Who do you want your life to resemble?

Yesterday in church we sang a song that I don't necessarily agree with all of the words. Or well maybe I should say, I don't know if it truly is the desire of our heart.

In English it says this:

I want to be like you

My desire is to live like you

With all of my soul, my desire Lord

is to live like you.

My friend Carlos, spoke at our student retreat last weekend. He taught on God being Lord in our lives. One of the questions he asked us was to name a character of the Bible that we wanted our life to look like. It was a trick question but here were some of the responses. 

Paul and Carlos responded with asking the student if they wanted to be beaten, flogged, incarcerated and imprisoned? 

Another student said Esther. Carlos spoke on the frankness of Esther's life. Orphaned, plucked from her village, forced to participate in a year long beauty competition, won the favor of the King and was only called upon when the King wanted her and on top of all of that, had to risk her life to save her people. 

We could continue this game with tons of people talked about in the Bible. Moses (I don't want that kind of responsibility and then never see the promised land), Mary-the mother of Jesus (try explaining to your parents these days that you are a pregnant virgin), Peter, or anyone else. 

But I was thinking about the song yesterday. Do I really want to live like Jesus lived? Homeless? Vagabond? Despised by his hometown? Am I really going to shout out in church...Lord, let me be homeless! No, absolutely not. I don't want to live like Jesus but I want my character to reflect it and maybe it is the kind of thing where God decides to take away some cool things in my life to make me resemble him more. 

Ultimately, we as Believers are following a God and reading a book that says: "to follow me and to be like me, it isn't going to be a cake walk". And how quickly I forget that. I just want it to be easy. But character transformation does not come when I am comfortable. That is for sure.

Student Retreat

We got back from our student retreat on Sunday evening. It went well but I am exhausted still! We went to the state of Morelos and at night it got a little chilly. We really did enjoy the time with students from 3 different cities.

Here is a group picture right before everyone left (I am taking the picture so don't look too hard for me).

Also, one of the students, Ivan, made a video. It's about 7 minutes long but it shows what we did and what the time was like. Enjoy!

Vida Estudiantil at Kikoten

Calling all High School Christian Girls

You know what I am talking about when I say worship band. You think...cute drummer. It was always a hit for me when I was a teenager and I went to summer camp, a youth rally, whatever and I was enthralled with the guys in the band. I always thought it would even be fun to date one. They just seemed so talented and hot. WOW. I thought what passion they must have for the Lord to serve. I bought in to the groupie mentality. 

And then my cousin John was in the band one year at summer camp. I was cool by association. It was kind of a big deal. 

And then I met a pianist in Mexico. And we dated and fell in love. Then I married him. I am the official groupie for life. 

So High School Christian girls, here are some things you should know about being a musician's wife (because clearly now I am an expert):

- sound checks start really early in the morning

- he tells me when singers, instruments, etc are out of tune and says "HELP"...hilarious

- just because he sounds great up front doesn't mean he wakes up like that. Gabo who studied 9 years in a Music Conversatory and has taught for 15 years still studies every piece of music for hours before even going to a rehearsal. 

 - he woos my mom with personal concerts

- even little kids are drawn to musicians

- traveling is a beast...plan to pack in one suitcase so he can carry all of his stuff. (it really is worse if he is a drummer. think of the cymbals and that big fat bass drum)

- in general, Musicians are dreamers, visionaries and have tons of ideas. They don't always love making solid plans
- he can hear a song i love once on the radio and play it by ear for me

So ladies checking out the band....live in reality. They are a whole different animal in good and bad ways. Plus be careful, you don't want be lusting after your brother. That is just ugly. 

From the journey,

Em

The Value

I have this ring that my mom gave me when I was in high school. It was the promise ring that my dad gave my mom when they were in college. They divorced when I was young and I wear the ring every day to remind me of their love that they once had and that my sibs and I were on purpose.

When I lived in Colorado, the ring broke. The band cracked and I was devastated. I took it to a jewelry repair store in the mall to see what they could do. The man asked me what kind of material it was and I didn't know what to respond. I didn't know what the ring was made out of. So he examined it and told me it was white gold. Now I don't think Don Bastine was a cheapskate back in the day but I just figured it was silver. The value of the ring that I had worn for like 10 years had changed in an instant.

I think we don't understand truly the value we have in Christ. It's like someone walking around orphaned and then they realize that Daddy Warbucks wants to take them in. Jesus came to set the captives free. He gave us value and purpose. We are not silver rose rings passed down from our parents but white gold. And the crown that we wear on our heads signifies our value that we are chosen, redeemed and rescued.

Do you know your value today?