I love Jesus...

I know this is simple...but I really do...

I love His heart.

I love how He thinks.

I am so thankful for Jesus.

He is my most familiar and faithful friend, and yet He is a mystery.

One of my favorite moments with Jesus is when someone is just first getting a true glance of who He is. I had one of these times yesterday...

What was yesterday, you might ask?

Yesterday, I had my TV Tacoma debut. Before you start asking for my autograph, let me fill you in on the deets, folks.

Sparrow Club is one of the projects I am working on with Stadium. Sparrow Club is a national non-profit organization that allows youth to volunteer in the community on behalf of kids that are dealing with cancer or other life-threatening illnesses. The way it works is that the youth volunteer all over the community and then corporate sponsors "pay" for those hours by donating to the child's medical care. Make sense? It's an AWESOME program! If you work with youth, you should do it. Most of my Sparrow Club kids are not yet believers, and you should see how Jesus is drawing them to Himself through this project AND it gives youth that would typically be a tad more...um...how we should we say it...self-focused...focus on OTHERS, build CHARACTER and SERVICE...it's awesome and I LOVE doing it.

So...back to our story. The president (a senior at Stadium) of Sparrow Club won a City of Destiny award here in Tacoma. These are awarded to individuals and groups doing great volunteer work in Tacoma and it is a fairly prestigious deal. I am so proud of Jamie...she is a senior...still exploring issues of faith...but coming along. She is a FIRECRAKER...holy smokes!

She has been leading the charge for us this whole school year while we have been working on raising funds for a really special boy named Chase. He is eight years old and was diagnosed with a brain tumor last July. They immediately removed the tumor, but he has been through tremendously intense chemo and radiation since. His mom is a single parent, and he has a 14 year old sister whose favorite thing is...can you guess it???? Vampires...we're working on it, folks, working on it...Jesus is breathing JOY JOY JOY into this precious family...I believe it!

So TV Tacoma films the "spots" for the City of Destiny awards, and when the producercalled me a couple weeks back in order to set up a time to film Chase and his family with Jamie, I had a brilliant beyond BRILLIANT idea (they happen very once in a great while). Jamie does most of her volunteering at a fire station near her house. Chase wants to be a firefighter when he grows up. Seriously-this little guy is AMAZING...not only does he want to be a firefighter...he wants to be the guy that GOES INTO THE FIRE to help people. The fingerprints of God are ALL OVER this kid.

So Voila! Perfect setting for this TV spot, eh? Maybe I should consider a career in film :)

Cue video camera 1: we went to the fire station yesterday to film the segment. Chase is very shy...so I am hoping he enjoyed it more than he seemed like he did. But he got to try on the suit, go in the truck, see the bunk room AND sit on the jetskis this department has for their water rescues. It was super, super fun.

Afterwards, we went to the pizza parlor where Jamie works and had some pizza together. Pizza is Chase's favorite, and he even got to help make his own pizza-cool, huh? And I let Judy design "our" pizza with all her "non-kid" favorites...sausage, veggies, etc...I LOVE blessing people like this. If only Jesus had made me a millionaire...I could have so much fun giving it away.

We're getting back to my point, I promise...stay with me.

After pizza, Chase and his sister go to play games, allowing me some precious moments to encourage momma Judy. This woman is nothing short of phenomenal. I am amazed at how strong she is and all she has faced. Even though they don't yet know Jesus...there is an astonishing amount of LOVE in this family and a remarkable LACK of BITTERNESS...it is a miracle I am sure Jesus is helping with.

She shared with me how Chase has been struggling a lot lately with being angry at God for having cancer. Tearing up, she admitted she doesn't know how to answer as she has struggled with this too.

Cue Jesus.

I love how He shows up. Gently. I shared with her the simplicity of the heart of the Father. That He has wept more tears over Chase than she could imagine. That He has carried their battle close to His heart, and most importantly He is not threatened by Chase's struggle. He doesn't expect anything differently. I encouraged her to talk to God about her struggles...her pain...and she just cried and thanked me...and hugged me tight as we left.

I left in awe of this Jesus we serve. He has become so familiar to me. He is always the first and most compassionate friend in my moment of need that I forget what the first wind of His comfort feels like. To see it blow past this sweet mother's face was priceless. The sense of "could it really be true?" Could it be that God is for me not against me? Could it be that He really carries my pain? Could it be true that He not only knows my name, He knows ME?

I love Jesus. My only complaint is that I only have one life, one voice, one time in history to share about who He is. I'd love a thousand rooftops to shout from. A thousand lifetimes to spend throughout history to share of His greatness.

But for now He certainly has the ENTIRE life He gave me.

Much love,

Julie