Jacob Davis
hello
so… i guess this is it… the beginning of mission year.
awesome.
If you would like to see my reasoning for joining this wonderful program, please read the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5 through 8.
Love at any cost, and be at peace.
Jacob
About Mission Year
Mission Year is a year long urban ministry program focused on Christian service and discipleship. We take teams of young people, place them in an area of need, and help them to serve people and create community. We are committed to the command of Jesus to “love God and love people,” by placing the needs of our neighbors first and developing committed disciples of Christ with a heart for the poor. Learn more about our first year program…
Jacob Davis's Blog
blessed are the poor / Jul 31, 02:14 PM
this is why we do what we do:
because Jesus humbled Himself, shedding all riches, both the ones He owned in heaven, and the ones He owned on earth, to save us.
we don’t care how much money you have, how many cattle you own, how privileged you are because of circumstances either in or out of your control. you are poor. we are all poor.
it is because God shed His “God-ness” to save us from our filthiness that we shed our riches and rights, to serve and give our lives for the poor (by our flawed standards). just as He gave His life for us, the poor.
this isn’t about how much you give, this is about how much you have left over. everything is His, and He gave it all to save you, to save me, to save us. our lives are so burdened by things, by status or friends or family. we so often miss our God that is sleeping outside of the walgreens, or sitting beside the mortuary, or right next door in the apartment complex.
we give our lives because we see them as forfeit. He who had nothing left over because He gave up everything calls us to do the same.
we are all poor, and that is why we are to give ourselves up for one another, and why we are to give ourselves up for God.
it was a backwards Man who taught us the best way to live:
the best way to live is by dying.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” -Matt. 5:3
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God… But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.” -Luke 6:20b,24
“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death- even death at a cross!” -Philippians 2:5-8
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a season... / Jul 20, 02:28 PM
we, as finite beings, are so bothered by the concept of time. it is so strange to me that i cannot slow it down; i am enraged by my inability to make it pass more quickly. it is a river that is cruel to anyone who tries to wade in it. only a day has passed since we began our ministry here in new orleans, or so it seems.
king solomon and i have a hard time relating. ecclesiastes holds many things, though, that i can relate to. it’s full of juxtapositions, hills and valleys, etc. chapter 3 talks about a time for every matter under heaven.
we’ve experienced a time of birth, with the bringing into life of irvin anderson bell.
we’ve experienced a time of death, with the passing of fathers, grandmothers, and close friends.
we’ve experienced a time of planting, when we planted seeds in God’s vineyard
and a time of plucking up, when God blessed us with the bounty of our harvests of corn, melon, and peppers.
we have killed many cockroaches =)
we have healed many of each others’ wounds
we have broken down the walls that our neighbors built up, often finding that we had walls of our own to tear down,
we have built each other up, encouraging and commiserating with one another.
we have wept with mothers who have lost children,
we have danced with our friends for a man named noelle on his way to glory.
we cast rocks from the soil of our garden,
we took the time to gather stones to fight our giants
we experienced times to embrace each other, and times where we had to hold back.
we have sought God, and gotten lost, and sought Him again, and gotten lost (etc.)
we have kept our commitment to one another, and we have cast away ourselves and many of our possessions.
we have torn our clothes in protest to the treatment of God’s people, and we have sewn our clothes together into quilts for mothers and babies.
we have been silent about many things, and we have spoken many truths into each other’s lives.
we have loved our God and the people around us, and we have hated the injustices of the city.
we have warred against the principalities and powers of this world, and we have found peace in the presence of God and the promise of His coming Kingdom.
there were days that we prayed, “Father, let the time pass faster!” but there were also moments when we begged, “God, just let us live in this moment forever.”
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holes in our hearts / Jul 9, 11:05 AM
my dad recently suffered a stroke due to a hole in his heart forcing air to his brain. praise God, because there was no permanent damage. he’s doing better, and should be released soon. this is something that my random thoughts brought me to. it’s about life, and what gives it real meaning. i am thankful for my dad’s life, and thankful for my Father’s Love.
the fact that our lives are not our own is one to which many of us have grown apathetic. as a follower of Christ, i have heard it so many many times, and yet because of its repetition, it holds no value in my heart. i may even go as far as to say that the repetition develops a tear in my heart- an unfeeling hole.
it is only when we find out that the lives that we lead may come to an end that we are shaken free of this apathy. only when faced with the fragility of our weak bodies do we start to wonder if we have been using our fragile vessels correctly. we start to realize that we- in fact!- do not belong to ourselves.
all beings belong to God, though many are unresponsive to this fact. even many Christians have formed a hole in their hearts, in one way or another. we fill the hole with relationships, things, money, and when those things come to an end- after we’ve given as much of ourselves as we can- we find ourselves with a greater tear. what can set us free from the body of this death?
a dear friend of mine recently said, “when i have a hole in my heart, i just fill it up with Jesus!”
they may be the corniest words ever said. yet what would be a better filler for those places of emptiness than God manifested in human form for the sake of His Love? what better way to cover the devastating apathy (which grows from callousness to our pain) than the Divine Pathos Himself? what hands better to stitch our wounds together than the Hands which bear the wounds of our rebellion?
the only solution to the numbness that we feel about our lives (because what numbness is not related towards some form of life?) is the One who makes these few moments that aren’t ours worthwhile.
my father recently suffered a stroke due to a hole in his heart forcing air to his brain. praise God, because there was no permanent damage! he’s doing better, and should be released soon. this is something that my random thoughts brought me to.
and again, He reminds me... / Jun 24, 02:53 PM
braxton and i pulled our bikes into the store parking lot; loretta from the mission asked if we would pick up some spoons that she was in desperate need of. immediately i can see the woman, sitting in her wheel chair, and looking at us. her eyes look in two different directions, and her knees are large knots on top of her skinny sapling legs. as we walk up to the store, i know the question is coming.
“hey, can any of you spare some change?” she asks. it’s amazing to me how much weight this question places on my heart. maybe it’s because when i tell people that i don’t have money, they roll their eyes and look at me like i’m a liar. maybe it’s because i wish i could help, but in that exact moment in time, i can’t. all i can offer her is a sad shake of my head.
“we don’t have any cash on us.” braxton explains, and i can hear the regret in his voice.
“ah, shoot,” she says, but without much conviction, “i would love some candy.”
while we’re in the store, braxton and i are debating on whether or not we should get her some candy, or something healthier. i’m on candy’s side, and my stubbornness wins out. on top of the nineteen bags of spoons we buy, we also buy a box of little debbie chocolate chip brownies. after waiting in line, we take the brownies outside to her. she’s very grateful, and braxton asks her name. he tells her to enjoy them, and gets on his bike. suddenly, there’s a little tug on my heart to tell her that God loves her.
i walk up, and lean forward, and she looks at me with one eye, the other looking in a different direction.
“no matter what happens,” i say, “God loves you.”
she looks at me like i’m an idiot, and then after a second, her face dissolves into the expression that one has when dealing with a naive child.
“oh baby,” she says in a hoarse whisper, “i know that.”
so often i want to think of myself as being a messenger of God, someone who brings spiritual sight to the blind. i keep on expecting God to make miraculous conversions happen through me. yet lately i’ve started to realize that i am not the only person that God has shown love and grace to.
so often we call ourselves the bringers of God’s good news. but more often, we are reminders, as we die to our egos and our expectations and rise to His truth.
may it be so.
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sunday, may 31st, 2009 / Jun 2, 11:35 AM
there’s so many noises, all blending together with the music that pulses through the sanctuary.
boom chakk! boom chakk! boom chakk! boom chakk!
hands are raised, hands of different colors, some stationary to receive the blessings, some reaching out to touch Him, some spinning as the attached body dances beneath in happiness of redemption.
the choir sways, a pink wave. their hands clap in syncopation with the beat.
all around, smiling faces, tears of joy, closed eyes, open eyes.
it’s not the building that’s important. it never was. whether or not the place is “sacred” or not isn’t the point right now. we are sacred vessels, full of the Spirit of God.
here, in the presence of God, who is present in the people around me. this is Home.
