beatles and Dizzy Miss Lizzy. lol.

-keeping touch with friends- both near and far

-gaining peace from knowing that I don't know it all and that in the end; Only God Knows.

My Prayer Request:

To grab hold of the strength to love and serve those around me everywhere I go. To truly be filled with the Spirit despite the weakness of the flesh.

That's all for now. Hope to update more frequently. PEACE.