The End is Important!!!

I am trying to write shorter blogs. This is hard for me. There is so much I want to say. Like:

I went to my first hockey game last night and sat on the 8th row right by the goal. All night long I called people idiots, threw my hands up in the air at bad plays, and cheered fights on. A head would smash up against the glass and I would shriek with excitement. By the end of the night I was mesmerized. I wanted blood or someone's head on a plate. What is wrong with this picture? As if I am in Rome 1,000 years ago watching people run for their lives while the tigers try to eat them! Surely this is not a righteous form of pleasure.

I spent two hours today listening to music and....cutting out hearts. I’ve decided to make homemade Valentines cards this year for basically everyone I know. Purple, pink, red, and white hearts are lining my kitchen table now. And, I covered them all in sparkly glitter. This reminds me that I used some of my leftover Christmas money to buy sprinkles and a sprinkle case for my cookie collection, I have sprinkles in every shape, color, and size now. The title of this blog is honestly apart of who I am. Sprinkles. Glitter. Happy things.

Kenya is roughly two times the size of Nevada. I've wanted to work this in all week, but why? I don't know what size Nevada really is. I mean I assume it would fit inside of Texas at least once. But beyond that, I am at a loss. What does it mean to have 36 million people within something two times the size of Nevada? I have no idea. And that question in and of itself starts to smell of the nasty math problems that start with, "If Sally drives 3 miles, Ralph drives 7.5, and they both drive at ninety degree angles..." Aggghhh. This is why I did not pass the SAT. You may be wondering, can you fail the SAT? I think if you score under a 1000...um, yes, you can fail.

Yesterday I got to speak to a class of doctoral students at SMU on the mindset and motivation behind 20 something’s. What fuels, challenges, and motivates this generation and what our role is in activism, government, politics, the church, and the world. It was one of the most invigorating things I have done in a long time. I am not sure why, I just know I loved it.

Finally, last night was FAT TUESDAY. You know, the night where you go out and live in excess because today starts the season of Lent where we are all supposed to give something up. Without going into too much on this topic, which I could, because I love it...lets just say that Lent is not about simply giving something up. Does God really need for you to give up gum? Sugar? Alcohol? Making out? TV? Starbucks? I don't think so. I think the point of this long standing tradition is that we realize we are entering into a Holy season, and as such, we should begin to prepare out hearts to encounter Christ in a new way. My pastor describes Lent as Spring Cleaning for the soul.

Want Easter to mean something to you this year? Want the life, death, and resurrection, the foundation of our faith, to come alive to you? Do you seek something real? More importantly, do you need to come face to face with our holy, kind, loving, gracious, and forgiving Savior? Then don't give up gum! Do away with something that is important to you and apart of your soul. Often, we cannot encounter Christ because there is too much "stuff" in our lives that get in the way. So, we give something up for Lent, something that has the attention of our hearts and souls, we do away with it for a while so that in its stead we draw close to Christ. In it's absence our souls are reminded to turn to God. To seek Him. To worship Him. To align ourselves with Him. To anticipate what He will do when we quietly walk a way from something of the world and turn our eyes upon Him instead.

Perhaps it is an insult to God or something that pierces His heart and makes Him sad when he sees a bunch of people deciding today that for so many weeks they will not do __________. Just for the sake of not doing _____________. When it is completely disconnected from His presence and His spirit, it is just some sort of worldly diet or self-imposed discipline, it is not a spiritual discipline that is taking our souls to a new, more pure place, where we can encounter God.

All this to say. I wondered if anyone had really prayed for the Kenyans this week? I am not judging, simply wondering. It is hard for me to remember when I am in a luxury seat at a Hockey game wanting to see blood...

Will you pray for Kenya? Will you give up something in the next three days, the way we do for Lent, and spend that time you have given up in prayer for people half way across the world? And truly pray for their safety and peace. Their leaders. The Red Cross. UNICEF. Other workers who are risking their lives right now to go and help. Will you sacrifice a trip to Starbucks this week and send the Kenyan Red Cross $5. $10. $100. So they can feed the 80,000 kids under the age of 5 right now who are huddling into these massive refugee camps. Will you really sacrifice something, some time, some money, some space in your heart for a few days?

If you will, I mean really will do something, simply leave a comment on this post. "I will pray for Kenya". It is easy to leave a comment. It is encouraging and will be exciting to see how many of us join together.

There are over a hundred people a day reading this blog. That is a lot. If just half of us would really commit for the rest of the week to lift up the Kenyans in our prayers and to send a little bit of money to the Kenya Red Cross or UNICEF, this would make a huge difference. I want to know how many of you are joining in. So if you are, please leave a comment, invite others, and let's see what happens when we join together in prayer and giving.

love you guys....