I love gay people!

Will anyone be offended if I'm extra blunt today? If you are, well that's too bad. Sometimes the truth hurts. Just saying. (Of course everything I just said was in a sarcastic tone) ;)

I want to talk about stereotypes. Isn’t it easy to judge people based off of their religious beliefs? Or their style of clothing? How about their skin color? Their family background? Their accent? Their weight? Their sexual orientation? Their financial status? How do stereotypes even get started in the first place?

All it takes is one.

One person to start a trend.

One person to start a rumor.

One person to start a movement.

It saddens me that most homosexuals don't feel welcome in churches. We gladly welcome alcoholics, couples who are sleeping together outside of marriage, drama queens, liars and gossips into our churches, yet we look down on gays? That doesn't make sense. We need to stop looking at homosexuality as a big scary issue. Is it a choice or is it not a choice? Is it only sin if you act on it or if you're just thinking it and trying to not think it? What if you've always felt this way since you can remember? Honestly I don't know all the answers! I don't know if anyone will. But what I do know is that homosexuality is just sexual sin. Just like porn, or sleeping with your boyfriend or girlfriend, or cheating on your significant other. It's all sexual sin and that's the issue we should be addressing. I know that the generation before us was raised in a more conservative way regarding homosexuality, but I say our generation should be the one that reaches out to the gay community in love. They should feel welcome in the church. They should not be afraid to go to church because people "will judge them".

It's time for change. We need to change the way we see homosexuality, how we react to it, and what we're doing about it. If you're reading this and you're gay, I want you to know that I LOVE you (and of course I LIKE you too, lol) and you're welcome to come to church with me any time. Or if you just want to hang out that's okay too. ;)

I don't want anyone to feel like I'm targeting gay people, I just think Christians have made a huge deal out of homosexuality when it's just sin. Just like my sins that I struggle with every day. Everyone justifies their own sin and tries to make other people's sin look so much worse. I mean, isn't materialism a sin? And I would say almost every single person I know has completely given in to that sin. Who really needs a 4,000 square foot house? Or even 2,000? We could be taking the money we spend on our mortgage every year and give it to the millions of children dying of starvation in other countries. Just a thought.

Anyway, to sum everything up, we're all jacked up. Every single one of us. Some of us are just much, much better at hiding it. That's why we're saved by grace. Because no one has all the answers, and no one is going to get it right every single time. If you're messed up like me, say AMEN! Lol

I hope this post was thought provoking.

Faith.Hope.Love.

Chelsea Rae

Just DO it

You know what I did today? I bit the bullet and I applied at Pierce College. I am learning something right now that I thought I already knew. Obedience. But you know when you "know" something but you don't really know it? You know something to be true but you don't act on it. Well...that's where I've been for the last year and a half.

During my second year in MI (Ministry Institute) I sat down with God and asked Him what He wanted me to do after the program was finished. Was I supposed to stick around Puyallup, move to another state, work full time, go to a four year university, do another internship at another church somewhere, enroll in community college while working full time...there were so many choices! I felt very strongly that I needed to enroll in school. Didn't matter where, just go to school. Well it's been about two years and guess what I haven't done?! Wow. My stubbornness and stupidity amazes me sometimes. I've been asking God for months, "What do you want me to do now? My life isn't going anywhere, I'm not moving forward. Why aren't you directing me? Why aren't you telling me what you want? Hello? Are you even listening?!" What a whiner! But He already told me what to do and I ignored Him! I've known all along that's what I need to do. Do you ever do that? Just push aside the voice of God hoping He'll stop pestering you? Well, let me just inform you, HE DOESN'T GO AWAY. If God wants you to do something, He will keep whispering in your ear and bugging you until you do it.

Not to make it sound like God is annoying, He just knows what's best for us. The morale of the story is this: If you aren't getting any direction from God, take a look into your past and see if you did the last thing He told you to do.

I haven't even started classes yet and I already feel a weight lifted off my shoulders! Chad Veach once said, "Obedience brings confidence." When you know for a fact that you're walking in the will of God you just feel better. There's a reason God says He desires obedience over sacrifice. Because He knows all the benefits of being obedient. It's easier to smile, easier to be generous, easier to resist temptation...you literally feel lighter. I would encourage you to try it.

Well, it definitely felt good to get that off my shoulders! Now, take a look in the mirror, my friend. Are you being obedient?

Faith.Hope.Love.

Chelsea Rae

Grace

I went to Puyallup Foursquare Church this weekend and had the privilege of hearing Rick Bezet speak. He said as Christians we are called to "preach grace but never forsake truth" and that's what I am going to write about today.

Have you ever been caught doing something wrong? You know that feeling of complete horror and shame you get? It's so embarrassing getting caught!

Here's a little story...

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There once was a girl name Rose, and she was very beautiful. Her dad left her and her mom when she was 5 years old, so she never had a strong, reliable man in her life. Throughout high school she had fooled around with different guys but was never in a real relationship. She went to church every week and tried to be a good person, but she never really felt like she fit in there. Wednesday afternoon Josh, a guy from school, asked her to come over instead of going to church that night. She had messed around with Josh before so she just assumed that's what he had in mind. She knew she should go to church because that's what her mom wanted, but it was always so awkward there. Every time she walked into that building she felt everyone staring at her and she could swear she saw them whispering about her. I mean, she wasn't perfect, but who were they to judge her? None of them were perfect either. After arguing with herself for a few minutes, she agreed to go to Josh's house that night.

She had only been at Josh's house for 30 minutes and things were just getting started when suddenly someone slammed open Josh's door. To Rose's horror it was her pastor! He was in a rage--he demanded that she get dressed and follow him. Filled with shame and indignation she grabbed her clothes and left the house. How did he know she was there? And what was he going to do? Was he going to tell her mom? What would her mom say? Was he going to tell everyone at church? Oh no, that would be even worse than her mom finding out!

Once outside, he practically dragged Rose out into the street in front of Josh's house and she sees a group of people. Some other church leaders, some kids from school--what was this? They were all gathered around a man, who Rose recognized as Jesus, the one who claimed to be the Son of God.

"Jesus!" cried the pastor, still gripping Rose's arm. "I caught this girl in the act of sexual sin! How should we punish her?" He roughly threw her at the feet of Jesus.

Rose's mind was racing. What were they going to do to her? Beat her? She looked around the circle, her eyes desperate to find a way out. This Jesus would probably be the one to initiate any sort of punishment, he was supposedly perfect. How did this happen? She was completely surrounded! She could hear her pulse pounding in her ears, da-dum, da-dum, da-dum...

She closed her eyes, waiting to hear the verdict.

Jesus looked at each face in the crowd and said this, "Whoever is without sin, you can decide how we should punish her." Everyone was silent. Rose began to here the shuffling of feet and looked up to see the crowd slowly dispersing. It was then she felt the tears streaming down her face. Shocked and confused she looked up at Jesus. To her surprise there was love and compassion in his eyes.

"Where are your accusers now? Has anyone condemned you?" He said with a gentle smile on His face.

"No, they haven't, they're gone," Rose said in awe.

"That's right," he said, "and neither do I condemn you. Now go, and sin no more."

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Now, you tell me, how does the story end? Does Rose ride off into the sunset and live a perfect life? Or does she go right back to her old ways? You decide.

Jesus has given every one of us that choice. He has looked at each of us and said, "Grace, my child. Don't feel guilty, I have forgiven you. Now go, live your life differently. Don't make the same mistakes." It's up to us to decide how we're going to respond. Are we going to take advantage of his grace and keep on making the same exact mistakes? Or will we make a change and continually ask God for strength to do what's right?

If you want to be that person that "goes and sins no more" then there's some things you absolutely have to do. First, you need to take a hard look at your life and the areas that you struggle with the most and surrender those things to the Lord. Second, you need to identify the people that are encouraging you to sin, or even just allowing you to sin and not challenging you to make better choices. You need to put some distance between yourself and those people. Third, you need to have something to fill the void. If you're cutting things, habits, places, people out of your life, you have to replace them with something. Find a new hobby, make new friends, find a church to get involved in, listen to more uplifting music, go back to school, join a smallgroup. Find something to occupy your mind and time, or you will more than likely fall right back into your old life. Fourth, you have to remember that you are not perfect. Just because you're following all the right steps and praying and reading your Bible, that doesn't mean you're never going to sin again. That's why we're saved by grace, not by our works.

Be encouraged, friends. Jesus doesn't look down on you and judge. His desire is that you would love him more than you love your sin and live your life accordingly. Lay down your pride, admit that you need a Savior, and fall into the loving arms of Jesus. He's waiting.

Faith.Hope.Love

Chelsea Rae