A Bride unmarried.

Jesus is the example, he is the prize. We call on all disciples chasing after Jesus’ heart. We call on every man, woman, and child that understands Jesus to be the Christ; he was, is, and always will be our messiah. We shout to communities and churches that are like minded in their pursuit of a Godly lifestyle. I call on the church, the bride, the body. I call on myself, my friends, and you. We are a people that can’t boast of anything but the grace of God. Under his grace we are equal. He sees you with the same love that I am known. He thinks the world of you. He thinks the world of me.

So I think the world of you. Do you feel the same?

What if I told you I loved Jesus? Does that make you love me more? It’s possible.

What if I told you that I thought Jesus was the way, the truth, and the life?
Then I told you I also thought that the big bang started creation, Jesus was a married man, and we have three Gods- Father, Son, and Spirit.
“In fact,” I continue telling you “All roads lead to heaven if you obey the commandments that God gives in the bible.”

Now what happened inside of you?

What was it that happened to your core? Did you want to correct my theology? Did you want to tell me the truth that you have found? Did you want to argue your opinion? Maybe you just got a little tense and started to have compassion on me. Maybe you started praying that God would reveal his true heart to me.

We are all equal under God. Christ paid the price. That is fact. That we agree on.

Or do you tend to focus on what we don’t agree on? When we meet on the sidewalk, at the coffee shop, or in the market, and I start telling you about my interpretations of scripture, why is it that you feel responsible to guide my thoughts until they look like yours?

We are all saved by grace, it is not of ourselves. Why do I want to “play God” when you disagree with me; in which case I will begin to tell you the “real” truth about Christ and God. Or at least think it.

And if we can’t agree, then we better just live separately, cheer each other on (publicly, from a distance), and huddle around some people who make us feel good because they agree with us.

I mean, that’s what Jesus would do… isn’t it?

I want to propose some conditions of the church that have scary ramifications.

The church is not unified. (who would have guessed?)
The Bride is dismembered. (Jesus won’t come back to an ugly Bride.)
We have let the religious spirit become powerful again. (Jesus’ murderer was a religious spirit)
Our (my) love has been defeated by our (my) pride.

I am sorry. I repent. Will you forgive me? God already has, will you?

I want you to know something.

I love you- the way that God sees you is the way I choose to. Unconditionally.
I value you- you carry the image of the Lord of all creation, I can learn from you, you are valuable.
I like you- God is in a good mood, not only does he love you, but he enjoys you, and so do I.
I respect you- you were created in the same way as I was, God sees you in the same light as me.
I need you- we were created to live in relationship, you have pieces of God that I need.

This is a call to unity, a lifestyle of love and humility, a movement based in God’s love and Jesus’ payment.
I am calling on all Christ followers, all Jesus’ loving communities, and all disciples of the one messiah.

The call is to love like Jesus.
The call is to live out discipleship.
The call is to draw together after thousands of years of warring.
The call is to become so lovely in our unity that the husband will be drawn to come for his Bride.

We are becoming beautiful, but the feet cannot do it without the legs, and the eye cannot do it without the mouth, I cannot do it without you, you cannot do it without me.

Typically random.

Typically I am random.

So this is just another adventure in the life of Kendall Dean.

As we speak, I'm sitting in a small "ma' and pop" coffee shop in a city called Lathrop. It's about four hours south of Redding, and the very sketchy plan is to visit Yosemite... soon. (Yosemite National Park is about two hours East of here). As I sit here, I try to think ahead and plan my next move.

It's four o'clock and I can go to Yosemite now, and I would sleep in my car.

I could go an hour West and stay in oakland with my friends Amanda and Hendrick.

I can read and write here until I need to find a parking lot to sleep in.

I could meet friends from Sacramento.

We've got options.

We have very few constraints. God is good, and that will not change.

I actually am responding to God on this trip by simply going. About a week and a half ago, he told me to go.

For this reason, there is great expectation for the quest.

I brought my Guitar, Journal, Laptop, and Bible. Tools for inspiration, tools for living the life that I am called to.

I may climb a snowy mountain, I may enjoy a camp fire, I may read a new book, I may drink twenty lattes, I may go to the ocean, I may skip rocks in a river, I may design a swing set, I may thrift store shop in San Fran.

One thing I do know,

I will simply enjoy my Papa, my God.

Simple.

Prices are Valuable

Prices are valuable.

Think about that for a second.

Prices give us a value system for all the things that we come across in our lives.

My guitar was a thousand bucks, my car was fifteen hundred.

My wallet, which holds usually under ten dollars, cost more than ten dollars.

A value system.

Let me tell you about how valuable I am. I am valuable enough that the God of the universe, God of all glory, the God of all power, all knowledge, and a God who IS love itself, wants to know me personally.

We converse.

I talk to Him, He responds, it's beautiful. In fact I just asked Him what He wants to say to you.

He said to tell the Men that they are AWESOME.

He said to tell the Women that they are BEAUTIFUL.

The price that the King of Glory paid for me was death, torture, and slander. It was dehumanizing and definitely not a death that I would say was God-worthy.

The price that forgiving my sin cost him reveals my value.

That's how valuable you are (in the present tense) to Him.

I can keep on ignoring Him and He will love me the same.

You can choose to thank Him, talk to Him, love Him, and live with and for Him.

He will love you the same.

But just between you and me, He might really like the attention.

Livelihood

Somewhere in the tropics of South America, Africa, and Asia Pacific there are men and women working hard for my morning livelihood.

It all comes down to the french press. The ultimate coffee experience.

Every morning I get to enjoy a cup of coffee darker than the monster in your closet's closet.



As I sit with the sun rising higher into the sky, slurping on my coffee, and writing to you, I can't help but be reminded of how blessed I am.

Coffee Master Mug- $10, Cannon digital camera- $400, Power Ranger backpack- $0.10, North Face backpack- $100, Ipod Nano- $200, Casio Boulder cell phone- $250, Leather Bound Journal- $30, Compaq laptop- $600.

My friend Josiah- $33.50

These are just things that are sitting on this table in front of me. I am rich.

I am rich in spirit too. God gave me a love that I'll never find elsewhere.

He gave me the gift of his Spirit too.

I am rich.

I got a friend, a cup of coffee, a sunrise, and a shower this morning.

Thank you Jesus.

She.

There are a few specific ways in which I am waiting for my wife.

I hesitate to say "future wife" because she exists today. She is my wife, whoever she is, but we just haven't been married yet.

Many people that I know are saving themselves for their honeymoon night, they are holding back and constantly choosing to say no over and over again so that when they say yes (to their one and only) it will mean so much more. A much better gift to give. An exclusive gift.

I am all on board with this, however, I want to take a more proactive approach for my wife, because she is the most amazing woman of God that you'll ever meet. She is special.

Every time I find a penny on the ground it's almost as if she is tossing bread crumbs for me to find. I collect these crumbs and keep them in a jar; and when my hand lets the pennies drop, I pray specifically and intently for my wife. I've prayed for her thousands of times.

Every time I have loose silver change in my pocket, I save. I do not spend change. Ever. If the cost of my coffee is 2.01 then I break three dollars and take home 99 cents for my -you guessed it- honeymoon fund. I pray for Her. With every coin that passes through my hand it is collected and saved -even cherished.

I'm writing her letters. I will be post stamping these and saving them for her.

And... at the risk of sounding obsessive... (all this is from a healthy heart)

I may or may not have started saving for an engagement ring.

Like I said, She is just that special.

There are parts of my personality and identity that I hold back when I interact with single girls my age. I am very protective of hearts. Yours and mine. In fact, I have never dated.

Protective.

Some day though, my wife is going to want to know who I really am. She will get past the surface. She will be given parts of my life that are not given loosely, and she will find out the full extent that I am preparing for her.

Potent

The weather is perfect.

The wind dances on treetops, very much like a game of hopscotch.

The sun smiles on my skin, ideal for short sleeves and pants.

The clouds are bouncing, but somehow ever so still.

Ever so happy.

Every breath has a heightened effect beyond the last.

Every word spoken today is crisp and unmistakable.

Every aspect of reality today, to me, in a word, seems:

Potent.

Potency has a connotation of directed power.

Purposeful.

Purpose-filled I enjoy my Thursday.

Thank you Jesus... I mean that...

Thanks.

Ceasing Faith

As an unsuspecting driver, I turned the corner past the highway patrolman.

I made too much eye contact. I am convinced.

So a few "thank you officer"s and two tickets later I drove home in my beautiful car... Faith.

She has been so good to me over these past few years; but due to four "fix-it tickets" she will need to be taken to the scrap metal grave yard.

All cars don't go to heaven.

So here's an ode to Faith. My ceasing Faith:

Bought at 3,200 dollars with 212k miles we began our journey together two and a half years ago.

Hit by a drunk driver, we (my parents and I) received 2,200 dollars for the damage.

So they gave me her for free.

Hit by drunk driver number two, I received 1,600 dollars and continued to drive my paid-off beater.

Some of you know her as the "Bandaid Car" or the "tic tac toe board".

The 1,600 dollars that came from my "uninsured motorist" I saved specifically to make a down payment on my next car.

Well now that Faith's time is up I randomly started checking Craigs list for cars.

God. He likes to give me things.

So I stumbled on this Blue 1993 Toyota Camry. I have paid the adoption price and he is mine.

Obadiah is his name.

He has 50k miles less than Faith did and has never been hit by a single drunk driver!

The entire cost of my new buddy was less than the money that i saved from the last accident. No down payment here, just paid cash.

Ode to Obadiah.