Jay and I watched The Guardian this weekend with our friends Aaron and Tabitha.  It is about rescue swimmers with the Coast Guard who jump in to the Bering Sea out of helicopters to save people from sinking boats and huge waves.  Insane. I never knew a profession like that existed.

The movie reminded me of a story I heard when I was younger of a Christian man who used to be a Buddhist. He was on a quest for truth when he had a dream that rocked him to the core. In the dream he was in a stormy ocean, close to drowning and calling out for help.  Way in the distance he saw Buddha running along the shore, yelling out instructions on how to stay afloat and swim back to safety.

But his energy was failing him.  No matter how hard he tried to follow the instructions he could not. Wave after wave pushed him under.  His body started to cramp.  He finally lost all hope as his body submerged and he felt himself sinking into the depths.

All of a sudden, someone grabbed him and pulled him to the surface.  He gasped for air and felt his body being pulled toward the shore.

It was Jesus.

In this guy’s dream, Buddha had merely yelled out instructions while Jesus had jumped in and rescued him.  He finally understood that while other ‘truths’ had offered instructions on how to live perfectly, Jesus recognized that it was impossible and came to die on the Cross Himself.

What a testimony.

Do you feel like you are drowning in a storm? Place your trust in the one who rescues. He will not let you drown.

Michelle

Jay and I started watching the show Prison Break a while ago, and finished all four seasons within a few months.  As I was watching one of the early episodes, I was alerted to something that I did not realize was in my heart.  As we got to know some of the characters, I began to hate one with a passion: T-Bag. He was in prison for raping and murdering children, an he was truly a disgusting character the whole way through.  At one point in the show, I remember filling with anger and thinking “even Jesus cannot save this man.”  I didn’t want people like him to ever experience the grace and forgiveness of Christ.

When we were driving to the movie store later that night, I burst into tears and told Jay what I had thought.  I had doubted the power of the Cross and completely denied the power that Jesus holds to redeem the lives of the ugliest sinners.  Even child molesters.

As I have mentioned on this blog before, I am passionate about the fight to end sex trafficking.  I realized that men who traffic women and sell them into a life of rape are just like T-Bag: the ugliest of sinners.  Yet I can’t let hatred for traffickers overtake my life, because Jesus died for them as well.  That is such a hard pill for me to swallow.  Yes, traffickers and child molesters deserve punishment for their actions. Sin always has consequences. But we must believe that Jesus Christ has the power to redeem even them.  The same eternal life that is available to us is available to them…if they choose Jesus as their Saviour and Lord.

Who have you written off as unforgivable?  Let us repent of our unbelief and remember the earth shattering power of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Michelle

I am furious today.

Before you read this post, you need to read this quick article on how the red-light district (prostitution) is suffering because of the economy.

Women Getting Screwed

Now I’m going to rant.

Metje Blaak, the sex workers’ representative group, and every woman and man in that business has been duped.  They’ve bought the lie- hook, line, and 500 pound sinker.

“Previously, the women were in charge, now it is the men who call the shots.”

That is complete BS.

482 windows. Rented for $150 Euros per day each. Over $40 million go to pimps each year, PLUS their cut of the profits. If the girls don’t produce, they still have to pay. How do they do this?  The women have to sell their bodies to multiple men every day.

HOW THE HELL ARE WOMEN IN CHARGE???

Girls- women- sisters- friends…DO NOT buy the lie and the myth that this world is here for you.  That guys will always be nice and kind and loving and just.  Human nature is evil to its core.  The majority of men will eventually hurt you.

This goes wayyyyy beyond prostitution. This is the same for dating.  The way the world tells you to dress. Fooling around at parties.  How people expect you to flaunt it.  Or perk up.  Sleeping with that long-term boyfriend.  Even letting that cute guy flirt with you.

Don’t get suckered. Don’t believe the lie. Don’t buy into the world’s crap. Don’t believe men’s empty promises.

GIVE NOTHING AWAY FOR FREE.  GIVE NOTHING AWAY FOR PAY.

Give it all to the one man who God created for you, who marries you, who’ll be committed to YOU and only you, for life, forever.

When this happens- women won’t be in charge, and men shouldn’t call the shots either.

We’ll all look to Jesus to know and do his will.

Jay

Don’t you wish guilt felt alot more like this, and alot less like this…

Something that I have learned in the last couple years is that guilt is a good thing.  To clarify, I’m not talking about false guilt.  False guilt, like a girl feeling guilty for being raped or a child blaming themselves for their parents’ divorce, can be crippling.  To further clarify, I am not talking about long-term guilt that is the result of unconfessed sin.  This can also be crippling.  As Mark Batterson says, “whether you are experiencing true guilt that is the by-product of unconfessed sin or false guilt that is the by-product of confessed sin, both forms of guilt dull your spiritual sense of adventure.”

But guilt was intended to serve a healthy purpose.

God uses guilt as a  tool to bring us to Him.  This could also be called “conviction.”  I’m sure we have all experienced the sickening feeling that often comes after going against God’s word or will.  Something in us just doesn’t feel right. We have a hard time praying and looking people in the eye.

This feeling was meant to be temporary. God does not want us to wallow in our guilt, but to draw close to Him, ask for forgiveness, and be healed.  Jesus died on the Cross, and that is where the road ends for our guilt.

Are you choosing to live in guilt because of un-confessed sin?  Or are you carrying around false guilt?  Bring both to the Cross and leave them there.  Then you can really start living.

Michelle

As Easter gets closer, I have been thinking about Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Though fully innocent, He died a criminal’s death on a Roman cross.  For us.  But the part of the story that gives me shivers is when the women went to the tomb and found it…EMPTY!

Can you imagine how crazy it would be to see it all firsthand?  What would be running through your mind?  What kind of earth-shattering power raises someone from the dead?

It is the same power that lives inside of you.

“The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.  And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.  Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.” -Romans 8:11,12

If you have asked Jesus to become your Lord and Saviour, the very same Spirit that raised Him from the dead has taken residence within you.  Let this sink in and ask yourself the following:

How is God’s power evident in my life?  What is my sinful nature urging me to do, and how often do I remember that I am under no obligation to follow it?  Have a wrongly assumed that the power that raised Jesus from the dead is somehow different from the Spirit that lives in me?  What would my life look like if I lived out this verse?

Ladies, if you feel like you are losing the battle, I encourage you to think of the following words by Casting Crowns as we approach Easter.

I’ll go but I cannot go alone

Until you bring the victory

By the power of Christ in me.

Michelle