Jackson "Jacks" Whatley

Let me introduce you to the latest love of my life! Who knew you could be so in love with such a little furball? He truly lights up each day! He has been such a joy and blessing that I cannot possibly express! Our little furball bundle of joy was born on October 1st! How precious... he was born right before we got married! He is currently 17 weeks as of today and is 5.6 lbs!

I have literally been crazy momma this week because he got sick twice! Apparently Havanese have very sensitive tummies and can get themselves in a wad over them! No worries, he's all better now and super ready for a weekend at home with his parents! Mom and Dad are proud parents of their super pup! I must brag and say he's NEVER had a #2 accident in the house! YAY :)

That's all for today! For now, enjoy these pics of his precious face!!

So Sorry!!!

I know I know, I am officially a bad blogger! I started this series that I was super excited about in December and I only finished half of it. I can completely blame it on how the busyness of the Christmas season got the best of me but its still lazy blogging! Anyway, the final two things our church helped sponsor that I was going to tell you about were....
1- Compassion International
2- Building wells in Zambia.

First, Compassion International is an incredible organization. So many of us see these children in these countries that are so distant from us and we don't know what we can do to help. At that time, the calling on yours or my life may not be to travel overseas on a mission trip, or to adopt a child from one of these countries. So then what can you do to specifically help a child and build that relationship. You can sponsor a child through Compassion International. You can pick your child, boy/girl, and whatever country you want! You then pay monthly to provide this child with all his needs. Such a small sum of money can provide a child so much. You can build a relationship with this child and write them letters and many people one day have the chance to meet the Compassion child they sponsor. This is truly one thing you can do that makes a HUGE difference in the life of that child.

Second, I am going to totally do a blog post at some point that includes pictures and all kinds of things from Zambia so I'm not going to talk about it in detail right now because I couldn't do it justice. I will tell you though that our church challenged our congregation to build 10 wells during 2011 starting with raising money through our Christmas offering. Well go Saint James because they already have the money to dig 13!!! Fresh water for so many people in Zambia is going to make a huge difference!!

Enjoy this info today... tomorrow my laziness shall subside and I will tell you about Chris and my new addition to the family... Jacks!

ATL

I don't know about you but for some reason homeless people have always interested me. My thoughts about the homeless were completely different until I read a book called The Noticer. My friend Amanda gave it to me to read and I would encourage all of you to read it. The link takes you to the author, Andy Andrews, page and you can purchase the book from there and read more about him. That book changed my outlook on the homeless and for the first time I was actually interested in how people are helping the homeless. I know that sounds selfish that it actualy took me 24 years to even care, but God can change our hearts and he changed mine.

That leads me to talk about a little organization called Church on the Street.

There are over 12,000 homeless men, women and children in Atlanta. Now hear this- over 2000 are known as long-term or chronically homeless. Church on the Street isn't a homeless shelter that these people have to try to get into at night. They go out into the streets where these homeless people wander and live and build relationships with them. That is what Jesus called us to do- build relationships. The first part of what Church on the Street does is their outreach ministries. Before they even attempt to help these homeless get into shelters and get their life turned around, they begin by just trying to talk to them and minister to them. I'm stealing a quote from their website...

 The type of service that is needed by this group is not only basic sustenance, but also, and primarily, due to their engrained isolation, hopelessness and skepticism, consistent relationships with persons who care for their well-being unconditionally, are willing to be with them, and will speak honestly to them.

We don't know much about homeless people. We understand they need food, clothing, shelter, etc. Unfortunately, when it gets past that we are somewhat confused and don't let our mind go there. They are often in dangerous places. They are often what make places dangerous in our minds. They are not always easy to approach and friendly. They have been very isolated and don't have the social skills you or I might have. But, what Jesus taught us through his actions was to go out to the LEAST and the LOST. I'm pretty sure the homeless population fit that description.

The second part of what Church on the Street does is education. We all need to be educated about the homeless. I'm sitting here writing this blog and I know SO LITTLE. What I realize now though is that I do want to learn. I want to figure out what I can do to help to get them out of these situations. In addition to teaching people about the homeless population, they teach people how to reach out to the homeless population. Go check out their website and learn more and figure out how you can help!

Westside...

I told you yesterday that today I wanted to talk about an organization that is in the middle of West Montgomery called Common Ground. It was started by a couple in Montgomery and they felt God's calling on their life to move to this neighborhood and transform it. It couldn't have been easy, it must have been scary. This was a type of neighborhood that many of us won't even drive through; yet, they were moving their life and their kids into this neighborhood. I copied in their mission because my words couldn't do it justice...

The Mission of Common Ground Montgomery is two-fold:

We seek to create a "safe haven" of love and grace along with structure and discipline for the children of our community when they are most vulnerable to the destructive influences of our streets.
We also concentrate on investing in our urban youth by focusing on "holistic development". We do this in three main ways.

First, our staff, with assistance from godly neighbors, is devoted to "life on life" training of the youth. We accomplish this by living in the community that we serve in; opening up our homes to the neighborhood kids and training them through biblically based "discipleship" relationships.
Second, we provide relationship-based programs that focus on character, social, and life skills development in various areas like academics, arts, sports, and entrepreneurship.
Third, we connect kids with loving Christian mentors from across our city. These enduring relationships begin in the 4th grade and carry on through the child’s high-school graduation.

I think this is so meaningful because they aren't just writing a check. Writing a check is sometimes so easy. Don't get me wrong, giving money to groups like this is very important and they appreciate every dime. What amazes me the most is how the founders and their staff changed their whole lifestyle and spend everyday building relationships with these kids and their families. Our church had a mission day the last weekend in October and our "mission field" for the day was Common Ground. We went in and some men did some construction work and everyone else just spent time playing with those kids. What a blessing it was. The smiles on their faces just to be hanging out were incredible. They don't forget your smiling face either. There were some kids from our youth group out there and they go out there to tutor and spend time with the kids during the week. They knew those youth and they knew about Saint James and were excited to see familiar faces. Chris and I can't wait for our next visit!

Advent Reloaded...

This year our church has done a series over Christmas that is focusing on giving back and spending less on ourselves. As we have talked about this in church and in our small group I keep loving on this verse.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere--in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8

I wanted to do a short little blog series about what this has meant to our church lately...

Jerusalem- this is like our family, our church, and our city. For Chris and me, this is our home, Saint James, and Montgomery. Right now our church has adopted three homes through a ministry in Montgomery called Common Ground. To learn a little bit more about them go to Common Ground Montgomery. Saint James will use volunteers to help renovate these houses and then build relationships with the people who move into them. A project I'm super excited about and looking forward to going out there and working some! Then of course, being with those precious kids!

Judea, Samaria- These are surrounding regions. For us this is our state and the surrounding states. Another ministry our church is working with is Church on the Street. Church on the Street is a ministry in Atlanta, Georgia working with the homeless population and ministering to them. There are over 12,000 homeless men, women, and children living in Atlanta. To learn more about their mission you can go to Church on the Street

Ends of the Earth- This is exactly where it says it is. Saint James is doing this in multiple ways. A few of which are adopting a Compassion International child, digging wells in Zambia, and helping with the rebuilding effort in Haiti to name a few. If you are interested in sponsoring a child definitely go to Compassion International. You can write letters back and forth with the child you sponsor and makes an enormous impact in the lives of those children.

A little extra thing I will talk about on my last post during this series is adoption. Two of my DEAREST friends are adopting from Uganda and it has become such a passion for me going through this process with them. They have started an adoption ministry at our church where parents who are interested in adopting or have adopted or in the process of adopting can all come together and help and serve one another.

Well enjoy your hump day.. my first post will be tomorrow on my Jerusalem and we're gonna talk a little bit about Common Ground!

Why do we do this...

Why are we as people so quick to 1- assume the worst and 2- find joy when the worst turns out to be true and 3- find joy out of tearing people down and 4- only enjoy tearing people down when they are on top...

My heart breaks for Cam Newton right now, and surprisingly, not because I'm an Auburn fan. Two years ago barely anyone in this country knew his name. Now you would be hard pressed to find someone that didn't know his name. I am the first to admit I missed most of this football season due to wedding stuff; however, I know in July I had no idea who Cam Newton was and now I know exactly who he is. Let me go back to my points about why this is so hard for me to wrap my head around.

1- Every story in the book has come out about why he isn't eligible to play and why he is a bad person and immoral and has no ethics and he was bad in school, etc. We have all made mistakes. Not every mistake in his past has the opportunity to make him ineligible to play NCAA football; yet, people are talking about them anyway as if every single story is true. We as a people automatically assume the worst.

2- Deep down for some and for some you don't have to dig that deep, a lot of people want these stories to be true. For different reasons that they hide under a matter of "fairness." Why do people find joy in destroying a 21 year old's name, reputation, college experience, and possible career? Whether this was all true or all false, this should be somethting that we all sat down and hoped and prayed that it wasn't true because we should build eachother up and not tear eachother down. It is just football, it is just a game, and there is always another season. Sadly, some people want this to be true just because they don't want Auburn to be good or win the SEC or win the NCAA title. Putting all of my Auburn ties aside, that is incredibly sad.

3- Explained in point #2

4- Remember these people are all talking about things that a year and two years ago... If Cam Newton hadn't been a good quarterback at Auburn and just been a mediocre player and we had a mediocre season, would we still be hearing all this talk? NO! We wait until someone is at the top, leading a team towards the NCAA Title, front-runner for the Heisman Trophy, at what I would guess is one of the happiest moments in his life, truly living on top of that Ivory tower and then (not a moment before) we jump in and are ready to watch that tower crumble.

Overall, it breaks my heart to watch people around find such joy in the possibility that this college kid's life could tumble down around him. What happened to seeing the best in people, what happened to innocent until proven guilty?

Just my thoughts on the matter...
But at the end of the day as an Auburn fan I will quote words straight from Cam Newton's mouth...

"When God be blessin', the Devil be messin'" - Cam Newton

Hands and Feet...

As Christians we're called to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Serving has been thrown at me constantly since we returned from Hawaii. We got back and Saturday morning our church had a Mission Day where about 350 volunteers went out and served in different areas of our community. Chris and I went out to Common Ground- speechless is the word. I had heard about the Ministry, met the founders before and heard them talk, heard about tons of people going out there. I had never actually gone out there myself until Sunday. It was incredible, the ministry is awesome, the kids are incredible, and it has been on my heart ever since. I urge you to go to their website and then check out the links that take you to some of the staff member's blogs- they are truly incredible!
Common Ground Montgomery

Then, Sunday our Pastor Lester preached on a book by a local well-known Pastor John Ed Mathison. John Ed's book is entitled Treasures of the Transformed Life and this week the topic was on "Giving a Drink to Others." Lester spoke about the different opportunities we have to serve and remembering that we are called to serve. He had people in our church who had passions in different missions come up and talk about their missions and how to get involved. I heard ya God- we need to be servants. We need to be your hands and feet.

It only continues and this is what got me the most. My small group at church is reading a book called Radical by David Platt who pastors a church in Birmingham, Alabama. Incredible book that pushes you and makes you look at things in a completely different light. The chapter I read last night was also about Serving. It took on an interesting debate about whether people all over the world who have never heard the Gospel go to Hell since they do not have faith in Christ. He went at it from every different answer and left you with the call to go. There are 1.5 billion people in this world who haven't heard the Gospel and don't know the love of Christ. Wow. Most people reading this heard the Gospel sometime between 1 and 5 years old and then who knows how many times after that. It just left me thinking, what can I do? How can I make a difference? What can I sacrifice for someone's SALVATION? What is bigger than that? A better question, what can I NOT sacrifice for someone's salvation?

I don't have the book next to me at the moment to quote this exactly; however, one of the most interesting points to me was this... God is above all, he is the ultimate healer, giver, he is powerful, he is strong, he can do all. So he could put the words of the Gospel written across the sky. That isn't what he chose to do though. Instead, he called us to share His word and share His love. What good are we as Christians if all we do is sit around with other Christians and learn more about our Faith when there are so many who know nothing about it?

I know that was all serious, but at the same time it is just some interesting thoughts.