Merry Christmas

Merry CHRISTmas from The Huxs!

Here's some pictures from our little apartment!

Faith

"Waiting for God to act is fleshly unbelief. It means that I have no faith in Him. I wait for Him to do something in me so I may trust in that. But God won’t do it, because that is not the basis of the God-and-man relationship. Man must go beyond the physical body and feelings in his covenant with God, just as God goes beyond Himself in reaching out with His covenant to man. It is a question of faith in God–a very rare thing. We only have faith in our feelings. I don’t believe God until He puts something tangible in my hand, so that I know I have it. Then I say, “Now I believe.” There is no faith exhibited in that. God says, “Look to Me, and be saved . . .” (Isaiah 45:22)." -Oswald Chambers 

Merry Thanksgiving!

I hope your thanksgiving left you feeling very thankful for the cross, your family, health, and the other blessings that God has placed in your life. Our Thanksgiving was full of laughs and joy. We don't get to spend too much time with our family so we were thankful for a few days of family lovin'! Thanksgiving has become like that awkward period of time right before fall when it's too hot to wear your boots yet too cold to wear your tanks...I feel as though people aren't sure whether to say "Happy Thanksgiving...or Merry Christmas". However, for the sake of this post we'll celebrate Merry Thanksgiving. Enjoy some pics from our trip to Spartanburg :)

Gameday

This past weekend, husband and I had a chance to get away for a few days. We all know that ministers don't get many of these chances since they work on Sundays but we grabbed the opportunity to spend Thursday night in Augusta, GA and then Friday night in Aiken, SC with my family. On Saturday, we ventured to Columbia to watch the gamecocks and the gators play each other. Husband was very excited, as was I, even though I've been battling a wicked cold since Thursday- I sucked it up and went along for the trip. The gamecocks barely won but thankfully we both are caring less and less about who wins when it comes to football...mainly because it brings out the worst in most people and it's quickly becoming peoples' gods. Here are some pics from the game!

All Things to All People

"To the weak, I became weak, to win the weak. I have become ALL things to ALL men so that by  all possible means I might save some." 1 Corinthians 9:22

Are our churches today taking every means possible to save the lost? This is something that has been heavy on mine and husband's heart for quite some time now. Lost people are no longer coming to us...so are we going to go to them? Most times when you talk about "church" to a lost person, a negative connotation  arouses in their mind. So what are we going to do about it? In the words of my husband, "Our God is big yet our faith shows Him being so small. Our BIG GOD should be portrayed in how we do and be the church! The moves we take as churches should be in faith...faith in our BIG God! Some churches portray such a small God. We have to step out and step up in order to reach those souls that don't have a positive view of church.

Have you ever been to a place where you felt SO out of place?? I had to visit many churches when I was still in college as a part of my worship classes and let me tell you, 9 out of 10 churches I visited I was completely out of place..(and under-dressed)...they had a routine and I just followed along like a lost puppy...and I'm saved! Imagine how a lost person would feel walking into some of our churches today...are we meeting them where they are in their life? Are we bringing the gospel to them in terms that they understand in order to save their soul? We have got to think like lost people in order to reach them. Paul is seeking to IDENTIFY with these lost souls. He doesn't set himself above them nor does he preach down to them. He gets on their level- eye to eye- in order to understand where they are. Didn't Jesus do this for us? Am I saying we should take part in sinful activities like the lost? Absolutely not. Am I saying we need to identify with them, befriend them, look at them as God's chosen people? Yes.

I think it's time for churches to identify with the lost in order to get them in our doors because they are not coming to the 'church building' anymore. We have to go to them and bring them in, and lead them to salvation. Let's step it up!

He Knows Me

This past Saturday night we ventured back to Lee Road Baptist in Taylors, SC. My dad was preaching at their 50th anniversary. This is the church that we left when I was 9 years old when my dad accepted the job at Millbrook in Aiken. I remembered this church. I was saved and baptized there. However, I have a very faint memory of some of the people. Of course there are a hand-full of people I will never forget because they made a lasting impression on me, but many came over to speak to us and we were clueless. Now, on an elementary level I was thinking...how embarassing it is for me not to remember these people that loved us so!! Then I thought...how awful for those to get to Jesus one day and have Him say, "I never knew you." [Matthew 7:23]

We may think that we know Him...but...does HE know YOU?

Gamecock Country

This past Saturday, I got to introduce husband to Gamecock Country...my gator fan loved it ;) My mom and my brother, John, met us in Columbia and we had such a fun day! Go Gamecocks!

[the nature of] Sin

"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned" Romans 5:12

"The bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man's sin, but that the nature of sin, namely, my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race through one man...BUT it also says that another Man (being God) took upon Himself the sin of the human race and put it away-an infinitely more profound revelation."

 "Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself." Hebrews 9:26

"The nature of sin is not immorality and wrongdoing, but the nature of self-realization which leads us to say, "I am my own god." When our Lord faced either people with all the forces of evil in them, or people who were clean-living, moral, and upright, He paid no attention to the moral degradation of one, not any attention to the moral attainment of the other. He looked at something we do not see, namely, the nature of man."

"He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person." John 2:25

"It is through the cross of Christ that God redeemed the entire human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin, and does not condemn anyone because of it. Condemnation comes when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this heredity of sin, and yet I refuse to let Him do so."

"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil." John 3:19

(Oswald Chambers; The Nature of Degeneration) 

The Vision and the Reality

"There are times when we do know what God's purpose is; whether we will let the vision be turned into actual character depends on us, not on God...Isn't it piercing to realize that God not only knows where we live, but also knows the gutters into which we crawl! He will hunt us down as fast as a flash of lightning. No human being knows human beings as God does." -Oswald Chambers

Light

Happy Fall! I hope to have more of a "fall season" this year. It always seems to hop from Summer to Winter in a matter of two weeks. A lot has happened in the past few months. From family vacations to Myrtle Beach and Florida to celebrating one year of marriage to opening a new student worship center to starting a college worship service and now finally having some "down-time"to catch up on little things it has been a whirlwind; but God is good. In the past few months we have noticed a significant joy in the lives of our students. They have grown into people of God that worship and live as though today is their last day whether that means sitting at a lunch table with the "not-so-cool" kids to crying out to Him in worship on Wednesday nights. You remember when you just "got it"? You know, finally the light bulb flicked on and you understood? I think the light bulbs are flicking on rapidly in the lives of God's children at Clearview. God is good. 

I hope your light bulb is still on and is not burning out...because that's easy to do. When I feel my light bulb burning out, I remember that God's light never burns out on me and unless my cup is full, I cannot pour into the lives of our kiddos. 

Be a light today...in this dark world!

NYC, Papa, 24

Long time no blog :) It has been one crazyyyyy July! As my mind wants to write you a book to fill you in on our July happenings...I'll just give you some highlights. July 4th weekend we flew to Aiken for a day (because we all know ministers don't really get vacation time) so we jumped at a free day to spend July 4th with my family.

NYC: We just got back in town from a week-long missions trip to Brooklyn, NY. We were there with Spreadtruth ministries and helped the Brooklyn Tabernacle out with a VBS that they put on for about 300+ children. Let's just say...I was discouraged before we even got there. Why, you ask? Well, my "duty" was snacks. I was really hoping to hang out with the children but for some reason, God thought I needed to prepare snacks for them. These kiddos got some LUXURY snacks, let's just say...it wasn't an easy task. However, I think I became the most-loved staffer there. I heard stories all week that went something like this, "Please, can I have some more...this is the only food I'll get to eat today." This sobered me up REAL QUICK! A lot of people question, "Why would VBS be considered missions?" Well, these broken children come from broken homes with broken schedules and broken relationships. These children do not have schedules and most do not have love. Some of our people spent the whole week chasing these students around the building while trying to disciple them and show them the love of Christ. While some of us helped with VBS, husband and two other guys from our youth group helped run a basketball camp in Queens and got to share the gospel with many children and even teens and adults. At the end of the week, the gospel had been shared with almost 5,000 New Yorkers and 459 said "Yes" to Jesus! Jesus said, "go"...we followed, and He worked!

**I'm working on editing some videos from the VBS that I'll post soon!

24: I turned 24 Tuesday and yes, I feel old! I had to drive to Aiken Monday for a doctors appointment and had lunch with mom, Jess, and John and they lavished me with goodies. Husband surprised me with a new nailpolish (he loves me!) and he had planned for my family to drive up and surprise me for dinner...sweet man!

Papa: Thank you to those that have been praying for my grandpa! He had a heart attack Saturday and was hospitalized for a few days but now he's HOME and well, just tired! Thank you, Jesus for your mercy on him and sparing his life!

Visions and Valleys

{Taken from Oswald Chambers "My Utmost for His Highest"}

Visions Become Reality

Jul

06

2011

The parched ground shall become a pool . . . —Isaiah 35:7

We always have a vision of something before it actually becomes real to us. When we realize that the vision is real, but is not yet real in us, Satan comes to us with his temptations, and we are inclined to say that there is no point in even trying to continue. Instead of the vision becoming real to us, we have entered into a valley of humiliation.

Life is not as idle ore,
But iron dug from central gloom,
And battered by the shocks of doom
To shape and use.

God gives us a vision, and then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of that vision. It is in the valley that so many of us give up and faint. Every God-given vision will become real if we will only have patience. Just think of the enormous amount of free time God has! He is never in a hurry. Yet we are always in such a frantic hurry. While still in the light of the glory of the vision, we go right out to do things, but the vision is not yet real in us. God has to take us into the valley and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the point where He can trust us with the reality of the vision. Ever since God gave us the vision, He has been at work. He is getting us into the shape of the goal He has for us, and yet over and over again we try to escape from the Sculptor’s hand in an effort to batter ourselves into the shape of our own goal.

The vision that God gives is not some unattainable castle in the sky, but a vision of what God wants you to be down here. Allow the Potter to put you on His wheel and whirl you around as He desires. Then as surely as God is God, and you are you, you will turn out as an exact likeness of the vision. But don’t lose heart in the process. If you have ever had a vision from God, you may try as you will to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never allow it.

Our Valleys are for molding and shaping...not for punishment!

June 18, 2011

This past weekend, husband and I traveled to Charleston, SC to partake in the wedding festivities of my college roomie, Amanda. Amanda and Brad have been dating for several years so everyone was SO excited to see them tie-the-knot (even the priest!!) The wedding was beaut-i-mus and we got to catch up with one of our couple friends! Here's the weekend via pics!

Happy Marriage, Amanda and Brad...We love ya'll :)

Happy Dad Day

 ^"5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Deut. 6:5-7

Thank you, Dad for impressing the Lord upon me, Jessica, Stephen, and John. Thank you for never neglecting us through your years of ministry and for always making all of our sporting events and activities! Your dedication to us has never gone unnoticed and we thank you for that! Thank you for being the parent that Jesus teaches His followers to be. LOVE YOU, Dad!

Suffering

I wanted to a "camp post" that summarized all of camp...but I think I will write something that has been heavy on the hearts of our students and then post some pics later. Lately, through talking to some of the students, it has become truly evident that what most of these guys and girls are going through is...suffering. Suffering for their faith, suffering through family loss, and suffering through relationships. This morning I was reading Philippians 1:12-20: Paul uses his chains in prison to advance the gospel. I think the main question that comes to mind when we endure hard trials in our lives is "Why, God?"..."Why me? A good person?"..."I can't handle this."..."Why would something like this be for your glory?". Well the answers to those questions are simple yet tough and the answers will always be, "We don't know". I believe that if we knew why God did everything that He does then He would not be God. God is a god that is unexplainable. However, we DO know that God places everything in our paths to advance His name...to give Him glory.


When Paul was imprisoned, His focus was still not on himself, but on the Lord. Whenever I endure trials, I think of the many trials that Christ went through for me. We were made to be like Christ in all aspects of our lives...and that does involve suffering for Him in the same way He suffered for us. I'm sure that while sitting in chains in jail, Paul had no idea what was going to happen...he didn't know God's plan for that jail. However, Paul kept preaching and he kept telling others the joy of Christ. Through Paul's perseverance through suffering, prisoners in the jail found Christ, people were saved and would therefore go out and preach the name of Jesus.


There are so many things we go through in life that leaves us questioning "Why." Well, the answer remains, "For the Lord". Though we may not see an immediate response as to why God has us go through things, He does promise to reveal Himself in time. The only way for us to get through sufferings is through prayer and through faith knowing that He does not do anything "just because"...He does EVERYTHING for His glory. Scripture says that He will never give us anything that we cannot handle...so if you are going through suffering, know that God thinks you are strong enough and has chosen you to reveal Himself to.


I'll leave you with the neatest thing from camp:
The Wave Baptisms

Happy Tuesday! {May Favorites}

I'm starting something new...maybe you'll like it :) At the end of every month I'm going to try to post a "monthly favorites" post that includes all the things that I have been loving from that month! So...here's my loves from May - enjoy :)

{Sidenote}Those of you that know me the slightest bit, know that I have one weird obsession for nailpolish! I own probably 50 polishes! Maybe one day I'll do a "polish post". But this month I've had two favorites that I've worn constantly!

Orly : Fancy Fuchsia (My husband loves this one, LOL!)

Essie : Topless and Barefoot (Nailpolish names crack me up!)

Liz Marie...My most favorite design blog right now!

Long Sweaters...with this May weather, I never know what to wear...so I throw these over everything! I have this one from Old Navy in grey that I got for a whopping low price on clearance!

Layered bracelets

Viva La Juicy Perfume by Juicy Couture. I have been eye-ballin' this perfume for QUITE some time now ... then I saw it in Home Goods marked down from $50 to $27.99 Cha Ching :)

Dry Shampoo! I've used the TRESemme FreshSTART for practically the whole month of May...and before that! Love this stuff! It helps me go more than one day without washing my hair! I've just recently started using the Suave Dry Shampoo and the scent is still great and it feels a lot lighter...we will keep using it though to see if I'm convinced that it's better!

mark.'s just pinched color. I use the Cheeky (far left) and LOVE IT!! I use it as blush and a lip color. It stays on and gives me that "dewy face" look that I love! *you can buy it here :)

Hope you enjoyed my May fav's! It will be a few weeks before I post again because we head to Garden City Chapel Beach Camp with the students on Sunday for 5 dayssss!! Please keep them (and us leaders) in your prayers!!

~Chrissie~

DIYness

Over the last two weeks I have found some projects to keep me busy around the house! Check 'em out...

I made this "Coffee-filter lampshade". All you need is a lampshade, hot-glue gun, and LOTS of coffee-filters (I think I went through about 500.) This took me about a week to finish so if you wanna jump on board the "coffee-filter lampshade" train, be prepared!

To make the shade: Take a coffee filter, fold it in half, fold it in half again, then fold it in half again. Fold the bottom (pointy side) to the top. Hot glue the bottom to the shade :)

The next little DIYer took about 5 minutes. I took 3 mason jars, 3 hydrangeas, two shades of white paint, and some scissors and made cute new vases by painting the inside of the jars :)

 Lastly, I painted a tray we have on our ottoman. It was a light wood and I wanted a "worn, white and light" vibe.

Happy Wednesday :)