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Last year, on an ordinary day while I was touching base with what I like to refer to as my Facebook Family, I saw a powerful and inspirational quote on the wall of a young lady who used to be in the Youth Group that I pastored up in North Jersey back in the 1980’s named Michelle Faro. She had shared the words of another young lady also named Michelle! Michelle Borquez Thornton had written “Don’t miss the view or the beauty of where you are right now because you are stuck looking at the past and what could have been or what should have been. Letting go of what was, allows you to move toward what could be. Every season of life brings new things, different things. Flow with it and embrace the now. God has something new and beautiful for you in every season of life.”

Those life giving words pumped spiritual adrenaline into my soul. Contrary to what some might think, nobody can hang ten on the floater killer wave every single moment of their days! We all have our down days when we need to be reminded why we are here on this planet at all! This is why I am thankful for the awesome words of others that get me through the days that life grabs my tongue and tries to tie it into a permanent knot! This little snippet from this God Crazy Lady had me seeking more from her well of wisdom and I was not disappointed in what I discovered!

Michelle Borquez Thornton is a lover of life and a dedicated fanatic of the Man from Galilee! She calls her approach to every day the living the “Vida Loca” Jesus style! She loves the Lord God with all of her heart and soul and she knows personally the undeserved grace and mercy of that God and practically beyond anything she ever could ever imagine! Michelle demands from herself an excellence in all that she puts her hands to. But no stranger to the rain- she also can tell you that it has been her failures that have played a huge part in her growth as an individual. She shares, “Real leaders are teachable, and while fear attempts to paralyze you–faith mobilizes you, and in being a life-giver instead of a life-taker, your words have power and so much more that you would ever be able to share along the journey if everything always went your way!”

Maybe I am drawn to Michelle’s writings because she is an eternal optimist with just enough dose of reality to get things done. She believes in a God whose love knows no bounds, whose grace has no end, whose character encourages obedience only because He loves us so and wants us to experience freedom on this earth.

I have been called crazy more than once along my adult pilgrimage! But if I am out of my mind- it is because of Jesus in my heart! I don’t want to be a casual Christian and live a lukewarm life! I have been longing to live in the wide open space of God’s grace with no more worldly weights upon my ankles trying to keep me from God’s dance floor! I know too well the obstacles that attempt to steal, to kill and to destroy what the Lord has in store! I have experienced the sabotage of the serpent when I thought the fruit salad was going to be yummy yummy! The enemy has robbed me of so much of my past, I would rather not he have dibs on my days to come!

If this is the cry of your heart then I want to invite you to join us at The Lighthouse Church this weekend of February 2nd and 3rd! We are calling it the “God Crazy Super Bowl Weekend!” Michelle Borquez Thornton and her husband Michael will be speaking at all 3 of our Celebration Services- Saturday Night at 6PM and Sunday Morning at 9 and 10:45AM. There is no charge for you to come on out and experience the challenge that this courageous couple will be cooking up for us! And I hear that Michelle is quite famous for her spicy “Sassy Salsa™” and incredible Italian sauce. Also part of Michelle’s impressive resume includes hosting and co-producing I-Life Television’s “SHINE” and she has also hosted an 8 week DVD series for women entitled “Live Again after Divorce” which will be released in June 2013 with Aspire Publishing. Michelle is also the national spokesperson for Beth Moore’s “Loving Well” Television Special and has authored several books including “Live Laugh Love Again,” “God Crazy” and “Overcoming the Seven Deadly Emotions” with Harvest House. Her new releases for this year include: “Forever God Crazy,” “God Crazy Freedom”, and the “God Crazy Freedom Series” releasing in stores nationwide April, 2013 in conjunction with the national “God Crazy Freedom” speaking tour. We are going to get a sneak peek into all of this before the rest of the country gets in on it! How about that for those of us who live here in Cape May County? Michelle and Michael have four children, Joshua 20, Aaron 19, Madison, 17, and Jacob 15, and they reside in Nashville, Tennessee.

Michael is also a big Dallas Cowboy Fan and has written a new book about legendary Coach Tom Landry, but I have warned him to leave his Cowboys jersey at home!

So consider yourself invited to stop playing it so safe and dive into living life the way it was meant to be lived! God is not a compartment within our existence but the engine that drives it all! We may not have all that heaven has to offer us yet- but something tells me that there is a whole lot more to be tasted and we choose to settle for so much less. Come on out and play and see what the God crazy is all about! If you are going to be “koo koo” for something- God makes a whole lot more sense than Cocoa Puffs! Hope to see you this weekend. Call us at 609-465-6690 for more information or check it out at http://www.tlccma.org