Rediscover Him

So I am listening to Rediscover You by Starfield. I have to say this song has got to be one of the best songs I have heard in a while. I love the lyrics to this song. "You told me, look for you and I will find. So I'm here like I'm searching for the first time. Revive me Jesus make this cold heart start to move, help me rediscover you."

That is something I want for my life! So often, church is just something people do on Sundays. Christians, we are called to so much more then a service on Sunday! Now don't get me wrong, I love church and I love fellowship. But if our lives only exhibit Christ on Sunday, then we have a problem.

If you could no longer go to church (for whatever reason) what in your life would show that Jesus Christ is the center of your life? What do you do in your life that says to the world, "Hey I follow Jesus Christ!" If there isn't a lot, then maybe it is time to rethink your priorities.

If persecution hit your church right now. Would you stick with it and stand by your fellow brothers and sisters? Or would you say, "This isn't what I signed up for! I'm out!" Really think about that.

People are dying for their faith in countries like Indonesia, India, Iran, Pakistan. These people are the true Jesus Freaks. The ones that want to follow God no matter the cost. Here in America, if we stand up for God people snicker when they see us passing by but generally it does not get worse then that. People in persecuted countries give it all up for the sake of the cross.

For more information on the state of the persecuted church go to http://www.persecution.com/

To these people God is not dead. He is surely alive! Oh death where is your sting! Oh hell where is your victory! Church where is our passion for God? Let's rediscover him.

Branding Calves

Well, today I experienced something new. I found what it is like to wrestle a calf to the ground as someone sticks a hot iron on it to mark them. Definitely not something I do everyday in Boise. It was a lot of fun though. I found out how to wrestle a calf to the ground without getting kicked in the face. However, I did get head butted by an angry calf in the knee. I then promptly threw it to the ground and put my knee on its neck. Yes, I hulked out and I am proud of it. :)

Definitely a good time. :) However it got me thinking (dangerous I know). But, how much like cattle are we? The cows were upset and making a lot of noise (certainly understandable I would make noise if I was castrated and then had a hot iron stuck in my side just saying) but this was pain they had to go through, so that when out in the field, people would know that this is someone's cow. What about us? When we go through pain and suffering in our lives, maybe it is just God letting the world know that these people are mine. I let them go through pain so they will bear my mark and let the world know they are mine. Just an idea.

Today was an excellent day, I am definitely sore and kind of tired from all of this but it is something I am glad I got to experience. I mean, I am in Wyoming for crying out loud, might as well experience the local culture, am I right? 

Lukewarm Christianity

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth." (Revelation 3:15-16 NASB). These harsh words are from the mouth of Jesus to a church that had become lukewarm in their faithfulness to God. God despises apathy in our lives. He doesn't want us to try and sit on the fence, for man cannot serve both man and money.

"Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet saying, 'Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house (The Temple) lies desolate?' Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, 'Consider your ways!'" (Haggai 1:3-5 NASB) Haggai was a prophet after the return of the exiles from Babylon. The people had become apathetic toward the Lord while they lived in grand houses. God despised and still despises apathy. Consider your ways! Are you serving God or serving yourself?

It makes sense doesn't it? I mean, in our lives we hate to be ignored. Especially when we are trying to help other people! How much more does God who loves us so much that he died for us hate to be ignored by man? When it comes to Christ, men and women have to make a choice. C.S. Lewis put it best when speaking of Jesus and his Godhood. "Either he is a lunatic, on the level with a man who calls himself a poached egg, the devil of hell, or God himself. But let us have no more of this nonsense about him being a good person. He did not intend to leave that option open to us." When it comes to Christ you are either for him or you are against him. We cannot live our life toeing the line, seeing how close we can come to sinning without actually sinning!

In Matthew 25 we see, in my mind, one of the most terrifying parts of Scripture.


"But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared fro you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, Lord, when did we see You, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or naked, and clothe you? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to you? The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger and you did not invite me in; naked and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' Then they themselves also will answer,' Lord when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You? Then he will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (Matthew 25:31-46 NASB)

When it comes to serving God you cannot live on the fence. If you are one of those Christians that lives for Christ Sunday morning and the rest of the week live in a manner that is ungodly...now would be an excellent time to turn that around. What are you living for? Are you living for the one that died for you? Or are you living for yourself even though you claim the name of Christ? When I die, I want to hear the words "Well done good and faithful servant" not "Depart from me ye accursed." I love God and I want to follow Him. I hope you do to.

Until next time, "The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace." (Numbers 6:24-26)

Our Golden Calf

I have been confronted with my sinfulness these past two days. No one has called me out on it but it has been revealed to me just by looking at my own life. It makes me upset! I want to follow God but I find myself reaching out for that same old piece of forbidden fruit then I slip and fall and knock my head loose. Somebody tell me what's a boy supposed to do?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip7MaWhfW_g

I get so clumsy, and so foolish. I feel clean on the outside but on the inside I feel unclean. I feel like I have an idea of how Aaron must have felt after the Golden Calf incident. So what am I supposed to do after being confronted with sin in my own life? Do what Aaron did in the verse directly after that. "Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, 'Whoever is for the Lord, come to me!' And all the sons of Levi gathered together to him." 

I can imagine Aaron being one of the first to be beside Moses. Otherwise, he probably would have died for his sin and he definitely would not have become the high priest of the people. In our lives we need that battle cry. "Whoever is for God come and join us! If you aren't then stay away!" I want to be one of the Levites that run straight to God when they realize their sin. 

Do everything you do for the glory of the one who made you. Whether you are working in a church or shoveling horse stalls. Whether you are on a mission trip to Kenya or reaching out to a hurting friend. God deserves the glory in our lives. So lets get off our high horses, find the sin in our lives, and run to the cross! Sound good? "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me" (Galatians 2:20)

That's the choice we have to make every day. Do we serve God? Or do we serve men? Until next time may the grace of God be with you as you search out the sin in your life and expel it.

Mountains, Mosquitos, and Children oh my!

Dang, what a week. It has been seriously insane trying to keep up with everything that has gone on. The past four days have been filled with hiking, teaching, games, and just a good time.

Monday was bad. I was so dead that first day because I had no idea what to expect from the hike and it killed me. However, it was a nice hike, Billy Wood talked to the kids about Creation and what God has done. Wooh! It was definitely fun to go over that with the kids. Also exciting was the fact that we had a little girl give her life to Jesus. So that's always good stuff.

Tuesday was definitely a lot better on me physically speaking. I knew what to expect and it was a lot more enjoyable. Lynda Silvey talked to the kids about how we look at the world. What does the Bible say? Why do we listen to the Bible? Etc. So she did a pretty dang good job on that in my opinion.

Wednesday was beautiful. We hiked up to Sacred Ridge where Jim gave the Gospel message to the elementary kids. That combined with the fact that we were up in the mountains was just a perfect way to describe God's awesomeness.

The sheer grandeur of these mountains is astounding. It makes me think of the song "Did you feel the Mountains Tremble?" These mountains will one day tremble when the King of Kings comes in glorious and mighty in power. "For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods, in whose hand are the depths of the earth, the peaks of the mountains are also his. The sea is His, for it was He who made it, and His hands formed the dry lands." (Psalm 95 NASB) Just being in the presence of this astounding display of power was humbling.

The picture above is from our hike yesterday. Yesterday was our last day of hiking on Mountain Qwest for Christ. Yours truly was the one who gave the message to the kids. The lesson had me focus on the diversity of birds in our world. From the long beak of the stork, to the swiftness of the ostrich, and to the delicacy of the flamingo, God has designed each and every creature for a purpose. How much more valuable are we to God??? The hike was gorgeous. We went and stopped on the shore of a lake and had our snack and lesson there.

This week had to be one of the most tiring weeks of my life. But I loved it because of the fact that children were able to see God in an entirely different way then they may have seen Him before. Also, our last count was 7 more children for Christ so that in and of itself makes the weariness and the mosquito bites all worthwhile. So, until next time, "The Lord bless you and keep you, The Lord make his face to shine on you and be gracious to you, The Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you peace." (Numbers 6:24-26)

Internship duties and Plants vs. Zombies

Alright  Alright, well a fair bit has been going on since I last updated. I have been introduced to a new game and Mountain Qwest for Christ (Pinedale VBS) starts tomorrow at Noon!

So Plants Vs. Zombies is a tower-defense game that I am addicted to now. Its kind of like Zombieland meets the Home and Garden Chanel. But the basic idea is zombies are invading your yard and you have to use plants to defend your yard. There are a lot of different plants and though it sounds absolutely stupid, it has to be one of the funnest games I have played in a while.

Now to Internship update, this week I am going to be swamped! We have Mountain Qwest for Christ starting tomorrow. Basically, we are going to ride in a bus for a half hour, then for two hours we are going to snack, hike, and have a lesson. This will continue for four days and it is going to be a lot of fun but really tiring...especially since I am not the most adept hiker. Haha but I will persevere!

Second, we have both middle school and high school youth group this week. I am really excited for the middle school youth group on Thursday night because I have had the opportunity to work with them a little bit and they are a really good group to be working with and I am excited to work with them more this summer. The high school group meets on Wednesday night. The high school youth group is a new experience for me. I have never worked regularly with a high school youth group. It has always been middle schoolers and younger. These guys are a good group to work with and I am already thrilled with how quickly I have clicked with this group.

Third, tonight I started attending a deal for college age students and highschoolers that deals with the fact of creationism, the proof for intelligent design, and all that jazz. It was really interesting even though this guy went completely over my head in the terms he was using. But it was definitely intense.

Fourth, and this I am really excited for. Our highschooler youth group is taking a trip to see Tim Hawkins this Saturday! I am stoked for this because Tim Hawkins is one of the funniest comedians I have ever heard. We will also be hitting Boon Docks, basically a go-kart type game place from what I have heard. So I am excited to take this trip and see what God will do.

Alright, well that's all that is new in my life! Until next time may grace and peace be with you as you search for God's call in your life.

Beautiful Wyoming

Alright, so I have thought for the longest time that Wyoming is a land filled with dust and plains. When I thought of the word beautiful I definitely did not think of Wyoming, just saying. However, these past couple of weeks have really been astounding in terms of beauty.

This picture reminds me of the 1st Psalm. "How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does he prospers." (NASB)

The viewpoint from these hills was astounding. To just stand up there and feel so small in the grand scheme of things. I don't know about you guys but I get a shrinking feeling and its not a bad shrinking feeling it is a very good one.

As I was driving back from a prayer meeting at the Youth Pastor's house I saw this and I just had to stop and take a look. It's like God took a paint brush and very carefully added details here and there until the picture was perfect. It is just amazing at the detail God goes into.

Beauty can be found anywhere in the world. St. Augustine once said, "Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering" While God has created a beautiful earth for us to live on, so often we ignore the fact that God has designed us beautifully. It is exciting once you think about just how beautifully designed we are.

In conclusion, I no longer think Wyoming is ugly. It definitely isn't gorgeous but when you look for beauty in God's creation, it's hard not to find it. Adios people!

Funny Thing About Elementary Kids and Christians

Funny story about Elementary kids...they can be little punks sometimes! Haha and I mean that in the nicest way possible. However, working with about 20 Elementary students as they are all running around laughing, screaming, crying, and whatever else you want to imagine, can be quite harrowing to say the least. Give me Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers any day of the week. :)

They are fun to work with though, for all of my complaining there are good kids and there are some that are not so good. God loves them though, and as long as he wants me to work with them I will work with them. They kind of remind me of Christians in churches today. During the day, I was attempting to get a game of Capture the Flag started with them but to try and gain all of their attention was incredibly difficult because they had so much energy. So if they had listened to the rules, everyone could have had a lot more fun but they wanted to do their own thing which didn't work as well. Many that claim the name of Christ focus on things that aren't valuable in the long run, like money, power, or fame. These things are good things in and of themselves but are they accomplishing the purpose at hand, which is to give glory to God? If so, that is wonderful and I say go all out with what Christ has given you. But if not...

"Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood hay, straw, each mans work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire."- 1st Corinthians 3:12-15

God desires us to build our personal lives on that which will last. If we focus all our energy on things that don't last then that is not good. If we focus on the things that last, the things Christ told us to focus on (Living for Christ where we are at, showing people what sets us apart through our actions, etc.) then those are riches that last. If we as Christians focus on things that don't last, then we will escape the fire but as though we jumped through the fire.

It all comes down to a matter of the heart. Do we want to serve Christ or serve ourselves? I want to reiterate what Joshua said to the people as they settled in the land of Israel. "If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord."

Choose today whom you will serve.

First Three Weeks in Pinedale

These past few weeks have been exciting for me. My first year of College has been finished and I have started to work at a church in Pinedale, Wyoming. These past three weeks have been eye opening to me as I minister for God and his Kingdom here in Wyoming.

The first week here was very difficult for me. My first day in we had a Fishermen's club (3rd-5th graders). I do not do well with Elementary kids. They are incredibly difficult for me to relate to. Plus youth group the first night was kind of rough in several ways, getting used to the new dynamic of the group was one of them. 

After that first week though God really began to get through to me in my personal life. I began to read the Book of Luke. Luke is such a powerful book in my eyes. The only New Testament author who was a Gentile, he relates to us. What hit me hardest though, the thing that was a slap in the face, was just how Jesus treated people here on earth. He took time for everyone and today we can barely take time for our family let alone strangers.

The other thing about God that I love is the way he spent his last week here on earth. The last week on earth he didn't do any crazy big miracles, he cursed a fig tree here and a few other things. But nothing like feeding 5000 people or doing a triple back-flip off the temple. He spent that last week with people, loving them and letting them love him. The relationships we build with people will have more effect in the end then we realize. It is something that we as Christians need to remember. 

Otherwise, these past couple of weeks have settled down a fair bit. I am getting into the flow of things here in Pinedale and I am really enjoying it and the chance to minister. I see God moving among the people here but it needs work just like every other community does. So until next time, "May the Lord bless you and keep you, may he make his face to shine upon you and be gracious towards you, may the Lord lift up your countenance and give you strength." Numbers 6:24-26