Monday, January 13, 2014

The Love Project


I had a car once. Then she died.

I mean, gave up the ghost died. Going into cardiac arrest with no chance of resuscitation dead. Ding. Dong. The Wicked Witch is dead, dead.

It also happened at a red light. At night. In the cold. I was alone. Slightly sad. And yes, it was pathetic.

Is this entire post about poor Lucy? Nope, but if you stick around, I might segway nicely into the actual purpose of this post.

Maybe… Unless I get distracted. By chocolate.

Backtracking ever so slightly…..

This past spring I took a job. In Rainier Valley. I live in Shoreline. For those of you unfamiliar with the geographic landscape of the greater Seattle area, I will put it into context. I was working 20 miles south of where I lived. Meaning almost 3 hours of commuting. Every. Single. Day…. And yes, it was as horrible as it sounds.

However, being the resourceful person I am known to be, I immediately began looking for alternative ways to go to work. Seriously, who am I kidding? I like sleeping in… more than I should. And, I also like saving money. So after months of not having any money (because it was all being physically poured into my gas tank), I decided to give the bus a try.

And the thing is, it worked. Surprisingly well. That is….when I used it.

As I mentioned, I really like to sleep in. Like, a lot. The main reason I like to sleep in, is because I am a night owl. My best ideas come late at night. I get the most done at night. I am more productive in the evening than almost any other time of the day. However, I have yet to find a job that is conducive with my night time preferences.

Translation = I haven’t found a job that will let me sleep in past 5:30am

Regretfully, I got a little lazy toward the end of the summer, early fall. Um, I mean, I was lazy from July – December. I maybe rode the bus 20 times. And not in a row either. The fact was, I didn't like getting up early. So I just drove. And spent more money… and was still annoyed and tired when I got home. Why? I guess because I could.

So now you are all legitimately bored, wondering why I am telling you about my sluggish and slacker behaviors. You mentally say you could care less and have just wasted 10 perfectly good minutes to watch TV.

So why am I giving this entire back story?

I sheepishly will admit, that saving money wasn't the only reason I felt compelled to take the bus. Jesus might have told me, the 2nd day of riding the bus in early July, this was an incredible opportunity to meet people, share His gospel, and show love to the people of my city.

But I wasn't committed to doing it every day. I should have been. But I wasn't.

So, do I think my car died to force me to ride the bus? Um, yeah…. I kind of do.

Now, I don’t believe it died because the Lord was punishing me. No, I don’t believe that at all. I believe Jesus allowed my car to die in order to show me something awesome. And to make Him real to me in a way He hadn't been before.

It was almost as if the Lord was saying, “Elizabeth! I want to show you something amazing, and if you don’t do what I told you, you are going to miss it. And then you will be super bummed out. So knowing you the way I do, I am going to take away the thing that is hindering you, because I want to show you incredible things.”

So 2014 is going to be the year of “The Love Project”

If you ask me what it looks like, I don’t really know….

If you ask for my game plan, besides riding the bus every day, I don’t really have a plan.

But, I have an open and willing heart, a drive and a purpose to see this through, and an ORCA card full of bus money, just waiting to be spent!

I want people to hear about the love of Jesus. I want people to experience the joy and awesomeness that only He can provide. I want to love on people. When someone is looking sad, I want to be a part of Jesus’ plan to make them smile again.

When I was about three years old, my sister and I made a cassette recording. It really didn't make any sense at the time, and to be honest, it still doesn't make any sense. My sister was just having me repeat everything she was saying. And I did it. Quite willingly I might add. One of the things she told me to repeat was, “I love everybody!” I repeated, “I love everybody!” as I was consumed by a fit of giggles. The truth of it was, I being completely sincere. Even though I was repeating my sister, I really did love everybody. I didn't necessarily like everyone, but I did love them. All of them.

I realized if I can love with abandon at three without fully knowing Jesus, then at 26, I can most assuredly love even deeper because I am filled with the Holy Spirit and His love is immeasurable, powerful and conquers all things.

As I go into 2014 with The Love Project on my heart and mind, I will keep you posted. I will tell you what I see, hear, experience and learn.

And in return, when you experience or share or see the love of Jesus at work, I want to hear about it. I want to see it. I want to know about it.

So please – take advantage of the gift that is social media and FB, IG, Twitter, etc all of your stories – oh, and use #theloveproject2014.


So excited about this year!

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