a voice to say... You're Beautiful

“Don’t need makeup, to cover up, being the way that you are is enough” One Direction nailed it with their “What Makes You Beautiful” song.

This is a message to all you ladies.  You are all beautiful!  What is true beauty?  Does it come from perfect hair and clothes? Do you really need makeup to be beautiful?  From a guy’s perspective, there are naturally beautiful girls out there hiding their beauty with layers of makeup.  What is the cost of beauty in a world where girls feel like they look sick without masking themselves? 

In my opinion, most girls look a million times better when they show the way God intended them to look.  They let their hearts communicate their beauty rather than products they buy in the makeup aisles at Target.  True confidence will never come out of a bottle or makeup brush.  True confidence comes from embracing the person God made you to be.  That confidence is inner beauty which obscures and conceals “flaws” better than anything Covergirl can produce. 

So maybe you think makeup helps you a little bit.  It isn’t about the physical attributes of makeup at all.  It’s a heart issue.  Know that you are beautiful.  Be vulnerable in a world saying to hide your true nature.  Make your face an example to others that honesty and vulnerability can have physical applications.  Lead the young women and girls that are in your path to know that they were created in God’s image.  Teach them that it is more important to be lovely on the inside than “lovely” by magazine standards on the outside.  Truly love others by encouraging yourself to be more open. 

What messages are adults sending when 11 year olds think they are ugly without makeup?  How sad that the emphasis on outward appearance is impacting girls so young.  Every girl should feel like a princess no matter what she looks like.  No girl should be made to feel hideous if she removes her mask and lets people see her with no tricks.

Dudes, encourage the ladies in your lives.  Remind them that they are perfectly and wonderfully made.  The world is sending them a lot of hate so counterattack those messages with love and encouragement.  Build them up to see their true value.  Pray them through their struggles of accepting themselves.

Someone told me recently that I can’t sing.  Well how do we know that God likes the way the people on American Idol sing?  I mean the Bible does say that He likes the smell of burning flesh of Old Testament sacrifices.  Obviously human definitions can be wrong so who has the right to tell you what you have to do or have to be beautiful?

I challenge you ladies to go a week without makeup.  If it is really difficult, seek God to help you through it.  Pray for understanding and confidence.  Pray to be able to really and truly love those around you and yourself by throwing off the façade.  If at the end of the week, you have truly seen and accepted your true beauty, you may not even return to makeup.  Don’t take the easy way.  Everything worth having in life comes with a challenge.  Take this challenge and be set free from the bondage of insecurity.

-Boo Boy 

I would like to also give a shout out to my beautiful older sister on her birthday today. Happy birthday sissy.

a voice to say... Phantasmagoria?

Buenos dias! I apologize for not posting last week. I had just landed in my plane from Ecuador on Monday morning and was exhausted from being on a plane for 7 hours. I have been back in the US for a week now so I feel like I am in a great place to share my experiences in Ecuador with you. Two Sundays ago, I felt like I was on top of the world. I was 10,000 feet above sea level looking over the capital city of Ecuador (Quito) and reflecting on my sojourn in an astonishingly beautiful land. Just as a recap, I was very apprehensive about joining this mission trip. There were a lot of unknowns and unfamiliar aspects to the trip, which made me somewhat nervous. I went on the trip knowing that, in spite of my concerns, God would work out everything for His glory.

When I landed, I felt an overwhelming peace descend over me. This was the right trip. This was the right group of 19 people. Together we dug trenches, poured concrete, and saw several volcanoes. The beauty of nature in this country is not something man can replicate. It was a million times beyond what I ever asked or imagined God had in mind for the trip. I even got to participate in a tribal dance, got stuck in deep jungle mud, and river bathed in the amazon. Our hard labor was for the establishment of a church and building a missionary trainer’s house. The jungle pastor’s heart for the people around him was inspirational. God has broken his heart for the lost souls all around him. His church still needs $700 to be completed. I ask you to contact me to join me in this endeavor.

photo credit goes to Justin Bean

God has relentless grace. He has changed my ashes for beauty. God’s grace touches every end of the earth. I got to experience that just by seeing what happened in Ecuador. Not only did I see God moving in Ecuador, but I also felt a confirmation in my decision to go on the trip and quitting my job. Knowing this I am confident and so excited for the speaking engagements I have coming up in the next week at Ladue High School and Lindenwood University. 

A word I discovered that would help sum up the whole trip was “phantasmagoria”, which means “a shifting series of things seen.” I saw a shift from not knowing God’s plan for me on this trip to seeing His work established among His people. What I saw, when we prayed over the church, was a vision of this child becoming a lion. God’s plan doesn’t have an easy way out. You persevere in His comfort away from your understanding and lean on His. God always delivers, but in the flesh we sometimes lack patience for His sovereignty. There is no place His love and comfort cannot reach.

The Child Becomes The Lion

 Like a phoenix rises from the ashes, a child has the potential to become a lion. A pastor weeps for his people and purpose as he prays. A community broken, with a heart of a child, that heart will soon rise in the name of grace and let it roar with compassion. The emotions of a man’s heart will pour onto the lost and there will be paradise. One man’s calling is another man’s discovery. 

My heart is heavy,

-B

a voice to say... Take A Leap Of Faith

Two weeks ago I had the pleasure to go to not so sunny San Diego.  Last time I was in California, I remember it being sunny.  This time it was like “hey Seattle, what’s up?”  The reason for my trip was for the Storyline Conference.  The conference was created by Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz and A Million Miles In 1,000 Years.  This is a conference designed to help attendees get in touch with their story, develop that story, and share that story.  The conference helps find that story that each one of us has.  I also believe that everyone has a story.  Because where there is a past founded in hurt, there is always hope.  Where this is hope, there is a story.  My story has always been pretty obvious to me, but I got to relearn my story through the guidance of the speakers.  Someone once told me that the best way to adapt in society was to learn, unlearn, and relearn.  The information in our society changes so fast that in three years, everything we know is outdated.

The first session featured Donald Miller.  He asked a question that stuck with me throughout the rest of the weekend while I was sitting listening to the other speakers like Jon Acuff and Bob Goff.  The question was “if you don’t share your story, what will the world miss?”  Since I already share my story openly, I kind of flipped the question for myself by asking “what is the world gaining?” If my goal is to live a life of love, faith, and hope in the name of Jesus, I believe that the world would be missing a testimony of His story, not just mine.  That’s why it’s important for me to share my story, because I want to be an example.  Then I asked myself, “what’s my plan to do this?”  I realized I was working on plan B in my life rather than plan A.  Plan A is sharing this message, investing in others, and building up for a greater good.  There will always be a place to fall back on.  It may not be the best place, but there is always a place.  I believe that we were all created to stick with plan A.  We are meant to pursue what we are passionate about.  There will be suffering along the way, but suffering produces more passion. Ever since I was 13, I have wanted to become a public speaker and share this message.  I realized that plan B was all that was happening.  

When I got back, I made some drastic changes to get back to plan A.  I put in my two weeks notice at my job.  Nothing definite is on the horizon, but I know that this step puts me back on the path to my goal.  The only way I can make it work this time is if I fully trust in a bigger picture.  If I suffer for my dream, my passion will get so much stronger.  If I persevere and my dream becomes a reality, it will be so brilliant.  Takeaway is that everyone has a purpose.  Everyone has a crazy wild dream of what they want to do.  This is me saying: just pursue it!  Don’t let anything hold you back!  Take a dive, don’t just get your feet wet! 

- Brry Brry