Archive for October, 2009

Living Proof Live – Memphis

Living Proof Live – Memphis from Rich Kalonick on Vimeo.

Many thanks again, Rich!

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Looking Back at One Decade and Forward to Another

Deep breath in…deep breath out. Deep breath in…deep breath out. Siestas, I have less than 48 hours left before I wave a fond goodbye to my twenties and embrace the big 3-0. As of right now I’m not freaking out. I keep thinking that I will enjoy being the baby of the 30’s more than the oldest of the 20’s. Let me recount some of the high points of the last ten years.

Age 20: The Lord started opening doors for me to serve Him in ministry for the first time. I got to help with youth camp and was a missions intern that summer. I also met Curtis Jones! I learned a lot about my Redeemer.

Age 21: I got involved with Breakaway Ministries at Texas A&M. It was such a blessing in my life. Curtis and I went on a mission trip to Venezuela with a team from Breakaway. We came home knowing we wanted to serve God together for the rest of our lives and started asking Him to make a way for us to be married. (At that point we were still in college and living 11 hours apart.) We got engaged shortly after and then Curtis transferred to Houston Baptist University and got a job working in the youth department at HFBC. The Four Moores took a trip to Paris and Switzerland that summer.

Age 22: I graduated from college and married Curtis a month later!

Age 23: This probably wasn’t the easiest year. I loved being married, but it was definitely an adjustment. This was my first full year of employment at LPM.

Age 24: Curtis and I left Houston for a 5 month stint in England. We had some amazing experiences and learned a ton of important lessons there. I led my first Beth Moore Bible study – Breaking Free – with a group of British women who were at least 20 years older than me. Bless them for their patience with me! I had sworn I would never do that study because my friends constantly told me how hard it was. 🙂

Age 25: We moved to Irving, Texas, a few days before my 25th birthday and we started our three-and-a-half year season working with students at First Baptist Church of Irving. We bought our first home that summer and the next day found out we were expecting a baby.

Age 26: The best and hardest year of my life – becoming a mom!

Age 27: I had a blast with my little family of 3. Jackson was a little bit older and we took him everywhere. We were always going to local festivals, having playdates with friends, and spending lots of time with our church family.

Age 28: I got to stand next to my sister as she married the man of her dreams. We moved back to Houston and got to be fully involved with Living Proof. We loved getting to share everyday life with my parents again. We found out we were expecting another baby!

Age 29: The Lord gave me a daughter! Sometimes I still have to pinch myself. We made some incredible memories as a family this year.

I have so much to be thankful for. Why shouldn’t I look forward to my thirties? Actually, I don’t want you to answer that. I would love to know from those of you who have been there or are currently there, what do I have to look forward to? What are some of the best things about your 30’s?

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Persecuted But Not Abandoned

Last night Curtis and I got to spend time with some of our best friends, Kay and Jerrell. As a missions pastor at our church, Jerrell always has fascinating stories to tell about people’s lives being transformed in our city and around the world. If you think Christianity is boring, five minutes around Jerrell will change your mind.

God is doing some jaw-dropping things all around us. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how excited I am about what He will do in Memphis this weekend. I’m also pumped up about a Spanish-speaking pastor in Houston who has led hundreds of people to Christ by sharing the Gospel at the end of the ESL classes his church hosts. And Curtis and I are giddy about the testimony of a man at our church who gave a New Testament to his co-worker years ago. His co-worker moved away shortly after, but called him 15 years later with great news. He had become a Christian after reading that Bible. Not only that, but his future wife and her parents ended up professing Christ as Savior. Wait, it gets better. They now have two sons who are believers and are in school training to be ministers! Praise God!

Those are some great examples of what’s going on in the church in America. Stories from other parts of the world are not always so neat and tidy.

Jerrell reminded us of the story of two young women, Maryam and Marzieh, who at this very moment are suffering in prison in Iran because of their faith in Christ. They happen to be the same ages as my sister and me and were roommates before they became cell mates. (They were later separated.) They have now been in prison for seven months and are in deteriorating health.

If I know anything about our Siestas, it’s that you all can do some serious praying. Since I also have a pretty good idea of how many of you are out there, I absolutely cannot resist gathering our hearts to intercede for Maryam and Marzieh. Many of us are praying for this weekend’s Memphis event. (Thank you for that. It’s so needed.) While you pray for this gathering of women who will worship without fear of being arrested and imprisoned, will you also pray for the persecuted church? For our Christian sisters, Maryam and Marzieh? God has filled me with faith that our prayers for them will have an impact, whether it’s through their release, improved health, spiritual encouragement, or something else.

Here are a couple of articles about Maryam and Marzieh.

This one is from The Voice of the Martyrs Canada Weblog. Check out the link to the Persecuted Church Prayer Wall on their blog.

Here’s another article from a ministry called Elam. Elam’s web site focuses on and provides many resources about the church in Iran.

“Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering” (Hebrews 13:3).

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. …And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. (Ephesians 6:10-13, 18-20).

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Memphis Ten Ticket Giveaway

Anybody want to go to the Memphis Living Proof Live event this weekend but can’t spare the money for a ticket? Thanks to the Siesta Scholarship Fund, we have ten tickets to give away. Please call Living Proof Ministries toll free at 1-888-700-1999 during work hours (8:30-4:30 CST) and ask for Susan or Kimberly. If you want to be there, we want you there. We love you, Siestas!

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Let’s Pretend

Let’s just pretend it’s really fall in Texas and it’s not crazy to be dressing my baby in this outfit. Let’s pretend that Houston’s not experiencing unseasonably warm weather with a heat index of 110. Let’s pretend that four months from now I won’t have a one-year-old!

Here’s Annabeth at 8 months.

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What I Learned from Twitter

I confess I’ve had to try really hard to stay away from Twitter. It sounds fun, but I need another thing to distract me on the computer like I need a slap in the face. So at this point I’m staying away.

Curt has a Twitter account that he uses to follow a handful of well-known pastors, speakers, and authors. One night when I was staying up too late just so I could enjoy my time off from mom duty, I snuggled up next to him and read the page over his shoulder. No one really likes that, so eventually he just handed me the computer. I went back and read a few days’ worth of tweets from these men.

Each one’s voice – their unique perspective and tone – came out loud and clear through their Twitter updates. Each one spoke of and pointed to Christ, but they could not have been more different. They lined up on the page in such a way that they could be easily compared. None was like the other, but it seemed to me that their voices together made a whole. Curtis has always read and listened to a wide range of teachers. If he only listened to one of those teachers all the time, he would risk becoming lopsided.

First Corinthians 12 tells us that the body of Christ is made up of different parts. We have very different functions and giftings, but we work together to bring glory to God. We need each other in order to be whole.

Seeing Curt’s Twitter page was a great reminder that I shouldn’t just get comfortable in one classroom and refuse to learn from any other teacher. I think it’s normal to find a teacher that we really identify with and who particularly gets us excited about the Word. But we will miss a blessing – and perhaps and arm and a leg – if we don’t let ourselves hear the other doctrinally sound Christian voices, all with remarkably different pitches, out there.


The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. (1 Corinthians 12:12-20)

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The Coffee Shop Hop

Hey Siestas!

Oh my word. It seems like it’s been a lifetime since I’ve talked to you girls. I wish I had tons of stuff to catch you all up on but I really don’t because all I do is read. Well, I go to class as well, but mostly I read. And I coffee shop hop. And you are thinking to yourself, “What is coffee shop hopping?” Let me briefly explain this phenomenon, though those of you in school will doubtless know of what I speak. It goes like this: In the morning one spends two to three hours at coffee shop number one. In the afternoon one spends two to three hours at coffee shop number two. And if it is a really crazy day, one spends as many evening hours as needed at coffee shop number three. Now yesterday was a three stop coffee shop hop day. [Say that ten times fast.] I was feeling a little defeated before the day began with all I had to do but it ended up being a delightful day. In the end, I realized I had found sketches of beauty in my mundane schedule. It went something like this:

Stop number one: Early in the morning I was at a modest little breakfast place ironically called “Sweet Melissa’s” getting my sacred first cup of coffee for the day. Sitting right next to me was a guy about my age with his grandfather who was so clearly ecstatic about going out on the town for breakfast. You could see it all over his face and not to mention he was dressed for an outlandish soiree at Gatsby’s mansion. As I gazed down at my book I pondered their sweet conversation. It didn’t take long for tears to well up in my eyes and make their way on to my page because I knew in my heart that this brief breakfast hour was the hour that one bow tie-clad man had been looking forward to all week long.

Stop number two: Mid-afternoon I made my way to San Francisco coffee and I noticed a Mom in her mid-thirties sitting at a table with her six-year-old son; she with coffee in hand and he with hot chocolate. I was amazed by their whole conversation. She was asking him all about his day at school. Questions about his new teacher and the students in his class. At times he would talk too loudly, stutter, or mispronounce various words but she never interrupted him or corrected him. Not even once. She just listened to him. Didn’t even look up from him or care about the rest of us in the room. They sat at that little table just talking and communicating for a solid hour. It was stunning. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything like it. I don’t know why it hit me so hard but I thought to myself, “I want to be like her when I grow up. She’s just cool.”

Stop number three: My third and final stop was at Starbucks. What can I say? I save the best for last. I was sitting in the corner of the store where I could not really see anyone else except a long line of people in my side view. A few minutes into my study I heard the Barista announce, “Hey pretty lady! Sit down, sit down…I’ll bring you some coffee!” I was kind of annoyed with the Barista thinking to myself, “Since when do the Baristas at Starbucks wait on tables when there are ten people waiting in line for their coffee?” So, I turned around to see who this woman was who was getting all this special attention, and to my surprise she was at least ninety years old. Then I watched in awe as this twenty-year-old Barista with spiky black hair and more piercings than I could count walk away from his counter where he had at least ten beverages to make put his arms gently around this frail woman. About twenty minutes later I saw them say good-bye to one another with beaming smiles and genuine affection. These two folks had very little in common yet it was clear they had formed a unique friendship.

I know these seem like small and silly gestures but in a world where it feels like people are too busy to interact with one another, these little things speak volumes to me. Sometimes I ponder the evil in us and among us and I wonder in my heart how the Lord does not look down from His holy hill and utterly destroy us all. Do you ever think that? Maybe it’s just me. Well, anyway…the point here is that other times I watch folks open their hearts and love other people, even complete strangers, and I think to myself, “Maybe these are reasons He doesn’t.” I don’t know. What I do know is that these three seemingly mundane interactions deposited a dose of hope in my heart. I just sat there in my chair at the end of the day and sipped those moments like one sips a hot Pumpkin Spice Latte with extra Whipped Cream. And let me tell you, they warmed this cold and cynical soul of mine.

Can you remember a time when you were touched by a simple human interaction? It doesn’t have to be newsworthy.

Love Triumphs,
Melissa

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Siesta Scripture Memory Team Verse 19!

Lately God has really been bringing that first part of Hebrews 11:6 back to my mind in living, breathing color like on a cartoon strip of a newspaper. You probably know the verse by heart even if you don’t know exactly where it lives: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” Don’t dismiss it or yawn past it with over-familiarity because it encompasses the single most important concept of our existence. On most mornings as I meet with God in the quiet before dawn, I say some form of these words: “Lord, I want so much to please you…” Recently, I’ve found myself in a season where I’m having to put very deliberate, focused trust in God in order not to be overcome by a few obstacles and invitations to fear. It’s not a bad place to be. It’s just a very intense place to be. Those seasons never fail to become the most memorable markers on my path with Christ. A few days ago when I was saying those same words to Him (“I want so much to please You, Lord”), I felt like He spoke back. These very clear and unsolicited thoughts formed like a pencil sketch on the wall of my mind: “Beth, you keep telling Me that you want to please Me and I esteem that. It is seeing you exercise your faith with great courage and against emotions and odds that pleases Me most. You’ve had a little break in some areas lately. What do you say we get back to that walk again?”

I’ve even been saying my Five Statement Pledge of Faith again. I bet a few of you could finish these sentences with me:

God is who…

God can…

I am…

I can…

God’s Word is…

I’m…

Nope. Not a bad place to be at all. Just intense. For some of you in Siestaville, really intense. Much more intense than what I’m going through. I want Him and the sense of His presence more than anything in this whole world. I’ve tasted it and there’s nothing in life like it. Many of you feel that same way. This many decades into a journey with Christ, I’ve concluded that the paths where our faith is stretched beyond our circumstances, our emotions, and natural conclusions are the ones where we receive the most vivid divine disclosures. These are the experiences that shape the paragraphs of our life stories. These are what keep us from being the snoozers and reward-losers in the Body of Christ. These are our hikes up the mountain where Jesus is transfigured before us. I am convinced that, in seasons that call for a powerful outbreak of faith, victory is never accidental. We make up our minds to believe God. To make no choice at all is to choose defeat. Fear. Intimidation. Constant psychological warfare.

SO, my verses this time around in our Scripture memory challenge are centered on faith because I find myself there again. I’m not feeling whiny because this is the place the Word jumps off the page for me and my prayer time passes before I’m finished. This is the place I grow. Every other place is where I simply maintain. Don’t get me wrong. Maintaining is not a bad thing as long as we can swing on the Vine to the other side of the road when we get an opportunity to land in a growth spurt. I’m choosing several verses this time because they’re each familiar enough to me to be fairly easy to memorize. I know them by concept and paraphrase. Now I want to know them word for word. If you want, choose just one of them and let it build up your sweet faith. Maybe you’ve forgotten lately that you are a warrior. He is so worthy of this, Sister.

Of Abraham, Romans 4:20-21 NIV says…

“He did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised.”

(By the way, when I recite that one to God, I’ll probably often take it personally and use a “she” for me instead of a “he” for Abraham. After all, his faith walk is over and mine is still very much in flux.)

And one more. It’s a really short portion but it shoots a straight shot and I love it. It’s Isaiah 7:9b NIV…

“If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.”

No kidding. Let’s get back up, Girls. Remember, faithfulness is never passive. It is the active filling of every gap with faith.

You are so loved here. We are honored to take this journey with you.
I love you.

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