One of the most fortunate people in the world...

I find myself being one of the most fortunate people in the world. Let me explain.  A friend recently reminded me that "he lives in Disneyland."  That for about 96% of the world, despite the fact that he is jobless at the moment, and that he has many prospects but no finales, his world looks much like Disneyland to most of the world.  It was a great ah-ha moment for me.  No not the band, my friends from the 80's, i mean one of those perspective moments that are appropriate on a regular basis for any God fearing Jesus chaser. 

Which leads me to my life.  Each day, the Lord reminds me how blessed i really am.  For some reason i have been connecting to many, many current and future world changers.  Now please don't tune me out because i just used that over played term "world changers", these truly are

 people that are effecting human beings all over this beautiful planet. 

Start with my friend Scott.  I had the pleasure of serving on ministry staff with Scott a few years back, and love his zeal for the Lord, and his pleasure at seeing the lost found.  Recently Scott brought his little adopted daughter home from Zambia.  Her name is Gracie, and she is their second adopted child, the first being Jordan, who is from the US.  Jordan and Gracie are both jewels, Jordan genuinely is all boy and ready at a moments notice to take on the world. Gracie is a delight (i have not even met her yet just heard stories) her smile can light up a room instantly.  Out of this latest adoption was born an organization made to help others help many other children world wide through adoption, called Abba Java.  Abba Java is a small but vibrant coffee company who's proceeds all go to causes that serve children.  Scott was sharing with me this morning that Abba Java is growing so fast, he cannot keep up.  Which is a great problem to have. Scott is stunned by the success that this little organization is having, and is listening with

 an open heart on what is next for this endeavor.  Each of the coffees and the 

endeavors have personal touches of Scott and Linde's children, you could say its a family business, to expand the Kingdom family.  As i considered all Scott was up to, i thought how many of us need to hear the rest of Scott's story to see how God will fill in many of the blanks, if we will just be faithful to what he has called us to.  I recommend some time at www.abbajava.org to get the whole story and learn how to be a part.  Warning!! It might just alter your life, so proceed with caution.

This brings me to my next "world changer".  Today i posted a similar link and quotation about our family friend Katie Davis on FB.  The best way i can describe Katie is to say this "You want to know what Mother Teresa was like as a young women, just get to know Katie."  But as just stated, be warned, Katie's story will not only make you laugh and cry, its about real people, so it may change your life, so proceed with caution.  http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com  .   Katie runs an orphanage that she started about 2 ye

ars ago in Jinja, Uganda.  Oh yeah, she was 18 when she started it, and that was after she had fully funded and put together a school for 100+ kindergartners, and trained five local women to

 run the school.  Then she was bored (ha!) and adopted 5 girls and began an orphanage in her home.  Katie now has 4 volunteer staff, and 13 girls at the orphanage in her home.  What you need to know is that orphanages in Uganda are all state certified.  You can't just make it happen, it takes a lot of hard work and follow through.  I can't explain how, but Katie, who is a fun and loving as her pictures show, really understands what it means to be faithful to the passions God has given her.  So at every opportunity God gives me, i tell her story, it is the kind that should be a 15 minute special on the latest TV news show, instead of the negative crap that

 seems to fill our airwaves.

This leads me to the next one.  Here name is Brooklyn, and man is she crazy.  Brooklyn is part of the church plant that Jess and I have found ourselves serving in on weekly basis.  It is called Slowburn Nashville, and is led by my buddy Clint Thomas.  Clint like many young pastors is leading a charge to the church to fall in love again with their first love, Jesus.  However, right now is not a discussion about Slowburn, though if you love Jesus and want more of him i suggest www.slowburnnashville.com, it is about  my young friend Brooklyn.  What you need to know about Brooklyn is that in the late 90's before Columbine made school shootings common news material, Brooklyn was at a high school in Paducah, KY and watched a number of her friends shot by a classmate at their school during a prayer time.  When Brooklyn tells her story, you realize, because of the way the shooting went down, she still hasn't figured out how she survived.  This reality however is not what makes Brooklyn a "world changer" instead it has only been the catalyst that at times has shined her into the lime light.  Reality is Brooklyn is a "world changer' because God has molded her to reach out to the hurting a lost, and bring, drag, manipulate them to spending a moment with Jesus.  She is convinced that if she can get that person in the room with the healer, healing will occur.  If she can get that person in the room with the redeemer, redemption will occur.  You get my point.  What is so beautiful about this is that her ultimate goal is not about that moment, but instead seeing those people begin their journey of discipleship and life in full in Christ.  So her commitment to them is only beginning when they finally answer the call.   So Brooklyn is making a plan to work with a number of young adults next summer, taking them on a different kind of missions trip.  Not just one to serve for a short period, but instead one that causes her young disciples to have a life shifting 6 week turn.  The beauty of all of this, is that she has asked me to help her with the process, and of course i am blessed the opportunity to see such a dream followed through, for His glory. You can learn more about Brooklyn's journey and where she is speaking, teaching and impacting students nationwide at http://blog.projekthero.com/. 

Though there are plenty more, even many i spoke to today, I will end my thoughts tonite, with text that i heard while attending the youth ministry service at Grassland Heights Baptist Church.  It is from 2nd Corinthians 5 : "¹⁶So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. " 

Which leads me back to my original thought of the night.  I find myself; a pursuer of Jesus, one who is a new creation, not on my own merit, but on His doing through reconciliation, called to be an ambassador for God to the world; to be one the most fortunate people in the world. For God has not only done this work in me, but connected me over and over again with men and women with a similar view of their lives, that are effecting many lives on this planet as His ambassador. Such relationships cause me to strive to love my Jesus more, and keep Him the main thing in all that i am. Hoping the natural sequence of events being the world will be changed for His glory. How fortunate are we that God would use us His people to have a role in Changing the World. Peace!