4.26.2011
Supporting the Call....
Friends and Family,
This isn't going to be my usual blog post, nor is it a typical support letter. In today's media-crazed age I thought that writing a note this way might yield some bigger results. As some of you may or may not know I am going on a mission trip shortly after I graduate this May. It has been a passion of mine for quite some time to work in missions, and last summer I was given that opportunity for the first time. I spent 8 days in Jamaica with a bunch of middle school kids, helping with some last minute construction and a Vacation Bible School. It not only changed my life but also created a new desire in my heart to continue serving across the globe. This May I will be going to Ethiopia to serve for two weeks! I am so blessed to have this opportunity and I truly feel a call to step out of my comfort zone and do something big for the Kingdom. I have been passionate about Ethiopia and Africa for quite some time, so when the opportunity presented itself I couldn't ignore it. In the words of my dear friend Anna I can literally feel African drums beating in my heart. I have no idea what God has in store for me there, but I do know that I will be broken, uplifted, shaped, moved, awestruck, and mesmerized by the Creator for the entire two weeks that I am there.
I am taking this trip with Southland Christian Church here in Lexington. It will be myself (the youngest) and 3 other men. We will be spending the entire two weeks helping to build a home for a family of missionaries, working right alongside Ethiopian men and women, getting to know them, getting to know each other, and getting to know ourselves. I can't tell you how excited I am for this trip! So excited that I couldn't wait to share it with all of you! I am striving to live my life much more like Abraham, in the sense that when Christ says Go! I go without question. Every morning since I made the decision to go on this trip, I wake up with the lyrics from a popular praise song resonating through my heart/soul/mind: "Where you go I'll go, where you stay I'll stay, Where you move, I'll move... I will follow YOU!" I have prayed and prayed for guidance and wisdom and answered prayers for as long as I can remember. God has finally made me realize that I just need to listen, I just need to listen to what He is asking and answer the Call. SO that is what this trip is all about...
What I am asking from you is your support. Prayer is such a powerful tool and I have seen it work in amazing ways. I am asking all of you to pray for me, pray for our team and pray for the people of Ethiopia. I am praying for strength, good health, amazing acts of God, to be completely broken, to be completely made whole, to find answers to the questions I have, and to be changed into more of the man that God wants me to be. I ask that you pray all of these things with me. It's going to be a long two weeks, and it will be hard physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually, but I know that I need it, I know that God is going to provide such amazing moments that it will be a life-changing trip just like Jamaica was, but in a completely different way. Here's the part I'm not good at... the money part. I don't like asking for money, and I know God will provide the money so I'm not going to specifically ask anyone to send support. I will give you an idea what it's going to take for me to go though. I have to raise $2900 in order to be able to go. That includes, food, airfare, and shots. Next Monday I am going to be getting a LOT of shots, anywhere from $350 to $500 dollars worth. I have to get everything, Typhoid, Yellowfever, Malaria, Hep A & B, Tetanus, the whole nine yards. The rest of the money I have to turn in by the day we leave, which is May 13th. I realize that this is very soon, and I apologize for the late notice. Deciding to take a mission trip immediately after graduating from college was definitely a challenge. It has left me very little time to fully commit to raising support because of my schoolwork. If you feel led to help financially, send me a message or send your support to the address listed below. You can also donate by clicking the Donate! button on my blog, through paypal. I am hoping to send out a physical letter, but this is the best way to reach the masses. What I really want you to do is pray for me, that is the number one thing I need. Thank you all for you love and support, I will continue to post notes and blogs leading up to the trip, during, and after I get back to let you all know what amazing things God does while we are in Ethiopia.
Grace and Peace,
Brad
Brad Robertson
1200 Unity Drive
Lexington, KY 40504
3.29.2011
Community/Blessing/Faith/Provision
Community has been a reoccurring theme in my life lately. It started about 3 weeks ago. As many of you that read this (or at least skim) know I am moving to Nashville as soon as I can. Even though I know it's what I want, I have been very up and down about whether or not it's what God wants. I have struggled greatly with this decision, and while in Nashville, God presented a new opportunity. A new community. A new church.
There is a church plant in Nashville that two of my best friends attend. You've heard a lot about these friends, seeing as they are the ones adopting from Ethiopia (more on that later). I was leery about a church plant... new church, fewer people, currently no youth program. All things that I'm not used to. When I moved to Lexington, I joined Southland, partly because it was huge, and partly because i knew the size would create immense opportunities. So the whole way to this new church plant on Sunday morning I sat in the back of Mike's car and prayed... Mike was completely unaware of this prayer, and if he wasn't, I was unaware that he was aware :) . Anyway, I prayed that my heart would be opened to an opportunity, to the people, to the fact that God was going to teach me something in a situation in which I was not comfortable at all. What God showed me that Sunday morning was astonishing. Here I am, with only two people I know (and one guy who I am friends with on Twitter @jasonegly) in the middle of a small warehouse, on fold-out metal chairs, placed in an oval, with a coffee table in the middle. Now, as a pre-cursor, I was informed that this service would be different than most, that we would be sharing the Lord's Supper... again, a new experience. This completely blew my mind though. Short version** Jason and Justin talked about the fact that communion is about spending intimate, communal time with God, but too often we forget that communion is a time of community with those around us, with other Christians. He made it clear that not only is it a time to spend with our God, but also a time to spend with our Brothers and Sisters, being vulnerable and clearing the air. Wow. Completely different perspective than the typical .037364 oz. of grape juice and wafer, a little quiet time and then church is over. We spent the whole service with the blood and the body in our hands, looking at each other, listening to the message and then sharing our thoughts about anything and everything. It was unreal.
Then it dawned on me... my worries about Nashville weren't about whether I could move there, it was about whether or not I could embrace the community and understand what that would mean for my move. Christ offers us a community anywhere He leads us, it's part of the journey. I was so worried that I would fail by going to Nashville, and then realized that my worries about failure came from the fact that I didn't think I could find a community. I grew up in small town USA, a place where community is everything. I have always been a member of some sort of community and it has always been a constant and comforting part of my life. Moving to Nashville invoked fear that finding a community wouldn't be as easy this time. I prayed earnestly about this all the way to that service, and God provided in such a big way! God provided this amazing community of people that I have just begun to connect with (other than Mike and Amy, and the 4 other people I knew in that area). This has just been so overwhelming, which is why it took me so long to write this.
Then I came back to Lexington, and I started talking to a friend at middle school ministry. We usually talk about our passion for missions and our weeks and so on and so forth. We had previously joked about her moving to Nashville with one of her friends around the same time I was moving there. A couple weeks ago we were talking and out of the blue this friend got wickedly excited and told me if everything goes according to plan she's moving to Nashville at the end of the summer/early fall. God provides. I just kept thanking God for reinforcing this idea of community. I realized He was providing opportunities to help reaffirm my decision. That was one more person I would have an established friendship with in Nashville. I was blown away by this, and of course, God through one more at me. One of the greatest people I have met at school is a guy named Miles. Miles has a passion and heart for Christ like no one I've ever met. We struggle with very similar things, and He has taught me so many things about myself and about being a young Christian man. We got to talking about my trip to Nashville and my desire to move there. Wouldn't ya know it? God had presented an opportunity for Miles to be in Nashville twice a month starting at the end of April I believe. How impossible is that?? God provides absolutely everything we need to vanquish our fears. This has just had my head spinning...
I have been so blessed in community my whole life, and God just continues to bless me with it because he knows that it is helping me move forward in my walk. If all of that wasn't enough, today I found out that a classmate is moving there for TFA and one of my oldest friends from home has been offered a job at APSU... Community. Trust. Faith. Blessing...
God has provided so much for me in the last three weeks I am just in absolute awe. I needed this reassurance and I had prayed for it. God provides...
"So I'll stand, with arms high and heart abandoned, in awe, of the one who gave it all. I'll stand, my soul, Lord to you surrendered, all I have is yours"
Grace and Peace
There is a church plant in Nashville that two of my best friends attend. You've heard a lot about these friends, seeing as they are the ones adopting from Ethiopia (more on that later). I was leery about a church plant... new church, fewer people, currently no youth program. All things that I'm not used to. When I moved to Lexington, I joined Southland, partly because it was huge, and partly because i knew the size would create immense opportunities. So the whole way to this new church plant on Sunday morning I sat in the back of Mike's car and prayed... Mike was completely unaware of this prayer, and if he wasn't, I was unaware that he was aware :) . Anyway, I prayed that my heart would be opened to an opportunity, to the people, to the fact that God was going to teach me something in a situation in which I was not comfortable at all. What God showed me that Sunday morning was astonishing. Here I am, with only two people I know (and one guy who I am friends with on Twitter @jasonegly) in the middle of a small warehouse, on fold-out metal chairs, placed in an oval, with a coffee table in the middle. Now, as a pre-cursor, I was informed that this service would be different than most, that we would be sharing the Lord's Supper... again, a new experience. This completely blew my mind though. Short version** Jason and Justin talked about the fact that communion is about spending intimate, communal time with God, but too often we forget that communion is a time of community with those around us, with other Christians. He made it clear that not only is it a time to spend with our God, but also a time to spend with our Brothers and Sisters, being vulnerable and clearing the air. Wow. Completely different perspective than the typical .037364 oz. of grape juice and wafer, a little quiet time and then church is over. We spent the whole service with the blood and the body in our hands, looking at each other, listening to the message and then sharing our thoughts about anything and everything. It was unreal.
Then it dawned on me... my worries about Nashville weren't about whether I could move there, it was about whether or not I could embrace the community and understand what that would mean for my move. Christ offers us a community anywhere He leads us, it's part of the journey. I was so worried that I would fail by going to Nashville, and then realized that my worries about failure came from the fact that I didn't think I could find a community. I grew up in small town USA, a place where community is everything. I have always been a member of some sort of community and it has always been a constant and comforting part of my life. Moving to Nashville invoked fear that finding a community wouldn't be as easy this time. I prayed earnestly about this all the way to that service, and God provided in such a big way! God provided this amazing community of people that I have just begun to connect with (other than Mike and Amy, and the 4 other people I knew in that area). This has just been so overwhelming, which is why it took me so long to write this.
Then I came back to Lexington, and I started talking to a friend at middle school ministry. We usually talk about our passion for missions and our weeks and so on and so forth. We had previously joked about her moving to Nashville with one of her friends around the same time I was moving there. A couple weeks ago we were talking and out of the blue this friend got wickedly excited and told me if everything goes according to plan she's moving to Nashville at the end of the summer/early fall. God provides. I just kept thanking God for reinforcing this idea of community. I realized He was providing opportunities to help reaffirm my decision. That was one more person I would have an established friendship with in Nashville. I was blown away by this, and of course, God through one more at me. One of the greatest people I have met at school is a guy named Miles. Miles has a passion and heart for Christ like no one I've ever met. We struggle with very similar things, and He has taught me so many things about myself and about being a young Christian man. We got to talking about my trip to Nashville and my desire to move there. Wouldn't ya know it? God had presented an opportunity for Miles to be in Nashville twice a month starting at the end of April I believe. How impossible is that?? God provides absolutely everything we need to vanquish our fears. This has just had my head spinning...
I have been so blessed in community my whole life, and God just continues to bless me with it because he knows that it is helping me move forward in my walk. If all of that wasn't enough, today I found out that a classmate is moving there for TFA and one of my oldest friends from home has been offered a job at APSU... Community. Trust. Faith. Blessing...
God has provided so much for me in the last three weeks I am just in absolute awe. I needed this reassurance and I had prayed for it. God provides...
"So I'll stand, with arms high and heart abandoned, in awe, of the one who gave it all. I'll stand, my soul, Lord to you surrendered, all I have is yours"
Grace and Peace
3.10.2011
Perfect Fear...
I've been struggling the last week and a half or so, more than usual. However I'm not struggling with the usual things, which is bittersweet. I'm struggling with fear. Fear that I'm not going to achieve my best, that what I want to accomplish will either not come full circle, or that it won't be perfect. I, just like any other graduate, want to find the perfect job, in the perfect city, near the perfect Church, with the perfect group of friends, so that I can define myself as successful after college graduation. This whole notion of "perfection" is new to me, normally I'm pretty okay with being above average, to the point that I’m complacent. In fact, my obsession with perfection and it being the defining characteristic of my success is quite the opposite of how I have lived my life thus far. I am successfully going to graduate college, I have had a successful college career, yet for the most part... my grades have been just above average. While I always strive to do better, often times not sticking with the "study plan" I lay out for myself, I have always been overall happy with my performance in classes. Could I have done better? I'm sure I could have, but I know that I did well and I realize that the things I have learned outside of the classroom have made up for the things I didn't learn inside, mainly because of this blog and twitter/facebook/texting. All of these thoughts have been cultivated in the depths of my soul without me realizing it. It took a blog post by a guy I read daily (well... almost..) to really draw them out and make them apparent to me.
Perfectionism isn't necessary. To quote the author of the blog Stuff Christians Like "90% perfect and published always changes more lives than 100% perfect and stuck in your head."- Jon Acuff.. this sums up everything I'm saying, well, perfectly. It doesn't just relate to my writing this blog, although I do shy away from writing a lot of things for reasons even I don't understand. I took it to mean that dreaming about a perfect life is fine. Acting on your dreams to change the world, write a book, or travel international is the only way you can impact people. Acting on it may not yield the exact results you dreamt of, but it’s better than doing nothing. It led me to realize that I don't need to have everything be perfect. I want to experience life, I want something new when I graduate, I want to reach others, show Jesus' love and compassion daily, and make just enough money to pay the bills, tithe, and visit friends and family. So why am I so concerned with finding the perfect job? I already know what city I want to go to, so what's stopping me?? I know that that city contains AMAZING friends, and extended family. In fact, that city is where my favorite blogger @jonacuff currently resides. I'm tired of being fearful of making a mistake, or that what I want to share will fall short of glory. Instead of trying to perfect everything without taking any chances, I'm taking a chance. I made a decision. It may only be 90% perfect, but it will be out there, it will be real, in a sense it will be published.
I'm moving after I graduate. I have spoken of this many times, and few people know how confident I am in this decision but here it is. I am moving to Nashville, TN. I have two job interviews there on Monday. I'm spending the weekend with some amazing people and doing some apartment hunting. I have felt this pull on my heart for the last year to move to Nashville ever since I met Mike and Amy. I love the area, and I love the opportunity. Is it going to be perfect? Not. At. All. In fact I'm probably going to struggle at first, being in a new city with about 8 friends to start with. I don't know what job I will have, but I know it will be one in which God can use me. I know that it won't be perfect, I won't be perfect, but God's plan for me is perfect. I can dream as much as I want, but if I don't act it will impact no one. However, if I act and say... 90% of those dreams become reality, or culminate into what I had hoped they would, I could impact the world. I want to be a life changer, I want to wake up every morning hit my knees and know that God will prepare my heart for the day. So after I return from Ethiopia, I'm leaving. The only thing that will stop me is if God gives me a definitive answer to go somewhere else. I just want to follow my heart and God’s plan, which I am fully aware don’t always match up. In that instance I will follow God’s plan, but just like with my dreams, if I don’t take action… I have no impact. I don’t know if this all makes sense, and I’m not sure that anyone will read it. But I know that based on what Jon Acuff wrote, the only way to know is to hit publish at the bottom of this blog. This post isn’t perfect, it may not even be 90%, but that’s okay. Maybe someone will read it and realize they feel the same way. Maybe someone will strike up a conversation with me about it, and we can move forward into uncertainty as brothers/sisters in Christ. Maybe… just Maybe, my fear of perfect was a perfect fear. It’s what led me to realize that I don’t need perfection, I just need to take action.
Grace and Peace
Perfectionism isn't necessary. To quote the author of the blog Stuff Christians Like "90% perfect and published always changes more lives than 100% perfect and stuck in your head."- Jon Acuff.. this sums up everything I'm saying, well, perfectly. It doesn't just relate to my writing this blog, although I do shy away from writing a lot of things for reasons even I don't understand. I took it to mean that dreaming about a perfect life is fine. Acting on your dreams to change the world, write a book, or travel international is the only way you can impact people. Acting on it may not yield the exact results you dreamt of, but it’s better than doing nothing. It led me to realize that I don't need to have everything be perfect. I want to experience life, I want something new when I graduate, I want to reach others, show Jesus' love and compassion daily, and make just enough money to pay the bills, tithe, and visit friends and family. So why am I so concerned with finding the perfect job? I already know what city I want to go to, so what's stopping me?? I know that that city contains AMAZING friends, and extended family. In fact, that city is where my favorite blogger @jonacuff currently resides. I'm tired of being fearful of making a mistake, or that what I want to share will fall short of glory. Instead of trying to perfect everything without taking any chances, I'm taking a chance. I made a decision. It may only be 90% perfect, but it will be out there, it will be real, in a sense it will be published.
I'm moving after I graduate. I have spoken of this many times, and few people know how confident I am in this decision but here it is. I am moving to Nashville, TN. I have two job interviews there on Monday. I'm spending the weekend with some amazing people and doing some apartment hunting. I have felt this pull on my heart for the last year to move to Nashville ever since I met Mike and Amy. I love the area, and I love the opportunity. Is it going to be perfect? Not. At. All. In fact I'm probably going to struggle at first, being in a new city with about 8 friends to start with. I don't know what job I will have, but I know it will be one in which God can use me. I know that it won't be perfect, I won't be perfect, but God's plan for me is perfect. I can dream as much as I want, but if I don't act it will impact no one. However, if I act and say... 90% of those dreams become reality, or culminate into what I had hoped they would, I could impact the world. I want to be a life changer, I want to wake up every morning hit my knees and know that God will prepare my heart for the day. So after I return from Ethiopia, I'm leaving. The only thing that will stop me is if God gives me a definitive answer to go somewhere else. I just want to follow my heart and God’s plan, which I am fully aware don’t always match up. In that instance I will follow God’s plan, but just like with my dreams, if I don’t take action… I have no impact. I don’t know if this all makes sense, and I’m not sure that anyone will read it. But I know that based on what Jon Acuff wrote, the only way to know is to hit publish at the bottom of this blog. This post isn’t perfect, it may not even be 90%, but that’s okay. Maybe someone will read it and realize they feel the same way. Maybe someone will strike up a conversation with me about it, and we can move forward into uncertainty as brothers/sisters in Christ. Maybe… just Maybe, my fear of perfect was a perfect fear. It’s what led me to realize that I don’t need perfection, I just need to take action.
Grace and Peace
2.21.2011
Dreaming of a prepared heart
I fight every day. I feel like I'm in a constant battle right now which has me hoping I'm doing something right, and that's why the Enemy is attacking me. I think it revolves around Ethiopia. The biggest question I get is why are you going?? In my previous post I said I didn't know why and that I thought it was so I could be broken. Then God came in the form of conversations, the form of late nights and in the form of dreams. The conversation started it all. I have two friends in Nashville that are dear to my heart. They are in fact, two of the biggest reasons why after I return from Ethiopia I'm moving to Nashville (that's my plan at least, but always remember Proverbs 19:21). I remember a conversation we had back in August, about their adoption. Here's a pop quiz readers... Where are my friends Amy and Mike adopting from???.......... If you guessed Ethiopia you win a... well... you get the joy of knowing that you were right, and if you weren't God knows you are lying (JESUS JUKE!) Over the weekend I spoke extensively with Amy about this trip... my thoughts about the fact that they were adopting from Ethiopia were what if I met someone that would know Eli's family in Ethiopia. She presented a whole new idea. The orphanage they are adopting through is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia which is where I am going. What if I can find the exact orphanage? Eli will be anywhere from Newborn to 2 years old when he is brought home to the States... what if he is already born, what if I can hold him? What if I have a picture of him as a baby? I began to weep after hanging up the phone. I cried out to God and thanked Him for this opportunity, I thanked Him for even presenting the idea because it hit me. It's not just about me, it's about my friends and family here that are praying and will be anxiously awaiting the stories that I will undoubtedly bring home. This led to a dream...
I am already passionate about Eli and his future. And I know that if I love Eli this much, his future parents have to be just pouring with love for him. I had a dream that Eli was born this week, and I met him in Ethiopia, I held him, hushed his crying, and prayed over him while he rocked in my arms. I came home with thousands of pictures of our work there, including a picture of Eli and I... little did I know he was soon to be my "nephew", because I already call myself Uncle Brad. What did this dream mean to me?? It meant that this trip is bigger than anything I could ever have dreamed it would be, and that it's even bigger than it is now. As I thought about Eli, I thought about the other kids in those orphanages. I began to understand the purpose of our group going. I previously told you I would be helping build staff housing for CMF. CMF brings all kinds of missionaries into Ethiopia, and those missionaries will be staying in this housing that I am being given an opportunity to build, those missionaries are people that may touch the lives of Eli and many other children, and adults. Again God showed me that this trip is bigger than me. Again I weep. I am overcome with joy... joy in the fact that God is granting me the privilege of taking this trip. It's not my right to go, it's a gift from Him and it's one that will keep giving every day leading up to it and every day following it. I realized one other thing, I have to be prepared for anything, and I already am because I am trusting in God to prepare me.
Grace and Peace
I am already passionate about Eli and his future. And I know that if I love Eli this much, his future parents have to be just pouring with love for him. I had a dream that Eli was born this week, and I met him in Ethiopia, I held him, hushed his crying, and prayed over him while he rocked in my arms. I came home with thousands of pictures of our work there, including a picture of Eli and I... little did I know he was soon to be my "nephew", because I already call myself Uncle Brad. What did this dream mean to me?? It meant that this trip is bigger than anything I could ever have dreamed it would be, and that it's even bigger than it is now. As I thought about Eli, I thought about the other kids in those orphanages. I began to understand the purpose of our group going. I previously told you I would be helping build staff housing for CMF. CMF brings all kinds of missionaries into Ethiopia, and those missionaries will be staying in this housing that I am being given an opportunity to build, those missionaries are people that may touch the lives of Eli and many other children, and adults. Again God showed me that this trip is bigger than me. Again I weep. I am overcome with joy... joy in the fact that God is granting me the privilege of taking this trip. It's not my right to go, it's a gift from Him and it's one that will keep giving every day leading up to it and every day following it. I realized one other thing, I have to be prepared for anything, and I already am because I am trusting in God to prepare me.
Grace and Peace
2.18.2011
The President may want Secret Service, but God wants it to be loud and obvious.
Galatians 5:13 -->> "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love."
I stumbled across that verse the other night because I typed in the word "serve" to a bible app on my phone. That word --serve-- has been pounding in my heart. I have felt moved to begin serving in a new way, I felt that movement during a conversation with a great friend Last Thursday before I left on retreat. Little did I know He used that conversation, that friend, that woman sitting behind us eavesdropping to start working and preparing my heart for a huge decision. I love what it says in Galatians 5:13. "We were called to be free"... May approaches fast, and I'm graduating. That's a whole new kind of freedom, one that I was called to, one that was planned by God, and one that quite frankly terrifies me.
For a week now I have been praying about a trip. To be honest, I've been praying about this since I got back from Jamaica. I had no idea what it meant, or where it would be and to be honest I wasn't sure it would ever happen. During that conversation last week, I was discussing The World Race, 11 countries in 11 months, my heart was pounding. I have yearned to make that trip for over a year, but again, that wasn't God's plan for me. I have been so focused on a job that I haven't thought about any other options after graduating. Until I read that verse above, the part about "do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh". I had given strong consideration to doing one of two things in May after graduation... either sitting around for the first few weeks and enjoying being done, looking for a job, but spending time doing whatever else I wanted. Or taking a trip to celebrate, maybe to California or South Carolina. Again... God was working. I read that verse and the application it had for me was that either of those options was me indulging the flesh, that I needed to use my freedom to serve God, not myself. It was then, at 2 am, that I made a HUGE decision for my life...
I'm going to Ethiopia.
I graduate on May 8th... on May 13th I fly to Ethiopia for a 2 week mission trip with Southland to build housing for the CMF staff. However that isn't why I'm going. I'm going because God needs to work on my heart, He needs to show me something and I have no idea what that is. I am preparing my heart as best I can, I am praying about being prepared for this trip. Colossians 3:23-24 says: " Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ." I know that I must go to Ethiopia willingly because I will be serving Christ. I need to use my time to further His Kingdom, and to reach out to others. In Jamaica I was broken and in Ethiopia I pray that I am broken as well. I hope that this is God's way of preparing my heart for whatever job I begin upon my return from Africa. So I will go, and I will listen and I will pray...
Pray for me. Pray for this trip. Pray for Ethiopia. Pray that God protects and provides. I am terrified, excited, moved, and faithful. I am ready to see what God can do in my heart on this trip. Keep your eyes peeled on this blog for more updates as God works in my heart and provides some insight. At this point this is all I have, the only thing I know is that I'm going. I don't know why exactly, I don't know what it means, I don't know what will happen. But I know I am going.
Grace and Peace
I stumbled across that verse the other night because I typed in the word "serve" to a bible app on my phone. That word --serve-- has been pounding in my heart. I have felt moved to begin serving in a new way, I felt that movement during a conversation with a great friend Last Thursday before I left on retreat. Little did I know He used that conversation, that friend, that woman sitting behind us eavesdropping to start working and preparing my heart for a huge decision. I love what it says in Galatians 5:13. "We were called to be free"... May approaches fast, and I'm graduating. That's a whole new kind of freedom, one that I was called to, one that was planned by God, and one that quite frankly terrifies me.
For a week now I have been praying about a trip. To be honest, I've been praying about this since I got back from Jamaica. I had no idea what it meant, or where it would be and to be honest I wasn't sure it would ever happen. During that conversation last week, I was discussing The World Race, 11 countries in 11 months, my heart was pounding. I have yearned to make that trip for over a year, but again, that wasn't God's plan for me. I have been so focused on a job that I haven't thought about any other options after graduating. Until I read that verse above, the part about "do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh". I had given strong consideration to doing one of two things in May after graduation... either sitting around for the first few weeks and enjoying being done, looking for a job, but spending time doing whatever else I wanted. Or taking a trip to celebrate, maybe to California or South Carolina. Again... God was working. I read that verse and the application it had for me was that either of those options was me indulging the flesh, that I needed to use my freedom to serve God, not myself. It was then, at 2 am, that I made a HUGE decision for my life...
I'm going to Ethiopia.
I graduate on May 8th... on May 13th I fly to Ethiopia for a 2 week mission trip with Southland to build housing for the CMF staff. However that isn't why I'm going. I'm going because God needs to work on my heart, He needs to show me something and I have no idea what that is. I am preparing my heart as best I can, I am praying about being prepared for this trip. Colossians 3:23-24 says: " Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ." I know that I must go to Ethiopia willingly because I will be serving Christ. I need to use my time to further His Kingdom, and to reach out to others. In Jamaica I was broken and in Ethiopia I pray that I am broken as well. I hope that this is God's way of preparing my heart for whatever job I begin upon my return from Africa. So I will go, and I will listen and I will pray...
Pray for me. Pray for this trip. Pray for Ethiopia. Pray that God protects and provides. I am terrified, excited, moved, and faithful. I am ready to see what God can do in my heart on this trip. Keep your eyes peeled on this blog for more updates as God works in my heart and provides some insight. At this point this is all I have, the only thing I know is that I'm going. I don't know why exactly, I don't know what it means, I don't know what will happen. But I know I am going.
Grace and Peace
2.01.2011
Give 110%... the whole time, every time.
Growing up as a kid I was always playing sports. I played soccer, baseball, basketball almost year around. I wasn't one of those kids that was forced to play, rather I was one that chose to play. I loved the idea of teamwork, the competition, the rush of a win.. and yes the pain of a loss. I learned valuable life lessons, many of them cliche such as: It isn't so much whether you win or lose but how you play the game. Trusting your coach and your teammates is the most important part. You can't win, nor can you really play, all by yourself, it takes the whole team and lastly... Give 110% effort the whole time every time. These cliche sayings themselves aren't the Life Lessons, the life lessons are how these cliche sayings relate to my relationship with Christ.
Lesson.Number.One.
"It's not whether you win or lose, but it's about how you play the game"... Life is a game, one that was created in 1860 by Milton Bradley and has been adapted for computer and video games.... Ok sorry, I couldn't resist. Seriously though, life is about ups and downs, wins and losses, pain and heartache. Many people might disagree with me and say "Life isn't a competition.. blah blah blah" (again kidding, no disrespect).. However there are wins, and there are losses. They come in the form of temptation, struggle, sin and battling the Enemy. Occasionally we ourselves lose to our temptations, sins and the Enemy. I lose on a daily basis. I have sins that plague me, things that I have prayed about but yet not earnestly enough I fear. I lose, but I also win. I win a lot of battles over the Enemy. However it isn't about whether I win or lose, God knows I'm going to fall... we will forever fall short of God and yet He still loves us. He loves us because He created us, and He knows our hearts. I know that when I fight earnestly or I seek guidance that I am playing the game the way God designed it. Will I always win??? Probably not, but as long as I am fighting for the Kingdom, God is there with me... which leads to the next lesson.
Lesson.Number.Two.
"Trusting your Coach and your teammates is essential to a win"... I'm sure you can see where this one is going, so the explanation will be short. God is our Coach and our brothers and sisters in Him are our teammates. We have to trust in God to provide the best game plan, to have all the right plays, and to be ready for anything. As Hebrews 13:5 says "...God said, I will never leave you, I will never forsake you". God is there, and we have to trust that He will show us what is next, Isaiah 26:4 "Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord is the Rock Eternal". Just as with our teammates, we have to trust them to pass of the ball (the word of God), help defend (us from the Enemy), and help read plays and encourage us to push forward, to continue to fight! We have to trust that our brothers and sisters in Christ will help us along our walk, that they will support us, encourage us and defend us. Without them, we can't....
Lesson.Number.Three.
"There is no I in Team..." We can't win by ourselves, we need God to provide us with the proper guidance and tools to beat the Enemy. In fact, He is the only one that can beat the Enemy alone. God is our provider, our protector, our strength. Exodus 14:14 "Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that's in you, love him with all you've got" Love God with 110% of you. Give your life to follow Him, dedicate everything you do to Him, In everything you do, do it for the glory of the Kingdom.
Give 110% of yourself. God gave His only son for you... what are you willing to do for Him?
Grace and Peace.
Lesson.Number.One.
"It's not whether you win or lose, but it's about how you play the game"... Life is a game, one that was created in 1860 by Milton Bradley and has been adapted for computer and video games.... Ok sorry, I couldn't resist. Seriously though, life is about ups and downs, wins and losses, pain and heartache. Many people might disagree with me and say "Life isn't a competition.. blah blah blah" (again kidding, no disrespect).. However there are wins, and there are losses. They come in the form of temptation, struggle, sin and battling the Enemy. Occasionally we ourselves lose to our temptations, sins and the Enemy. I lose on a daily basis. I have sins that plague me, things that I have prayed about but yet not earnestly enough I fear. I lose, but I also win. I win a lot of battles over the Enemy. However it isn't about whether I win or lose, God knows I'm going to fall... we will forever fall short of God and yet He still loves us. He loves us because He created us, and He knows our hearts. I know that when I fight earnestly or I seek guidance that I am playing the game the way God designed it. Will I always win??? Probably not, but as long as I am fighting for the Kingdom, God is there with me... which leads to the next lesson.
Lesson.Number.Two.
"Trusting your Coach and your teammates is essential to a win"... I'm sure you can see where this one is going, so the explanation will be short. God is our Coach and our brothers and sisters in Him are our teammates. We have to trust in God to provide the best game plan, to have all the right plays, and to be ready for anything. As Hebrews 13:5 says "...God said, I will never leave you, I will never forsake you". God is there, and we have to trust that He will show us what is next, Isaiah 26:4 "Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord is the Rock Eternal". Just as with our teammates, we have to trust them to pass of the ball (the word of God), help defend (us from the Enemy), and help read plays and encourage us to push forward, to continue to fight! We have to trust that our brothers and sisters in Christ will help us along our walk, that they will support us, encourage us and defend us. Without them, we can't....
Lesson.Number.Three.
"There is no I in Team..." We can't win by ourselves, we need God to provide us with the proper guidance and tools to beat the Enemy. In fact, He is the only one that can beat the Enemy alone. God is our provider, our protector, our strength. Exodus 14:14 "Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that's in you, love him with all you've got" Love God with 110% of you. Give your life to follow Him, dedicate everything you do to Him, In everything you do, do it for the glory of the Kingdom.
Give 110% of yourself. God gave His only son for you... what are you willing to do for Him?
Grace and Peace.
1.26.2011
Jesus and Swan Lake....
Tonight I saw Black Swan, featuring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis... and I have to say I'm blown away. It was an amazing film, with some unnecessary language and sexual scenes, but it wasn't as bad as many other movies I've seen, it was artistic. Now some of my readers may be concerned with the title of the blog. As always, bear with me and we will bring everything together at the end.
Black Swan is a new movie, therefore I won't fully explain the plot, but I will say it is a new spin on the original Swan Lake ballet. First and foremost for my fellow MEN, don't refuse to see this, believe me, I wasn't sure it would appeal to me either, but it is awesome, it gave me chills and knots in my stomach. It is intense and it's not something that fits our typical idea of a ballet. The thing I liked about it the most? I was confused the entire time. I know, I know, most people come out of a movie saying "That was so awesome, I totally followed that" but not me, this movie I was intrigued and every time it took me a moment to fully comprehend what was occurring, I shrugged it off and waited to see what would come next. I had faith that the Director would make everything come together, that everything would make sense. He would answer all of my questions before it was over, and even though I was confused I had to trust Him and wait for the next scene.
What.About.Life.
Here's where it relates to our relationship with Christ. How many times have we gone through a breakup, a death, a failure, a mistake, a disappointment, a setback and focused solely on that issue. We do it all the time, we are angered by God. The confusion as to why we are hurting is too much for us to handle, we focus on that moment, that event, that let down and think to ourselves to figure out the answer. Why do we do this, because many of us are programmed to blame God for those things and think that it's up to us to figure them out. What if we had the same faith in Christ that we have in the Director of a movie. God is the Director of our lives, so why don't we trust Him every time? During this movie I got a text from someone I care deeply for, someone brought into my life by the GRACE of God, someone who has always inspired me to think outside the box...
Ephesians 1:11 >> "It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone."
WHOA WHOA WHOA! Did you just read that... Christ holds the answer to who we are, why we are here... the overall purpose He is working out. GOD is the Director. It's right there, it tells us that He wrote the screenplay to our lives, long before we even knew He was the director. So here it is. When we are hurt and confused and scared, instead of stopping dead in our tracks and asking why? Why did this happen? Why did we break up? Why me? Why aren't you here? What if we looked at it like a movie? What if we just put our confusion, hurt, anger, and fear to the side and waited for our Director to reveal what comes next, allow Christ to show us the next scene AND bring everything together at the end, so that it all makes sense. I know not everything will always make sense, but it will all work out. God's overall purpose is working out in everything and everyone. So why don't we trust that?
I challenge you, and myself. Go see Black Swan, or watch a movie that will confuse you, and pay attention to the way you react to that confusion... you may say- WHAT?!?!?! but I bet you'll wait for the next scene, you will have faith that the Director is going to pull it all together, and bring it full circle. Then do that with your own life... allow God to show you what's next after every hard time, and allow Him to bring it full circle. Embrace life. Embrace God. Embrace His direction. and Enjoy the Show.
Grace and Peace
B
Black Swan is a new movie, therefore I won't fully explain the plot, but I will say it is a new spin on the original Swan Lake ballet. First and foremost for my fellow MEN, don't refuse to see this, believe me, I wasn't sure it would appeal to me either, but it is awesome, it gave me chills and knots in my stomach. It is intense and it's not something that fits our typical idea of a ballet. The thing I liked about it the most? I was confused the entire time. I know, I know, most people come out of a movie saying "That was so awesome, I totally followed that" but not me, this movie I was intrigued and every time it took me a moment to fully comprehend what was occurring, I shrugged it off and waited to see what would come next. I had faith that the Director would make everything come together, that everything would make sense. He would answer all of my questions before it was over, and even though I was confused I had to trust Him and wait for the next scene.
What.About.Life.
Here's where it relates to our relationship with Christ. How many times have we gone through a breakup, a death, a failure, a mistake, a disappointment, a setback and focused solely on that issue. We do it all the time, we are angered by God. The confusion as to why we are hurting is too much for us to handle, we focus on that moment, that event, that let down and think to ourselves to figure out the answer. Why do we do this, because many of us are programmed to blame God for those things and think that it's up to us to figure them out. What if we had the same faith in Christ that we have in the Director of a movie. God is the Director of our lives, so why don't we trust Him every time? During this movie I got a text from someone I care deeply for, someone brought into my life by the GRACE of God, someone who has always inspired me to think outside the box...
Ephesians 1:11 >> "It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone."
WHOA WHOA WHOA! Did you just read that... Christ holds the answer to who we are, why we are here... the overall purpose He is working out. GOD is the Director. It's right there, it tells us that He wrote the screenplay to our lives, long before we even knew He was the director. So here it is. When we are hurt and confused and scared, instead of stopping dead in our tracks and asking why? Why did this happen? Why did we break up? Why me? Why aren't you here? What if we looked at it like a movie? What if we just put our confusion, hurt, anger, and fear to the side and waited for our Director to reveal what comes next, allow Christ to show us the next scene AND bring everything together at the end, so that it all makes sense. I know not everything will always make sense, but it will all work out. God's overall purpose is working out in everything and everyone. So why don't we trust that?
I challenge you, and myself. Go see Black Swan, or watch a movie that will confuse you, and pay attention to the way you react to that confusion... you may say- WHAT?!?!?! but I bet you'll wait for the next scene, you will have faith that the Director is going to pull it all together, and bring it full circle. Then do that with your own life... allow God to show you what's next after every hard time, and allow Him to bring it full circle. Embrace life. Embrace God. Embrace His direction. and Enjoy the Show.
Grace and Peace
B
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