How He loves

Well, I know it's been a little while-
but I spent the last two weeks at the beach.

However, these eyes of mine have seen quite a lot-
and this mind, well it's been reeling.

The beach always has a way of putting things into perspective for me.
I'm not sure why,
but I can sit on the beach and stare out into infinity for hours and hours and just simply be reminded of the endless possibilities of the gracious and good God we serve.
It just makes the things I worry about seem smaller and the things I dream about so much bigger.

However, this past week I woke up one morning to some startling information.
12 killed and 58 injured...
A massacre...
A monster...
A nation in shock...
As you realize, I am talking about the shooting in Colorado.
My brain and my heart where having a hard time working together to try to process this all.
To feel it and be rational with it all, and still try to remain objective.
I didn't understand a lot, nor did I say a lot.
Then proceeded to pour a bowl of cocoa puffs.

Well, it happened to rain a little more that day and we went shopping at some of the outlets.
I stumbled upon this frame with the verse written on it from 1 John 4:19 stating
"We love because He first loved us."
I automatically loved the frame and thought about what it was really meaning.
Of course my mind went to several people and several cute pictures that I could see in that frame,
So- I bought it and went on about my business.

A few days later I was sitting waiting to go eat dinner and that verse hit me like a ton of bricks-
He loves us endlessly.
He loves us extravagantly.
He loves us despite, well us.
He loves James Holmes, the man who killed all of these people-
just as much as He loves me,
just as much as He loves you.

Now I am not trying to minimize the events that happened in that theater or the pain that those people and those families feel- because I can't fathom it.
But to think that Yahweh, the King of my heart and the lover of my soul-
loves me despite my countless, continuous flaws and failures,
loves all of us despite of ourselves and what we could ever do.
Always. Unending. Forever. Eternally.
It's a thought that can wreck you of anything you have ever pondered.
It did me, and it still does as a write this.


I have to sit and wonder-
What this world would look like if it could be violently wrecked with the revelation of the love of Jesus?
What would our lives look like if we could live out the knowledge of the matchless love of Jesus?

It would start a revolution.
A love revolution.


It would change the world.

Oh, how He loves us.
How He loves us, so.



Praying so much for the love of Jesus to flood the families in Colorado and comfort them in a way that only a Savior could. A love so undeniable. A love so uncontainable. A love that brings peace. Praying also for James Holmes and for the same undeniable, uncontainable, peace bringing love to flood the corridors of his heart.

Down to the second.

I have always said that if I could leave one legacy-
it would be to always remember the little things.
The smiles,
the laughs,
the sunrises and sets,
the random acts of kindness,
the art in the everyday,
the music that turns into our symphonies.

The little things.

Well the other day-
While trying to have my eyes wide open,
I noticed that the little things can really come down to seconds.

I was on my way to Passion City with a friend and we decided to stop and get water in the city.
We had some time to spare so we took a different route and stopped at a different place.
Well while we were inside waiting to pay,
We noticed several men running towards my car.
My first thought after many days working in the hood was-
Well it was just a fight-
so I went on about my way talking to my friend.
I got up to the cash register and the clerk said
"You're lucky, that almost got your car..."
I was like "sayyy what?"

Turns out that a mans breaks failed on his three wheel bike and almost rammed into my car.
Luckily these three men stopped it and no damage was done.
But-
What if one of those men would have spent a little extra time at the candy isle?
What if no one would have saw the bike start rolling?
What if I would have went to a different gas station?

I know this is a minor story and a minor example.
No harm done.
Came out scratch free.

But what if one thing in our life would have happened differently?
Gone a different direction,
reacted a different way,
went a little earlier,
or a little later.
What if we would have handled something differently,
or been in a different place,
at a different time?
Would we still be the people we are today?
Would our lives look any different?

I know we could play the what if game for days, and sometimes it's pointless-
but it's crazy to me to think that our lives are planned down to the very second.
To be exactly where we are, right here, right now.
It baffles me- in a beautiful way.

So how about just for a little while lets be where we are.
Fully. Completely.
Here. Right now.

It's always the little things that turn into the big ones.