Today, Isaac and I went to Walmart and picked up the DVDs he ordered called Furious Love and Finger of God. We watched Finger of God. Here is a brief description of the documentary:

Hundreds raised from the dead. Manna appearing in the Pentagon. Gemstones falling from the sky. Teenagers healing perfect strangers on the street. This isn’t old-time religion. This is a new beginning. A spiritual revolution. This is the Finger of God. Prepare to go on a dizzying journey around the world–from the streets of Northern California to the mud huts of Africa; from the underground church in China to the Gypsies in Eastern Europe–you will be challenged and encouraged by the extraordinary things God is doing in our world today. Born out of filmmaker Darren Wilson’s personal journey of two years and hundreds of hours of footage, Finger of God will show you a world you never knew existed. A world of hope and courage. A world where God’s fingerprints are found in the unlikeliest of places.

It was very inspiring. So inspiring, in fact, that I decided to try to perform a miracle myself. While I was in my bathroom, I noticed a fly buzzing around my head. I swatted at it with my hand towel and it fell to the floor. I grabbed a sheet of toilet paper to pick it up and flush it when I thought, “Hmmm… this would be an awesome opportunity to try out this whole ‘miracle’ thing.”

So I cupped my hands around its broken body, careful not to let  it touch me, and began to pray. I burst out in laughter at the sight of a grown man standing over a dead fly and proclaiming the word of Jesus. I thought to myself, “There is absolutely NO way I am ever going to tell anyone about this.” I was the only one home, so I had nothing to lose.

I got back to work. I continued to pray over this little critter, but nothing was happening. I asked God what I was doing wrong and I heard Him say, “Sometimes, you gotta get your hands dirty”. Not the answer I was looking for. So, I dumped the fly out into my freshly washed palm and began to pray again. I prayed that Jesus would pour His kingdom into the fly and heal his wounds and bring him back to life. I blew warm air into my hand and on his body.

Suddenly, I saw his crumbled leg move! I wasn’t sure if it was the air moving his leg, so I continued to pray– this time, with more enthusiasm. With more conviction I said, “Jesus, please bring this fly back to life! I know you can, God! You are an almighty and powerful God– You can do whatever you please.” I blew again. This time, there was no response.

I laughed out loud again– I could not believe I was trying to heal a fly! It was only a fly– what could God possibly care about such a small, dirty, insignificant creature. There was NO way I was going to share this with anyone!  I was about to throw in the towel and give him his “burial at sea” when I saw another leg twitch– this time, there was no air to move it. I held my breath as I watched life slowly flow into his body– First, his legs began to move. Then one wing– then the other.

I continued to pour Jesus’ love unto him until he was on all fours in the center of my palm! I exclaimed, “HALLELUJAH” and I quickly closed my palm and ran to the balcony. There, I opened my palm and he was looking right at me, as if to say “Thanks!” He crawled around in my hand a little bit, and started to head up my arm when I realized Mr. Fly and I were getting WAY to close. I slid him off my arm and into the flower-pot, where he eventually took flight.

I was left standing there amazement of what God had just done. IT WAS JUST A FLY! God didn’t have to do that– Lord knows I’ve slaughtered hundreds of his brothers and sisters. But God loves everything He created. By putting my faith in Jesus, and knowing that God was going to come through, He worked a miracle through me. I had a funny thought of that fly going to his friends and proclaiming the word of God.

When I shared this story with Isaac and Chad, we joked that our balcony was going to be swarming with deaf and blind flies– flies with little canes and crutches– all seeking God’s healing. I’m going to open up a little Fly House of Prayer and call it “FLYHOP” (…get it?)  At first, this idea seemed very silly and unnecessary. But, in retrospect, it made perfect sense! By putting my entire faith into Jesus, He showed me what the glory of God looks like.

I trust in the Lord with all of my heart and I know my prayers will be answered. For a moment, I caught a tiny glimpse of one of His MANY miracles. Praise Jesus for being the Ultimate Healer and for His infinite mercy and grace! Who would have ever thought that one little fly would have such a HUGE impact on my faith?!

This has taken me forever to get to, but I want to recount a lesson God taught me.  It was back in December of 2010, right before I was about to fly home for Christmas.

I came across a news article that was talking about “porn stars”, and something in me really got annoyed.  I’ve always hated the term “porn star”.  One porno and the people doing the dirty are called “stars”.  I can be in a hundred film projects and only be called an actor, not a star.   So in a moment of epiphany, I turned to Facebook.

My status update read, “I think “Porn Stars” should be renamed “Porn Holes”. A star is someone whose light and beauty is shining for all to see, their glory revealed. When in reality “porn holes” just reveal the depth of their own emptiness, and those who get caught up in their gravitational pull get crushed by their darkness. (Read divorce statistics, etc) Not to mention that the latter title is simply more accurate.”

You see what I did there?  I likened them to black holes and then used a double entendre for the orifices.  So clever right?  It even makes a valid point about how their darkness draws people in, how it reveals the depths of their own depravity, and how lives are destroyed through divorce and sexual addiction.  So, so profound.  I should be so proud of myself.  Right?

So that was my Facebook status as I headed off to LAX.

As I’m waiting to board my Southwest Airline flight, I happen to notice a very blond, very pink woman talking on her cell phone and fiddling with her Gucci bag.  I thought to myself, “Wow, that girl totally looks like she’s trying to be a Playboy Bunny.”.

I’m standing behind her as we board, and she’s talking like a valley girl on her phone to some guy. “Yeah, after the party I checked you out on Facebook.”, she said, “Yeah, it was cool meeting you.  When I get back we totally need to party. (giggles) I need to be back in a couple weeks, because we’re having a party at the mansion.”.

All of a sudden it clicked, she WAS a Playboy Bunny!

With Southwest Airlines, you don’t have assigned seating.  I thought, “Maybe I could sit next to this girl and actually have the chance to share God’s love with her!”.

Then another thought crossed my mind.  “What did she say she did after meeting that guy?  Oh yeah, check out his Facebook page.  CRAP!!!  My status is all about calling porn stars “porn holes”!”

I whipped out my iPhone and furiously opened my Facebook app to delete that status.  However, I couldn’t on the app!  I was stuck. I could potentially have some great spiritual conversation on a flight, and  completely undermine it if she saw my condemning Facebook status.

As we were walking to the rear of the plane, I caught people looking at her as she passed.  I was taken aback by the ridicule and condescending looks that the girl was getting.  It made me so mad!  This girl was someone that God loved and people were brutally mocking her.  My heart started to break for her.

So did I sit with her?  Did I have some awesome conversation that allowed her to see that she was loved by her heavenly Father?  NOPE.  I chickened out.  I couldn’t risk being another person to heap judgment and insults upon her.

On the flight, she talked the ear off the guy sitting next to her.

When I got off the flight, God really convicted my heart about the Facebook post.  I felt Him say to me, “If you had the choice, would you rather heap judgment or communicate my love to porn stars?”.

I never thought I’d ever interact with a porn star in real life, so it was easy to post my status.  However, when I was faced with one in real life, my heart for them was to know the God that loves them despite their obvious sin.  God really hit home the message that those who are lost are still ones he desperately loves, and I need to align my heart to match his.

God reminded me of Matthew 9:10-12 “While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. ¹¹ When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”  ¹² On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”

I’m glad God takes that attitude towards me too, because I certainly am no less a sinner than a “porn star” and He chose to allow me to become a son of God.  I hope I can remember that next time I’m starting to get judgmental towards others.

Following that thought, you should watch this video with Ron Jeremy, a porn star, talking about worship music.

So Saturday night I was at the grocery store around 10:30pm, looking for some of those really “healthy” Banquet TV dinners.  When I got to the freezer door, there was a grocery store employee who was off of work and picking out some Banquet meals for herself. She was probably in her late forties.

As I waited for her, all of a sudden I felt God say, “She is greatly loved by me.”.  I felt God wanting me to tell her that, because she needed to hear it.

So I struck up a little conversation with her about Banquet TV dinners and their awesome price of $1 each.  As she was about to head out, I stopped her.  I said that I felt God say that she is greatly loved by God, and that how God’s love for her was really obvious.

She lit up and told me how she loves Jesus.  She recounted how earlier that day a homeless man came to the grocery store to ask for samples.  They don’t give samples, but she gave him money for food.  She was really blown away that God would be saying that about her, and how she had never had anyone approach her to tell her something like that before.  It was so cool to see how much it lifted her spirits.

It was funny, because she ended up behind me in the check out line and we got to talk some more.  Her name is Elisabeth, she works two jobs, and she lives pretty close to my own neighborhood.  Eventually we parted ways, and I kept thinking how cool it was to be used by God to affirm his love for one of his daughters.

That’s probably the 4th time I’ve been in a grocery store and felt God give me a word for someone, but the first time I’ve had the courage to act upon it.  I love how when God wants to speak to someone, it’s always in the context of love and affirmation.

We both went to find cheap Banquet TV dinners, but God used the opportunity to feed both of our spirits.  You know, if you ever feel the prompting to encourage or speak kindly to a random stranger, go ahead and do it.  You never know how it’ll bless both of you.

(p.s. My chicken fingers dinner that night was delicious!)

For the last year I’ve been attending Glendale Community Church of God, my very local church.  Ana, one of the church’s leaders, and her family lives down the street from me.  Over the last year I’ve heard her family recount stories where they’ve seen “ghosts” or were pinned down on their bed by some invisible grip.

A few weeks ago, Ana had to take on more leadership responsibility at church.  Then one of her daughters, who has a history of health concerns, almost died due to some internal bleeding.  She pulled through, but continued to have more unexpected hospital visits.  It was apparent that spiritual warfare was going on and it was affecting their family.

So The Huddle approached Ana about the idea of coming over to pray over her house and family.  We felt that with the demonic visions/oppression they’ve felt in the past and the current health concerns, we needed to pray against demons that might have taken residence in their house or lives.

(Boy, I can’t wait for that sentence to be quoted someday to make me sound crazy. Haha)

So last Thursday, October 21st, around 10pm we walked over Ana’s house and were joined by Jasmine, Yesenia, Alejandro, Minda, and Karla from church.  So all of us started by laying hands on the living room.  We asked Jesus to break any assignments of the enemy upon their family, and cast any demons to the foot of the cross.

It was weird, but as we prayed I could feel a sort of discomfort in the back of my head as I felt demons being loosened.  Others of us felt a dizziness come over them as we prayed against certain sin issues like strife, disunity, infirmity, death, confusion, etc..

Half of us stayed in the living room to intercede and sing praises to God.  The other half of us went room by room, praying that God would fill it with his glory.  We asked for angels to guard over the rooms and each member of the family, as well as, just praying as we felt led.

As we prayed over the master bedroom, I got an image of the Cheshire Cat.

I felt like God was saying something about how demons have entered the home through cats or that cat.  (Weird, I know)

Ana then got up, walked over to her closet, and pulled out a Cheshire Cat Halloween costume!  From there I felt that what God wanted to have us pray against was anything that might have come into the house from lines unwittingly crossed during past Halloween celebrations.

(Note: I like Halloween.  I think costumes and candy are innocent fun.  However, it can be taken too far and we can engage with evil things that aren’t healthy…like eating too much candy… or the occult.)

We then came to Jasmine’s bedroom.  We felt it was important for Jasmine and Karla to join us.  Instead of just praying over her room, we all laid hands on Jasmine and prayed.  It was a really powerful time.  As we prayed, I felt it put upon my heart to encourage Karla to step out and pray for Jasmine.

As she prayed, I felt very clearly that we had to pray for Karla next. Before I even had the chance to say anything, Ana suggested it!  As we did, I felt like God really wanted to invite her to receive Jesus.  After I prayed for her, Ana said, “I don’t want to take it for granted, but Karla, have you ever prayed to accept Jesus as your savior?”.  Karla shook her head “No.”, then Ana asked if she’d like to, and Karla said “Yes.”.  Ana and I explained what accepting Jesus means and why we need to make that conscious decision.

Ana walked her through the prayer and Karla was reborn as a daughter of God!  God loved her so much that He divinely scheduled the chance for her to be invited into the family of God and be given the gift of salvation!  God is so awesome!

If we had any question of whether or not our prayers against the kingdom of darkness had any effect that night, they were answered by the kingdom of God taking residence in Karla’s heart.  We had no idea that night was going to be that powerful.

(Photo of the Huddle, Minda, Ana, and Karla in the center)

The entire family said they had one of the most peaceful night of sleep afterward, including dreams of angels.  It’s amazing what can happen when believers get together to pray and are obedient to the promptings of God.

If you’re reading this and you haven’t yet accepted Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for you, and you want a relationship with the one true God, you can know do it right now.  You don’t have to wait.  You don’t have to get your life perfect in advance.  It’s Jesus plus nothing.  Faith in him, his sacrifice on the cross for our sins, his resurrection, and his identity as the Son of God.  God doesn’t need us to climb some mountain of holiness to find him, He meets us exactly where we are.  Filth and all.

If you’re down with knowing the God of the universe that loves you and created you, this is your time.  In your own words pray something to the effect of, “God, thank you for sending your son, Jesus, to die on the cross for my sins.  I believe that Jesus truly is the son of God, who rose from the grave and conquered death on the third day.  Jesus, forgive me for my sins.  I invite you into my heart, I submit my life to you, and ask that you lead me all the rest of my days.  I give you my life Jesus.  Thank you for loving me.”

If that’s the prayer of your heart and you choose to make that commitment to Jesus, your name will be written into the Book of Life.  You’ll have a new identity as a son or daughter of God and you’ll have everlasting life as His child.  By faith are we saved, not be good deeds, but the grace of God.  From that point forward it’s a journey as we follow Jesus.  We read the Bible, we learn how to live our lives in a way that’s pleasing to God, and we let the truth of the Bible set us free from the things that bound us before.  God is about transforming us into his likeness, so that we can be a life to this world.

I’m so grateful that God has done that for me, the Huddle, and now Karla.  I can’t wait to see what this life brings with Jesus now apart of it!

Today, Sept 20th, is my six-year anniversary of moving out to Los Angeles.  Six years!

Six years ago I was living in Cincinnati and working at Lightborne.  I was having ups and downs spiritually and one night in July I went to see Spider-Man 2 by myself.  The movie reminded me of how we truly are caught in a battle between good and evil, Heaven and Hell.  To be honest, at that time I felt as if I was losing to Hell.  As I came out of that movie, my spirit felt frustrated with how I had been continuously knocked around my sin patterns in my life.

All of a sudden I found myself talking smack to Satan and reminding him that he’s already been defeated on the cross by Jesus.  After trashing him for a while my heart turned to the Lord and I started affirming that God was who I wanted as my master.  I wanted to be his servant, his friend, his son and no one else’s.

I was unable to figure out how to deal with the sin patterns that bound me, so I confessed to God that I was willing to take whatever steps he’d tell me to take.  My cry to him was so fervent that I found myself screaming out my pleas at the top of my lungs in my car.  The next morning I wrote in my prayer journal, “Father, wherever you lead me I will follow.”.

An hour and a half later at work at 10:30am, my boss, Ben Nicholson, brought me into his office to tell me he had to lay me off along with 5 other employees.  Immediately in my mind I remembered what I told God that morning and I felt God reply, “Alright, let’s go.”.

I was not expecting such an immediate response, but God had prepared my heart.  Two hours later I had a peace about moving to LA, which I knew was from God, because I never liked the idea of living in such a “dirty, gross, crowded city”.  The timing couldn’t have been better, because I was supposed to sign a lease on a new apartment that day after work.

So I took the next couple months to prepare for my move.  In six days I had an apartment lined up with a Christian guy, Adam, in Burbank.

My friend, Dan Divelbiss, and my puppets drove out with me.  We stopped at a fraternity brother’s house in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, drove to the Grand Canyon, then Las Vegas, and finally into LA.

I didn’t know anyone in Los Angeles.  However, the entire time driving across the country to move there, I felt a complete and total peace about it.  It was truly one of those times you know you’re just going along with God’s plan.

Here I am, 6 years later and 20 years wiser. Haha.  I will say that I have not always enjoyed my time here, but that was largely due to my own rebellious heart towards God.  However, the more and more I’ve been walking in obedience and pursuing a deeper friendship with him, the more I’m enjoying this city and see why God chose to bring me here.

God, I just want to say thank you for taking me across the country to a city I knew no one in, and providing me with an amazing group of friends who truly are my family.  You know my heart, you have a purpose for me that is greater that I can understand, and I’m looking forward to going wherever you lead me.  As long as I’m with you God, I’m good.

Meet the new face of the church… covered in scotch tape.

It might not be the most handsome representation, but it certainly was fun.

How did this come about?  Well, Luke and I were hanging out at my apartment one night and watching a DVD of the television show “The State”.  One of the sketches involved a freshman college orientation given by upperclassmen whose faces were deformed by scotch tape.  They warned how partying would lead to “tape face”.  It was pretty dang funny.

In the middle of the sketch, I turned to Luke and say, “I kinda want to try it.”.  To which Luke replied, “I was thinking the same thing!”.  Ha ha.

So I raided my home office supplies for tape and began our Twilight Zone-like transformation.  It took a little trial and error, but I think the results speak for themselves.

The reason why I’m blogging about this is that a I was struck by a thought. “Wow, being the church is fun.”

So many times we as believers in Jesus think that church is somewhere we go, not something we are.  That’s why sometimes it feels so boring to be a “Christian”, because it’s been reduced to participation in a few select events during the week.  The reality is that we are the church, the body of Christ, and God is all about relationships.

If you look in Genesis before the fall of man, God walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They hung out.  If you look at the early church in Acts, they got together and daily ate food together.  They hung out.  Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”.  Jesus totally wants to hang out.

This last year I’ve really been seeing how it’s all about relationships.  God wants a relationship with us and he wants us to be in relationship with each other.  It just struck me as funny that when Luke and I were deforming our faces with Scotch tape and having fun, that we were being the church.  When those of us in the Huddle hang out on a Friday night to watch a movie, we’re being the church.  When we serve the needy, we’re being the church.

I’m not knocking the typical view of “going to church” and participating in ministries or a Sunday service.  But I guess I am knocking the idea of our identity as the church being something we put on or take off depending on our location or activity.

I just like the idea that a little Scotch tape on a Friday night makes being the church a lot more fun and ridiculous.

So this last weekend I flew to Cincinnati for a men’s retreat that brought together 40+ men from various churches in the Cincinnati area.  In this post I’m not going to recap the entire retreat, but one part of it is worth mentioning because of how quickly it was applied to my life afterward.

One of the sessions focused on James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”.  So during our time we broke into groups and asked for prayer regarding areas of our lives that we need God’s wisdom for.  We also spent time asking for more wisdom in general.

So let’s flash forward to the next day.  The retreat is over and I’m now with my friends, Daniel and Arian, and at their house in Newport, Kentucky.  They have two ridiculously cute kids who were very excited to show me their room and all their toys.  So leaving Daniel and Arian behind in the living room, I learned all about how they stored their toys, how deep their closet is, and whose toy is whose.  I had entered a world very different from my own Los Angeles apartment.

Then one of the boys wanted to show me his bed.  He demonstrated how he put his pillow down, surrounded it with stuffed animals, covered it with a blanket, and would sleep on it like a cat.  He then recounted how he sweat so much last night, that when he woke up his sheets were drenched in sweat.

I could tell he thought it was pretty impressive, because he pointed out that his blanket was dry, but underneath the pillow it was still damp.  Damp from that morning.  He lifted up the pillow and sure enough, it was damp.  So impressed with his ability to sweat, he tested it with his hand and verified that it wasn’t dry like his blanket.

Then he invited me to touch it and see for myself.

It was at that moment that I felt something deep in my spirit leading me to be very disinterested in verifying the truthfulness of the young boy’s statement.  I wasn’t sure how to say “no thank you” to my young host without seeming ungracious.  However, I told him that I trusted him and politely declined.  He persisted several times, inviting me to feel his damp, sweaty sheets, but again I felt it would be wiser to take him at his word than verify for myself.

He eventually let it go.  Afterward, Daniel and Arian let me borrow their car to visit my friend, Lisa.  When I got back to their home from visiting Lisa, their boys were napping in the bedroom.  I then recounted to them  the sweaty sheets story and how I was invited to touch them.

Daniel then shared with me what I suspected all along, it wasn’t sweat.

Since their son is going to school now, he’s been getting up by himself and they aren’t always inspecting the dryness of the sheets.

My mind flashed back to their son lifting up the pillow and touching the wet sheets with his bare hand. Instantly I remembered how we had asked God to grant us wisdom the day prior.  My heart swelled with gratitude to my heavenly Father! Haha.

Who knows, had I not asked for it, I might not have had enough discernment and would’ve ended up with a palm full of day old, urine soaked sheets touching my skin!

I’m not suggesting that had I not prayed for wisdom the day before that I would have been willing to touch the young boy’s sheets.  Sweat or not, that’s gross.  I’m just thankful that over the years, as I’ve asked for God’s wisdom in my life that he’s given it to me generously and without finding fault as James 1:5 says.

Daniel’s son innocently invited me to touch his sheets because he thought it was sweat.  He wasn’t maliciously trying to make my hand smell like pee.  It made me think of how there are people in our lives that, out of ignorance, invite us to try things that result in our purity being as soiled as theirs.  That’s not their intention, but their unaware of how it’s making their lives unclean as well.

So many people in this world try to sell us the line, “How do you know unless you’ve tried it?”.  Yet with God’s wisdom, we don’t have to touch all the damp sheets in the world to discover if its sweat or not.  In fact, I feel better about myself because I didn’t.

I’d love to invite any of you that read this to take a moment and ask God for wisdom, whether it’s in general or for a specific issue you’re dealing with.  You never know, God just might prevent you from making the mistake of touching damp sheets.

Wow, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything.  I won’t bore you with excuses or reasons.  However I wanted to share something cool that God invited me into last Sunday.  However, let me preface that this one is something that has to be taken completely on faith.

Sunday was a very “prophetic” day for me.  I woke up in the morning from a dream where I was prophesying for someone and I had a complete image and interpretation.  Then at church that morning I was sitting next to my friend, Heather, and could feel God’s palpable love for her.  Then felt God giving me two visions and interpretations for her.

I want to acknowledge that I understand how weird that all sounds.  However, after the last year and a half of my life, this stuff has become pretty dang common and proven to be accurate at times.

Well, later that day I decided to check out my friend’s church, Living Waters, in Pasadena.  I had heard that the worship service was really wonderful, and let me tell you it is.  The music was great, but what was interesting is that there were dancers, gymnasts, banner wavers, and overall the congregation really was participating in worshiping God.  It wasn’t just a sing-a-long and it helped me enter into a real mindset of worship.

During one of the songs I felt the desire to just pray quietly to God in tongues. (Geez, I wish I could send this post back in time to myself 3 years ago, so I could completely freak myself out!)  The reason I was praying in tongues was that I didn’t know how to verbalize my prayers, so I let the Holy Spirit have at it.  It started off praying over my small church, my roommate, and then my family.  I just pressed into it and felt in the presence of God with everyone worshiping around me.

Then it hit me.

In my mind’s eye God showed me the French flag. So I said, “Okay”.  Then Paris.  Then the name “Yvette”.  Then I could see her, she was a beautiful black woman.  Then I could see that she was pregnant.  Then in my spirit I instantly knew the child was stillborn (or dead. I’m not sure of the correct term for a child that’s passed, but still inside the mother).  All these revelations happened in rapid fire succession, I could tell God was feeding it to me.

Immediately I felt as if God was telling me to pray for the child to be brought back to life.  So I quietly burst into tongues, interceding for the kid.  I asked if it was a boy or girl, God said it was a boy.  I then transitioned into praying with my own words.  I kept repeating “Revive him!  Revive him!  Revive him!” and every time I said it, I felt God responding with passion, “I will!  I will!  I will!”.

I saw in my mind’s eye the baby kick.

I kept praying. Asking the Lord “Give him strength!  Give him strength!  Give him strength!”.  Every time I said that I felt God responding with passion, “I will!  I will!  I will!”.

Then I started praying, “Let him come to know you!  Let him come to know you!  Let him come to know you!”.  Every time I said that I felt God responding with passion, “I will!  I will!  I will!”.

Then in my mind’s eye I saw the little boy kicking with both feet and Yvette completely stunned and praising the Lord, because she knew that the child in her was dead but not anymore!  When I saw that I felt as if what God wanted to do with me in prayer was accomplished.  I opened up my eyes as the church was still worshiping and I could hardly believe what had just happened.

I turned to Luke who was next to me and said, “I think I just participated in a miracle.”.

I kept shaking my head, because I wasn’t looking to pray for someone like that, it just happened.  I just felt as if by entering  into worship, we come into the throne room of Heaven.  In that heart place, God saw me as a willing intercessor and decided to use me!

What was so awesome was God’s responses to my prayers.  “I will!  I will!  I will!”  He was saying it in such a way I could tell that he was cheering in victory.

After I was done praying, the very next song was about God being a healer. Hahaha!

I can’t prove Yvette’s existence, but I’m willing to trust God enough to not waste the prayers of a willing heart.  Why wouldn’t God invite someone to intercede for the resurrection of an unborn child to show his love for that child and his mother?

I’m not sharing this story/experience to paint me as being all spiritual.  I just never really thought about a church’s worship music being used to usher believers into the presence of God, so that the intercessors can be activated to pray for people in desperate need all over the world.  I usually think of the topics or objects of my prayers as being something I’m choosing to focus on.  I rarely think of it in terms of being invited into, or chosen by God, to partner with him in praying for something on his heart.

Yvette looked as if she was 7-8 months pregnant with her son.  I know it’s pretty out there, but if you’re willing to, please pray that God blesses her and her son’s new life.  It’d never hurt and God would never think us foolish for praying in faith for someone.  Even if we aren’t sure they exist!  However, we’ll find out in Heaven and I’m pretty sure we’ll receive some hugs by a mother and her son.

Here’s a recent Q&A that I had with God. These things are pretty basic, I ask and just write what I hear. Usually I’ll look back at them and am thrown back because I couldn’t have ever thought it up myself.

Josh: Father, why should I want eternal life?

God: All good things don’t have to come to an end. You were created by and for me. I want to share and teach you much more about who I AM and what I’ve done. That’s what part of what a relationship is and that’s why I’ve called you into a covenant relationship relationship with me. But it goes the other way as well… I want you to enjoy me forever. I’m jealous too because I want to spend even more time with you. I AM who I AM because I AM good and I AM love. I created love to show you my innate character. I’ve given you a great capacity to love, but be careful who and what you love. Love me first and that love will guide you and set you straight. I AM truth. You know the truth, live that way and don’t deny me. Fear me, but know my intentions are just.

For any of you keeping up with this blog, I realize my voice has been absent from updates for a while now. I’ve been doing a ton of traveling lately all over the world, working on an assortment of projects. One cool revelation that I had recently was that God travels as well. I think in a weird way it was easy for me to think that God was only in LA where I usually experience him (I know this is stupid but it’s kinda really true.) It’s easy for me to put limits on Him in order for me to comprehend him. Traveling has allowed me to see that God is everywhere- in all landscapes far and near, and with all types of people. I think it is one of those facts about Him that you know about but then once you start to see how huge this planet is and how all the details fit together and it just blows you away. God is in the NY subway just as much as He is in an African thunderstorm.

A couple weeks ago I had the privilege of going to Ethiopia for three weeks. I was working with a non-profit organization that provides clean drinking water, builds schools and health centers, and educates people about proper sanitation. This organization is pretty phenomenal in the sense that they literally change peoples’ lives and empower them to live differently. The change is totally apparent. We went to ‘before’ and ‘after’ villages and you could distinctly see the differences not only with physical buildings but reflected in the smiles and lifestyles of the kids and villagers. My job was to document the next project that they are trying to raise money for- a village with 10,000 people drinking from a muddy river.

Traveling into this remote part of North Ethiopia was pretty exhausting. Each day we would make the hour and a half trek via Land Cruisers on a road that could easily be washed out (and at times we were actually making our own road through open fields). Some of the people in this region had never seen white dudes before so most of the time they would just stop in their tracks and stare at us. Each day when we arrived into the village area we would park the trucks and get out and start walking and before we had gone too far usually we had a crowd of 50+ children following us around. I think the most we had around us was probably a few thousand. It’s a bit overwhelming to see so many children around you and realize most of these kids don’t have families, don’t own more than one pair of clothes, drink muddy water from a river, and attend a school where most of them sit in the dirt. Most of the kids had some form of illness as you would hear consistent coughing or see open wounds in that flies would land on. They had a health center that burned down and currently had a makeshift shack that was extremely disorganized and un-sanitary. I actually felt sick going into it. UNICEF had given the health shack a medical supply case with malaria medicine and the “doctors” there were using the malaria medicine as a blanket prescription for any illness that a villager came in with. These people didn’t have a chance to get better because their health center was making them sicker.

So, all of this was certainly hard to take in. It was even more overwhelming to think that this 10,000 person village was only one of thousands all across Africa. It was at this point that I began to realize the huge need that Africa has. It’s like a continent on an IV. I believe that the statistic is that 1 billion out of 6 billion people in the world do not have access to clean drinking water. And this is just drinking water. This isn’t factoring in hunger, HIV / AIDS, illness, etc.. I think it’s certainly easily to look at statistics and not be affected by them, but seeing these things first hand really puts it into perspective.

At this point it all started to click for me. A huge part of Jesus’ ministry was hanging out with the poor and un-wanted. These were people that didn’t have it all together. These people were sick and hungry. These were the people that didn’t have a voice. These 1 billion people are the people Jesus would be hanging out with today.

I think a major thing that I’ve overlooked as a Christian is awareness. I don’t actively watch the news because I get depressed easily by watching it. Seems like the news is always highlighting how the world is falling apart and the inherently dark nature of our humanity. As Christians we are supposed to be on the front lines of being a voice for the people that don’t have voices. We are supposed to be hanging out with people who are inherently worse off then we are. A lot of times we want to do this but our lifestyles don’t actively reflect this. We are supposed to be helping and loving the poor and sick, but we get way too caught up in looking out for ourselves first. I am totally guilty of this. I take care of myself first and THEN try to help others. I make sure I have enough money in my account and THEN give money out from there. I make sure I have clothes and food and clean water and THEN I give others just a small portion. Most of the time I try to make myself look cool or try to fit in and THEN see what others need. It’s basically a self-centered equation.

One of the things that C.S. Lews has taught me is that we are all inherently bankrupt from the start. We are born into this world with nothing and leave with nothing. Everything that we have been given is a gift. Nothing we own is are own. Nothing we can do is because of our own ability. The “self-made man” philosophy is flawed. The analogy C.S. Lewis presents in MERE CHRISTIANITY is a son asking for money from his dad to buy him a Christmas gift. The money comes from the father, and the son spends it on a gift to give back to his father. This is such a great example of our condition. And it’s because of that that I’ve started to think differently. I’m wasting so much money and time on myself and have been irresponsible with my responsibility to help others. We are called in this lifetime to love God and love others. It’s a pretty simple thing but I always seem to mess it up.

One of the coolest moments in Africa was when my friend and I were filming the people from the village collecting muddy drinking water from a river. The water literally looked like it was coming from a mudslide. In order to film this we had to take off our shoes, go down to the river and wade into ankle-deep mud. It was a haunting moment to see people filling up gas-tank carriers with polluted water and then walking off with it to take to their families. Most of these people walk miles a day to do this. After we spent some time in the mud filming this, I went back to the riverbank and started to put my shoes back on. All of a sudden a group of the kids we were filming brought over their containers of dirty water and started washing my feet off with it. This is the first time that I’ve ever had my feet washed and I started tearing up behind my sunglasses; all these kids had was this dirty water and they were giving it back to me as a gift. And I hadn’t given them anything. For the price of my sunglasses alone, 10 of these kids could have clean drinking water for the rest of their lives.

I think this act of washing my feet is a perfect example of who Christ is. He selflessly washes off our dirty feet and makes them clean. He turns dirty water into clean, pure water. He washes the filth off from our own lives when we can’t do it ourselves. All he is asking is to do is love Him and treat others the way He would treat them. It’s because of these things I’ve actively started to simplify my life and give back to others.

I feel a part of my purpose while here on earth is to expose beauty in all forms and in places where you usually wouldn’t look (and some places where you would look). To me, my experiences with Africa are beautiful and I want others to be aware of the things that I’ve experienced so that they might experience it themselves. I believe that filmmaking is such an essential part to spreading awareness and it is a medium that God actively uses. My prayer recently has been for me to be attentive enough to hear what He is saying when I’m caught in the muddy rivers of my life.