we are now a month in since a massively devastating earthquake hit haiti, bringing untold death, poverty and unprecedented needs that seem so insurmountable and discouraging. and yet even as the dust settles, only a month later, people have already begun to move on, forget and stop caring, giving, acting and advocating. as the church, we have to be the ones to keep the momentum and serve the poor and devastated in haiti. so i would really like to encourage you to check out HELP (help end local poverty). this is such an amazing organization led by one of my good friends, chris marlow, who has definitely risen to the occasion and is providing an opportunity to help haiti with something so simple as just buying a shirt or two. i just got 3 today, and let me tell you guys, these shirts are absolutely some of the coolest shirts i’ve ever seen! though it’s a high quality fabric with an uber awesome design, the best part is that every penny goes to help with haiti relief. so do yourself a favor and do haiti a favor and go buy a shirt.

while you’re at it, check out their official website, and follow them on twitter at @ChrisMarlow and @helpendpoverty.

thanks guys! let’s be a people of compassion and a people of redemption together.

have you ever noticed that leaves don’t really have any particular desires of where they’re blown and even if they did, you wouldn’t know it? they simply submit to the will of the wind. that’s how amanda and i have really strived to live as much as possible; submitting ourselves to the will of the Holy Spirit and letting Him take us wherever He desires. it’s not always easy, certainly not always convenient, and can often be abrupt. but isn’t it amazing how when you give God the control, you always ultimately find yourself in a much better destination (whether physically or spiritually) than you ever dreamed possible?

we moved back to austin, tx in september of last year… only 5 months ago! we were so excited to be here and have felt the leadership of the Lord the entire time we’ve been privileged to be back. we have held loosely to it though, rather than clutching with a white-knuckled, kung fu grip, as is very tempting when you love a city and a church as much as we have loved austin and the austin stone… but now the winds have changed recently and we submit willingly… and eagerly!

on march 1 (less than a month away! YIKES!), we will be relocating yet again to the great city of st. louis, mo where i will begin partnering with the journey church as a worship leader and pastor. needless to say, i am extremely excited… you really can’t have any idea how pumped i am! i will be working alongside lead pastor darrin patrick who also happens to be an acts29 network leader, and close friend of my current pastor (they’re writing a book together actually!).

this is a pretty amazing opportunity for us and we would certainly appreciate your prayers in the coming months. thanks guys!

grace and peace,
stephen miller

i was recently asked the following question, after God was gracious to supply a new guitar to replace my stolen one. i was praising Him for his goodness and received this question… if you have ever had a question like this, i hope my response is an encouragement to you…

question:
“So, God buys you a new guitar, but destroys Haiti? Or is God only responsible for the good things that happen? I’m not trying to be rude, I’m genuinely interested in hearing an explanation. I’m sure you’ve heard that question before.”

response:
bro, i totally get this question. it’s hard for me to grasp how haiti’s disaster could have happened under the control of my God who so loved the world that He gave his only Son to save those who were lost if they would only believe in Him and make Him their Lord (john 3:16). hurricane katrina, the tsunami a few years back… all of it. i will say this…
God gives good gifts to His children in the way that a good father gives good gifts to his kids that he loves. and he works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. because of this, every good and perfect gift that i receive, i know is either directly, or indirectly from Him (matt. 7:11, james 1:17, romans 8:28).
my home. my family. my health. my income, friends, church, talents and job. everything good is from Him. this is called grace, whether general grace ( like the sunrise shines on the just and unjust alike) or specific (“because I belong to Christ, i receive a blessing…”)
God is good. there is no evil in Him. there is mercy. there is love. there is justice, grace, compassion and holiness. and because there are all of those things, there is an utter hatred for all things evil… particularly sin.
so in the same way that there is general grace (good things that come to all people because God is good), there is also a general wrath, or judgement being poured out on sin (romans 1:18-19, 3:23, 6:23). every many has sinned… from the time the first man and woman, adam and eve, ate the fruit in the garden. i’m a sinner, you’re a sinner. americans, chinese, africans and australians are sinners. and because of our sin, there is justice, and therefore consequences. on the specific and personal level there are two forms of this consequence. 1. either Jesus took the blame for us and paid the penalty on the cross, and we receive His grace, OR 2. we pay the penalty ourselves for eternity in hell. however, on the general scale, i would say that because all creation is subject to the effects of our fall and our sin, we have an imperfect world that we live in as a consequence. people murder people. children are molested. wars happen and thousands die. punks take over planes and run them into a couple of buildings and thousands die. tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes happen and thousands die. all creation is subjected to futility because of sin (romans 8:20).
i don’t think people should be asking, “why did this happen to haiti?” as much as we should be asking, “why doesn’t this happen to everyone everywhere, because we’re all sinful.”
crazy dudes like pat robertson ask the question, “what did the haitians do to deserve this.” people with a right view of their own sin ask, “why doesn’t this happen to me? i’m just as sinful as they were!”
and it’s in moments like this that we look at our lives, and our sin and repent… remembering that we are not inherently good. we are inherently evil and unless we repent, our fate is worse that that of many of those who died in the haitian earthquake. our hope is no longer in ourselves or our own righteousness, but our gracious and compassionate savior Jesus, who loved us enough to give himself up for us on the cross. and not even just that, but that He was God and the grave couldn’t hold Him, but he defeated death, and therefore defeated sin so that we could be saved. there is grace even in situations like this earthquake, where beauty will come out of the ashes, and there will be strength arising from the despair and there will be gladness from all the mourning because many will take this moment and realize that they need a savior and that nothing other than Jesus will do…
i pray that you are one of them…