Costa Rica!!!

Like any mission trip, I again experienced God's faithfulness and experience His great love for us. Something about other cultures just gives me a sense of how big my God really is. I told the rest of the youth group how I just felt at home when I got there. It wasn't anything really special, I didn't feel nervous and never felt uneasy. I felt so comfortable with the culture and really felt like I was home. This was the same feeling I got when I went to Africa as well. It doesn't really feel like anything out of the ordinary or crazy, to me it just feels normal.

Before going I was kinda of worried about the language barrier, but once we left that was no longer a thought. I knew God would use our group to reach them. Once we got to Upala, where we served for 5 days, it was something beautiful God had created. It was awesome communicating outside of words and the challenge of communicating was exciting. I surprised myself with how much I could understand, or should I say that I understood anything. The people there are so open with their homes. One day we split into groups of two, me and Andrew were together, and we went to a families home. Neither of us spoke Spanish and the people we went with didn't speak any English. It was the best experience I had out of the whole trip. It was so awesome to communicate and see the beauty in their culture.

Another awesome thing was working with the kids. Those of you who know me well know my heart and passion for children. Also I have a passion for people in need, so working with the kids was awesome. Costa Rica is not a third world country and by many cultures standards they are well off, but they still had so much less than I did. It's awesome to see the joy in the kids faces and how the simplest thing's bring them the most joy.

Then the last 2 days in Costa Rica our group was able to experience and fulfill our need for adventure. We were able to see and enjoy the work of God. On Thursday we went zip-lining in the morning and then in the afternoon went white-water rafting. It was such an amazing experience and it was absolutely incredible. Then on Friday we went to the Pacific Ocean all day. Me and Andrew rented surfboards and I went surfing all day. It was incredible. The first time I went we had little 2 foot waves. Here we had 6 foot waves, and the surf shops were saying that they were some of the biggest waves they had seen. Needless to say I got the crap beat out of me, but I was able to get up 3 times and rode plenty of waves on my knees. It was such a rush and for me, there is no better way to soak in the beauty and power of God. It was incredible.

This is getting really long so I'll wrap it up and you can ask me more about it if you want to hear some stories. Through this experience, I felt my heart in the mission field. This may have just been a result of being on the trip, but over the past 3 or 4 months I have been feeling a stronger and stronger pull to go into full time missions. No matter what though, I know God is going to do incredible things in my life. So many times I plan out my future, but God is just laughing saying, "You of little faith, I have so much more in store for you. I have huge plans for you, if only you trust and rely on me." So that's where I'm at now. Continue to pray for me and for our youth group, that we could take this experience and the passion of the people there, back to our home church and light a spark in our church. God bless!

Time for a Revolution!!!

For the first time in a long time, I finally gave myself a chance to just relax and meditate on what God has given me. Saturday night around 3 in the morning I went outside and just sat for about 45 min. It was so good to just gaze and marvel at all God has created. It gave me a chance to just think about all God has blessed me with. After coming off a hard week it was just what I needed.

Earlier that day I started reading Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. This book has challenged me in so many ways. He is so radical in what he does and many times I questioned if it was too far out there, but then I started thinking about Jesus and the disciples and how radical they were. Jesus hung out with the homeless, the disciples gave up all they had and walked away from their jobs, and many were arrested. So why is this so crazy for us Christians? Why do we look down on people like this?

One statement made in the book was from a different author saying that Christians try to make the Bible sound complex so we can sit and try to understand what is being said, but honestly the Bible is clear and straightforward, but we don't want to read it like that cause then it convicts us to take action. Then I started thinking why I am not more bold about my faith. I'm scared of rejection and humiliation. So that's how I show my gratitude to a man who suffered more humiliation and rejection than anyone who has ever lived. He served with his life and here I am scared to serve.

It's time to step up and take action, to really die to myself and to serve my God with all I am. To testify to all I meet about how great of a God I serve. It's easy to say this though and quite another to act upon this. So this is my challenge for all who read this, along with a challenge for myself. Maybe your sick of all the challenges that those around us give, but think about the God we serve and how mighty He is, and then think about the sacrifice Jesus made so we could have eternal life. The least we could do is share what we believe. It's time to step up and be bold, no matter what the cost here on earth, I'm looking at an eternal life!!!

My Story!

Intro

Though my life may not have the excitement of others, and I never really had a wild stage, my life has been full of twist and turns. Many of my struggles are mind games that I play with myself. I pressure myself to live up to expectations that I placed on myself. As I struggled through many sins, not admitting anything to anyone. Finally I opened up this past year, and my world has been turned around. God has blessed me with some of the greatest friends anyone could ever ask for as they have encouraged me and supported me through everything. My how God has worked in the past year.

I have my whole story written down, but it's too long to put on here, so if you want to read more, ask and I'll send it to you.

Half way through summer!

So here I am, halfway through my summer experience. It's been so good for me to experience life on my own , and life away from the Christian environment. It's the first time in my life that I've really been outside the bubble and have had to really challenge myself.

Over the summer I've definitely struggled to read the Bible and pray. This has always been a struggle for me and that struggle has only increased by being here. I never really have time on my own, which at this point in the summer is really hard. I'm a guy that loves to just relax on my own and out in nature. Living in the city makes that hard to do, and working all the time. Working six days a week is starting to take it's toll on me. My body is starting to fall apart, and spiritually I have really been hurting.

This past week has been especially hard on me. Last weekend was great, going to Carmen's house was really good and really gave me a spiritual boost. Now though I've crashed and I'm ready to be home. Emotionally I've been struggling, physically I haven't been taking care of myself, and spiritually I am far from where I need to be. Right now I just feel like I'm not really having an impact on anyone and right now I really have the desire to do missions full time. I really do not know where God wants me in the future, but lately I've been feeling that I need to be in full time missions.

I know that God can use me in a mighty way, but I get down on myself so easily that many times this gets in the way. I struggle with self-doubt a lot and I let my mind take me down and that is one of the ways Satan attacks me.

So right now I'm really struggling to find where God wants me to go and how I can best be a disciple for Him. God has taught me a lot this summer, though I have not done a good job staying in communication with Him. It's been a great experience and a good way to get out of the bubble. I know God will use this experience and will continue to work in me.