Tribute

I believe in giving credit where credit is due...tonight I want to give credit to a faithful servant of Jesus Christ.  Someone who truly cared for others, who gave his life, day in and day out, to reach the lost. Who lived his life according to God's plan and not his own.  To a man who just recently passed through the gates of heaven and heard the words, well done good and faithful servant, with you I am well pleased!

David Wilkerson is such a familiar name in my household...when I hear his name I think of my mom.  For years she has listened to his sermons and imparted his teaching to my sisters and I.  He was the founding pastor of times square church in NewYork City, and the founder of Teen Challenge, a hugely successful Christian drug recovery program that has spread all over the United States.  He is the founder of World Challenge, an organization that funds orphans, hospitals, clinics, schools, Christian education and feeds thousands upon thousands of hungry children all over the world.

David Wilkerson is one of the only prophetic pastors who I trust and believe.  He was the only person to prophecy the happenings of 9/11.  His church was up all night making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches the night before because he knew something was coming on 9/11 to New York City.  He also prophesied much of the economic despair our country is in right now, and this was in a book that he wrote in 1973.  He posted on his blog daily, and I found his blog entry today, April 27th, to be a bit prophetic as well.  It's almost as if he knew today would be his last day.

http://davidwilkersontoday.blogspot.com/

Wilkerson's heart for the lost was unmatched.  He lived everyday to reach the lost, and committed his life to the cause of furthering the Kingdom of God.  What an awesome Legacy he leaves behind.  I can't even imagine the mansion he has in Heaven!

He will be missed here on earth, but what encouraging words he left on his blog to those who will miss him!

Wilkerson died in a car accident in Texas today.  Please pray for David's wife, Gwen, she was in the car with him and is in critical condition in a Texas hospital.

Easter 2011

I LOVE Easter!  What an awesome reminder of the sacrifice that Jesus made for each and every one of us!  I was particularly emotional this Easter (no, I'm not pregnant, I tested to verify:)).  It just hit me hard what a huge sacrifice Jesus made for me.  He saw my face when he was hanging on that cross, and he took all of the beating, lies, torture and pain so that I could be forgiven and one day be in heaven...WOW!  There has never been, nor will there ever be a sacrifice to compare to what happened on the cross that day! 

It was so cool to share the story with Jude this year.  He really listened and asked a lot of questions.  Every time we see a cross he asks, "is that the cross that Jesus died on?".  He's understanding more and more who Jesus is and what He did for us.  Less about bunnies and eggs....more about Jesus!  

This is a modern twist on a hymn that I absolutely love...The words are simple but profound...perfect for Easter!  

Meet Leonard

Leonard is a very special little boy I met in Haiti.  Our first day of ministry was in the village of Leveque.  I was walking to fill up my water bottle when a Haitian man approached me with his son (Leonard).  He was speaking in Creole and pointing to his son's lips (It was odd to me that this father was with his son.  We typically never saw the parents of the children in the villages, unless they were babies).  Leonard pulled his bottom lip down and showed me all of his sores.  He looked sad and ashamed almost.  I want to cry thinking about the hopelessness in his beautiful green eyes.  I grabbed a translator and asked the Dad if I could pray for Leonard's lips.  He agreed, so a few people from our team gathered around, laid hands on Leonard and prayed for his healing.  The sores were most likely from malnutrition and dehydration.

The next day or so I really started to struggle with the idea that we were not going to be in Haiti long enough to make a difference.  How could we put a dent in all of the devastation in the short time we would be there? Two days after we met and prayed with Leonard, two of our team members ended up on the wrong job site. They were supposed to be brought to Simonette to join our team, but were accidentally taken to Leveque. When we met up with them later that day Valena came up to me and said, "Sarah, we saw Leonard today and his lips were better!"  I was so happy to hear this, but it really hit me later that night that God gave me that! He let me know that in our short time there, we did make a difference....a difference in Leonard's life.  

I was sharing this story with friends in my Bible Study, and my friend Jessica immediately started telling us about how this incident with Leonard made her think of the story of David Cho.  David was very sick as a teenager in Korea.  He was dying with Tuberculosis and there was no hope for him.  He had only weeks, maybe days to live.  A 16 year old girl came to visit him and she left her bible with him.  She said, "if you read it faithfully you will find the words of life." He began reading the New Testament and was transformed. He accepted Jesus into his heart and God healed him.  David Cho is now the pastor of the largest church in the world.  He founded Yoido Full Gospel church in Seoul Korea, there are seven services every Sunday and 1,000,000 (yes, that is one million) members!  God used this short encounter with this 16 year old girl to transform David and now David is transforming Korea for the kingdom of God. Jessica looked at me and she said, "Sarah, God can use Leonard to change a nation."(insert waterworks here) I never thought of it this way before.  A little boy experienced God's healing power, and he now knows that God is real!  I don't know why I tend to put God in a box, but He is so much bigger than any of us knows.  

I will be praying for Leonard, please join me!  

{Famous People}

I felt this photo appropriate given Jose's departure from the Celebrity Apprentice last night.  I don't watch the show myself, but I read about it on msn today:).  This was taken in LA at some club.  He.Is.Gigantic...

Me and Jose Canseco in 2005

Speaking of celebrities, do any of you feel like you were completely surrounded by musical talent in college, or is that just me?  These people we went to ORU with keep popping up on major charts...I'm not talking just Christian charts, but grammy nominations, music with huge celebs, most downloaded songs on itunes kind of major!  Also, these are people we went to school with...not just who went to ORU years before or after us, but with us.  One of my roommates dated one of them briefly.  It's cool to see them succeed, clearly there is talent at ORU:).  Here's the list...

1. Ryan Tedder with OneRepublic.  Ryan is the lead singer for OneRepublic and is a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and record producer.  He is probably best known for his single 'Apologize' mixed with hip hop celeb Timbaland. He hearted my friend J for a while, but she wasn't interested...too short:).

2. Kari Jobe is one of my faves!  She lead a lot of our chapel worship services at ORU.  She is so talented! In 2009 one of her songs was the most downloaded songs on itunes!  She was #67 on the top billboard 200 list and has won dove awards and so much more.  She still maintains her position as a worship leader at Gateway church in Dallas, but she also tours and leads worship events as well.  Jude and I heart her!

3.  SafetySuit, the band formerly known as "Crew" to us O-ROO-nationals, signed with Universal in 2006 (or 7).  They moved to Nashville right after college to pursue life as musicians and haven't done bad for themselves.  They had a single that topped VH1's top 20 countdown at #1, and have toured with some pretty cool bands....you may have heard of them...3 doors down and collective soul.  I think all of the guys in the band went to ORU, but I only sort of knew Doug Brown (lead singer) and Tate Cunningham (Drummer).  Tate (far right) did not care for me as I did not care to date his good friend:).

4. Jared Anderson is definitely included on this list because not only is he an amazing artist and worship leader, he is an even better writer!  I can't tell you how many times I have seen his name in tiny print on the screens at churches over the years.  He and the Desperation Band have written some awesome songs!  My friend K in college had a huge crush on this guy, but when I approached him about taking her on the roommate date he was much more interested in my friend J mentioned above:).  Have I mentioned how beautiful she is?

5.  Gungor is a Christian group who are so unique and talented!  I love all of their music.  It is more mellow and artsy feeling than some of the other groups listed.  They were just nominated for 2 Grammys this year for their song Beautiful Things!  I know for sure that Michael Gungor (lead) and Daniel Grothe (drummer) went to ORU while we were there.

Yikes, that seems like a lot of talent in one place to me, friends!  Tell me, was your school like this or does ORU just harbor some amazing musical talent?