Love - What is it really?

What do we see love as?

L is for the way you look at me
O is for the only one I see
V is very, very extraordinary
E is even more than anyone that you adore can

Love is so much more! If you love someone...and they do something that makes you angry...whats the more loving thing to do? Hide it under the rug...or confront it?

If someone you Love is doing something you know they shouldn't be...what's the loving thing to do? Wait until they come to a realization themselves, or get caught...or pull them aside and tell them they're being stupid (usually in nicer terms than that)?

Love is being honest. It's doing what needs to be done for the Kingdom. If it means saying "Don't spend that money on drugs"...say it. Don't be afraid to say things out of love because then your just a coward. If it means saying "you're being an idiot right now"...as long as its from love, go for it. Love involves getting mad at a broken promise...not getting passive aggressive. Love is getting angry when someone you love is chained by addiction or prostitution, and doing anything you can to help them. Love is doing what you can to help. Love is yelling when you have to, crying when you have to, laughing when you have to and holding onto someone when you have to.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves."

God is Love. Jesus is Love.

How are we showing love to our friends, neighbors, co-workers, classmates...how are we showing love to the body? How are we showing real love to the members of the body who we know aren't making good choices? How are we showing love? Are we sweeping it under the carpet?

prioritizing our lives

I was at a conference called 'Unrelenting' this weekend. Nicole got up and talked a bit about the war room and what it was all about...and 24-7 prayer and stuff. And a guy got up and talked about how...we think about doing 3 hour prayer shifts, and think "we need an extra day in the week". And it totally resonated with me. Not just for prayer shifts...but for our daily walk with the Lord. We're Christians...but what are we offering to God? Yeah...we do the church activities...we serve in the church in various ways...but are we allowing the Lord to speak to us?

I got to thinking...if we "don't have time" to do half an hour or 45 minutes of devotions a day...where are we really at with the Lord? It's not necisarily the easiest thing...but maybe we need to cut down time with our boyfriends/girlfriends, our time on the internet, playing video games, spending crazy amounts of time on our hair/make-up everyday. You SAY you want to get closer to the Lord, but what are you DOING to make it happen?

I'm not saying this in a condeming way at all, because I struggle with it as well. But...I am saying this in a...we really need to focus on the Lord. Really spend time with the Lord. If you give something up...maybe video games, internet, or tv...for a week...and you spend that extra time reading your bible, praying, worshiping, listening to the Lord...I can almost guarantee that those things will become less important...and it will help change your priorities.

Walking with the Lord is to walk WITH...he's not gonna carry you through your life...you have to make an effort at this.

Glory to God,
Courtney

The vision

So....I was in the car with Nicole yesterday...and she played this. And I was blown away. Speechless. The only thing I could do was like...cry out...and like...just sit there with my jaw dropped. Amazing.

The vision THE VISION So this guy comes up to me and says "what's the vision? What's the big idea?" I open my mouth and words come out like this… The vision? The vision is JESUS – obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus. The vision is an army of young people. You see bones? I see an army. And they are FREE from materialism. They laugh at 9-5 little prisons.They could eat caviar on Monday and crusts on Tuesday.They wouldn't even notice.They know the meaning of the Matrix, the way the west was won.They are mobile like the wind, they belong to the nations. They need no passport.. People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence.They are free yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying.What is the vision ?The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes. It makes children laugh and adults angry. It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars. It scorns the good and strains for the best. It is dangerously pure. Light flickers from every secret motive, every private conversation.It loves people away from their suicide leaps, their Satan games. This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause.A million times a day its soldiers choose to loosethat they might one day winthe great 'Well done' of faithful sons and daughters. Such heroes are as radical on Monday morning as Sunday night. They don't need fame from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards and hear the crowds chanting again and again: "COME ON!" And this is the sound of the undergroundThe whisper of history in the makingFoundations shakingRevolutionaries dreaming once againMystery is scheming in whispersConspiracy is breathing…This is the sound of the underground. And the army is discipl(in)ed. Young people who beat their bodies into submission. Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrade at arms. The tattoo on their back boasts "for me to live is Christ and to die is gain". Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their upward eyes. Winners. Martyrs. Who can stop them ? Can hormones hold them back?Can failure succeed? Can fear scare them or death kill them ? And the generation prays like a dying manwith groans beyond talking,with warrior cries, sulphuric tears andwith great barrow loads of laughter!Waiting. Watching: 24 – 7 – 365. Whatever it takes they will give: Breaking the rules. Shaking mediocrity from its cosy little hide. Laying down their rights and their precious little wrongs, laughing at labels, fasting essentials. The advertisers cannot mould them. Hollywood cannot hold them. Peer-pressure is powerless to shake their resolve at late night parties before the cockerel cries. They are incredibly cool, dangerously attractive inside. On the outside? They hardly care. They wear clothes like costumes to communicate and celebrate but never to hide. Would they surrender their image or their popularity? They would lay down their very lives - swap seats with the man on death row - guilty as hell. A throne for an electric chair. With blood and sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days, they pray as if it all depends on God and live as if it all depends on them. Their DNA chooses JESUS. (He breathes out, they breathe in.)Their subconscious sings. They had a blood transfusion with Jesus. Their words make demons scream in shopping centres.Don't you hear them coming? Herald the weirdo's! Summon the losers and the freaks. Here come the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes. They walk tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension. Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden. And this vision will be. It will come to pass; it will come easily; it will come soon.How do I know? Because this is the longing of creation itself, the groaning of the Spirit, the very dream of God. My tomorrow is his today. My distant hope is his 3D. And my feeble, whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding, bone-shaking great 'Amen!' from countless angels, from hero's of the faith, from Christ himself. And he is the original dreamer, the ultimate winner. Guaranteed.

Dead and Gone

Nicole and I were listening to this song the other day and talking about how its a song of such redemption! The chorus is just so great. "The old me is dead and gone" is so awesome! It totally goes along with the "life and death" theme we had at RAW in march. Die to yourself, and live for Christ...and this song seriously resembles that. Death to what you were and becoming transformed into "a new person"

Take a listen!

Freedom for the captives

Tonight, I went to Tehillah monday, and was really struggling at first, I actually almost left because I just wasnt feeling anything at all. But I decided to stay for a bit...and they did a talk about an aids run, and then did another one about healing and freedom...and I started thinking about Leighanne. And broke down. I just started weeping and praying for freedom and healing for her. This went on for a while...and then I left and just felt the Lord saying to go to the reservoir. So I drove to the reservoir and got out of the car and booked it down to where the water was...and I didnt know what I was doing there, all I knew is that I needed to be there...then I picked up rocks...little ones to start with, and started throwing them into the water, and each one symbolized a physical mark on her body...somewhere a prick from where she stuck a needle, the burst vein in her leg, her sores, etc. as the rocks got bigger, the reasons got bigger too. Eventually, big rocks got thrown in symbolizing Aids, Cancer, Addiction, etc. Then, I finished by building a rock sculpture thing and proclaiming it to represent new life in Leighanne. Then I drove to another area of the reservoir where you can sit in your car and look over the water, and I played the song "shout unto God" really loudly...and just yelling the words at the top of my lungs for Leighanne. I left feeling so much hope. It was a beautiful moment.

I love Leighanne so much.

Celebrate and rejoice!

Today, Leighanne celebrated her official 38th birthday! I'm so happy that I got to rejoice in this day with her. She's a beautiful Woman!

Today was also our War College graduation. Kind of a bittersweet event. I cried...a lot. My first real crying moment was looking at Leighanne as we were getting our certificates and stuff...because she was crying a lot. Then I stood up to give my testimony of what I conquered this year and broke down. I got prayed for by leadership, then went over to Leighanne and just cried on her shoulder for a long time. She told me the most beautiful thing. She told me that she blessed me in any choice I make and anywhere I go and that she'll miss me, but she's proud of me. And if you know Leighanne at all, you'll know that that is a pretty big thing for her to say. I just love her so much.


Conquerors session '08/'09

Oh! it is love

So….Im just gonna be straight up. It hit me today that War College is done in a couple days. Do you realize how scary that is? I go home on Sunday and then on to Chicago. My mind keeps thinking that I’m only gonna be away from Vancouver and 614 for a short time, like…a break…or summer assignment, and then I’ll be back but thus far that’s not in the plans. And that makes me very sad. About 4 hours ago my heart filled with great sadness. I know that the Lord has great things in store for me…but I don’t want to have to say good-bye. I just love everyone here so much, and my love has grown so much as well in the last little while. I’ve never been good at good-byes....but I feel like this is harder than the typical good-byes that I’ve had to say before. I had a conversation with a friend of mine today about how I cover stuff up with humor…and I do that too often. I literally sat here and thought about something funny to say…but then realized…I cant do that….because Im sitting here listening to my “sad-sies” playlist on itunes with a very sad feeling in my heart…so funny shouldn’t be something on my mind right now.

To all of 614 and war college who is reading this. I love you all. You have helped the Lord make me stronger in many ways and you have shown me a lot about the body of Christ, and shown me a lot of support in a lot of different areas.

Thank you.