It’s morning.. and I actually like it..

I’m not usually a morning person. But this morning I am. I’m house-sitting for some friends and it just happened that a 9a meeting was canceled for this morning and today got to sleep in until 9:30a! Not only that, but I have a cup of fresh ground, brewed Dunn Bros coffee. This kind of start makes me like mornings. I even have 2 loads of laundry done! Such a silly thing to be happy about, but an extra couple hours of sleep, fresh coffee, and clean clothes, I like it. It’s morning.. and I actually like it!

Memory Lane & the notes of history..

Last night I took a trip down memory lane and re-read my blog posts from the last year. It’s been a year full of change with plenty of ups and downs along the way to make it interesting. I think that it’s this season, this time of year that makes me want to reflect. As I look back, I’m seeing many things to be thankful for. I’m seeing the way that the Lord moved in my life, sometimes nudging me this way or that way, sometimes letting me choose on my own. I’m seeing the places that hurt and were healed; places broken, now restored. I see the areas that I’ve grown, and the many areas which still need growth. But mostly, I see the way that the Lord has led me. I see how He has never once let me down, even when I felt like I was free falling and only seconds from hitting the ground.

I guess that now in this moment, I’m realizing the value of the scribes. The notes of history are the way that we can look back and recount the faithfulness of the Lord and offer up hearts of gratitude and worship.

Hmm.. I like these thoughts :)

Coffee & Croissants

For my birthday this summer, a dear friend gave me a gift card to a little French restaurant/ café called Aixois. It is my newest retreat. I’m sitting here sipping a Carmel latté and munching on a chocolate croissant. It’s so nice to get away from my normal circles and into a cute little neighborhood with the fall colors all around. It’s beautiful today! It’s about 33* outside, but the sun is shining and bright, the perfect compliment to my coffee and pastry on my first real day off in quite a while :)

Just a taste..

Here in the western world, we have yet to really experience persecution. Here in America, we have the luxury of freedom. Freedom to express our faith, freedom to gather peaceably, freedom of speech:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

We are allowed to gather, to pray and sing, we are free to express ourselves so long as it does not infringe upon the rights of others, or cause physical harm. I can stand on a street corner ranting and raving about the current musings of my mind, so long as I do so peaceably. I can stand and pray. I can take my guitar and sing.

This last weekend a friend of mine was exercising some of these rights with a group from the Justice House of Prayer in San Francisco. They were praying and singing, glorifying the name of the Lord when a group gathered. After a few hours of being called bigots, and intolerant, being physically confronted this is what happened. Following the video is a first-hand account of the riotous mob wanting to come after the group.

November 14, 2008

I went to the Castro (the homosexual district of San Francisco) with JHOPSF (I have been with the Justice House of Prayer San Francisco since April 2008.) like we usually do on Friday nights. Normally, we sit on 18th and Castro, and someone plays the guitar, and we all worship God. Sometimes a person will yell at us, or maybe a few. Sometimes people will ignore us. Sometimes people will let us pray with them. This time was not a normal night. It was the first time we’d been back in the Castro to do our normal outreach since California Proposition 8, which defined marriage as “one man with one woman” was passed. We played the guitar and sang together and worshiped the Lord. After just singing and worshiping God for a while, Roger decided that we should all hold hands in a circle and continue singing. So we did. Someone (Actually a person who came up and hugged and kissed some of us who he knew from the past) convinced some people that we were there to protest against the no on 8 campaign. Then some guy who was dressed up like one of the sisters (The sisters of perpetual indulgence is a group of men who dress up like nuns and call themselves the spiritual authority of the Castro.) took a curtain-type thing (Which I think they use to curse people) and wrapped it around us. Then a crowd started gathering. We began to sing “Amazing Grace”, and basically sang that song the whole night. (At some points we also sang “Nothing but the Blood of Jesus” and “Oh the Blood of Jesus”.) At first, they just shouted at us, using crude, rude, and foul language and calling us names like “haters” and “bigots”. Since it was a long night, I can’t even begin to remember all of the things that were shouted and/or chanted at us. Then, they started throwing hot coffee, soda and alcohol on us and spitting (and maybe even peeing) on us. Then, a group of guys surrounded us with whistles, and blasted them inches away from our ears continually. Then, they started getting violent and started shoving us. At one point a man tried to steal one of our Bibles. Chrisdene noticed, so she walked up to him and said “Hey, that’s not yours, can you please give it back?”. He responded by hitting her on the head with the Bible, shoving her to the ground, and kicking her. I called the cops, and when they got there, they pulled her out of the circle and asked her if she wanted to press charges. She said “No, tell him I forgive him.” Afterwards, she didn’t rejoin us in the circle, but she made friends with one of the people in the crowd, and really connected heart to heart. Roger got death threats. As the leader of our group, people looked him in the eyes and said “I am going to kill you.”, and they were serious. A cop heard one of them, and confronted him. (This part is kinda graphic, so you should skip the paragraph if you don’t want to be offended.) It wasn’t long before the violence turned to perversion. They were touching and grabbing me, and trying to shove things in my butt, and even trying to take off my pants – basically trying to molest me. I used one hand to hold my pants up, while I used the other arm to hold one of the girls. The guys huddled around all the girls, and protected them. Soon after, the cops came and stood between us and the mob. When it was getting more heated, the cops were like “You guys should leave.” and Roger said “We want to stay.” Someone tried to steal my backpack, but I tapped a cop on the shoulder, and said “Hey, that’s my bag.” and he got it from him and gave it to me. Others weren’t so lucky. Probably half our team got their jackets stolen. Eventually, as the crowd was getting more and more uncontrollable, the cops were afraid for our lives, so they escorted us to our van. (The cops were very nice to us from start to finish.) Our van was parked pretty far because it was hard to find parking that day. As the cops escorted us, the mob followed us, until the cops formed a line, and held off the people so we could drive away. We took the long way home, just in case anyone tried to follow us. When we got home, we prayed and sang more, and then prayed over each-other. Please know my heart. All of what we do is for the Love of Jesus Christ, and the love for those in the Castro. The Bible says to love God, and then love people. We can only love because He loved us first. We can’t hate the people because they are just broken and blinded by the spirit of this age. Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against Principalities and Powers. It’s not a political thing, we just love the people.

This is but a taste of what is to come. Is the Church ready to stand for righteousness in the face of persecution? Jesus help us.

Back to reality… kind of.

Vacation was fun :) Although I’m not as rested as I had hoped, but it was a good time to relax nonetheless. Now back in action, the combination of GBF (IHOP-KC’s monthly three days of fasting) and the elections and subsequent outcome, I don’t really feel like I’m in the real world yet. Or maybe it’s that I’m in a more real world. I don’t really know yet.