Full day. Exhausting Schedule. Triumphant King.

• Church 9:30 till 11am
• leadership meeting at 11:30-12
• Band practice at 1-2pm
• Skate Lesson with 2 new students at 2pm in Cherry Creek
• Pick up homey & drive to Bday party
• Host my very first Bday skate-themed party for ten+ 9yr-olds. Complete with skate lesson, skate session, pizza, cake, trampoline, and lots of filming.
• Take homey downtown, then halfway back.
• Drive to Highlands Ranch (35 minutes from downtown) for Smallgroup.

-First off, I’m totally one to complain.

Second, if you factor in a 1/2 hour for drivetime between each of these events… there’s no possible way i could’ve made it to every engagement on time if my life depended on it.

I’ve learned through Life Hurts God Heals that i should shed this dangerous need to please everyone. So today i had my tantrum in the car and prayed:

“Damn… Ahhhhh! Lord, how can i possibly accomplish everything that needs to be done today unless you show up? Will you take care of me in this?”

I just decided to not freak out and wait for God to do his thing and take care of his kid…AKA Me.

I will just give away the surprise and let you know that today i got home after every battle, adventure, party, trek, and meeting exhausted, yet utterly at peace and in awe. God heard my earnestly frustrated prayer and he showed up today.

HOW?

1. I’ve felt ignored, but today Mark played a song that i referred, in church- so it was encouraging to say the least that I could see that I’m not totally invisible.
2. I hate leadership meetings where Travis Says, “I’ll keep this short…” because what’s the point of showing up if it’s not worth more than 10 minutes of our time? However, P.A. and Trav encouraged us about small groups and the meeting was a stoking gathering for our team(s).
3. Since God is abundant, he also reaffirmed my validity by allowing me to lead a song in Catalyst that I’ve asked about for months. We rehearsed it at band practice after church and i was stoked!
4. I then booked it to my lesson and met some siblings, Sydney and Jack, who got stoked on skating and hired me for next week to do another lesson. Praise God!
5. Picked up my longtime friend Casey, who assisted me with my Birthday party by filming it so we could make a memorable DVD for the family. Casey and I had lots of fun with all those little guys and he told me that he felt really welcomed and loved by the parents and kids. He mentioned, “I forgot what it’s like to be a little kid. To be so stoked and no nothing about skating. It’s like we’re giving back to the next generation of skaters and I would have loved this birthday party when i was nine.”
6. I took Casey home and then BOOKED It to smallgroup an hour late… only to find a welcoming family when i really expected to be resented because of my tardiness. Isn’t the body of Christ fabulous sometimes? Extending God’s unending love to me when i feel so undeserving of it.
7. Arriving home after chilling with Nate and Marlon and the girls from Aegis, our group my mommy and I got to recap my last few days and it’s always wonderful when she lovingly listens to every loose thought in my head. She’s a great listener and an encouraging source of strength and direction in my life. I’m taken aback by God’s plan. He put me in her womb, and He’ll take me to my tomb.

I NEVER journal, even though I live a life so highly blessed with FAVOR and purpose. It’s lame how I take God’s gifts for granted, so I’m just thankful that the LORD inspired me to recap this stupendous day, despite my regular habit of avoiding such a glorious activity. Now i can look back and say to myself or others,

“God has not walked away. In fact, He’s stepped into my world and stirred things up with his great love.”

Porn n Pancakes recap:

This is the email update i recieved from Tara Chavarria about PnP from last Saturday…

I was recently back home in California visiting my Dad and when I was explaining Porn n Pancakes and what we are doing in Steamboat when he asked me:

“why don’t you just mind your own business and let people just do what they want?”

It struck me as an odd question and it stumped me for a couple of days, I really had to think about it. Maybe we are too pushy, maybe people want to be left alone, maybe we just imagine all the problems around us…..lame questions to have right before we are hosting a community wide event to address a very hard topic!

This weekend God has given me a couple of confirming thoughts and situations to show me that He does not want us to just mind our own business and there are people that don’t know where to turn, that live with incredibly HUGE secrets and that just experience life as a constant chaotic, damaging struggle!

Saturday morning Sk8 Church hosted, with local churches sponsoring, Craig Gross from xxxchurch for an event called porn n pancakes. We had over 120 men show up to learn about or get help for pornography. We had 9 different churches (Holy Name Catholic, Church of Christ, Steamboat Christian Center, Euzoa Bible Church, Evangelical Free, Anchor Way Baptist, St Paul Episcopal, Sk8 Church, & Concordian Lutheran) bring people from their congregations and the feedback we got was awesome! Guys were stoked to be at an event that was addressing a really sensitive issue. It was so cool to see believers from all different churches fellowshipping together to support each other. It definitely was more church crowd than we expected, but that is where the statistics say there is the biggest struggle so it was good! Craig Gross is a great speaker that talks so openly about not hiding our addictions. He had a friend there that shared his story.

His friend was an elder and regular church goer for years but secretly caught up in pornography and sexual addiction. It tore his life and family apart for years and he told of all the heartache and struggle he put his family through. Then his 13 year old son got up and told about what it was like to go through all that and what it was like to have a dad that was into porn and adultery. It was so powerful! With the help of Jesus the family is back together, the dad is free from addiction AND he and his wife counsel couples that are struggling with porn and adultery! God is so AMAZING!! It made me realize that anyone of us could be that caught up in addiction and if we all minded our own business it just stays secret and festering.

Galatians 6:1-2 “Brothers, if someone is caught up in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you may also be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

Another close friend of ours spoke about his long struggle with pornography. We had no idea that such a good friend lived with that secret! His testimony was incredible and he also attested to the fact that without Christ he would not be free from his addiction! So powerful!!

There is nothing in the Bible that says: mind your own business, fence you and your family in, keep to yourselves, No it tells us to love our neighbors, carry each other burdens, restore our brothers, confront in love! This weekend I saw the relief and the gratitude on the men’s faces when they could talk, laugh, pray about and just be together talking about the tough stuff. It has bolstered my resolve to follow Christ’s example of loving others more than myself. Of not worrying about my comfort, but reaching out to those who have no comforter! It strongly goes against our society, but I do not want anything to do with the standards our twisted world has set! They suck!

Buck did the rest of the speaking and I might be a little biased but I thought he was the best!! I realized what it is that makes him so special: He cares more about other people then he does his own life and his own comfort and it motivates him to want to reach as many people as he can with the restoration and hope of Jesus Christ! When we meet a kid and start working with them we often find ourselves involved with the whole family. There are probably a lot of times when they would rather be left alone, but we are persistent and keep loving them. I wish there would have been someone that didn’t mind their own business when I was growing up.

My parents struggled with drugs and alcohol, pornography was (and still is) very accepted, my brother is serving a 20 year prison sentence, my sister had her first child at 15, and most of you know my own road has not been easy. I always wonder if there had been a ministry/family that just converged on my whole family and dealt with the rejection, pushed through it, and loved us and walked with us no matter what, maybe things could have been different. Most of you know I had an adoptive family do that with me, and that is why I am here today, but the rest of my family still struggles.

All that to say that Porn n Pancakes was awesome and I am so thankful that we don’t mind our own business! God is going to use it to do great healing in a lot of lives! That is about all the detail I can say without comprimising the anonimity of the event! Thank you for your prayers and for supporting us! Go into your neighborhoods, small groups, work places, starbucks, schools where ever and ask the hard questions, ask about marriages, kids, porn, sex, work etc etc be specific and don’t be afraid of rejection-there is no level of rejection that should stop us from loving our neighbors, carrying each others burdens-asking the tough questions. More often than not we don’t have the answer, but we always have prayer and we can always listen! Thank you again for walking with us-we couldn’t do this without you.

We will have an update and some photos of the speakers (not the people there) on our website soon! www.christforlifeskatechurch.com

In Christ,

Tara Chavarria
Christ for Life Sk8 Church
“Reaching the Youth; Stretching the Church”
www.christforlifeskatechurch.com

I can honestly say that it was worth almost swerving into oncoming traffic at 750am because of tiredness… and almost dying countless times while being completely exhausted on the way home at 4pm…

the testimonies impacted me the most… hearing a 12yr old young MAN explain what it’s like to be in a 7 yr long divorce because of his daddy’s issue- woah.

I never want to do that to my family.

Porn Pastors make Bible with Pictures?!?

Once again, XXXCHURCH steps it up and brings the Porn Industry workers what they requested… An edition of the Bible with Pictures.

 

 

How am I stepping it up?

Raising the Bar? 

Innovating?

Dreaming?

What about You?

“Father…

Oh father. Oh Father. Oh Father. Father… I am ready! Won’t you let it begin!? Cause I am here now. I want to taste it- the mighty pull of your hand!”

-Paramore

 

(I prayed for a long time that they would not get swallowed up in fame. I found a video of them adding these lyrics to a song they wrote about persecution entitled “Let The Flames Begin”)Click Here 4 Video

The whole reworking of the song is really epic also, and i believe Mark, Carlos, sean, josh and Zach would appreciate it’s musicality. Judifree and Bridget love paramore too!

Frivolity and Football

I could tell you what i’m gonna think about today, or what my dog did this morning, or about my new shoelace… but instead,

THIS is what i want to meditate on and share today:

What the crap is Zach babbling about!?

Zachariah Hillbrich is one of my favorite people on planet Earth.

If you do not heed his recommendation, you will not rejoice with us. 

 Family, I am grieved that some of you will not willingly introduce yourselves to my beloved sisters Anorexia  and Nervosa.

Those are the reviews for the greatest concept albums made. Don’t argue with me. Argue with yourself after you’ve tasted and seen.

Lots of love from the Lamb.

Feel the burn. in a good way.

This is some project a kid made, but the snippits of messages are some of my favorites.

Thoughts? comments? dissagreements?

I’m blessed when i see someone valiantly defending the faith with a quick wit because of his relationship with God through King Jesus with the help of Holy Spirit

This is how we should interact with nonbelievers and “believers” alike. Sharp in our knowledge of scripture, but always loving and slow to use our own opinions over what the sWord says. I desire to have a witness like this.  Props Billy.

25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Hebrews 10:25 could seem like a nagging mother telling us that we need to go to church, but man! When i watch this video i remember what God does through Catalyst on outreach nights, Regular Wednesdays, Small Groups, Pumpkin Bowl, Youth Sunday, All the parties and out to eats… I am so thankful to be included, used, taught, encouraged, protected, equipped and needed by the body. We all have hour place and function. Hallelujah!