Passion of the Christ...

Im here in Iowa staying with my friend Mitch and his family.  Mitch is the new pastor of the satellite campus of Heritage Wesleyan Church of Rock Island, IL.  It was awesome to come here and be able to relax for a few days after the stress of the past couple months.  Then I saw myself getting far too used to the laying around, and I had to get myself back in check.  Whether one is a believer, not a believer, an enemy or anything else, it is my job to serve them in any way I can.  In the last 2 months I learned that I have a desire to serve others.  I want to always be on my feet looking for ways to serve others, so I appologized to Mitch and his wife Ann and started to help with anything that I could around the house.  At times serving may mean that I have to suffer or give up my time, sleep, energy, or money, but through God's strength I pray that I can delight in suffering.  A KBM speaker, Adrian Despres, says in one of his sermons that, Jesus died for you, so you can suffer for him."  I think that he makes a good point.  He goes on to say that if you love Jesus then you will be passionate about it.  One of the definitions of Passion from dictionary.com is Passion- the suffering of Jesus at the crucifixion.  "Whoa," is what I said when I read that.  Do we have that kind of passion for Christ?  If so, this should flow out of our lives in every possible way.  I pray that I can have that kind of passion for Christ, like he had for me.  The problem is that we let things get in the way of that.  Whether it be things we struggle with, fear or shame of what others think of us, or just lack of knowledge.  Whatever it may be, we need to step up and start living righteous lives for Christ.  When we get scared to stand up for our faith, picture Jesus on the cross lifting his body up to take another breath and let it remind ourselves that we have no idea what suffering is.  But Jesus knew what it was like before he was crucified, during, and after.  When my walk gets lazy or when I worry about what others are going to think about me, I have to picture Jesus and it gives me what I need to press on.  God puts opportunities in front of us everyday.  There is always a chance for us to share our faith.  Whether it is through our service, our attitude, or our words.  I do not want to put myself in the category that so many other Christians have put themselves.  The category of being a hypocrite.  Naturally, all of us are going to be hypocrites in some way or another, but we can practice what we preach.   When we are labeled Christians, we are watched like a hawk by others.  Some of them are believers, some of them are not, some are curious, and still some are not.  But if we can allow those people to have an experience with Christ by allowing Christ to show his love to them through us, then what?  That might be "the straw that breaks the camel's back" for some of them.  The walls might be broken down because of that very experience.  But if they see a Christian that is doing, saying, or condoning something that is clearly not Christ-like, then that could build a wall that is going to make it that much harder to reach them.  Personally, I don't ever want to be a legalistic person.  Jesus died for us so we wouldn't have to live under the law, but under his grace.  But we do have to constantly be aware of what we are saying and doing in our everyday lives.  Also the things that others don't see can affect us too.  Those "secret sins" that no one sees need to be stopped as well.  Because God always sees them and they hinder us from growing closer to God and keeps us from experiencing everything that He has to offer us.  So if you want to make a difference in the world we live in today, then be PASSIONATE about what Christ did for us and return the favor.  Until we meet again...

It Has Been Forever...

I am really sorry that I havent updated this blog in so long.  It has been hectic in my life to say the least.  The second group of students arrived, we took off on the trip, and when we got to Seattle Andy and I drove the RV's all the way back.  That is just a little introduction to what I have been doing in the past days.  Starting from where I left off last time, we continued to prepare for the next trip.  The second group of students were in their classes while we debriefed the first group of students.  On July 2nd the office had a catered party for many of the surrounding supporters, so they could come and meet some of the students and see in action what their support was doing.  Im sure it was really cool for them to see what their contributions were going towards.  On July 4th the office had a cookout at a nearby park.  We had hotdogs, hamburgers, and played a bunch of games.  It was really cool to have a little break before the 2nd trip started up.  That night we went to the Colorado Rockies game, and there was a huge fireworks show afterwards.  The next day we went and got the RV's and packed them up and headed out later that night.  We had a short little drive to Cheyenne, Wyoming where we stayed the night at an RV Park.  The next morning we headed to Utah.  We drove all day and arrived there around 6.  Along the way the scenery is unbelievable.  I do not understand how someone can think that the earth was created in any other way other than by God.  Some thought had to go into the intense detail that you see in creation.  That next day we headed to Mormon temple square again.  Since we had been there before the Mormons seemed to be acting a little shady towards us.  A couple members of our group had on shirts with scripture on them, so we stuck out like a sore thumb.  There were a couple of heated discussions that went down with a couple of the elders that were walking around, but we weren't there to bust any bubbles so we kept our cool.  All I can say about the experience is that we should be in constant prayer for the Mormon people bc they had a jaded view of the truth.  I think that they have truly been deceived by the false teachers that the Bible warns us about.  It blows my mind that they can say that they believe the Bible and that they follow its teachings, when clearly the book of Mormon contradicts that.  John states CLEARLY in Revelation 22:18-19, "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.  And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away form him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.  It doesn't get any more black and white than that.  Did Joseph Smith skip over that part?  Who knows, but Mormonism is one of the fastest growing religions in the world now, so we have some work to do.  Maybe if Christians were driven enough to hop on their bikes and go from door to door sharing our faith, then the TRUTH would spread throughout the earth.  Clearly we need to sow for ourselves righteousness, and breakup the unplowed ground (Hosea 10:12).  The unplowed ground is all around us, especially where people have been subject to a false truth.  Anyways, after that we all went to a park in Salt Lake City for lunch.  This wasn't your average family friendly park.  Personally, I saw drug deals going down, prostitution, and some other shady activity.  Needless to say Salt Lake City Utah is a dark place, but it is encouraging to know that Jesus is the light of the world and that we take him everywhere we go.  That night it was a relief to be in the Christian environment of the Salt Lake City Mission.  As I wrote a couple weeks ago, this is an intercity homeless mission that we go and serve at.  We sat through the worship service that the Bikers For Christ put on and then we cleaned up the worship area and served the food to the homeless.  Afterwards we ate dinner with some of the staff that works there.  I got to hang out with Mike again, the ex con that I met the last time I was through.  It was a blessing to hear what God had been doing in his life since had stopped in last time.  I got his address and plan to keep in touch with him from now on.  The next day we headed out to Idaho.  This is a 600 mile trip.  Along the way we stopped for a little dip in the river.  The testosterone was flowing and most of the guys decided that they would cross the creek.  When on the other side a couple of the guy, including me, decided to climb some rocks that were going up the side of the mountain.  About 5 of us got to the top which was about 35-40 feet from level ground.  I wanted to take the "challenging way down" and as I started down the tree that I was holding uprooted.  To make a long story short, I beat everyone else down.  I fell about 35 ft. hit a tree on the way down, did a flip, and landed on my back.  Everyone thought I was dead, but I hoped up and exclaimed, "YEA, that was awesome."  This little event proved to be very preach-able for my future.  See if I wouldn't have hit the tree on the way down, then I would have free fallen 35 ft. to the ground.  But when I hit the tree it broke my fall and redirected my path.  Just like God does when we get off track, he breaks our fall and redirects ou im r path.  Maybe the only one that could get that from an experience like that, who knows...Then we crossed back over the river bruised and battered, knowing that we conquered the rock..haha sorry Mom.  We got to the 3 rivers RV park and went to sleep for the night.  We woke up and found out that our rafting reservations were not what we thought they were, so we could not raft that day.  We had no phone service of internet so we loaded up and headed for Washington.  On the way Terrence set up a rafting trip down the Wenatchee River for the next day.  We stayed in Wenatchee that night and rafted the next day.  It was cool for the leaders to get to go down another river this time.  Not as intense of a ride but we still got to wear the cool wet suits...haha.  After the trip down the river we loaded up and drove to Seattle.  When we got to the church, where the team was staying, the students cleaned the RV's spick and span.  Andy and I crashed for the night bc we had to drive the RV's back the next day.  We got up at 4:00 am and headed out for Colorado.  We drove a 21 hour trip in about 30 hours.  We stopped to nap for 3 hours, eat, and get gas.  We we got back on Saturday, Colorado never looked so beautiful.  I have rested for 2 days now and am back in the office to help out with whatever there is to do.  Tomorrow the students get back, so we will have to go pick them up at the airport.  This experience has been so great.  I have really learned the importance of looking at the world through the eyes of Jesus.  I have really gained a desire to serve others in my everyday life.  I am looking forward to taking these lessons home with me and applying them to my everyday life.  I appreciate the prayers that have been prayed for me during this time.  I can honestly tell you that they have truly been answered.  Until next time...God Bless...

In the last couple days...

In the last couple days we have been in Seattle, Washington serving in various ways.  Since the last update, we went to a homeless mission in Wenatchee, Washington and helped around the complex.  Some of the students did landscaping, some picked peas, some tore down an old green house, some washed vehicles, and some dug out some stumps.  I tried to get a little of all of it bc I really enjoy hard work.  It was really cool to give the staff of this mission a little break from the everyday duties that they are responsible for.  They really seemed like they appreciated our help.  This particular mission is a Christian mission that can house up to 100 people.  While we were there they had about 30 people living there.  Some of them have jobs and some of them just work around the mission.  The students really seemed to enjoy serving the people at the mission.  I talked with a man named Robert that was a real hard worker.  I automatically assumed he was a Christian and as I talked to him more he informed me that he wasn't a believer.  But he mentioned that this was the closest he had ever been in his life to making that decision.  Pray for Robert.  On Sunday we went to the Famous Top Pot Donuts for breakfast and then we went to New Life Christian Church in Seattle.  It was a ethnically diverse church with no air conditioning haha.  It was a really cool experience but a hot one too.  It was fun to worship with the members there.  Monday was a really laid back day for us.  We packed our things up and cleaned up the church we had been staying at.  Tuesday we headed to the airport and flew back to Colorado.  Upon our arrival to the office, we got to meet the student of the 2nd 16 days.  They are a great group of students too.  It is an older group age wise, so I am pumped to get to know them.  Last night Bennett and I got to go back to our "Colorado Parents" (Loren and Cheryl Hayes) house for the night.  We washed all of our clothes and relaxed for the first time in weeks.  It was cool to just hang out and chat with Loren.  I have really enjoyed getting to know Him and his family.  I truly feel that God has a future for our friendship.  I am currently at the office preparing for the next trip.  I read 2 Peter today and have really been encouraged to continue to dive into God's word to increase my faith so that I can be productive and effective in my knowledge of Jesus Christ.(2 Peter 1:5-9)  Laurel and I are continuing to pursue God's plan for our life by fasting from our relationship, so prayers for that are definitely needed.  We need to continue to have prayer for unity on our team of leaders and that we can be the example of Christ for the students.  Thank you for your prayers and concerns.  Until next time...