Lately?

Lately I've been thinking a lot. Oh wait, that's not lately that's always. Lately I've been dreaming a lot. And that's not always, but I think it should be. Someone once told me if your dreams are something that you can accomplish on your own then you aren't dreaming big enough. The dreams I have for myself are so teensy next to what God wants to do in and through my life. I Corinthians 1:25 says, "For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength." That makes me think our dreams and plans are probably grains of sand on a beach God wants to build us a mansion on.

I have a lot of trouble trusting God. I say I want to but I don't live like I do. I find it hard to believe He'll give me things if I don't work for it. I want that to change. I want to trust Him in everything, to trust that His dreams are where it's at. I want Him to reveal HIS dreams to me, instead of dwelling on anything else. I don't want to be a person whose dreams are limited to my head and my journal, but someone who lives them out and is amazed by the Lord's faithfulness to take me further then I could ever go on my own.

"And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect." Hebrews 11:32-40

Jeremiah 32:27

Last night the speaker at Gateway House of Prayer said that we don't pray enough. He had us spend 15 minutes praying for our unsaved friends and family. Immediately I started praying for my dad, which is kind of weird because I hate to say he's unsaved ... but really, is he walking with the Lord?

After years of praying for my dad I’ve become fed up with it and recently my grumble to the Lord has been "You know what, either heal him and transform him completely or ..." BUT LAST NIGHT I WAS CONVICTED OF HOW BACKWARD THAT IS! God is God and nothing is impossible for Him! Who am I to doubt the power of God to do anything? Especially when it’s something He desires even more than I do – like to see my pops transformed by the grace of God and for him to walk in victorious transformation.

This Sunday Andy Byrd spoke at the church I’ve been going to, and I’ve been soaring on the words the Lord spoke through him. He asked whether we think the angels in heaven ever experience insecurity around the presence of God. Do you think they question the plans He gives them? Maybe they look at your financial system and say, “Gee, God’s big but ______ money issues are bigger …” Or maybe they look at my dad and say, “God’s big, but Joe’s just too far gone …” NO ONE IS TOO FAR GONE! How could I give up on someone when God has never lost a battle? I think about how much I want to see my dad saved, and then how much more God must want it and weep on his behalf … and I can’t believe that I’d ever give up praying.

Something else that stuck out from Andy’s message: it is time for us to stop living by our circumstances and start ruling them! The Living God lives inside of us and we have more power in our little finger than all of hell – the only thing stopping us is ourselves!

God will have His people and He will not lose. As I prayed for my dad last night more revelation kept coming to me and I felt the urgency of praying for him, and for all of the other people I desperately desire to see walking intimately with the Lord! I wrote a list and then I had to stop because there are so many people on it. But I just kept coming back to Dad. And God kept encouraging me: Don’t believe these thoughts and fears of failure. That is the enemy’s plan to thwart what he knows will produce an unstoppable burning endurance in you Chelsea! And a fireball effect coming out of you and your dad’s life and your whole entire family. Do not give the enemy credit or open grounds to take that which does not belong to him.

Then I got a picture of my dad’s bedroom with an old army tent set up in it, almost like a whole camp. It reminded me of the ones I’d see at Civil War reenactments I went to with him when I was younger. At first I thought it was angels in the tents, but the more I thought about it there seemed to be enemy tents close by. Almost as if both sides were waiting and it was up to me to commit to the battle, to claim victory. There was also no ceiling/roof above his room, it was wide open to a bright starry sky. It seemed like God was saying that there is an OPEN HEAVEN above the life of my dad, and now is the time to pray without ceasing. (This might be the coolest clearest picture God's ever given me.)

Please join me in praying for my dad; and for all the ones you love that don’t YET know the Lord. Time in prayer for someone is never wasted. God cares about the one! He cares about YOU more than you know.

The Vision

No idea who wrote this, but it's my favorite! I love listening to it being read by the guy with an Aussie accent, but alas, I'm a computer sped sometimes so I couldn't post the link. Whether you've heard it before or not, read it, be inspired and keep charging after the vision the Lord has for you!

So this guy comes up to me and says "what's the vision? What's the big idea?" I open my mouth and words come out like this… The vision?

The vision is JESUS – obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus.

The vision is an army of young people.

You see bones? I see an army. And they are FREE from materialism.

They laugh at 9-5 little prisons.They could eat caviar on Monday and crusts on Tuesday.They wouldn't even notice.They know the meaning of the Matrix, the way the west was won.They are mobile like the wind, they belong to the nations. They need no passport.. People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence.They are free yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying.

What is the vision ?
The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes. It makes children laugh and adults angry. It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars. It scorns the good and strains for the best. It is dangerously pure.

Light flickers from every secret motive, every private conversation.It loves people away from their suicide leaps, their Satan games. This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause.A million times a day its soldiers choose to loosethat they might one day winthe great 'Well done' of faithful sons and daughters.

Such heroes are as radical on Monday morning as Sunday night. They don't need fame from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards and hear the crowds chanting again and again: "COME ON!"

And this is the sound of the underground
The whisper of history in the making
Foundations shaking
Revolutionaries dreaming once again
Mystery is scheming in whispers
Conspiracy is breathing…This is the sound of the underground

And the army is discipl(in)ed.

Young people who beat their bodies into submission.
Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrade at arms. The tattoo on their back boasts "for me to live is Christ and to die is gain".
Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their upward eyes. Winners. Martyrs. Who can stop them ? Can hormones hold them back?Can failure succeed? Can fear scare them or death kill them ?

And the generation prays like a dying manwith groans beyond talking,with warrior cries, sulphuric tears andwith great barrow loads of laughter!

Waiting. Watching: 24 – 7 – 365.

Whatever it takes they will give: Breaking the rules. Shaking mediocrity from its cosy little hide. Laying down their rights and their precious little wrongs, laughing at labels, fasting essentials. The advertisers cannot mould them. Hollywood cannot hold them. Peer-pressure is powerless to shake their resolve at late night parties before the cockerel cries.They are incredibly cool, dangerously attractive
inside.

On the outside?
They hardly care. They wear clothes like costumes to communicate and celebrate but never to hide. Would they surrender their image or their popularity? They would lay down their very lives - swap seats with the man on death row - guilty as hell. A throne for an electric chair.

With blood and sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days,
they pray as if it all depends on God and live as if it all depends on them.
Their DNA chooses JESUS. (He breathes out, they breathe in.)Their subconscious sings. They had a blood transfusion with Jesus. Their words make demons scream in shopping centres.

Don't you hear them coming?
Herald the weirdo's! Summon the losers and the freaks. Here come the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes. They walk tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension. Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden.

And this vision will be.

It will come to pass; it will come easily; it will come soon.How do I know? Because this is the longing of creation itself, the groaning of the Spirit, the very dream of God. My tomorrow is his today. My distant hope is his 3D. And my feeble, whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding, bone-shaking great 'Amen!' from countless angels, from hero's of the faith, from Christ himself. And he is the original dreamer, the ultimate winner.

Guaranteed.

A Day In The Life

This weekend one of my best friends mentioned how much she loves her mom and asked if I ever get that feeling, where I love something so much I don't even have words for it. My answer? Yes, yes, and absolutely YES!

I can't tell you how many times this basically indescribable feeling comes over me and I want to shriek with happiness. It's such an intensely wonderful way to feel and I wish I could explain it to you, but I can only hope to trigger your brain about those things you might take for granted but are really thankful for. Becky probably rolled her eyes at my crazy excitement as I explained that not only do I feel euphoric about my mom or brother or dad or friends (muah!) ... but sometimes I can't contain my happiness about sunsets or my bedroom or songs on the radio or naps or new shoes. (It's always the little things, right?) I love it so much when it just hits you how good you have it; how awesome someone or something is. Life is a such a great gift.

Something else I love about my life is how comically unpredictable it can be. I kind of thought this only applied to me when I lived in Hawaii, but it's all the time. Whenever anyone called me in Maui I'd struggle to catch them up on the weeks because a single day held a month's worth of happenings. I'm back in Lancaster and it's still the same scenario. :)

So I was inspired today to chronicle just that: a day in the life of me. Ridiculous? Well, no one is holding a gun to your head making you read this - so now's your chance to save yourself and exit if you're annoyed.

Wake up 5am and head to the gym. Gym attendant is sleeping at the desk - hilarious. Watch Fox News from the eliptical. Become frustrated and respond verbally - hilarious to guys laughing around me. Love talking to the senior citizens at the gym in the mornings. Drove to work and tried to apply mascara en route. Turning a city corner leads to a long streak of black across my dash. (And my arm?!) Oops. Suddenly the guy in the truck beside me is waving and mouthing something. Is he seriously looking for chicks before 7am?! OMG, that guy went to my elementary school. I start laughing which makes him smile more. Oops.

Get into my work routine and things are going smoothly. Lots of people didn't show up. Midmorning the director of food services hands out chocolates as a condolence for being overworked and underpaid. I'm rooting around for dark chocolate and he says, "Nice nailpolish! Is that maroon or purple?" "Oh thank you! It's more like a dark plum." He leaves and it registers that he's the head honcho of the department where nailpolish is strictly off-limits. Was he kidding? Am I going to get a write-up? I laugh it off.

A lady is coughing up a lung in the employee bathroom so I ask if she's okay. "I ca-n't ge-t ai-rrr ..." "Ummm ... " God, I hate situations like this! You know I don't know the heimlich or anything! An EMT walks in that very second! "Hey, this lady can't breathe!" And I'm out of there.

Every room is an adventure as I get breakfast and supper orders. You've gotta love the lady who says she eats a lot because she once dated a Jew who was 16 years older than her. (Yep, that's probably the reason for obesity across America, come to think of it.)

Things in the kitchen are chaotic & one coworker starts venting, "Where is the work ethic Chels?! I mean honestly. You've got it." I just shake my head and we talk about how no one is willing to work and how scary that is for the future. She thinks it all went downhill when they took prayer out of public schools and I want to yell hallelujah and AMEN.

Just before supper one of my supervisors says, "Is that purple?" "What? No, it's green. I'm drinking green tea." "No, your nails ... that's different, I like it!" I clock out thirty minutes later with two nailpolish compliments and no write-ups. Seriously?

Red Envelope Day

Have you heard about this yet?
Buy a red envelope or color one redand mail it to President Obama (1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC20500) on March 31st. Don't put anything inside, but write on the back:"This envelope represents one child who died because of an abortion. It is empty because the life that was taken is now unable to be a part of ourworld."

Don't push abortion to the back of your mind or think that it's impossible tosee it end. Pray for abortion to be eradicated now, in our lifetime! If anyone Iknew were suddenly put in a life or death situation, would I not be desperatelypassionately constantly interceding on their behalf? YES. Abortion is life ordeath on a much larger scale. I need to pray consistently - not ask forsomething once or twice and give up, but to charge it a lot more than I have been.

Go to YouTube.com and type in "12-year-old girl speaks out against abortion." I couldn't figure out how to make it work as a link, but it encouraged me greatly and is well worth your time to watch! Children sure seem to know the business of God, yeah? I want their unabashed passion to rub off on me. They have the confidence tochange the world! I remember being completely enthusiastic about every world dilemma that my teachers taught us about. You name it, I wanted to fight it,help it, save it.

Once my fifth grade teacher came in saying that we would start having to pay a tax for every worksheet we were given and to take tests. Everyone was upset and I raised my hand and started protesting and rallying my classmates - "We don't have to pay this guys! No way! You know what we're gonna do? Boycott this!" Everyone in my class was cheering and honestly it started getting a bit out of control. Mrs. Moore starts cracking up and explained that she was just using it as an illustration to introduce our history lesson about the Boston Tea Party. "It was people like Chelsea leading rebellions and getting things done ..." HAHAHA, my teachers must've been entertained. :)

In seventh grade I got into a fight with my social studies teacher about abortion. Once again my class ate it up, because here's this quiet kid whipping out statements that lead to the teacher yelling and saying we're never bringing abortion up again. I pressed him about a passing comment that he made about abortion and while I forget a lot of the details of our talk, I know he said that if someone found out that their baby was going to be "deformed" with Down syndrome an abortion would be the only intelligent choice. Knowing his wife was pregnant, I asked, "So you're telling me that if you found out your baby had Down syndrome you would kill it?" Every eye was on our teacher as he swallowed and didn't answer, but after a moment began yelling and saying we could not discuss abortion anymore in his class. (Of course after that it seemed like everyone deliberately brought it up every chance they got, even if they had no strong opinion about it.)

What strikes me as "ironic" is that his son was born a month or so later on December 16 - my birthday. And I've heard varying dates for the Boston Tea Party, but a lot of times they say it was also on December 16!

That little girl's speech on the video reminded me of how I used to care so much. And how I used to not care what others thought, because it never crossed my mind to be "politically correct" or practice postmodern "tolerance." I hate that I'm held back by those bounds now. There's right and wrong - period. I want to start speaking out in my college courses like sassy seventh grade Chelsea, instead of silently leaving class frustrated by the ignorance and immorality.

Hmmm ... here I go!

already memories ...

sometimes i can figure out how to add captions like a normal person & other times i can't, so who knows. i didn't think i'd keep using this blog after my little YWAM stint, buuut there have been some requests. and if they persist, maybe i will write even more. :) the first windblown pic is me & ash in the back of a jeep some guys rented and took us all over the island for our early birthday celebration, since our birthdays are two days apart. the next two are at our birthday dinner, and the guy with his mouth wide open is actually our really good friend - despite what ashley's face says. (haha i love that pic!) and finally there are two pics of commissioning night.

life is like a box of chocolates!

Fun times in Lahaina! It rained all over the island this weekend so we wandered around the harbor town.

We toured the Baldwin house, where some awesome missionaries from Connecticut lived back in the day. I love learning about history & I've always wanted to tour this place since I read about it in the Christy Miller books, hahaha.

It was great to tour, because normally everyone harps on the missionaries for bringing disease and starting fights, but the Baldwins were loved by the Hawaiians. Their house was always full of people. Dr. Baldwin provided medical care and helped the people to establish their language in writing. They loved on the people constantly. It took about six months to reach Hawaii by boat, so they stayed for twenty years before they ever went home to visit their family in New England! Talk about an inspiration!