Forgiveness.

Ran across this video on Facebook and it's too good not to share.
Are we forgiving for lesser things in our own lives every day?

Thinking

I'm in the middle of my devotional time right now, so this will be short but I had to post it anyways. I just finished the first chapter of "Becoming a Contagious Christian" by Bill Hybels and Mark Mittelberg for the Excel group in leading tomorrow on campus. The entire book is how to have a faith that makes you so on fire for God that it's contagious to others - obviously, based on the title. The first chapter talks a lot about Luke 15, where Jesus tells three parables to the people in an attempt to get His point across. First, that the shepherd that lost his sheep searched high and low to find it, being overjoyed when he did. Second, that the widow who lost a coin tore her entire home upside down to find it, telling all of her friends when she did. Third, the man whose son took his inheritance and left, wasting it and eventually coming home for forgiveness, ran to find his son and threw a huge block party for everyone when he came home. What's the significance here?
Hybels and Mittelberg say in the first chapter that this is the only example in the entire Bible where Jesus tells three stories to get His point across. Obviously, this is something way important to Him - naturally. But why?
In every example, there are three major points:

• In each example, something of great value was missing to the main character, whether it was a sheep, coin, or a son. We are the "something" that is missing to God. We matter. We have value in His eyes.
• The thing missing was important enough to warrant an all-out search. God will stop at nothing to make us find Him.
• At the end of each parable, the main character was so overjoyed that they rejoiced. God throws a party every time one of us is found in Him.

After I finished the chapter in the book, I picked up my Bible and started reading where I had left off the last time I read, in Acts 11. While Luke 15 is well and good, the significance didn't really hit me until I saw this:

"But the voice answered a second time from heaven, 'What God has made clean, do not call common.'" Acts 11:17

Yes, this isn't directly related to Luke 15, but to me, it was. While I had heard the Luke 15 stories a million times, even after today they never really hit me. Yes, I matter to God, and yes, He loves when I come home to him.

But what does that really mean? All of my past, my sins, my mistakes and shames, are wiped away. Okay. I was dirty. But to God, they don't exist. They're gone - wiped clean. What was made clean - me - is something that no one can ever call common.

Intense. 

Can you say with honesty that you feel like you're made clean, and not common? That you know you matter? Read and try to think about Luke 15 in a different light. It may change your mind.

Are you in?

-Kimber.

Cats for Christ

My name is Kimber, and I am a future cat lady.
There. I've said it. No going back now.
Because I got out of my last relationship almost 9 months ago, (wow.) my friends have been asking when I'm going to jump back into the dating pool again. It's gotten to the point where my brother has essentially coined a new phrase in our household - "You're 20 and single."
Thanks, Jamin.

Seriously though, I AM 20 and single. My friends are telling me I'm going to be the crazy cat lady. You know, the one who lives alone in her 4 room house or apartment with 45 cats as company. This, according to everyone in my entire life ever, is my future.
Love you too, guys.
Recently, though, I've been thinking a lot about this whole thing - not the cats, because honestly I am not a fan of cats. (Can't I be the dog lady? Seriously?) Rather, I've been thinking about my future and the relationships I'm going to have.
I posted a while back about My Giant; the man God will (hopefully) place into my life one day who will be my spiritual leader, the third strand in the unbreakable cord of God, My Giant, and myself. Considering my friends are already counting him out, I figure I have to give him a fighting chance. Either that, or resolve myself to a future of felines. 

Not cool.
Without being negative though, what if he doesn't come? What if God would rather claim all of me for Himself, for my entire life? Would it be lonely? Sure - we are, as humans, made to crave companionship, love, and acceptance by other people. Cats can't really fill that void, but if God wanted them to - could they? If He wanted them to, then yes - they will.
Philippians is my absolute favorite book of the Bible. In four short chapters, Paul lays it all out to you straight - no nonsense, just short, sweet, and to the point. I love that. This is what he says in chapter 4, verse 10-13:

"I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."

How incredible is that? Paul, who was faced with incredible struggles and trials - from being in jail, to almost being killed - says how he is content in every situation. Paul was cool to sit in jail, and he didn't complain at all. And here I am, in 2012 - whining because I can't find my Mr. Right yet and may have to live with cats?
Pretty pathetic.
While it never says outright in the Bible whether Paul was married or not, one can kind of surmise that he was or was close to getting married. He says in 1 Corinthians that "it's better to get married than to burn with passion" (so it's that kind of party), but he also says that he "has the gift of celibacy." (Not as fun a party.) Whether he was married or not, Paul left all of that behind to focus on God. Imagine that - if he was married, either his wife passed away or he decided to leave her behind to focus on furthering the Gospel. If he wasn't married, then he was nearing a potential marriage before he decided to leave his old life and convert to Christianity. He had it all, or was nearing a point where everything was going to happen - and then he left it. 
And. Was. Content.
That's incredible.
Will I still grumble and complain sometimes about not finding a boyfriend or a potential giant? Possibly. (Probably.) Will I be totally content with the fact that I may be a cat lady in my friends' eyes forever? No. 
But, before I find My Giant - if God decides to place him in my life - then I will learn to be content. I'll take this time to grow closer to the One who wants all of me before He can even consider sharing a tiny part of me with a husband. Or cat.
(Please, please, let it be a husband.)
Your NR challenge is this: Are you single and ready to find someone? Then stop looking. Be content. Take a step back and place your life in God's hands. Walk with Him, and next thing you know, you'll see that special someone right in front of you. 
If God doesn't have someone for you? It's okay. Be content. Know that God wants all of you for Himself, and devote everything you have and all you are to being His and knowing Him better.
And get a cat.
Are you in?

-Kimber.

Who are you following?

My name is Kimber, and I am a Twitter addict.
For years, I never understood the hype about Twitter. Limiting yourself to 140 characters? Seriously? As some of you may know, I'm not one to limit myself when it comes to something I have to say. (Comments regarding my not posting for a month or much this summer will be ignored. Peter.)
So when I finally caved and got a Twitter account a while back, I really took a while to warm up to it. Who did I want to see tweets from? My friends, obviously, even though for a while it was just like a limited Facebook. Pretty lame. And it took me some time to remember I couldn't send the same things to Twitter and Facebook from my phone since the character allotment is different for each.
Then, I realized I could follow celebrities. I'm not one to obsess over celebs typically, but when I realized that people such as these: Adam Richman (from Travel Channel's Man vs. Food, my favorite show hosted by my future husband. Just gotta get him to love Jesus.), Adam Levine (lead singer of Maroon 5 and also another future husband that needs some serious introductions to Jesus), and Michael Phelps (I'm not going to explain who this is because if you don't know who it is then you've been living under a rock for approximately the last 12 years of Olympics) had Twitter accounts, then all bets were off. I was in.
I quickly became addicted.
What could I say that would make others laugh in less than 140 characters? I could tweet my friends instead of texting so others could see our hilarity and be so jealous. I hate posting pictures of myself on twitter unless I'm with friends, so I made full use of finding opportunities to send a picture. Hashtag, addict.
(#addict. Had to.)
Today, at work, the store was a bit slow. Naturally, the dream team (consisting of some of my favorite people to work with) decided to make a Twitter account for our Subway. We immediately took pictures and sent them to the account. Obviously. 

Jay thinks he's Bolt and Blake's "in charge." Typical.

The first week of August is always the family camp meeting for my church camp, Whitehall. Some of you who have been around for a while may remember me talking about it before. Every year I always go home with something placed on my heart, and this year was no different. I took away so many incredible things from camp this year, but one thing really made me pause and think.

The speaker at the barn this year was amazing. He had a way of connecting to each and every person during each sermon. One night, he was talking about sincerity of our faith. He challenged the group to think about different aspects of their faith and how they measured up - were they on Facebook more than reading their Bible? Were they talking to friends more about silly things rather than asking them about their belief in God?

Were they tweeting as much as they were praying?

Oops. 

Naturally, that stung. Quite a bit, actually. I remember breaking into small groups the next morning during the morning devotion time, where I was a leader, and admitting that I passed 5,000 tweets the week before camp. The group of young girls I was leading laughed, but inside, a part of me cringed. Seriously, 5,000 tweets but not nearly as many prayers?

In the battle of my faith vs. Twitter, who was I really following?

Luke 9:23 says this:

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Pretty sure it doesn't say in the New Testament that God has a Twitter and you can follow Him that way. Sure, there are plenty of parody accounts you could actually follow. But is that seriously what you would want? The creator of the universe is inviting you to follow Him daily - far away from the internet, from your phone, and from all sorts of social networking. He wants you to follow Him in every step of your life. 

I will be the first to say that my Twitter addiction is still something I deal with. I have Twitter up right now, but I haven't checked it too many times while writing this post - I think. I may have lost count. I checked my profile and saw that I have 5,199 tweets right now. Still deciding if this is a good thing, or a bad thing.

Anyways.

Your NR challenge is this: step back and take a look at your own life. I did, and found that rather than following God with all my heart, I was following Michael Phelps and retweeting pictures he tweeted from the pool. (Sorry, men that follow me on Twitter. Ladies, you're welcome. And God? Great work.) I have to change who I'm subscribing to. What do you have to look at? Take a look. You may be surprised.

Are you in?

-Kimber.

NR is my 2nd longest relationship

So I just looked at the date - even though it's changing in 4 minutes - and realized it's been over 2 years since I started this blog. It's crazy what a little push from God can do, along with a lot of encouragement from everyone else. I just wanted to say thank you, from the bottom of my sometimes black heart and the very tips of these busily typing fingers.
I've changed a lot in the past two years, and it's pretty evident by what I've posted. From my first post about Lady Gaga to my most recent about becoming a new creation, it's been a crazy ride and I'm pretty sure NR has become one of the most random Christian blogs ever.
So, basically, because I hate being sappy and I hate long thank you posts because someone is just asking to butt in and be like "Kimber imma let you finish but ______ had the best Christian nonsense crap blog of all time. OF ALL TIME," thank you. Thank you for the almost 3000 pageviews - from all around the world like Latvia (which I have no idea where or what a Latvia is, but thanks dude) to right in my own backyard. Thanks for sticking with me!


-Kimber.

no, it has no meaning other than this is an exciting picture of a philadelphia security guard and myself

You've changed.

A guy from the church I go to every Saturday night recently left to head for Australia to study at Hillsong. How great of an opportunity is that? I've only known Nick for a short time, but I can already see how God is working in his life. I can't wait to see the tweets and hear the stories that he has from all of the amazing experiences God is placing in his life! Nick is going to do something incredible for the kingdom of God, and I can't wait to watch and see.
When I started going to PECC almost eight months ago, I noticed a common phrase among everyone there: "you've changed." Whether or not the phrase actually fit into the conversation wasn't important; the fact that it is said with great timing is. It originated with Nick, along with several other phrases that sometimes made sense, sometimes not so much. Out of all the phrases, though, the one that stood out most to me was that first one I noticed: "you've changed."
It's a funny thing - people change all the time. Whether we realize it or not, it happens. Some changes can be for the worse - hanging out with the wrong crowd, staying with that guy or girl who is clearly not the right one for you, that kind of stuff. We've all experienced it, and we've all had it happen. Those changes are hard to take when they happen to other people, especially ones that we love. They can almost be impossible to deal with if you're the one changing. 
Other changes are for the better - a new job, a new relationship built on Godly foundations, even something as simple as a new hairstyle. These changes are good.
There is, however, one change that can never be for the worse:

"From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come."- 2 Corinthians 5:16-17

The best change a person can make - throwing away the old, putting on the new and becoming a new person in Christ Jesus.
Talk about a change.
There's a great song by Leeland - one of my absolute favorite bands, ever (go listen to them. Right now.) - that talks about becoming a new creation. (Here's your chance, go listen. Now.)

Like most changes, though, it's something to get used to. It's not like everything will be all nice and happy and filled with unicorns and rainbows and fluffy bunnies and ice cream after you make the change. There is no switch you can flip that completely makes your life absolutely perfect after you become a new person in Christ. Rather, it's almost the opposite. This is the ultimate change, and some people - especially the enemy - will hate the fact that it happens. It's going to be hard. It's going to be a bit scary sometimes. But I promise, it will be worth it. 
When a friend comes up to you and says there's something different about you lately. 
When a stranger approaches you and says how you aren't like other people they've seen or met. 
When God greets you in Heaven and says, "well done, my good and faithful servant."
I've changed.
Will you make the right change for yourself?
Are you in?


-Kimber.

Dinnertime.

When it comes to food, I am a 15 year old boy. That's all I really can say. If you were to look at my mobile uploads on Facebook, a good percentage of them are pictures of food.

Hand dipped ice cream during my Philadelphia student teaching trip.

Olive Garden from a Subway girls' night out.

Chicken wings from wing night at the Pitt Crew's last night after church.

Beautiful, beautiful pub food

And, the ice cream cake we got for my dad for Father's Day. Yes, his name is Cool Breeze, and yes, he is probably cooler than your dad.

End food montage. 

Lucky for me, I have some pretty incredible people that don't mind when I come over and eat all of their food. In fact, almost every Sunday evening I stop over at my second family's house and eat all of their food. It's to the point where I come in sometimes and they already have a plate warmed up on the table for me. Pathetic? Possibly. Awesome? Absolutely. (Especially since they're Italian. YES.)

In church this week, we had communion. My pastor focused on a few verses from Revelation, along with the passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 where it talks about the Lord's supper. Let's pick up in Revelation 3:20: 

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me."

In this verse, it says how Jesus is standing at a door and knocking - quite literally, the door to your heart, and your life - and waiting for a response. Do we answer? Do we ignore him? If we open the door and let Him in, it says He will come in and eat with us. 

The meaning of the word "supper" - as in the Lord's supper - in Greek is to "linger longer with you." When God is saying He wants to eat with us and partake in a supper with Him, He is not only saying that He wants to come into our lives and eventually have a beat-all feast in Heaven. He's also saying that He wants to linger and spend time...with us. It's pretty hard to wrap your mind around that.

It's one thing entirely for me to go over to Pete and Ang's house and sit down at their table and have supper, in both senses of the word. Eating leftover lasagna or chicken cordon bleu is a beautiful thing, but the visit doesn't stop there. I stay for a few hours each time, setting aside the food - or not - and spend time with my second family. We look at junk on Pinterest, talk about skits we can create for the drama team at church, call each other meatheads and have a great time. (And for the record, Peter, I just added 'meatheads' to my dictionary on my computer.) It's always a great night, and I always leave excited for the next time when I can come back.

It's like that with God. 

Once day, whenever we can stand before God in Heaven, He will invite us to sit at His table and eat with Him. We'll spend time with Him, and it won't be nearly long enough. It's okay though - we'll have all of eternity. At the table will be every single child of God - from people listed in the Bible, to the person who sits next to you in church every Sunday. It doesn't matter if food will be shared. Time with God is enough, and He is so willing to give it. 

When I drive up to Pete and Ang's house, they never hesitate to let me inside. Mostly I just walk myself through the front door, but regardless - they always welcome me with open arms. 

Are we willing to do that to Jesus?

His invitation to His "dinner party" is a bit different than the normal one. Yes, He wants an RSVP - but He also wants you to realize that this isn't just a "one time thing." He doesn't want to leave. He wants to stay with you throughout your life, guiding you and shaping you into something incredible that only He has planned. He wants to see you next to Him, passing the salt scraped off of Lot's wife in Sodom (okay, maybe that's a bit morbid but you get what I mean) at the supper table. He wants to spend time with you, to linger longer with you.

Will you accept His invitation?

Are you in?

-Kimber.