Reality.

Real Men. Real Women. Real Children. Real People. Real Lives. Real Stories. Real.

In the last few weeks I've been stepping back and doing a lot of thinking, and spending a lot of time with JC. As I step back and watch and think and analyze, I can not avoid this reality that we live in. Hundreds, Thousands, Millions of people all over the world breathing, walking, living, making decisions, being dumb, being serious. It's incredible. My wind just keeps getting blow. I think on a personal scale of stuff that happens in this city to the people I know, the people I live with, the people I walk with, the people I bike with, the people I make coffee for, the people at my church.

Shelby Allen, a girl, a family, a holiday, a future, gone. Decisions, anticipation, routine, boredom, stuff... stuff that can dramatically change the course of history.

Jake Henrich, a boy, a team, a family, a dream, gone. Longing for someone to value him, for stability in life. Things that we can all identify with and long for as well.

Dustin Brown, a boy, a future, an expectation, gone. Longing for appreciation, affirmation, encouragement, and someone to love him. Things that we all need to live and make us stronger.

The man I passed riding my bike the other day in down town. The man and woman sitting on the corner. The man and wife that just decided which dog they are going to get to live in their new home. The little girl that just learned 2+2. The little boy that is astonished by how powerful the wind can get. The woman that teaches a class and struggles with acceptance of her own family and past. These are all people, all stories, all futures, all pasts, that effect me every day. There story could change my story forever.

I met a man in Australia. Well I stayed in his house for a night while he was gone. Then a few weeks later when he got back I met him. In those few weeks of being Australia I learned more about myself, about who I want to become, what I want to do, how I want to get there. I may have learned this but I don't know how God is bringing me to arrive there. These dreams I had, i share with thousands, if not millions. To help and encourage, to support, to affirm, to build confidence, to challenge, to assist, to brighten and bring hope. This man who I had stayed at his house, he shares that dream. He wants to bring an end to injustices. Human trafficking is a primary focus of his, where God has led him. He goes to places of high traffic and exposes this injustice through film, photography, painting, and his words, to people all over the world. This is the kind of man I want to become.

I was thinking the other day... what if cartoons got saved... not really, but I was thinking that I am 18 and in the worlds eye's I NEED to go to school, and I NEED to drive this car, and I NEED to have this much money, and I NEED to do this and that. From this thought I step back and think not about what I need, but what can I give. What can I do to help someone get there. But not get to the THERE that the world is thinking. But the THERE that we truly long for on a personal level.

THERE: to be loved, to be valued, to be appreciated. To have someone listen to us. To have someone encourage us. To have someone that pushes us towards brighter things. To be sheltered from the elements. To have food to keep us healthy.

I, when I think of this, I think of who has everything to offer that. It's JC, he longs to offer just one of those things to us all the time... and if He can He wants to hook it up with all of that. And being that we are made and designed in His image, and we are longing to be more like Him, that means that we are graced and privilaged to provide that for everyone or as many as we can. In simple things. I think that it is the simple things that show value to people.

I have a friend he wants to make movies. Maybe I don't know really, but it is one of his dreams. To make films that utilize these actors that are made up of people that stand out in communitys, in clicks, in groups. The people that are the more bold ones that people watch and listen. He takes these people and puts them in this film that is written about some underlining story that God has given him, to bring glory to the kingdom, with the Father's children!

I want to design shirts and prints and make websites and take photos and make short films to bring glory to the kingdom to support people to encourage people, and bring glory to the kingdom. To provide a message that lifts people up and I can just play my part in becoming more like the Father.

I don't know really, I just wrote this with a lot of stuff going on around me and that just adds more to this idea of real people, real lives, real stories, and real fun!