erindiaz

Its all about relationships

If you sit in a conversation long enough with me, you will probably hear me say something to the tune of, “its all about relationships.”  That is because I try to live what I have been taught.

The people who have impacted my life tremendously taught me not only with their words, but with their actions how to truly love God and love people.  Their lives of ministry are exemplary. They have invested heavily of their time, their friendship, and their hearts in me.

Hebrews 13:7 says, “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.”

Because of the impact these leaders have had on my life, I am forever changed.  Like them, I now firmly believe that the only true way we will ever make a difference in the lives of others for the sake of Christ is by being available to others, opening our hearts, our homes, our lives, and our friendship to them so that they not only hear our words but they see our example. 

I hope that at the end of my life I will be known as someone who loved sacrificially so that others can come to know the love of Jesus.  I daily seek that through the time I invest with the people God has placed in my life and only hope that I can follow in the footsteps of those who impacted me, because it is truly all about relationships.

We have another new family member!

This week Alex’s sister Adriana arrived from Venezuela for a visit.  We are so happy to have her.  She is such an encouragement to us with her cheerful spirit and funny personality.   She is going to be here visiting, helping us, and studying for her exam that is coming up.   

We have a new family member!

This last week we found a cute little kitten that we almost ran over.   She had a cold and looked like she hadn’t eaten in awhile.   No one was around looking for her and she didn’t have a collar so we brought her home and fed her.   We of course fell in love with her and we have since decided to name her an make her an addition to our home.    After much debating, we came up with her name, Tigra, (pronounced Tee-gra).  She is bouncy, crazy, loves to scratch stuff and cuddles when she is sleepy.   Don’t worry, if you are allergic we have a stash of allergy medicine for you!

We Love SoFlo!

As many of you know, The Pursuit Christian Church is showing their love for this metropolitan area of South Florida through random acts of kindness and a card that tells why we want to show kindness throughout this area.  We truly hope we can begin to change the face of South Florida through showing kindness to others.

One unexpected result of this campaign has been the way people at The Pursuit are noticing the good things that people are doing for them in the community.  This was the conversation at this week’s student group.  We talked about the people who have done nice things for us without any incentive.

This week when I was in Walmart, this was exactly what happened.   I was shopping when I realized I left my cell phone somewhere.   I stopped a woman to ask her if I could borrow her phone to see if I could hear mine.   I told her what I had done and before I could ask to use her phone she was already handing to me her phone and telling me to take it up and down the aisles while she stayed with my cart.   It was so generous of her to help me to that extent.  I was so humbled when I realized that I am a recipient of strangers’ kindness just as much as I offer kindness to others.   

To top it off, it turns out that she wasn’t the only kind stranger that day.   I didn’t find my phone in the aisles but someone did turn it into customer service.   They could have kept my phone but they didn’t and I am so grateful.   Maudi could have continued shopping and ignored my request for help but she didn’t.  She went above and beyond.   

I called her to let her know that I found my phone at customer service and her response was, “there are still good people in this world.”   

Our Vacation

Recently we went to a church planting conference where we heard Rick Warren, author of Purpose Driven Life and pastor at Saddleback Church told us all that in order to last in this calling with your life and family in tact, you have to “divert daily, retreat weekly, and abandon annually.”   

Alex and I did our best to abandon this last week to New York City followed by two days at Ft. Myers Beach Florida (to rest from our vacation!).    We did get in some fun time with friends in New York and some family in Ft Myers but we definitely got to escape our daily/weekly routines and have silly fun elsewhere.   

I believe that the moment you turn your brain off to the big giant to do list roaring at you, you begin to create new ideas, new traditions and new thoughts that you weren’t capable of before.   We got to surround ourselves with art, history, entertainment, and rest throughout our trip and I found myself seeing my life from new perspectives and considering things that otherwise I never would have. I also got to spend a fun and memorable time with my husband, which spells excellence for a marriage.   There are so many good things about rest that God designed and we should never feel guilty or afraid to turn off and escape on a regular basis.

What is your favorite vacation memory?

Which one are you voting for?

As I sat  watching American Idol last night, I wondered why all the props were going to Archuleta when the truly outstanding performer is Cook. I will concede that David A. is a good singer, but I would buy 10 albums by Cook before I ever bought one of “little David.” I was wondering if they have slanted the competition in favor of the one they are grooming to win, or if maybe the judges are afraid that going with the older candidate will make them seem out of touch with what the younger kids want.   We have another case of Daughtry.  Its my prediction that even if Cook doesn’t win, he will do better than Archuleta in the Billboards.  Only time will tell.   What do you think?  Which David did you like?

Tough Questions...really

Yes I have yet another fun moment brought to you courtesy of Kids City.   This week in our “Tough Questions” series, we talked about what Heaven looks like, a very popular question even among little ones.  Now, if you haven’t been around kids much then don’t let their small stature fool you. They are filled with questions you would never imagine!

Our lesson on heaven focused on the fact that while we like to imagine what heaven is like, we just don’t know for sure until we get there.  What we do know is what the Bible tells us, that there will be no more suffering or sadness or pain and that Christ-followers will experience perfect life with God forever. 

Well, five minutes into this lesson, the rapid-fire questions began and poor Linda Smith had to do her best to answer questions like, “Do we get wings when we die?”  Before Linda could answer, another child screams, “Yeah we do!”   

Then came the real controversial question, “Will my dog go to heaven?”  ummmmm, uhhhh, well……     We also had a child who apparently had been around the Sunday school block, who veered off the subject of heaven and began tell the class about the battle between God and Satan at world’s end, eternal judgment and a new world order! 

I must say that Linda did a great job fielding their questions and their lectures on end times bringing it back to what the lesson was really about, but I couldn’t help but laugh a little in amazement at all the questions and comments this brought up.   Next time I’ll have to bring my books by Jack Cottrell with me to Kids City to make sure we’ve got it all sorted out. 

Upon Graduating....

If you are reading any of the other Pursuit blogs, you probably already know that I graduated this weekend.  I have been working on a Master of Divinity for the last 3 and ½ years at Cincinnati Christian University.   It was a major personal accomplishment for me that I can now scratch off my “bucket list.” 

My desire to do this was not for the title.  I did it for the challenge and for my personal desire to know more about God and the Bible.  I grew up in a Christian home, and learning from God’s Word from experienced and educated believers my whole life.  However, after attending Indiana University and facing much adversity for my faith, I realized that before I answered a call to serve the Lord in ministry, I needed to learn more at a different level.

I would never trade my four years at Indiana University because it gave me an even greater hunger to know my God and Savior.   I would never trade the years I have spent studying God’s Word at CCU either because I know it has prepared me to now strengthen others with a deep hunger to know God. 

This weekend for me was an important celebration marking a completion of a chapter in my life as I am already in the middle of the next.  I am already seeing how I can put into practice what others have poured into me over my lifetime. 

Thank you to everyone who helped me through school including my husband Alex who supported and encouraged me to keep going, my parents who have helped us in every way possible, my home church, Central Christian Church in Carmel Indiana who provided a scholarship, Cincinnati Christian University and their scholarship program and so many others who prayed me through my tests, papers, and finals all the way through.  Your prayers were answered.  I made it out alive.  Thank you.

Finally a thought...

If I have any readers left, God love you!   I thought I would take a moment to share what I experienced at this year's Exponential Conference-a gathering of church planters across this country and the world.  It was so uplifting, and provided me with direction and help in the task God has given me at The Pursuit Christian Church.

So instead of writing a book about my week at Exponential, I thought I'd give you a glimpse with my top ten moments there.

Animal Kingdom with the team - because every team needs play time.

Andy Stanley’s talk –Making Vision Stick - The One Campaign -"to make poverty history," The Pursuit -"to be good news."

Rick Warren’s talk with the New Thing Affiliates and guests -what wisdom, experience, and good sense.

Meeting Alex’s cousin Claudia and her husband Sahid from Bogota, Colombia before the conference

Playing Bob & Linda’s dice game at the condo – (all Bob & Linda’s fans know which one I’m talking about!!)

Lunch with Jessica Bowman from Reachout KC - We met at church planter assessment and I'm so glad we did!!

Reuniting with Patty (from Cincinnati) Richardson, a girl I lived with at Indiana University, who is now on a team planting a new church campus with Suncrest Christian Church.

Serving at the conference in registration and translation

Serving with the team from Common Ground in Tampa - what a great group!

Dreaming together about the future of The Pursuit Christian Church

There is so much that could be said about each of these moments and there are so many more but all of them together made for an excellent week of recharging for what is happening in the Miami area at The Pursuit. 

Kids City Bloopers

Our blooper/funny moment of the week comes to you by way of Matt Mehaffey's computer.  I don't know if Matt has blogged about this series about John Adams that HBO is doing, but apparently he really likes it because and he happened to have a wallpaper image on his desktop about it when we used it this week in Kids City.   

As our power point volunteer tried to advance through the slides, she somehow made the slide show disappear and that wallpaper appeared.   The funny thing is, that the theme of the documentary and the tagline of Matt's desktop image was "Join or Die." 
So you hear these precious little kids singing a song to Jesus and then all of a sudden you hear them all chime together, "Join or Die!"............oops!!

I swear you can't make this stuff up!