Do You Believe?

           About a year ago a movie came out that I had long been awaiting, called God's Not Dead! - click to check out the blogpost. Before I know it I'm hearing about a new movie with the title of Do You Believe? -  which once again Newboys has a song titled "We Believe." It's so powerful, so I'm just going to get to it!

         I'm nearing the end of my spring break, and had a long, productive and exciting day at school getting ready for next week. Yet after putting in an 8-9 hour day (after having two weeks off) I was exhausted and my brain was fried. I called up my Aunt Mj, because we haven't had a "G.N.O" -> girls night out<- in awhile and we ended up going to Johnny Rockets and a movie…wanna take a wild guess what one? Did you say Do You Believe? -if so, you are correct! I want to start this off by telling about Johnny Rockets…you'll see why.

       Mj, arrives first and gets a seat while I'm parking. When I get there, our waiter, Nate, is going over his favorite items on the menu, as my aunt is trying to decide.  He gets our drinks and stuff while us ladies chat, at one point he looks down at the table and see's my phone and proceeds to tell me he liked my case which is one of my favorite and one of the first verses I memorized: "I can do all things through Christ." - Philippians 4:13. I said thank you, and it my head I'm like "That is so cool!" As dinner is nearing it's end, Nate brings us our ticket as he knows we're headed next door to the theater. He proceeds to ask us what movie we'd be going to. We say "Do you believe?" He tells us he hadn't heard of it, and I say, "It's by the same people who made 'God's Not Dead'" and we start to have a conversation in which he brings up the movie "Heaven is for Real" and how good it was. He mentioned another story like that he read about, and "90 Minutes in Heaven" came up as well. To me it was so cool to just have a conversation with our waiter about some fantastic faith-based films, where conversations like that don't normally come up, so that is completely a "God-spot" (God-moment) of the day!
      I don't want to say too much about the movie, without giving too many things away so I'll just give you the general idea of the movie and the trailer. Hopefully you can see it and then feel free to comment  on the movie. So as the movie starts it a verse flashes on the screen…which ironically (or not ironically) I had talked to 4-6th graders at church last Sunday about while talking about Nehemiah. The verse was:

         "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead"

James 2:17 (NIV)

When you think about that verse, it is powerful. How often do we say, "I believe"…yet our actions and how we live our lives don't show it. If we find ourselves in a situation where it would be easier to deny our faith no matter how extreme or not, do we tend to deny it. Do we tend to only claim our faith when it's convenient? If we claim something when it's beneficial to us, or doesn't affect us it's easy, but do we really believe that. God didn't call us to a "convenient faith." In fact Jesus says in Matthew 10:22,(NIV) "You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved." Then later in II Timothy 3:12 Paul reiterates, " In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." Both of these verses are saying that following Jesus won't be the "easy" road, but if we persevere we will be saved. Persevering is the hard part, especially if what we're doing isn't the "cool" thing according the world or pop culture. Following Jesus requires sacrifice. One of my favorite lines from the movie was, "If you were ever accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"- ponder that a moment. I love when God has things tie together, just last night at 923 (our college/young adult group) Jon Moton was talking to us about adversity and how following Jesus means there's going to be adversity, and about perseverance. A big point he mentioned was to think of adversity as an opportunity. Take a second. Think about your life right now…maybe things are going great, maybe they aren't going so great…but guess what!?!?! You can find the opportunity in any situation to give glory to God, praise God, share God with others! Pray for God to present you with opportunities, and that you will listen and be receptive…no matter what is going on in your life. It's something I want to work on to. -> off topic…but if you've seen the new "Annie" and you have the "opportunity" song stuck in your head…this is a secular example, but that girl always had a smile on and looked for the positives, no matter how mean Miss Hannigan is, whether she's with Mr. Stacks (new version) etc…she looks for the positives at is thankful for the opportunity she's gotten. God presents opportunities for us all the time, we just need to realize it. What opportunities are unfolding? Will you listen?

       What starts the whole "Do you believe?" movement in the movie, is when this guy asks a person (who we find out is a pastor). "Do you believe in the cross of Christ?" -along with the follow up question "What are you going to do about it?" That goes right with James 2:17, faith requires more than just believing, it requires action. As Bob Goff would say, "Love Does." What are you going to do to wear your faith on your sleeve? To be the hands and feet of Jesus? The story follows 12 different people and how the "cross" brings them all together. The movie is fantastic, and is filled with many emotions! If you're prone to crying- happy or sad tears- I won't tell you what…bring some tissues =) As the movie is leading to the credits, I can feel the moment building as Newsboys song "We believe" starts to build up and eventually starts to play. One of my favorite parts of faith-based movies and seeing them in a group of believers is the clapping at the end of the movie. That seriously gets me all emotional. It's like at Sonshine Music Festival when I look around and see people all over with their hands raised singing worship songs to our Lord and Savior…it is an overwhelming moment of God's love for us and our love for Him. I really want to say more about the movie, but I can't give it away…and James 2:17 is a great verse to focus on to get an idea of what the movie will be about =)

Check out the trailer down here, go to the movie and I'd love to hear what you think!

Closing Quesetions:

Do You Believe?

What are you going to do about it?

Love your sister in Christ,

             -Jalynn (Jessica Lynn)

p.s.

   This is completely off topic, but if you're still reading here's a few fun facts that will make my generation feel old…even though we aren't.

           * remember the Carmen Cortez from Spy Kids, yeah shed's all grown up in this movie…and is married in real life…no longer Alexa Vega but Alexa PenaVega

           * remember The Game Plan with the rock and the cute little girl names Peyton played by Madison Pettis…yeah she's 16 now and also in this movie…crazy and super cool!

         * The little girl who plays Lily is the cutest little actress and completely steels the show, and her undying faith throughout the movie is a great example of "faith like a child" which would go wonderfully well with this post: YLS & SB2K15

          * Samwise Gamgee is in it too for all the LOTR fans!

          * Everyone was fantastic in this movie!!!

YLS & SB2K15

         Ok, so over the last 3 weeks I've traveled to Minnesota, got back to finish our last week of school before break and then to San Diego for spring break! I went to Minnesota for a Youth Leadership Summit, with Bob Goff as the guest speaker which I really want to talk about, and then just share a few things from my San Diego spring break…I have one more week of spring break and am visiting my grandparents and hanging with friends/getting ready for what comes next.

Youth Leadership Summit: Reach Your Peak #2015
         I found out about YLS a few years ago but hadn't had the chance to go, and this year I decided I was going to make it happen. I took a Friday off school and flew up to the Twin Cities Thursday night. My cousins also recruited my brother to help out with the event, and I was even more excited when I found out Bob Goff was going to be there (My church played a video message of his last spring, then I saw him at Regenerate- a women's conference, at Bethel's Homecoming assembly this year, and now YLS). The previous times I have seen him I hadn't yet read his book, "Love Does,"and this time I have. If you haven't read it yet: Stop what you're doing, grab your keys, drive to Barnes and Noble, pick up the book and why not get an extra for a friend, go back home or to a coffee shop and read it =) - Ok, you may finish reading my post if you'd like as well, but the point is, it's really good =)  * I plan on doing a blogpost on "Love Does" at some point* Another reason I really wanted to go this year, is that I've been feeling more called to ministry.  In fact there's a ministry opportunity that has come up, that I've been praying about, talking to people about, but this conference I feel helped solidify my decision. I believe I mentioned it a little bit in this post -> Walk on Water
       I want to first talk about what I learned from Bob Goff (this is going to be hard to sum up, but I'll take some big points). The first thing I wrote down in my notes of what he said was, "God uses young people, and people who act like young people." He also referenced Matthew 18:2-4, where Jesus is talking to His disciples about being more like a child. Another thing he kept repeating throughout the night was, "You're turing into LOVE." One thing I just want to tell you about Bob Goff, he truly is the person who doesn't just talk the talk, but he walks it. He also gives us practical things to do. One thing I heard him say was that instead of keeping track of birthdays and such, he will calendar their worst day, and then a year from that day call them and say, "Look how far you've come" - it's a really cool idea. He also emphasized telling people who they're turning into, not who they were in the past.  Another phrase he said, which if you've seen him before you probably know this, but it's "Live in grace, walk in love."  The "live in grace" part comes from Galatians 5:6 where it talks about "faith expressing itself through love" and the "walk in love" part comes from II John. He also told us to "remain in love," which comes out of John 15:9. Bob asked us how we do this, and his answer is "be childlike." When you think about it, children are so full of love and innocence. They are big at forgiving and loving. Being a teacher, even though you have to discipline students at different times, pretty much not a day goes by without a cute little letter from a student, a hug, something they say to let me know they appreciate and love having me as their teacher. Trying to look at life through a child's eyes is refreshing, because as adults, our minds have been polluted with revenge, hate, competition, grudges, etc. Children are very good at living in the moment, and it's really easy to see love flow through them, and their willing to believe. If you're not sure, hang out with some kids for a few hours and you'll see =) Another thing he said, "Fear is a punk! It will keep you ripped off from who you're made to be." That one hit be, because I find myself trapped in fear often and then I just sit and nothing happens, so it was like, "Jess, fear's a punk! Trust in Me, I have plans for you, and you need to let go of fear to move on!" I was like Ok, bye bye fear! It's still one of my struggles, but it's a thing I'm constantly working on.  He also said,  "Loving people the way Jesus did = a life of constant interruptions" If you want to love like Christ, you need to make yourself available, as well as willing to help who God calls you too...and that could be anytime.  I think it would be beautiful to build a Christian community where when we need prayer for something, we just call or text someone right away, even if it's 3am. Even with non-believers, being available for those hurting whether saved or unsaved, let's love like Jesus and be God's hands and feet like we're called to be (1 Corinthians 12:27 -one body, many parts). Ok, I have two more Bob Goff points and then I'll move on, but I just want to share this =) He said "God doesn't want us living on the edge of comfortable but on the edge of yikes…people who are comfortable don't need Jesus" So first he's saying, we are made for more than just being comfortable where we are, He calls us to love, and that doesn't just mean our best friends and family, but it includes those who may be different than us- those struggling, those in a different country, of a different faith, etc, God's love is open to everyone, so who are we to decide who get's His love and doesn't? The second part is basically saying, those who are comfortable and stay comfortable are pretty much saying they don't need Jesus, because Jesus called us to be more than comfortable, He's called us to break out, and even though it may lead us to an "uncomfortable" situation, Jesus is there for us, guiding us, we just need to follow Jesus! My last Bob Goff point comes from the following quote, "Be a mirror-bearer….tell what you see in people." That goes back to when he mentioned to tell people who they are becoming. It's a powerful thing. Look for good attributes in people and lift those up, yes we all have things we need to work on, but think about the multitude of people who don't get complimented or told what they are doing good and all they hear is how bad they are, how they aren't good enough, let's focus on positive aspects. It's a way to show love. Live in Grace, Walk in Love!

It was also February 2017 which is the #enditmovement's Shine a light on Slavery day #redx

   
            Throughout the weekend we had many great speakers and breakout sessions, and booths with different organizations. I thoroughly enjoyed talking to Praying Pelican Missions (PPM) as I went on a trip of theirs many years ago now, and have been wanting to go on another, so it was awesome being able to reconnect and meet new people.  Terrell Walter talked Saturday morning and I wanted to mention one of his points. Terrell talked a lot about calling and as Christians we are all called to bring the world to Christ, he was referencing The Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20). It was powerful when he said we are all ambassadors for Christ. It is true, think about it, whether you know it or not, people are watching you and what you do and are either looking up to you, or judging you. You may be the only "representation of Jesus" someone gets to see, so let's make sure we're representing our King and not the king of lies.  I went to a session led by Tim Stanley (no relation to Andy) and he gave a ton of great community ideas, activities etc (I'm being vague, because I'm keeping ya'll guessing what my future holds). My friend Jack Youso, who I met at camp probably like 8-9 years ago lead a session as well and he had a great list of resources and tips, fundraising ideas, a ton of good points!  Austin Walker had a great session with resources and he closed the summit. He did a great job teaching about calling. He mentioned The Great Commission again, but also that we all have specific callings as well. We all have different gifts that God has given us, so to not use them would be a waste (here's a link to a spiritual gift quiz Spiritual Gifts Quiz).  He also said, "God has gifted you with everything you need to complete your calling." That hit me because as you probably know already I find myself freezing, not sure if I should do this or that, afraid I'm not good enough to do it, too shy, don't have a good enough "story", etc, but God has equipped me with everything I (you) need to fulfill His calling on my (your) life.  That is a very relieving and peaceful thought. There was another breakout session that I went to, don't worry I didn't forget it…it was just really IMPACTful. So Keanu Krech taught a session called "Preach like the Pros" and gave 3 big tips that a lesson should have. The three things are: Inspiration, Instruction and Impact.  What was super cool was that he gave examples of Bob Goff's lesson the previous night.  With Inspiration he talked about 4 main types: shock & stats, humor, heartwarming story and interactive inspiration. Instruction- you could guess has to do with next steps. You could learn all about something, but without action steps, you may not know what to do when you get out on your own. Then he continued onto Impact… He mentioned the three main types of learning and how you can reach all of those types of learners and tied in Bob Goff from the previous night…and then to literally give us an example: we're listening and taking notes…and then this happened.

Pic taken from FB

 There were also a ton of other tips on preparation, public speaking tips etc. So that's a recap of the weekend, and here are some more pics.

Bridget and I at YLS

Bro n Sis #dadphotobomb

Family Pic doing our Bob Goff face =)

Spring Break 2K15
   So for Spring Break my friend Kayla and I went to San Diego and got to stay downtown in the GasLamp area. On our way there we stopped at Salvation Mountain, which is literally in the middle of nowhere California, but I highly recommend going. Our first day we went to Silver Strand Beach and stayed to get pictures of the sunset! Day 2 we went to La Jolla and got to see the sea lions, and play in the waves! Day 3 was cloudy but we were able to go to SeaWorld for free! (teachers in AZ or Cali, they have a teachers fun card -or pass that is good until the end of the year…and it comes with 3 complimentary tickets!). Our last day we went early to Silver Strand Beach to collect sand dollars, and had to have found at least 20, but didn't keep that many. So if you're looking for Sand Dollars, go when the tide is high. Then we headed to Mission Beach and rode the roller coaster and hung out at the beach before it was time to head home :( Here's a few pictures from the trip:

Friends at Salvation Mountain

Seagull

Sea Lion

La Jolla

Homemade Ice Cream Cookies! #thebest

SeaWorld

Favorite Animal!

Shark Bait Ohh haha

Sand $$

Sand from Silver Strand Beach

Ache Wedding!!!
      Ok, so very quick, my roommate Claire is married! This spring break I got to witness a beautiful wedding. Claire was absolutely stunning in her dress and the whole wedding and reception was great and a lot of fun! Here are a few pics of the happy couple and the wedding! Congrats Claire and Kevin Ache!!

First Kiss as Mr. & Mrs. Ache

First Dance

Claire being walked down the aisle by her dad

Welcome the Ache's

Sorry this was kinda lengthy, but I guess if you've read my posts you know I like to write! One more week of break with family and friends. I may add random pics from #sb2k15 that haven't been mentioned or are yet to come, but I won't write it all in a doc =)

God Bless and have a wonderful spring break or spring!!!!
        - Jalynn (Jessica Lynn)