Well thank you for being curious and stopping by. YOU can help Malawi by donating money (to the account below) for Bibles. The believers there do not have the money to buy Bibles and our squad has this amazing opportunity to raise money to send to them for Bibles. Please be praying that we would be able to raise as much money as possible to send to them. Also be praying to see if God wants you to help out with this cause. I know this is short but if you read this and want to help please follow the steps below right away so you don't put it off and forget about it. PLEASE help out Malawi and our fellow Brothers and Sisters in Christ to get them God's Word so they can grow in their relationship with Him.
Thank you for your prayers and your support
Here are the easy steps to follow to get the money in the
right account. PLEASE DO NOT PUT MONEY IN MY SUPPORT ACCOUNT SINCE IT WILL NOT
BE ABLE TO TRANSFERRED TO THIS ACCOUNT.
Our Squad has been praying for a way to raise money to get
Bibles to Malawi. When we were there we all saw the need for the Believers to have
Bibles. Every church we went to the pastors would ask us to pray that God would
provide Bibles for them. This is the answer to all of those prayers, but it is
not done yet.
We need your help to
provide those Bibles for them.
In most of the churches, the pastor is the only one who has a
Bible and that made me think of how many Bibles I have back home or even
at my church.These people want to
know more and want to be reading the Word of God. Please help by sending money
to help provide God's Word to the people in Malawi.
If you feel the Holy Spirit moving and stirring inside you,
please be obedient to Him and help this cause. Every little bit counts. The Bibles that we were already able to
provide for them cost about $11 and if they get enough money together they can
get the Bibles from South Africa and pay less, but then transportation cost
would come into play. We are helping out our Brothers and Sister in Christ who
work for Harvesters International in Malawi and the Bibles will get distributed
to Believers all over Malawi.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and PLEASE be
praying for people to give and also be asking God if He wants you to help out
as well.
Here are the easy steps to follow to get the money in the
right account. PLEASE DO NOT PUT MONEY IN MY SUPPORT ACCOUNT SINCE IT WILL NOT
BE ABLE TO TRANSFERRED TO THIS ACCOUNT.
Where do I start???? Ok I will lay it out there, when we
found out we were going to be helping out at a school this month I wasn't
excited at all. "Teach kids English" I thought, I struggle with English myself,
how am I going to teach them English? I had a bad attitude going into the
meeting with our contact at the school we are working at. And let me tell
you...it got even worse when I found out how much time we would be working and
then living in the dorms with boys on top of that. I was thinking when will I
get time for myself and I remember justifying by saying, I need my personal
time to spend with God every day, trying to push it off on God. Leavingour debrief in South Africa I really
wanted to get a lot of alone time with God to seek Him out and to grow in my
relationship with Him.I also
wanted to dig in and see what He wants me to do in two and a half months when I
get back home. I wasn't happy. I was tired after hours of travel and really
didn't want to deal with it.
I was being completely selfish. Man I can't believe that
after over 8 months I would still be saying that. Well God knows what we need
and knows how and when we will learn to completely follow Him.Our whole team's attitude was a bit off
and we all decided to get together to pray and ask God for guidance.I think we were all wondering if He
even wanted us to stay at this school.
A pastor and his wife run the school here in Kuala Lumpur
and many teachers and students are Believers. Most of the students are Muslim,
Buddhist and Hindu so we were told that we couldn't speak to any of the
students about God at all. This was really hard to hear.What we failed to realize was that God
was trying to teach us how to serve Him through our actions.How would we love these kids even
though we couldn't talk to them with words about Jesus?What kind ofattitudes would we have each day?How would we treat and act towards each other? And basically how would we obediently
follow Christ through a challenging envirnoment.
We have put in long hours here and even if it is helping out
teaching, coaching soccer (Daniel and I get to do this everymorning from 7:30 until 11:30)
laminating, cutting, punching holes, sorting and putting rings on lesson plans,
we are all staying positive and serving the staff here.We are trying tostay focused to be servants for Him in
the same way that He washed the feet of those around Him as described in John
chapter 13.
I titled my blog "Serving from a different
perspective".For the first eight
months of this mission tripI have
been able to tell people about Jesus all around the world. And then I come to
this school and I'm told I cannot do that here. But the beauty of it all is
that I have grown so much more in making sure that my life reflects the life of
Jesus.I pray that when the
students and staff look at me that they see a difference in how I live my life
and that they don't see me, but instead, they see Jesus. This actually applies
to most of you who are reading this blog, if you're in full time ministry or
just working your regular job. If you are a follower of Jesus, you are called
to serve Him in everything you do.You are called to be a lamp that reflects the light of Jesus to every
person that you meet. We all need to stop being selfish and start living for
Him. We need to start putting others ahead of ourselves. It could be doing
mindless administrative office work as a missionary in Kuala Lumpur all day
long.But maybe the work we are
doing here is a complete, and much needed, blessing to the people who work
here, who knows???The one thing I
know for sure is that God does know.So ask Him how He wants you to serve Him in your life and be obedient to
His voice.
So as God has been teaching me to serve Him in all that I do
here, we had three days off over the Chinese New Year, while the school was
closed. I was totally excited to get some rest and get some really good alone
time with God to ask Him what He wants me to do when I get back to the States.
Team Awaken 2010 needed 2 people to go with them to help out at on orphanage
for two of the days we had off. I remembered that God is teaching me that it is
not my time and I need to serve Him in every moment. I was really waiting for
one of my teammates to volunteer since Tiffany said she was already going, even
though I knew it needed to be me. I said yes.I knew that was what God wanted. He knows what I need and
sitting in an air-conditioned coffee shop trying to seek Him is not how I'm
going to find Him.
The time at the orphanagewas so amazing, we went to two church services and God laid
something on my heart in the second service to share with the church.Even though I was afraid to ask the
pastor if I could say something, I knew I had to be obedient to my Father in
Heaven. The word I delivered actually went with the sermon that was preached
and even though I spoke after wards, since it took me a while to obey the Holy
Spirit inside me, God taught me not to fear man but Him and to be obedient,
even in the small things.
This month has been really amazing and God has been growing
me more into the man He wants me to be. It is weird since I wanted to have all
this quiet time with God this month yet He keeps putting me in places to simply
serve Him.I need to continue to
find the balance that He desires for my life in both praying and reading the
bible but also in humbly serving Him and His people.
So I guess I really need to apologize for not blogging the
past (let me think) 3 months or so. I'm sorry to all of you, my family,
friends, supporters and all the random people that read my blogs when I post
them.
I will start with the first month in Mozambique (Nov 10ish
to Dec 11th). My team was on our own and we helped out with an Iris
ministry near Buone.We helped out
with showing the Jesus film once, started digging holes so they could plant
fruit trees on the property, went to visit other Iris Ministry bases in the
area, helped around the property with painting and were able to help raise 8
puppies. We also were able to hand out Mosquito nets to the people around the
town.
When we showed the Jesus film One of the puppies (Kel named them all, but i can't remember this one's name)
During that month God really started to teach me how to pray
and be focused in prayer to Him. There was no running water so we had to fill
up 25 liter bottles from this huge tank behind the house and I would volunteer
to always fill them up to get to pray. Even when the bottles were all full I
would still stay out there by myself and be praying to my Father.
some of the painting that we did.... well maybe we were playing around a little bit.... have to have fun as well
After that we went to Malawi. Let me tell you that traveling
in Africa is something everyone needs to experience. I'm serious. This is how
it went down. My team had to meet up with the rest of the Squad in Villanculousso we got up at 3:30am to get to the bus station
to catch a bus. When we got to the bus station we had to shove our way onto a
bus that already had people and bags everywhere. We thankfully all had a seat
but that was about it and the space we had was slim to none. People and their
luggage and bags were crammed down the middle aisle and when the bus did stop
on the side of the road for a restroom stop, you had to climb all over them and
the luggage to get out. That was a 12 hour bus ride with no AC or really air at
all. When we met up with the Squad we all traveled to Malawi together. All 26
of us got into a flatbed truck, which had a tarp over the back of it and drove
42 hours to get to Malawi. Oh yeah, all our packs and bags were back there with
us. That was quit the experience. When we made it to Lilongwe Malawi the Squad
slit off again and my team, Bamboo Brigade, had to travel 5 hours south to get
to Zomba where we were going to be all month.
Jesus film at night
In Zomba we worked with Pastor Gama and his family. They
took us in and treated us like their own children. They were amazing. During
this whole time we were there we preached, taught and shared our testimonies
every day we went out for ministry. It was truly amazing to see God work
through all of us on the team, we all stepped up and shared the different
messages God laid on our hearts and really had an amazing month serving Him like
that. All the preaching and teachings were for the pastors in the area, every
day we drove between 30min to 2.5 hours out into the bush to meet with the
pastors and leaders at the churches. There usually was between 5-20 pastors
with their wives and tones and tones of kids and other people who found out
white people were coming to town.
God taught me so much during that month and one thing was,
that even if I don't think it makes sense what God is laying on my heart to
share it anyways because that is exactly what the people need to hear. This was
confirmed a few times by Pastor Gama that what we shared was exactly what those
Pastors needed to hear. Wow God is so good. We are currently still praying that
we can raise support for Bibles in Malawi, the need for Bibles is huge there
and our squad is trying to get that approved. I will blog about it when it gets
approved. Your prayers are appreciated for it. Thank you.
After Malawi we ended up going back to Mozambique but to a
different part to work with a woman called Mama Rita. She has about 25 orphans
living with her in her house and worked with her and around the city Beira.
Our debrief was in South Africa again, so we were able to go
there, rest and regain our energy and strength there for 6 days before we
headed to Malaysia.
That gets me caught up to date with what we have been doing
and what not, but if you would like to know more please email me through the
link on the side and I would be more than happy to give you more information.
Thank you all for reading my blog, supporting me and also
for praying for me while on the World Race.
This blog has only taken me about 4 months to finish writing and to post. The reason for it is because I know that my life doesn't always truly reflect how a Christian should live his or her life, but I'm truly seeking to live my life for Him in all I do. I have also been holding back to write this because I have been afraid of what people might think of me or that they might judge me for writing this. I realized that all that doesn't matter and that I need to fear God and be obedient to what He is laying on my heart to say, over fearing man. I know there are books and convicting sermons on this topic and I do suggest going to read them and listen to the sermons as well. This is just something to read and then examine your own life to see if you are living your life slightly above room temperature or ALL FOR HIM AND WHAT HE WANTS FOR YOU.
Lukewarm
A synonym for the temperature of a liquid, usually water, being slightly above room temperature (Wikipedia)
According to Wikipedia this is how it describes a Lukewarm Christian:
The term is most often used by some Christians to deride someone whom they feel is lukewarm in the Christian faith. From their perspective, a "Sunday Christian" is attempting to cheat God by taking only those parts of the religion which are appealing or convenient without having to commit to anything. They believe the "Sunday Christian" is attempting to buy his/her way into heaven with a minimal amount of effort.
Is this how we are called to live our lives when we are Christians?
Slightly above room temperature?????
I'M POSITIVE THAT IS NOT HOW WE ARE TO LIVE OUR LIVES
God has called us to much greater things and that is to love Him wholeheartedly, love our neighbors as ourselves and not merely read the Word of God but do what it says.
Jesus replied: " Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22:37-38
Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves, do what it says. James 1:22
God either wants us to be hot or cold rather than lukewarm. He doesn't want us claiming to be Christians and our lives not reflecting how a Christian should live. We are called to be a light for people in darkness but when we walk in darkness ourselves and live in the world, we are not being a light at all. I know for me when I was in college I claimed to be a Christian but for the most part I didn't follow in the footsteps of Jesus. I opened my Bible one day and read this verse in Revelations:
So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. Rev 3:16
That convicted me and I realized that I wasn't following how God has called me to live my life and He rather me not say that I'm a Christian than live half heartedly for Him. He will spit me out of His mouth and want nothing to do with me if that is how I choose to live. By living you're life "slightly above room temperature" you are hurting the Kingdom of God and not advancing it.
Anyone, then who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins. James 4:17
We are called to a Holy living and not to live in the world or of the world but set our minds on things above.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:2
How are you living your life? Are you lukewarm? Be real with yourself and ask God to reveal the areas in your life that you are being lukewarm in. This is not where it ends but can start the change in your life of how God wants you to live and to follow how Jesus walked on this earth.
I have been reading through Matthew this past month and I want you to read this scripture. Matthew 25:31-46. (If you do not have a Bible at home you can open another tab on your browser and go to www.biblegateway.com to read it.) Here are two verses that hit me hard when I read through this passage
Matthew 25:31-46......(44-45)"They also will answer, 'Lord when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?" "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you DID NOT do for one of the least of these, you DID NOT do for me."
Wow, did you read that? Do you want to be a sheep or a goat? I'm a assuming a sheep since the goats will not make it into heaven and be with God, but be sent to hell.
Then start acting like sheep and follow the Word of God and do what He says.
We think we can go to church on Sundays and tithe, be good & nice people and think that is good enough to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. We need to truly die to ourselves and put others above ourselves and serve God how He has called us to serve. We need to consider others above ourselves and love our neighbor as ourselves.
My prayer for this blog is that YOU would examine your life and see how you are living - hot, cold or lukewarm - and ask God what YOU need to do to be on fire for Him and serve Him with all your heart.
ARE YOU SLIGHTLY ABOVE ROOM TEMPERATURE IN YOUR WALK WITH GOD?
If you said YES, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?
I decided one day to take a day off from ministry and go spend time alone with God. (I have felt called to take a day since my first month in Romania and never took one) I wanted to be obedient so that morning after breakfast and listening to some worship music I went off alone to find a place to seek God. I walked about 35 min down a dirt road and found a place to sit and be quiet. There are many reasons why I have been hesitant to take these days to be alone with God and one of them is that I'm afraid of what He will tell me to do and that it will change my life completely. I'm somewhat of a planner and like taking things into my own hands, especially my own life. I have taken control of my life in some areas and not fully given that over to God. In my time alone with Him, He revealed that to me and also that I need to drop all my expectations that I still have of this trip or for my future. He is in complete control of my life and His plan is perfect for me. I realized that I would say that He is, but I haven't been trusting Him completely with my life. In the two hours that I was out there I was praying and God was telling me these things and it was good. God also knows that I can be a bit A.D.D. and I was having a hard time focusing, so He decided to send 4 boys down this dirt road that have been hanging out with us since we have been in Swaziland. Three brothers (7, 9, 11) and another boy Clive (14) and they wanted to hike up the mountain behind me.
I decided to go with them since they asked and it would have been hard to say no anyways. As we were hiking up the mountain I was praying for them and that God would speak to me during the hike.
As we continued on our walk, I realized that these boys just got up that morning and said lets go on a hike. They didn't hesitate. They didn't go put on their hiking boots, special socks, backpacks, water bottles, snacks and first aid kits. Kids back in North America would have planned a hike like this and made sure they were prepared to go before stepping out the door. These boys were wearing the clothes they had been wearing the last few days, sandals, crocks or flip flops.
God was revealing to me that, like the boys going on the hike, I just need to get up and go and serve Him in what He is calling me to do. He doesn't want me to hesitate and try to prepare before I go. He wants me to stop analyzing whether or not I'm equipped enough and just GO when he says GO. He will provide and he knows what's best for me.
Due to recent injuries to my toes (played in a soccer game and wore shoes that were a size and a half too small, yeah, don't ask), I was debating on walking 35 min back to the house to get shoes and then continue on the hike or walk in my flip flops. I decided to just head out with the boys and make it an adventure. As we continued to hike I was wondering what Bible story I could tell the boys when we got to the top. David and Goliath was laid on my heart and it also reminded me of these boys that didn't have any fear to hike up this mountain, like David going to fight Goliath. At one point during the hike we had to chop away at all the grass and brush with sticks to even get through. In my head I was thinking it is time to head back now, we've been gone for a few hours and people are going to wonder where we are. But I decided to keep going with the boys and let them decide when they were done. Not more than 10 min later they stopped and said, "we go back home now." I was glad that I waited for them to make that decision and not me. We did not make it all the way to the top of the mountain but I know they were excited to have gotten that far.
The three oldest boys were running down the mountain and I hung back with Musa, the 7 year old, helping him down and yelling at the boys to slow down and not fall. Well, needless to say, they fell a lot and kept laughing at each other the whole way down - that's boys for you. When we finally made it to the bottom of the mountain and started walking back on the dirt road I decided to tell them the story of David and Goliath. I asked Clive to translate for me since he spoke the most English out of all of them. I was praying that God would speak to them through me in that moment to show His love and let them know that He is always there for them.
We finally made it back to the house, 5 ½ hours after I had left that morning. I grabbed some fruit and water for the boys and then really wanted to go take a nap. But that didn't feel right to me, to leave the boys outside and just not hang out with them some more. Other people were doing different things but the boys were just sitting there. I asked William and one of the translators "Innocent" (that's his English name) to come with me to a little store across the street where they sell Coca-Cola. I wanted to buy the boys some Coke and hang out some more. As we walked over to it I asked the boys if they could tell William the story I told them on the way back. One of the boys told Innocent and he translated for us.
When we were at the store I was telling William about my day and he said that it's crazy that I told the boys about David, since he was just a shepherd when he went out to kill Goliath. He didn't take the kings armor or weapons, he went out just as he was and with what he knew, his sling and 5 rocks.
I realized that day that God wants to use me to further His Kingdom and that it doesn't take any special degree, background or special skills that he wants me JUST AS I AM.
We decided to chose bamboo brigade, because bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants in the world and we want to grow with God that way and with each other. Brigade is to show that we are united and ready for any fight that comes our way.
First off I want to apologize for the lack of communication on my blog. This past month has been hard for me and so many different changes have happened to our squad as well. I was waiting to make sure it was all over with before I put my thoughts and words in my blog.
So here it goes....
Thank you for your prayers for my squad and for me this past 4 months as we have been on the Race. I have definitely felt them and have been encouraged to keep fighting for His Kingdom even when it is difficult.
After last month in the village outside of Targu-Mures Romania we came to Bucharest for this month. Leadership decided it would be good to have our entire Squad of 33 people to live together and do ministry together. I wasn't really looking forward to that at all, but God prepared it this way in advance, for all the change that was going to happen.
It was probably the third day that we were here that Patrice, Gretchen and Tiffany (Squad leaders) called me to their room to talk. I had no clue on what they wanted to talk about. They had been praying for my team and I often to see God's plan for all of us and to help us all grow in Him. They felt God calling them to split up my team and put us on the 4 other teams. That was some pretty tough news to take when they told me and it was tremendously hard to focus and try to seek God in all of this. They wanted me to pray about it, but not talk to anyone on my team because the decision was not made yet. The next 36 hours were probably the hardest time on this entire Race so far, but also for me I was able to find comfort in Him and have complete trust in Him and His plan for my on this Race. I am in Control, He kept reminding me of this and also to trust in Me. With those words from God I knew that the changes needed to happen for all of us. His plan is PERFECT and is soooo much greater and bigger than any plans we can even imagine. It was really hard not to talk to my team about it even though they knew something was going on. God was talking to them and giving them peace about it as well and they didn't know what was going on. That actually helped me knowing they were trusting in Him, since I still care about every single one of them and I want them to grow in their walks with God and want what is best for them.
With this change I was going to be on Team Neon and I was really excited to work with Will and Matt, two guys I really connect with and actually have guys to hang out with on my team. This also made the change easier knowing that they would push me to grow in my Faith but also I was excited to be comfortable with 2 other guys on the team that would step up and preach/teach if need be and I could sit back and relax. Well God had other plans again and laid Team Fuego (now In.tent.city) on Will's heart to lead them, because Tiffany was moving up to become Squad leader. Wow, I wanted a walk in the park after what I went through with my team being split and the battles I was fighting with Satan attacking me. He kept feeding me lies that I wasn't a good leader and that I'm let my team down. I was very frustrated with this and was wondering why God would do such a thing to me. I was being selfish and not wanting to see God's perfect plan for me. Yes I went through some tough times and the last thing God wanted was for me to relax and enjoy being comfortable, because I would not grow that way. And I'm so glad He planned it this way, because following Jesus isn't easy and it requires a will to fight for His Kingdom every Day and this I have learned during all these changes.
Sorry for the long blog. If you have more questions or want more detail please contact me through the contact link on the left and I will be happy to answer you.
My new team is Bamboo Brigade.....Blog will follow
This month we have been living at Casa Shalom and it used to be an orphanage. It now has kids camps and other ministries that we have been helping out with. We have been going to the local parks as well to do ministry there and to a church here. The main ministry though has been with our Squad and with our new teams. Getting united and truly being intentional with each other to ask the hard questions and love each other like Christ loves us.
We leave Monday the 21st to meet up with 2 other Squads and a bunch of Alumni Racers, Staff and Speakers for a conference called the Awakening. Please be praying for this event. We head out to Israel on the 26th.
Thank you again for your prayers and for reading my blog.
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of the dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Ephesians 6:12
I keep reading and praying over this verse daily here in Romania this month.
The spiritual warfare here has been something my team and I have been praying against since the day we got here. Satan has been feeding us lies about each other, what we are doing here, about the smallest things that do not matter, but he is getting us frustrated with each other. With that he is making us ineffective to further God's Kingdom. I keep reminding the team and myself that the battle isn't against us and that we need to fight this together with lots and lots of prayer to defeat satan. The work here is not tiring but the spiritual part is. Some people on my team are drained by the end of the day with all the battles we have been fighting and overcoming with God's help. I know we have already won the war with Him, but we have to be continually fighting against the enemy so we don't lose the little battles, which slow us down from serving Him.
"Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not fainthearted or afraid; do not be terrified or give way to panic before them. For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory." Deuteronomy 20:3-4
Please help us in fighting this together and pray for protection against the enemy and that we would be alert and strong to stand up against them.
"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. " 2 Corinthians 10:3-4
Please join my team and be Warriors by praying for us daily. Praying is such a powerful weapon that will destroy Satan and his evil plans to stop us from serving our Lord. Be a huge part of this ministry by praying for us and joining us on the battlefield with those prayers.
Thank you so much
If the blog wasn't motivation enough, maybe this quote will help
"Fight, and you may die. Run, and you'll live. At least a while. And dying in your beds,
many years from now, would you be willing to trade ALL the days, from this day to that,
for one chance-just one chance-to come back here and tell our enemies that they may
take our lives, [raising his sword over his head] but they'll never take...OUR
