Love Jesus. Love His Bride.

Psalm 122
A song of ascents. Of David.
 ¹ I rejoiced with those who said to me,
   “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”
² Our feet are standing
   in your gates, Jerusalem.
 ³ Jerusalem is built like a city
   that is closely compacted together.
⁴ That is where the tribes go up—
   the tribes of the LORD—
to praise the name of the LORD
   according to the statute given to Israel.
⁵ There stand the thrones for judgment,
   the thrones of the house of David.
 ⁶ Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
   “May those who love you be secure.
⁷ May there be peace within your walls
   and security within your citadels.”
⁸ For the sake of my family and friends,
   I will say, “Peace be within you.”
⁹ For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
   I will seek your prosperity.

We have been visiting Bayou City Fellowship in Houston. We are digging this little church. By the way, it won't be little long. It's brand new--started September 2011--and they just went to two services a few weeks ago! You know why? Because this group of believers is engaging the world. They are taking God at His Word when He said to care for the orphans and widows. They are passionate about modern-day slavery. All to glorify the name of Jesus. 

Today, the pastor, Curtis Jones, preached from Psalm 122. He gave a charge to the Bride of Christ to, like David, rejoice when we go to the house of the Lord.  We are seeing the message of "Love Jesus, not the Church" business quite a bit lately. But, it is impossible to love Jesus and not love His Bride, the Church. Spot on, Preacher!

I DO love the Church!  I love MY church! Very specifically, I love my little corner of church with the College Ministry that have made themselves at home in my home. That's the way I dig it.

Some of my crew at home in my home.

Spouse in the Word with our College Fam.

Passion 2012

So, thanks, Curtis. I was missing my college crew quite a bit today. :) 
And it all started because the Psalmist said "I rejoiced with those who said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the Lord.'"
Then, I learned that Mike Storter, my Superman friend and our College Minister, was preaching tonight. Mike has been battling Leukemia for just over 3 years. About 2 months ago, he was sent home with Hospice Care at which time doctors estimated his earthly days to be about 2 weeks. Tonight, though, we watched his awesome message online which inspired me to blow up Twitter for about an hour. I apologize. Not really. 

I'm so proud of Mike. I'm grateful to call him my friend. 

Family photo Mike and his wife, my friend, Laura, in the center. Love them!

He is the real deal. He loves God. He loves people. And, let me tell you, people love him. In these past 3 years, Mike has been able to point more people to Jesus than most people do in a lifetime. 

Anyway, he made miss him. Then, my college crew went out after church. They made me miss them!  

Here they are tonight. Seconds before I got choked up.

How could you NOT rejoice to go to the house of Lord with these people??

I'm so proud of them. Get a good look at them. 

These are the faces of world changers.

~Love~
Melissa