we move with God on this earth

(8/27)
Heat and warmth or a cool breeze
Power, fiery electricity
Peace, a weight lifted
The welling up and overflowing of words
Healing touch opens ears to the truth
Our God is alive. He moves inside of us form the depest place He rests and reigns
Tap into the gifts sealed within us
Ignite.

The earth is the Lord's and everything in it
Those who are of the Lord shall inherit the earth
Claim your inheritance and live in the authority of the king as I am His and He is mine
So, also, we will walk in the promises
And rule over the things of the world
Because He that is in us is greater than He that is in the world.

Welcome to the divine encounters where the supernatural is more than reality but is part of the everyday life we live.
On this earth there are miracles. On this earth we know God and know his manifestations.
We walk in his presence, rooted in love
We need God and will work for his glory on the earth he has given us and blessed us with and use the gifts he has blessed us with to bring hope and joy to the world.

hands and feet

Nothing is impossible for you
You hold my world in your hands
Strong, you protect
Open, you accept
Gentle, you comfort
Healing, you mend
Precise, you mold

I have surrendered control
I fall at your feet
You run towards me
You are rooted; an unmovable mountain
You guide and lead me
You stand on Holy ground
You walk on water

In the confusion and chaos
You're still able
I am established with you and in you
You will rescue me and make me whole
I see the holes in your hands, I wash your feet
May I too go with healing hands
And usher your brilliance into the darkness
With the man of God you have blessed me with
Hand in hand we venture forth
Unknowing but trusting
May our hands and feet not be of our own, bur Yours

mas amor

(written 7/31/09)
Love is God.
Life doesn't become real until you start living.
Life includes the pain and hurt, in fact, that's when reality sets in.
One can hear all the wisdom in the world but that doesn't mean he will listen and follow that advise. Mistakes must be made and trials experienced.
Life is experience.
But death is Fear.
We fear truly stepping out, trusting, experience, because we're afraid to fail. So, We stick to our routines, religions, checklists and all that is familiar. We remain inside our bubbles and never look to the horizon. If you're kept in a cage your muscles will adapt and be conditioned to remain in that small, confined space. The same with our minds, heart and soul.
Expand, look and live further than the things that are in our control. Be rid of expectatoins, definitions, and fear. When we remember the joy of our imagination and dreams we also remember the carefree nature and ability to have faith when we were children.
Life is full of Love.
The only sin is not to Love.
So lets not die.

God is Love

How can I serve you?
You are always with me, you are always in my thoughts
I am so thankful for you and you're healing touch
I can give you my past and you gently take care of my vulnerability and nakedness
I believe every word you say is true and trust your every move
You take my hands and lead me to peace
How you have saved my life and changed me forever and always
To say, to feel, to know and believe that I love you comes so naturally
Thank you for comforting me and knowing my every fiber
For you always respond with love
I am lost and miserable without you
I am comfortable around you, im myself, I love to giggle and laugh with you, to walk and spend every moment with you. I want only to be with you, my light
How incredible it is to hear your voice
I long to be in your arms again

Faithfulness, never once have you forsaken me
Just one, there is no one else for me or for you
Balance between praise and silence, speaking and listening, serving and being served, trust and independence and reliance
Walking in that confidence
Infinite wisdom and never ending joy
You know my ever weakness and yet you build me in love and patience
We co labor and cry and dream and honor and love
You are beautiful beyond comparison

I get to fight next to you, to know you're always there
Together we explore and traverse, unafraid because you're always holding my hand in purity
We flame the fire together and share in drinking from the eternal well
I truly trust, and am honored to bring heaven to earth with you
I cherish every single moment at your side
What a joy to give all that I am as we praise and serve
We build each other up, work with a single mind, united
We are one, there's no "I" only "we"

Love, its meaning is so heavy and yet so freeing at the same time.
Love is such a powerful word to me, it takes my all to understand, and yet, its so simple
Whether the love be of a father, a teacher, a friend, a close lover, it’s a choice to be vulnerable and receive it.
Love is home, with whomever, wherever, however
Love knows no boundaries , perfect
Love, it spills out of you, overflows and touches other
Like a garment of praise, you wear Love and all its comforts and refuge
More than an emotion or feeling, Love is a knowing, so unshakeable
Love, becomes who you are
Because God is Love

quote

Americans have separated themselves from the natural world. During the past eighty years we have been 'advancing' so fast that we are as infants trying to run. We would be wise to slow down and learn more about primitive (first) values. Today more than ever we need to understand and live by harmony and balance with nature, for truly, man separate from nature is a fantasy.

-Eustace Conway

greenleaf intro

this is part of my internship with Greenleaf Vineyard Church in Chapel Hill, NC
this is a rough draft version of the introduction video im supposed to create for the home page of our church website http://www.greenleafvineyard.com/t/about/

the calling

Its born through a revolution
A bravery like fire
Live alone or die together
The fight with a cause
For a passion that burns inside
And flows outwards
Alive
When will the world wake up
Wipe the ignorance off our eyes
The grenades of deception and division
We must advance with unity
Stand and realize who Love is
Because we can
Redeemed
Our captain

Night reveals more dark
Uncovering and bare
From the shadows one inquires our significance
We question
The merit of that which we rage against
Cycle of sleep and wandering
It will drown the light
Break free
Drums of routine echo and overtake
Some fall
Assault finds our backs
In the quiet
Because everyone is still sleeping

Arise and remember
March in agreement and hear the commands
The Rock trains hands for war and fingers for battle
Look to the high ground
Take position, there is a plan
A fortified wall of bronze
Don't lose heart
With faith there's joy
They will fight against you but will not overcome
Rescue and Light
Shining
The war has been won
But the battle has just begun

community

If there's anything I've learned over the past few months is the importance of community.

Whether working through the giftings or working through a tough situation in one's life, the emphasis should be on working together. In my stubbornness, I neglected people's offers for help. I didn't want to cast my burdens onto their already busy and heavy backs. But iron sharpens iron.

When I am at a prayer meeting, I can feel how much more power there is with people. If we were meant to do things on our own, God would have only created Adam. Yet, there lacked a completeness with just one individual. Communion between the people closest to me has been so incredibly important over the past few months. In the animal world, packs rely on each other to be fed, for protection, and direction.

We are the body of Christ, each uniquely working together. However, I am still trying to find the balance between too much dependence and a necessary/healthy supporting net of brothers and sisters. Because in the end, the most crucial communion is that with our Creator.

Nat'l Champs

A helicopter whirred overhead.

Firemen shuffled from foot to foot against the wind. Police quietly gathered on street corners.

Then the noise downtown began to grow, from the sporadic cheer to a steady, rising roar.

And when the buzzer blared 700 miles away, Franklin Street was buried by thousands of Carolina blue-clad fans, screaming, dancing and burning the clothes off their backs.

The crowd of more than 45,000 materialized in a matter of minutes after North Carolina’s 89-72 win against Michigan State to claim the 2009 NCAA title.

Fans poured from the doors of bars and restaurants. Waves of students sprinted downtown from their dorms and the Smith Center.

Together we became a tangled mass of bodies, hoisting each other onto their shoulders, spraying beer across the crowds, climbing street lights, hanging off trees and shouting into the mass below.

It was beautiful. Me, Paulina, the Suite Mates, Drew, Ryan, Kevin, Gregor, Burcu, Morgan, Kirmit, and thousands of our closest friends became an Ameba that took over Franklin, started fires, and shouted till 3 am when we were cleared from the streets.

Who knows, we may never see another mens basketball title during our time here at the Thrill. So, soak it all in. Why not, jump over a fire or two; crowd surf, climb a tree or telephone pole. Live. Even better, live it up with the people you love.

That's what the night was all about. Celebrating with you're closest friends...(and if you weren't close at the beginning of the night, after being smashed into each other in the mob, you will be closer by the end of the night) But just coming together, cheering, screaming, then sprinting to Franklin and talking about the night after is the memory that i will have. National title is sweet, but being with my family and closest friends was even sweeter.

a word

Come come to bring together my people who have lost focus come to bring together my people who have lost sight and have gone blind who are blinded by the deceiver of my love for them.

Now now is the time to be confident in your words and actions it begins

A time of healing time of rejuvenation and a final revival

Bestow the majesty and power of your captain

Align the church to be in agreement with my will

Discern pray resurrect

go. act. serve. love. shine.

God of Justice, Saviour to all
Came to rescue the weak and the poor
Chose to serve and not be served

Jesus, You have called us
Freely we've received
Now freely we will give

We must go live to feed the hungry
Stand beside the broken
We must go
Stepping forward keep us from just singing
Move us into action
We must go

To act justly everyday
Loving mercy in everyway
Walking humbly before You God

You have shown us, what You require
Freely we've received
Now freely we will give


Fill us up and send us out
Fill us up and send us out
Fill us up and send us out Lord

scientific method vs Belief

In Psychology, we’ve been taught that the Scientific Method is The Way, the only way to know and obtain knowledge. In the scientific world it is accepted as the only true system of processes to explain a question or data. However, what is true? How do we know what is true, as the scientific method hasn’t always been around…

To know what truth is, one must first define truth. Truth manifests itself from sincerity, integrity, or faith, resulting to a fact or what one considers reality. There are an abundance of theories by philosophers who have their own take on the definition. Some state that truth is defined by society, or through historical power struggles, or logic that if one thing is true than a similar claim is also. Yet, it is among the endless list of theories, made by many of the world’s great thinkers, which lays a simple solution: that truth is just that, personal. There are countless ideas and limitless ways of knowing because every human is an individual and unique. No two lives are the same and no experience is exactly alike. Truth is based from logic, belief, or a combination of the two, and since everyone thinks in his or her own distinctive way thus produces diverse answers to the question of truth.

Logical thinkers appeal to the sciences where answers are formulative and derived from a precise beginning and would prefer to stay within the black and white box. Those who base truth out of belief go off of emotion and are unable to label why a certain event led them to the answer. Naturally, belief and logic will cross over and affect each other. However, it is quite impossible to logic one in believing or vice versa. Complicated webs form and entangle thinkers and frustrate scholars who seek only to share their findings and better their academic community. This is probably why the scientific method was created. It’s the Esperanto, the common language for scientists. It’s a formula that anyone anywhere can understand and implement, but also it’s a way to place boundaries and define expansive ideas.

Overall, no, the scientific method is not the only technique for investigating occurrences and is not the only way of knowing. We individually have our own method in which we find truth, whether by your heart or your head.

life's just one big game slash party

i, caroline, have learned two things in the past few days.
1) games, are awesome.
2) laura's grandmother officially parties harder than i do.

okay, so at school i never play games. but here...its my life. i play croquet, volleyball, solitaire/carioca/canasta (card games), and the beacon of them all, compatability. so compatability is this game that isn't made anymore. every person gets this pile of cards with certain pictures on them. as you move around the board you draw cards with topics on them (future, for example), and you choose which pictures represent them (perhaps the baby, the married couple, the skyscraper). then you see if your partner picked the same ones, or you try to choose the ones your partner would choose. its a fantastic game because you really get to know the people you are playing with, how they perceive things, what they're about, etc. but its more than that...its really competitive. you have you know your partner better than the opposing team members know each other. you don't know if you should put down what you think or what you think your partner would think!

but i don't understand why i get so into games! i think maybe, thanks to school, i have this craving for mental stimulation. and maybe its not the exercise of schoolwork, maybe i am inherently wired for mental exercise, maybe we all are-- designed to think about things, to challenge ourselves and to learn things. there's like this insatiable craving for exploration and adventure.

and this element of life...the competitive nature...the adventurous spirit...can truly connect people across oceans and continents. last night laura and i visited some of her grandmother's friends, who are chilean. their kids were about our age, a little younger, and don't speak much english. and i don't speak spanish. so i'm thinking like...how is this going to work? and then we go into the girl's room and she has pictionary! and we seriously had the best time. it was the americans vs. the chileans of course...a showdown of epic proportions. team english and equipo espanol! i think game play reveals certain universal elements of humanity. there's the vigorous circling of what you've drawn when it makes perfect sense to you, its so obvious! and time's running out and your partner just can't make out what you're drawing and they're like why do you keep circling that i don't understand! and there's the emotional release of energy when time has run out and they tell you the thing they were drawing that was so obvious that you were supposed to get right away but missed! and then there's the uncontrollable spouts of laughter when you see how someone's pitiful attempt to communicate something that just failed..quite miserably. then there's the unfortunate pang of misery that comes with finding out you have to draw the picture with your eyes closed, or with your left hand...or worse, you have to draw two pictures in the same amount of time!

i just love it, essentially. i love the way i get so worked up and think that my personal value is actually at stake. i love the way that in the same few minutes you can totally resent someone for their success but then rejoice with them after they've won-- because we're really all just friends anyway. the time lapse of mere seconds reveals the transience of all the game-associated emotions.

okay number 2, laura's grandmother, tatita carmen, is seriously a party animal! on new years we all went out to eat at aleli, a restaurant with an insane view of the lake, so that we could also see the fireworks at midnight. we sat down at about 10:30 and i had reached delirium at about 11:30, because, as i'm learning, i'm really not much of a night owl. so the balloons that rained down on us at midnight naturally transformed into volleyballs- the left side of the table vs. the right side of the table. the background elevator music naturally turned into an insane heartsong of my dance-party minded being! the party hats became bird beaks...unicorn horns...horns in general. the issue of whether or not my hair still looked okay and if i was going to have to excuse myself to the restroom to go fix it...really didn't matter anymore. also there was this toddler named matheus sitting next to us who mistook laura's dad as his own father and he really enjoyed coming to visit us so that was absolutely hilarious. and, in the midst of all this , our eyes gazed to the entrance of the restaurant because this one waiter had just faceplanted into the glass door! this was at roughly 12:04 am. what a way to start the year off!

okay so its like 1am and i haven't been to bed this late since i was studying for exams, and the meal is finishing up, and i'm like okay great, bed is near. au contraire. the escobar family was only just beginning! a dance party fell upon us! here i am, eyes drooping, leaning up against the wall and laura is salsa dancing with tatita, and the rest of our 9-person party. next thing you know is 2:30 am and i'm partying with 4 baby boomers and 2 retirees. so we got back to the house at 3am. 3 am people, i honestly don't think i've ever stayed out that late. so yes, we welcomed the new year with hearty celebration.

and we've all spent the past few days recovering...not. its january first and laura and i are settled in front of spiderman 2. its 11:15 and my eyes are drooping. meanwhile laura's grandparents are out at a party. role reversal i didn't even see coming! and last night we were visiting until 1:30 am. i just can't keep up! i'm like yawning my way through the end of pictionary and there's lively conversation in the other room!

right so, note to self, get out more.