"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere -
in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
Acts 1:8
Hmmmm.... so to me that sounds like a promise. You WILL receive POWER, not you might receive power, or if you are in the correct country you will receive power, or even if you pray hard enough and are good for long enough you will receive power. It says you WILL receive POWER when the Holy spirit comes upon you. I believe that the Lord is a good daddy, and wants to give good gifts to His children. and everyone knows christmas time is all about getting presents right? (insert heavy sarcasm) But there is one gift that i think God wants to give out a lot more, but maybe, just maybe, we aren't asking for it enough. The gifts of the Holy Spirit. I experienced these gifts first hand on the world race, seeing people get healed, hearing people prophesy, listening as people prayed in the spirit. I got to witness and be a part of that power! and to be honest i haven't seen a whole lot of that power since i got home. I have seen it, but not nearly as much and i want to know why? we have just as much access to that power here in America. God is still just as present and working here. so are you asking for that POWER this year, or one of those cool leopard print snuggies that i can't stop hearing about???
"Then, after doing all those things,
I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your old men will dream dreams,
and your young men will see visions.
In those days I will pour out my Spirit
even on servants-men and women alike.
And I will cause wonders in the heavens and on the earth-
blood and fire and columns of smoke.
The sun will become dark,
and the moon will turn blood red
before that great and terrible day of the Lord arrives.
But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
will be saved,
for some on Mount Zion in Jerusalem will escape,
just as the Lord has said.
These will be among the survivors
whom the Lord has called.
Joel 2:28-32
So i guess what i am saying this morning is that i want to see people using that power, that gift, that God has given us. i want to see people get healed. i want to see people get freed from depression and anger and abuse and addiction. i want to hear about people dreams from the Lord, and i want people to come up to me and say the Lord spoke to them and they got a word for me. maybe that last one is a bit selfish, but that is one of the perks of living with people who are in tune with God, and walking in His spirit.
hope this finds you all enjoying the holidays with the ones you love, whether in the room, or across the country, together in the Power and Spirit of the Lord.
generally while i was on the world race i didn't think of myself as filthy rich and spoiled. blessed? absolutely! having the time of my life and experiencing God in crazy new ways. yes. but not necessarily spoiled. that was until i got off the world race. it has now been almost three months, and i find myself feeling quite poor at times. i have a job now, and a couple of dollars in the bank, but that really has nothing to do with "wealth." i was thoroughly confused while out of the states as to why so many past racers were still hanging around the world race, living in little communities in Colorado and Michigan. i kept asking myself why there weren't moving on to the "real world." now i am starting to understand.
the hardest thing about not being on the world race anymore is not having the community that i had. i was so spoiled, filthy rich with community and i didn't even know it. i got back to kansas not expecting to find community there, so i didn't look for it, and of course i didn't find it. but i was so excited to get back to san diego, where i thought i had community before. i figured i would click in here, and i would fall into community here, and it would be just like the world race, only in san diego. well that hasn't exactly happened.
i find myself missing that community more and more each day. i realize i am doing a little more wallowing in self pity each day, reminiscing about the "way things were." but as i read books on community, and think back, i also remeber that community didn't happen overnight on the world race. it took months to really become "family," and we were living together 24/7, so why do i think it could happen in a month here? and to be honest how hard have i really tried to press into community here?
so i am sitting in the living room on thanksgiving. dreaming of what community could look like here in america. and i am not sure exactly what that is. but i believe the Lord is faithful. community is a gift from Him. so i will continue to "press in" to community in san diego. and i know that the Lord will provide community here, that i will find people that truly know the power of the Holy Spirit, that prophesy big things, that call out the "stuff," that want to see this world changed in huge ways for the Kingdom!
so we are spending our last month just
outside Jinotepe, Nicaragua, in an area called the barrio, which in Spanish
means "" It is a nice area, lots of wind, which keeps it cool, and keeps most
of the mosquitoes away!
We are working in the area, building
relationships with people, hanging out with lots of kids, doing some trash
clean-up and whatever else is needed. I had to opportunity to preach on Sunday
in church which was good, haven't really done that much since our overload in
Africa =)
I spoke on love, based on 1John 2:7-8,
4:7-21. If you haven't read there lately I recommend it, the Lord has taught me
so much on what love is this year, and is continuing to teach me. One major
point I took from the passage is this; if you aren't loving fearlessly, you
probably aren't loving at all. Jesus never worried about consequences when He
loved, and He knew what a lot of His love actions would bring, crucifixion. I
used the analogy of surfing. If you are scared when you surf, and you don't
charge the wave, you end up on top of the wave and get dumped over, and then
you aren't really surfing, you are drowning. But if you are fearless, and
commit to the wave, then you ride down it, and you don't have to do anything,
the wave does all the work pushing you along. It is the same way with love, if
we are fearless, the Lord is the one doing all the love through us, we just
have to charge after it and not worry about consequences.
Time is wrapping up out here, thank you
again and again for all your support, for reading my ramblings, for praying,
for commenting. It has meant so much, and fueled me along through these past 11
months. I cannot wait to hang out, get coffee, swap stories, and live this life
with all of you in the states. If you want to hang out and you are in the
Kansas area, I will be there from September 5th through the
beginning of October, and California folks I should be back sometime mid
October.
¨If James Dean was the rebel without a cause, Jesus is the rebel with one.¨
-Gary Best
This is my life, it goes against the grain of normal American culture. I chose to raise close to $14,000 so i could go work for someone else. so i could pay them to live in ¨less tha ideal conditions.¨
and i wouldn´t change it for anything. and i couldn´t have done it without the support from all of you!
this is my house.
this i my bathroom (note shower in front, and toilet in background).
this is my backyard.
this is my leg (notice 4 million bug bites).
these are my shoes.
this is dinner.
these are my neighbors.
this is the life i have chosen.
you have helped make it possible. thank you will never be enough, but from the bottom of my heart, thank you!
I have raised almost every penny that i need to cover the cost of this trip, but there is still an oppurtunity for anyone who would still like to donate. i spent close to $1000 out of my pocket taking care of pre-trip things such as shots, plane rides to training camp, and international insurance. those things are re-imbursable if i raise about the $13,800 that i need, which would be such a blessing when i get back to the states as a buffer while i am looking for a job. so please, pray about, ask the Lord if He wants you to continue supporting me financially, and most of all keep the prayers coming, they are the life-blood of what is going on out here. nothing but love for all of you.
¨Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever.¨
As I was lying in my tent last night unable to drift off to sleep because of the combination of Dan working on his lumberjack skills in his tent, and the half a cup of Coke that I drank at dinner (i swear i am a 90 year old man) i had plenty of time to think about whatever crossed my mind. one of the things i was thinking about was re-entry and what things i want to share about my trip, and what i have learned that i can explain to people in a short amount of time, because no matter how much people say they want to hear about the trip, the truth is i probably only have five minutes before i start losing most of them. so i was thinking about the crazy ways i have experienced the Lord this year, in ways i never have before, and realized the the change hasn't come because God works any differently out here, but because i have changed. The God i thought i knew growing up until i was 13 when i would have told you i was a Christian because i went to church and knew all the bible verses my teachers asked me to remember is the same God as the one i fully accepted into my heart when i was 13, but didn't know what to do with, is the same God who i started actually following and learning about when i turned 15 and cracked open my bible because i wanted to, is the same God who i served working at a church for the two and a half years in San Diego before i left for this race, is the same God who i experienced in even new and more radical ways the past 11 months. He doesn't just heal the blind in a hospital in Uganda, or take cancer out of a 15 year old boys leg in Romania. He is the same. He wants to do those things for all His children, no matter where they are. there are people right in their comfortable homes in America who have demons in them that need to be cast out, and He is just as willing and able to do it there as He is in a church in India. don't wait around for a third world country or a world wide missions trip to experience all the Lord has for you, because He is the same yesterday today and forever, in America or in Africa.
alright so i am a slacker, and here is day two of my creativity and fasting blog series...
things are going well with the fast, got a tangible answer to prayer on day one of the fast. it is funny how i can know that God is going to provide, not have any idea on how He is going to do that, but trust, wait, and boom... there it is. well that happened on Monday. and then the Lord revealed new things to pray about during this time, and again He answered more prayers. i am amazed at His faithfulness again and again.
anywho, i tried to record two different songs in the last two days, and couldn't get either to work, so i finally decided that i must just need to post a t-shirt design. these are super rough cuts, and still need lots of work, but it is what i have so far, and you can understand the basic idea.
sorry i am a little late on my blog for day one... the first day of fasting always seems the hardest for me, and yesterday was no different. during the day i was fine, but got the usual headache last night from not eating all day. but i got a little curveball last night which equaled some nasuea to go along with it. not sure how you can get an upset stomach when you haven't eaten, but i did it. ha. so the combination of not sleeping the night before, not eating all day, and headache/upset stomach = an early night of sleep for this guy.
none the less here is the first video. i wrote this song just a week ago while we were traveling around the country looking at castles and palaces. that really didn't have any correlation with the song, but it's what was going on when it was written. enjoy.
ps. no comments about the faces i make while playing guitar. i can't help it. i've tried.
As I'm walking around through this sea of faces,
Heads down, feet drag, eyes roam from here to there.
Everybody going, to their own places,
Their hearts all showing years of wear and tear.
So why don't we break these chains,
That shackle our hearts to the floor,
Swing wide, the gate called love
And let freedom roll out the door
Suburbs new houses, and every door is locked
Seclusion is comfort, no need for a change.
Neighbors are all strangers, there's fences all around
Our houses and our hearts and our closed minds too
so last night as i lay awake listening to rain (and Dan's snoring) i couldn't seem to shut off my brain. it was one of those nights where i didn't get to sleep until 4:45, and the alarm going off at 6:45 came way to early, and i had a lot of time to think about a lot of things. and of course i though many a time that i should just get up and write this down, but then i decided that i would lay in bed and try (unsuccessfully) to get to sleep, and so now i am reaching deep into my short-term memory to conjure up and recreate some of the things i pondered in chronological order...
1:30am-2:40am: one thing the Lord was revealing to me through my tossing and turning is that fasting is a spiritual discipline just like reading my Bible, praying, worshiping, and gathering with fellow believers. the difference is that i don't fast. i mean i have fasted maybe twice in my entire life. you see i am really good at making excuses against fasting. ie: "i am a growing boy, can't sacrifice those calories," "i eat 9 meals a day, i might die if i skip them," "i don't have anything really huge going on in my life that needs fasting, you only do that during a crisis." etc. etc. so as i thought about this i realized that maybe i should quit making excuses, and be obedient when i feel that little check in my spirit, and feel the Lord asking me to fast, instead of figuring out reasons why i don't really need to fast.
2:40am-2:45am: up drinking water and taking a potty break.
2:45am-3:45am: next up on the most of the night brain-churning was creativity. in the first few months of the race i began asking the Lord to give me some new creative outlets. you see i consider myself a fairly creative person inside my head, but getting those ideas out in a tangible way turns up pretty badly at times. when it comes to art, i have the gift of making even stick figures unintelligible (thanks mom, haha). i love music, but have never really worked hard enough at it to become better than mediocre in a few different areas. i love taking pictures, but leave my camera in my bag way more often than i take it out. hopefully you are starting to get the picture... so i asked the Lord for more outlets, and He of course answered. since then i have written about 6 songs, designed a few t-shirts, and even put a couple sketches in the old journal... nothing that will make me millions in the american pop culture scene, but encouraging to me none the less.
3:45am-3:50am: another drink of water.
3:50am-4:40am: my conclusions. in lieu of these things, i am going to be taking the next five days and attempting to fast. i know in the Bible it tells us to comb our hair, and wash our face so no one knows that we are fasting, and so i assure you i am not telling you this to get any sort of praise or recognition, but more to finish the thought process, and explain the hopeful results. as i spend time fasting, i am also planning on recording the songs that the Lord has allowed me to write, and consequently posting them here. i will blog once a day for the five days of fasting, posting either one song or one t-shirt design (rough cuts of both of course) and share anything that the Lord is teaching me that day.
4:41am: sleep at last...
so that is my plan. i hope something that i am learning will encourage anyone reading. i hope you ask the Lord to give you creative outlets. and i hope most of all that you are obedient to His call on your life, no matter what it is. i'll be back tonight with the first edition...
"I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He
cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit, and he prunes
the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more."
~ John 15:1-2 ~
Last week Dan and I had the opportunity to do a little grape vine pruning. I have never done this before, nor has Dan, but we figured how hard can it be... a snip here and a snip there and you got a nice little bundle of grapes all ready for eating.
As it turned out, it wasn't too terribly difficult, but while doing it the passage in John about God being the gardener and us being the vine came alive to me. I was pruning away, and as I cut that story kept popping into my mind. I was cutting off large ends of the vine, which looked strong and healthy, but were bearing no fruit. Some of the vines I cut seemed to be the thickest vines on the plant, and some of them were holding up a lot of the weight of the grapes, but they still had to go. What I learned is that if the vine isn't producing fruit, it is sucking up nutrients and other good stuff that the grapes need. The pruning was definitely a "painful" process for the vine, part of it being cut off, but in the end it will help produce better fruit in the vines that actually have grapes on them.
"For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes,
I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in
them, will produce much fruit.For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone
who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and
withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned."
wow. it has been awhile since i invested some time in the blogging world. let's see what has happened between then and now... we finished our time at Casa Shalom and it was an awesome month. sorted through a 40 foot trailer full of goods from Germany and had a two day yard sale with food, an orchestra, and one golf cart driven by crazy romanian teenagers. (luckily no one died). i mentioned Pavel in one of my last posts, the boy with cancer in his leg. we prayed for him a bunch while he was there, he went back to the doctor and they said the cancer was still there, and he was going to need to have his leg amputated. he came back to Casa Shalom to decide if that was what he wanted to do, and decided to get a second opinion and some more prayer. after a few days of praying he went to another doctor who did a completely new bone scan and said there was no cancer! he still had an infection that needed to be cleaned out, but no more cancer, and no more talk of amputation. praise the Lord!
then we headed out to Brasov, Romania for some debrief and rest. had a good time there, the city was cool, the Hindes came out and filled us up, and we got to celebrate their wedding aniversary while they were with us, which was a great time.
and now we are in Timisoara, Romania. working with a couple different ministries, one involves hanging out with some awesome kids with disabilities, taking them to the zoo/pool/mall. we are also working with a ministry called Potter's house, which is an after school program for kids with less than awesome parents/home-lives. Our contacts are great, we got a washing machine and a real coffee pot. can't complain about anything these days.
