A dream…

On August 28^th, 1963 our nation heard a speech from a well-known Pastor concerning a seemingly impossible dream called equality.

This speech helped “remind America of the fierce urgency of Now.”

“This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism... Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment,” says MLK Jr.

With Christine in the MLK garden @ KU

Later in his speech, King encourages the people to love one another and remember that each person is an individual who deserves a fair chance and we as a people cannot “walk alone”.

On August 27, 1985 I was born to a young Christian Puerto Rican couple in the back seat of a station wagon in the Bronx of NYC. After being raised in a very ethnically diverse environment, I later went to Kean University in NJ to study yet another culture – deaf education. The summer of 2008, after a one-year internship with Cru’s campus ministry in New Jersey, I joined staff.

Over the course of the past 11 years serving God through the ministry of Cru, the Holy Spirit has placed on my heart a dream to see His children fellowship together across ethnic barriers. I’ve been privileged to see Him transform the ministry in New Jersey and recently experienced amazing new efforts by the national leaders of the campus ministry to see an Acts 2 community come alive across the United States. (Specifically verses 7-11 & 42-47)

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. – Ephesians 3:20-21

Next week I will be at our headquarters in Orlando, Florida with a team from across the nation praying, hearing & strategically planning to make Cru a more ethnically diverse ministry. There is so much more I can say about this matter, but for now, I would just as you to please pray that I submit to the Holy Spirit and follow as He leads in regards to this very sensitive topic.

… And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.
– Martin Luther King Jr. 

Working with my Father

Everyday is "Take Your Daughter to Work" day for me bc I get to join my heavenly Father and watch Him do these amazing things! Check out this video! So cool!

http://vimeo.com/91575798

#Cru #2014 #AmazingGod #StudentTestimonies #Stories #ToGodbetheglory #YoungPeople #happy #JCru #NewJersey #Christians #diversity #encouraged #myjob

QT - "In Remembrance of Me"...

When I think about God's works, I'm saddened by and even disappointed in my preference of the technologies of today. I was born and raised in New York City and very little amazes me or makes me wow. I remember the first time I went to Florida with my family to visit friends & family who boasted about how amazing the light show at Disney was. Based off of their description, my family and I were excitedly awaiting the spectacular show! As the show began, I remember thinking "I've seen this before, but I guess it's nice to see it in Disney World". It really didn't baffle me or cause me to be in awe at all. I had grown up in the city that never sleeps! I had seen the NYC 4th of July Fireworks on TV and from over the river near my home in the Bronx! I had been to Times Square many times at night where the  sky is constantly lit with a plethora of colors! I was numb to the live up close version in Florida because I was so used to my own.

I've realized lately how in a similar pattern, that's so effectively dimmed the potential brilliant view of God, the I AM. In Bible Study yesterday there were several opinions about what that could have meant, "I AM". Did God give Moses a vague answer (Exodus 3:14)? Did God give him a very specific answer in His way of using our language to captivate all of who He is as to say He simply "is"? I don't know, I'm not sure yet. But I know God wanted to get across to Moses (which we all agreed to) that He is sufficient enough that Moses doesn't need details, like a name that mankind has given Him. He simply needs to trust. I realize I similarly have a dulled view of who the I AM truly is. Like the light show in Disney that didn't amaze me. It's as though I've become numb to hearing that CHRIST DIED ON THE CROSS FOR MY SINS. It becomes a ritual phrase Christians use without an ounce of brain energy or a phrase unbelievers use to mock us. 

Why does it seem like it was more possible to be deeply intimate with the Father before mankind started to create a new world? Well for one, there was more discipline in the old days. We could blame it on the generations. For another, there is more technology now...easier to be busy, we can say. But really I think we've chosen to dumb ourselves down by choosing the most comfortable convenient route little by little, day by day. There is very little reliance on the Holy Spirit when I want to do something nowadays. Think of the shepherds in scripture for example. They look up at the sky and they can see the glory of God and be grateful each time because they have light to work and night to cool down. They have rain to care for their crops and sun to feed them. They have clouds to shade their animals from dehydration and they have stars to lighten the night. I look up in the sky and it's like I've become numb. Don't get me wrong, as an artist I LOVE THE BEAUTY of every piece of the heavens, but am I grateful for that which lays in the heavens beyond that which is pleasing to my eyes? Not even rarely.

I heard it said that our sun is the smallest known star in the universe and yet we can fit 1.2 million earths in our sun! Whenever I stop to meditate on and savor the amazing gift Jesus is in my life, I HOPE I AM humbled and overwhelmed with a sense of repentance, followed by gratitude and then with joy...AND NOT JUST NUMB TO THE THOUGHT.