Mustache Markings

Never in my life have I realized just how important each person's one life has the potential to be. Living, working, breathing on the west coast has taught me that each day carries a huge importance in not only your own story but in the stories of each person you come in contact with that day. I know most of us have heard the cheesy "You only have one life to live..." speeches, but when you start to live each day that way your steps begin to carry more significance.

Our first week out here on project we had a bunch of "get to know each other" games which included one splitting into groups of girls and guys and going on a scavenger hunt around Santa Cruz. All would have been normal until they threw a pirate theme at us - so we all got different colored bandannas, swords, and...mustaches. Yes, I wore a mustache...and it was itchy. A few days later Phillip and I were on our morning run along the pier and up to the light house when I looked down and on the street where we run every morning I saw a familiar itchy reminder - a mustache. Now in Santa Cruz it would not be uncommon to find such a random thing on the ground or even a group of college students running around in pirate gear with mustaches...but seeing this mustache on the ground reminded me that WE had put that there. It wasn't just some random piece of trash on the ground, it was a mark we had left on the streets of Santa Cruz.

What if our world held markings of where we had been? What if we walked along the streets and saw a person who we had helped lead to Christ? What if we saw churches where we had helped clean up? What if our life held street markings, visible or invisible, of where our lives had made an impression?

Seeing that mustache on the ground every morning as I pound the pavement in my pink Nike's makes me smile because it brings back the memory of that event and is a comfort to see everyday. It also reminds me as I start the day that what I do and say matters because I am a daughter of the king and therefore an impressionist and history maker. My words, smiles, actions, hugs, tears, prayers, gifts, serving, anger, love, thoughts, etc matters. Your life matters and adding on God's will for your day makes your life revolutionary. If you woke up and prayed

"God, let my day be completely in Your hands. Help me to serve as You would serve, love like You would love. Use my hands to do Your work and help my heart to be Your heart."

The day you invited Jesus to be your best friend is the day that God put His mark on you - you are now an ink stamp. Yes, you are now an ink stamp. A pretty ink stamp (Or manly ink stamp?). Everywhere you go you just stamp stamp stamp and leave a mark. The ink inside of the stamp is God inside of you and the more you are walking in the Spirit and filling up with the Lord you will leave an impression of God everywhere you go.

"Blessed is the man who delights in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. What he does prospers". - Psl. 1: 2-3

What is the mustache in your life? What is the reminder of your purpose in life? Maybe you are in a season where you don't know what your purpose in life is - pray. Ask God to show you what you are suppose to be doing in this season. God's got your back. Hold onto this promise:

"Look at the nations and watch - and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told." - Hab. 1:5