It seems like in today’s world we overuse the word love. Not only are we saying it too much, we’re using it wrong. Instead of using love as a verb, we use it as an adjective. We use love to describe our liking of almost everything, or at least I often find myself doing so. I might say; I love this band, I love those jeans, I love my mom, or I love warm weather.

But do I really, actually love these things? A lot of times we say we love things and yet forget all together how to love others. We overuse a word that, as described in the Bible, has a lot more depth to it than expressing our liking of a new pair of jeans.

Love, in the Bible, is a call to action, something sacrificial you do simply because you love someone. Knowing that “luv is a verb,” as DC Talk would say, we can easily see that God didn’t intend love to be a describing word, but an action word. The Bible calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves, but how often do we actually put this kind of love into action?

This time year, the word love is plastered over everything; cards, candies, shirts, and balloons. What if instead of plastering love onto things, we plastered love onto people around us? What if we acted out what love really means? Read 1 Corinthians 13:1-8,13 carefully and see how Paul describes love.

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Did you observe what love is not and notice what love actually is? Is that how you are going about loving those around you? Whether it’s your boss, professor, family member, or stranger, this is how we’re supposed to love others. These attributes are vastly different than us trying to describe our favorite jeans. Love is an action that the followers of Jesus Christ are called to display on a daily basis.

The Bible says that things of this world are temporary; therefore we must to spend our days loving people more than things. It’s through the action of love that the world will see Christ displayed. Now it’s time we take back what love really means and put into action what God sees as love.

No matter the time of day, I love to observe the sky. What do you see when you look up at the sky? Do you look past the clouds? Can you believe how small we are compared to the sky? Are you quickly reminded of God when you see a pretty sunrise or a storm rolling in?

The sky is quite an intriguing part of creation. Everyone can see it; wherever you are in the world, we all see the same sky. To the human eye, the sky is constantly changing due to the weather and rotation of the Earth. No matter the change we see, its been the same sky since time began. We might see dark rain clouds, floods of red and orange hues, or simply a cloudless blue, but still it remains the same. Day might turn to night and seasons might come and go, but the sky itself doesn’t actually change; we just view it differently.

One summer night my sister and I were driving with the windows down and music blaring, when we were struck by the beauty displayed across the horizon. With my camera strap snug around my wrist, I stuck my camera out the window to snap this photo. It’s in this photo that I am reminded of our never changing God.

Our seasons might change, our view of life might be as bright as the morning or turn as dark as the night, yet we have a Creator that never changes. Our Creator, like the sky, is for everyone. No one is left out when it comes to discovering and knowing the beauty of the Creator, just like the beauty found in a sunset or flashes of lightning.

Psalms 68 says, “Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth, sing praise to the Lord, Selah, Him who rides the ancient skies above, who thunders with mighty voice”.

God rides the ancient skies. The skies might change views but God is still in them. Even when our circumstances are a cloudy gray or a bright hue, God is there. We can find him in every part of life and every view of the sky.

When we are open to it, God reveals himself in gorgeous and magnificent ways. The Creator of the universe chooses to display a magnificent masterpiece across sky on a daily basis. We are on His mind when he paints the sunrise every morning or brushes in rain clouds. He is everywhere, in everything, and with everyone, just like the sky we see everyday. We serve a Creator just like that the sky is: bigger than we could ever imagine and for everyone, everywhere.

This is Hope. She came into this world fighting a fight she didn’t chose. Born with HIV AIDS in remote Ethiopia, Hope wasn’t cared for the way she needed to be; that’s when God moved in the hearts of a loving family, in hopes that they could adopt. Their hopes came true and Hope was adopted. Now she is able to get the medicine and upbringing needed to live as normal and healthy of a life as she can.

I met Hope two summers ago while ministering at Camp Barnabas. As ignorant as it sounds, I was a tad apprehensive the day I found out that I would be working with a child with HIV AIDS. Growing up unfamiliar with the disease and only exposed to the media’s hyped up awareness, I had no idea what to expect. I knew I couldn’t “catch it” or anything, but for some reason I still felt hesitant to work with a child with this disease.

The day came after all of the training and prepping when the campers made it to camp and I finally got to meet Hope. From the moment Hope walked into the cabin, there was something radiant about this 8-year-old girl. From the get-go all she seemed to know how to do was bring a smile to everyone’s face, forgetting she was even sick.

This radiance about her was HOPE. You could tell that Hope had HOPE. Though she was sick, the HOPE she had made her even her forget–for a moment–that she was sick. For one week, Hope showed me what HOPE looks like.

HOPE is… taking your (what seems endless) medicine without complaining.
HOPE is… smiling & laughing.
HOPE is… living life to our fullest potential & receiving Jesus’ LOVE & MERCY.
HOPE is… real & lasts.

Hope has HOPE… in spite of her earthly circumstance. Do you find true HOPE in the midst of your trials and pain? Do you see HOPE in your daily life? Hope has HOPE in her life; I hope you do to.

I worry about almost everything. My parents are concerned, telling me I am subtracting days from my life because I worry so much. They insist that it raises my blood pressure. I try to hide the fact that I am a worrier and play it off that I am just concerned about a particular situation. I grew up knowing the classic Steve Green kids sing-a-long or jingle “Do Not Worry,” inspired from the verses in Matthew 6:25-34. Today, this song is still stuck in my head, yet I can’t seem to put it into practice.

Take a look with me at what is said in Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV):

Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

In my heart, I know not to worry. I know that it’s technically a sin to worry. When one worries, they are basically telling God, “I don’t trust that You will take care of my needs”. So why do I worry so much!? “My spirit is willing, but my flesh is so weak” (worship throwback). Satan knows I am a worrier, so he takes any chance he has to make me worry - even about the most minutiae things. I hate it.

I know in my heart I trust God and know He has a perfect plan for me, but I need to desperately curve my worrying to resting in the Truth. I need to put into practice my ability to trust God wholly, by not worrying. I love the promise that is given to us in Jeremiah 29:11 (the verse that was on almost every one of my H.S. graduation cards); He KNOWS my plans, and He promises me hope and a future in Him. All over scripture God not only commands us to cease worrying and trust in Him, but He gives us comfort that we are never alone. If God is always with us, then we never have to be afraid.

In Acts 18, God tells Paul in a vision not to be afraid, because He was with him. God opened my heart, eyes, ears, mind, and soul this week to what I need to work on in my far from perfect life. God tells me not to worry; therefore, I must not worry. It’s as simple as that. I want to have a renewed spirit and mindset, with a trust in my Creator where I can’t even find room to worry.

I ran into a girl earlier that I sort of knew from high school - we ran cross country together and were in some classes together. It’s not like we hung out outside of school but we recognized each other and ran in the same circles. To my surprise, she totally knew my name and asked how I was. However, for the life of me I could not remember her name which made me feel horrible because she knew my name.

This isn’t the first time this has happened; it actually happens to me a lot. I don’t know what it is. I just have a hard time with names. I blame it on the fact that I am a twin; therefore, my entire life people have been trying to figure out what my name is. It’s always a luck of the draw or 50/50 chance of getting it right - for a lot of people I come into contact with. As I ‘tweeted’ my frustration, it crossed my mind that God knows everyone’s name — there isn’t a single person that He cannot put a name with a face. That truth gives me such peace!

“And the LORD said to Moses,
‘I will do the very thing you have asked,
because I am pleased with you and
I know you by name”
Exodus 33:17

Our Creator, the One that brought us into existence knows our name! He knows who we are from the inside out. He sees our souls, He knows our longings, desires, and is aware of our fears. Isn’t that what we as humans want? To be known. There is such hope in the fact that my Savior truly knows me and accepts me like a husband knows and accepts his wife! He even knows when we hurt or feel pain. His knowledge far surpasses just our name. He knows the depths of us and sees who we really are when no one is around and yet loves us the same. Knowing this gives me such joy and peace. It makes me want to know the heart of my Savior that much more!

Get to KNOW Your Creator, because HE KNOWS YOU!

What do you think when you think of Detroit? It’s scary, home of the automobile, a big business failure, or almost always cold… if you thought any of those you’re pretty much right on. But do you ever think of the PEOPLE of Detroit? Detroit is the home of so many people, and suburbs or not, millions claim the D as their home. Home unfortunately holds a different meaning depending on who you’re talking to.

To the well-to-do’s of suburbia Detroit, home is over-sized, filled with things, managed by ‘help’ and provides comfortable places to slumber. To the middle class of The D, home may be tighter in space, yet still filled with things and a warm place to rest one’s head at night. To the poor and needy, home may be an uncomfortable bed in a crowded shelter or a park bench in a lonely over grown park.

Homelessness exists everywhere if you look for it, yet it cuts deeper knowing how close to home it is.

A group of people from my church who are passionate about spreading Jesus’ love and hope to the hurting, started going down to a corner in Detroit every Sunday afternoon mid-summer. There, a group of homeless people wait outside of shelter known for crime, drugs and prostitution. Whether it’s staking out a place in front of the chain-linked fence that guards the shelter or sitting on the curb of the three lane one-way street, this is what home is to our friends. Getting to know their stories [Read some here by my talented friend Stefanie] and struggles, while creating community with them is what we are called to do. By meeting some minor and basic physical needs, and being available for their spiritual and emotional needs, we are able to spread Jesus’ message that is for EVERYONE - the message of hope, love, value, forgiveness, and healing.

When I think of Detroit, I think of the potential it has as a thriving city. I believe that the Church holds the key to hope and healing for a hurting City and its people. I believe that there is much potential just waiting to be revealed. A great uprising of restoration on this city can be possible only through Christ and people trusting God will provide, protect and guide.