I was reading in Galations 3 and Paul says in verse 8, 'And the Scriptire, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed."' (ESV)
I don't think I understand the gospel in the context of what God said to Abraham.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
A different perspective
Let me tell you about a story that happened today...
I'm in the middle of searching for a job and I thought I had a good lead at a coffee shop but sadly I got a call today while getting ready for the event that I will tell you about shortly and no dice on that job.
I was in charge of an Ultimate Frisbee tournament that happened today. I had a blast and I think that it was a good success and as far as I could tell people really seemed to enjoy themselves.
After all was said and done, I was tossing a disc with one of the ladies that was there as I hadn't been able to play in any of the games (I didn't play because I was organizing it and I have shin splints at the moment). So tossing the disc was amazingly fun. But then it happened.
I went to get the disc but my left foot slipped in the wet grass and my knee cap decided that it did not want to stay where it was supposed to. I had to move my knee cap from the left side of my leg back to where it is supposed to be. Extreme pain...if there is one thing that I can recommend about your knee cap, don't dislocate it.
As I was laying on the ground writhing in pain, a group of people started to form to see what they could do to help. There wasn't anything they really could do. I just needed to let the pain subside so that I could walk to my car. I finally decided that the pain wasn't going to get much better than it already had. I got up with help and started to hobble to the car with help and got in with help. It was a good thing that it was my left leg or I don't think I would have been able to drive home.
As I was hobbling to the car, the nice young lady that I had playing with caught up and gave me a hug because she felt bad. I reassured her that I would be fine and that there was no way it was her fault.
As I was driving home, I realized that I didn't have my phone. I figured that it probably fell out of my pocket while I thought I wanted to chop my leg off to make the pain stop. I didn't know what to do as I couldn't call anyone to help me. The best thing that I could think of was to go to the house of the friend who was helping me as he could only be about 5-10 minutes behind me. I told him my predicament and we headed back to campus.
We got there and a saddening feeling just overcame me as the sprinklers were on in the location where we were tossing the disc. We called the phone and could hear it and then we went to the AV to see if it had been turned in there and no dice there and then we went to the Rec Center to see if it had been turned in there and still no dice.
We decided to look one last time and at last we heard it. If you haven't heard my ring tone before, you should ask me because it is pretty awesome. Even better yet, some how the sprinklers had not hit it. Praise God! It is rather hard in this day and age to not have a working phone.
So the end of my evening really wasn't going my way. I got hurt and lost my phone. But a verse that reminds me almost daily that I should have a different perspective on life made me think differently. Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."
Let me expand on this a little. Now I sure do love God. Great, we can move on...the next two words are the ones that I have to remind myself of a lot. ALL THINGS...not just when you think that you have everything all together and life seems peachy, but when things are hard. When you think that everything and everyone seems to be against you. When you hurt your leg and lose your phone all in the same night. ALL THINGS work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
I know that I have been called according to his purpose so even when I don't get the job, hurt my leg, and lose my phone in the same evening, I know that some how in some way that it was all for my good because I love my God and he loves me a whole lot more. I may not know or understand at the moment how it is for my good but I know that it is. I have seen this verse in action and know that it is true. Ask me about it some time and let me tell you how much my God has done for me.
I'm in the middle of searching for a job and I thought I had a good lead at a coffee shop but sadly I got a call today while getting ready for the event that I will tell you about shortly and no dice on that job.
I was in charge of an Ultimate Frisbee tournament that happened today. I had a blast and I think that it was a good success and as far as I could tell people really seemed to enjoy themselves.
After all was said and done, I was tossing a disc with one of the ladies that was there as I hadn't been able to play in any of the games (I didn't play because I was organizing it and I have shin splints at the moment). So tossing the disc was amazingly fun. But then it happened.
I went to get the disc but my left foot slipped in the wet grass and my knee cap decided that it did not want to stay where it was supposed to. I had to move my knee cap from the left side of my leg back to where it is supposed to be. Extreme pain...if there is one thing that I can recommend about your knee cap, don't dislocate it.
As I was laying on the ground writhing in pain, a group of people started to form to see what they could do to help. There wasn't anything they really could do. I just needed to let the pain subside so that I could walk to my car. I finally decided that the pain wasn't going to get much better than it already had. I got up with help and started to hobble to the car with help and got in with help. It was a good thing that it was my left leg or I don't think I would have been able to drive home.
As I was hobbling to the car, the nice young lady that I had playing with caught up and gave me a hug because she felt bad. I reassured her that I would be fine and that there was no way it was her fault.
As I was driving home, I realized that I didn't have my phone. I figured that it probably fell out of my pocket while I thought I wanted to chop my leg off to make the pain stop. I didn't know what to do as I couldn't call anyone to help me. The best thing that I could think of was to go to the house of the friend who was helping me as he could only be about 5-10 minutes behind me. I told him my predicament and we headed back to campus.
We got there and a saddening feeling just overcame me as the sprinklers were on in the location where we were tossing the disc. We called the phone and could hear it and then we went to the AV to see if it had been turned in there and no dice there and then we went to the Rec Center to see if it had been turned in there and still no dice.
We decided to look one last time and at last we heard it. If you haven't heard my ring tone before, you should ask me because it is pretty awesome. Even better yet, some how the sprinklers had not hit it. Praise God! It is rather hard in this day and age to not have a working phone.
So the end of my evening really wasn't going my way. I got hurt and lost my phone. But a verse that reminds me almost daily that I should have a different perspective on life made me think differently. Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."
Let me expand on this a little. Now I sure do love God. Great, we can move on...the next two words are the ones that I have to remind myself of a lot. ALL THINGS...not just when you think that you have everything all together and life seems peachy, but when things are hard. When you think that everything and everyone seems to be against you. When you hurt your leg and lose your phone all in the same night. ALL THINGS work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
I know that I have been called according to his purpose so even when I don't get the job, hurt my leg, and lose my phone in the same evening, I know that some how in some way that it was all for my good because I love my God and he loves me a whole lot more. I may not know or understand at the moment how it is for my good but I know that it is. I have seen this verse in action and know that it is true. Ask me about it some time and let me tell you how much my God has done for me.
Monday, August 15, 2011
An update for Cans for Campus
Wow! Thank you church for being awesome and supporting the student ministry. Now lets pray that God does something amazing with this massive amount of pop.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Can for Campus
Cans for Campus from Summitview Community Church on Vimeo.
If there are any of you that may wonder if this actually works let me tell you that it does. My team supported a guy that had a fridge in his room last semester and we just told the floor that we had free pop all year. We would have guys come in and take a pop and then they would just hang out with us and start telling us about their day. Pretty cool to see God do things through something as small as giving away free pop (or as I consider it, caffeine).
A day in this past week.
I am not sure if I can begin to tell you how cool this day was. I think I was able to see God in many different places and in many different ways. I'll do my best to explain the day.
I don't really remember the morning, but that could be because I slept in for a good part of it. Something that I haven't done in quite a while. I read in Acts that morning before I got going on the day. It was before Stephen's speech (Acts 7) and I took note of the community that the people in Acts had. Another part that I love is Acts 5:17-42. I would just encourage you to read it and let God speak to you through it but my favorite verse is 29. I pray that I may always obey God rather than men including myself.
I was then given the chance to help move two ladies to their new places. I don't ever expect 'payment' per se but I sure do love food. We were given lunch by the end and it was very tasty. Then I was helping a friend with fixing the back tire on their bike. It had blown out and needed a new tire and tube.
We went to a bike shop near where I live and as we were checking out the guy behind the counter asked me, "still doing speeches?" I was very confused by this question, I had no idea what he was talking about. He refreshed my memory by saying that we had been in the same speech class at Front Range. It all came flooding back and he said that my speech was the only one that he remembered from the class. I was thinking to myself, what did I speak on? He then refreshed my memory again on a speech that I did on sound.
I was completely a taken back that this guy had remembered me and the speech I gave. We talked a bit about what we were doing with school now and then I had a thought. He works with bikes and we do free bike repair on campus occasionally and he would be perfect to help. I asked if he would be interested in helping some time and he said sure, so I got his number I'm going to call him next time we do a bike repair.
Never underestimate what God will do in any aspect in life. An unbeliever remember a speech I gave that I hardly put any faith into. I just did the speech to get it done yet God used it so that I could reconnect with this guy that I maybe talked with a few times during the semester if even that much.
So after the shop utterly amazed, I fixed the bike and took my friend home. Now the rest of my day was consumed with something I was very excited to do. Another friend of mine called the night before to see if I could help him plan his proposal. So the rest of my afternoon was being his gopher in order to pull it off. I picked up roses and cleaned out my car. Collected the things that he needed for the evening and had dinner with my family. I went a picked up another friend because I needed back up.
We went to the location and set it up and worked with the staff to get everything ready. This was a stealth mission for us as we did not want to be seen as the girlfriend did not know it was happening that evening. We had walkie talkies with in ear buds so that we could communicate with each other silently.
Everything was set in motion as they got there. The second part of my mission was to be the stealth photographer. It was kind of hard to get really good shots because the lighting was rather low but I think I was able to compensate. The mission was a success, she said yes.
After that was all done, we did not have to be all stealthy anymore and showed our faces in Walmart. We needed to buy a fan but they were out at the first Walmart so we went to the second. We go the fan and we were headed to the check out when this lady asked if we could help her put a heavy box onto her cart. We said sure and helped her out. After check out we put it in her car and started creating small talk. Found out that she just moved here that day and that she came to this Walmart although the other one (the one we came from) is closer because she didn't know about it.
I said that I didn't know where she was at but that we are both Christians and that we go to the same church. I told her to that she was more than welcome to come. That was about when our conversation ended and as we were driving away I was amazed yet again. God orchestrated things in a way that we would end up there that evening and we were given the chance to invite her to church. Awesome!
It is cool to be able to see God in a lot of different ways in your day. If you just look for it, I bet God will be gracious and allow you to see him in your day.
I don't really remember the morning, but that could be because I slept in for a good part of it. Something that I haven't done in quite a while. I read in Acts that morning before I got going on the day. It was before Stephen's speech (Acts 7) and I took note of the community that the people in Acts had. Another part that I love is Acts 5:17-42. I would just encourage you to read it and let God speak to you through it but my favorite verse is 29. I pray that I may always obey God rather than men including myself.
I was then given the chance to help move two ladies to their new places. I don't ever expect 'payment' per se but I sure do love food. We were given lunch by the end and it was very tasty. Then I was helping a friend with fixing the back tire on their bike. It had blown out and needed a new tire and tube.
We went to a bike shop near where I live and as we were checking out the guy behind the counter asked me, "still doing speeches?" I was very confused by this question, I had no idea what he was talking about. He refreshed my memory by saying that we had been in the same speech class at Front Range. It all came flooding back and he said that my speech was the only one that he remembered from the class. I was thinking to myself, what did I speak on? He then refreshed my memory again on a speech that I did on sound.
I was completely a taken back that this guy had remembered me and the speech I gave. We talked a bit about what we were doing with school now and then I had a thought. He works with bikes and we do free bike repair on campus occasionally and he would be perfect to help. I asked if he would be interested in helping some time and he said sure, so I got his number I'm going to call him next time we do a bike repair.
Never underestimate what God will do in any aspect in life. An unbeliever remember a speech I gave that I hardly put any faith into. I just did the speech to get it done yet God used it so that I could reconnect with this guy that I maybe talked with a few times during the semester if even that much.
So after the shop utterly amazed, I fixed the bike and took my friend home. Now the rest of my day was consumed with something I was very excited to do. Another friend of mine called the night before to see if I could help him plan his proposal. So the rest of my afternoon was being his gopher in order to pull it off. I picked up roses and cleaned out my car. Collected the things that he needed for the evening and had dinner with my family. I went a picked up another friend because I needed back up.
We went to the location and set it up and worked with the staff to get everything ready. This was a stealth mission for us as we did not want to be seen as the girlfriend did not know it was happening that evening. We had walkie talkies with in ear buds so that we could communicate with each other silently.
Everything was set in motion as they got there. The second part of my mission was to be the stealth photographer. It was kind of hard to get really good shots because the lighting was rather low but I think I was able to compensate. The mission was a success, she said yes.
After that was all done, we did not have to be all stealthy anymore and showed our faces in Walmart. We needed to buy a fan but they were out at the first Walmart so we went to the second. We go the fan and we were headed to the check out when this lady asked if we could help her put a heavy box onto her cart. We said sure and helped her out. After check out we put it in her car and started creating small talk. Found out that she just moved here that day and that she came to this Walmart although the other one (the one we came from) is closer because she didn't know about it.
I said that I didn't know where she was at but that we are both Christians and that we go to the same church. I told her to that she was more than welcome to come. That was about when our conversation ended and as we were driving away I was amazed yet again. God orchestrated things in a way that we would end up there that evening and we were given the chance to invite her to church. Awesome!
It is cool to be able to see God in a lot of different ways in your day. If you just look for it, I bet God will be gracious and allow you to see him in your day.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
I wonder if I was like this when I got my wisdom teeth pulled?
A friend of mine posted this on facebook and I thought it was absolutely hilarious. Enjoy :)
Monday, July 4, 2011
So much to catch up...
I was thinking recently of how much God has done in my life and how some of it has been posted onto here. I was just going back through so of my posts and it is kind of cool to see how I have almost used this as a journal. I don't process things very well by myself and so writing them down seems to help me. I hope you have enjoyed my blog so far and I am going to take you on a little journey of what God has done over the past couple of years.
It all started out on my 21st birthday (currently I'm 23). I was up for an adventure and what an adventure I had.
I went to El Paso Texas that summer and in hind sight, it is amazing to see how much God did.
I love my nephews! Although they are much bigger now than 2 years ago.
Crazy days, Jesus, running sound, and updates were more common then compared to now.
More nephews, and more El Paso. I don't think I will ever forget how much God did there. Maybe I will compile all of into one post so that the story is in one spot instead of many.
You can often tell what the biggest problem or obstacle was as I would often write about it. And there were salvations that I just couldn't help but put into the blog because it reminded me of how much God can do in a person's life.
I have learned a lot about God's Sovereignty.
And there was so much in between and so you should just go read about it if you are really interested.
Now for a few more recent things...
Check these out
June 12, 2011: A God Bigger Than All Our Brokenness from Summitview Community Church on Vimeo.
I was encouraged by David in the Psalms today and I will leave you with these Psalms and I hope theyencourage you as well.
Psalm 61:7
"May he be enthroned forever before God; appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him!"
That is my prayer, that God would appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over me.
Pslam 62
"For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
2 He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.
My heart just resonated with this Psalm today.
It all started out on my 21st birthday (currently I'm 23). I was up for an adventure and what an adventure I had.
I went to El Paso Texas that summer and in hind sight, it is amazing to see how much God did.
I love my nephews! Although they are much bigger now than 2 years ago.
Crazy days, Jesus, running sound, and updates were more common then compared to now.
More nephews, and more El Paso. I don't think I will ever forget how much God did there. Maybe I will compile all of into one post so that the story is in one spot instead of many.
You can often tell what the biggest problem or obstacle was as I would often write about it. And there were salvations that I just couldn't help but put into the blog because it reminded me of how much God can do in a person's life.
I have learned a lot about God's Sovereignty.
And there was so much in between and so you should just go read about it if you are really interested.
Now for a few more recent things...
Check these out
June 12, 2011: A God Bigger Than All Our Brokenness from Summitview Community Church on Vimeo.
I was encouraged by David in the Psalms today and I will leave you with these Psalms and I hope theyencourage you as well.
Psalm 61:7
"May he be enthroned forever before God; appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him!"
That is my prayer, that God would appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over me.
Pslam 62
"For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
2 He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.
3How long will all of you attack a man
to batter him,
like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
4They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.
They take pleasure in falsehood.
They bless with their mouths,
but inwardly they curse.
Selah
to batter him,
like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
4They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.
They take pleasure in falsehood.
They bless with their mouths,
but inwardly they curse.
Selah
5For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
6 He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
for my hope is from him.
6 He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
8 Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.
Selah
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.
Selah
9 Those of low estate are but a breath;
those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
they are together lighter than a breath.
10Put no trust in extortion;
set no vain hopes on robbery;
if riches increase, set not your heart on them.
those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
they are together lighter than a breath.
10Put no trust in extortion;
set no vain hopes on robbery;
if riches increase, set not your heart on them.
11 Once God has spoken;
twice have I heard this:
that power belongs to God,
12and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love.
For you will render to a man
according to his work."
twice have I heard this:
that power belongs to God,
12and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love.
For you will render to a man
according to his work."
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
Pray?
This is something that I have been thinking about lately and a verse that I really want to sink down into my heart and know that God really does answer prayers. I am not really sure how this comes about because I have definitely seen God answer prayer in my life and the lives of people around me, yet it still hasn't sunk down.
James 5:16
Also, check this out from a sister church in Salt Lake City.
James 5:16
Also, check this out from a sister church in Salt Lake City.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
I'm actually going to do a short post...
Today was awesome.
I was given the ability to work. I have been thankful that I even have a job and that I get to work.
Then I went to the church building and got to mow the lawn. I love mowing.
Then I went and did IEP (Intensive English Program). I am a conversation partner in the class and so I just get to talk with the students. Today was our last day and so we had snacks and hung out. Then we (other partners and I) helped the students with presentations they are giving next week.
Then I had a bit of a quiet time. Nothing amazing out of it but it is always good to get into it.
Then I played ultimate frisbee. It was a blast. Nothing more on that.
Then we went and ate dinner and I was gross from the day so I took a shower and now I am hanging out in the dorms. And that brings me to now.
What was your day like?
I was given the ability to work. I have been thankful that I even have a job and that I get to work.
Then I went to the church building and got to mow the lawn. I love mowing.
Then I went and did IEP (Intensive English Program). I am a conversation partner in the class and so I just get to talk with the students. Today was our last day and so we had snacks and hung out. Then we (other partners and I) helped the students with presentations they are giving next week.
Then I had a bit of a quiet time. Nothing amazing out of it but it is always good to get into it.
Then I played ultimate frisbee. It was a blast. Nothing more on that.
Then we went and ate dinner and I was gross from the day so I took a shower and now I am hanging out in the dorms. And that brings me to now.
What was your day like?
Monday, April 18, 2011
Oh where to begin...
Life happens so fast that I can hardly keep up. Can you?
This post is going to be a bunch of my thoughts over the past couple of weeks and some thoughts that I have had recently. Things that I have seen in my life and in others and hopefully show you some of my heart (or the lack there of). There will be a lot from things that I have read and so if you are ready to dive into a post that could be as long as a book...then I hope you enjoy it.
Life has been a bit crazy for me as of late. I work part time in the dining center as CSU and I am working part time for the church. The dining center is a great job. I get to work for and with a bunch of people serving the students at CSU. As most of you know, I am one of those extreme extroverts that will walk up to complete strangers and just start talking to you. I just love people and they rejuvenate me. And so that is what I get to do at work. I get to talk to my co workers about almost everything. Anywhere from what they did over the weekend to what they think about Jesus. Which is what I get to do for my other job with the church.
Now I need to make a clarification on my job with the church. I don't really see it much as as "job" but more of a lifestyle. The church is just helping me free up time to go and talk with people. I will be honest, it has been really hard at times, but there are also so many other times that I just love doing it. I set up times to go and talk with people about faith and what it means to have a relationship with Jesus.
A few people/activities that I get to do on a weekly basis that you could pray for:
Obviously there is work at the dining center. There are tons of people that I get to talk to on a weekly basis. So that means each week I need to try and reconnect with each person and catch up with how their week was and in some way speak some truth into their life. I have seen that come in many different ways so far and I pray to see more. You could also pray that I would grab each opportunity I have to speak truth to anyone and to be bold in that place.
I'm not going to give names but hopefully you can give a name for them by the description I give. God will know whom you are talking about. There is a guy that I met at a seminar and he is honestly seeking truth. But the hard part for me is that the questions he is asking are way over my head. He has been asking about science type stuff which isn't anything that I have really studied. He has been trying to figure out what his world view is as he believes that has huge implications on anybody's life. What do you believe to be true? Thankfully I have a brother in Christ that is able to answer a lot of his questions. All three of us meet every Friday to talk and it has been amazing to just listen to their discusion. Most things I don't understand but I would have to say that it is really fun to learn about everything. I get to chirp in a few times about the Bible and sometimes they do talk about things I know and I get a better chance to give my two cents.
There is a small group of guys that I get to hang out with in the dorms. These guys have been a bit of a challenge. It is rare for them to stay on a serious subject. Even as the case may be, they are an awesome bunch of dudes that I would love to see changed for Christ. A brother and I did get to share with one of them recently and he already says he took the check (if you know the judge analogy, if you don't ask and I can explain it to you). This gives us some direction now as far as where to go from there.
Another opportunity I have had is to go back to Front Range Community College (where I got my associates degree from) and do some sharing there. There was one girl that I walked up to and asked if I could join her for lunch. Turns out that she is in a class with a brother that goes there. I haven't run into her again but I'm hoping to keep the small friendship going that started.
I think I will be my last one for now. I have had the amazing opportunity to go and talk with internationals that go to CSU. Ha, imagine that...I get to talk more. There is a program at CSU called the Intensive English Program (IEP). I get to be a conversation partner once a week. I go into the classroom and speak about whatever topic the teacher gives. There are about 5 other conversation partners although sometimes I wish I was the only one. Because then that would mean I would just get to talk that much more. Many of these international students want friendships and to talk about US culture and just learn about the a native to the US. This is great because it is a ready made friendship and I pray that I would get to share the gospel with each person that I am able to hang out with outside of class.
That is some of what I get to do each week. That does not include leading a team, doing the outreach class, leadership training class (ltc), prayer meetings, meeting with dudes on my team, other meetings, D-team on wednesdays, running sound for church about every third Sunday, the Rock, etc. Please do not see this as Zach's list to show how much he does in a week. I only mention this because if I were to read something along these lines, that is what I would think. Really, I need prayer in all of these places. That the way I act and the things that I do would be honoring to God. That my devotion in everything would be first and foremost Christ.
Alright, need a break from reading? I sure do...
That was long enough, now on for recent thoughts I have had recently. My current word that I have been dwelling on is abide. I have been reading in the gospel of John and I will speaking on 15:1-11.
For the little I know about trees, this stuck out to me. When a tree branch is dead, it is not going to produce or bear anything. That is why you would want to cut off a dead branch as it isn't doing anything good for the tree. Now when you have branches, you prune them in a way that they will grow even more. I feel like that is what God does with us a lot of the time. As much as it hurts and no matter how much we don't like the pruning, it is good for us because it says we will bear more fruit. God is cutting away the things in our lives that keep us from having a pure devotion to him.
There are many times that I often don't want to have God prune anything because I know that it is going to be hard to give up any idol that I may have. I have prayed and keep praying that God would always be pruning something in my life. I don't ever want to become comfortable with where I am at in my walk with Christ. Something that is hard to pray but I hope that you would.
Okay, now I want you to go back and read verses 4-6. Jesus is saying that he is the vine and we are the branches and that if we abide in him, then we will bear much fruit. I know, you probably want to know why I pretty much just repeated the verses after I made you read them. Well, I think it is crucial for verse 7. And if you need to go and refresh yourself on what it says, go read it again.
There are many times where I think I can focus on just the last half of that verse. I can ask God whatever I wish and it will be done for me. Wow, thanks for being a vending machine God. I need something now and so I ask and I receive. Hurray! :)
WRONG!
If that is what you think, you should think again. God is not your personal vending machine that you can call on when you need something. He gave us a condition before he said 'ask.' We should abide in him and his words should abide in us, then we can ask. I looked up the definition of abide and it is along the lines of, 'to remain; continue; stay.' I looked up the greek for abide, and it was the same thing as the definition. So we should remain in God.
Now if we remain in God and his word remains in us, I believe the only things that we are going to be asking God for are things that God wants us to ask. I don't believe there is anything God would not give us as long as it is for our good (Romans 8.28). And I truly think that if we stay in God, we will only ask for good things.
I don't think I explained that very well but there is amazing truth in those verses. And he says that he does all of this so that our joy may be full. Well, I conclude that if we abide in God our joy will be full. So if you want to be happy, abide in God and let him prune you up so that you can have complete devotion to God.
I have a friend that writes the word of the day on the inside of their wrist so that they can remember what they read that morning. Pretty useful tool to help you abide in God all day. Because you see if often enough that you remember what you read in the morning or you can keep the same word for multiple days if you are trying to work on one thing. I can tell you that I like the idea and mine is 'ask' right now. Because then I remember everything I just wrote about.
So I am going to abide in Christ so that the things I ask for will be the things that God wants me to ask so that he will do them so that my joy will be full.
Okay, let me give you a little analogy. I am driving in a car and I need to shift lanes. The car to my back left is just close enough to me that I can't just move over. So I down shift to pick up a little speed and I get over and then get back into cruising at my previous speed. Make sense? I hope it does because that is what I am doing here. Just changing lanes slightly because now I am going to talk about a book that I have been reading.
The book is "The Great Gain of Godliness" by Thomas Watson. He was an old Puritan and that should be all that I really need to say about it. I am reading the book because my church, Summitview Community Church is doing something called Spring Training. This year it is called Gain. Last year it was called Kill or be Killed. It is for the men in our church to get together once a week for 7 weeks to discuss this book and have a short message that relates to it. It is at the wonderful time of 6 am on Wednesdays if you caught any of my sarcasm in there. But it is the only time that most men in the church have free to all get together at the same time. And so really, it is awesome to have coffee, donuts, and discusion with a bunch of dudes early in the morning.
The first week we broke down into smaller groups and we keep the groups for the duration of Spring Training. There are approximately 5-7 guys in a group. Most groups are pretty diverse as far as age goes. It can go from high school all the way to the old guys. There are three married dudes (with and without kids), a single guy in Symbio, and me. I love being around and hearing from the married guys because it gives me an insite to what it will be like someday.
There was one chapter the really struck a chord with me. It wasn't even the whole chapter, just a section on it. I am going to give you a few things that I underlined and hopefully I will be able to express myself in some way that makes sense on why it stood out to me. The book is walking us through what it means to fear God. I think we can often have a distorted view on what it means to fear God. If you are looking for some insite on fearing God, we just went over it in church and you can find the message online.
This chapter is called Is the Fear of God in our Hearts? This part of the post may seem very random but I am pulling things from the book and my thoughts on them. Sorry if you get lost and I may not comment on everything but they stuck out to me and I hope they stick out to you.
This next part is not a part I understand a whole lot about. It is about the heart and it is just very mysterious to me.
One more quote from this chapter and a few more from the next.
I recently had a friend ask me for some guidance on future plans. And I posed the question back to them, well what do you want? And I can't quite say I entirely agree with what I said. I was basing this off of:
Psalm 20:4-5
But then Zach brings up the fact that God already know what we are going to choose in anything and that we really don't have a choice as far as what happens in our life. Well then I bring in the fact that we do have a choice in what goes on in our life and that is the cool part about the Christian life.
God wants us to put our whole trust in him. Not just that one tiny little fraction that we think we can hold onto that is God and we can do the rest on our own. Maybe this will help get it into perspective for you. I think I first heard this analogy from a message at The Rock. I don't remember which one but I love this analogy.
You are an octopus and you have 8 arms. With each arm you are allowed to hold onto one thing but the exception to that rule is God. You can hold onto him with all 8 arms. Many times we are only holding onto God with one of our arms and the other 7 are holding onto things that we are putting our trust in. We don't want to let go of the other 7 because they can be like a security blanket for us. When we can hold onto those 7, we feel safe and comfortable because we know that we can do those 7 and still hold onto God. Are you able to let go of those and cling to God like Blondin's manager clinged to Blondin as he traversed the Niagara Falls on a tight rope? Stop holding onto things and hold onto what is going to matter in the end. God.
Look at these verses.
Proverbs 19:20-21
Jeremiah 29:11
Psalm 33:11
Proverbs 12:20
Proverbs 15:22
Proverbs 16:1-9
And this is just a short list of what it looks like to follow God in the plans that you make and what your heart's desire is. Cling to God like there is nothing left and he will prosper you like you have never seen.
Did you actually make it all the way here? If so, I will be impressed. I always say that I will blog more but it never happens and so all I really do are massive posts.
This post is going to be a bunch of my thoughts over the past couple of weeks and some thoughts that I have had recently. Things that I have seen in my life and in others and hopefully show you some of my heart (or the lack there of). There will be a lot from things that I have read and so if you are ready to dive into a post that could be as long as a book...then I hope you enjoy it.
Life has been a bit crazy for me as of late. I work part time in the dining center as CSU and I am working part time for the church. The dining center is a great job. I get to work for and with a bunch of people serving the students at CSU. As most of you know, I am one of those extreme extroverts that will walk up to complete strangers and just start talking to you. I just love people and they rejuvenate me. And so that is what I get to do at work. I get to talk to my co workers about almost everything. Anywhere from what they did over the weekend to what they think about Jesus. Which is what I get to do for my other job with the church.
Now I need to make a clarification on my job with the church. I don't really see it much as as "job" but more of a lifestyle. The church is just helping me free up time to go and talk with people. I will be honest, it has been really hard at times, but there are also so many other times that I just love doing it. I set up times to go and talk with people about faith and what it means to have a relationship with Jesus.
A few people/activities that I get to do on a weekly basis that you could pray for:
Obviously there is work at the dining center. There are tons of people that I get to talk to on a weekly basis. So that means each week I need to try and reconnect with each person and catch up with how their week was and in some way speak some truth into their life. I have seen that come in many different ways so far and I pray to see more. You could also pray that I would grab each opportunity I have to speak truth to anyone and to be bold in that place.
I'm not going to give names but hopefully you can give a name for them by the description I give. God will know whom you are talking about. There is a guy that I met at a seminar and he is honestly seeking truth. But the hard part for me is that the questions he is asking are way over my head. He has been asking about science type stuff which isn't anything that I have really studied. He has been trying to figure out what his world view is as he believes that has huge implications on anybody's life. What do you believe to be true? Thankfully I have a brother in Christ that is able to answer a lot of his questions. All three of us meet every Friday to talk and it has been amazing to just listen to their discusion. Most things I don't understand but I would have to say that it is really fun to learn about everything. I get to chirp in a few times about the Bible and sometimes they do talk about things I know and I get a better chance to give my two cents.
There is a small group of guys that I get to hang out with in the dorms. These guys have been a bit of a challenge. It is rare for them to stay on a serious subject. Even as the case may be, they are an awesome bunch of dudes that I would love to see changed for Christ. A brother and I did get to share with one of them recently and he already says he took the check (if you know the judge analogy, if you don't ask and I can explain it to you). This gives us some direction now as far as where to go from there.
Another opportunity I have had is to go back to Front Range Community College (where I got my associates degree from) and do some sharing there. There was one girl that I walked up to and asked if I could join her for lunch. Turns out that she is in a class with a brother that goes there. I haven't run into her again but I'm hoping to keep the small friendship going that started.
I think I will be my last one for now. I have had the amazing opportunity to go and talk with internationals that go to CSU. Ha, imagine that...I get to talk more. There is a program at CSU called the Intensive English Program (IEP). I get to be a conversation partner once a week. I go into the classroom and speak about whatever topic the teacher gives. There are about 5 other conversation partners although sometimes I wish I was the only one. Because then that would mean I would just get to talk that much more. Many of these international students want friendships and to talk about US culture and just learn about the a native to the US. This is great because it is a ready made friendship and I pray that I would get to share the gospel with each person that I am able to hang out with outside of class.
That is some of what I get to do each week. That does not include leading a team, doing the outreach class, leadership training class (ltc), prayer meetings, meeting with dudes on my team, other meetings, D-team on wednesdays, running sound for church about every third Sunday, the Rock, etc. Please do not see this as Zach's list to show how much he does in a week. I only mention this because if I were to read something along these lines, that is what I would think. Really, I need prayer in all of these places. That the way I act and the things that I do would be honoring to God. That my devotion in everything would be first and foremost Christ.
Alright, need a break from reading? I sure do...
That was long enough, now on for recent thoughts I have had recently. My current word that I have been dwelling on is abide. I have been reading in the gospel of John and I will speaking on 15:1-11.
1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.I am not an expert in any way on this passage, these are just the things that I see and if you have any other thoughts on them, I would love to hear them. I am going to start in verse 2.
For the little I know about trees, this stuck out to me. When a tree branch is dead, it is not going to produce or bear anything. That is why you would want to cut off a dead branch as it isn't doing anything good for the tree. Now when you have branches, you prune them in a way that they will grow even more. I feel like that is what God does with us a lot of the time. As much as it hurts and no matter how much we don't like the pruning, it is good for us because it says we will bear more fruit. God is cutting away the things in our lives that keep us from having a pure devotion to him.
There are many times that I often don't want to have God prune anything because I know that it is going to be hard to give up any idol that I may have. I have prayed and keep praying that God would always be pruning something in my life. I don't ever want to become comfortable with where I am at in my walk with Christ. Something that is hard to pray but I hope that you would.
Okay, now I want you to go back and read verses 4-6. Jesus is saying that he is the vine and we are the branches and that if we abide in him, then we will bear much fruit. I know, you probably want to know why I pretty much just repeated the verses after I made you read them. Well, I think it is crucial for verse 7. And if you need to go and refresh yourself on what it says, go read it again.
There are many times where I think I can focus on just the last half of that verse. I can ask God whatever I wish and it will be done for me. Wow, thanks for being a vending machine God. I need something now and so I ask and I receive. Hurray! :)
WRONG!
If that is what you think, you should think again. God is not your personal vending machine that you can call on when you need something. He gave us a condition before he said 'ask.' We should abide in him and his words should abide in us, then we can ask. I looked up the definition of abide and it is along the lines of, 'to remain; continue; stay.' I looked up the greek for abide, and it was the same thing as the definition. So we should remain in God.
Now if we remain in God and his word remains in us, I believe the only things that we are going to be asking God for are things that God wants us to ask. I don't believe there is anything God would not give us as long as it is for our good (Romans 8.28). And I truly think that if we stay in God, we will only ask for good things.
I don't think I explained that very well but there is amazing truth in those verses. And he says that he does all of this so that our joy may be full. Well, I conclude that if we abide in God our joy will be full. So if you want to be happy, abide in God and let him prune you up so that you can have complete devotion to God.
I have a friend that writes the word of the day on the inside of their wrist so that they can remember what they read that morning. Pretty useful tool to help you abide in God all day. Because you see if often enough that you remember what you read in the morning or you can keep the same word for multiple days if you are trying to work on one thing. I can tell you that I like the idea and mine is 'ask' right now. Because then I remember everything I just wrote about.
So I am going to abide in Christ so that the things I ask for will be the things that God wants me to ask so that he will do them so that my joy will be full.
Okay, let me give you a little analogy. I am driving in a car and I need to shift lanes. The car to my back left is just close enough to me that I can't just move over. So I down shift to pick up a little speed and I get over and then get back into cruising at my previous speed. Make sense? I hope it does because that is what I am doing here. Just changing lanes slightly because now I am going to talk about a book that I have been reading.
The book is "The Great Gain of Godliness" by Thomas Watson. He was an old Puritan and that should be all that I really need to say about it. I am reading the book because my church, Summitview Community Church is doing something called Spring Training. This year it is called Gain. Last year it was called Kill or be Killed. It is for the men in our church to get together once a week for 7 weeks to discuss this book and have a short message that relates to it. It is at the wonderful time of 6 am on Wednesdays if you caught any of my sarcasm in there. But it is the only time that most men in the church have free to all get together at the same time. And so really, it is awesome to have coffee, donuts, and discusion with a bunch of dudes early in the morning.
The first week we broke down into smaller groups and we keep the groups for the duration of Spring Training. There are approximately 5-7 guys in a group. Most groups are pretty diverse as far as age goes. It can go from high school all the way to the old guys. There are three married dudes (with and without kids), a single guy in Symbio, and me. I love being around and hearing from the married guys because it gives me an insite to what it will be like someday.
There was one chapter the really struck a chord with me. It wasn't even the whole chapter, just a section on it. I am going to give you a few things that I underlined and hopefully I will be able to express myself in some way that makes sense on why it stood out to me. The book is walking us through what it means to fear God. I think we can often have a distorted view on what it means to fear God. If you are looking for some insite on fearing God, we just went over it in church and you can find the message online.
This chapter is called Is the Fear of God in our Hearts? This part of the post may seem very random but I am pulling things from the book and my thoughts on them. Sorry if you get lost and I may not comment on everything but they stuck out to me and I hope they stick out to you.
If sin were on one side and hell on the other, I would rather leap into hell than willingly sin against God.Watson quotes a philosopher/theologian to show how we should fear our own sin. And this quote puts it into perspective for me. I really think we should fear sin to this point and have this view on it. I don't think I have that at all. I often let the pumpkin float by me and if you don't know what I am talking about, please listen to this message. Fear sin or things that you ran away from when you were a young christian will become okay with you. You will become comfortable in your life with sin.
A God-fearer directs the rudder of his life according to the compass of the Word.This has been something that I have been learning for a long time. As a kid and even into my youth, I hardly ever read the Bible. Since coming to college the word has become more of a part of my daily life. There was a paper that I did on genetically modified crops and a quote I found there was interesting. It said something along the lines of, 'If you change the direction of a cruise liner by two degree at the beginning of it's voyage, it will end up in a very different port or even on rocky shores.' I feel like this applies. The rudder directs where a ship goes and we should direct our life by the Word.
Luther said he had rather obey God than work miracles. A gracious soul crosses his own will to fulfill God's.
A holy heart knows there is nothing lost by obedience.
A steady pulse shows health: a steady walk shows grace.
He who fears God would rather displease man than God
The fear of God will make a man afraid of Satan's snares. He has the eye of faith to see these snares, and the wing of fear to fly from them.
his snares are so cunningly laid, that without the guidance of God's fear we cannot escape them.
The devil tempts men to evil, 'that good may come' of it (Romans 3:8).The link will actually give you Romans 3:5-8 because I think we need to look at the context of the verse to really understand what he is talking about here.
The white devil is worst. Who would suspect Satan when he comes as a divine and, if need be, can quote Scripture?
Another snare of Satan is to tempt to sin under a plea of necessity.As if to say for one example that I can see in my life, "you need your rest because you deserve it and you should find it here (insert something that is sin when you find your rest in it)."
This next part is not a part I understand a whole lot about. It is about the heart and it is just very mysterious to me.
The fear of God will make a man afraid of his own heart.Confused yet? Because I sure am.
'The heart is deceitful above all things' (Jer. 17:9). It is 'deceitful'. The word signifies, it is a 'Jacob' or 'supplanter'. As Jacob supplanted his brother, and took away the blessing, so our hearts would supplant and beguile us. 'Above all things': there is deceit in weights, deceit in friends; but the heart has an art of deceiving beyond all. In the best of hearts there is some fallaciousness. David was upright in all things, 'save only in the matter of Uriah' (1 Kings 8:13). A godly man, knowing there is a spice of this deceit in his heart, fears himself.Go to the Jer. 17:9 link, there is more to it than Watson puts in.
No man can believe what evil is in his heart.This next section is a lot strait out of the book. And I don't think I am going to comment on it, I'll just let the text speak for itself.
No man knows what is in his breast, or what scandal he may fall into if God should leave him. Christ warns his own apostles to 'take heed of surfeiting and drunkenness' (Luke 21:34). A godly man therefore fears his heart with a fear of caution and jealousy. The heart is not only stubborn, but subtle. Le us a little trace this imposter, and see if there is not a cause to hear it. The heart shows its deceitfulness regarding things sinful and things sacred.
Regarding things sinful, this deceit is in the hiding of sin, as Rahab his the spies in the flax (Josh. 2:6). So the heart hides sin. And how does it hide sin? Just as Adam hid himself under fig leaves, so the heart hides sin under the fig leaves of excuses. It was done against the will, or in a passion; or it was done along with others. Aaron laid his sin in the making of the golden calf upon the people: 'The people are set on mischief' (Exod. 32:22). And Adam tacitly laid his sin upon God himself: 'The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree' (Gen. 3:12), as if to say, 'If you had not given me this tempting woman, I would not have eaten.'
The heart's deceit is seen in flattering us. It will make us believe we are not so bad as we are. The Physician deceives the patient when he tells him his desease is not so dangerous, when he is falling into the hands of death. The heart will tell a man he is free from theft, when yet he robs others of their good name; he is free from drunkenness when, though he will not be drunk with wine, he will be drunk with passion. Thus the heart is a flattering mirror to make one look fairer than he is; and is there not cause to suspect this impostor?
Secondly, the heart shows its deceitfulness regarding things sacred; it will be ready to put us off with counterfeit grace. Many have been deceived in taking false money, and many, it is to be feared, in taking false grace.
The heart is ready to deceive with a false repentance. A sinner is troubled a little for sin, or rather the consequences of it, and perhaps sheds a few tears, and now his heart soothes him up that he is a true penitent. But every legal terror is not repentance: 'They were pricked in their hearts' (Acts 2:37); yet after this, 'Peter said unto them repent' (verse 38). If every slight trouble for sin were true repentance, then Judas and Cain may be lifted into the number of penitents. Evangelical repentance works a change of heart (1 Cor. 6:11). It produces sanctity. But the false penitent, though he has trouble of spirit, yet has no transformation or change. He has a weeping eye, but an adulterous heart. Ahab fasts and puts on sackcloth, but after this, he puts the prophet Micah in prison (1 Kings 22:27).
The heart is apt to deceive with a false faith; it would put the dead child in the place of the living. Those in the second chapter of John are said to believe; but Christ did not believe their faith (John 2:24). True faith, as it casts itself into Christ's arms to embrace him, so it casts itself at Christ's feet to serve him; but spurious faith, though it is forward to receive Christ's benefits, yet it plucks the government from his shoulders (Isa. 9:6). It would have him a priest, but not upon his throne (Zech. 6:13). This the heart is full of fallacies; he who fears God fears his heart lest it should rob him of the blessing. That saying of Epicharmus [Sicilian father of Greek comedy] is good, 'Remember not to trust.'
The fear of God will make a man fear death. Death may challenge a part in our fear, first, because it is such a serious thing, it is the inlet to eternity and puts us into an unalterable estate. Secondly, because of its proximity. It is nearer to us than we are aware; it may be within a few hours march of us. God may this night seal a lease of ejectment, and say, 'Give an account of your stewardship'; and what if death should come before we are ready? Thirdly, because after death there is nothing to be done for our souls, there is no repenting in the grave: 'There is no work, nor device . . . in the grave, whither thou goest' (Eccles. 9:10). So death is to be feared with a holy and religious fear.I am not sure what all you caught in that short section of the book but there was a lot that stood out to me. I would love for you to just pray for me about that chunk of the book.
One more quote from this chapter and a few more from the next.
Great men are mirrors by which the common people dress themselves.
Water, when it is hot, soon boils over; when the heart is heated with anger it soon boils over in furious speeches (James 3:6). Passion transports.
The heart is a cask full of wickedness, and the tongue is the tap that lets it flow out. When the face breaks out in sores and pimples, it shows the blood corrupt. When men break forth in unsavoury speeches its shows the heart is profane.
Were people's hearts more humble, their tongues would be more charitable.
The more spiritual we are in our speeches, the more we resemble Christ.
Verba sunt speculum mentis - Words are the looking glass of the mind (Bernard). As you may judge of a face by the mirror, whether it be fair or foul; so by the words we may judge of the heart. A lascivious tongue shows a lustful heart, an earthly tongue a covetous heart; a gracious tongue, an gracious heart.
The tongue is the index of the heart.
A word spoken in season may make such a powerful impression upon another's heart that it will do him good all his life.Need a break again? ...I agree.
I recently had a friend ask me for some guidance on future plans. And I posed the question back to them, well what do you want? And I can't quite say I entirely agree with what I said. I was basing this off of:
Psalm 20:4-5
May he grant you your heart’s desirePsalm 21:2
and fulfill all your plans!
May we shout for joy over your salvation,
and in the name of our God set up our banners!
May the LORD fulfill all your petitions!
You have given him his heart’s desirePsalm 37:3-5
and have not withheld the request of his lips.
Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:And Luke 11:1-13 but I am not going to put that one on here. You can look it up if you would like. We can see that God wants us to bless us and give us the things that our heart desires. But then we just looked at how our heart is deceitful. So then how can we be sure that what our heart desires is not something that our heart is deceiving us in? Watson talked about it some and even how we can measure our heart to a degree by what comes out of our mouth. And earlier I talked about how when we abide in God, we will really only be asking things that God wants us to ask him for because our heart is going to be more aligned to his plan and his will.
But then Zach brings up the fact that God already know what we are going to choose in anything and that we really don't have a choice as far as what happens in our life. Well then I bring in the fact that we do have a choice in what goes on in our life and that is the cool part about the Christian life.
God wants us to put our whole trust in him. Not just that one tiny little fraction that we think we can hold onto that is God and we can do the rest on our own. Maybe this will help get it into perspective for you. I think I first heard this analogy from a message at The Rock. I don't remember which one but I love this analogy.
You are an octopus and you have 8 arms. With each arm you are allowed to hold onto one thing but the exception to that rule is God. You can hold onto him with all 8 arms. Many times we are only holding onto God with one of our arms and the other 7 are holding onto things that we are putting our trust in. We don't want to let go of the other 7 because they can be like a security blanket for us. When we can hold onto those 7, we feel safe and comfortable because we know that we can do those 7 and still hold onto God. Are you able to let go of those and cling to God like Blondin's manager clinged to Blondin as he traversed the Niagara Falls on a tight rope? Stop holding onto things and hold onto what is going to matter in the end. God.
Look at these verses.
Proverbs 19:20-21
Jeremiah 29:11
Psalm 33:11
Proverbs 12:20
Proverbs 15:22
Proverbs 16:1-9
And this is just a short list of what it looks like to follow God in the plans that you make and what your heart's desire is. Cling to God like there is nothing left and he will prosper you like you have never seen.
Did you actually make it all the way here? If so, I will be impressed. I always say that I will blog more but it never happens and so all I really do are massive posts.
Monday, February 14, 2011
2/14...
A journal entry from today...
I was really tired today. I didn't get home until 2ish in the morning last night and then I got up just before 5:30 to get ready to work today. It was a very slow moving morning and it was like the engine just didn't want to turn over. Finally got moving at a normal speed and was at work. Today was my second day of work and it seemed like I learned how to almost everything that does not involve serving food. I monitored Parmelee and then they had me help Bob because he was by himself and had a lot to do with filling of the condiment type of things. Then they also put me on dish because Pablo was the only one in dish. So I would monitor and then go and help dish if I could and then I would go and help Bob some more. Then it was back to monitor and the cycle repeated itself all morning long. Then I sat down for maybe 10ish minutes to eat a quick lunch and I was moved to helping PM cooks. Scrubbed potatoes and oiled them. Seasoned chicken and put on tray to be cooked later. Then I diced 5 pounds of green peppers.
A cool God story from today. I was working on filling things for Bob and one of the managers came in and was all disgruntled because she found out that we were going to be getting 35-40 junior high students. I guess that age range seems to make a mess of the place and she just kept going on and on about how long it was going to take to clean up. So I prayed that these students would be different and they they would be well behaved and not make as much of a mess. I asked the manager later on in the day how they did and she said they did very well and was surprised by how they acted. Thanks God for an answer to prayer!
I worked 6:30-3:30 and was wiped out by the end. I went to the student center and I was going to work on some stuff but that didn't happen because I passed out. I slept for maybe an hour but oh how I loved that hour. Got to hang out with Josh which is always a blast. We talked about idols and how way back in the day they literally had a wooden idol and they would worship that. We thought about what it would be like with our 21st century brains and how we have idols but they look totally different from what they looked like back then. I got rid of caffeine and the computer for a while because they did become an idol for me. It wasn't like I wouldn't bow down and worship them but they took the place of where God should have been the whole time. They certainly didn't give me any sort of satisfaction that only God can give.
Then it was time for the outreach class. It went by fast and there si much that I need to work on this week. Went to my leader meeting and this is when things got a little hard. We start off by how each of us is doing and so I started off and I just kept talking. I mean, that is what I do but I was able to vocalize a lot of what I was thinking which was good.
They asked about work and so I told them all that I had done today and then they asked how my other job was going. I realized that this is probably going to be one of the hardest jobs that I have ever had. In all of my other jobs, including the dining center, I clock in and start to work and there is an exact list of things that I can do throughout my day. By the end of the day I can see the fruit of my labor and all that I had done. It is rewarding to be able to see that and it has been so engrained into me that I try and look for that in what I do with this internship.
There is not a time that I clock in or out and there is not anything I can do to cross something off a list and there isn't necessarily anyone that is looking over me constantly to see how I am doing and what I am doing for my work. So much of this job is a war within myself as I try to stay encouraged because I probably will not see much of the fruit of my labor and that there is a lot of dying to myself to go and do things when I don't want to. To have a lifestyle of outreach and not just a certain time or place for outreach.
*omitted section due to not being able to put it online. There are some things going on in life that are not extremely encouraging. If you ask, I am willing to share most of them but not willing to put them online so you will have to ask me personally*
So I was walking home discouraged and I had my ipod repeating Our God by Chris Tomlin to try and pound some truth back into this head of mine. I got home and I just knew that I needed to do some reading because if I would try and comfort the only place God can comfort with just another idol of mine. I've been in John and chapter 4 has been extremely awesome!
I read the passage about Jesus and the women of Samaria. I specifically read John 4:35-38 and it just sang to my heart.
"Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."
I felt like I was should not be receiving the wages I have been paid for what I have done so far because I had not really seen much of anything that I would be able to claim as fruit. But this has a different perspective and the perspective that I have had has been focus on me me me me me. When I look at God for what the best is for my life and for the lives around me and for the things that happen in my life and so much more, everything will turn out for the better.I hope that this has been as much of an encouragement to you as it has been to me. Happy Valentines day and I hope that you remember that God has the perfect relationship that anyone can have. I had a blast today because I know that the relationship I have with God is a whole lot better than any relationship I will ever have here on Earth.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Good bye...
...at least for now. I sadly had to do this with caffeine as well. Since before the beginning of the year I gave up caffeine because I was too addicted to it. I could not go a day without getting a headache if I didn't have it. Either I would have coffee or pop or an energy drink and many times I would have a combination of two or three of them throughout the day. They are all just so tasty and I would live off of them and it was not good. I would stay awake throughout the day by drinking more caffeine.
The first few days were rough. It was almost like a constant headache for a couple of days but since then, things have been good. Now for the other thing, really I am saying goodbye to all of you.
The internet has become such a distraction that I have to put some limits on it. There is no way that I can get rid of it completely because most of my life revolves around the internet. But the constant checking of my email and facebook and reader and twitter. I would start by checking one and then I have to check them all. And then once I have checked everything, I would often find some computer game to let my mind go to mush. I have all of my connections to the outside world not only on my computer but also on my ipod which means that as long as I have internet, I am not too far away from all of my connections. I even get text updates sent to my phone from twitter and so I am constantly being bombarded all day.
Okay, I know that I did this to myself but at least I have realized it and now I am trying to turn it around. Will it be tough for a while? Yes, just like the caffeine there will be a withdrawal phase but I hope to turn all the time that I spend starring at a screen for something better. Something that will be more productive to my life.
This will mean that I only check my email once a day and the rest, I'm not sure I will check. They are all just things to keep me connected to other people but if you really need me, text me. Or you can call but if you tell me to call via text, I will probably get back to you faster.
So, goodbye for now.
The first few days were rough. It was almost like a constant headache for a couple of days but since then, things have been good. Now for the other thing, really I am saying goodbye to all of you.
The internet has become such a distraction that I have to put some limits on it. There is no way that I can get rid of it completely because most of my life revolves around the internet. But the constant checking of my email and facebook and reader and twitter. I would start by checking one and then I have to check them all. And then once I have checked everything, I would often find some computer game to let my mind go to mush. I have all of my connections to the outside world not only on my computer but also on my ipod which means that as long as I have internet, I am not too far away from all of my connections. I even get text updates sent to my phone from twitter and so I am constantly being bombarded all day.
Okay, I know that I did this to myself but at least I have realized it and now I am trying to turn it around. Will it be tough for a while? Yes, just like the caffeine there will be a withdrawal phase but I hope to turn all the time that I spend starring at a screen for something better. Something that will be more productive to my life.
This will mean that I only check my email once a day and the rest, I'm not sure I will check. They are all just things to keep me connected to other people but if you really need me, text me. Or you can call but if you tell me to call via text, I will probably get back to you faster.
So, goodbye for now.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
And the wait is over
Drum roll please.......splash. I have taken two new jobs. The first job is not one that I will ever get the chance to have at any other time in life. Many of you that read my blog have probably heard about it, I am taking the Missions Initiative Internship with the church.
Many of the details have yet to be worked out. I am so excited for this that it is hard for me to know where to start. Maybe with what I will actually be doing...
I get to be on campus for big chunks of time during the week to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with people. Such as this past week, I was able to spend some time on campus to share my life with a dude who was eating lunch. I had just got mine and so I asked if I could join him and he said yes. I sat down and we started talking and the conversation led to Christ. He says that he knows Jesus as his Savior but I wasn't able to dig much more to see if that is what he really thought. I invited him to The Rock and to come to team sometime and got his contact info and so you could pray that he would come and get connected. His name is John.
I get to love on people and build a relationship with them. In today's world, there is so much that keeps us from relationship (i.e. twitter, facebook, texting, etc.) that many people have never experienced that. Within all of this, the gospel is the most important thing. And the goal is not to hand out as many tracts as I can but to have genuine relationship that leads to Christ.
I will get to live with a family and essentially become part of that family. I don't know whom I will get to move in with yet.
There is so much more but I will stop here because it is bed time.
I can't get enough prayer and so if you do remember me, please pray for me.
Many of the details have yet to be worked out. I am so excited for this that it is hard for me to know where to start. Maybe with what I will actually be doing...
I get to be on campus for big chunks of time during the week to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with people. Such as this past week, I was able to spend some time on campus to share my life with a dude who was eating lunch. I had just got mine and so I asked if I could join him and he said yes. I sat down and we started talking and the conversation led to Christ. He says that he knows Jesus as his Savior but I wasn't able to dig much more to see if that is what he really thought. I invited him to The Rock and to come to team sometime and got his contact info and so you could pray that he would come and get connected. His name is John.
I get to love on people and build a relationship with them. In today's world, there is so much that keeps us from relationship (i.e. twitter, facebook, texting, etc.) that many people have never experienced that. Within all of this, the gospel is the most important thing. And the goal is not to hand out as many tracts as I can but to have genuine relationship that leads to Christ.
I will get to live with a family and essentially become part of that family. I don't know whom I will get to move in with yet.
There is so much more but I will stop here because it is bed time.
I can't get enough prayer and so if you do remember me, please pray for me.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Mark 8:1-21
We don't know when each section was specifically written as the chapters and verse numbers were add later on in history. But for at least the section that I am going to be talking about, I don't think that we can have each section without the other ones right around it. This is verses 1-21.
Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand
In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away."And his disciples answered him, "How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?" And he asked them, "How many loaves do you have?" They said, "Seven." And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.The Pharisees Demand a Sign
The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation." And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.The Leaven of the Pharisees and Herod
Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, "Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?"They said to him, "Twelve." "And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" And they said to him, "Seven." And he said to them, "Do you not yet understand?"
Boom, we start off with a miracle of Jesus feeding 4000 people out of a couple loaves of bread and a few fish. One part that I find interesting is that the disciples almost seemed reluctant to give up the bread that they had. Each one of them would get at least half a loaf of bread. Giving up their bread would mean giving up the food that they needed so that they too would not faint.
Side note: when I think of a loaf of bread way back in the day, I think of it as just enough for each person to have one loaf and have their fill. A loaf was not something that you cut up and share with a bunch of people. I could be completely wrong, but that is the way that I see it.
Now I say that we can't separate these sections because each one talks about a boat that went from here to there or there to here and it just seems like Mark decided to record these events one after another and I think because they happened in that order.
Now onto the pharisees, they want a sign from Jesus. And I can only think, if you had only been there to see him feed 4000 people, then you would have seen a sign but Jesus goes on to say that no sign will be given to them.
It just keeps getting better and better. Now they are back on a boat and Jesus tells his disciples to be careful of the leaven of the pharisees and of Herod. Now they are back to the point that they have no bread again, okay, so one loaf, but to them it must have seemed like none. It almost seems as if Jesus gets irritated with the disciples. He tells them, "Do you not yet understand?" What are they supposed to understand here?
It makes me think that they are worried about their food which brings to mind Matthew 6:25-34 where it tells us not to worry about such things. That if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, God will take care of the rest. I want to think that the disciples were not thinking about kingdom matters but about how hungry they were.
I get from all of this that Jesus will take care of us. The disciples seemed to have forgotten that Jesus feed 5000 and 4000 with just a little. I almost also think that they didn't want to ask him for a miracle. With just a little faith, Jesus can do a whole lot. But I think Jesus wants us to bring him lots of faith, because that means there is that much more to work with.
Stay tuned for an update on Zach's life and big things that are happening there.
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