Well the first week is under the belt. Not quite what I was expecting but it was kind of an intermediate time at Grace. The school year just ended and the summer hadn't quite kicked off yet for the all the students. So this first week was spent getting an office space set up (it makes me laugh how official that sounds for no reason), figuring out a little bit what the summer was going to look like, and just meeting a whole lot of new people! It's been a good experience so far hanging out with students and getting moved in. Today I was sitting in Sunday School with the students during worship and it sort of hit me, yep, still like hanging out with high schoolers. It was just a good reminder that even if things get slow during the day, it's worth it to have the opportunity to be a part of any of these students' lives.
So here's a few short things I've been mulling over and learning while out here so far...
Today I was thinking about teaching this summer and I realized that I don't really know these students so how can I present them with something useful? Then I was thinking this, God is the same in Indiana, Illinois and Colorado. Geography doesn't change Truth. God stays the same and his message to His people doesn't change either.
Something else I've been rolling around in my brain is the importance of being proactive in this life. I've been thinking about this for awhile but I recently started reading the book “Crazy Love” and there's an image in there that the author uses that I really like. He talks about how life is like being in a river that has a strong current and the Christian life is like swimming upstream. When we stop swimming upstream the current automatically drags us back. When we stop living on purpose, when we stop attacking this life, when we stop working out our Salvation, then we automatically become more like this world. I've heard images like this before but they never sunk in till now. Another way I've heard it put is that the Christian life is like a car, there's drive and reverse, no neutral. The images aren't that hard to come up with but the truth of them is finally sinking in. And when you live life on purpose for God there's no room for fear really. So how do we get rid of the fear? The fear of the unknown, the fear we have nothing to offer, the fear of not pleasing people or being liked, the fear of new things, the fear of being alone, the fear of.....you name it. “Perfect love casts out all fear”
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Sunday, May 31, 2009
1026.1 Miles
Just got to Denver late this morning after driving for a very very long time. Logged about 850 miles on Saturday and then another couple hundred this morning. Slept in the cab of my truck last night at a rest stop in Sterling, CO, not as comfortable as you might think...or as extremely uncomfortable as you might think. I got to my brother and sister-in-laws house this morning at 8 and slept till 12, it was everything I hoped it would be. So just hanging out for the rest of the night here and heading over to Grace Chapel tomorrow to figure out what the next 8 weeks is going to look like!
I left home Saturday morning at 10 AM and got to Mark and Amanda's Sunday at 8 AM, so what do you think about when you spend 22 hours in your car?? (man that sounds depressing...haha) I was thinking about this summer. What makes me think that I can be a part of this ministry? What do I have to offer these students? I don't think it's about having something that another person doesn't have, it's about offering somebody what you've been given. I think that it's a lie that we sometimes believe that says that we don't have anything to offer anybody. When we compare ourselves to somebody else we often compare our weaknesses to their strengths and that just leaves us feeling insignificant. The best thing we have to offer isn't ourselves anyways, it's what God has given us. There's nothing that I myself have to offer people that they can't get from somebody else, but what God has for each person is beyond what I can give. It's God working through me to accomplish his purpose for the people I come in contact with. And hopefully, what God has given me becomes who I am, so my very self becomes what God has entrusted me with and that way every interaction I have with anybody is an interaction with God, who is love. So as I start this summer practicum, I hope and pray that God develops in me himself and I become who He wants me to be so that what I give to people is nothing of my own power, but everything of God's power. I have nothing important to offer, but God only gives good gifts, and most times He chooses to give those good gifts through His people.
I left home Saturday morning at 10 AM and got to Mark and Amanda's Sunday at 8 AM, so what do you think about when you spend 22 hours in your car?? (man that sounds depressing...haha) I was thinking about this summer. What makes me think that I can be a part of this ministry? What do I have to offer these students? I don't think it's about having something that another person doesn't have, it's about offering somebody what you've been given. I think that it's a lie that we sometimes believe that says that we don't have anything to offer anybody. When we compare ourselves to somebody else we often compare our weaknesses to their strengths and that just leaves us feeling insignificant. The best thing we have to offer isn't ourselves anyways, it's what God has given us. There's nothing that I myself have to offer people that they can't get from somebody else, but what God has for each person is beyond what I can give. It's God working through me to accomplish his purpose for the people I come in contact with. And hopefully, what God has given me becomes who I am, so my very self becomes what God has entrusted me with and that way every interaction I have with anybody is an interaction with God, who is love. So as I start this summer practicum, I hope and pray that God develops in me himself and I become who He wants me to be so that what I give to people is nothing of my own power, but everything of God's power. I have nothing important to offer, but God only gives good gifts, and most times He chooses to give those good gifts through His people.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Nine months for half a second
Well, here goes nothing...
I'm currently sitting in the lobby of the Hyatt Hotel right across the street from the St. Louis Arch on the second day of the NAIA National Track Meet. Yesterday I ran the 400 hurdles and advanced to semis today. So at 5:30 I'll once again don the purple and white spandex and race. And at 8:30 we run the 4x4 prelims, we're hoping we can have a repeat of last year and make it to finals, but we're going to need a big one.
So here's the thought behind the madness...
I've trained, our team has trained, 9 months to get to this point. Our first practice was September 7. We just lifted for the first 2 months and started running in November and now it's May. And what is our goal? If I shave off half of a second (.5) today or tomorrow I'll be pumped. Half a second?? No other time in your life is .5 worth a second thought. But you know what, it makes Paul's metaphor of running to win a prize a lot more poignant. I have trained the last 9 months so as to win the prize; is my relationship with Christ the same way? Do I pursue God with such a tenacity so that I can get .5 of an inch closer to Him? It seems that sometimes it's easy to only want to pursue God if it means we'll feel super close to Him, and usually we want that to be easy to do. But maybe it's time to start training to be close to God like we train for track. All out, everyday, leaving everything out there, pushing your body to discomfort, living with no regrets, just so we can be a little bit closer to God. And a little bit closer, and a little bit closer, and a little bit closer, and pretty soon, you're a lot a bit closer. Finding worth in something as simple as running can give perspective to something as complex as life.
"The real purpose of running isn't to win a race. It's to test the limits of the human heart"
I'm currently sitting in the lobby of the Hyatt Hotel right across the street from the St. Louis Arch on the second day of the NAIA National Track Meet. Yesterday I ran the 400 hurdles and advanced to semis today. So at 5:30 I'll once again don the purple and white spandex and race. And at 8:30 we run the 4x4 prelims, we're hoping we can have a repeat of last year and make it to finals, but we're going to need a big one.
So here's the thought behind the madness...
I've trained, our team has trained, 9 months to get to this point. Our first practice was September 7. We just lifted for the first 2 months and started running in November and now it's May. And what is our goal? If I shave off half of a second (.5) today or tomorrow I'll be pumped. Half a second?? No other time in your life is .5 worth a second thought. But you know what, it makes Paul's metaphor of running to win a prize a lot more poignant. I have trained the last 9 months so as to win the prize; is my relationship with Christ the same way? Do I pursue God with such a tenacity so that I can get .5 of an inch closer to Him? It seems that sometimes it's easy to only want to pursue God if it means we'll feel super close to Him, and usually we want that to be easy to do. But maybe it's time to start training to be close to God like we train for track. All out, everyday, leaving everything out there, pushing your body to discomfort, living with no regrets, just so we can be a little bit closer to God. And a little bit closer, and a little bit closer, and a little bit closer, and pretty soon, you're a lot a bit closer. Finding worth in something as simple as running can give perspective to something as complex as life.
"The real purpose of running isn't to win a race. It's to test the limits of the human heart"
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