Seeking the Lost

Okay. So I definitely spilled my heart out in that last blog. Apparently I get pretty reflective late at night. Not going to lie, I woke up the next morning thinking, 'what did I do?!' I just told everyone my biggest struggle this semester... but hey, honesty is healthy, and I really appreciate all the encouragement! People are awesome. #noshame

Alright so I've spent the last two nights in downtown Bryan at a super hipster event called Rock the Republic. There were a ton of different no name artists playing in a bunch of venues, poetry slams, haiku readings, and comedy. Let me tell you-- there are some really artsy people out there, and some really lost artsy people out there as well. Poetry is an outlet for many. It's a way for people to release some of their innermost secrets, and deepest thoughts out to the world in a beautiful form. Some people think poetry is really cheesy. Me? I love it. I love listening to people's artsy insights into life.

I grew up living a very sheltered life. I was taught drinking, sex, and drugs are wrong. Period. I didn't really know the true meaning of poverty until I was in middle school and got off a bus in Memphis, Tennessee on a mission trip to find it right in front of my eyes laying begging in the street. I don't know what it feels like to come home in fear to a drunk father every night or to really feel the pain of a broken home. There is some dark stuff in this world and though my life has willed and blessed me with the grace of avoiding most of it I have such a heart for those it's grabbed a hold of.

There was a specific poet, the last to speak Friday that really spoke to me. He painted a dark and twisted picture of depression as he cried out of the nights and brokenness that rang true in the speaker's life. He went on to poetically describe the overwhelming weight of the darkness that overcomes one caught up in depression. It got me thinking, who is reaching out to this speaker? Which Christian is bringing the gospel-- the life-saving, life-altering grace into his life?

We stay in our bubble much too often, choosing to see what only we want to see, but boy is there darkness out there--in so many forms-- that need to be reached. There was a comedian that I heard tonight that was just downright smashing the name of Jesus right up there in the mic in front of several dozen people. Real, legit anger welled up inside me as he spoke and compared Him to earthly lows. The comedian mentioned he used to be a youth pastor and thought it was hilarious when he ran into some of his old youth drunk and "living it up" at parties. It made me think, what could have possibly driven him so far away? Obviously he didn't know the real Jesus. Who is reaching that guy? Which one of us Christians is going to show him the life-altering grace and joy our Savior has to offer?

At Breakaway this week Matt Carter, pastor of Austin Stone church in Austin spoke about what it means to "love our neighbor" as we're called to do in Matthew 22, right after we're called to love our Lord with all we have. What does it mean to love our neighbor? Who exactly is our neighbor? Matt defined our neighbor as the lost, and loving, really loving them is sharing the gospel with them-- sharing the one who died for us, the one we live for with them. Twice now this week I've heard the statistic: Out of the recently exceeding 7 billion people in the world 6.4 billion have NOT heard the gospel. 6.4 billion. 'Missions' can and should be where you are. There's always a life nearby that needs saving, even if they aren't crying out their pain through poetry. Will you be the one to change that? It's what we're called to do.

That's just a bit of conviction that's been on my heart this weekend. I really promise I'm not this deep all the time, but I just can't help it, it's definitely a big part of me. It must be the blogging late at night thing. Next time I'll blog during the day and we'll see if it turns out any different.

Song of the day that I'm obsessed with: The Earth is Yours by Gungor

Goodnight world wide web!