Quick and Slow

It's been an exciting two weeks. Let me try to quickly update you with my limited internet time.

Our stop after Florence was Rome. Rome was amazing! All the sights we got to see were amazing. Surreal amazing. ---Trevie Fountain, the Patheon, the Vatican, St. Peter's Basilica, the Colosseum, and the Bourghese Museum (plus more littler sights). We were there for 3 nights and were go, go, go the whole time to fit everything in, even though we didn't even get close. Sweat, sweat, Sweat. I sweated 32 buckets of straight liquid, felt like I was going to pass out 3 times, walked 45 miles in 3 days and throughly enjoyed it.

Next stop ---> Cinque Terre. Talk about a change of pace. Cinque Terre is a collection of 5 small villages on the coast of the Meditteranean Sea. The first village is Riomagorrie, which we are staying at. I can't describe to you how beautiful this place is. Each village is built into cliffs along the coast and are surrounded by amazing scenery - vineyards, waves smacking against the cliffs, genuine Italian culture, mountains, and the endless sea. The villages are connected by Railway and walking paths, which make it easy to visit all five. The views are amazing from the walking paths and have caused us to make our four night visit into a 6 night visit. (look it up on google)

We are staying in this little apartment that sleeps 4 with a kitchen, bathroom (hot water), and dining room. We are only about a 1 mintue walk from the Sea and are surrounded by little cafe's, bakery's, food markets lined with fresh fruit and vegetables, and gelato!

Becky and I took out a Kayak for an hour this morning to soak in where we were. It was amazing.

I will post pictures as soon as I can. It's hard with limited internet access. Jesus is good and is defintely humbly good to us this trip. He has shown himself in more ways then one. Our next stop is Venice this upcoming Thursday, pray for our travels. I love you all.

2nd Leg

What did one olive say to the other other olive as he fell off the table?
0000-live.

Thought I would start off the post with a joke. I think it's funny, but I've used it twice since I've been here and others disagree. Anyways, camp is finished. The last day at Camp Darby (the military base) was July 4th. What an amazing and unforgettable experience. It's crazy to think the power and ability Christ has when he brings together a community of believers. Not only for the high schoolers and middle schoolers that came to camp, but also for "us", the work staff. God is good. He changes us to be joyful and complete in Him. All out of Love. That's what he did these past few weeks.

Now the Second leg of our adventure has begun. We took the train to Florence, Italy yesterday morning and will be spending 2 nights here (the 5th and 6th). The city is beautiful. We've been able to see a couple things so far, including the humongous statue of David....super cool. Check out the photos:


Walled city called Lucca - John, Scott, and I doing a jumping picture on top of the wall!



All the highschoolers at camp - they are singing at this point. If you look in the distance you can see that this was done on the beach one night.



At the train station eating some McDonalds before we left



At the Duomo in Florence - that big dome is the Duomo, which we are walking up into today (460 steps)



The Central market in Florence



Statue of David

Work, Work, and Play!

Alright, I've caught an hour to update you all. I want to give you some more detail on what it is exactly that I'm doing here. 

I am currently living and spending life consistently with 30 other people that are all around the same age as me (except for the few in charge). Our group makes up the "Work Staff" for the camp. Basically any manual labor or activity needed, that is us. We prepare, clean, and set up the camp before the military kids arrive - which includes setting up 100 tents (not a highlight). During camp we set up the dining room, cook two meals a day (for 450+), serve the food family style, tear down the dining room and clean. We then are responsible for hand washing all the dishes, usually takes anywhere from 2-3 1/2 hours. We set up and tear down any type of event the camp puts on for the kids such as ---- the Carnival, skits, painball, honky tonk night (square dancing), Birthday night, and the BBQ on the beach. Plus other random tasks such as cleaning bathrooms, picking up and taking out trash, our laundry, etc... Our days usually start at 7 a.m. and end around 11 - 12 p.m.

The camp last about 5 days and is a LOT of work. Ironically, I am having an amazing time. Everyone is so joyful in the Lord, that our work is done joyfully together. We want these military kids to know Jesus and this is the way we serve for that to take place. These people working alongside me are so captured by the love of Christ, that we've all payed money to come to this camp. We've all payed a lot of money in fact to come work our butts off. That right there is proof to the character of Christ that we all eagerly and humbly serve. 

Now there are two weeks when kids are here. The first week are high school kids and the second week are middle school kids. We just finished the week with the high schoolers and have had a 3 day break to travel and see some of Italy.......

This is me in Pisa holding up the leaning tower!

This is me in rural Tuscany -- we had the opportunity to meet a Christian Italian family that has a vineyard, have a real Italian meal, and have a tour of there vineyard.

This is the real Italian meal --- best thing I've eaten in a long time!

This is the first night after camp, the work staff was taken out to dinner in Pisa!

We got to go to an island for the day called Elba. Good times!

Ciao!

It’s been a while since the last time I blogged. Well January to be exact. I had just arrived home from my adventures in Mali and was debriefing through the thoughts that had consumed my mind after such a perspective changing experience. Don’t know why I’m explaining this sense it is only a 6 inch downward scroll on this page. (check it out if your curious).

What brings me back from retirement? God has been so good to me. Humbly good to me. I’ve been blessed with another opportunity to see the world. A lot of the world. For the next 9 weeks I will be combining a few mini-adventures into one big adventure.

Beginning June 16^th, I will be living and working alongside 30 other individuals on an American military base. Young Life brings their summer camp experience, which takes place throughout the summers in America, to the American children abroad on military bases. The goal is to allow these middle school and high school students to experience and know Jesus Christ.

The camp ends on July 5^th, which is when I begin the second leg of my trip. I will be traveling for 2 weeks throughout Northern Italy , visiting: Florence, Rome, Cinque Terre, and Venice with Becky (my girlfriend), Lindsey, and Jaymi Harper. Three girls, one me :/

Then back to Africa I go. Rwanda! I get to visit the country that was my home two years ago during my internship with Food for the Hungry. Oh, and did I mention my girlfriend will be with me here too. Life will be good.

On July 22^nd  we will arrive in Kigali, Rwanda. From there Becky and I will stay one night with my roommate from college and his wife, Paul and Linda Bork (they’re working with “World Teach” for a year).

On July 23^rd we will take a 9 hour bus ride north to Kampala, Uganda. Here we will meet up with a old intern friend of mine. She currently works with an organization that loves on street children in the slums. We will stay with her for 5 days, experience her work and Kampala, and then head back to Rwanda.

Becky and I, along with Rick Prigge (on ASU Young Life Staff) will help lead a group of ASU students on a “Life challenging, crazy, awesome, rock your world trip” for two weeks, August 8^th – August 17^th. The End.

Becky, Lindsey, and I are currently on a shuttle, passing through London, on our way to another flight connection that will take us to Pisa, Italy (Near the military base). Like I said, I’ve been truly blessed to be able to say yes to an opportunity such as this.  I’m excited and am excited for you to follow me through my travels. Stay Tuned….

(Forward): I wrote that about a week ago. Since then we have arrived safely to Camp Darby, the military base in Livorno, Italy. Internet access has been limited, which has kept me from updating my blog earlier. Sorry. My time this far has been non-stop work. The first three days at the base we worked throughout the day to prep and create a Young Life environment on a very secular military base. Since then, Myself and 30 others have been serving 400 high school students. It's been a wild ride but I'm enjoying every minute of it. The people i'm working alongside are great. Even though we are working anywhere from 8 - 16 hours a day, everyone's attitude reflects the joy we have in HIM, Christ. We remain in the mindset that all of this is to His glory! I'll try to update regularly. Love you and Miss you all!

In the Pursuit

Truth is large. Truth doesn't fit all nice and snug within our nation or Christianity. Truth is far reaching, disguised in all religions, and ways of life. Truth is something that needs to be sought out and distinguished from the lies, the deceptions of our own sinful nature. Truth is a mystery and is exciting to pursue. It's like a big puzzle; a puzzle so hard and with so many pieces that you can never complete the whole thing. But as you piece more and more together, the picture starts to become more and more clearer. But the picture are hints at life, ways to live, and find joy within a broken world. That's a dang fun puzzle.

Truth lies both within Africa and America - neither of us have it more figured out then the other. Both nations, along with the other nations of the world, possess strengths and weaknesses when looking from an eagle's eye and with a truth perspective.

Everytime I visit Africa I am smacked in the face with the idea of Community. This time more then any other though, it became clear how much our country is deteriorating away from a sense of "Community". We have moved away from being relational with one another and have progressed towards a more individualized society.

I sat at BaBa's house (the cheif of the village) three times a day to communally and realtionally spend my meals. Surrounded by a family that really has no boundries. BaBa and his Wife look deliberatley after 7 kids. I say deliberately because their family ecompasses much more then 7 kids, their family is their village. These 7 kids - some their grandkids, some of who have had their parents pass away, or parents because of financial reasons live in a seperate country. The oldest, anywhere from 16 to 18 yrs old has taken on the role of a mother. They all eat, work, live, experience life together. Each one desperately needed, to make life work. Fetching water, planting harvest, harvesting the crop, cooking, traveling to market, gathering fire wood, and being eachothers source of entertainment (they don't have T.V. or video games to take on that role). 

Never an orphan, never a Grandma, or Grandpa sent to a nursing home - who are very highly respected and looked at being sources of wisdom in the culture. Which in America we've done the complete opposite; we've regarded the elderly as helpless and weak. We send them off to nursing homes to live alone and visit a few times a month. 

I was told a story by another Peace Corps volunteer - during harvest season, when harvesting peanuts the Commnity will take turns in harvesting each others crops. They'll go out to the farms collect and pick all the communities Peanuts. Then they'll spend the next few weeks taking turns shelling each other's peanuts. This way they are able to work together, relationally, and provide help for each other. 

In America, we've replaced all of that with technology and with our luxuries. Our t.v.'s, Ipods, internet, cell phones, etc have all allowed us to cut ourselves away from actual conversations, sharing life, and being relational. We even have to entice each other to live relationally - HOV lanes. 

Our houses have become a very indiviudal way to escape interaction. We can spend a full day inside our homes without every spending time with the neighbors we are surronded by. Most commonly the people that live next door, other then the daily wave, are complete strangers. It's sad we've gotten to the point where we share yards, schools, neighborhoods, with our neighbors, but could not tell you about the others job, family, hardships, etc...

It is so bad, that realtionally we are awkward. Starting conversation with a stranger, walking up to a neighbors house and striking up a conversation, sitting by someone in a coffee shop, at work, class, etc... "For the most part" makes us nervous or scared. 

God calls us to love one another and live relationally. This is my favorite part of this whole post - the place I was living where I saw Community. Where I was able to see a glimpse of what God's original design is? It was all in a Muslim village. Truth is big and far reaching - but it has to be looked for and pursued.

I've cut down my thoughts and feel like I could keep going, but I'll end with this point:

What do I want out of life? What kind of life do I want to live out? Questions I continually ask myself. It's not cause I'm young and am able to either. Your life and the way you live it is a choice, no matter where or what stage you are at.

My answer: I want to expierience life with others. I want to live relationally. Not with a convenient community of friends and family, I want it to be with people without possessing any type of standard. I want to replace my time spent alone and with my computer and T.V., with an initially awakward but ultimately rewarding relationship.

The girl, that has taken on the Mother role and her baby

My two favorites, Jaunamo and Sirleyman

Getting the boys to throw up the peace sign - unsuccessful

Thanks!

Here I sit 5:52 a.m. and I can't sleep. Jet Lag. I've been back from Africa for a 1 1/2 days and still haven't fully recovered. My mind has been racing with different ideas, themes, and lessons I've taken from my 6 week trip. I need to get some of it out and typed or I think I may go crazy. There is a lot. I'll break it up and try to make it brief. For the next 3 to 4 days, I'm going to write a post every day with something different that I have taken away from my experience.

Okay. I believe that the best way to evaluate, criticize, and appreciate your life is to remove yourself from your life. To step out of your everyday routines, normalcy, and surroundings. Yes, traveling the world is helpful, but not needed. Anything from taking a vacation, visiting friends, taking time for solitude to serving in your community, volunteering at a school, or spending time in the inner city. Solely just removing yourself from your regular life and seeing life from a different perspective, no matter what that may be. My trip to Mali confirmed that for me.

Taking a step out of my American life, I realized quite a bit about myself and the culture in which I live.

I believe as a Nation we are very spoiled. Not solely our fault. We have been raised in a culture that has a lot and we know no different. It's our way of life. Which is why I hadn't hit this conclusion until I lived in a 500 person village with no running water or electricity for 3 weeks.

We live in a culture in which we have stopped appreciating and have moved to a mind set that we are entitled to all that we have and more. We deserve it. We've worked hard. I've seen children as young as 6 or 7 make countless trips to a water spring to get water for their family. I've seen 80 year old women pound millet for 12 hours a day, day after day. I've seen children walk to the market 5 miles away, in the desert, carrying a bundle of wood on their heads; to bring home a dollar. I've seen a family of 9, and a community of 500 all needing the hard labor of each other, every day to survive. Are we entitled to more then them, because we've worked "hard" for it?

Don't get me wrong. We've been blessed to live in a great country, with the lifestyles that we are able to enjoy each and every day. But it's recognizing that blessing, that has been lost. When we stop becoming appreciative and start believing we deserve it and are entitled to it all - than we STOP being THANKFUL.

We've actually become COMPLAINERS. My cell phone is not good enough, I need my tax money, I want a new car, gas is too much, my job isn't what I want, I need more clothes, my dishwasher is outdated, I hate traffic, I can't believe they got the promotion, my bills are too much, I don't like the way I look, etc.... Right? Isn't this what we sound like? Our conversations are full of complaining (gossip). All day, every day. It's become apart of our cultural norm, without recognizing it, to be critical and complain. It's damaging. We are always comparing ourselves to others, competing, and believing that who we are and what we have is not good enough.

THANK YOU Christ that I am alive, healthy, blessed with an awesome family, have food each and every day, have a car, am able to pay my bills, that I have an amazing community of friends, and that I have electricity and running water.

Being Thankful and recognizing what is good in our lives - is the way to finding a sense of PEACE and complete JOY.

One of my favorites, Sirleyman and me just throwing up the Peace Sign

The Chief of the Village, BaBa, who we spent a lot of time with and is completely awesome!

The Unexpected

The Unexpected. Though the unexpected is not always enjoyable, there are times when it makes life more exciting to live out. I've experienced both in a few different circumstances, of which I want to share a couple.

For Christmas we traveled to Dogon Country with around 30 other Peace Corps volunteers. Side note - Dogon people live in a series of villages along the Badiagara escarpment in three zones: the plateau, the cliff, and the lower plains. They arrived on the scene in the 14th or 15th century, after fleeing their lands along the Niger, refusing to convert to Islam. They displace the Tellem people, whose cave-like homes are still intact high on the cliffs above the Dogon villages. The lower plains are shared with the Fulani people.

We arrived December 24th, Christmas Eve, and spent that day and Christmas in a town called Sanga. This is where we were to venture out the next day on a three day, two night hiking trip. I was completely pumped and excited for the trip. Well.... I must of ate or drank something that didn't agree with my body. The first day into our hike I didn't feel too good. I made it about two hours in until I started to repeatedly and violently puke up everything in my system. But I wanted to push through and continue the hike in the blistering sun. Bad Decision. A half hour passed and I was back at it, vomitting. This time blood had mixed in with the flow of fluids out of my mouth. After hiking about another half an hour out, feeling completely horrible, I was evacuated back to Sanga on a motorbike where I spent the next couple days recovering and missing the hike. Disappointing.

After this missed opportunity we decided that a Niger River trip was key to redeeming the situation. Ashley, Joe, their two freinds (Jennifer and Joelle), and I went out to the river to see what we could find. There were two options: spend around $150- $200 on our private boat or spend $30 dollars on public transportation. Duh. We picked public transportation - to travel among the people. We spent three nights and four days on the river packed alongside other Malians; sleeping on tin riveted floors; freezing at night; eating - oranges, hard boiled eggs, peanuts, bread, and the food sold at the side of the boat during port visits; establishing friendships with the captain, his children and the crew; and enjoying the journey. The trip consisted of never knowing what was next, where we were going, or what we were going to do once we got there. God protected and provided and blessed us with an awesome expierence.

My last week is bitter sweet. I'm excited for my 5 day stay in Paris, to get back to Tempe and implement the things I have learned in my daily life and within YoungLife, and be with friends. But I am definitely sad to leave this experience and two incredible people, Ashley and Joe, who are challenging themselves in every aspect of their lives. They are inspirational - truly living out what they want out of life.

Joe's line that has stuck with me throughout the trip, "There are two kinds of people. Those that dream and remain dreaming or those that dream and then plan how to reach those dreams"

(I'm going to add pictures soon, the internet is being weird here and won't let me right now. So check back later)

Joe, Ashley and I on the side of the ship at Port

The Morning when we had the whole boat to ourselves (long story ask me about it in person)

When we arrived in Tonka - things got a little hectic

Second Half

I calculated that I haven't been in Mali even half of the time that I will fully spend here. Wierd. I feel like I've been gone for a while. 17 days spent/20 days left. Should I feel guilty about living the dream so hard core? Nope.

The first half of the trip, a lot of time has been spent in Ashley and Joe's village. Which has been awesome and will be nearly impossible to top, but we'll see. Relationships, relationships, relationships: as of right now, i've concluded the best part of traveling and seeing the world is the relationships built in the process. Meeting new individuals, observing their different "way of life", and gaining new perspectives from that relationship is truly the fun part. That's definitely what Joe and Ashley's village "Kalibombo" has offered.

The second half of the trip, will be quite different then the first half - more traveling, more adventure seeking, and river floating...

The plan is to spend Christmas and New Year's Eve with other Peace Corps volunteer's at different locations in Mali, which I'm not sure of - i'm pretty much just along for the ride. The little brother that just tags along. Kind of weird that Christmas is nearly here and I haven't seen a Christmas tree, snow, presents, a nativity scene, etc... It'll be a different Christmas, but we'll still celebrate the birth of our Savior like rock stars.

More questions that I'm thinking through: How does my generation connect two worlds (U.S. and the Third World) that have been so disconnected for so long? Not financially connect, but relationally connect.

What do I hold as core principles in my life? Do I reflect those on a daily bases? How much of my world is consumed by myself?

As a nation, have we economically progressed too much? Is there such a thing? Does our financial wealth, material possessions, and technological advancements pull us farther away from looking like the social structure that Christ intended?

Chew on it for a little bit and try to spit something out. At some point I will answer all these questions I'm asking, not with answers, but with my thoughts.

Okay. Peace from Mail, West Africa. And dangit, comment on my blog - it's the fun part.

On our way to Ashley and Joe's Village "Kalibombo" for the first time

Joe and Ashley's house in the village (I tried to be artistic)

Our outfits during thier celebration/holiday - we pull it off well?

Living in the Moment

Here I am. In Africa once again. I'll attempt to make this post a short summary of the past 13 days, but I'm bad at summary's and at being short (especially with this kind of stuff). So we'll see.

So after my departure on Dec. 1st and 3 days of traveling - Two nights, one spent on a plane and one spent on an airport bench (which I spent 18 hours at, in between flights), twenty of hours in the air, and 2 hours on the ground traveling - I made it to Mali, West Africa. I have to admit traveling alone is not all too great, especially if you don't know the language, but I managaed to make a few friends (one of which is going to take me out for wine when I reach France - free ninety-nine).

The past 13 days have been jam packed full of experiences, traveling, and new relationships. I spent two days in the capital, Bamako, with Ashely and Joe - we ate pizza, ice cream, drank wine, and walked the city. Then traveled 15 hours, with Joe and Ashely and around 10 other Peace Corps volunteers to a Bandigara, a town that Joe and Ashley live 3 Km from. Biked to Ashely and Joe's village "Kalibombo". National Geographic style the town is home to 500-600 Dogon people, the historical cliff dwellers of Mali. No running water, electricity, or fast food; the village life has been a BLAST!

Eating communal style and utilizaing our hands as utensils with the chief of the village and his family three times a day is a experience of a life time. Toe - a starchy, dough-like substance that taste like dough, dirt, and pesticide all combined together in a bowl or rice are the usual dishes of non-choice. Toe, i will state may be the worst meal i've ever had, which the flies, dirty hands colliding together, and the mystery sacues do not help make it easier. It's awesome. After we are done eating, we are given the opportunity to simply just hang out with the family and other community members - My favorite so far.

In addition, we've witnessed the slaughtering of goats, i've danced Beyonce style in a circle surrounded by women and drums, participated in a festical called "Tabaski", joined in a muslim prayer ceremony with the town's men (obviously I was praying to Jesus), took bucket showers, played 2 hours of soccer with the guys of the village, every night drank hot choclate on the roof while discussing Jesus and life, and was given a naming ceremony - which my Dogon name is Ansegeramo Djigiba. I love the village, it has been such an awesome experience and challenging as well - but it's all about making memories and "Enjoying the Journey".

Last two days we traveled to a city called Mopti, which the Niger River runs through. We met up with some of Joe and Ashley's Peace Corp friends - which are a lot of fun. As we were sitting at a Restaurant/Bar overlooking the Niger River as the sun started to set and drinking a beer, we were approached by a couple of Malian men. They asked us if we wanted to accompany them on their boat to float across the Niger, wait for less then a dollar? Ummm....Yeah. So there we sat Joe, Ashley, I, and their 4 friends floating across the Niger river, in Mali West Africa, as the sun was setting, just living the dream and enjoying the Journey. It was incredible.

Alright Alright, i'm almost done. Very briefly with a lot of events and detail left out that is the sum up of my last 13 days. Crazy part is that, I still have a month left. Exciting.

Now depth: What has Christ been doing? He has been asking me a few questions: Where is the Holy Spirit in my life? Where do I fit in the World of Development? Shoot, What is even development and how does me being a follower of Christ shape that answer? Big one always in Africa is Community - What is Africa teaching me about Community? As I work through these questions i'll be sharing my thoughts. Probably after the trip is over - more time and dependable internet.

Love you all. Know that I am safe, with family, and having a blast!

Joe and Ashley's blog, with Photos: http://www.wollersheimtime.blogspot.com/

Boarding the boat with my Turban on, one with the people!

The sunset as we floated across the Niger River

Just the usual day of work - in actuality i took that bale from a kid, took a picture with it, and gave it back to him

Every night we sip down some hot choclate on top of Joe and Ashley's roof

UNadressed

“We Claim this truth as Christians. All has been forgiven. But let’s also use a slightly different phrase: the work of the cross is in us. There is Jesus’ death on our behalf once and for all, there is the ongoing work of the cross in our hearts and minds and souls and lives. There is the ongoing need to return to the cross to be reminded of our brokenness and dependence on God. There is the healing we need from the cross every day” – Rob Bell

I think I have become so content with life and where God has placed me, that I ignore the brokenness or hurt in my life. Life has become tolerable, which is apart of believing in a God bigger then this world.  But I don’t want tolerable, I want freedom from all brokenness. 

 Where is the brokenness? I’ve moved along with my life, left some issues unresolved, and am moving past them – unaddressed.

 Contentment sometimes blinds us from reality. I know there are regrets, insecurities, and anger that reside in my life that I am blinded to, because of this contentment.

 Unaddressed sin, brokenness, hurt, pain, etc…. are all ways in which Satan pulls us farther away from restoration and our original design and ultimately a full and complete relationship with Jesus.

 Thank God that I believe. Restoration is only found through Jesus – the cross wasn’t only about forgiveness, forgiveness leads us to restoration. Salvation is for all of me. I want it all. I’m working on it.

 “It is one thing to be saved. To believe in Jesus. It is another thing to be healed. It is possible to be saved and miserable. It is possible to be saved and not be a healthy, whole, life-giving person. It is possible for the cross to have done something for a person but not in them”            – Rob Bell

Desire

It is incredible how, in my spiritual life, I can tell if I’m blogging or not. Not that I hit a low of any sorts, but there is a certain amount of contentment I gain and growth I lack. I believe it has been a couple of months since my last post for various reasons – school year starting with Young Life, occupied by friends, lack of commitment to the blog, other ways in which I’ve been flushing out thoughts (small group and individual conversations). In all of that though, I miss my blog. There is a certain aspect about getting my thoughts down on paper, that I don’t gain anywhere else.

God has been faithful to me (in more ways then one). The past three months I have been stretched, challenged, humbled, doubtful, confused, but ultimately joyful. The ever challenging concept of trust, has proven to be effective and real.

This past weekend I was challenged and blessed. Young Life at ASU (YL@ASU) each fall holds a "college weekend", a weekend up in Northern Arizona at a Young Life camp. We encourage students to join us for the weekend, with the hope that either they will be introduced to a relationship with Jesus for the first time or be able to further that relationship. In the weekend I brought with me 5 guys, who were all sophomore's possessing different relationships with Jesus, different perspectives about what that relationship meant, and different desires to further that relationship.

Throughout the weekend I was able to lead a small group with these 5 guys, where we took the messages we heard throughout the weekend and discussed them. They challenged me. Without getting into too much detail - a lot of our conversations surrounded the idea of what a relationship with Jesus meant. A couple of them were disgusted with the Church's over used and sermonized concept of sin. One guy was challenged with this idea of "trust". Not wanting to place all his trust in something, if it could turn out to be false. How do we know Jesus is real? Then stating "all I want is to be able to trust someone". We talked about life experiences and the messages taken from those experiences. These guys were smart, honest, opinionated, and challenged what they heard (something that I admired).

Throughout the weekend we worked through these issues and questions. In that, God opened my eyes to another aspect of "our personal relationship with HIM". It is personal. Personal enough, where our relationship is what we make it. Words and seeking advice can only go so far, we have to want it. I have to possess a desire to want to address my brokenness and my weaknesses (sin). I have to possess a desire to want to further my relationship, sacrifice, and be challenged. Without that desire, we put on blinders to our sin and brokenness and brakes to a relational growth with Jesus.

I cannot expect to feel the tangibleness and joy of God, if I don't desire to seek it (him). Then once we desire to seek, we must ask ourself what seeking Christ even looks like?

I now understand that this desire for Christ produces freedom, healing, purpose, comfort, and joy; in a world where I'm seeing more and more brokenness and the pain involved.

Planning a Greater Plan

Topic of the post: planning. I’m at a point in my life where majority of people are planning out there next 5 -10 years. Envisioning where they will be, married or not married, their job, finances, kids or no kids, buying a house, where they will live, etc… I’ve done that. I’m doing that, but Jesus has determined to challenge my thinking, my planning, my vision (more then once).

Odd to imagine that 5 years ago I was considering pursuing a career as an accountant. If you know me at all today, that statement might provoke laughter. An accountant? I can’t identify a job that could be farther away from who I am today. But bound for college, I had to come up with a plan. I had to vision myself 5 years from then and sketch a plan for my life.

Today, I am supposed to be overseas, pursuing a job in international development (still high priority on my agenda). I had “planned” a year ago that August of ’08 I would be volunteering somewhere in Africa. Still in Tempe, AZ.

Right now I’m suppose to have a job. I’m suppose to be saving money for my departure next February, which would allow me to stay overseas for a long period of time. Mali is/was the destination, where family and opportunity are present.

See the pattern? Planning hasn’t quite worked for me.

James 4:13 

"Now listen, you who say, “ Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money. Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “ If it sit the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

I don’t know where I’ll be in 6 months, a year, absolutely not 5 or 10 years. No idea. Every time I have planned, God’s plan is the one that has prevailed. God’s plan has ended placing me somewhere that I feel completely blessed. That’s what I really want; “God’s will to be done” with my life. It is not an easy concept to live out though; there is a ton amount of trust and uncertainty involved, which has called me to persevere through the circumstances.

James 1:4

"Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Perseverance in these circumstances I feel has done just that. The last three months of my life have been challenging in fighting social expectations, searching for direction, and feeling without purpose. I truly believe that God has closed doors and I have remained without a job in the past three month because of this greater plan concept. I can easily say that I have learned more about myself and who my savior is, in these three months than in any other point in my life. And in these three months I have been overwhelmed with blessings. God has provided financially and with various opportunities that have enabled me to follow my “God Placed” passions. (that’s a whole other post though). Amen.

Conclusion: I do not want this post to come off as; that I believe one’s life should involve no planning at all. That’s merely impossible and quite irresponsible. I’m still trying to figure out how to decipher that line. This is what I’ve come up with so far: as followers of Christ, our number initiative is to “Do the Will of God”. If we take the passions and talents God has instilled in us and use them to bring him glory, God will direct us where we fit in his “big” plan. As we receive that direction, we are planning to pursue excellence, but always maintaining Christ at the forefront of everything.

Thoughts, comments, challenges, questions………

Ah, That's Perfect!

Hello all my brotha’s and sista’s. I’ve been meaning to blog the past couple of days, but because of my insanely busy schedule? I haven’t had time. No, I just have to be in the right frame of mind. And this morning I happen to be in that mind frame. Well, I don’t have a lot to say today, but I was really excited about what Justin had to say on Sunday. Which only makes me want to share it with my fellow bloggers. I also feel that the scripture answered a few questions from the last post and the comments that came afterwards.

Gitty-Up! Justin spoke on discipleship, which being a disciple of Jesus is living and walking as Jesus. Then emphasizing the purpose of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus, right? Living and walking is much more then just believing in Jesus as our savior, the word and truth are taken into our lifestyle. We chase after truth and live by the truth. We’ve talked about this before, being a Christian means being an active follower of Christ. But let’s take it to a whole other level.

The greatness of knowing Christ surpasses EVERYTHING. Do I/you truly believe that? If the answer is yes, then what are the implications of such a belief? God is better then anything and above everything. It’s a good thing. Not a dictatorship type betterness, a freeing, loving, and at peace betterness. I want to have a perfect relationship with Jesus, since it is the best possible life to live.

Philippians 3:12

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of what for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider yourself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

God wants a perfect relationship with us. I deem that awesome. That God of the universe wants to have a perfect relationship with me.

Sin exists, which keeps us from this perfect relationship, but do not let sin be an excuse. When I thought about this all I could think about was this idea of a Dead Christian (those words contradict themselves) versus an Alive Christian. A Dead Christian being someone who is stagnant in his or her relationship with Jesus. In a stand still, no growth. An Alive Christian, someone that is experiencing movement and growth towards Jesus. Each step taken to increase that relationship is a step taken towards establishing a perfect relationship with Jesus. No matter where we are at in our relationship. Conquering sin one step at a time. Though we determine how fast or slow we want this progression to take and the implications of our determination.

This is what God said to me on Sunday,

“I want a Perfect relationship with you. In that I will give you the greatest Joy, the most Strength, and the grandest power in Sharing who I am.”

In-Tent-Chin-Haul

Feels like forever since I last blogged. Quick life update. Spent some time in Iowa over the fourth of July, which I was able to spend with family. I love my family. It is amazing how I can look at my siblings, as not only family but best friends as well. I give all the credit to Jesus. Jesus lives within each one of my brothers and sisters and I know that is why our relationships are so unique. While I was in Iowa I said good-bye to my sister Ashley and her husband Joe for a while, since they left for their 27 month adventure in Mali, Africa where they will be working for the Peace Corp. I’m completely jealous, but also am excited to see how God molds their hearts during their experience. Other than that my life is exactly the same. No job, great friends.

Today I am going to take a break from the topic of community, though I have a couple more areas of community I want to discuss. This will be done later. Right now God has been throwing something else my way. For about the past few weeks God has been challenging me with this idea of being an intentional Christian.

This whole concept for me is hard to convey on paper, but let’s give it a shot. Through my own personal walk, being completely “on fire” for Christ one second, wanting to live out a life completely dedicated to him, feeling attached and devoted, wanting to love others, and allowing God to enter into various areas of my life which then transcends into a luke warm or a semi- 62 degree relationship. This is a concept; I believe every Christian can relate to, which is referred to a lot of time as the “spiritual rollercoaster”.

I hate the spiritual rollercoaster. I love it when I am completely sold out for Christ. So why? Why is it like this? Why can’t we just get it and live it always. This is what I’ve come up with so far. Quite simple, I think its cause we live in a world covered with sin.

The sin acts as a barrier to having a continuous whole-hearted relationship with Jesus. As humans we are slaves to sin, but the freedom lies within Jesus, righteousness. This is where the intentional part comes in. As Christians we must be intentional, each day, about being in an active relationship with Jesus, to seek righteousness and break us from this bon of sin. It’s an intentional lifestyle.

Romans 6:16                                                                                                                                             Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey – whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

We’ve made the point over and over, that life, as a Christian is not easy. Jesus calls us to much more than what “the world” offers. To reach that, to chase after that, I have to as a Christian intentionally and actively seek God everyday. A visit to church on Sunday, reading scripture every once in a while, praying when I want to, seeking God when it’s convenient, are areas that are going to keep me in this rollercoaster.

 Intentional – reading scripture everyday, maintaining a healthy prayer life, being in discussions with friends and family about Jesus, being involved with Church or other faith based organizations, pursuing a healthy Christian community, serving, sharing Jesus, allowing God to challenge your beliefs, continually learning, daily devotionals / “quiet times”, etc…

 Yesterday at Church, the Pastor Justin spoke about worship, which fits in exactly with this idea of being intentional everyday. I’m going to try to sum it up, very briefly, and suck at it, but bear with me. He spoke out of Romans 1:12 and how we are in active worship every day all day. Everything we do is because we are worshiping something. In these acts of worship we are given two choices, to worship God or someone/something else. For example, every night we choose to either worhip our body by going straight to sleep or worship God, by spending some time in prayer. A little more in-depth, many of us choose to worship image over God. Comparing ourselves to others, not being satisfied with who we are, wanting more, etc… Which leads to envy, insecurities, anger, and pulls us farther away from Jesus.

 Intentional. All day every day. Crazy. Worth it. The best thing about this whole concept, that I love, is that I want to be intentional about Jesus. It’s not cause I have this book with all these rules and regulations, which if I don’t follow I’m going to hell. It’s cause I’m in love with Jesus and in Jesus there is freedom from this dark, horrible, and depressing world. I want a life of freedom. I want to “live the dream” and “enjoy the journey”.

 Think about a life of no spiritual rollercoaster’s. You are always on a spiritual high, ready to tackle anything. Always feeling like that summer at Younglife camp, when you hear a good Sunday sermon, that drive home after a good discussion about Jesus, those times when you feel God the most. All day every day. The implications are huge. I want that.

 What are your guy’s thoughts? Any ideas of how to make this intentional life style easier? 

tangible LOVE

Tangible love, what a fun concept, figuring out how we can love on our neighbors. Doesn't get much better then that. After reading all the post and spending some time in the scripture, I have some thoughts:

I think we all have agree'd that Community is important, to have an active relationship with others (I believe Christian or non-Christian) is crucial. So does Jesus:

1 John 3:18
"Dear Children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."

Love is active and in Truth. The actions that our love produces is guided by the Truth that God has given. That is awesome. These are a couple of verses I found that can guide us in this "Truth" love:

Hebrews 10:24-25
"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another -- and all the more as you see the day approaching.

Loving others means encouraging one another. Encouraging friends, family, and strangers in life and in their relationship with Christ. "Spur" one another on toward love and good deeds. Push people into being stronger "lovers" and "better" people. I really enjoy this verse for a couple of reasons: 1. Encouraging to me, also means, spuring people to love Jesus more (the ultimate goal). 2. The more we spur other to love Jesus, the more power the body of Christ holds, which allows us to share the love, freedom, and salvation that Our savior holds to greater numbers.

Next, my sister Aubrey left a comment with this verse outlined:

1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Love is PATIENT and KIND. Love is NOT JEALOUS or BOASTFUL or PROUD or RUDE. It does NOT DEMAND its own way. It is NOT IRRITIABLE, and it keeps NO RECORD of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but REJOICES WITH THE TRUTH Love NEVER gives up, NEVER loses faith, is always HOPEFUL, and ENDURES through every circumstance."

Each section of this verse is a blog post alone, so I'm not going to dissect it too much. Read this verse and then think of the power of love. Though I've read this verse several times in the past, this time it rocked my world. I belive it's becasue I'm looking from a different perspective now. I desire to truly live a life in which I love my nieghbor, no matter who it is, with each of these characteristics. Though the nature of sin makes it nearly impossible, I believe there are levels of success, depending on how intentional (or serious) we are on showing Christ's love. Throughout the day, I catch myself in certain circumstances, reciting the section of this verse that is related to whatever is happening.

While you read through this, are there any verses that pop in your head that exhibit Christ's love and a love that we should possess? Share please! In the mean time:

Let's ENCOURAGE all lovers of Jesus to be intentional about LOVE