Such a beautiful day in the city!

Brooke and me at The Bean

of course, no city trip would be complete without french fries!

Waiting for “The Messiah” to start at Moody Bible Institute

It was such a spectacular performance. The music and singing were phenomenal. I was totally impressed that the whole concert was Scripture!

Young Ladies Christian Fellowship posted a great article: “What True Love Is”.

I would encourage you to check it out and read it and continually remember to surrender all your emotions and desires to the Lord – we will never be disappointed!

One of my friends sent me a really cute email a little while back. We seem to both share a common enjoyment for french fries and I couldn’t help but smile as I read her note. Enjoy, my readers!

“Do you know what I love the most? Of course you don’t, but I asked so I could tell you. I have to tell someone because it’s pressing down on my threadbare nerves. I love crispy, golden, French fries! There I said it. At Red Robbins, with any hamburger meal you order, you get a basket of bottomless fries. Yes that means all you can eat. How cool is that? That’s about the neatest thing in the world! (Apart from Jesus. Yeah, Jesus and fries have got to be the best ever!) These days I have developed a craving for fries on Sunday and it wasn’t this way until I came to the RCI.  Probably Flint atmosphere gives me a sodium deficiency.

Every Sunday when I start having this “fries craving”, I become determined to find the closest burger joint…or else! Most of my friends have picked up on this, and they know you don’t mess with Cristina when she hasn’t had her fries on Sunday! Whoever invented fries was brilliant. Guess who’s even more brilliant is the Creator of fries. Ok potatoes.

Bottomless fries remind me of something I’ve been thinking about this week. Unconditional love—it’s the ultimate weapon. God’s amazing love and mercy are the shock absorbers to life’s sometimes bumpy road. I saw that in China. All nations and all peoples are special objects of God’s love. I see it in Michigan. The world is more than ready to tolerate thieves and murderers than Christians who love the Lord. When you love others, you’re doing a powerful thing.

My Dad used to take me out for fries. He would then take me up on his knee; look in my big blue eyes and say, “Cristina I have a secret to tell you.”  My face would brighten up as I said, “A secret?!” Girls love secrets. That’s not an earth shattering revelation. Girls have always loved secrets. So I lean my ear in and Daddy whispers, “I love you.” A smile would spread across my face.

I still smile when I think of that. Now that I’ve come to school in Michigan, I have a heavenly Daddy to do the same thing. I recently read this phrase in a good book, “Put together all the tenderest love you know of, the deepest you have ever felt, and the strongest that has ever been poured out upon you, and heap upon it all the love of all the loving human hearts in the world, and then multiply it by infinity, and you will begin perhaps to have a faint glimpse of what the love of God is.” Wow. I love people because Jesus loves me.

Ok I take that back there are three greatest things in the world: Jesus, Daddys, and fries. In that order. Yes whoever invented fries was brilliant. Seeing them reminds me how much Jesus loves me!  I wonder if there’ll be bottomless fries in Heaven…”

“And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matt. 4:19

Following Jesus Christ and obeying His commands has been a truth stressed in our family for a number of years. Being a pastor’s daughter, I have seen many youth of the present-day Christian church walk away from the things of the Lord and attempt works in the power of their flesh. My heart breaks as I hear story after story of sons and daughters choosing the ‘broad way’.

One of the key principles in faithfully following Christ is a daily submission of our wills. A surrendered person is a broken person. “A broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” Psalm 51:17. A state of surrender involves losing ourselves in the will of God. This is done by giving our purposes to the Lord and embracing His purpose in our lives (knowing and serving Him and making disciples).

Too often, Bible-believing Christians are categorized as hypocrites. This is because the world is seeing us ‘talk the talk’ but not ‘walk the walk’. They see us living for our own selfish ambitions but claiming we love Christ and are following Him whole-heartedly. It’s a life of contradiction. No wonder our youth are falling away!

We will never be able to be fishers of men and draw others to the love of Jesus unless we begin to follow Christ by taking heed to the Spirit and obey His commands. We are to be the light of the world shining bright for the Lord! When others see our good works they will be able to glorify the Father which is in heaven!

I admit that I am continually learning to dethrone my intellect and allow Christ to sit on the throne of my heart. Though many instances in my life, I have had to learn the hard way. Accomplishing my will always results in hardship, pain, suffering, and sorrow but following Christ and discipling others results in a life of freedom, joy and peace. Not only am I blessed in the process but Jesus Christ is glorified!

Awesome times in Mexico with an awesome group of friends!

When thinking of relationships and waiting on God to bring the right one, we know how girls think – right?!

Well, I really never thought of what it’s like from a guy’s perspective. How do they view the idea of initiating a relationship?

God works on both sides. It’s best for girls to wait and it’s best for guys to initiate. Why? It forms character and Christ-likeness.

I came across the following quote by Carolyn McCulley and found it to be profound.

“Women exercise trust in God by waiting to be pursued, men exercise trust in God by risking rejection.”

“But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” James 1:14-15

We often don’t think of the consequences that our sin will have, especially when it comes to the “small sins” (as excused in our own human understanding). We resist the Spirit’s promptings and harden our consciences towards the still small voice. This comes from a lack of hatred towards sin. We think the sin isn’t THAT bad (after all, it’s so small) and we won’t ever let it go too far. Right?! We excuse ourselves by walking the line of compromise.

How many times have we allowed a somewhat small compromise in our life and it turned into a dreadful monster – a fearless giant that controls our actions, thoughts, and attitudes? Not only does our spiritual growth become hindered but we start to reap the consequences of our sin. At first it may be in small ways as God tries to get our attention; but the more we resist, the more He needs to prune.

We’ve been given many good and perfect gifts from the hand of God. However, we can bring death to these gifts by our willful compromises. We end up destroying the good that God was going to bring from His blessing because we start to use it for our own self-gratification and pleasure, we become unthankful, or we mix the blessing with the “dirt and grime” of this world.

Consequences come in many different forms: strained relationships, unrest and turmoil in our soul, a lack of joy and contentment, even a closed door of opportunity. God uses these consequences in our lives to bring us back into right standing with Him. He uses them to show us our miserable state and how much we desperately need Him. But most of all, he uses them in our lives to show us again how very much He loves and cares for us. He doesn’t want us to experience pain or disappointment or hurt, but because of our stubbornness these are often the things that brings us to our knees crying out to God for mercy.

Next time we are tempted to compromise or give in – think of the consequence. How will this affect me spiritually and emotionally? What will I reap because of it even if it is down the road of life? How will this affect those around me?

Let’s stop right at the enticement of sin so we won’t be tempted, we won’t sin, and we won’t experience “death”. A life of obedience to the Saviour is the most blessed of all. I need to daily surrender my will to Him and pay attention to His promptings so I can continue to enjoy His good and perfect gifts and be a light in this dark world! What about you?

My time at home was so wonderful. My visits are relaxing in some respects just to be able to kick back and enjoy home life but at the same time they are always so very busy. I have a great time catching up with relatives and friends, shopping with my mom, going out to eat, nursing home ministry, taking walks, and lots of other fun stuff!

I was happy to be able to celebrate my dad’s birthday while I was visiting as well. It was a special evening with a wonderful dinner and a good time of fun and games!

the world’s most awesome parents!!!

my grandparents

Thomas and his adorable wife (and my bestest sister-in-law!)

everyone hungry and ready to eat

I’ve certainly been blessed with a dad who has given his life for Jesus Christ and has poured his everything into his family! My life has been blessed just because of who he is!

We played a very INTENSE game of Jenga. Take note of the concentration.

…and Jenga came tumbling down

there she is – my little baby!

Each evening, we all went out for dinner. Here we are at a Spanish restaurant.

a hamburger stand where I most definitely had to get some french fries!

in the MetroBus going to town. This was a pic at the beginning of the ride. We were packed in there like a can of sardines! It was hysterical – quite the experience!

a new friend along with Alisa, Johanna, and me

Most of the guys

Tacos on the street are the BEST!

Fried Cow Skin – and yes, I am proud to say that I ate it even after I knew what it was!

I most certainly didn’t want to leave beautiful Mexico!