3.23.2009

and they will know...

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."- Jesus (John 13:34-35)

live love. 


This weekend = super fun. Mikey and I drove up from BR to Baskin, Louisiana to help lead a disciple now. Students received Christ for the first time. Lives were changed. Hearts were broken. A crop is being produced.

Mark Wilson, the speaker for the weekend, shared this story with us that I thought was such a great image of how the Lord often works in our hearts. He was new to the Winsborro area, and one of his students was driving him around showing him the land. With windows rolled down and sweet spring air filling the truck, his student said, "I love the smell of freshly broken dirt." Mark said he was terribly confused, thinking this north Louisiana country boy was easily entertained. But he went on to explain that freshly broken dirt means the seed is about to be planted. Which means a crop will soon be produced. 


Woah! The Lord breaks our hearts sometimes... and then He produces a crop. He broke hearts this weekend, including mine. Not a bad kind of heart break like "I need chocolate because Smelly-Sam broke up with me." This is the kind of heart break we WANT. Hard hearts = not usable for the Lord. And sin can make our hearts hard far too quickly. 


I pray that the way the Holy Spirit worked in lives this weekend will produce a crop. A crop to live to love others/love the Lord. A crop that shows others we are Christ-followers. Living love. mmm...

As for the actual dirt, well... Baskin people don't only like the smell of it. They like to play in it. What is it about rolling around in a mud pit that is so liberating? Wes Pierce has the answer... just ask him. : )
good pals- ready to get muddy!

As you can see, Ryne and Wes tag-teamed this event.
Other things: 
- I got to see my momma and Mikey's family on Sunday. It was a sweet time with many people I love. 
- Sweet Jess Young (soon-to-be Jess Handy) is letting me borrow her hiking pack for PERU! She fixed me up this weekend with the works: camel back, granola shirts, and even zip-off pants! Thanks Jess!
- Support letters go out on Wednesday/Thursday. yippie!
- I have a place to live next semester with 3 amazing women that I love very much.
- Mary Wiltse is a proud aunt to baby Charlotte Avie. YAY!!! We are very excited about this. 
- Annie may come visit me this weekend?! : ) I sure hope so!
- 2 weeks until SAN ANTONIO over spring break. Pumped about doing some homeless ministry there. 
- Michael is nice, and I like him (but this isn't anything new...).


This post was longer than I planned. Someone downstairs in the atrium of this building is playing a harmonica, and it makes me very happy. Family group tonight. 


 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. - 1 John 4:7-12


God is good, because He is love.

4 comments:

  1. MUDD IS SO FUN...I MEAN SOOO FUN...I MEAN SOOO FUN!!

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  2. Great post! Have I ever told you how much I LOVE farm analogies! It's one of the coolest things about being on the farm - the symbolism for spiritual truth is all around you - provided by God Himself for us to discover! Thanks for sharing your beautiful heart and your beautiful feet! Love you!

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  3. good blog...
    your better at it than i am...
    i like you too

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  4. Looks like fun.

    --Terrace Crawford
    http://www.terracecrawford.com
    http://www.twitter.com/terracecrawford

    ReplyDelete