Love Came Down

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

I think today might have been the best Christmas. There were no gift openings, no crazy events, but it was somehow special.

I’ve had my share of memorable Christmas memories. For instance, Santa himself wrote me a personal letter in this amazing font (probably found on a computer) that made it completely legit. Santa told me that I had the best Mom in the world and that I had to take good care of her. Another year, I got a matching Little Mermaid tent and sleeping bag. I’m pretty sure I didn’t even like Little Mermaid that much but I ended up spending many hours in that little tent. Then once my brother came along, I found a joy in bringing him the magic of Santa. One night, I stayed up maybe all night with my equally inexperienced mom building his Little Tikes Jeep that went at the amazing speed of 3 mph. Another year this weird new phenomenon called “The Elf on the Shelf” or something like that started. This little elf doll, which could not be touched by the children at risk of its magic running out, would sit somewhere in the house watching to make sure the kid’s being good. Then as any good messenger would, he returns back to the North Pole to report to Santa. Anyhoo, the point is that my brother would feed the elf and write it notes so I had to make sure the peanuts went away and that a note was written back in a different handwriting from my own. Then my brother started wondering why the elf wouldn’t move around the house like other kids’ elves would each night, so I would SPRINT to move the elf in the morning when I woke up just in case my brother hadn’t seen it yet. The things I do for him. I digress.

So now this year…what changed? My brother no longer believes in Santa. We (my mom, bro, and I) have grown deeper roots in our faiths to fully and completely celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. That a Person who loved the world so much came down to earth so humbly just to express His love for us. That person’s name is Jesus. As one song goes, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. Sadly though, many children who experience the joy of this season don’t actually know what CHRISTmas is about. A baby born in a manger…it’s a story many of us are familiar with, but many still don’t understand how amazing it is. Love came down. That’s a reason to celebrate all year, not just in this season.

Yes, I get slightly disgruntled when I see all the materialism and greediness that surrounds the season, but wasn’t that me just a few years ago? And probably still me just a bit toned down? What changed was that I realized what the true meaning is…and that’s when my eyes were opened and my heart was changed. That’s why causes like clean water are truly what I want to give to (I must admit that the ‘active citizen’ thing at Tufts has also had an effect on me). Like this one that you should give to: http://mycharitywater.org/tuftsforcleanwater. I didn’t expect anything for Christmas. I was perfectly content to be with my family. However, a big blessing poured in from a sister in Christ tonight and I found lodging to go to Passion 2012! Just signed up! [my mom insisted a few days ago that I go for a refresher if I found lodging since she was planning on going to Atlanta anyways ] I started 2011 with Passion Conference in Atlanta, and I can’t wait to start 2012 the same way.

This was a special Christmas. It was the seemingly little things I think. No sleepy sprinting to the tree to see what gifts Santa brought. It definitely brought a big smile to my brother’s face in his early childhood, but this morning we just got ready for church. We shared the joy of Christmas morning with our church family, recognizing the joy that Christ came for us. The day continued just as any other day though really. In a weird way, that’s how I want Christmas to be. Yes, it’s a great way for us to gather with our families and friends, but if I remember the Love that should be celebrated today, that’s something I should remember every time I breathe. I felt so loved by my mom when she cooked a full Christmas dinner for me since I wasn’t home for Thanksgiving, and it was totally unnecessary but that’s just one way she wanted to express her love. And she’s just my mom…my Father in heaven has a love for me that is so much bigger and deeper and stronger than my mom’s love can ever be. I should feel so loved by God all the time!

Always serve, always rejoice in the day that I have, always LOVE. A lesson for all seasons. Merry Christmas everyone.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” -John 3:16

What do you want from church?

When you think about church, do you think of miracles and the supernatural? I must admit that I don’t think of those things at first…I think of awesome worship sets, Spirit-led sermons, my church building…that’s so limiting though. Others have had numerous bad experiences in the ‘church’ and have associated Christianity with all wrongs of the church. The thing is that God wants the church to be more than that. I think it’s more about the people. There would be no need for a building if there were no people to fill it. Just like that rhyme with the corresponding hand motions that goes something like “Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open the doors and there’s all the people!” I do want to make it clear that I am truly blessed by my church, and I know that the Spirit is moving there mightily. I strive to love it as the bride of Christ. I’m very excited for the Easter service this Sunday, and I hope that people who have been thinking of going to a church this Sunday will join me or a friend. However…

As I’ve studied Acts throughout the year in my small group, I learned about how the crazy things happening in the church were normal occurrences. Healing, deliverance, and more that resulted from devout prayer among other things. As Francis Chan asks, do I believe that it’s possible today? Maybe I wouldn’t think it was so crazy if it was happening regularly today. Yes, it’s difficult to imagine what a gathering at church this Sunday for Easter would look like if the church of Acts was before my eyes. I think it’s possible, do you? I don’t want to know what’s going to happen next at any gathering under Him, and I want to see the Holy Spirit move as He wants to. I want to expect the unexpected. What’s stopping us from accessing all of His power? Don’t we want more?

Watch the video of Francis Chan (author of Crazy Love; awesome, entertaining, and passionate Chinese pastor I saw at Passion Conference)…http://relevantmagazine.com/basicholyspirit#disqus_thread

This can happen in the church today. Do you believe it? Do you want it?

“After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” -Acts 4:31

Now if you want it, we’ve got to make some changes. Act. Pray. Change.

Kruptastic, colon, We’ll Kick the KRUP Out of You!

27 Tufts peeps, ~10 days, 33.5 hours one-way on a bus, 141 students & staff, 1 front page of the Daily, countless memories, and more numbers and corresponding corny comments I could try to think of.

After arriving in Medford after 33.5 hours traveling from New Orleans, I was a bit restless slash mentally unstable. I am now having separation anxiety from the warm weather and from being with my fellow KRUP teammates all the time. Extended love family, I miss you so. In a brotherly way of course. I would much rather be on the merry-go-round with y’all than procrastinating on all the work I should be doing. The family tree is kinda epic though, so that makes me feel better.

For spring break this year, I went on a trip with Tufts Christian Fellowship called Katrina Relief Urban Plunge. We participated in post-Katrina rebuild efforts as a team of about 30 Tufts students from diverse faith backgrounds. I don’t have time right now to compose a well-thought out, reflective summary of my trip. Therefore, I will just put lots of key words to memories I’ve had in the past week with occasional explanations. They’re just extremely silly. Sorry, but better blog post to come! I just had to publicly express my love for everyone and for the past week no matter how little sense it makes to the majority of the world’s population.

“A deep blue”/ “CHyea”…I will never grow on this. I will always want to hit something./ “Fleur de love and the Parasites”/”Kruptastic: We’ll Kick the KRUP Out of You”…most awesome small group evuh/ Rebuild Together…the organization we worked with/ “A barrel of laughing babies”/ TILING TEAM…we got the front page of the Tufts Daily!!! It made my day. Would have totally been my facebook status. [http://www.tuftsdaily.com/spring-break-trips-support-relief-efforts-in-new-orleans-1.2523614]/ the KRUP sandwich/”This is Ninja Neesh. Grrrrrrrrrrr”…I’m glad everyone now knows about my brute strength and skillz. Just kidding./ crocodile hunters/ bunnies-of the funny kids variety/ crawfish/ powdered sugar fight/ staff sneak attack/ the laughing game/ “TOOHOOOOOooooooo” followed by someone’s legs getting slapped/sleepover/ “You’re a terrorist…high five”/ Tuftsley!/747/  Swamptastic Krup Children to demolition/ “I want me some shaaRIMP”/ “You have a beautiful voice”/ option 2/ grass throwing/ all-nighter/ contract of love/”Come on, Mr. Frodo. I can’t carry it for you… but I can carry you!”/speed dating/ “Rhwearrr” which went through the process of inspiration, amplification, dedication, multiplication, and other -ations/ “Jump into my arms.”

I know that made absolutely no sense to most of you, but just know that I had an extremely wonderful time with everyone and am looking forward to being reunited with them. It was a blessing to be with this great group of people this past week, and I truly enjoyed spending my spring break with each of them. Who wants to go next year?

p.s.

I now have no facebook, no phone, broken glasses, a broken ‘Y’ key on my keyboard, and a lost ID (it gets me food, gets me into my dorm, pays for laundry easily, and basically helps me survive at Tufts-I’m waiting out one more day to see if it shows up). I am ceasing to exist.