Jacob Davis
hello
so… i guess this is it… the beginning of mission year.
awesome.
If you would like to see my reasoning for joining this wonderful program, please read the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5 through 8.
Love at any cost, and be at peace.
Jacob
About Mission Year
Mission Year is a year long urban ministry program focused on Christian service and discipleship. We take teams of young people, place them in an area of need, and help them to serve people and create community. We are committed to the command of Jesus to “love God and love people,” by placing the needs of our neighbors first and developing committed disciples of Christ with a heart for the poor. Learn more about our first year program…
Jacob Davis's Blog
say that again / May 25, 08:43 PM
talking about what it means to be in a relationship with God, pastor berryhill leans forward across his chair to face us during men’s group.
“now let me ask you this,” he whispers in his thick-as-molasses voice, “and don’t go hollerin’… what does it mean to have an intimate relationship with your wife?”
many of us smirk, little boys we are. a couple shift uncomfortably in our chairs. but brother leo jackson is focused, his brow furrowed with thought. he looks up, suddenly making a connection that us immature pew warmers overlooked.
“it means that He’s in YOU, and you in HIM.”
berryhill’s facial features pop upwards in surprise, suddenly lighting to excitement.
he leans forward and points his index finger, his eyes burrowing into brother jackson.
“say that again!” he exclaims in a fervent whisper.
amen. say it again.
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made by, with, in, for, to love / Apr 30, 11:26 AM
There is nothing that can separate us from the love of our Almighty God. Nothing. It is all around us, even in the most dire of situations. It is written into the very fabric of Creation. Every tree is a testimony. Each individual blade of grass points.
Being that He created us, and that God is love, then we were made by Love. We were made by Love, with love, in love, for love, and to love. We were so loved, in fact, that Christ- that is, God incarnate- gave His life to save us from our sin. Through His resurrection, Love has defeated death.
And not only did God’s love conquer that age-old enemy, but after He lifted back into heaven, He breathed His love into us by way of the Holy Spirit. The consequences of this action are not in the least bit small. Through the Spirit, God has enabled us to channel His love! We are movable conduits of Love, able to share Him with anyone we come into contact with!
How can we not share God’s love, His Gospel, His redeeming sacrifice? How can we not give our hand- HIS hand- to help those who are in need? If we are truly filled with love, we cannot do or allow harm of any kind to those around us!
We are a fallible and fallen creation. But that will not stop our God, and that will not stop His followers from seeking Him. No matter the cost, no matter the pain, we know what will prevail in the end. As Dorothy Day once so eloquently put it, “The final word is love.”
as yourself. / Apr 30, 11:21 AM
“while our culture encourages self-reliance, individualism, and independence, these things are incompatible with the ecology of organic christianity. because God is Community, His children are designed for community. our new nature calls out for it.”- frank viola, reimagining church
these trying times in our climate and country have a certain way of devaluing us. we stand a nation humbled. people are losing jobs left and right. homes are foreclosing, companies seem to be abusing any help given to them, and a lot of families are making sacrifices and just barely scraping by financial disaster, while others plummet into that disaster. more and more during these times of economic crisis, war, and political distrust, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: we cannot do this alone.
thankfully, God never planned that we would be.
my time here in new orleans has taught me a lot; i think that one of the most important things is how to interact with a community. it’s this lesson that i have to offer when my year is over.
let’s remember, that as a church, we are a body. that body does three things: take care of its members, bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the world, and take care of the oppressed and needy. we’re here to share a message with the world: “you are loved by God. you are so special, that He would die to save you. in fact, He did. and because He loves you, i love you. you are worth something.”
people all around us are hurting. i guess the whole point of this blog is this:
how well do you know your neighbors?
till i see you again... / Apr 2, 11:07 AM
there’s a term called “second mothers”; it is often given to women who helped your mother raise you, often given to aunts, friends, even at times older sisters.
my grandmother passed away this morning, and though she helped take care of me and raise me a good portion of my early childhood (due to my mom having to work most week days), i can’t think of her as anyone else but grandma.
having been sick for a while now, it’s hard for me to remember the strong woman who fiercely loved her family, and despite any short-comings she might have, did anything and everything to take care of us, from the smallest thing such as having a bowl of tomato soup ready when i came over to housing my cousin while he was in his rebellious teenage years to sitting through countless child-made renditions of our favorite scenes from jurassic park (my cousin kevin always the eager dilophosaurus and i the conniving velociraptor). she was an intensely hard worker, and some of my very earliest memories are sitting out in the garden with her, or waiting impatiently for her to get the tree swing up in her backyard.
but more than all these things, my grandma was fiercely in love with our Lord, and as i found out in her memoirs that i read over christmas break, it was her desire to be more like Jesus. and looking back, i can remember her diligently studying her Bible, taking me to give bread out to shut-ins and those who were sick (along with cards and words of encouragement), and telling me about a crazy man that lived on an indian reservation and gave most of his money away that he made writing music for Jesus, and that we could all learn a lesson from rich mullins. she loved our Christ. it’s comforting to know that in these last few months of pain, that our God was right there with her, holding her.
i owe my love of chocolate milk to my grandma dorothy, and probably (in the long run) my lactose intolerance. i owe any sense of charity that i have to her as well. she never stopped giving, never stopped loving.
please pray for us, the davises, as a bright light has gone out in our family.
but one day, we will see her again, shining more brilliantly than ever before, and dancing and jumping and moving in ways that i can only remember in my dreams.
i love you, grandma.
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simplicity and the kindness of giving / Mar 10, 04:41 PM
my first encounter with simplicity and the kindness of giving was a memory that had long ago been forgotten until the other afternoon when meredith’s dad, byron, gave me a bunch of rich mullins music. there is a song on an album, the Jesus record, called my deliverer. upon hearing it again, i instantly was transported back to the first time i had ever heard the song, which was my first experience with christian music. i was about eight years old, and wept instantly upon hearing the driving voice of rich mullins claiming,
“my deliverer is coming, my deliverer is standing by!”
my grandmother and i were talking about it afterward, and she told me that the man who sang the song lived out of a trailer, with next to nothing of his own, and that he gave almost all of his money away. when i asked her why he did that, i was told that Jesus had said in the Bible that we should not hold onto anything that was material,
and that the Bible also says that the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. my grandma lived pretty simply herself, but said that this rich mullins was going even farther than she, and was probably right in doing so.
flash forward to me sitting on the couch the other night weeping again to the song.
my parents came for come and see weekend, and we had a wonderful time in new orleans, showing them the injustices around us as well as the wonderful people and delicious food. the day after hearing the rich mullins song again, i took them out to play basketball, and we ran into a couple of neighbors.
daniel doesn’t have much. he hasn’t worked in years due to a forced retirement after an accident. he offers good conversation, a great handshake, and a mischievous grin when he’s thinking about the good old days. when my parents met him, he smiled, thanked them for coming, and talked with them about his life and loves. after meeting my mother, he swore that he had something that he had for her. later, she came home with a bunch of mardi gras beads that he had stored away.
like i said, daniel does not have much. but he still gave from what he had. my mom had a bright smile on her face. i’m never ceased to be surprised by the beauty of my neighbors, and the sheer kindness they offer to those around them.
even out of poverty, out of the smallest amounts that we have, we have so much that we can give to each other. the book of James says that every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, so we should look at what we’re given, and be thankful to God for it. not only that, but if we have freely received, then we should freely give to one another. it shows Christ.
i am fully convinced that giving is a miracle of God.
“For God so loved the WORLD, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” -John 3:16
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