There is a song by Andy Mineo that speaks to my heart and captured my ears the first time I ever heard it. The song has an incredible beat, but if you're not from this generation or into this kind of music, upon your first listen you may be turned off. I listen to the album Heroes for Sale by Andy Mineo while I drive in the car. Sometimes, my mom will get in the passenger seat while I drive and I get control of the music. I have played this song so many times, and each time she is annoyed with it and does not want to listen to 'that kind of music'. Another time I had left the song playing when I turned the car off and when my dad got in the next time we went to drive somewhere, his words were along the lines of 'what is this? we don't need to listen to this kind of music'. It's so funny how we miss so many things in life by simply just not giving them a chance or judging them before ever really knowing. This goes for so many things; people, music, new food, the list goes on. We judge before we ever give the person, the song, the new sandwich, a chance.
But yesterday, my mom got in the car to drive to work after I had been using it the night before. I left this album playing and so when she got in, the song Wild Things was playing. This is the same song that both my mom & my dad did not ever want to give a chance, simply because they did not like the sound of it at first. However, yesterday my mom listened to the song in it's entirety. And she cried. This song moved her to tears and this is why.
Jesus's mission on earth was to live among us until the time came where He would make the ultimate sacrifice that would wipe us of all our past sins and future sins, forever. But while He was here, He healed people, He spent time with the outcasts, the losers, the loners, the prostitutes, the tax collectors, all those who were considered unimportant or those who society had stopped either caring about, hated or outcasted. He brought life & hope to everyone. Jesus spent time with the people whom religious leaders did not want to associate themselves with. He went out of His way to speak to them, purposefully. His said Himself that 'It is not the healthy people who need a doctor, but the sick' (Luke 5:31). This means that He did not come for those who had it all together and who abided by the rules and lived 'perfect' lives. But rather, He came for those who did not have it all together, the sinners. And the Pharisees were not okay with that. They were rattled that Jesus hung out with sinners and associated Himself with them. But how Jesus lived His life on Earth is how we are called to live ours. We aren't called to live our lives high and mighty, believing we are better then others and not caring about those less fortunate or the outward sinners. We are called to love, to serve, and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone, including those who Christians wouldn't 'normally' associate themselves with. And that is what the song Wild Things is all about.
So the next time you're in the car with someone or someone sends you a song to listen to, give it a chance. Sometimes, God can really speak to us and use artists from genres other then 'worship/gospel/Christian'. The song Wild Things is about the call that we have on our lives as Christians. We have to go out into the 'wild' where the sinners are, and live our lives. The dark and Godless places, need us to shine our light. Often we won't even have a chance to say a word about Jesus, but how much louder do actions speak then words? You can be a light anywhere you go, and you can share the message of Jesus without using words. This song inspires me and should inspire all of us to be the ones to go out of our way to love the lost, the sinners. And we should also not be rattled when we do see Christians doing just that, walking like Jesus with the 'lions, tigers and bears' in the 'wild'. Let Jesus shine through you and don't be afraid, because as Andy puts it 'Who shall I fear when God is walking with me, If I die that's a win, that's the seed of the church plus I get to be with Him'.
So go and be where the wild things are! & be ready for anything.
In omnia paratus
W I L D T H I N G S by Andy Mineo
{listen here}
{hook}
I wanna go where the wild things are
I wanna go where the wild things are
I wanna go where the wild things are
I'm talking lions, tigers, bears (oh my)
I'm talking lions, tigers, bears (oh my)
I'm talking lions, tigers, bears (oh my)
{verse 1}
Welcome to the church in the wild
I live with dudes haven't been to church in a while
I've chosen this lifestyle, you ever met my friends?
Porn stars, dope dealers, they like, 'why you chill with them?'
I thought you was a Christian? Yeah I'm on that team
But I'm with them cause my life's the only bible that they've ever seen
Some wanna be an earshot from the church bell
I wanna win souls, make gunshots in the worst hell
Tellin 'em Christ became a curse for they sin with my words and my works
They won't come in? I'm bringing church to them
Yeah, that's why I live where I live
They say, 'you acting cray, that ain't no place to raise your kids'
But um, if we ain't living it who else gon' show em
What a family supposed to look like instead of them broken homes
Gotta be living stones where they getting stoned
Live and know Him, die to make Him known 'til He take us home,
let's go
{hook}
{verse 2}
If you catch me in a bar where the wild things are
With my pastor and an entourage who loves God
Please don't think that it's odd, we kick it 'round broken hearts
Fishing for men, surrounded by sin but ain't taking part
I talk about Jesus, all the Christians love me
I walk like Jesus now they wanna judge me, ain't it funny?
I'm ducking stones thrown from the Pharisees
Gospel of Peace up on my feet like a pair of cleats
Walking with the Paraclete, that's Greek for The Spirit
They say the wild things'll eat you up
Who shall I fear when God is walking with me
If I die that's a win, that's the seed of the church plus I get to be with Him
And we so undefeated like Hanes made our sneakers
I had beef with Jesus then my sin it got deleted
So I gotta go and speak it to those who really need it
Let the Gospel off the leash, go and be where the beasts at
{hook}
written at the beginning of may ...
after a calm in the storm i ventured outside for a walk in this beautiful weather. some say rainy days are best spent inside, and while i do agree with that to an extent, i would argue that rainy days are best spent outside. today, after the rain had subsided to a slow drizzle and then a complete stop, i looked outside my window and saw green. green grass. green buds on the tree. and green flowers bursting through the soil in the garden, reaching for the fresh air. new life in the spring time reminds me that even after everything bad that has happened {the long winter that we just endured} there is still goodness left to be seen in this world. there is still beauty. and the beauty emerges only after the storm. so, flowers and plants always remind of God's beauty. flowers are a sweet kiss from my Creator, since He knows they make my heart so happy. whenever i see a flower i am reminded of His love for me. but especially after my walk today, i am reminded that these precious flowers + plants {who as seeds in the ground endured the long winter season and the storm today} are much like us.
no matter what we go through or what we have to endure in this life, God "makes all things beautiful in it's time" Ecclesiastes 3:11
in omnia paratus
So as some of you may know, I am one of the executives for a club at Trent University Oshawa (Durham). Disciples on Campus is a club that Jon, David, Cecilia and I started in September of 2014.
Coming into university there was no 'Christian' club in place, and so I wondered if I would ever meet friends or other Christians at the school. During orientation I met Jon and instantly knew that he loved Jesus. We became friends after that and as our friendship grew, so did my faith in Jesus and my walk with God. In May of 2014 my best friend gave her heart to Jesus and I know that that was only because of my not giving up on my faith or getting lost in university, but rather because I had met Jonathan and got plugged into another church with young adults on fire for God.
So over these last two years of school, a lot has happened. In first year, I was only involved with the pen-pal program and I didn't get involved in anything else really that happened on campus. This year however, was different. This year, Jon and I and our friends Cece and David who had just come into first year at Trent, all decided that we would start a Christian club for our campus. We started this a little late in the game, with no experience, so this entire school year was essentially a trial run for us. And it could not have been more successful, for the time we had to plan and prepare. This year, our group grew from just four (technically five) members, to over 40 members. We knew that there was an urgent need for a group on our campus for fellow believers to come together. and we knew that we wanted to be a light on our campus, not just by preaching about Jesus, but by serving our school and showing love through our everyday interactions with our fellow students.
For the first semester of this 2014-15 year, we held a movie night. I am sure that a lot of you heard about this event through social media, as we created YouTube videos and advertisements on all the outlets that were accessible to us. Our movie night showcased the film GOD'S NOT DEAD. First of all, I just have to say how incredible it is to live in a country where we can watch movies like this, and second of all, how wonderful it is to have a university who allows us to show movies like this on our campus. We are also so blessed to go to a school that is so open and welcoming to people with different beliefs. This movie night was a huge success (for our first ever event!!), as we had about 30 people show up. However, with this event we did decide to invite people from outside of our campus such as our friends and family, so we noticed that a lot of the people that came were not actually from Trent. But, the following week, we held a mini event called Coffee&Cookies (C&C). At that event, we had about 15 people come in for an hour to play games and enjoy a snack. It was so nice to connect with those people, because they were all from our actual school and we were able to provide them with a stress-free, pressure-free environment right before exams.
Then for this past semester, we planned an event called Triple G: God, Games & Guacamole. This event was for our school alone with just a few other students from Durham / UOIT. Triple G was a such a hit! At this event, we had a guest speaker come in, a good friend of the OCC (Oshawa Community Church) family, Nate Harper. Our event was a campus wide scavenger hunt that included not only items to collect but activities to do. Everyone really loved it and it was sweet to see students interacting with other students they hadn't even met before. After the scavenger hunt, Nate gave us a word about doubting and faith and the role that Jesus has on it all. It was such a good message, that I believe a lot of the students needed to hear. After Nate spoke, we then had a ton of food (pizza, nachos w/ guacamole etc & donuts) and we all played a bunch of board games. At Triple G we had again 30 people there but 90% of them were from our school!
It has been such a wonderful experience being on this team of people who are passionate about people and reaching those who are lost in our school. On Valentine's Day week we also had a booth where we gave away goodie bags with chocolate & candy in them, along with a slip of paper that had a verse on them {We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19}. We also held mini prayer sessions once a week for the entire second semester where, the two girls (Cecilia&I) led one week starting with an ice breaker game, and the two boys (Jon&David) led the following week.
For myself, this year leading with DOC has taught me that not everything is about me and that when you put God first and at the centre of all you do, then He will bless your efforts. Something that is absolutely incredible about how God will use you if you are willing to answer the call is, after one of our events, a friend of ours got saved. We knew there was a calling by God for us to start this group, and so our DOC team prays intentionally before every event and at all our planning meetings and prayer sessions for God to use us and work through us so that things like this can happen. Our hope and prayer is to see a revival in our school of lost people coming to know the Lord. After our Triple G event and the message that was shared, our friend Nash decided that he wanted to come to our youth/young adult night at OCC the following day. Then, while he was there, HE GAVE HIS HEART TO JESUS. Man, I just cannot express how exciting it is when things like this happen, we rejoice and all of heaven rejoices. God is just so darn good, lemme tell ya.
So yeah, it has been so incredible to be a part of a group that God is using on our campus. God has been stretching me, molding me and revealing things to me (and I know to the others as well) through this whole process of being an executive for a club and a leader in my school. I cannot wait to see what He does with us and through us next year.
With Him at the centre, we are ready for anything.
in omnia paratus
