A Beautiful View

A Beautiful View
Current mood: calm
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes

Last night at GC i was asked to usher in the balcony and at first i was totally bummed out and upset and i really didn't want to leave my friends in the main auditorium with my stellar seats, but as worship started and God started speaking to me I was like, okay I'll go anywhere! I'll serve the Lord with gladness! :)
So T and I worked the balcony... it was my first time even going up there... it was exciting... i felt such ownership to it and the people that went up to sit there and there were a lot! let me just tell you, GC was PACKED last night!
And of course God rewarded my faithfulness! He allowed me to see the most beautiful sight... something I would love for so many of you to see... I would do anything for you to see what I saw last night... From the top of the balcony, i could see the most beautiful view down below... hundreds and hundreds of young people, guys and girls lifting their hands, singing, dancing, crying... worshiping God... getting touched by God... it was so amazing.. so uplifting... Godly, pure young people crying out to God, confessing their love for Him... the worship team pouring their hearts out... and in all that God gave me a vision... I saw everyone below me as children... rejoicing in their father's love... i mean, what do children do when they are excited, when their dad comes home from work? they clap, jump up and down and get excited! they raise their hands because they want to be picked up and loved by their parent... it was beautiful... so pure... He is our father and we are His children! He loves us... He delights in us! He enjoys us! and we enjoy Him... and worship is how we express it.
And at the end of the service, when the call for purity came... I had the privilege of watching dozens of young people stand up and commit their lives to purity and holiness and living clean, shameless and blameless lives... so yea... balcony duty next week? you bet! ;)

GC - Uncensored

Current mood: enthralled
Category: Travel and Places

For all of you that have never been to GC and even others who might never get a chance to go, I want to give you an inside glimpse of the service that dominates my Wednesday and sometimes Thursday nights. The GC website www.generationchurch.org will tell you some of what to expect, but heres what you can only get by being there:

Locations - We have 4! Kirkland @ 7pm and UW (University of Washington) @ 9pm on Wednesdays and CD (Central District near SU (Seattle University)) @ 5pm and Plateau (Issaquah) @ 7pm on Thursdays.

Worship Worship is a lifestyle, its a sacrifice, it encompasses so many things that it would take a lot of space and a lot of time to even touch the tip of its significance, so right now I will only talk about the singing part of worship.

At GC worship (praise) and be summed up in one word: HILLSONG. Those Aussies from the Hillsong church in Australia sure know how to worship and sing to/about God. At GC we are lucky to have a partnership with them and have them visit us quite often.

Night and day I seek Your face
Long for You in the secret place
All I want in this life
Is to truly know You more...

As the waters cover the sea,
So Your love covers me
Guiding me on roads unknown
I trust in You alone

My Saving Grace
My endless love
Deeper and deeper I'm falling in love with You
My one desire, my only truth
Deeper and deeper I'm falling in love with You

And I will rise on wings of eagles
Soaring high above all my fears
I rest in Your open arms of love

Worship will be the first thing youll notice about GC. Its loud, fun, passionate, and there are no spectators. However, if youre unfamiliar with it, it will seem strange and different. Why are all these cool, hip, trendy young people, half of them guys, lifting up their hands and singing to a God whom they can not see? Why are their eyes closed and why are some of them crying? Or why are these people dancing in church? Why are they so happy, shouting and having so much fun? I must admit it took me some time to embrace GC worship. I never thought Id be like that. I used to think that those people were weird and that God did not approve of such behavior. I was totally against it actually until I understood. Understood what it felt like to have clean hands and a pure heart and stand blameless before God and feel his loving presence all around. What else can you do when you know what its like? What else but sing, shout, jump around and raise your arms in total and complete joy and freedom?! There are countless songs out there about love (which we cant see) and since God is love and we love Him it only makes sense to sing love songs to Him! And besides, He totally responds!

"And we'll be the dancing generation! Dancing because of Your great mercy Lord (Your great mercy Lord!)

And we'll be a shouting generation! Shouting because of Your great glory Lord (Your great glory Lord!)"

Preaching Pastor Judah is DA BOMB! Fo realz! He is hilarious, cool, hip, trendy, but most of all, he is a man of God who loves God and preaches His word with such intensity, honesty, passion and practicality, that it will change the way you view God. Its really the best preaching there is. Period.

People Kirkland service is pretty big (about 300 people) and is home to mostly junior high and high school students and their university leaders. Its fun because its loud with a lot of lights, worship choir (I sing in it every other week), and arcade games set up in the lobby.

UW is my home service which is mostly college students and graduates. It's huge! We take up all of Kane Hall (600 seats)!Its fun, with awesome worship and rated R version of the sermons hehe...

CD is small and intimate (less than a 100 people) with intense worship and Pastor Judah getting "real".

Never been to the Plateau... sorry... planning on it ... will let you know how it is ;)

Aight, so for those of you that are within 20 miles of any of the 4 GC locations, GET YO BIG BEHIND DOWN THERE and CHECK IT OUT FO YOSELF!

Currently listening : God He Reigns: Live Worship From Hillsong Church By Hillsong Release date: 13 September, 2005

For all who call themselves Christians

Current mood: thoughtful
Category: Quiz/Survey

This is going to offend a lot of people, but I really don't care. Jesus offended a lot of people. What a lot of people don't realize these days is that Jesus was the most contravercial, politically incorrect, honest person in His day. That says a lot... about Him and about what His followers should be like. So take this quiz and see if you can measure up to the name.

When was the last time you...
1. Read your Bible? (Your own, personal Bible, and by reading I mean more than one or two verses)
2. Prayed? (Talked with God... audibly)
3. Invited (and/or brought)someone to church? (an unsaved person)
4. Talked about God?
5. Interceded in prayer for an unsaved loved one?

If you can't answer today or yesterday (or within last week) to all five of these then maybe you should re-evaluaute your title of a Christian.

Yes or No
1. Do the people around you (family, friends, co-workers) know that you're a Christian?
2. Do your friends (family) know the name of your church?
3. Does God answer your prayers? (really now)

If you can't say "yes" to all three... well... you know...

WANTED

Current mood: indescribable
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes

i want a russian guy. i really want a russian guy. i never did before, but i do now. i want my husband to be russian. not right off the boat russian, but he needs to speak, read and write russian and so does his family. and he cant be a "russian christian" (my russian peeps know what this means) he has to go to am american church such as GC, CC, MH or some other Bible-believeing Spirit-filled church. but he has to be connected to a russian church as well. i want a russian husband not only because i want our families to communicate and so that our children would speak russian, but also because we would be more connected through our culture mentally, emotionally and spiritually. I was listening to some russian worship music today and it melted my heart. i want my husband to appreciate that with me. i want to be able to communicate with my husband in more than one language (speaking in tongues doesnt count, although its a must). russian language is so beautiful and its vocabulary is more expansive than english. its more expressive. i want to worship God together and go to both russian and american churches together. we should marry people that are like us as much as possible, and i cant think of a better match... of course i'll leave it up to God who my husband is going to be, after all, HE knows best, but I'm just putting my humble request in...

Currently listening : Awaken By Natalie Grant Release date: 22 March, 2005

Daddy's Girl

Current mood: rejuvenated
Category: Life

"My father I adore You more
Than anything my heart could wish for
I just want You
And Jesus my beloved savior
Everything I am I owe to You
I owe it all to You

And angels come and adore You
And we Your children worship You

You are my world
You are my God
And I lay down my life for You
You are my Lord
The one I love
No one could ever take Your place"

I don’t think I was ever a daddy’s girl. Maybe when I was young, but even those memories are foggy and tainted. My relationship with my father has actually been petty screwed up for a while which completely accounts for all the bad choices I made (with men) when I was growing up. What can I say? I’m your typical female without a strong male role model and everything that goes along with it. I’ve always known that was the reason why I’ve had difficulty in relationships with men, but what I had no idea about was that it would cause difficulties in my relationship with God. I mean I love God! No question about it. I view Him as my Savior, my God, the most important person in my life… my friend even… I have a close relationship with Him… but something is missing… I want more, I want to be closer, more intimate… I know He’s my father, but I’m having difficulty viewing Him in that role… I never really knew what having a good father was like when I was growing up and now that I have one (in a spiritual sense) and I know what it’s supposed to be like and what it’s like I can’t accept it… I just see Him as Jesus’ Father, but not really mine. Yes, I know we are all God’s children and He loves us, protects us, provides for us, and everything else that a father is supposed to do, but I never really got that from my biological father so I’m having a hard time accepting and expecting those things from God. And because of that God can’t give me my husband, the future father of my children. This is an important issue in my relationship with God that must be dealt with because it will alter my relationship with my husband. Frustrating I know… but it totally makes sense and I understand it… so I’ve been praying that God will reveal Himself to me as a father and let me see Him in that role for myself, as His daughter. And what does God do? LOL He really does work in ways we don’t expect… He is restoring my relationship with my biological father, healing it, so that I can have a restored view of it and view my own father in a way that God meant it to be. God is so good. His ways and thoughts are better and higher than ours. At first I was like, “God can’t you just magically alter my mindset towards You so that I can view You as my father?” Ummm yea… no, God doesn’t work like that… He doesn’t do things the way we do. And that’s actually a good thing. He is a God of healing, restoration, reconciliation, and love. YAI! And it’s working… already I’m beginning to view my father in a different light and it’s changing the way I view God… I’m not totally there yet, but I know I will be soon by God’s divine grace! God is my heavenly father… and I’m totally a daddy’s girl!

Currently listening : For All You've Done By Hillsong Release date: 14 September, 2004

Seahawks, Mars Hill and Purity

Current mood: happy
Category: Life

HAWKS

I haven’t mentioned the Seahawks so far, but I guess now would be a good time to do so. I’m a loyal Patriots fan, since I’m from RI (New England), and while I lived there I watched them win three Superbowls… Nice, I know… don’t even get me started about the Red Sox LOL. But since I’ve moved out to Seattle, (and I do believe this has everything to do with me lol jk) the Seahawks proved to be a better team than the Patriots this season. THE SEAHAWKS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL! I’ll go even farther to state that THE SEAHAWKS WILL WIN THE SUPERBOWL! AMEN! How can I claim that? Well it’s quite simple really… GOD IS WITH THE SEAHAWKS! Now before you get all offended, let me explain… besides the fact that both Pastor Wendell and Pastor Judah are hopelessly obsessed (a holy obsession mind you) with the Seahawks and pray for them at practically every church service (and if you’ve ever heard those two men of God pray… well… you know God is listening… and answering), apparently two of the “important players” on the team, including Sean Alexander, are members of the City Church and are Christians. That’s right. Sean Alexander even came to GC this past Wednesday and you bet your bottom Pastor Judah laid hands upon him in prayer! So yea… any questions?

MH

Mars Hill was loony tonight! In a good way of course! I love that church and I love serving there it’s so fun and I’m really glad that God wants us to have fun at His house! Amen! Pastor Mark wasn’t there, so we got to watch a pretty neat video of him with his family and the newborn baby (all together now: AWWW) and then the video of the sermon from the 8:30 service. It was all business as usual besides having a lot less people because of the game, but the loonyness came after the sermon. So we are worshiping as usual, and then the band starts playing these old hymn songs to a western country tune. Man, it was just weird… and funny… I thought it was a joke at first… one of those, Are they serious? reactions you know haha… I mean it was kinda fun… people singing and laughing and some were even dancing, and others were kinda like me just looking around in bewilderment. The real kicker came after one of the pastors closed the service in prayer: they played “Eye of the Tiger” from Rocky III! LOL! I love that movie! And the song! I just wasn’t expecting to hear it in church! It was a huge hit though… a great time, a great night… amusement and fun had by all ;) now isn’t that what serving God is all about? Well ok no, but it’s still part of the package hehe!

PURITY

So Pastor Judah is doing this amazing series in GC and YP about learning to live pure and it’s so stinking good all of you need to download it and listen to it online @ www.generationchurch.org because I guarantee none of you have ever heard anything like this and it will completely change your life! So I’ve really been thinking a lot about the whole purity thing and God has been speaking volumes to me about it and it’s been really revelational and just so good and meaningful and deep, but I also have some questions/concerns. It’s ok to find the opposite sex attractive right? In a pure way I mean. Because City Church and Mars Hill are FULL of VERY attractive people and it’s impossible not to notice. I’m talking about both guys and girls. And unless you’re pure you can easily be coming to church for the wrong reasons, and even if you are pure, it’s hard not to think “God, is he/she the one?” every time you meet an attractive person of the opposite sex, and believe me, you will meet them! So is it just me who’s struggling with this? I’m totally trusting God and waiting on Him when it comes to this, especially after the message Jason preached at GC class today. I’m not choosing anything or anyone over God, but I guess I just need extra grace when it comes to finding people attractive… I dunno… I’m still figuring this out.

Currently listening : Live in Seattle By Shawn McDonald Release date: 26 April, 2005

Kids III

Current mood: amused
Category: Life

i love my students! they just never fail to amaze me... i love their innocence, their love, their simplicity, their quickness to forgive and forget... man, i have the best job! to be surrounded by their smiles, laughter, joy, energy, and best of all, love, all day five days a week... i cant believe i get paid for this!

we had P.E. today... i love it... i love watching the quietest student come to life and show off his athletic skills. i love watching shy girls get aggressive and competative. i love watching my students shine doing what they do best. and i love being there along side them, playing with them, laughing with them, tackling and tickling them and watching their faces light up with pleasure when they watch me just being with them... not teaching... just enjoying them... it melts me... i just want to hug and kiss all of them! and i do!