Holy. Cow. I knew I hadn't written a blog for a long time, but I didn't realize it was THIS long! I always feel like I don't have time to sit down and type something out, so here I am making myself. My Aunt Jill commented the other day wondering why I never blog anymore... so here it is ;)
I want to tell a story here of simplicity yet significance. Over the Christmas season this past year, Jay and I's small group decided we wanted to put our money together to help those in need during the holiday season. We decided we wanted to help pay off people's lay aways (which seemed to be a common theme this past year), so group of us went out one night to K-Mart with a stack of money in hopes of doing so. As we stood at the lay away counter and talked to the lady working there about what we wanted to do, there began to form a line of customers who were there to pay on their lay aways. We decided to help those specific people that were in line and gave them the amount they needed to pay off their lay aways. Their expression was priceless as they looked around with shocked faces wondering if this was some sort of joke or maybe a reality TV show.
We also decided to walk around the store and each of us were to find specific people to give money away to. As I walked down aisles and scanned the faces of many people, I prayed that God would show me who He wanted me to give this money to. I found a mother and her children in the toy section who I immediately felt drawn to give my simple $20 to. I approached the mother and told her I wanted to give her the $20 to help pay for Christmas gifts, I then proceeded to tell her that I was doing this because Jesus loved her. For giving her just a twenty dollar bill, you would have thought this lady had just won the lottery! She started joyfully yelling and grabbing me in a huge hug. She told me she was literally about to put a pair of boots back that she wanted to buy her daughter for Christmas because she didn't have enough money for them, but with the money I gave her she now could afford them. She then told me, "I was starting to think Jesus didn't love me anymore!", in which I was able to reassure her that He still loved her and always will.
I tell you this story not to brag on me or my small group. If that's what you got out of this then you are missing the real story. I want to show the reality of how simple it is to brighten someone's day, encourage someone, and share Jesus with someone. Yet it is rare that we do these things. I'll be honest in saying that since then I have not done the best showing this same encouragement and love to strangers. It's always strange talking to strangers, I'll be the first to admit that. But we should not limit our actions because of fear. I pray that I would do better at this, that I would the hands and feet of Jesus and care and reach out to others. I encourage you to do the same... whether that means paying for someone else's groceries next time you're at the store, making food for your neighbors that you don't normally talk to, or simply engaging people in conversations and making them feel worth your time. The possibilities are endless and the possibilities are simple... yet so significant.
-Alisha
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Why Colorado?
So here I am officially one year into marriage and loving every minute of it. Before we were married everyone warned us that "the first year is the worst, but don't worry it gets better". Coming through our first year of marriage, Jay and I couldn't disagree with that statement more.. we loved our first year of marriage! I mean sure we had our share of fights, but who doesn't when you are constantly living with someone, whether it's your parents, siblings, spouse, etc. We've enjoyed establishing our home here at our apartment and having friends over, we've loved traveling for Jay's shows, and we are excited about the new ministry, "Guard Your Heart" that we have started.
We decided to spend our one year anniversary out in the mountains of Colorado. "Why Colorado?", that is the constant question we got from people back home and also from people out in Colorado. Our typical response was that our grandma let us use her timeshare and we could pick from a bunch of places all over the US and that we wanted something different from Florida, since we have been there twice since we've been married. Looking back at our trip we took last week I think I would have to change my response. So why Colorado? Because I believe that even though it was a vacation, God had a plan for us there in the small town of Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
One night we were in the hot tub at our resort and there was only one other family out there the same time as us. They had two young girls and so Jay and I played with them by throwing sinker toys into the pool for them to dive for. Later on as the family was getting ready to leave, the husband and wife came over and thanked us for playing with their kids. They continued to ask us "what we do" back here in Ohio. So Jay started to explain that he is a Christian solo artist and what that means, which typically doesn't get much of a response. This couple seemed really interested and then begun to share with us that they are also in the ministry. It took Jay and I off guard as I guess we don't normally meet fellow Christians in hot tubs, haha. They continued to tell us about how they run a ministry called Sk8 Church in Steamboat Springs. They go out to the local skate parks and provide dinner for kids and hang out with them and just be Jesus to them. They also have their own building where they have an indoor skate park and have youth group their on Wednesday evenings and open skate nights on Thursdays. They told us that if we were interested in sharing with their youth group that week that they could talk to the youth pastor about it, but at the same time left it open as it was our vacation and we may not want to do that on our vacation.
Jay and I's first response was that we would love to share with them. Yes, it was our vacation but as Christians we are called to do ministry and share with others all the time... we should never have a "vacation" from that. And so Jay immediately emailed this guy as soon as we got back to our room and set everything up. Wednesday evening we went down to Sk8 Church and Jay did a small concert, shared a message, and then did worship. It was awesome to see God use us in a place that we weren't even expecting. We went the following night as well down to the local skate park and hung out with kids and watched them skate. It was so awesome to be able to have this happen because typically Jay and I spend a ton of time trying to book shows, where this show was done 100% by God opening doors and wanting us to share there. There is no better feeling than to know you are doing what God wants you to do and for Him to provide the perfect opportunities.
Another awesome way we saw God work on our trip happened on our last day on our way home. We had flown into Denver and drove a rental car another three hours into Steamboat Springs. So as we were driving out of Steamboat Springs we passed a hitchhiker who looked fairly young. We didn't think much of it but had some casual conversation about hitchhikers like "I wonder if it's common to hitchhike in this area" and so on. We got a few miles out of Steamboat when I realized I had left some clothes back at the hotel. We quickly turned around and headed back and once again saw the same hitchhiker. This time we decided that if we saw him again once we stopped back at the resort then we would take that as a sign that we were supposed to pick him up. I think a little bit to our relief our hitchhiker was not there when we drove past again. We figured someone else had picked him up and were glad for that, we stated that "well if we would happen to see him again, we'll pick him up".
Well obviously God had a plan for us and this hitchhiker. We were about 40 minutes away from where we had last seen him, driving up in the mountains. As we're coming down the side of one mountain, to our suprise.. there he was. At first we passed him up because it happened so quickly but we remembered that we said if we saw him again we would pick him up. So thus we quickly turned around and drove back to him. He was super excited and threw his bag and guitar case in the back and climbed in. He said he needed to get to Winter Park which was about an hour and a half away but directly on the way to Denver.
So for the next hour and a half we got to know this guy. His name was Luke and he was only 19 years old. He doesn't have a car so he hitchhikes everywhere. He is an aspiring blues musician. He believes in God, yet doesn't go to church because he doesn't believe you have to go to a church to worship Him. He lives in a commune. He also comes from a pretty sad life where his mom and dad were never married, he was one of those kids who was an "accident" yet his mom decided to have him anyways. His mom and dad both are married to different people and have different families. All of Luke's siblings are half siblings. And so here's Luke thrown in the middle of all of this and not really having a place to belong.
We enjoyed that hour and a half in the car with him as he was super friendly and talked non-stop the whole way. He even got his guitar out and played us some of his music. We asked him if he had eaten lunch yet, as we were getting pretty hungry, and his response was that he hadn't and didn't have money on him. So we offered to pay for him if he wanted to eat with us. He suggested we eat at the "Crooked Creek Saloon", which is not the typical place Jay and I would eat at. But it seemed very important to him as this was where his parents first met. We ate lunch with him and learned more about him and told him about us and really just tried to let him know he was worth something. He was worth our time, he was worth our conversation, he was worth our lunch money. We then brought him back to him commune, which was by far one of the most interesting places I have ever been to. He showed us around his extremely tiny, fits only one person, log cabin. As we left he got Jay's facebook info and exclaimed, "This won't be the last you hear from me!".
As I said before, it feels so good, so right, to be doing what God wants us to do and just following through the doors He opens. Please don't read this post and think "oh Jay and Alisha look how great they are, they went and shared with that youth group and they picked up a hitchhiker". If you think that then you are missing the point of this post altogether. I want you to read this and think wow, look how great God is. Look at the amazing opportunities He provides if only we were willing to obey. Look at how He can use you no matter where you are. Look at the courage He gave us to do something we've never done and were nervous about doing... picking up a hitchhiker!
God wants to use you whether it's at your job, in your community, or even on your vacation. God has opportunities like these for all of us every single day. The question is are we willing to to be not so self focused and to see the needs of those around us. Are we willing to do whatever God calls us to do no matter how terrifying it may seem, no matter how crazy in the world's eyes it may seem.
Go look for ways God wants to use you and then actually DO those things. No excuses.
-Alisha
We decided to spend our one year anniversary out in the mountains of Colorado. "Why Colorado?", that is the constant question we got from people back home and also from people out in Colorado. Our typical response was that our grandma let us use her timeshare and we could pick from a bunch of places all over the US and that we wanted something different from Florida, since we have been there twice since we've been married. Looking back at our trip we took last week I think I would have to change my response. So why Colorado? Because I believe that even though it was a vacation, God had a plan for us there in the small town of Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
One night we were in the hot tub at our resort and there was only one other family out there the same time as us. They had two young girls and so Jay and I played with them by throwing sinker toys into the pool for them to dive for. Later on as the family was getting ready to leave, the husband and wife came over and thanked us for playing with their kids. They continued to ask us "what we do" back here in Ohio. So Jay started to explain that he is a Christian solo artist and what that means, which typically doesn't get much of a response. This couple seemed really interested and then begun to share with us that they are also in the ministry. It took Jay and I off guard as I guess we don't normally meet fellow Christians in hot tubs, haha. They continued to tell us about how they run a ministry called Sk8 Church in Steamboat Springs. They go out to the local skate parks and provide dinner for kids and hang out with them and just be Jesus to them. They also have their own building where they have an indoor skate park and have youth group their on Wednesday evenings and open skate nights on Thursdays. They told us that if we were interested in sharing with their youth group that week that they could talk to the youth pastor about it, but at the same time left it open as it was our vacation and we may not want to do that on our vacation.
Jay and I's first response was that we would love to share with them. Yes, it was our vacation but as Christians we are called to do ministry and share with others all the time... we should never have a "vacation" from that. And so Jay immediately emailed this guy as soon as we got back to our room and set everything up. Wednesday evening we went down to Sk8 Church and Jay did a small concert, shared a message, and then did worship. It was awesome to see God use us in a place that we weren't even expecting. We went the following night as well down to the local skate park and hung out with kids and watched them skate. It was so awesome to be able to have this happen because typically Jay and I spend a ton of time trying to book shows, where this show was done 100% by God opening doors and wanting us to share there. There is no better feeling than to know you are doing what God wants you to do and for Him to provide the perfect opportunities.
Another awesome way we saw God work on our trip happened on our last day on our way home. We had flown into Denver and drove a rental car another three hours into Steamboat Springs. So as we were driving out of Steamboat Springs we passed a hitchhiker who looked fairly young. We didn't think much of it but had some casual conversation about hitchhikers like "I wonder if it's common to hitchhike in this area" and so on. We got a few miles out of Steamboat when I realized I had left some clothes back at the hotel. We quickly turned around and headed back and once again saw the same hitchhiker. This time we decided that if we saw him again once we stopped back at the resort then we would take that as a sign that we were supposed to pick him up. I think a little bit to our relief our hitchhiker was not there when we drove past again. We figured someone else had picked him up and were glad for that, we stated that "well if we would happen to see him again, we'll pick him up".
Well obviously God had a plan for us and this hitchhiker. We were about 40 minutes away from where we had last seen him, driving up in the mountains. As we're coming down the side of one mountain, to our suprise.. there he was. At first we passed him up because it happened so quickly but we remembered that we said if we saw him again we would pick him up. So thus we quickly turned around and drove back to him. He was super excited and threw his bag and guitar case in the back and climbed in. He said he needed to get to Winter Park which was about an hour and a half away but directly on the way to Denver.
So for the next hour and a half we got to know this guy. His name was Luke and he was only 19 years old. He doesn't have a car so he hitchhikes everywhere. He is an aspiring blues musician. He believes in God, yet doesn't go to church because he doesn't believe you have to go to a church to worship Him. He lives in a commune. He also comes from a pretty sad life where his mom and dad were never married, he was one of those kids who was an "accident" yet his mom decided to have him anyways. His mom and dad both are married to different people and have different families. All of Luke's siblings are half siblings. And so here's Luke thrown in the middle of all of this and not really having a place to belong.
We enjoyed that hour and a half in the car with him as he was super friendly and talked non-stop the whole way. He even got his guitar out and played us some of his music. We asked him if he had eaten lunch yet, as we were getting pretty hungry, and his response was that he hadn't and didn't have money on him. So we offered to pay for him if he wanted to eat with us. He suggested we eat at the "Crooked Creek Saloon", which is not the typical place Jay and I would eat at. But it seemed very important to him as this was where his parents first met. We ate lunch with him and learned more about him and told him about us and really just tried to let him know he was worth something. He was worth our time, he was worth our conversation, he was worth our lunch money. We then brought him back to him commune, which was by far one of the most interesting places I have ever been to. He showed us around his extremely tiny, fits only one person, log cabin. As we left he got Jay's facebook info and exclaimed, "This won't be the last you hear from me!".
As I said before, it feels so good, so right, to be doing what God wants us to do and just following through the doors He opens. Please don't read this post and think "oh Jay and Alisha look how great they are, they went and shared with that youth group and they picked up a hitchhiker". If you think that then you are missing the point of this post altogether. I want you to read this and think wow, look how great God is. Look at the amazing opportunities He provides if only we were willing to obey. Look at how He can use you no matter where you are. Look at the courage He gave us to do something we've never done and were nervous about doing... picking up a hitchhiker!
God wants to use you whether it's at your job, in your community, or even on your vacation. God has opportunities like these for all of us every single day. The question is are we willing to to be not so self focused and to see the needs of those around us. Are we willing to do whatever God calls us to do no matter how terrifying it may seem, no matter how crazy in the world's eyes it may seem.
Go look for ways God wants to use you and then actually DO those things. No excuses.
-Alisha
Thursday, April 28, 2011
In the worst of the worst... God is there.
Hmm.. I don't even know where to start. I guess there has been a lot on my mind from tonight. For those of you who don't know, Jay and I are youth leaders at our church's youth group. Tonight at youth group our youth pastor, Dan, showed pictures from his trip to Togo, Africa and talked about what he experienced there. Now I've seen many different mission trip slideshows over the years but none have affected me like the photos and stories I heard tonight.
If you know Dan, I encourage you to talk to him about his trip and hear about what happened. For those of you who don't know Dan, I would like to share a little bit of what he told us tonight.
Of course there's the stories of the obvious culture shock of going to the bathroom in public, women not wearing tops, and African people wanting to touch you because they've never seen a white person. But the those aren't the type of things I want to share. I want to share the things that really weighed heavy on my heart and brought me to tears.
These people in Gbent Chal, Togo are some of the most hopeless people you could imagine. The average life span of people in Gbent Chal is 32 yrs old. Children have to walk 10 miles a day to get drinking water.. and that's not even clean drinking water. Dan showed us pictures of the water which was filthy, he said that he wouldn't want to touch the water let alone drink it. We in here in America complain about simple chores when these people don't have any other option than to walk 10 miles to get water or else they die.
There are about 40 orphans there in the village, some of whom both parents have died others one parent has died and the other has left them to fend for themselves. One of these orphans is a boy who is mentally retarded and is a mute. Dan said that this boy is of no use to anyone because of his handicaps he cannot work therefore he roams in the fields all day and scavenges for food. His feet are torn and bloody because he has never had shoes, and he wears a sweater around in 130 degree temperatures because that is the only clothing he has. Dan was Jesus to this boy and gave him a t-shirt and shorts and also his Crocs, which were his first pair of shoes.
There are some orphans there that if you ask them their age will not know it. They do not celebrate their birthdays in Gbent Chal and have no parents left to keep track of their age. The most saddening thing is that some of these orphans don't even know their own names. If they ever even had a name in the first place, they don't know what it is and most people refer to them as "hey you" or "boy" or "girl". I can't even imagine not even having a name, I would feel so worthless.. and sadly I'm sure that's how many of these children feel.
Gbent Chal, Togo is one of the most forgotten, broken, hopeless, negative places in the world... and yet in the midst of all of that, God is there. The people of of Gbent Chal have never heard of Jesus but are interested and open to learn about Him as they are curious to why wealthy Americans would want to come help them. There is an African pastor moving himself and his family into Gbent Chal to minister to the people. Mentor Leaders(the organization helping out and bringing in mission trips) is breaking ground this month on building an orphanage for the children. They are also breaking ground on putting in two water purification wells. Sonny, a Muslim man that drove Dan's group into Gbent Chal, decided to stay in Gbent Chal with the group while they were there because he was curious as to what they were doing. While he was there he stopped praying to his Muslim god and started praying with the group to Jesus.
Check out www.mentorleaders.org to see what God is doing and to donate to the people of Gbent Chal.
God is real and God is moving. What do you need to do to see God become real and move in your own life and the lives of others? What do you need to do to further the Kingdom of Heaven??
Goodnight.
-Alisha
If you know Dan, I encourage you to talk to him about his trip and hear about what happened. For those of you who don't know Dan, I would like to share a little bit of what he told us tonight.
Of course there's the stories of the obvious culture shock of going to the bathroom in public, women not wearing tops, and African people wanting to touch you because they've never seen a white person. But the those aren't the type of things I want to share. I want to share the things that really weighed heavy on my heart and brought me to tears.
These people in Gbent Chal, Togo are some of the most hopeless people you could imagine. The average life span of people in Gbent Chal is 32 yrs old. Children have to walk 10 miles a day to get drinking water.. and that's not even clean drinking water. Dan showed us pictures of the water which was filthy, he said that he wouldn't want to touch the water let alone drink it. We in here in America complain about simple chores when these people don't have any other option than to walk 10 miles to get water or else they die.
There are about 40 orphans there in the village, some of whom both parents have died others one parent has died and the other has left them to fend for themselves. One of these orphans is a boy who is mentally retarded and is a mute. Dan said that this boy is of no use to anyone because of his handicaps he cannot work therefore he roams in the fields all day and scavenges for food. His feet are torn and bloody because he has never had shoes, and he wears a sweater around in 130 degree temperatures because that is the only clothing he has. Dan was Jesus to this boy and gave him a t-shirt and shorts and also his Crocs, which were his first pair of shoes.
There are some orphans there that if you ask them their age will not know it. They do not celebrate their birthdays in Gbent Chal and have no parents left to keep track of their age. The most saddening thing is that some of these orphans don't even know their own names. If they ever even had a name in the first place, they don't know what it is and most people refer to them as "hey you" or "boy" or "girl". I can't even imagine not even having a name, I would feel so worthless.. and sadly I'm sure that's how many of these children feel.
Gbent Chal, Togo is one of the most forgotten, broken, hopeless, negative places in the world... and yet in the midst of all of that, God is there. The people of of Gbent Chal have never heard of Jesus but are interested and open to learn about Him as they are curious to why wealthy Americans would want to come help them. There is an African pastor moving himself and his family into Gbent Chal to minister to the people. Mentor Leaders(the organization helping out and bringing in mission trips) is breaking ground this month on building an orphanage for the children. They are also breaking ground on putting in two water purification wells. Sonny, a Muslim man that drove Dan's group into Gbent Chal, decided to stay in Gbent Chal with the group while they were there because he was curious as to what they were doing. While he was there he stopped praying to his Muslim god and started praying with the group to Jesus.
Check out www.mentorleaders.org to see what God is doing and to donate to the people of Gbent Chal.
God is real and God is moving. What do you need to do to see God become real and move in your own life and the lives of others? What do you need to do to further the Kingdom of Heaven??
Goodnight.
-Alisha
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
What is Positive Negative You May Ask?
Well hello there,
This is my first time ever "blogging"... I guess I use to have one of those livejournal things back in the day, but I'm pretty sure all I wrote about was stupid insignificant things like how much I loved Hilary Duff and other random things like that. Don't worry, this blog is not going to be about stupid insignificant things. I've really been thinking lately about writing some sort of journal or blog about the things I experience in life. I feel like I've been through so much in my short life already and that God has so much more in store for me, so why not share it with the world, right?
There are some of you out there that will get the name of this blog, there are others of you who may wonder what the name means. The name "The Positive Negatives" originally comes from my brother Nick who came up with this name for a band he wanted to start. Since Nick's death in 2006, this name has been used for many different things in memory of him. As I was thinking of a name for this blog those words "positive negative" just seemed so appropriate. As I grow older I am noticing more and more how negative this world is... all the disease, death, sin, hate, hypocrisy, selfishness. At the same time I continue to see God's beauty in this world and His faithful hand at work in my life and the life of others. That is obviously the positive side to "positive negative"... and thus the meaning behind my "finding the positives in a negative world". I plan to share stories of my past and how I've seen God in the midst of dark times. I also plan to share stories of my life now as I continue to see God do amazing things, especially as my husband, Jay, and I travel around (Jay is a Christian solo-artist) and minister to kids.
I invite you to continue reading as I share my journey and hope to inspire you to look for God's hand in your own life... even the midst of negativity, He is always there.
~Alisha
This is my first time ever "blogging"... I guess I use to have one of those livejournal things back in the day, but I'm pretty sure all I wrote about was stupid insignificant things like how much I loved Hilary Duff and other random things like that. Don't worry, this blog is not going to be about stupid insignificant things. I've really been thinking lately about writing some sort of journal or blog about the things I experience in life. I feel like I've been through so much in my short life already and that God has so much more in store for me, so why not share it with the world, right?
There are some of you out there that will get the name of this blog, there are others of you who may wonder what the name means. The name "The Positive Negatives" originally comes from my brother Nick who came up with this name for a band he wanted to start. Since Nick's death in 2006, this name has been used for many different things in memory of him. As I was thinking of a name for this blog those words "positive negative" just seemed so appropriate. As I grow older I am noticing more and more how negative this world is... all the disease, death, sin, hate, hypocrisy, selfishness. At the same time I continue to see God's beauty in this world and His faithful hand at work in my life and the life of others. That is obviously the positive side to "positive negative"... and thus the meaning behind my "finding the positives in a negative world". I plan to share stories of my past and how I've seen God in the midst of dark times. I also plan to share stories of my life now as I continue to see God do amazing things, especially as my husband, Jay, and I travel around (Jay is a Christian solo-artist) and minister to kids.
I invite you to continue reading as I share my journey and hope to inspire you to look for God's hand in your own life... even the midst of negativity, He is always there.
~Alisha
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