You Are Mine

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So, this summer I had the opportunity to travel many places in the US including Baltimore, MD; Annapolis, MD; Washington DC; New York City, NY; Minneapolis, MN; Los Angeles, CA; Portland, OR; and Seattle, WA. It was so amazing to see life happening all across the US! So much history, joys, successes, pains, and tragedies. This may sound obvious, but the common theme in all these places was PEOPLE, and such different people! The cultural differences from New York to Minneapolis to Portland are incredible. I fell in love with these places as I began to fall in love with the people.

I was driving through the streets of downtown Seattle when this song, "You Are Mine" by the band Mute Math, came on. At the same moment the chorus started (which is just a repetition of the words "You Are Mine") my friend and I drove past a bus stop full of people--suprisingly a lot of people actually use public transportation up there in Seattle! Amidst 20-30 other people I remember seeing a homeless man, tattered and worn-out, a business man sharp and polished, a new mom with her baby in a sling/satchel around her torso, a black man, an asian woman, a latino child, a hopeful college student, and a one legged man leaning against a rusted pole.

I distinctly remember hearing the Father wisper in my ear, "Kyle, this is my song over every man, woman, and child on earth. My song over them all day long is 'You are Mine, You are Mine, You are Mine.' "

I sensed not only the love, compassion, and delight in the Father's heart for all of His children, but also the loss, yearning, pain, and unsatisfied desire for relationship with them.

What Does "Until Engaged" mean?

Maybe you're like my Rwandan friend here and are thinking, "Hey, what does "Until Engaged" mean?? Well, the title comes from essentially two main purposes and visions I feel the Lord has been speaking to me regarding my life. These two things are related and intertwined, and are both plays on the meanings of the word engaged.

FIRST, as I've encountered the heart of the Father since my early days of college, He has continually inlaid upon my heart a mosaic of His passionate desire and purpose that all peoples of the earth, from every tribe, tongue and nation would come to know and worship Him for all eternity. In recent years I've learned of a term for certain "ethne," Greek for people groups, who have never heard, and in fact do not even have a possible witness or work from followers of Christ in their midst. These groups of people have been titled "Un-Engaged," referring to this fact that there are no believers present, nor are there any efforts happening for the advance of the Kingdom of God amongst these people.

The statistics are staggering, for instance, right now in Northern India there are 130+ million image-bearing, beloved, people who have zero, 0, none, no Christ following witness in their midst. There are hundreds upon hundreds of other people groups in the world who have never encountered the Gospel of the Kingdom. (Visit http://www.joshuaproject.net/ to get much more information regarding these unreached peoples)

Time and again over the past few years God has brought me further along on the journey to say YES to spending my life to GO to these unengaged people. So, in this way, this blog is a recounting and update on this process and journey the Lord has set me on.


SECOND, The Lord has continually be revealing more and more regarding his passion for the in-gathering of the Bride of Christ. In this way the term engaged refers more to the way Christ has intimately covenanted himself to His bride, who through His own blood sacrifice on the cross, will be completely gathered, in purity and splendor, to love and worship the bridegroom for all eternity. This reality has virtually the same as what I was speaking of above, but I feel reflects a bit more the intimate heart of the Father, who is longing to present the Bride, the body of Christ, to His Son in the final day.
This journey has lead me deeper into God's heart discovering "who" He longs to see engaged, saved and loved by His son. God has shown and is giving me more of His heart to wage war and fight against the injustices and oppressions of the enemy, this world, and our sinful nature. There are people who've suffered the worst of the evils and injustices of this world, and I've found God's heart really beats for these marginalized people : orphans, widows, refugees, the poor and homeless, the disabled, those oppressed by demons, those with HIV/AIDS, victims of sex slavery, and casualties of evil, warring governments. These are the people the Father wants to bring in to the Wedding Super of the Lamb (Luke 14) and these are the people to whom I want to go and ring the wedding bells of the good news of the Kingdom.


"Until" signifies the now and not yet reality of the Kingdom of God breaking into our world. The work is not finished. Entire populations have never even heard of Jesus the Messiah, and diseases like HIV are wreaking havoc across the world, leaving orphans and widows in its trail. Until these things are reconciled, I will keep going. Because of Christ's incomparable grace and richness towards me in saving me and wedding himself to me in love and intimacy, I will labor--if need be until my dying day-- until all peoples of the earth are reached with the Gospel of the Kingdom, and until all injustice bows to Jesus.

And one more thing, in case you may be wondering, this title has absolutely no reference whatsoever to my romantic life, or lack there of! So if you think this is some desperate subconscious ploy to win a soul-mate, think again!