So.....I'm in China.

Back to the Future Part III

2007-01-20T06:59:00.001-08:00

Okay, goofy post time. The past couple of days I have been sick. During this time of being sick and laying in bed for hours and hours I have had the opportunity to watch some movies. Today on tv, Back to the Future Part III came on. Cool movie by the way. Well I believe I noticed an inconsistency in the movie and if any of you guys are familiar with this movie or want to go watch it please check if a flaw has been made. I would love feedback.

So here it is. How is it that the ravine that Marty and Doc saved Clara Clayton from, was named Clayton Ravine, in memory of her falling into that ravine and dying. And yet at the same time on Doc’s tombstone it said he was survived by his beloved Clara. I mean, their relationship started because he saved her from falling into the ravine. So how was it still named after her for falling into it if he saved her life? Feel free to comment. Did I just miss something or did the writer make a booboo? Yes I said booboo.

Back to the Future Part III

2007-01-20T06:59:00.000-08:00

Pics from Christmas at home.

2007-01-11T11:53:00.000-08:00

Above:Wade doing his thing by the Christmas tree.
Below:Me covered in snow after sledding.

Picture time with the fam and some of the grandparents.
It snowed a lot in New Mexico. It was really pretty.

Now you might ask why I posted this last picture. Well, this is my friend Michael trying to hide behind a pillow because he doesn't want his picture taken. Well I thought it appropriate to post this picture and let everyone see his pretty face. Your welcome Michael. Haha.

I'm back and I'm back.

2007-01-10T18:10:00.000-08:00

Hello all. I am now back in Beijing and start back at work tomorrow. It was soooo good to be home for a while and see everyone that I saw. Thanks to everyone that I saw. Thank you for your questions and just being a friend. You are greatly appreciated.
I am also back in the since that I now writing again on my blog. It's been a while since I have posted anything and I appoligize for not doing that. In these last 4 months that I am here I will try to keep you guys posted on what's going on.
I want to talk a little bit about something God has been teaching me lately. Since being in china, I have had some very hard times. Through those times though, I have come to understand the following passage more and more.
2 Cor. 1:3-7
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. "

I have come to know the comfort of God experiencially here in china and then through this passage, have come to know that through this comfort I have the ability and responsibility to comfort other people in their afflictions with the comfort that God comforted me with. So a question I have been pondering lately is how do I comfort people in their sufferings and afflictions the way God comforts me in those? Feel free to lend your ideas or points God has taught you.

Through this whole passage I feel I understand and identify with Paul and can actually feel what he is saying and can feel the emotion behind what he is saying. This next set of verses, I also identify with.
2 Cor. 1:8-11
"For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. "

It's kind of amusing that he specifically says asia in this section and then basically explains a lot of what I have felt in the past 7 months and even now. Maybe there is just something about asia that brings this out. haha.

In the next couple of days I will be posting more pictures from when I was home over the break. This picture at the top is from when my family and I went to new mexico over new years to visit some family friends. It snowed a lot while we were there and this day we had been sledding down a hill. Also, thank you so much for anybody that prays for me while I am over here. I sincerely appreciate it because I know that our God answers them.

He walks on the wings of the wind.

2006-10-07T08:05:00.000-07:00

"He walks on the wings of the wind." Psalm 104:3
A couple of years ago a friend of mine was going through a hard time in her life. Her dad had died suddenly while she was at college. He had become a Christian a couple years before that, but this was a still a hard time in her life. A week or so later after she had returned to school, I saw her on campus sitting on a bench reading her Bible. I walked up to her and asked her what she was reading. She said "He walks on the wings of the wind." And then asked me, "Do you feel that wind today?"
I came across this verse again just now and was reminded by my friend again that Jesus walks on the wings of the wind. He is all around us. He is near. That is a comforting statement to me. Next time you go outside and feel the breeze hit you, I hope you think of this verse and find joy in that truth.

Pure faith.

2006-09-25T06:39:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I was reading in 1 Peter and this passage stuck out to me.

"Thank God, the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that in His great mercy we men have been born again into a life full of hope, through Christ's rising again from the dead! You can now hope for a perfect inheritance beyond the reach of change and decay, reserved in Heaven for you. And in the meantime you are guarded by the power of God operating through your faith, till you enter fully into the salvation which is all ready for the denouement of the last day. This means tremendous joy to you, I know, even though at present you are temporarily harassed by all kinds of trials and temptations. This is no accident, it happens to prove your faith, which is infinitely more valuable than gold, and gold as you know, even though it is ultimately perishable, must be purified by fire." (J.B. Phillips version)

I read the part about our faith being like gold and that is must be purified and it hit me that that is what Jesus is doing in me in this season. He is purifying my faith. Taking out the impurities and then molding it into what He wants it to be. It was so awesome. And not only that, but also that it earlier talks about how it is no accident that I am where I am. Jesus's hand is all over what is going on in my life and it is for my good and so that I may know Him more and have a purer faith. I love that. PTL.

Poem

2006-09-17T05:06:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Here is a poem that a friend of mine wrote that I thought was awesome. It conveys really well what I think we as Christians, at least me anyway, have touble saying. Enjoy.

Inspiration

There lies in me a longing deep
To praise, to laugh, to mourn, to weep.
My spirit, from its core, seeks out
Some way, some how to let it out.
Flowing from the heart the mouth speaks,
But will this fulfill what my soul seeks?

This burning love, how to describe
Was shown to me first, it will not hide.
I want so much for all to see
The rich elation that’s now in me.
But I can’t begin to think of how
To convey the love that’s in me now.

Can words, in essence, be so bold
As to tell of dreams and thoughts untold?
And to the heart can they be true
To somehow express emotions new?
How can one possibly convey
The depths of the soul in any way?

Not from my mind, but something more
The words come from the One I adore.
Just like the Psalms of David’s time,
He gives the words for beautiful rhyme.
My Savior, my Lord, my Friend
Expresses Himself through me to the end.

Labor Day Weekend

2006-09-08T05:57:00.000-07:00

Yo guys. This past weekend was labor day weekend and we got 3 days off to celebrate. My friend Nathan and I got to go to northern China to go visit some people there that I knew. It was a really cool trip. We rode a train for ten hours through the night to get there and on the way back. It was fun experience. Here are some pics of the weekend.This is me on top of a small mountain outside of the city we were visiting. I was freezing!!
This is Nathan drinking his milk tea, and James and I in our grass eating poses. This was taken at a Mongolian restaurant. It was awesome. I love the food over here more and more.
This is me in a kind of market in the city we were visiting. It was in the Hui(pronounced Way or Wei) part of town. The Hui are chinese muslims who are spread all over China. We got to see one of there mosques while we were there.

Please pray for me as I'm over here. I love it here more all the time but it's also hard being here sometimes. The Lord is teaching me so much but at the same time stretching me, and as you know stretching is uncomfortable. I don't know about you guys but I like being comfortable. Maybe that is why I am over here. Haha. Well one of the things that I know now more than ever is that I can totally trust where Jesus has me and where He is taking me and what He is teaching me, and I can do this because He is good and He loves me. I hope that does not sound shallor because in the last 3 months that has become so real to me. That I am His son and He is a good Father. I love that.
Thanks guys. Later.

Thanks

2006-08-15T05:11:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. The surgery went well. I am now back in Beijing and doing well. Hong Kong was awesome. I got to walk around the city some and ride a ferry across the harbor there. Thanks Michael.
I felt like the whole trip was a gift from the Lord. It was under unusual circumstances, but the whole weekend was a refreshment and just a cool experience.
While there I found a christian bookstore and bought some books including 'Chasing the Dragon.' Which is about Jackie Pullinger who was a lady God sent to Hong Kong in the 60's. It's very good so far. I recommend it.
Thank you everyone for your prayers.
Jay

Hong Kong bound

2006-08-10T06:56:00.000-07:00

Hey hey guys,
"Blessed is the man who puts his trust in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord."
The other day I was reading where Jesus and the disciples are in a boat and Jesus is asleep. A big storm comes and the wind is strong and the waves are high and the discples start freaking out and wake up Jesus and tell him that they are perishing. He gets up and tells the wind and the waves to stop and they do. Then he says to the disciples, where has your faith gone? I am still here.
I do that so much. Circumstances come up or just my mind starts to think about something and I cry out to Jesus "Where are you Jesus?! I'm dying here!" I feel like Jesus reacts in the same way as He did with the disciples.
I'm Here. I've always been here. Trust me.
That is so sweet to hear and to know and to trust. I love Jesus. With all of the pleasures of the world, Jesus is the only thing that I have found that is constant and that really fulfills.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is in the Lord.

Well I just wanted to share a little about my life right now since I haven't updated in a while. I have a prayer request. Two weeks ago I fell down at work and dislocated my finger and broke a bone in my hand. So tomorrow, Aug. 11, I'm flying to Hong Kong to have surgery to repair and put a plate on the bone. I am actually really excited about getting to go to Hong Kong and feeling really well about the surgery and stuff. Pray that I can trust Jesus with everything in my life.
Thanks.
Jay

Pics from the past two days

2006-07-04T06:15:00.000-07:00

We had the past couple of days off from work because of the 4th, so I got to do some touristy things. I got to go to the Lingquan Gorge and the Forbidden City. Here ya go.

Very pretty, no?!

Very much China.

The Forbidden City. The home for the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

This is Linda our guide at the Forbidden City, the man himself Wallace Flakes, and me in the Garden of the Forbidden City.

Mr. Mao

1 month down

2006-07-02T04:18:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it, but I have already been here in Beijing for a month. The time here so far has really flown by. I am growing to love it here more and more everyday.
We have a 3 day weekend off from work for July 4th, and today a bunch of people at work took a trip to this gorge about two hours away from our hotel. It was awesome. This place was absolutely beautiful. It felt like I was in that scene of Jurassic Park where they are flying down onto the island in that helicopter. If you know what I am talking about, it looked like that. If not, just go with me on this. Anyway, it was awesome. I got to hang out with some of the men from work who are christians. I got to hear some of where Jesus has brought them over the past twenty years or so. I learn more all of the time how Jesus totally changes lives when He captures people's hearts. Also at this gorge I did a zip line. It was way cool and quite a rush. They also had bunjee jumping, but no way was I going to do that.
Quick story about the zip line. I went up there to do it and they put this harness on me, and all looked well. Then one of the workers put a harness on and went on the zip line ahead of me across the river. It was good to see that, because there wasn't someone on the other side to catch me. (The zip line wasn't very busy. Most people were doing the bunjee jump.) So he goes down and then it's my turn. So I get tied in and I jump off. I'm going down and it's awesome. As I'm approaching the other side, they have this concrete pad for me to land on and a net behind it. I'm assuming that the worker will step in front and catch me or something, but no he backs away. So I head in to land and I'm trying to just land on my feet on the concrete but I'm going to fast to do that so I just go straight into the net and kind of fall back onto the concrete. Honestly it was really fun. It would have been nice to know what I was supposed to do, but what do you expect when you can't talk to the people. Also, the picture that is with this post is of me on the zip line right after I jumped off of the platform. I'm really small, so I don't know if you can see me.
Now if you don't mind I want to talk a little of what is on my heart lately. Everyday I feel Jesus growing in me a real desire for souls to know Him. All day I am at work around these people, and honestly what my desire for them is to know the Jesus I know. To know that God is really real and that He is better than anything ever and He cares for them. They are so decieved and waste there life on drunkeness and sex and hating people and money. Jesus is so much better than the things of this world. One night a week or so ago, I was in a starbucks and just talking to Jesus about how I want so bad for these people for to know Him and to have a God in this world and to have a hope, but that I didn't know what to do or how to do it. I felt like He said to love them. Specifically to care about them and the things they care about. I have felt like He has said something to this degree to me before and I feel like what He continues to teach me is that when being a Christian around non-Christians and sharing the gospel with them, I need to "love my neighbor as myself." I need to care that their marriage is a wreck, and that they wonder why life seems pointless, and why they feel miserable when they are by themselves. I hope this makes sense and please pray for me that I would care and would not be so selfish to not get into people's lives the way Jesus did.
Jeremiah 17:7-8

Mt. Everest in Alaska?

2006-06-16T06:49:00.000-07:00

Hello all. It has come to my attention that I made the mistake in my last post of calling the mountain I saw while flying over Alaska, Mt. Everest. Now to clear things up, Mt. Everest did not move to Alaska, as some of my friends have asked me and I didn't fly over Nepal instead of Alaska. The mountain that I saw from the plane was Mt. McKinley.

To update everyone, things continue to go well here. Work drains me of most of my energy, but I try to get out most nights and do something. I had a cool experience last night. I finally got to hang out with a national. I was in the embassy district, eating at this place called Grandma's Kitchen, which by the way is really cool. It's this place that serves American food. I got combination fajitas, and guess what else they had that I got. Dr. Pepper. You can imagine my excitement with I saw they had Dr. Pepper.
Anyway, I ate and left and was just walking around and this chinese guy stops me and starts to talk to me in pretty good english. He asks where am I from, what am I doing here, the usual stuff. I ask him some questions and he tells me he is an art student here in Beijing and then he asks me to come see his studio. It was right beside where we were and so we go into this building and go up the elevator.
At this point, I asked myself if this was the safest thing to be doing. Going into some building with some guy I just met, but I asked the Lord to be with me and I didn't feel like Jesus was telling me to get out or anything. So we go to this room and it's just this kind classroom with Chinese artwork all over the room. His professor was there also. Apparently, the prof is some famous artist in Beijing. Who knows.
Well, he shows me their art, and it was very cool. The guy I met then asks me if I would like to buy a piece and I think about it for a sec and I look around I like the pieces with just chinese characters on them. It then hits me that I had asked Jesus for one of those chinese scrolls that you hang up and I wanted to have a bible verse on it in chinese. So I asked him if they could do that and he said sure. So I got out my bible and picked one and they started to translate it and put in on the paper in chinese.
While his professor was doing this, the guy I met and I started talking and well lets just say that it was very good talk. I told him how I had changed over the past 3 years and I got to tell him about the good story, if you know what I mean. He had lots of questions, it was very cool. He told me that I seemed different than the other americans he had met and that I actually mean't what I said I believed. That I was sincere. I thanked him. He gave me his email and we are going to try to hang out some more and I am going to try to see if he will teach me some chinese.
I was very encouraged by this and to see God's hand over my life and other's lives when we are not even trying or expecting it. PTL.
Night guys.

Pics so far.

2006-06-10T06:41:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. Here are some pictures of Beijing so far. It's not much but I thought you might want to see them.
This one is actually on the plane over Alaska. You can see Mt. Everest over the second engine. Alaska is beautiful from the sky.

Here is Beijing the day after I got here. Good ol' smog. Since this day though, it has been very pretty here.

Here is my home for the next year. The Rosedale Hotel. I like it.

This is from a park that is across the street from my hotel.

I shaved my beard!!!

2006-06-08T05:08:00.000-07:00

That's the bitg news folks. Yes I know, I know. I shaved my beard. It's hard I know. But Jesus is with us in the hard times.

Anyway, China is good. I like it here. The people are really funny and nice. It's really funny to be walking in a park or just down a street in either the morning or the evening and see a lot of old people walking while doing stretches at the same time. I guess it's a China thing. It's just funny to see an old lady walking like you would on a tredmill, while doing a windmill with her arms.

Also, today I experienced my first almost get lost in the huge city of Beijing time. I know that is not the best gramatical sentence ever but I think it fits for the circumstance. I was going to go to this coffee shop that I like and has free internet, but I wanted to go to this other hotel first because there were some guys bowling there. I didn't end up bowling but I still wanted to go to the coffee shop. So in my american know-how I thought I could go down this street that seemed parallel and then take a right, and then I should run into the street that the coffee shop is on. Well not quite. I ended up going down this street then turning right, I had no idea where I was and kept going. By this time I was asking Jesus to guide my steps and help me to not get lost. Then I looked up and saw the moon and remembered that I had seen it the night before about the same time so I just the street that was in the direction relative to where the moon was. Also, I felt like Jesus was wanting me to look around and notice people. To look at them as each being a person. I don't know how well I do at that. Anyway, I ended up coming right to the coffee shop and here I am telling you guys.

Also today I had a oh yeah experience. I was on the bus back to the hotel from work and I sat next to another guy from A&M that I have met. I saw him reading a Christian book, but he doens't seem to be a Christian. So the other day I prayed that I would have the oppurtunity to talk with him. So today I sat next to him and we talked and I asked him about it and he said goes to a church in dallas, but that the temptations at A&M were hard. I got tell him a little of that Jesus changed me and that I am a new person since I became a Christian. Well we got off the bus and I got to my room and it hit me that I had prayed for that to happen and I was filled with joy and a lot of faith. Jesus has been teaching me to really believe Him in prayer. That He really hears me and cares for me. Jesus is so awesome.

Well that's about all I got. Thanks guys.

So I'm going to China

2006-05-25T16:28:00.000-07:00

I found out that I am leaving College Station on Wednesday, May 31. I will be leaving for China on Saturday, June 3. Crazy!!! I guess this is my first official "Trip to China" post. I don't have anything else to say, I just wanted let the plethra of people who read my blog know when I am leaving. Thanks.

Feedback please.

2006-05-15T08:23:00.000-07:00

I really don't know how many people read this blog but I have a question and I would like some feedback of what you guys think and what the Lord has taught you. Ok, first some background. I have been reading in Exodus and through the specifications of the Tabernacle that the Lord gives to Moses. The Lord goes through all of these specs, gold on this and bronze on that and this garment is to look like this, and so forth. Anyway, after all of this is built and really to be used, Aaron and his sons are to be the priets and to make sacrifices to the Lord and to minister to Him. Now the last one is the one that I have a question about.
What does it mean to minister to the Lord? How is that different that serving Him, if it is at all?
From what I know, or think I know, I feel like ministering to the Lord is a part of prayer where we are listening to God and His concerns and heart on things. Now that may sound like that downgrades God to our level, but I do not mean it like that, and I do believe that our relationship with God consists of not only us being servants and children of God but also His friends. Not that He needs friends but wants them. And a friendship consists of a two-way relationship. Jesus was not only the Rabbi and John the disciple, but they were friends and hung out and shared there hearts, thoughts, and concerns.
Now is that what ministering to the Lord is, I have no idea, but that is where you guys and your experience come in. Please leave your thoughts.
May our relationship with Jesus become more and more intimate everyday. Thanks.

No more school....and other thoughts.

2006-05-05T22:47:00.000-07:00

PTL! Today I finished my last day of school for a whole year while I am in China. That's pretty crazy.
Recently, I have been thinking a lot about actually moving to China and being over there for a year. I am at the same time really excited and pretty nervous, but I feel the Lord is excited that I am going and this encourages me daily. I don't know why, but I feel like this next season in my life is going to be a big growth season for me. That Jesus is going to bring me to places where I have nowhere else to go but Him. Thoughts that come to mind when I think about this are probably half and half of first fears and then excited expectations. Fears of lonliness and homesickness, and excited expectations of experiences of the Lord's presence and getting to know Jesus in ways that would be harder to come to or maybe even impossible in this point in time if I weren't in China.

Right now I am reading a book about a missionary lady named Isobel Kuhn. She's a really neat Christian woman who really sought to put Jesus first everyday. Well in the book she talks about a season in her life where the Lord brings her to a place where Jesus takes away a lot of the places where she would run to and where her affections lied. She references Gal. 5:24 "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." and talks about how Jesus wants us to become like Him so much that we have to nail even our affections to the cross. Not that we don't love the people around us, such as family and friends, but that we would first go to Jesus and He would be our first and ultimate refuge and where our affections lie.
I feel Jesus wants this for me also. That Jesus would be my hiding place, my refuge.

Revived

2006-04-30T20:35:00.000-07:00

Tonight my roommate Justin and I watched the dvd, Transformations II. My heart and soul were totally revived and encouraged and challenged. For those that don't know, Transformations is a video about God's presence showing up in difference places around the world and how revival comes and the community is totally changed. The Holy Spirit comes and then deep repentance, followed by renewal of the community in the spiritual and physical realms. It's so beautiful.

One of the more awesome testimonies on the dvd was about these villages in the east arctic territories of Canada. These people were seeking Jesus and asking Him to help their troubled community for weeks and months. (It's seems like I know nothing of this kind of prayer.) All of the sudden stuff just started to happen. People started to get tired of their drugs and porn and alcohol and they came to church in droves. People were getting born again left and right.
One Sunday afternoon they decided to have a youth service. They were praying and singing and seeking the Lord. All of the sudden the Holy Spirit showed up. (They have this on recording.) On the tape you hear this huge wind just show up and it sounds like a jet engine is in the room. People are crying out and whaling. God was in the room.

They were interviewing some of the people that were at that meeting and they played the tape for them and they just started to cry. It was so real to them and they were so humbled that the God of the universe came down and poured out His spirit on them. It was so beautiful.
Make we seek the Lord like this. I think at least in my own life, I don't experience Jesus like this or even attempt to because I don't believe it can happen. I don't even feel like I am hungry enough for God to seek Him like these people. Help me Jesus.

At the same time my heart is so encouraged and excited about Jesus and that He is real. That we can know Him. He is so patient with us and so kind and tender. I love the tender heard of Jesus. I am so weak and unable to seek the Lord like He should be sought. Help me Jesus.
I love Jesus. I also love my brothers and sisters in Jesus. PTL!

Not mine, but very good.

2006-04-27T18:29:00.000-07:00

This next post is not mine. It was written by my friend Brian, but I thought it was very good and honest. It's about....no, no I'll let you find out. I hope that you will read his thoughts, meditate on them, and seek Jesus about what to do in your heart and life. Thanks.

There is a place in Calcutta called "The House of the Dying," a place where the dying on the street are taken in so that they can die with some degree of dignity. A young man named Charles went to minister there to the people of India, his job was to find those close to death and bring them into the house to receive a clean bed, clean clothing, and nourishing food. Their heads are shaved to rid them of lice and they are bathed and allowed to rest. Most are dying of tuberculosis and they sit and spit their deseased lungs into a communal glass jar. When the jar is filled it is sealed and put into the trash. Lepers too come to die and their rancid clothing is taken from them and their leprous sores are drained with a syrenge to draw the poison out so that their death is mildly eased. Through the years Charles learned to see the people in the house of the dying as hard pressed people in need of Christ and His compassion. The one job that Charles begged not to be assigned was to take out the trash. He begged not to be asked to perform this duty because the trash bag was thrown into the dump and starving street children would tear into the bag and rummage through the leprous clothing, the filthy syrenges, the lice riden hair, opening the jars of disease looking for what scraps of food the dying could not eat.

As I recalled that story this morning I sat and cried in the presence of Jesus and thought of the 5 million Sudanese people who are being starved to death in the desert by their Islamicist government and the millions of child prostitutes living on the streets in Deli, and the 97% of middle eastern women who were genitally mutilated at around 12 years old to "curb their passions." I thought about the eight and ten year old children who are kidnapped in Uganda and Rowanda, desensitized to violence by being forced to kill one another and then forced to fight and kill in the LRA for years. I thought about the first born male of every family in Tibet who are sexually abused and forced to meditate on and worship the god of Hell when their parents give them to the Tibetan Budhist Monastery at age five.

That sadness turned to indignation today at the ease and the demands of my own life. Brothers and sisters we live in DISNEYLAND! We live in opulence that the greatest portion of the world cannot fathom and we demand more and more and have the audacity to ask Jesus if He would have us do something about the sick dying and perverse world around us. It is an insulting question. Ignorance, or feigned ignorance, will profit us nothing when we stand before the Savior of Mankind who commanded us to "Go!" in His Name and to heal the sick, the cleanse the lepers, the feed the hungry, to release the oppressed from bondage and to defend the fatherless and the widow. How will we answer to Him when the one who embraced poverty and pain and sweat and sickness and shame to touch us in our need if we refuse to touch those people who are in need of some portion of what He has given to us. Read the gospels, how much time and resource did Jesus devote of His ministry to feeding, healing, raising, comforting? A lot, he taught in the midst of it, and the gospel is our most precious gift, but if we look like Jesus we will look like an increadibly giving compassionate hands on people. America is killing it's self with it's hording.

What does that mean in my life. It means both a renewed and a new commitment to practically showing the love of Christ with the work of my hands to the people in the world who are most in need. It means a no duh approach to hearing Jesus voice in my life....a 2,000,000 401K program so that I can spend my final days in grotesque ease or spending my life and resource for the sake of the lost and the healing of the sick and the feeding of the starving and the protection of the fatherless with eyes open to the reality that I will be judged in light of; on the day that I stand before Jesus Christ with only small and pathetic efforts to offer Him. Light and momentary affliction, which He promises is building for us an eternal weight of glory.

Hanging on too tight.

2006-04-17T18:33:00.000-07:00

Today I was reminded of a Corrie Ten Boom quote I heard once where she talks about not hanging on too tight to the things of this world, because it is too hard when Jesus takes them away. These could even be things that are not bad in themselves but just not what Jesus wants for us at the moment. I have been struggling with some issue for about five months now and today I feel like I came to a wall. I'm just tired of playing games with my heart and not guarding it very well and then when I have messed up Jesus comes and takes it away. (out of His mercy and goodwill toward me.)
I was walking to my truck after this happened and I felt Jesus encouraging me that He was doing this my good. I felt like He was refering to the verse in Hebrews 12, where it talks about "those whom the Father loves, He disciplines." And it was almost if He defined 'discipline' for me as 'to guide.' I don't know if that definition actually workes but that is what it felt like Jesus was telling me. That He 'guides' me to what is for His glory and for my good because He loves me.
How cool is that. I was very encouraged after this. Praise Jesus that we serve a God that is infinite and can see so much farther than our finite circumstances and desires. PTL.

What I'm thinking this morning.

2006-04-14T08:37:00.000-07:00

Every day I am more and more convinced that the devil's goal in my life is to get me from believing two things: first, that God is a good God. That He is a good father(among other things), and that I can trust Him with my whole everything. Instead the devil wants me to somehow believe that God is mean and hard, and reaping where He did not sow. (sound familiar?)

The second thing is that God is near. That He is nearer to us than the skin on our own bodies. Philippians 4:5 says exactly that, "The Lord is near." And not a near as in His physical second-coming near but that Jesus is always everywhere near to each one of us. Instead the devil wants me to believe that God is not near at all, and somehow will come be near to me later when I do enough good things or when He has time.(The devil is a jerk huh?)

Paul says "The Lord is near." and then says to pray and make our requests known to God and that then "the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Why does Paul say it like this or in this order? Well with the presuppositions of that God is near to us and that God is good, this gives us "an abiding peace and contentment with knowing that our lives are in the hands of a loving God." Then, with me at least, I have faith to pray and to seek the Lord and to believe that "He is and He is a rewarder of those who seek Him."
Blessings

First post.

2006-04-12T19:59:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog. Very exciting I know. This is a test. Booyah.