Inspired by a friend

"This is the sound of the underground/the whisper of history in the making/foundations shaking/revolutionaries dreaming once again."

Emmerson grew up in Nicaragua. He speaks perfect English, and he can imitate just about every American accent. He had the opportunity to move to the U.S. a few years ago. He declined because his parents started an orphanage and he would rather serve the broken than move to a place where some say he would have a more comfortable life. Debbie is one of my very best friends. She has the coolest style, and a very creative eye. She and Jake just got married. They are very much in love, and the love will last, because they are lovers of Jesus. They are going to shake up Asia for Jesus, doing things that I don't think they can even imagine are possibilities right now. Cambodia is a part of their inheritance. Right now, God's teaching them what it means to trust Him. Jess is a leader. And she is bold. I can't get away with being surface with her. She forces me to be totally honest. I think that's an anointing God has given her for my generation, which is so necessary in a culture that denies the existence of absolutes. She is going to influence influencers. God is teaching her how to dream really really big...and stargazing helps with that:-) Pauline laughs like no one I know and she has the coolest glasses. Her heart burns when she hears messages of reckless abandonment. She and her friends have Holy Spirit parties on mountains, even if other people are around. ONe time we parked my car on grass and turned up my sound system as loud as it would go so we could get out and dance like crazy in the scorching heat. It was amazing. Mikel wears skinny jeans and shoes that he decorated himself. He is an amazing soccer player, yet the longing that stirs in him is to have more of Jesus. He wants to be a youth pastor some day. Brianna went with me to Nicaragua this summer. The people loved her, and she loved them. She is one of the most graceful and precious girls I have ever met, so quick to love and see people through Christ's eyes. She thinks that she may like to be a journalist someday. If she does, I know she will use those words as powerful weaspons to bring truth into a world that is longing for that very thing. Katie is someone who I can pray with and we know that we've touched heaven. She has such a purity about her, and it confounds the enemy. She is a freedom fighter and a freedom writer. I can't wait to see where Jesus takes her in the years ahead. Silja dances and sings on injustice in ways that offend religion. She knows what it means to be a daugther, so she doesn't really care all that much what other people say, as long as Jesus is smiling. Eli is a warrior. He shifts atmospheres. Pretty cool, huh? He inspires me to be a Joan of Arc, with courage and vision. Jeremy sometimes grows his hair into a pretty sweet mohawk. When he preaches, lives get changed, because the words he says come from what God spoke to him in the prayer closet. Emmanuel loves people. His words encourage people to see themselves as masterpieces. Jason is my grounded big brother. We drink chai tea and eat chocolate pudding together. I've never met someone so willing to lay down his life to see another's life get positioned for destiny. He smiles and laughs when I tell him my new ideas about changing the world. Maritha makes really cool shirts that preach the Gospel. She has Jesus eyes that make you trust her and she tells stories that stir faith. We like to take trips into the heavenlies together. She is so gorgeous inside that it radiates beauty wherever she goes. Christine was born for revolution. The dreams of God's heart stir in her heart, too. Someday the seasons that God takes her through are going to make more sense, but for now, she knows that God's preparing her. Her life has been wrecked by Jesus...in the very best possible way. Misty is a storyteller, just like Jesus. She doesn't have any kids yet in the natural, but God is using her to mother a generation. Someday she is going to visit crazy lands that most people woulndn't dare go...and it's because she loves so deeply. Tinell is one of the most prophetic people I know. She gets dreams at night that tell her how to pray during the day. She has the coolest accent and talks fast when she gets really passionate about something. It's beautiful to watch her eyes come alive. Demons are really afraid of her. Brianna is one of those rare people who lets me say exactly what I'm thinking and not judge me for it. That doesn't mean she won't tell me what is true. She is my sister. Sometimes we climb up on our roof together at night and watch the stars. Siobhan is quiet but so accepting of people. Bring anyone to her, and instantly she will consider them her friend. She's a bit of a daredevil, sometimes doing unconventional things, but God is going to use that for His Kingdom.She is my sister, too:-) Thierry beat boxes with the unsaved. He is brilliant. We like to get crazy with Jason Upton music..."I just want to be your friend, FATHER." He also talks with politicians, and they actually listen to him. Thierry was born for greatness..yet his life prayer is that God would be glorified through him. He means it when he prays that. Jimmy is contending for revival on his college campus. It's going to happen. A few weeks ago he told me about how he's at a place where he is going to just keep praying for people on campus until someone gets healed. He challenges me to get uncomfortable. Rachel is a writer. Her words are going to change things and bring exposure of lies and false idealogies. Grant is washing Washington (D.C.). God hears his prayers, and they are going to help shake a nation. Sue will never be contained in a box. We walked once through Boston together, and we visited the grave of John Hancock. He's the one who wrote his name so big on the Declaration of Independence that it would never be mistaken that he was standing for the freedom of a new nation, even if it cost his life. That's how she is in her walk with Jesus. Katie gets drunk all the time (not in the way the world thinks). She and Jesus seem to laugh through life, and she knows from experience that He likes to party, constantly confounding the wise and the strong. Killian is a fighter. He hates lies and injustice. He's my brother, and I enjoy our lively debates. One time when he was five he wanted our whole family to go on a mission's trip so bad that he prayed and asked God to give the provision. The next day we got a check in the mail with the full amount that we needed. Ha! Faith moves mountains. We have the best snowball fights. Emily embodies the message of being the Beloved. She has it tatooed across her neck in Hebrew letters, letting everyone know that she has been marked by her Father, and that she is the apple of His eye. Her faith is just like a child's, and when she speaks, you know you are listening to the heart of God. She once told me that she likes to walk on God's feet. I told her I want to learn how to do that, too. Valerie is my forever friend. You know how Jesus said that the meek will inherit the earth? Well, she's going to inherit the earth.

I recently took a trip to Texas and made some new...and unexpected...friends. I don't know them very well, but I am still amazed at the way God connects His kids and teaches us through one another, even if we only know each other for a short time. Emily is the kind of girl who doesn't mess around with the world. In fact, the lies of the culture make her angry at the way truth has been distorted. She loves the lost, but her love forces her to speak truth. She is bold. And courageous. I've adopted her as my sister:-) God is going to use her in powerful ways. Joe Joe used to have a beard but had to cut it for a new job. He loves the fire of God. I know God's going to bring him to new discoveries of who He is that are going to revolutionize him even more deeply. Maria is beautiful, and she definitely has Jesus eyes. She is smart, but first and foremost she is a lover of God. That love flows over to other people. That's how I will remember her...the way she loves. Paul is honest. And okay with being vulnerable. When I look at him, I see hunger in his eyes for the deeper things of God, and a longing to be a genuine disciple. I don't think religious people would like him very much, which is exactly why he's such a tornado force to be reckoned with against the enemy. God's going to use him in this hour. Kate has a beautiful voice. And she is a warrior in worship. If she ever went on American Idol, I think everyone on the show would get slain in the Spirit and encounter Jesus. That would rock! She is also a lot of fun, and extremely good with directions, which is great, because I am an expert at getting lost. She is a mover and a shaker in the Kingdom of God, calling people into alignment and to live at a greater standard! Woody (a.k.a. Robert)is an out of the box person. He told me that Jason Upton is one of his heroes. Since the people we admire often tell us something about what God's placed inside of us, I have a feeling that God is going to give him songs that break bondages off of people's lives...and that shake up religious systems and bring lots of people into the Kingdom of God. That's awesome. I know for sure that the four walls of the church won't contain the things God has called him to...and I don't think that the world or the church has ever seen what it's going to look like because it's new and fresh. Marco has cool hair and a neat style. I learned that he, along with the others, likes to TP (or "wrap") houses late at night. Hmm...mischievous. He loves Jesus and he is a worshipper. He likes propel water. He makes me laugh. Alex has a beautiful smile. She reminds me of a modern day Esther who is totally given to the will of God. I think she sees Jesus and people in a way that takes some people a lifetime to develop. That's beautiful. Katey is a youth pastor and a worship leader. I would love to listen to her preach someday, because I am convinced that she has a lot of stories to tell...stories about the faithfulness and greatness of God. She likes to have fun, too, and her passion for the presence of God is written all over her. She inspires me to worship God with even more passion.

These words, these descriptions, are just tiny glimpses of who these people are and how they have impacted my life. All are revolutionaries. There are many more people to add to this list, I'm sure, as well as others who have not even met yet. Some I've known forever. Some just a few weeks. But through this journey, I know that all of us are going to have many stories to tell about the greatness of God that shows up in the land of the living. It's these little pockets of sold-out Jesus lovers who bring fresh hope to my heart that the Bride is going to be absolutely brilliant as we keep seeking the face of Jesus...and that's what will change the world. "You see dead bones? I see an army!"