Don't move.

"Therefore, my beloved brothers..

be steadfast,

immovable,

always abounding

in the work of the Lord,

knowing

that in the Lord

your labor IS NOT in vain."

-1 Corinthians 15:58

God is engraving this scripture on my heart right now.  I really mean that.  I've almost never felt more certain of God speaking through his word than now.  The crazy "coincidences" like randomly committing this verse to memory recently.. the fact that a girl stood in the middle of a service at Mercy House to read it... opening my bible up to the exact verse again and again.. my best friend sending me a word of encouragement via text message today and of course the message being 1 Corinthians 15:58.

I've been praying for God to reveal His significance behind this verse to me.  He is slowly but surely beginning to show me... well maybe its more like I'm slowly but surely starting to listen.  

I'm in austin.  The beautiful diverse city I will be moving to in the fall.  I love the city.  I am constantly reassured that this is where God has me to be.  In the past few days of being here I have befriended people of many ethnic groups and cultures and beliefs.  I have met a Jewish person, an atheist, a Muslim, a who-cares-about-religion type.  I love these people I have met.

However, I must remain steadfast.  I pray for encouraging believers here in Austin like the friends I am so blessed with at home.  

God's word is truth.

His word is real.

His word is alive.

Thank you Jesus.

You are my Rock.

GRACE.

oh where to begin... i have a million and one things to blog about. let me just say.. this last month has been crazy.. but wonderful.


well big milestone #1... i graduated high school. Praise the sweet Lord!

i am also preparing for Kenya in July... yes yes and yes!

i have UT orientation in a few weeks which only means that i am getting closer and closer to being in Austin.. probably my favorite city.


so that's the rundown of big events.. not to mention ten million things in between. But on to more important things... like big JC. o yes it always goes back to Jesus.

so my friend Lauren recently re-introduced me to this thing called GRACE. its a strange deal this "grace". it is completely irrational. it is not fair in anyway. it cannot be earned. it is free to all. it is the center of the Gospel.

i say she re-introduced GRACE to me because it seemed as if me and her both forgot about this beautiful idea... well not really an idea, but a reality we had simply disregarded. i realized that legalism in my life had begun to take the place of grace. For a short period i had started to become somewhat of a legalist.. which i would have never never have called myself... but it was true. and legalism resulted in judgement... which in turn resulted in my lack of ability to love others unconditionally... and before i knew it grace was no longer something i even understood (not that we ever truly can)... but better said, grace was something i didn't let myself experience because i was trying to be a saint by my own strength.

Legalism is such a terrible terrible cycle.. and a tiring one at that. Its an exhausting way to live. But GRACE... now grace... Grace is a most beautiful place to live. And by "living in grace" that does not mean living by license.. not in the least bit. It is realizing and accepting that I am a sinner just like my neighbor... i can never do anything to be better than my brother or sister... i can never do anything to be good enough for God... all i can do, is accept His Grace. And in that grace i am made clean.


GRACE.
i need you//

kenya update.

umm.. can i just say God provides! yes.. yes He does.

with the help of my mom and good friends, we have reached the halfway mark for my trip! $2000 in a little over 3 weeks. Praise God!

Here's a little behind the scenes in my "sweatshop" as some call it.

oh yea.. and here's a few photos of the bro... big bday weekend. Go mike!

new eyes.

i think god's been trying to say something to me lately... about having new eyes. it keeps coming up. and im just now realizing this as i'm writing (which, by the way, is the beauty of writing/journaling).. but yes im realizing that this whole "new eyes" concept does a lot to explain this brokenness ive been experiencing lately.



real quick explantaion of the brokennes...

i have been deeply broken this past week... and i havent been able to say why. It's not a guilt or sadness over something that happened, but more of a spiritual brokennes thats not necessarily bad... just painful. and if you've studied mother teresa's life, she experienced something like this.. although much more intense. Its like she felt she had to bear the darkness of the world. She physically and spiritually hurt for the poor and the low and the depressed and the down-trodden.

now im no mother T... but being around the lost and seeing their pain and their sorrow and feeling a deep deep compassion and sadness for them has played into my recent brokenness.




But back to the new eyes thing.. like i said in a recent post, Claiborne talks about how a different world is possible.. how His (God's) kingdom is a realitly. well... that is if we're willing to not see the world the way everyone else sees it. Romans 12:2 hello.

and also, this morning at The Village matt chandler discussed how theres these lenses we all put on to see the world with... the secular lens (bad), the religious lens (reallyyy bad), and the gospel lens (weird but beautiful). and the beautiful thing about the gospel lens is that we are free (unlike religion) to act out of obedience in JOY. With new eyes and the right eyes, we see realitly.. all the crap and brokenness of our reality... yet we let ourselves FEEL this and we act... for HIS glory.

cocoon.

aww yes another outkast cover... i dont think its as good as obadiah.. but ill give them some props.

Peculiar.

a few pics.. props to my boy Jeff Heimsath. He's a photo mastermind.

aw yes.. way past due on an update... shirt sales is going crazy. The Lord is providing indeed. and goes to show that young people do want to be a part of a cause.. (either that or they just think the shirts are cool) but i like to think its the former.

so i'm reading Jesus For President by my boy Shane... i encourage all to read it.. especially believers. you may not agree with everything.. but it sure makes you think.. and its pretty biblically backed so it can be hard to disagree with some of the uncomfortable truths we tend to overlook.

• "God's people look strange in a rebellious and fallen world."
• "If someone asks if we are Christ-followers, can we say, 'Tell me what you see?'"
• "Jesus taught nonviolence when he said, 'I send you out as sheep among wolves.' Jesus knew that his followers would face threats to their lives. But nowhere did Jesus teach that his followers should turn into wolves when they run into other scary wolves. God...chooses...to suffer evil to overcome it."

just a few quotes a grabbed from last chapter i read... its hard to accept this idea of being a "peculiar people". Shane is basically challenging us to look at the ever popular Christian phrase: be in the world, but not of it. I mean how far do I really have to take that? I can still wear Nike shoes even though I know they are made in sweat shops that violate child labor laws right? I can still burn CDs even though I'm breaking the law.. everybody does it right? I can still do the same thing everyone else does and still be an icon for Jesus right?

'Fraid not, shane says. I was not made for this world. I know this. America isn't the kingdom i belong to. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done. On earth.. as it is in Heaven. We (Christ-followers) are to embody His Kingdom here and now. Claiborne writes: "We are thankful for Heaven, but we are not willing to stand by and watch people live through hell to get there." This world isnt just a holding tank. This life isn't just a waiting game. We cannot simply blend in and wait until our number is called to enter the pearly gates. No way. Kingdom work should happen now. We were not given the responsibility of this body and this life and this world to just fumble through it.. ignoring injustice.. ignoring our call.. ignoring all the little hells on earth.

I'm not preaching here... well maybe i am... but if I'm talking to anyone its myself. I need to be reminded of this all the time. That we are called to be like Jesus- that is being among all the crap of the world.. definitely not distancing ourselves... but also being different. Peculiar.

Let's get creative...

Africa.

The Lord is sending me to Africa... to Kenya... and i cannot explain my excitment. I am making shirts (as seen above).. they say HOPE and the "o" is an Africa... in case you can't see i guess.

If you are interested in supporting please contact me... the shirts are $10. You can email at megstricko@yahoo.com.

There is Hope for Africa.