Housing in Houston

I have had a lot of people recently ask me about my housing situation in Houston.

After visiting Texas in March, I felt strongly that I was suppose to live with a family when I moved to Houston.

This conclusion is based mostly on my current financial situation. Losing a job and collecting on unemployment this past year doesn't exactly make a recipe for making bank. Because I have been traveling the country for the past 6 years, I own nothing. I MEAN NOTHING. So signing a lease, making down payments, buying furniture, finding a location, and roommates, were just several things that seemed less than ideal for my situation. I have also recently come out of credit card debt (yes!) and I really need to start making some moves towards financial freedom. I would also like to work towards one of those things called...oh yes... a savings account. I am in my late twenties and I don't see a joint income coming anytime soon. So really living with a family just seemed like a wise financial move.

So within the next month, to my pure surprise, I got an email from a family offering me a room and a place to live! It was such a beautiful sign of God's provision. And it was such an answer to prayer! I love how God impresses things on our hearts for a reason.

All this to say, I will be living with Corey and Andy and their 2 year old son and chocolate lab. They are a couple that is helping build our church plant and I also went to college and church with this lovely couple. The funny thing is we weren't really friends. I found this picture of us in Honduras. Is is sad that I didn't even know we went to Honduras together?! They were the "cool kids" back then and I was shy and insecure and not so cool kid. Oh how we all change!

So anyways, life will be really different for me in a short month as I leave the independence of my own home and take a new journey of literally living in community with another family! I feel like this is backwards. Most people my age would be established, have their own place, and maybe at least own a bed. God's faithful provision is a little counter cultural but I am thankful I get to be under his umbrella of provision as I seek Him.

*There are actually 4 people from our church plant in this picture in Honduras! You never know how God brings people and relationships back together!

I want to pick a fight with California.

But unfortunately these days she is more lovely than ever.

It's always easier to leave a place you hate.

But thankful this place holds more meaning and love than my little Alicia heart can contain.

I recently have had the joy of enjoying the ROI of my close to four years of my Cali residency. I have been filling my time with lots of coffee dates, shared meals, and just soaking in random spontaneous moments with my roommates.

This has also made me incredibly bi-polar. I find myself having really awesome highs followed by really low lows. So you might see me laughing till my belly aches followed by my mascara-ridden cheeks. The truth is I have awesome friends. People that genuinely love me and people I am honored to know and to be a part of my story, and that have given meaning to my life here. It is my community that makes leaving so painful.

I am working hard to preserve memories but also to create new memories.

In the next three weeks I have a lot to look forward to because I have lots of people that love me!

1. Turning my house into a dance floor that will involve heels, red lipstick, hair down, and some major swag.

2. A trip to Santa Barbara with my roommate and her work bestie Bru. Bru has told us to just bring cash and a book. He has something up his sleeve.

3. Last everyday may gathering that will involve witty banter, BBQ, and hopefully some good ol' laughs.

4. Becka and Kim have planned a surprise destination overnight excursion next week. They have been planning for days quite sneakily.

5. My going away party that Becka has also been working on some crazy thoughtful project to bless me.

6. A two-day birthday excursion in Las Vegas with 7 of my best friends.

7. A 10 day road trip with the ladies of 611 to Vegas, Grand Canyon, San Antonio, and Houston for our last hoorah together.

These next few weeks literally might be the funnest and most blessed days of my life. I am one loved girl and my love tank these days is gushing with love.

Celebrating from Afar

Yesterday, my new church had their first (of many) baptisms.

This is something I will never stop getting excited about.

This was captured by the beautiful Melissa Fitzpatrick.

A Resource for Reluctant Brilliance Question #3

Q: How do you propose Christians should choose a church? We hear a lot that music is bad, speaking is bad etc, and therefore, I do not choose said church. Are we always led to great churches (Houston) or do we pick? *Disclaimer: I chuckled to myself that you asked me a question regarding church. I have wrestled with the idea of church and this exact question for so many years. So I am by no means an expert, but rather someone that is answering this out of my own journey to find an answer to this same question.

A: The first place I would start is to develop a working biblical ecclesiology. Ecclesiology is the term used in theology that is devoted to the study of the church. Developing a biblical ecclesiology will serve as a road map for understanding what a Biblical church should or should not look like.

Thankfully, before Jesus left, he gave us a few clues of what His people, the church, were supposed to be about.

Before Jesus ascends into heaven, he begins to prescribe the next step to His followers. He knew, without a doubt, that his disciples would be lost without Him. So he did what any good parent does before they leave. He wrote instructions CLEARLY so that they would know what to do.

• We find Jesus in the gospels telling his disciples, “I will build my Church.”
• We also find Jesus giving his people a mandate right before he ascends into heaven…

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:18-20.

• Then in Acts 1:8 (which is also the thesis statement of the entire book of Acts), there is another bullet point of direction.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

• Then after Jesus’ ascension, while the disciples were waiting for the next step, the Holy Spirit makes his presence clear through some crazy tongues of fire and understanding of different languages. Shortly following, thousands of people are saved because the disciples spoke through the power of the Holy Spirit and essentially Christianity and the church is birthed.

• In the beginning of Acts, all we know is that Jesus gave His people the Holy Spirit and a mandate to not keep the message of salvation to themselves (Jews) but to share it with the world (Gentiles). And the book of Acts is the documentation of how the spread of Christianity and how the church expanded.

Throughout the books of Acts, we see the people of God gathering together. They are organizing themselves for the purpose spreading the gospel. There are secondary things that happen such as worship, fellowship, and teaching, but the primary purpose is to share the Good News to the ends of the earth. We see persecution and disagreement as a catalyst for sending people to the ends of the earth. The church was sent out. It’s primary purpose has always been outward, never inward.

Mark Driscoll gives this definition of the Church in his Book “Doctrine”.

• The local church is a community of regenerated believers who confess Jesus Christ as Lord. In obedience to Scripture they organize under qualified leadership, gather regularly for preaching and worship, observe the biblical sacraments of baptism and Communion, are unified by the Spirit, and are disciplined for holiness, and scatter to fulfill the Great Commandments and the Great Commission as missionaries to the world for God’s glory and their joy.

Each of these bolded phrases are different characteristics or principles of the church. It is important to make this distinction between principle and method. These principles are timeless, Biblical, and evident across cultures. These principles provide context or an ecclesiology for evaluating churches. I would suggest that you turn these bolded phrases into a credential “checklist” for finding a church. These bolded statements are also 8 different blog posts, so I won’t elaborate on them.

These principles manifest themselves differently depending on the culture and context in which they exist. Methods include things such as music preference, a pastor’s specific preaching style, or even the trendiness of the building. Methods unfortunately are usually the primary things that people base their decision of where to attend or where not to attend. Somehow as believers, we have become consumers and base our decisions on what a church can do for us personally (inward focus).

The Alicia summary of all of this is…

The purpose of the church is to be a sent people (outward focus) to a world that desperately needs to hear the gospel. It should be the training ground for people to learn how to share their faith, to disciple those they lead to Christ, and to encourage those to do the same thing (evangelize, disciple, send out). Then there is beauty in the fellowship of saints and worshipping with like-minded individuals. We soak up Scripture because it is our guide and our fuel to keep us going. When these things are central then somehow methods become less important. So as you pick a church, find out if they have a global purpose. How well do they disciple? Are new people coming to Christ? Are people being sent out?

I think that choosing a church can be one of the biggest challenges that we face. I speak from personal experience and a lot of wrestling with the dissatisfaction of my church experiences. But typically this is because I was looking for a church that met my needs, when really I should be looking for a church that needs me to contribute something. Maybe there are times we choose a church because their greatest weakness (and sometimes our biggest frustration) is the exact strength you have. And the reason why you choose to be at a church is because they need a catalyst for change. You might be that catalyst. Choose to serve where you can be poured out and add value to the body of Christ.

The times where I have been most content in my church were the times that I was serving and contributing to the body of Christ. It is a lot harder to complain or be dissatisfied when you are doing ministry and have your hands dirty with service. So maybe the best thing you can do to be apart of a church is to serve her.

I find church to be so very important. It is sad to see so few people really committed to a local body. The church is the war room. I think moving across the country to be a part of a church is kind of the exception, but whatever we do, we need to give our lives to the local church. We will be missing out on one of the greatest institutions that God blessed on this earth. So if you struggle with being committed to your church ask why. Maybe it’s because we aren’t apart of the real purpose of evangelizing, discipling, and sending out. Once we start to be about the original purpose and intent of the church, we might find ourselves needing the local church in new ways. It stops becoming a place that meets our personal needs but becomes the fuel that flames the fire.

What are things that you consider when choosing a church?

Happy Father's Day- A Day Late

Meet My Dad- Craig.

He grew up as a military kid to a disinterested father and wayward mother.

Eventually him and his 2 other siblings settled on the beaches of Ventura.

In his high school years, he most definitely was THAT kid...

The Californian, long-haired, post-smoking, surfer.

He still isn't exactly sure how he passed high school, but he are all thankful that he did.

After college graduation, he found himself so stoned that he actually forgot why he was attending mechanics school and literally headed east towards Texas. The rest is actually history.

Empy, lost, and desperately needing to be saved from himself, God did exactly that.

Somewhere in the dessert between California and Texas, my Dad's car broke down and he had a Paul moment. God literally stopped him in his path and pursued my dad. God called him out on his sin, and for the first time received salvation, peace, and purpose.

He eventually made it Texas and settled there.

God birthed in him a hunger for knowledge of the Word. God used his graveyard shift at Jack-in-the box to be the platform for discipleship. There was another co-worker who did just that and thus began a new life in Christ.

In his passion for knowledge, he eventually went to Bible college where he met my lovely mother. She couldn't resist his dark and handsome good looks (maybe that's where I get it from) and at the young age of 19 and 21 they were married. The next five years following they would have three daughters: Shannon, Amber, and last but definitely not least, me.

And thus begins the beauty of a legacy. A legacy that would be built up in heaven.

Recently, I have the joy of engaging in lots of conversations discussing Biblical manhood, legacy, and choosing to live in a meaningful story.

As I get old, I mean older, I appreciate the sacrifices and choices that my dad made for our family. His choices created an ability for his daughters (we are three) to become children of Light and to live meaningful stories.

He always put our spiritual growth above anything else.

From daily family prayer times before bed to praying before meals- my dad MODELED godly leadership. We never missed a Sunday in church and I have hundreds of memories of seeing my Dad study the Word.

We never had any money growing up. We always lived very simply, but I also never remember lacking anything either.

My dad is a hard worker. He would always take on extra-jobs, working hard to provide for the four women in his life that he adored.

He worked so that my mom could stay at home and love on us and he sacrificed to give a private Christian education for his daughters.

Every sacrificial decision my dad made was in light of his commitment to Christ and his responsibility to care for us. He also has been a constant presence in my life. Showing up to cheerleading games, piano recitals, roses on Valentine's day, a surprise visit in India, visits to California, skype dates, and lots and lots of harassment, these are all things he did out of love. I don't honestly think he thought twice about it.

As the years go by and I hear other people's stories, I am forever grateful for my godly Father who exudes Biblical manhood.

And in return, I am forever a Daddy's girl.

Daddy,

Thanks for all the hugs, kisses, and I love you's.

Thank you for your genes. You know that I am an exact clone of you- don't ever forget that.

Thanks for always harrassing me.

Thanks for letting me still sit in your lap (even thought you protest)

Thanks for the memories of sitting in your study discussing theology and the deeper things in life.

Thanks for all the daddy-daughter dates- especially coffee and movies.

Thanks for your tenderness and always crying in chick-flicks more than all the rest of us.

Thanks for your affirmation and loving me.

But most importantly thank you for choosing to raise me in a godly home and making a new legacy in the Divers' family.

I love you Daddy!

Love your half-pint.

On Saying Goodbye

In four short weeks, I will be driving my car out of California headed to Texas [Insert anxiety].

My 3 year and 9 month California residency will end.

And this might seem like a weird/odd request...

Will you please join me in praying for me in these next 4 weeks as I say goodbye?

It is really easy to get calloused in saying goodbye.

It is sometimes easier to disengage.

But I want to say goodbye, and I want to do it with excellence.

I want to pursue people and soak in last moments.

I want to speak words of truth and encouragement.

I want people to know how meaningful their friendship was in this season.

I want people to know how their story impacted my own story.

So, please pray that I would end well in this last month in California. Thanks in advance.

A Resource for Reluctant Brilliance: Question #2

My blogging friend Shannon asked me the following questions below. She is a phenomenal writer and has a beautiful heart. Girl, I hope this helps. I would love to answer anymore questions that you have.

I ask that those that read would engage in the conversation and ask additional questions, add to this or comment on ways you agree or disagree. Let's keep the conversation going...

Q: What are/were your fears in making big missionary moves (ie. India, CA, Texas)?

A: Uprooting. Leaving community and family is always the worst. Hands down. This one never gets easier. I always fear living a life of isolation, especially as a single person. I always fear that I will be stuck in the middle of foreign people or city and be doing ministry, but then no have no support group or family to come home to. I fear that I will be lonely and that God will abandon me. This is mainly because I am community person and have to be around people. *disclaimer, thankfully for me this fear has never been a reality!

Incompetency. I always wonder if I will suck at language learning (which I typically do), or not know how to have an effective ministry, or how I will just know what to do. I fear that I won’t get the culture or that I will hate the people. I fear that the culture will be too much and I will be miserable living out what God has for me. Fear of failure and insignificance are consistent fears in my life.

The funny thing about fears is they are always unique to you. What others fear that keep them from moving will be things that typically don’t faze you and vice-versa. They are usually the things that Satan always/typically uses against you to keep you from moving. So really they aren't any more unique to anything else that God calls us to do. I mean these are the same for me rather it’s taking a new job, sharing my faith with a stranger, or moving to Texas. So realize your fears will be unique to you and not always the same as others. Usually our fears are our greatest weaknesses. And also realize that what God is calling you to in obedience will conquer fear. So don’t let fear cripple you. Let it be the thing that motivates you move.

This is going to sound super-spiritual and I don't mean for it to, but i don't remember what my fears are anymore. They don't rule my mind and they don't cripple me. I am on round three and God has always come through in such a big-way that I don't listen to my fears anymore. It is for sure a process that got me to this point, so it didn't happen overnight. I realize I am a freak, but I like making big missionary moves because God makes his presence and love for me so clear. I am obsessed with it. I am a faith junkie. I like to move where God is moving. I think the more you get used to saying yes, the easier it gets. There is something that makes you feel alive when you move towards God's plan for your life.

Q: Do you think you will always be traveling to where God calls you or do you see yourself settling down somewhere specific?

I hope that I am always traveling to where God calls me to, even if it’s humid concrete-ridden Houston. My philosophy of life is to always be ready and at a place that if God calls me I can go. So far it has landed me in a variety of places. My heart is still for the nations and all of my life decisions will be filtered by asking, “how can I best be used so that God’s name is made famous among all peoples.” Right now, my best way of having impact is to mobilize and train others in the city of Houston. I am still secretly hoping that God calls me to plant myself in a foreign land, but we shall see what He has up his sleeve.

Q: What pros/cons come along with a missionary lifestyle for you?

Cons:

1. Platforms. Visas are tricky things. Choosing to know how you will live overseas. Will you go through as a professional or through a missions agency? And either way, what kind of visa will you get. If you are a professional what organization will you “partner” with? There is no need to live cross-culturally if you are not helping feed into those who are doing church planting. Or will you be the church planter? And if you go for ministry purposes in places that it's illegal, how do you get there and stay there legally?

2. Children. What if they don’t have a great education system? Can you put your kids in their public system cause they don’t speak the language? If not, will you home school them? Will you send them to MK boarding schools- sometimes in another city or another country? Sometimes also, you will see your kids struggle, and go through culture shock, and it can be hard to know when you make decisions based on your family’s needs and your call to be in a country.

3. Family. You become an observer of your family no longer a participant. You will miss funerals, wedding, babies being born, mother’s days, father’s day, birthday, holidays, and other important highs and lows in your families’ lives. This never gets easier. And it will always be hard. On the flip side, the people you work with overseas become your family. They are who your kids call aunt and uncle. Nationals and other expats become your family and the people you share life with.

4. Community. Just because people are missionaries doesn’t mean you will like them. People you work with many times will be the hardest part. I have witnessed this first hand and it’s one of the things you wouldn’t expect. But I have seen the most ineffective ministries on the field because people can’t get along with each other on their own teams. People have different ministry philosophies and aren’t always like minded. Other expats many times will be the biggest thorn in your flesh.

5. Culture. You will always be living in the middle space as a third culture person. You bring all your Americaness with you. You will never be able to be in your own culture fully and sadly you will never be fully the culture you are ministering to. You create your own third culture- a mix of your culture and the culture you now live in. There are days when you will love the culture and never want to leave and other days when it will take everything for you to leave your house because you really just hate it. You always feel like a foreigner. But again, this is a beautiful reminder of 1 Peter that we will always feel like aliens and foreigners on this earth until we reach heaven.

Pros:

1. Hands down the best pro is being a part of the global church. There is nothing more holy than worshipping with people in a different language, with different instruments, but with the same God that saves the exact same way. It's a beauitful picture what heaven will be like.

2. You have positioned yourself in a way that it is IMPOSSIBLE to rely on your own self but you have to trust God. Therefore, you see God do some crazy awesome things. You can’t do it on your own, so God becomes real. Your prayer life increases and you find yourself asking God for awesome things like miracles and you actually see them happen. Then you realize…wow God really is the God that does miracle, saves, and gives dreams and visions. All the things you secretly long for to see in the God you serve, you actually see. Crazy stuff.

3. The bible becomes alive. It’s not longer just something you should read and learn from, but it becomes a manual for what you are doing. Everything in Scripture makes a lot more sense when you are out doing what the apostles did. I think the reason why we don’t like reading our Bibles in America is because we don’t live in the story. And it’s hard to understand and relate when you are spectator. Once you become a part of the story, there is a new level or relating and understanding why that verse was written.

4. Your worldview expands and therefore you understand pieces of God you never understood before. God is no longer just seen as the Western God, but you see God from new lens through the eyes of another culture.

5. You are forced to live out the gospel and there is no greater joy. You have cultural reminders on a moment by moment basis that remind you aren’t home. And therefore it is a consistent and constant reminder to share. You realize if you don’t, then all the hardship, uncomfortableness, and difficulty of surviving isn’t worth it. So seeing God move through lives being saved and gospel conversations is what keeps you on the field. If not, you would just go home.

Shannon, I hope this helps answer your questions. I look forward to hearing any comments or additional thoughts. Thanks for asking my opinion!

A Resource for Reluctant Brilliance: Question #1

Recently, a few of my blogging friends decided that we would make an open forum for other bloggers to ask us questions, and then respond. We have coined it "A Resource for Relunctant Brilliance." There were four questions addressed to me, and I chose the easiest one to answer first! I apologize in advance for the length of this blog post. Feel free to skim.

The first question was asked by my blogging friend Rissa.

Q: How do you come to the conclusion that even though you desire marriage that you do not think you will get married :) [insert Alicia] I actually think this question is slightly off, I originally said it wasn't a guarantee that I would get married not necessarily that I thought I wouldn't.

A: The very first time that Rissa and I hung out, we somehow got on the topic of getting married. Not too bizarre considering we’re both single. And we very quickly kind of came to terms that we might actually agree to disagree on this topic. She very strongly believes that because I have a desire to be married that it is guaranteed that I will, without doubt, be married one day. And I don’t believe my desire for marriage guarantees/necessiates that I will be married one day. Hence, agreeing to disagree.

I am in my late twenties and single. Right now, I epitomize the stereotype that all missions minded females are single. However, I am reserving my blue jean skirt and braided hair for maybe, let’s say- my late thirty and single days. J I have a strong desire to be married and raise a family. But for some reason, God has not chosen that for me, yet. I have watched God intentionally bring men in and out of my life, but for some reason he always shuts the door. The honest truth is that my most recent break-up ( a few years back) caused me to be angry at God for giving me something I wanted so badly and then just taking it away. So don’t misunderstand, I am not a bionic woman that tosses my marital desires to the wind.

However, I am not convinced that just because God has given me a desire to married that it necessitates that I will. Call me Debbie Downer or Hopeless Hannah...wah wah wah. But I don’t find anywhere in Scripture that supports this idea. The desire to be married is the most innate God-given desire that he places in all of us. That is why God created Eve, because man should not be alone. Those that don’t desire to be in a marriage relationship to me is evidence of sin and distortion of a beautiful, original, and innate design of marriage. I think everyone has some kind of natural desire to be married, it’s universal, and more importantly God-given.

Having a desire to get married guaranteeing marriage to me is equivalent to the cultural lie of the health and wealth gospel. Marriage is not promised to all believers. He doesn’t promise all things to all people equally. There might be something new he wants to do in my heart that he couldn’t have done if I was married with a family. Who knows? I ask the question why all the time. But there is no answer.

For me, I have chosen to focus on what God has called me to in singleness, right now. Don’t get me wrong, I am just as boy crazy as the girl next door, but I find that if I focus on obtaining a husband and assuming the promise of that, then I might miss out on what God has put in front of me. I don’t want to get to heaven one day, and God say why didn’t you serve the nations. And my only response was that I was waiting for him to send me a spouse. It is a mistruth for me to state that I think I will never get married. However, I just don’t think that it is a certified, and a heaven signed, sealed, and delivered promise that God has given me. He does however promise me that He will never leave me or forsake me. And He has ordained and counted all my days, and that He desires my holiness and my purity. These are the promises I cling to.

My heart is ministry and the nations. I wouldn’t be me if I gave up these passions. And there has not yet been a man that has pursued me to do this together. And so if, and when, God brings me a ministry partner that allows me to do ministry better because we are together, then I am game. But I have also come to understand that God might consider my life lived in singleness to be a better investment for the gospel and for the nations to know Christ. Honestly, most days I struggle with the truth and reality of this statement playing out currently in my life. And it forces to me cling to the cross and remember that life is not about me. But my life is all about see God’s name becoming famous to all peoples, all nations, and all people groups. And that’s the only thing that keeps me going.

So Rissa, I hope this better helps flush out why I said that. Feel free to ask clarifying questions.

On a side note, I recently found out that my soon to be pastor has been praying for me to find my husband, daily. Bless him. I was touched that as he is lifting up all these important things with the church plant he is mentioning my marriage. So if it happens, it’s because Curtis prayed it in! I still have my fingers crossed for a dark and handsome one, some things never change.

A Memorial To God

Throughout the Old Testament God asks His people to raise up memorials as physical reminders of what God did in the lives of His people. For example…

So Joshua called together the twelve men he had chosen- one from each of the tribes of Israel. He told them, “Go into the middle of the Jordan in front of the Ark of the Lord your God. Each of you must pick up one stone and carry it out on your shoulder—twelve stones in all, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant went across.’ These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.’

Before this passage the Israelites find themselves in an “inciting incident”. They have made a decision that has forced them towards movement. They either cross the high fast moving waters and walk by faith or they stay put and miss out on the blessings of the land that God promised to them dozens of times previously. Thankfully they moved and God showed up in a way that they had to stop and acknowledge His miraculous hand, His faithfulness, and His ability to come through when it mattered. In my current season, I find myself identifying with the Isrealites. Mostly their lack of faith in the promises of God, but today (and really all year) I have seen God move in such a clear God way that I couldn't help but keep silent.

I can’t ignore God’s faithfulness and provision in my life. And I want to lift His name high. I want to raise His banner of FAITHFULNESS and declare HIS praises from the highest mountain top and scream…“HE IS TRUSTWORTHY, HE IS GOOD, HE IS FAITHFUL, HE IS PROVIDER!” So this post, simple and mostly written for me, is my own memorial to God.

Today, I had a phone interview for a job that kind of fell in my lap, literally. I didn’t seek it out, it found me. The man interviewing me is a businessman that is a part of the core that is helping to plant Bayou City Fellowship. He had a position as his assistant open and I sent in my resume. This morning I talked to him on the phone. I didn’t get the job I originally “applied” for because they need someone to fill that position this week. However, he did offer me an opportunity to interview me for another position within his company when I arrive in Texas next month! So I walked away today not with a job, but a promise of a job interview and with a recommendation from one of the executives of the company! God you are good.

Secondly, my original intent was to transfer to Starbucks in Houston. Still my plan if the other falls through, and my manager was saying that it was going to be really hard for me to transfer and find a store that would take me. Today, I made 2 phone calls and the second one I made the manager told me I could transfer to her store! Ha, nothing is too difficult for our God.

By 9 am this morning, I have a promise of two jobs. I am still hoping for the non-Starbucks job because it will be reliable hours and put me in a great position to start paying of my student debt!

These are stones in my life that God has used that remind me of what God had done in my life:
Stone #1: Unemployment Insurance
Stone #2: Job at Starbucks
Stone #3: Random checks that kept me afloat from random people at just the right time.
Stone #4: A call from Curtis and Amanda offering me a job in Texas.
Stone #5: Someone offered to pay off my credit card debt! This still brings tears to my eyes.
Stone #6: YMCA job for the spring.
Stone #7: I somehow work part-time, still collect on unemployment, and for the first time in my life have a small savings and no credit card debt! Yep, the math doesn’t add up. That’s how God works.
Stone #8: He provided a place for me to live practically for free with another family in our church plant.
Stone #9: He has provided a place for me to transfer for a job and a potential other job that will pay a lot more than Starbucks and help me get a good place financially for the first time in a long time!

Jehovah Jireh,
Thank you for being a Father that takes care of His children. Thank you for not forgetting about me but showing your faithfulness to me through loss, promise, and purpose. You are worthy and you are good despite my sin and my faithlessness. God, your movement and love for me keeps me chasing even when I have no idea where I am going. I pray my life is always an offering that I lay at your feet. Use me as a living banner and memorial of your love and faithfulness to the nations. May you use me in ways that are utterly disproportionate to who I am.

Spiritual and Sexy Swag

Becka is my roommate, best friend, soul mate.

Our friendship is more like a sisterhood and there are very few people in life that I love more and would do anything for than this lovely lady. She has been probably the biggest blessings of my 3.5 years here in California.

All this to say, our chapter of life as "roommates" is coming to a close in a little less than a month.

Moment of silence.

But we are hoping to go out with a BOOM BOOM POW and a little Spiritual and Sexy Swag.

What do you mean alicia? So glad you asked! Let me elaborate...

Sexy Swag.

If any of you have met my roommate Becka she has a pretty awesome physique. She has muscles and curves in all the right places. And well... I don't exactly. When we first joined our gym KO, we used to go to the gym and take classes together...all the time. It is one of my favorite memories in our friendship and it kind of speaks her love language. Well I decided to make this a bookend in our friendship. So we (mostly I because she already goes) have a goal to make it to the gym nearly everyday. I am going to dust off my pink boxing gloves and get ready for a [1,2] [1,2] punch. Also, we are going to work on finding a dozen or so really delightfully delicious and not to mention healthy meals to put in our domestic tool belts.

Spiritual Swag.

We have decided to go through the book of Joshua together. We are in love with the Old Testament narrative. This book takes place right before the stubborn and wayward Israelites enter the land the God promised them over and over again. It's the beginning of actually seeing God's stated promises come true a midst their continued disbelief.

Our plan is to discuss our reading while en route to and from the gym. And we are hoping to also spend some time in prayer together. Nothing more powerful than praying with a sister. I realize these are simple spiritual goals. No memorization of books or fasting for days on end, but this is what we need, just some basic disciplined time in the Word. I personally have been a little spiritually anorexic and needing to beef up a little, okay a lot.

So here's to summer swag with my bestie. Feel free to ask us about our swag when you see us! There is nothing like some good community accountability.

Bayou City Fellowship

Currently my heart is suspended above two places I love-- California and Texas. Mostly it finds itself surrendered fully to the mountains, palm trees, and oceanside. However, today my heart was fully in Texas with my new church family, Bayou City Fellowship.

This evening, there were around 50 plus people gathered together officially establishing the core group of believers that will be starting a new church plant. Most of them have left their own churches in their city not because they were dissatisfied, but because they are willing to be poured out into a new community that has no church. All of us are taking a blind leap of faith with great expectation that God will meet us somewhere in the free fall.

Tonight it all begins...

A group of strangers, with a common unifying thread- Jesus Christ, corporately meeting together for the sake of the gospel. Is there anything more beautiful?

Bayou City Fellowship will launch to the public this fall and will be gathering in the Spring Branch area between 290 and I-10. Curtis Jones will be our pastor and my new boss (pray for him). Curtis is an incredibly gifted teacher and communicator of God's Word. I have always known that whenever God released Him to do what God has called him to in ministry that God would bless it. God has seriously anointed Curtis and I am honored to be led by him and sit under his teaching, again.

His vision for Bayou City Fellowship is to be poured out for the community and our resources to be used outside our walls. We will be a church hopefully known for transforming the community and loving on people that need the ministries of the church- the least of these. Even tonight, people brought clothes and gift cards for families that were displaced due to a fire that happened in the Spring Branch area. Spring Branch is going to know that we moved in town! It will be a wild ride and we're expecting God to do awesome things!

You can read Amanda's (Pastor's wife) thoughts and vision on the church plant: part one, part two, part three.

If you want to stay in the loop and see what God is doing feel free to follows these peeps. But mostly just stay in the loop so you can pray for us! We need it!

Twitter: (we all like to tweet)

Curtis Jones: @jonescurtis

Amanda Jones: @AmandaMoJo

Beth Moore: BethMoreLPM

Bayou City Fellowship: @BCFellowship

Websites:

Amanda Jones: http://babybangs.blogspot.com

www.bayoucityfellowship.com

Getting Acquainted with H-town

June is here and it has ushered in a new urgency to prepare to go, which is healthy for me. I really enjoyed blogging #Everyday and was completely blessed through that experience, but I have some new goals for this month that I am working towards that are outside of the blogosphere.

There was about a week that I can be honest and say that I was seriously considering just staying and not going. But the reality is that I have nothing here to keep me besides community. So I am moving forward and working towards falling in love with my new city and praying that God would break my heart for her!

So I started to look up fun things about Houston to get me motivated. All this information was taken from http://www.houstontx.gov/abouthouston/houstonfacts.html

· Houston is the fourth most populous city in the nation (trailing only New York, Los Angeles and Chicago), and is the largest in the southern U.S. and Texas.

· Founded in 1836, the City of Houston has a 2009 estimated population of 2.25 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau --www.census.gov.

· The three-airport system served over 51 million passengers in 2006, including over seven million international travelers.

· If Houston were an independent nation, it would rank as the world's 30th largest economy.

· The ACCRA Cost of Living Index shows that Houston's overall after-taxes living costs are 12 percent below the nationwide average, largely due to housing costs that are 26 percent below the average.

· Houstonians eat out more than residents of any other city. While here you can choose to indulge in one of the more than 11,000 restaurants ranging from award-winning and upscale to memorable deli shops.

· Houston has a Theater District second only to New York City with its concentration of seats in one geographic area. Located downtown, the 17-block Theater District is home to eight performing arts organizations with more than 12,000 seats.

· Houston has a unique museum district offering a range of museums, galleries, art and cultural institutions, including the City's major museums.

· Houston has more than 500 cultural, visual and performing arts organizations, 90 of which are devoted to multicultural and minority arts and is one of five U.S. cities that offer year-round resident companies in all major performing arts.

· More than 90 languages are spoken throughout the Houston area.

· Houston has professional teams representing football, baseball, mens and womens basketball, soccer, and AHL hockey (Don’t worry I will still stay true to my homeboys the Spurs).

· Houston is home to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. The largest rodeo in the world, it attracts more than 1.8 million visitors each year.

· Houston has among the youngest populations in the nation. The city has the third-largest Hispanic and third-largest Mexican population in the United States.

· Houston boasts more than 40 colleges, university and institutions - offering higher education options to suit all interests (Kyle and Sarah, don’t you want to come here?!).

· Houston is home to the Texas Medical Center, the largest medical center in the world, with a local economic impact of $10 billion. More than 52,000 people work within its facilities, which encompass 21 million square feet. Altogether 4.8 million patients visit them each year.

· When comparing Houston's economy to a national economy, only 21 countries other than the United States have a gross domestic product exceeding Houston's regional gross area product.

· Houston ranks second in employment growth rate and fourth in nominal employment growth among the 10 most populous metro areas in the U.S. In 2006, the Houston metropolitan area ranked first in Texas and third in the U.S. within the category of "Best Places for Business and Careers" by Forbes magazine.

· Home to and more than 5,000 energy related firms, Houston is considered by many as the Energy Capital of the world.

· Houston's economy has a broad industrial base in the energy, aeronautics, and technology industries: only New York City is home to more Fortune 500 headquarters.

· The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled and second in total cargo tonnage handled. It is the tenth largest port in the world.

***On a random side note, One of Houston’s sister cities is Istanbul, Turkey. How awesome is this?!

***I guess if i have to relocate, Houston isn't too bad!