Not Ashamed

"No place I'd rather be, no place I'd rather be,

Than here in Your love, here in Your love."

As long as I live, I will never forget that moment. We were sitting in a circle, all of my camp friends and counselors at our Christian summer camp in Colorado, singing the words to "Set a Fire" by Will Reagan. After a few minutes, every voice faded away besides the voices of three men in their early 20s. "No place I'd rather be, no place I'd rather be, than here in Your love, here in Your love." Never had I seen so much passion. Their eyes were closed, their hands open, palms facing up. Even from a distance, I could see the tears they were continually wiping from their eyes. Every so often, they would tilt their heads back and open their eyes to the sky, with the greatest of smiles on their faces. True satisfaction. True fulfillment. Found only in the loving, everlasting embrace of our God.

There is nothing more beautiful than a human being's love for Jesus. What draws me to a person is not how well-off they are or even how hard-working they are, but how much they realize their own brokenness and truly desire to cling to the Lord. There's nothing more attractive than a person who understands that without Jesus, he is nothing.

Yet this brings me to another point that some of you may find slightly offensive. If you love Jesus, but do nothing to share His glory, your faith lacks purpose. Now, I'm definitely not implying that you need to give up everything you own and stand on a street corner for the rest of your life, telling every person who passes you by about the great love of the Father.

It doesn't need to be that radical. It's simple, really. If you love Jesus as much as you say you do, you'll share a piece of Him with the people you encounter.

Do you realize that YOU have the potential to change someone's life? You are God's instrument. Mother Teresa once said, "I'm a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world." You are His pencil. Let Him use you to bring good to this world.

My challenge to each of you is to stop being so ashamed of your faith. If you truly believe in something so amazing, so incredible, so life-changing as Jesus Christ, shouldn't you be willing to share Him or talk about Him? To me, the greatest gift you could ever give someone is the gift of hope. And the only way to give someone real, lasting hope is to give them Jesus. If you fail to share your faith with others, you cannot give them the hope that their broken souls so desperately need.

Don't be ashamed of your faith. Share it with the people in your life. After all, what's more worthy of being shared than the greatest news of all time: that we have a God who is dying to redeem us?

Songs of the Week:

Sweet Sweet Sound by Sarah Reeves

Set a Fire by Will Reagan and the United Pursuit

Don't be afraid to share your faith. And watch how your life will come ALIVE as you beautifully surrender your whole being to Jesus. All my worries, my fears, I lay them down at Your feet. You are my rest, my sweet release.

The Letter

My Child,

I delight in you (Isaiah 62:4). You know how you feel when you see a glorious sunset? That's how I feel when My eyes meet yours. Everything about you pleases Me. No matter what happens, I am blessed to call you My own, My little one. Yet you worry so much. You step just a centimeter out of line and think that your whole world is crumbling. What you must realize is that simply "your desire to please Me does in fact please Me" (Thomas Merton, "Thoughts in Solitude"). You are trying to please Me, and that's all I ask of you. I do not expect perfection from My children. My little one, all I want for you is to make your home in My arms. All I am is yours. Everything I have, everything I am, I want to give to you.

So why do you run? Why do you insist on finding your own way? Even when you are walking along the path of My Way, you still do not trust. I'm here, My child. What have you to fear? I am for you; who can be against you (Romans 8:31)? When you wake up in the morning, you start your day with fear. Fear you carry with you as you walk from class to class, as you drive to work. And fear you hold tight when you fall asleep after a hard day's work. Yet there I am, waiting for you. Waiting for you to notice Me.

I wait for you all the day long. You want to be wanted; I want you. You want to be chased; I chase you. You want to be loved, just once, just for a second; I have loved you with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3). My child, open those eyes I have given you. Seek Me, and you will find Me (Jeremiah 29:13). I'm here. I've been here this whole time. When you took your first step, I was there, holding your tiny hand. When you moved to a new town, I was there, driving the car. When you experienced your first rejection, I was there, wiping your tears.

My child, I want you to remember why you are here. You are not here to waste a single moment. Everything I have given you is precious. Everything has meaning - a value beyond compare. Don't waste your life wandering in worry and fear. You are not made for those things. If you only knew how much I have in store for you. The plan is only beginning to unfold. Just don't let go of My hand. Please don't let go of My hand. Not like last time. You learned your lesson; don't do it again. Apart from Me, you can do nothing (John 15:5). All you have to do is follow in My footsteps. I will carry you along the way. Trust Me. Know that I will make all things work together for your good, simply because I love you (Romans 8:28).

My child, my little one, hold on tight. My hand will be there to guide you, My arms to hold you. In sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, in joy as well as in sorrow, I am holding you. My hands are holding you. I long for you to fall deeper in love with Me. I have sent My angels to guide you, to teach you how to follow Me. Listen to them. Do not be afraid. I am with you.

My Child, take My hand. Take My hand. I am here, and always will I be.

Your Father

By Your Side by Tenth Avenue North

A Beautiful Adventure

It seems quite silly to live our lives in fear. Yet the common factor that binds all of humanity is indeed our fear of the unknown. No matter what city you wake up to each morning, or what roof (or lack thereof) you sleep under at night, every individual is familiar with the sensation of fear. Fear is an inescapable, unavoidable phenomenon.

Yet there comes a day when you wake up to that city, or fall asleep under that roof, and realize that you are not where you want to be. You look to the individuals surrounding you, beginning to compare yourself. You begin to fear, Perhaps I am not where I want to be because I am not like this person or that person. You worry, Maybe I will never be as good or as smart or as beautiful as so-and-so.

Initially, you deceive yourself into believing that your fear and your insecurity will serve as motivation along the path of becoming who you so desire to be. Just the opposite happens. The fear inside of your heart is not what moves you, but what keeps you stuck where you already are, far from the life of which you dream.

Do not let yourselves be deceived: fear does not produce freedom. When you fear the unknown, chances are you will never venture there. I return to what I said previously…with everything this beautiful world has to offer, surely it seems quite silly to live our lives in fear.

Imagine if you were afraid of airplanes. How could a machine possibly fly? Surely the minute we take off, we will head straight for the ground. So you worry, you wonder, you wander, never tip toeing into a single airplane in your life. Imagine just how much of life you would miss out on. Have you ever seen the sunrise thousands of feet above the earth? Or seen an aerial view of downtown Chicago lit up at night? Have you come face-to-face with the fascinating culture of Spain or the rich history of Rome?

Take a moment and reflect on everything you would miss out on in life if you lived your life in fear. Whether it is airplanes, cars, or any other kind of travel. Your fear would not move you; it would keep you immobile. Restless, you would be stuck exactly where you are for the rest of your life. Never moving, never living – only existing, never free.

Well, my sweet readers, Jesus is our airplane. He gets us to where we want to be. He enables us to become the amazing individuals we long to be. Surely, if He is not our means of travel, we will never reach our full potential. Think of it this way, without Jesus, perhaps you could make it to New York or Florida, Texas or Colorado. But if you want to go further, if you want to experience things some people will never be able to experience in their whole lives, you need Him. Sure, you will make it to Texas without Him, but you will never, ever make it all the way to Rome or Moscow, to Beijing or Paris.

It’s simple: if you want something more out of life, come to Jesus. If not, well, then you are missing out for sure. It matters not if you come from an abusive household, or even if you live your daily life on the streets – no matter who you are or where you are, you can live the most beautiful of lives. All you need is Jesus.

My challenge to you is this: do not let the initial fear of getting on the airplane keep you from a beautiful adventure. Want to know what “fear” stands for? False Expectations Appear Real.

Your fear will keep you in chains for the rest of your life. Jesus will set you free.

It’s simple, really. Yet ultimately the choice is entirely yours. Fear or freedom? Your will or Jesus’ will? A life built on your destructive desires or a life built on the beautiful desires of Jesus? You choose.

And remember: if ever you find that you in fact are not where you desire to be, odds are you are not living with Jesus. Feeling restless, endlessly wandering, never feeling at peace? “Our hearts our restless until they rest in You” (Saint Augustine). Make your home in His heart. And trust me, you will surely find the peace for which you long.

Song of the week: "Runaway" by Mat Kearney

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XEKiNzfQ7w

"For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-discipline."
(2 Timothy 1:7)

My Homeless Experience

I slept under a bridge, with nothing but a sleeping bag, a journal, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and the clothes on my back.

This weekend, I experienced something called a "street retreat." As you read the word "retreat," you might be tempted to envision a cozy Church building, uplifting worship music, and talented speakers. A street retreat, on the other hand? Not even close. Instead of sleeping in a cozy Church building, you're sleeping underneath bridges. Instead of listening to uplifting worship music, you're listening to a possum or a rat crawling not too far away from your sleeping bag. And most of all, instead of listening to the stories of talented speakers, you're listening to the stories of men, women, and children who live their daily lives on the streets.

To put it simply, a street retreat is a spiritual experience in which you pretend to be homeless for a weekend. Why? Two specific reasons: 1) to understand what homeless people have to go through every day; 2) to understand the feeling of having to rely on God for each of your daily needs. In order to fully experience the life of a homeless person, we were not allowed to bring any money, debit cards, credit cards, food, phones, etc.

*I went on this retreat in Austin, Texas, with an organization called Mobile Loaves and Fishes, whose mission is "to provide permanent, sustainable solutions for the chronically homeless, with compassion, love, and dignity." There were 10 other individuals who participated in the street retreat with me - some being employees of Mobile Loaves and Fishes, others being locals from Austin, and still others being Notre Dame students from Texas such as myself. Both nights of sleeping on the streets and finding food, I was accompanied by at least one other member of the group.

Friday night, my Notre Dame friend and I got a little split up from the rest of the group (yes, Mom, it was pretty dangerous), and slept under a bridge on 6th Street. For those of you who know the Austin area, 6th Street is not exactly the safest part of town. Words cannot possibly describe the fear that crept through my veins Friday night. Imagine sleeping under a bridge. The concrete beneath your sleeping bag is not only excruciatingly painful, but it's freezing cold. A possum is crawling roughly five feet away from your head. It smells disgusting outside. Three drunk college kids are yelling and peeing only 20 feet from where you're sleeping. Oh, and to top it all off, it's 30 degrees outside.

I have never been so scared in my entire life. I kept falling asleep for a few minutes, only to quickly wake up in a panic, shaking uncontrollably from a mixture of both the fear and the freezing cold.

As the night grew colder, my fear only intensified. Just when I thought I couldn't take the cold, the fear, and the hunger any longer, I pulled out the Bible I brought with me. I flipped it open to a random page and immediately my eyes fell on the following words:

Is anyone among you in trouble?

Let them pray.

[James 5:13]

As I crawled back into my sleeping bag, I began to pray. Without any comforts of daily life to turn to, I turned to Jesus. And in the midst of my pain, He eased my fears. My body stopped shaking so violently from the cold and the fear. As He held me in His arms, I was moved and comforted by His selfless love.

That, my sweet readers, is the first major lesson I learned this weekend. No matter where you are or what you are dealing with, even if you're going through Hell on Earth, Jesus can give you Heaven on Earth. As I wrote in my journal that night, Even if I'm going through the scariest night of my life, I have my Jesus, and that's all I need.

As my time on the Street Retreat progressed, Jesus slowly revealed to me a second major learning lesson. One of the people on the retreat with me was a man named Bruk, an employee of Mobile Loaves and Fishes who was homeless for 15 years in Houston and Austin (he's been free of street life for four years now, thanks to Mobile Loaves and Fishes). Bruk was somewhat of a "Good Shepherd" for us this weekend, guiding us through the crazy street life of Austin and teaching us how to survive on the streets.

While we were walking near the University of Texas' campus, Bruk suddenly stopped in his tracks, dropped his backpack, and sprinted forward. In a matter of seconds, he embraced a homeless man. I soon realized that Bruk and this homeless man, Jason, once lived on the streets together for many, many years.

I don't know if I've ever seen a more genuine smile than the smile I saw on Jason's face that day. It was real, unmatched happiness - a joy like no other. That, my sweet readers, was my second major lesson: Jason does not have a home, and yet he is happy. Because he has a sense of community - whether it be his friendship with Bruk or his friendship with the people who are still homeless with him - he has a reason to live. I wish you could've seen the smile on his face. I wish you could've seen him and the other homeless people dancing and singing, as if they were living the happiest lives in the world. In that moment, I realized that it does not matter where you are living, who you are living with, or who you are as a person, YOU have a reason to be happy. Why? Because there is a God who is real, active, and living and who wants a part in your life. Not only that, but there is at least one other person on this planet who genuinely cares about your well being and desires what is best for you. No matter what is happening in your life, even if you feel as if you don't have someone who cares about you, you have Jesus, and that is all that matters. Jesus is all you will ever need.

To close, I want to leave you with one final image. This morning, I attended something called Church under the Bridge, which is a worship service that local church volunteers provide for the homeless of Austin. At the service, a band played a few worship songs. As the band began to play, my eyes were immediately captivated by a homeless man to my left. Sitting in the corner by himself, he was singing every word of every worship song that was played. He sang these words with the most beautiful smile on his face: I cast all my worries on You God...my fears are behind me...I am set free. He lifted His hands in praise - a man who has nothing worshipping the God of Everything.

Tears immediately filled my eyes. How unbelievably beautiful.

So here is my challenge to you. When you are tempted to think that you life has no meaning, that you have no reason to be happy, or that you are going through Hell on Earth, remember that Jesus can - and WILL - give you Heaven on Earth. When your life seems headed for destruction and you just can't get back up on your feet, remember the image of this homeless man. I cast all my worries on You God...my fears are behind me...I am set free. When you have nothing, turn to the One who has everything, and then and only then will you find the peace for which you've been searching.

After experiencing a weekend of a very minimal sleep, hardly decent food, and much loneliness, all I have to say is this: if you have a roof over your head, a meal on the table, and a family to call your own...Tell me, what is there really to complain about?

Song of the Week: "Good Life" by One Republic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZhQOvvV45w

My Street Retreat family who made our weekend of homelessness a lot more bearable. They taught me that no matter what kind of life you lead, even if you're homeless, anything is possible with Jesus.

*For more information about Mobile Loaves and Fishes, visit www.mlf.org.

Shout out to my Notre Dame friend, Sam, who helped me survive the scariest night of my life. It was nice sleeping under a bridge with you, bro. I'm still terrified of that possum.