the next adventure is beginning...

A Glimpse into the Journey from Sara Norton on Vimeo.

Check out the video to see where the Lord has taken me over the past few years and where He's leading me next! Be sure to check out my new blog and how you can be a part of bringing JESUS to the nations!

saranorton.theworldrace.org

Christ ever with me.

Christ ever with me. Christ before me, Christ behind me
Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me
Christ to my right side, Christ to my left side
Christ in his breadth, Christ in his length, Christ in depth
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks to me
Christ in every eye that sees me
Christ in every ear that hears me.

Oh Jesus, THIS is the cry of a generation waking up to YOU!

Where is the salt? Where is the light?

Our Christian habit is to bewail the world's deteriorating standards with an air of rather self-righteous dismay. We criticize its violence, dishonesty, immorality, disregard for human life, and materialistic greed.

"The world is going down the drain," we say with a shrug. But whose fault is it? Who is to blame? Let me put it like this.

If the house is dark when nightfall comes, there is no sense in blaming the house; that is what happens when the sun goes down. The question to ask is "Where is the light?"

Similarly, if the meat goes bad and becomes inedible, there is no sense in blaming the meat; that is what happens when bacteria are left alone to breed. The question to ask is "Where is the salt?"

Just so, if society deteriorates and its standards decline until it becomes like a dark night or a stinking fish, there is no sense in blaming society; that is what happens when fallen men and women are left to themselves, and human selfishness is unchecked. The question to ask is "Where is the Church? Why are the salt and light of Jesus Christ not permeating and changing our society?"

It is sheer hypocrisy on our part to raise our eyebrows, shrug our shoulders, or wring our hands. The Lord Jesus told us to be the world's salt and light. - John Stott

the vision

So this guy comes up to me and says:
“what’s the vision? What’s the big idea?”
I open my mouth and words come out like this:
The vision?

The vision is JESUS – obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus.

The vision is an army of young people.
You see bones? I see an army.
And they are FREE from materialism.

They laugh at 9-5 little prisons.
They could eat caviar on Monday and crusts on Tuesday.
They wouldn’t even notice.
They know the meaning of the Matrix, the way the west was won.

They are mobile like the wind, they belong to the nations.
They need no passport.
People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence.
They are free yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying.

What is the vision ?

The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes.
It makes children laugh and adults angry.
It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars.
It scorns the good and strains for the best.
It is dangerously pure.

Light flickers from every secret motive, every private conversation.
It loves people away from their suicide leaps, their Satan games.
This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause.
A million times a day its soldiers choose to loose,
that they might one day win
the great ‘Well done’ of faithful sons and daughters.

Such heroes are as radical on Monday morning as Sunday night. They don’t need fame from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards and hear the crowds chanting again and again: “COME ON!”

And this is the sound of the underground
The whisper of history in the making
Foundations shaking
Revolutionaries dreaming once again
Mystery is scheming in whispers
Conspiracy is breathing…
This is the sound of the underground

And the army is discipl(in)ed.
Young people who beat their bodies into submission.
Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrade at arms.
The tattoo on their back boasts “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain”.

Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their upward eyes.
Winners. Martyrs.
Who can stop them ?
Can hormones hold them back?
Can failure succeed?
Can fear scare them or death kill them ?

And the generation prays

like a dying man
with groans beyond talking,
with warrior cries, sulphuric tears and
with great barrow loads of laughter!
Waiting. Watching: 24 – 7 – 365.

Whatever it takes they will give: Breaking the rules. Shaking mediocrity from its cosy little hide. Laying down their rights and their precious little wrongs, laughing at labels, fasting essentials. The advertisers cannot mould them. Hollywood cannot hold them. Peer-pressure is powerless to shake their resolve at late night parties before the cockerel cries.

They are incredibly cool, dangerously attractive

Inside.

On the outside? They hardly care.
They wear clothes like costumes to communicate and celebrate but never to hide.
Would they surrender their image or their popularity?
They would lay down their very lives - swap seats with the man on death row - guilty as hell. A throne for an electric chair.

With blood and sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days,
they pray as if it all depends on God and live as if it all depends on them.

Their DNA chooses JESUS. (He breathes out, they breathe in.)
Their subconscious sings. They had a blood transfusion with Jesus.
Their words make demons scream in shopping centres.

Don’t you hear them coming?

Herald the weirdo’s! Summon the losers and the freaks.
Here come the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes.
They walk tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension.
Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden.

And this vision will be.
It will come to pass;
it will come easily;
it will come soon.

How do I know?

Because this is the longing of creation itself,
the groaning of the Spirit,
the very dream of God.

My tomorrow is his today.
My distant hope is his 3D.
And my feeble, whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding, bone-shaking great ‘Amen!’ from countless angels, from hero’s of the faith, from Christ himself. And he is the original dreamer, the ultimate winner.

Guaranteed.

By Pete Greig

20 New Things and 10 Lessons Learned in 2010

I've been meaning to write a blog for a while. I'm just not sure I can find the words to do even an ounce of justice to the unbelievable faithfulness and sovereignty of God. I am blown away daily by the ways He chooses to pour into me, provide for me, speak into my heart and my life through His Word and His beloved children, and show up in my moments of weakness in all His power. I do not deserve an ounce of it. Grace blows my mind.

So, instead, I'll share this. :)

20 New Things in 2010:

1. graduated from UF!

2. lived in South Africa (I know...duh.)

3. hiked Table Mountain...and lived to tell the tale.

4. bought a Mac.

5. learned to drive on the right side of the car on the left side of the road.

6. stepped foot in 3 continents in 24 hrs.

7. ate a chicken bone. don't judge me.

8. lived alone for the first time.

9. put my toes in the Indian Ocean!

10. learned a few words in a new language

11. got a real job!!

12. visited California

13. put my toes in the Pacific Ocean! (that's the three largest oceans, all in one year. pretty sweet!)

14. missed an entire Gator football season...and lived to tell the tale.

15. attended Passion 2010 (and had my world rocked.)

16. Three words: Summer.Of.Ambush.

17. went on a real game drive (I realize this list includes lots of things I did in South Africa)

18. ate an ostrich burger. and liked it.

19. read 27 new books just for fun. (let me know if you want a list of recommended reads!)

20. learned to love and be loved in a whole new way. Thank You, Jesus. Thank you, people of Avian Park.

10 Lessons Learned in 2010:

10. eating a chicken bone will not kill you.

9. neither will hiking up AND down Table Mountain, although you may seriously doubt that in the process.

8. I am not in control, no matter how much I pretend to be.

7. what it feels like to be homesick

6. TRUST.

5. obedience

4. the value of family

3. patience

2. pray like you believe

1. GOD. IS. FAITHFUL. Always and forever.

Well. It may not be eloquent or overly exciting, but there it is.

I'm sure I've left things out, I tend to have the memory of an ant. BUT. I am thankful for every moment the Lord allowed me to share with friends and family, the laughter and the tears that 2010 brought, and the way God showed up BIG TIME. I pray and BELIEVE that 2011 will be nothing short of amazing, with new challenges and adventures to be had and lessons to be learned. BRING.IT.ON. (And I'm not just saying that because I'm a cheerleader.)

P.S. for those of you wondering, I wound up taking a first grade teaching job at Frostproof Elementary for the remainder of the school year. I'm pumped about what Jesus has up His sleeve for my time there. And I'm praying that He sends me back to Africa real soon. :)

He's never giving up on me.

Sunday, December 19 I left Worcester for Cape Town around 10am South Africa time (3am EST). Monday, December 20 around 3:30pm EST I pulled into my driveway.

Being home is surreal. Reverse culture shock is much more difficult to wrap my brain around.

After some good sleep and some time to process, I promise a blog is coming about my last few weeks in South Africa! For now, know that I am home safely and that our God is SO good and so faithful, even when we are not. We are FREE, we are ALIVE because He lives.

Isaiah 52:7-10

⁷ How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”

⁹ Burst into songs of joy together,
you ruins of Jerusalem,
for the LORD has comforted his people,
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
¹⁰ The LORD will lay bare his holy arm
in the sight of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth will see
the salvation of our God.

I can't take credit for writing this, but WOW. Let this truth sink in!

Father God, You tell Your flock to fear not, for it is Your good pleasure to give us the Kingdom (Luke 12:32). You tell Your children to dream, because You are able to do immeasurably more than ALL we could ask or even imagine (Ephesians 3:20). You tell us that You will give us life and give us life abundandtly (John 10:10). Oh how You love us! Oh how You love us!

Jesus, may our hearts defeat our minds! May we move past logic and reasoning, and get to our imagination, a place where we can see the things You've promised, and see them coming to pass. You say that It all will come to pass (Joshua 21:45), and that is what we pray. we pray that it all comes to pass. Those sweet sweet dreams You have put on our hearts, of things most would label impossible, but we know there is POWER in Your name! JESUS! We call upon the name of the Lord, the One who will save, the One who brings life! Bring us new life JESUS! Your name is power, and so we pray in Your Holy Name, JESUS! Let all our dreams come to pass, and then on top of that let YOUR dreams for us come to pass. You will do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine! Praise You Jesus! Holy Holy are You! You asked the blind men, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" And they replied, "Yes Lord!" (Matthew 9:28-29). We say YES LORD! We believe that You are able to do everything before us!

Holy Spirit, reign down upon us! We are open cups, ready to be filled! Fill us to overflowing! We do not want to walk in fear, doubt, discouragement, or unbelief any longer! Those things must leave in the mighty name of Jesus! So Holy Spirit, fall down upon us, let Your fire come and burn away anything not of You, and then fill us a fresh, to a new measure of fullness!

Come Lord Jesus Come! Send Your help. Send Your support! "He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support. He brought me into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me. For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I have not done evil by turning from my God. All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees. I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin. The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his sight. To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd. You save the humble, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low. You are my lamp, O LORD; the LORD turns my darkness into light. With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall. As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless." (from 2 Samuel 22)

Your word Oh LORD is flawless! With Your word you created everything. Thank You for the words You have spoken to us each individually, which brought us from death to life, which brought us from who we were, to who we are in You. Thank You for the words You have spoken to each of us, to call us to such a time as this. Thank You that through You speaking You have flung wide the gates of heaven to pour out so much blessing that we will not know what to do with it all. (Malachi 3:10).

So Lord Jesus, we thank you for the things we have seen, and the things we have not yet seen.

We thank You Lord that we will "go out in joy and be led forth in peace" (Isaiah 55:12). We pray in the mighty name of JESUS that we SEE all of the blessings You have given, and that we SEE them soon! Your Kingdom come! Your will be done! On earth as it is in HEAVEN! BRING HEAVEN TO EARTH! We press in to the Kingdom of God! We seek Your face, O God of Jacob!

"The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, before your very eyes" ! (Deuteronomy 1:30)

Let it ALL come to pass! Fight for us Jesus!

AMEN!

Amen means let it be done,

or so be it,

or it shall be so

or I believe it will be so!

So Jesus, with everything YOU have spoken to us, we say

LET IT BE DONE

SO BE IT

IT SHALL BE SO

I BELIEVE IT WILL BO SO

AMEN!

"Not one of all the LORD's good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled." (Joshua 21:45, NIV)

"Not a single one of all the good promises the LORD had given to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled; everything he had spoken came true." (NLV)

"Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass." (ESV).