Great Song

These days I am listening to Sara Groves, these are the lyrics to a wonderful song by her that I often listen to before going on campus!

Lord I have a heavy burden of all I've seen and know
It's more than I can handle
But your word is burning like a fire shut up in my bones
and I cannot let it go

And when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

Lord it's all that I can't carry and cannot leave behind
but your word has compelled me
when I think of all who've gone before me and lived the faithful life

And when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars

I see the shepherd Moses in the Pharaoh's court
I hear his call of freedom for the people of the Lord

And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

I see the long quiet walk along the Underground Railroad
I see the slave awakening to the value of her soul

I see the young missionary and the end of the spear
I see his family returning with no trace of fear

I see the long hard shadows of Calcutta nights
I see the sisters standing by the lepers side

I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
I see the man with a passion come and kicking down the door

I see the man of sorrows and his long troubled road
I see the world on his shoulders and my easy load

And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

November Update!

Hello! Greetings from Chapel Hill :) Fall here is so beautiful

I am thankful to have internet today, our house is in and out...
Things are going good here! Sadly I have pneumonia so it is slowing down my energy and efforts on campus but God is teaching me a lot. Since I can't always do all the things I've wanted to the last week, I am forced to pray more and that has been a blessing
Here are some of the things going on!

-We are continuing to meet, meet, meet girls. I have gone by myself more and knock on doors in the dorms. When girls answer, I just tell them that I'm trying to get to know people in their building. We will talk for a while about where we're from, I ask them about their courses, their time so far at UNC, then I go on my way! I will go back a few days later and seek a deeper conversation. Then I will ask the girl if she'd want to get coffee or dinner in the cafeteria sometime. My hope is to build many friendships through which I can tell people about Jesus.

-At this point in the semester, many of these girls I have seen and connected with repeatedly are starting to be interested in what I'm about. Why I live my life the way I do and the reason for the joy that I have. Please pray that I will be bold and listen to the Holy Spirit's guidance in having these life changing conversations with women.

-Through prayer, I can tell that some of the girls I have met so far are very important to God. I can tell that He wants them to be part of His kingdom and that He wants them to influence other men and women at UNC. I love meeting so many amazing women and having a burden for their lives! So many of them are lost and looking for a reason and purpose by which to live their lives.

-We do not invite students to come to a weekly meeting and rarely ask them to be in a Bible Study. We do have two Bible studies running, one for a group of guys and one for a group of girls, but ideally we will continue meeting lots and lots of people and then start Bible Studies next semester. Why do we do this? Because we want to stay on their turf. We want these students to know that we're committed to their lives not just trying to recruit them to come to something.

-But... we do have a conference coming up! Hopefully after spending lots of time with these students, they'll be willing to come with us to a conference in Atlanta over New Years to see what we're all about. At that conference they'll get a big picture of how Campus Outreach works, the awesome community that we have, see thousands of students connected to CO across NC, SC, and Georgia, and hear the Gospel! I am pumped up. Please join me in prayer that many students from UNC will come to the conference and be changed by the love of Jesus :)

Thanks for reading this update! I love you! I am so thankful for your partnership and would love to hear from you: allyireneholm@gmail.com
Blessings and joy to you, Ally

October Pictures

Kate, Karmen, and me before the UNC v. USC (University of South Carolina) game at our tailgate. It was the first time the Tarheels and Gamecocks had played each other in 16 years. There were so many people! Over 60,000 fans came to Chapel Hill to see the "Battle of the Carolinas" and, sadly, UNC lost 15-21.

Campus Outreach Tailgate, woop woop!










Landon and Erik (the Wolf-pack and the Rams!)

I love the tv show the Office and am thankful that UNC students love it too. Every Thursday at 9pm we pick up girls from the dorms to come to our cool house to watch our favorite characters sell paper at Dunder Mifflin Inc. It's a great time to laugh together and connect with students before the weekend (Here we have Kellie, Wendy, Claire, me, Sally, Karmen, Ashley, Megan, Whitney, Caitlin, Morgan, and Hannah)

Update Central

Soooo I am sorry. I think about blogging everyday! I am just lame and don't make time to do it, but here I am! With lots of exciting things to say because they have been storing up in my head since Sept. 25th :)
Here are a few key points about life as a staff person with Campus Outreach...
*It never ends! I dream about the dorms
*I love it! I love meeting students and going to events and figuring out how much Carolina blue I can cover myself in at one time. I love figuring out how to reach this campus and what the world-view of these students is and how they spend their days. I love learning about them, what their insecurities are but also the magnitude of their dreams. I love seeing the way that God has His guiding hand on their lives and the way each of these students reflect Him in some way... whether it be through their love for one another, their humor, their excellence, their intelligence, their skills, or their experiences
*You eat a lot... we cook hot dogs on the big grill to tailgate for football, we bake lasagna and garlic bread for girls from the dorm, we scarf down international food in the cafeteria on cultural awareness night, cheese fries at the soccer games, and chex mix with M & M's when we watch The Office! At least I have a new area to relate to the freshmen- gaining those infamous, extra 15 lbs :)
*I am learning, learning, learning. A couple weeks ago I went to a forum on abortion and never knew so much about student's passion and knowledge over this issue. I am learning about politics and who students think I should vote for in the 2008 election. I am learning how to live with my roommates and not be so messy! I am learning how to budget my money to glorify God with my finances. But most wonderfully, I am learning about God and for the first time in my life realizing how real and purposeful He is! I just didn't see it all before.

I love to tailgate

So I've learned a new term over the last two weeks. A tailgater is not someone that eats b-b-q in a parking lot before a football game, it is someone that lingers outside a dorm waiting for a student to use their id to open the door so that they can sneak in behind the student. This is illegal according to campus security and I am waiting to get in trouble!

I stand outside, sometimes pretending to be on my cellphone and scan the quad for students walking up to their dorms so I can sneakily follow them inside. I don't do this often because it is ideal to know students inside the dorm that will come down and let you in but we are at a place in our ministry where we are investigating the campus and being around the students on their turf is one of the best ways to find out what they love and how they spend their time.

Going into the dorms to meet freshman is only a small part of my job. I am asked to be in one of the 28 dorms at least an hour a day. It is one of my favorite things to do. Students love having random visitors. I know I am usually being used as a new form of procrastination for these school-lovers but at least they talk to me!

Today was my first time eating in the cafeteria. Ashley and I sat down with a girl from Charlotte who was not very interested in getting to know us. Thankfully there was a table full of girls next to us. We started asking them about the food around campus and they gave us a ton of info! We laughed together and talked about their experience as freshman. They shared with us about walking the big hills to get to class, fears over deciding a major, the pressures they face in pledging sororities, and how they stay connected to one another during such a busy phase in life.
Tonight I'm going to do 3 different things to try to meet students!
1. Stopping by a Spike Lee movie and discussion called When the Levee's Broke, a documentary on hurricane Katrina
2. Checking out a meet and greet with TIME Magazine photographer Steve Liss for broadcast journalism majors
3. Going to a new dormitory to visit my new friend Lauren I met at lunch today. I won't have to be sketchy and sneak in :)
Everyday our amazing God reminds me of the ways that He is opening doors for the Gospel to be known at this campus even if it's in unexpected ways.

First Week in Chapel Hill

Hello! I hope you are doing very, VERY well!
I am loving life these days. Living in NC has been very different, hard, yet a sweet time of life.

God is gentle and gracious in showing me Himself here.

Our house is wonderful! Last minute the home we expected fell through; however, we are now renting a home even closer to campus! We moved in on Monday and have been getting adjusted (i.e. I am attempting to hang things in my room and it is all crooked). I was SO blessed to have dear friends lend me their furniture so I did not have to buy any, I am quite the fan of not buying things with this new budget I am on!

Here are some of the things that happened this week...
1. We are allowed to go on campus! This is a big deal. When you start an organization particularly a ministry at a new school there is some red tape to get through. You are not allowed to simply walk on campus and start meeting students. You have to be approved by the Student Activities office and sometimes this can take many months. We are thankful that UNC is glad to have us here. In the next couple weeks we will get i.d. cards that will allow us to go to the dining hall and the gym, two places students go to a lot. The boys on our team are anxious to get out on the basketball court and start meeting guys that way.
2. On Sunday we went to the Church of the Good Shepherd. The first girl I went up to to talk to was from Naperville! She went to Waubonsie high school and lives near my parents. She is a freshman here at UNC and just pledged the sorority ADPi. We are having lunch tomorrow!
3. Our staff meetings have been wonderful. This morning we listened to a talk by pastor Tim Keller. It was about how the gospel is intended to consume our lives with love and worship for Jesus. He spoke about how the Bible is not about us and what we should do, it is not a self-help manual. Rather it is all about Jesus. Everything in the Bible points to Jesus, from Genesis to Revelation it is the story of His redeeming sacrifice. Sometimes we tend to hear teachings and decide we want to do things and attempt to change our selves. But apart from Christ, we can do no good thing. It is His grace and mercy alone that saves us! Talking about the gospel reminds me what I want to share with students. I do not want to teach them that they need to live a better life in order to walk with God but rather to receive the forgiveness and joy that Jesus extends.
4. We are spending a lot of time helping each other move in and not get lost so much! I get lost everywhere I go and still haven't found the grocery store which is a sad story for my roommates because I live off of their cereal (and the chocolate cake our friends brought us). Thankfully, our staff team lives within a mile of each other. Three married couples live in an apartment complex up the road and our studly single men live in a home down the road.
5. Last night Kellie, Megan, and I went into the dorms together to meet some girls. I was terrified. The dorms here are enormous and there are so many of them. It is hard not to be overwhelmed. Before we went I prayed that God would remind me that every one of the thousands of freshman in the dorms was created by Him and He loves each one of them and desires each of them to know Himself. We went and hung out in our friend Hannah's room. I am learning to dodge people's questions about why I am hanging out in the dorms if I have already graduated! I wear my back-pack everywhere and try to look like I am 18.

St. Francis of Assisi

This is a favorite prayer of mine; I found it in a book about Mother Teresa. Her and the nuns of Missionaries of Charity would pray it every morning.

"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen."
-St. Francis of Assisi, Prayer of Peace

Going to the Chapel...

Hello! I hope that you had a wonderful labor day weekend. Chicago has been more beautiful than usual and I have loved being here the last few weeks.
Tomorrow I am moving to Chapel Hill! It is certainly time. Our ministry maintains a policy that staff cannot come to campus unless we are at our full financial support. God has been so faithful to provide for me so that I can give all of my time to helping students find their way to Him.
To be honest,I am nervous about moving, I do not know what this year holds for me. But I have hope in my heart that something wonderful will happen.

Here are some recent answers to prayers...

-The single staff guys (Erik, Will, and Jim) have found a great house to rent near campus

-Campus Outreach has been well received by the other campus ministries at UNC; they're excited to have us there and to partner with us in reaching out to students!

-2 couples on our staff team have returned from their honeymoons (Claire and Tony and Ashley and Bowe) and are getting settled in their new apartments and enjoying married life

-one student that is connected to our team shared the gospel with an exchange student from Australia and has been getting to know her better!

Commissioned

What an amazing week! I am done with support raising, am currently in Columbia, SC, and am driving to Raleigh tomorrow! I will be getting the rest of my stuff from Chicago as well as wrapping up a few things and then start on campus next week.

Here are some pictures of this weekend. Our team met for the day and shared about our summers and what God is teaching us. We were commissioned by First Presbyterian Church of Augusta, they shared what we're doing with their church and laid hands over us and prayed. We ate a lot and talked and laughed of course. I can't wait to work beside these amazing people.

The whole Raleigh team:

University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill team:

North Carolina State team:

A Vision to Give Your Life To

I have always been a pretty passionate person and when I find something I love, I give all my attention to it. When I find a song I enjoy, I listen to it non-stop. I learned how to cook one vegetable in college- green beans! People that I've cooked for throughout the years know to expect them as a never-fail-side-dish. The only t.v. show I watch is the Office (season premier is Sept. 21st), I can quote almost all the lines! And if I'm in the middle of a good book (i.e. the latest Harry Potter) I will most certainly ignore your phone call until I've finished every page.

I always hoped I would find a job that I love, a job that I couldn't wait to wake up to every day. As a religion and psychology major in college, I thought that I would go overseas after graduation and help women who were in despair, perhaps those emotionally crippled by the sex trade in Thailand or train missionaries to meet the needs of HIV sufferers in Africa.

But God called me to share Him with college students, often priviledged young people who have financial means and great possibility laid before their lives. God has reminded me that even if we have all of our physical needs met, without Him as our savior, all that can be counted as a "gain" in this world will be lost. And that great possibility does not always equal great hope, we can be physically rich but in our hearts, very poor.

A couple weeks ago, we had a staff meeting in which a leader said: "The vision of Campus Outreach is worth your life." That really stuck with me and I haven't been able to shake it out of my mind.

How often do we find something that is really worth giving our one life to? Maybe I'll be connected to this ministry for just a few years but it is definitely worth all of me. If it wasn't for the women that shared their faith with me, I would be navigating through this world without Jesus and I do not think that that would be a life worth giving to anything at all.

Charleston, SC

Hello friends! I hope that you're doing wonderful! I have not written for a long time on this, exactly a month! I often wonder what events in my life merit a post that is worth your time to read and it's almost always... nothing! I hope you simply enjoy hearing about a very small part of what God is doing to redeem others back to Himself!
I am currently in Charleston, South Carolina sitting at my most favorite Starbucks, it earns this glorious title because of the giant tree that sits outside the large window I always choose to face. I have been here for many hours with my stationary box, taking note of my car and how its contents are melting in this 105 degree heat!

I had a wonderful drive to South Carolina last week, my first time making the 14 hour trek alone and had a successful trip which was definitely a result of many prayers! I guess people don't trust my driving very much and the idea of me making a cross-country trip alone prompted a great deal of concerned phone calls. But thanks to Harry Potter on cd and the beautiful scenery as I drove through the Blue Ridge Mountains, the day flew by.

This past weekend I had the honor of standing up in one of my dearest friend's weddings. Ashley played a BIG role in telling me the story of God's love for us. As a freshman at college I felt lost and did not know what my purpose in this big world was. She took me under her wing and shared her faith and life with me. A big part of this life was her adoration of a handsome football player- Bowe Butler. But a problem with Ashley's feelings for Bowe was that she lived with them for four
(the picture is of me and fellow bridesmaids and future roomies Kellie and Katie!) years, never knowing whether or not the affection was reciprocated. After 4 1/2 years and lots of prayer, Bowe felt like it was the right time to let Ashley know that he loved her. They began dating last October, were engaged in January, and married this past weekend. It was so amazing to watch these people that waited so long for God's timing to stand before Him and declare their promise to love each other forever... and ever! They are now on their honeymoon in Mexico. Both Ashley and Bowe will be serving the Lord along side of me at UNC this fall.

C.I.Y.

This past week I was able to hang out with 80 awesome students and leaders from CCC church in Naperville. We went to a conference called CIY- Christ in Youth (www.ciy.com) held at Hope College in Michigan- so beautiful- it's where my sister goes. At the end of the trip my mom asked me if I got anything out of the week since I've been on so many conferences, retreats, etc. I told her that it was honestly one of the most wonderful times I've spent growing closer to the Lord! Here's some of the reasons why!
1. The Music- even though the worship leaders wore v-neck shirts that revealed their hairy man chests, I LOVED the music and had so much joy over singing beside the students. It was awesome to look around the auditorium and see 1,000+ people praising God, singing and dancing.
2. The other leaders- I was able to have awesome talks and see the giftedness of the leaders there. Alison H and I had a talk one night- she told me about how conversational her relationship with God is, how she often talks to Him aloud, sometimes getting so choked up by the fact that when she prays she is ushered into God's presence. What an awesome reminder of how near our Creator is.
3. My small group! I was able to lead a small group with Shawn Williams who is the youth group leader at CCC. He made me laugh so much and when students shared in our group I could hear in them their excitement about God and desire to follow Him with their lives. These kids are so different from one another but they are united for sure by their passion.
4. Plexiglass- so there were these plexi-glass walls put up all over the auditorium one night and during worship, the speaker told the students to go write on the walls a few words that described the painful issues in their lives. I walked around and looked at the hundreds of words and saw so many things that broke my heart- depression, rape, abuse, divorce... these students are living in a very broken world. There were so many times throughout the week I was moved to tears by the stories some of the high school girls shared with me. But there is hope. So many of them realized that healing can come from the love and connection we're all made for through Jesus. That night some staff of CIY prayed for 14 hours for every un-named individual that wrote on the plexi-glass and for their pain. Definitely an example of how God seeks to be a part of our every hurt and enter into it with us
5. Ones- The theme of the week was ONES- Here is the mission statement I found on the CIY website about the week (the picture below is some of our students holding hands and singing):

"In our differences, we are the same. We are a wide spectrum of people, with distinctive traits and talents, each reflecting a different characteristic of God. Each of us is playing a role in a saga so big that it can not be confined by time or space.
In our pockets of isolation, we search for significance and yearn for true community. So we come together, broken and injured, looking for a place to rest. Some come to support, some come to be healed, in coming together, are made whole.
They all come to be known, to matter. We are here as more than just a number or a statistic. We are here because we were created to bring value. We are here to make her laugh, to cause him to think, to convict them, and to grow. Here to be more than just ONE person, ONE failure, ONE sinner, or ONE saint. We are here as a part of the ONES. And we are here…

…Because we were never meant to be alone."

A real home... at the hill!

Yahtzee! We (Me, Kellie, Katie, and Megan) have a wonderful house that is less than 1/2 mile from the UNC-Chapel Hill Campus, so I can totally walk/roller blade/ride my bike there every day. A supporter that we had in Raleigh decided that this would be a good investment so we are very excited. I am especially excited about the abundance of bookshelves and all the pretty trees.

Classes at Wheaton

This past week I have had the privilege to take two classes at Wheaton College. In order to earn a semester's worth of credit in 3 days, I had to read an average of 7 books for each class, sit still and focus for 9 hours at a time, and write a whole notebook full of class notes! It was SO worth it though. I LOVED being at the school, sitting on the trees and eating lunch with new friends and being at a campus where so many amazing people learned to follow God.

The first class I took was called Planting and Reproducing Growing Churches and it was taught by the two wonderful, innovative founders of Community Christian Church in Naperville, IL- Dave and John Ferguson. These guys have helped thousands of people find their way back to God through their church structure and strategy to reach the Chicago area (www.newthing.org). I never knew anything about church planting before I started prepping for this class and now it is definitely on my radar as a BIG way that God is working in the world to let people know of His purpose and presence!

After 3 days of interesting discussion and knowledge from the Fergusons I showed up for Jerry Root's class on C.S. Lewis. We spent two days talking about the Romantic publications and thoughts of Lewis (which doesn't just mean lovey dovey poetry but instead some real deal heart based theology) and then one day focusing on the Reason approach Lewis had to literature. One of the most interesting lectures Dr. Root presented to us was Lewis' journey from atheism to Christianity. As one of the most influential minds in this past century- thought to be true by those inside and outside the faith- Lewis' brilliant understanding of God can make a huge difference in the life of readers from all backgrounds! My favorite books by Lewis that I would recommend are...

• Mere Christianity- Lewis leads the reader through his pilgrimage from doubt to faith with some awesome tips along the way
• The Great Divorce- This piece of fiction provides a really interesting look at heaven and hell with characters that you can totally identify with. It's scary to see hell from this perspective but the hope of what heaven could be like is worth your time and thoughts.
• Screwtape Letters- This fictional book describes the conversations between a senior devil and his nephew, also a scary view on what hell might be like as well as the ways that eternity influences how we live our lives in the present

Ones I can't wait to read based on my classmates' perspective...

• The Silver Chair and Voyage of the Dawn Treader (both from the Chronicles of Narnia series)
• Surprised by Joy (Lewis' autobiography on how he came to faith)
• God in the Dock (a bunch of theological essays I probably won't understand!)

The Happiest Place on Earth

Disney World!! It never gets old, I love it every time. One of the contacts we made at Disney said that Campus Outreach staff could have a day to play in the parks, under the guise that we were "inspecting the working conditions of our students." Ha! After stacking strollers in the arm-pit of the Magic Kingdom for two months I am sure that they're doing fine in comparison to what I did two years ago.

So first we went to the Animal Kingdom (where we went on the best safari ever!) then we headed to Epcot, ate in Mexico, and watched the fireworks at Magic Kingdom. We rode some of the best rides and just had a blast together. We were troopers and went from 10am - 11pm and decided that we had our Disney fix for at least another year, our wallets did too especially since we felt the urge to eat at every park!

Staff Training

Last week we had our staff training in Orlando, FL at the Summer Orlando Project. We got to see 130 students from colleges in the Charleston area living together in a hotel, learning how to grow in their relationship with God, and working at Disney World. It has been an awesome privilege for me to be connected to some of these students over the past 4 years in Charleston. I attended 3 of these projects and they really changed my life! Needless to say, it was pretty entertaining and exciting. Water fights are the big thing this year, it is pretty fun to see twenty-year olds running around screaming like crazy people with water balloons in hand.

My best friends Betsy and Katie are helping to run the show this summer. Somehow I escaped to be in Naperville raising support and taking classes at Wheaton so I get to be grown up while they have all the fun. They were pretty excited to see the staff when we arrived last Sunday and the students were confused by the new faces on their turf.


One of the nights we were there the students had a home-made chili and pie cook off so of course we went to check it out and got all decked out in our country gear. Kellie caught us singing in the car and took a picture... I'm not sure why I have my back pack on?


Later in the evening the boys found a way to get everyone dirty and started a sliding contest in the mud, standard. Here is a picture of our new staff guy at the College of Charleston, Max, and James, setting a great example of how to be ridiculous at the project.


While the students were at work, the staff came together and learned some awesome stuff about the Lord to strengthen our vision. The first day we met together as a Raleigh team, Ben Elseroad shared with us some equipping information on how to talk to people about the validity of Jesus rising from the dead. It is pretty essential to the Christian faith and at UNC I am hoping to get into some good discussions with people where a question about the resurrection might come up. Lots of intellectuals discuss what might have happened to Jesus after the cross. Through valid documents, hundreds of testimonies, and the Holy Scriptures, it becomes clear that he appeared to many people 3 days after he died and several days after that. I was reminded that He is the Son of God, worth giving my life and heart to.

University of North Carolina

Some facts about UNC Chapel Hill:

• UNC anchors the famed research triangle (Raleigh, UNC Chapel Hill, Duke University) which plays a vital role in nurturing the economic development of the country.


• It is one of the 75 most competitive universities to attend.


• Ranked #1 out of the 100 best public universities.


• In fall 2006, UNC had 27,500 students enrolled from 49 states and over 100 countries.


• UNC fans tell me that the Tarheels are the best basketball team in the country!
  

What are college students at UNC saying about God? A video camera stopped a random sample of seven students and asked them what God means to them. Here are their responses:

1. "I guess for me, God is more of an abstract sort of thing, rather than a person or a figure. Just like the relationships between people, between nature and people, animals and people."
2. "I personally have a lot of questions about whether I think God actually exists. I think that if God does exists it's in a intangible way."
3. God to me is a force that connects all of us."
4. "To me... God is the questions unanswered by science. That's where I draw on faith."
5. "If there was a God, he gave up on us a long time ago. I think it's a life force and energy."
6. "I think of Jesus the same way I think of Martin Luther King Jr. or Gahndi, more of a political figure. I think he's a political, historical person."
7. "He [Jesus] is an amazing man there is no question about that. But I don't call him 'Christ' and I don't think about him as a god... but that's just my god. I think different people have different gods."

Famous Last Words

One of the reasons I am making this blog is to let people know about a way that God has compelled me to serve Him.

So Jesus was this amazing guy. Many people think that he was a really great person, a moral teacher who set an example of how to love people. Then they stop there. But Jesus said that he was the Son of God... if he was just a teacher, that would make him a crazy one. I would definitely walk out of the classroom if my teachers said that.

So if we respect this man's character (which was perfect) and look at the reality of what he said (that He is God in the flesh) and what he did (the way he reasoned with perfection, loved the unloveable, did the miraculous) then we can truly answer his question that he asked the disciples: "But what about you... who do you say I am?" (Mark 8:29-30)

Peter followed Jesus for three years. He saw His life and the focus of His mission, and because of what he saw Jesus do and what Peter knew in his heart, he was able to respond: "You are The Christ."

He is the son of God, who came to change the world through a few ordinary men (Acts 4:13)

The last thing that Jesus wanted us to hear, before he went to heaven wasn't so much a statement as it was a command. He said: "Therefore, go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, even to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20).

Famous last words... I think that Jesus really wanted us to listen to this. I have decided to be kinda crazy and take this literally. Therefore, I will be going.