Where Did He Go???

I could feel His presence-everywhere-during my travels last year.

It didn't matter if I was leading a Bible study in Spanish during my time at Mission Centers of Houston, if I was at St. Paul's Catholic Church in New York City or if I was visiting the Orthodox monastery outside of Kiev, Ukraine. I could feel the Holy Spirit in all of these places where believers meet to worship God. "When two or three gather in My name, there I am with them," Jesus said in Matthew 18:20. Sure enough, this is typical of Jesus to be found where people are meeting to honor Yahweh. When Jesus was twelve years old and his parents couldn't find him one time, where was he? In the temple, duh. Mary and Joseph thought that worse had come to worst, that some crazy man had kidnapped Jesus, and they were epic fails as parents of the dude who was supposed to be the Messiah. "Where did he go?" they asked, freaking out. But sure enough, Jesus was in the temple, speaking. "Of course I'd be in my Father's house," Jesus replied to his worried parents. I mean, it makes sense. If we want to find Jesus, shouldn't we go to the temple/church?

I believe that if we go to any place where people are gathered in God's name and seek God, we will find God's presence. We will see Him in some new way if we are truly looking. However, the Bible says that there's a new type of temple-us. Christians have the spirit of Christ-the Holy Spirit-living inside of them. In Jewish terms, the place where the Holy Spirit is is the temple. Therefore, it says in the book of Romans that Christians are a temple of God. But my question is this: if Jesus is supposed to be found in the temple, is He really found in our hearts today? Can people, like Mary and Joseph, who are looking for Jesus find Him in our lives? In our actions? In the words that we say? We are the temple. Is he there like he's supposed to be?

Every day, people are looking for Jesus. They're looking for him and wondering to see if He's the real deal about what we Christians say about him and whatnot. Can they find Him in the temple-our hearts? Is He evident in our lifestyles, in our little actions, in our motives? Jesus is supposed to be found in the temple. If he's not really found in our lives, maybe He was never really in us in the first place.

Using a Basketball to Play Soccer is Lame!

I’ve been feeling slightly bummed since Wednesday. Why? A year ago on Wednesday, I left Jacksonville to go live in Houston, Texas for nine weeks and work at an inner-city mission. Had God led me back there this year, I would have left on Tuesday. I have such good memories of that special place and I have great friends from there. I know that God has plans for me these last two months that I live with my parents before moving away in August, but my heart longs to be a little place called Mission Centers of Houston….:(

One of the many amazing memories I have of Houston is working with the kids that lived in Fletcher Mission's community, which was the mission I was assigned to by Mission Centers of Houston. The kids would come to the mission Monday-Thursday during the afternoons and be part of an event called Kids' Club, which is basically like a Vacation Bible School. During free time, the kids would always get to play with the toys we had for them at the mission.

One day as I was on "make sure the kids don't kill each other" duty, I saw two little boys playing soccer. They had the little minature goal set up and everything. Only to my horror, the soccer ball began to bounce and dribble up and down. They weren't playing with a soccer ball. They were playing soccer with a basketball. "This can't fly," I muttered to myself and went to go do something about it. Playing soccer with a basketball was just begging for disatre (disaster). So I went over to the kids and told them not to use a basketball to play soccer. I then went to the toys closet and got a nice soccer ball for them to play with.

"Use this, you guys. Here, give me the basketball." The kids looked at me and one of them started whining.

"Pero esta pelota es MIA!!!!!" (this ball is mine) cried the boy. "Si, pero tengo algo mejor para ti. Pero para recibirla, me tienes que dar lo que tienes ahora." (Yes, but I have something better for you.  But in order to get it, you have to give me what you have now.) The boy wouldn't cooperate so I finally had to snatch the ball from him. Yeah he wasn't a happy chico and because he was a pain I didn't give him the soccer ball right away as payback/discipline. But...when he finally did get the soccer ball he realized it was a lot better to play soccer with.

When you're a kid toys mean the world to you. When someone wants to take away your toy, your life is over practically, never mind the fact that they have something better in store for you! I believe that we can learn a lot from kids as people. Sometimes in our lives we have things that mean a lot to us, such as a position at work, a dating relationship, a friendship, a career, whatever. When that thing is taken from us, we freak out. Little do we know that when God takes something away from us, He has something better for us. He knows that that thing in our lives is just like a kid trying to play soccer with a basketball: something that just doesn't belong there or that could prevent us from doing everything to fulfill our purpose. It feels like we've lost everything and that we'll never, ever get something better. But the truth is, when God takes away it's because He has something better for us. He has a purpose in mind for us that won't be properly fulfilled if that obstacle is in our lives, so He takes it away to give us something better and more suited for His purpose. He needs to give that basketball to someone who is trying to play basketball and that soccer ball to you, who is trying to play soccer.

"The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me," says Psalm 138:8. I fully believe that He will do this, even if that means taking away things from us sometimes to give us something better and fulfill His purpose for us. Because after all, using a basketball to play soccer is lame!

Adventures, Love and Love

What a morning! I'm eating my favorite breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast all so nicely fixed into a sandwich with a bit of mayonaise on top...yum! Being the typical college student that I am, I had some homework due at midnight yesterday in two of my online classes. When did I start on it? Ha, I started on it as soon as I got home from work at 6. What time did I submit it? 11:55 P.M. But I made it!! :) Anyways...that was totally off topic. But seriously, who DOESN"T procrastinate in college? If my mother were here right now (or maybe she's even reading this blog entry!) I just know what she'd say: "Caroline, may God help the man who is going to marry you, because every day he lives with you is going to be an adventure." Oh, he's going to have all kinds of things with me alright, and adventures are going to be at the top of the list!!! Let's talk about what my lucky future hubby will be facing on a day-to-day basis with me. Besides, on the 30 Day Song Challenge on Facebook I'm supposed to post a song I want to play at my wedding, and I can't decide between "Not Like the Movies" by Katy Perry or "The Day Before You" by Matthew West, so weddings/marriage is currently on my mind. :)

1. Adventure! Some of these will be great, some of these adventures will be challenging. For example, recently I have been sitting in a Bible study and as I closed my Bible, all of the pages fell out, no joke. A few months later, I was late for my sister's graduation and since my seat was on the reserved seating on the field, I literally had to run between students (who were starting to walk) and jump to the seats. Awkward!!! But I hope some of the adventures my husband has with me are great. For example, I like to give food away to homeless people and talk to them. I love to help people in need. One of my biggest dreams is to travel and live overseas for a while, and if I'm lucky my husband will think that's an adventure, too. Most of all, I live an adventure each day as I get closer to God and see how indescribable He is. My husband will be living adventures with God, too.

2. Love. Hahaha okay that totally sounds cheesy....but let me expound! I'm going to love my husband, period. But when I say love, I'm not just going to think that he's hot or that he makes a great companion. I am going to love him, and when I say love, I mean serve him. There are going to be times when he is in a bad mood and not so loveable, but I'm going to be there for him and be the support that he needs. He might do silly little things that drive me crazy, such as popping his gum, but I'm going to not let that bug me. I'm going to be his cheerleader when he needs encouragement, yet I'm going to be honest with him when he's messed up. However, I will be honest in a gentle and loving way. I will be madly in love with everything about him and I will happily tell my friends what a great husband I married. Finally, I will never stop loving him. When I say "I do," I do not take that lightly. I will be with him until "death do us part." I will always love him unconditionally. I will love him with a John 15:14 love. I will happily lay down my life for him.

3. Love. I'm mentioning this twice because love is two ways. If a marriage is going to be successfull (thanks Dale Johnson, my old New Testament professor, for this analogy!) then the man has to give everything to the woman unselfishly and the woman must give everything to the man unselfishly. The love for each other must be a two-way street. I will love my husband and in order for our marriage to be a success, he must also love me. My husband will serve me. He will be there for me when I'm grumpy, have nothing to say, or when my world is falling apart. He will listen to me when I need to talk and will hold me in my arms as I cry. There are going to be some moments where I will not be loveable and yet he will overcome that fact and still love me. I will be his most valued treasure and he will boast of me. We will go through hard times in our marriage with life's events, but we will never give up.  He will love me until "death do us part."

There are so many other little things that my husband will probably have to go through with me, but as he goes through the day-to-day adventures of being married to a red head named Caroline, my only requirements are that he goes through adventures with God, meaning that he has a growing relationship with God, and that he will love me despite my weaknesses. When I close my eyes and imagine my marriage one day, I know that it will be made up of adventures, love and love. I cannot wait until that day...