Down on the Daydream

As I sit at the kitchen table of my home, I am burdened for the people of Haiti.  Signing up for the trip, almost 8 weeks ago, I was not aware about the emotional and spiritual toll it was going to have on my life.  

I am convicted with the amount of things I have in my home.  The clothes, the trinkets, the decorations, the comforts, the food.  I was woken up by hunger, and I am burdened.  I opened my fridge and grabbed some pie that my Mom had made, turned on my computer and caught up on a show I had missed while gone.  First-world pains.  

I browsed on Netflix for a bit and stumbled upon a documentary that was filmed about Haiti after the earthquake.  Brought to tears, I began to pray.  The hopelessness of the people is real.  Still.  

I am thinking back on the last few days, about what God has taught the team.  God did show up.  I know that Jesus shined, and still is, in Haiti.  His Good News was spread by hugs, food, playing, laughing and simply by the mention of His name, Jesus.  The mention of His name, Jesus, can pierce the thickest, most oppressive darkness the enemy can muster.  Our King reigns in Haiti.  

Looking at pictures on Facebook, I can rejoice in the sight of smiles of the children.  That we, the body of Christ can rest in the fact that He is reigning in Haiti.  Still.

Despite the hopelessness of Haiti, Jesus will reign.  He will make Himself known to the people of Haiti.  Offering hope and joy to those who have nothing.  And to those who are His vessels, He will be their joy and their hope.  Despite the darkness lingering in the streets of Haiti, Jesus will make Himself known.

I wish I could have brought each and every one of our supporters with us.  So, that you, too, could see how powerful our King, our God, our Father is.  I am praying that God would burden our hearts, not only for Haiti, but for those who feel hopeless in our homes, our neighborhoods, our schools, our communities.  They are out there.  Their hopelessness isn’t as easy to point out though.  First-world pains of acceptance, materialism and anxiety.  

Pray with us as we are tossed right back into our reality.  We do not want to lose the heart for the hopeless.  We want our hearts to be broken for what breaks His.  What breaks His heart is that His children are not with Him.  That is the Gospel.  That is what pierces darkness.  The Love of Christ.  That God sent His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to conquer the enemies work.  He died to save us all from hopelessness.  

Rest in and respond to His Love.  

I Never Thought I’d be a Couponer…

Tonight Jess and I stumbled upon a new show while channel surfing, on TLC called, “Extreme Couponers.”  It’s a show about people who take couponing to a whole new level.  This week, it was about 5 people who save nearly 98% on their grocery bill.  These people are so extreme, that one of them, a young mother of 2, goes dumpster diving for unused coupons.  Then she combines these coupons with the ones she clips each week.  The show follows these people into the store as they shop and they share why and how they are “extreme couponers.”

This lady bout roughly $700 worth of food, drinks and toiletries for her family and spent only $2.00!  

Another guy, who runs www.weusecoupons.com, bought over $5,000.00 worth of food, drinks and toiletries for only $250.00!  He bought over 1,100 boxes of Total Cereal for only $150.00 with coupons.  What does he do with the goods he buys?  Well, he either gives it to his local churches food bank or he stores it in his garage.  He takes you on a tour of his garage and you see his shelves full of salad dressing, soaps, sodas, cereals, anything you can think of he has it stock-piled.  

He says that he has over $50,000.00 worth of groceries and he only spent around $1,000.00!!!  

So, Jess and I are up right now, printing and dividing coupons.  I doubt we will ever become Extreme Couponers, but it is a fun hobby to share with your wife (or husband).  And what is even more fun, is using them at the grocery store and watching your bill go down with every coupon used!  I am placing a goal on our next grocery outting: Save at least 50%!  Let us see how we do!

1.) To go to the gym at least 3 times a week (this is always a resolution - but probably won’t happen). According to Jessica this will happen!

2.) Pray with each other every night.

3.) Finish reading all of the books I’ve started.

4.) Pay off all of our credit cards.

5.) Eat less Oreos.

Well there’s about ten thousand reasons for that one. 

Here’s one of them.  I found myself getting very disgruntled today. For a slew of reasons (ingratitude, less-than-perfect working conditions, I’m currently feeling a bit ill, etc). Then I starting feeling sorry for myself. Then I was interrupted with this thought:

I wonder how Jesus thinks and feels about the way I react to his perfect care? I most certainly display ingratitude on a daily basis. I neglect to thank him for the slew of blessings he has bestowed, everything saving my life from eternal hell and separation from perfect love to giving me my daily bread. I don’t even acknowledge His presence most of the time. …But surely my existence should not go without acknowledgment and appreciation. Sheesh! I mean, who do I think I am?

It’s a great reality check for myself, but even more so, Its a beautiful reminder…

Romans 8:38-39 (English Standard Version)

³⁸For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Our nephew, Jeremiah, loves watching himself!! Mostly we just wanted to share the preciousness ;)

New bloggy blog

For those of you who are just dying to know more about the newest set of Christersons, check out our family blog!! It’s gonna be pretty awesome.

Welcome to Christersonville, USA!! :)

Life is super crazy and happens super fast. My (Jessica here) favourite way of keeping up with friends and family is via BLOG. It’s like getting that super long Christmas update in a succinct version every day (or so… more like once a month in our case). 

This is our famma jamma: Marley, Jessica, Jon, and Dudley.

Marley was Jessica’s and Dudley was Jon’s. We have a “blended family.”  It took the dogs a while to get used to each other, but now they are brothers. :)

Jon and I are LOVING our new town, Cumming. It sounds backwoods, but we have everything we need here and our family and friends are close. PLUS, Jon’s brother and his beautiful wife and daughter live in our neighborhood!!! We couldn’t have it better. Our rental house is a little shabby, but its a good starting place!

Jon is working as the Middle School Director for The Vine Community Church just down the road. The kids are great and he has such a good time, including hanging out with the awesome staff of the church.  I get to lead worship there quite often and LOVE it. I’m also still at Piedmont Hospital in Buckhead (quite a drive, but it’s a great job!!) on the cardiac step-down unit. It’s the same hospital, but a new floor with post open-heart/heart transplant(soon!)/Ventricular assist device patients. 

That’s us in a nutshell!! We’ll be posting frequently as life changes daily for us!

<3

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

John 4:11-12