By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
Hebrews 11:8
You hear the voice of the Lord and you must go.
To who else could we turn?(John 6:68)
Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.
Do you trust that he has you?
Do you trust that Romans 8:28 is true in all times?
DO I TRUST THIS???
I promised an update some time ago.
Plans changed dramatically and I have been giving it time trying to discern the best course of communication and equally important having something concrete to update on.
I planned to go to Asia. It was settled. Then God moved.
That plan changed for good reason and because the Lord has SO STRONGLY confirmed the calling to this particular location I MUST FOLLOW STILL.
I will be leaving on Sunday afternoon and as the author of Hebrews states above;
He "obeyed and went' despite unknowns about what and where.
We teach our students the paramount importance of hearing and obeying the voice of the Lord, I think over the last two years it has remained the focal shift and blessing in the lives of students that I have had the wonderful pleasure to teach and be with.
Jesus is the master teacher still and I, a disciple, still learning and desiring him will obey by His grace His awesome voice in this world wherever He calls.
We also talk a lot about abandonment. This almost always involves fear.
Perfect love, which our God is, never fails and it CASTS OUT FEAR.
My hope is that this blog can and will encourage someone who is wrestling against the good and gracious leading of the Lord to simply surrender and abandon safety nets, comfort and control and GO DEEPER. Way deeper into goodness.
Believe the Lord Child of God!! Go and Cross the Jordan and claim what is given,
The Lord says "it is a good land." (Duet 1:25) You must believe and ask for a lot of help.
So will I ever be on another AIM trip?
If the Lord keeps the door open and again calls me to it, then yes. May your will be done.
I do and will miss MANY people. It remains my prayer that I might see them again.
Thank you for reading, praying and following along.
If I establish another blog, despite location sensitivity I will post again.
So we are down to our last week here in Jino-Tepe, Nicaragua.
Next week will be swallowed up with a time of debriefing, cleaning, packing and of course the always fun.....traveling.
I have been spending most of my time these last few days organizing this final week.
Debrief needs, goodbyes, vehicles, organizing a banquet (see last weeks blog, Luke 14:12), rice and beans, phone calls, finances....
It's kind of strange because at first when I arrived I expected and welcomed the busyness but now it's changed. I've changed.
There is a section in the Gospel of Luke that describes Mary and Martha and Jesus.
One, Martha, is distracted with much serving and is "anxious and troubled about many things" and the other, Mary, is at the feet of Jesus. Jesus say's "She has chosen the good portion."
After spending much time having the Lord tell our team to forget all the distractions, even despite the fact those things were "good deeds", its harder than I thought to just get busy again.
Balance is to be struck here....and I think that means always choosing intimacy and letting God accomplish what He may as a result of that intimacy. This may in fact be ministry defined, which causes me to question many previous and current practices of ministry philosophy and pursuit.
Every so often there is a strange parade through the streets with fire works and statues.
Nicaragua just had there independence day and a woman named Coco (Our Nica mom) told me not to go into town because she had a dream I got stabbed and went into a coma. I went anyway.............but not for long.
I have been meeting with the five other guys on my team more than usual recently to pursue all that God has for us in this time. We have been talking about gifts of the Spirit, identity back home, future, missions, scripture and honestly as a whole I've been led by The Holy Spirit to begin digging into some area's of my own family's past that:
a) I never thought was significant and..... b) I never knew I had such little memory or knowledge of.
I have had aheadache (not plural) for almost 3 months now (many blood tests, pills, doctors and a brain scan while in Georgia failed to show ANY cause) and also something of a heart condition has begun to show up in my chest.
I know that The Spirit of the Lord is allowing something of a physical manifestation into my life to alert me to something I have refused to tend to.
I wouldn't be asking these question if not for His leading.
Safe to say there's not a lot of clarity there yet....
Next week there will be no Wednesday update as I will be with my team on the coast of Nicaragua for our final debrief but I do have some VERY exciting news to come after that so be sure to check in.
God willing, I am off to Georgia for a few days and then home to Canada for the whole month of August.
It's been an amazing trip again and COMPLETELY different. What an awesome team we had.
I think it may be a result of some recent fasting here (in Nicaragua ) but I have had some thoughts about the Dinner table.
That thing A good friend of mine , Tag Thompson, has loved so much.
He gets it. I didn't..... It's a spiritual place.
A place where the Lord Jesus Shared intimacy, relationship, community, even God's own new covenant declaration.
It's about relationship.
We all hunger and we all eat.
It brings us together but have we forgotten this? or did we ever learn this? This is what it is about.
I think of my home church after the Sunday services. We head into the back hall and we eat together. Beautiful! but i didn't get it...NOT like this.
Our Pastor will say its about fellowship and rightly so but do we really see it?
Amazing daily opportunity and richness. So lets go ahead with this.
Let's invite someone not just out to lunch but into our homes. Into our lives.
Let's talk about Jesus. What He is doing and who we are becoming and let's do it all with thanksgiving and food for our bodies and for our souls.
"And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it.." Luke 22 19 NIV
It's simple and yet mostly uncommon if you think of how simple it really is.
I think I see it now though. It's a special place. Christian and non Christian alike know this to some degree however I speak now about the body of Jesus meeting each other in exhortation, community, praise, intimacy and the reaching out in a truly universal way to each one who does not call on the name of the Lord.
Of Course We All Need Bread And We All Need The Bread Of Life.
Pull up a chair, let's share both.
Oh and Jesus always takes it all to a new level.........
LUKE 14:12-14
He said also to the man who had invited him, "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just."
"If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give Holy Spirit to the one who asks him!" Luke 11:13
This team has sought the Father and asked and His word has been true and we're experiencing the Spirit of the living God more than I have ever seen. Fire is falling down.
Supernatural occurrences are now daily and I am seeing just how in the world and of the flesh we still are as people.
But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. John 16:7
The words of Jesus point us beyond the mights of men.
Beyond religion...and if we are willing(Matthew 14:25-29, Mark 5:14-17), we can also GO there.
This week I have personally been filled with the Holy Spirit so as to say I am daily singing, dancing around and playing music in freedom which I have never known, seen multiple people completely physically laid out by the Spirit, receive powerful revelations of His love so as to make a person OVERCOME with joy (Ephesians 5:18), the manifestation of an actual demon in a brother and personally in the name of the Lord Jesus saw that demon driven from His body, the manifestations of physical pain resulting from spiritual brokenness brought to light and broken down....Shall we go on?
He is relentless. There is no longer a ministry plan here in Nicaragua. There is nothing but meeting with God and seeing Him move. Jesus is REAL, and tangible and moving in POWER right now.
Do we know we can actually feel him???
Woe to religion that says its just about what a man can or cannot do!
He is revealing to each member of this team, this body being the actual extension of Jesus, Himself in the world through His active Spirit...Saying
"Children!.....This is who you are!"
Spiritual gifts are flying out everyday and His people are learning to really be in the battle for Him....
OUR BATTLE..
" is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Ephesians 5:12
We are learning and claiming the promised land that God has said "is a good land, a place of rest for His people" and just like the warrior Israelites of times past, we, led by our God are, training for real war and going in faith believing that He has delivered it into our hands!
I consider all things loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord.
Philippians 3:7
I AM NOT OF HIS WORLD. WE ARE ALIENS AND STRANGERS AND WE AIM NOT TO PLEASE MAN OR FIT HIS PLAN OR SEEK TO BE LIKE THE REST BUT TO SERVE AND FIGHT AND LOVE UNTIL HE CALLS US ALL HOME.
Much more to say about battle, promises, inheritance and the falling fire of the Glory of course The Lord but that is for next week.......
OK guys, It is time for a change.
I feel the way I do this blog is inconsistent, uninformative and lacking at best, in actually achieving what I hope for it tp achieve.
...What I hope it primarily achieves is something informing and motivating and ultimately Christ Glorifying.
Not too sure if I we´re getting there.
So I think It´s a new day for a new plan.
What I will begin doing as of today is blogging every week at least once and the way that it will look is a little more focused and a little more organized.
Each time I blog will be focused on a theme for that blog, always alternating between two simple themes week to week.
A) What Is being learned?
I can share what God is teaching and showing me as well as what I am wrestling with and share for the purpose of encouragement, direction and worship.
B) What is being done?
Who are my team-mates?, what/who are we building up?, HOW IS GOD MOVING?, Locals, Projects, Praise reports and so on.
So lets begin.....
¨What Is Being Learned?¨
Journal entry on June 29th/10
Lets face it: Pain Sucks.
But I can survive and even more so GROW and appreciate the pain because God continues to be unchangeable in His goodness. HE IS GOOD...Even IN pain.
I am not making a boast or a challenge but I am realizing the role it (pain) plays, its reality and the fact that God is good no matter what.
I NEED that sustaining Sovereign Grace from Jesus.
What Is Sustaining Grace?
"Not grace to bar what is not bliss,
Nor flight from all distress but this,
The grace that orders our trouble and pain,
and in the darkness is there to sustain.
-John Piper
Romans 8:28 "In all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.
2nd Corinthians 4:17
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal Glory that far outwieghs them all.
I am currently reading "Intercessory Prayer" by Dutch Sheets which I know is a preparing work for what is coming in the future. Prayer is a growing and continuing focus and worth noting is that at the start of January I prayed this year would become
"A Year Of Prayer" and so it is "Ask and you shall recieve"(Matthew 7:7)
We (The Nica team) are focused on learning freedom, seeing the Spirit move and learning a lot about identity.
We are NOT orphans or slaves...WE ARE CHILDREN OF GOD because HE has said so and as such we are Co Heirs with Christ and children with an inheritance in the Kingdom of Light.
WE ARE TAKING OUR INHERITANCE...we´ve been lied to long enough.
Eat! Eat children! Eat of the bread of righteoussness that is King Jesus. No more crumbs...no more little bit of religion....little bit of murmering prayer...no more "maybe God is for me"....NO.
Inheritance is access to all that is the King of Kings for the Good of His Children to the Glory of His name.
Matthew 5:6 "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied"
We are not that righteousness, HE is that righteousness.So hunger and thirst for Jesus!
John 6.35 Jesus says;
And Jesus said to them "I am the bread of life, he who comes to me will never go hungry and he who belives in me will never go thirsty."
Eating AND drinking the righteousness of the Son of man.
Never settle for "bread that spoils."
Do not work for bread that spoils but for food that endures to eternal life which the Son of man will give you. On Him God the Father has placed his seal of approval. John 6:27
Well, It's been almost a week in Nicaragua and what to say?
You know guys I have this vision in my head of my pastor back home, Paul Vallee, preaching on the platform of our church and in this picture I recall him specifically saying in demonstration: "GOD WHERE ARE YOU!?" Well to be honest right now that is the question I am asking, and maybe an occasional: "Who are you?" also. I did not see this coming. I will simply say its been a hard week. A Hard Week and that, right now, God seems intent on taking me into the refining fire.
Oh Boy. Here we go. Pressure, testing, lonliness, failure...Turns out I am nothing like Job.
Not sure what else to say at this point, except that amidst the confusion and even pain of the last week here that it has absolutely nothing to do with Nicaragua.
True it´s tough to understand the Spanish constantly but the place I am staying has been nice and my hosts are very gracious and interesting people.
Last week I said that I would tell you something about the place I found my self at down here and will do just that by taking a minute to tell you about a new friend of mine
Fernando.
Fernando is the security gaurd here at the "Hotel Casa Mateo." I suppose anyone would immediately identify Fernando as an extremely hard looking guy.
Big boots, rough complection, chest out, shoulders back, tatooed arms and face and generally just looks like this dude would throw some bombs at you if you stepped on his toes.
In actuality I encountered somebody somewhat different.
I appoached Him and asked if he could show me an ATM, He did so and then offered to show me around. We got to hanging out a little bit and He said to me:
"You working for Jesus?"
"Ya man, I am." I replied.
"Me too man, He change my life man" comes the thick Spanish accent and broken english.
Fernando has been a Christian for a month and a half and he is being wrecked. I am witnessing even in only the last few days the Lord just open up His arms and bring Fernando in. Since first meeting Fernado I have been to his home, his Church, His Bible study and I´ll tell you this; He has quite the story to tell.
Fernado is 33 years old now. He grew up in an abusive home, beaten at the hands of his Father and even starved by him at other times when His mother would be away. Into the Nicaraguan army he went at 16 years of age being introduced to a life of violence. At Nineteen being released from the military he resolved to go to the United States and amazingly...that he did.
The next 12 years unfold a story of driving (with ZERO english) no problems right into the United States, then being arrested countless times, being LET OFF almost as many times, starting a family, moving around, boxing professionally, gangs, guns, and somehow despite his efforts (and second chances) always finding himself back in trouble.
When He tells the story of His time there I hear a boy inside of Him who desperately wanted to find life but was filled with a pain that roared and was surely a long way from home.
Now, He is here in Jino-Tepe.
Back in His home land (which he refuses to call it) after finally being deported with 10 U.S. dollars in His pocket and after that only His clothes.
It has been two years since He was dropped off and now after once again setting out to do life on His own terms and being once again whipped Fernando cried out to the One and the Only.
"Jesus I need you come, change my life!" he cried.
I have been blessed in this short time to hear this amazing story be brought to the feet of Jesus. And came He did, and as such a new man was born.
Not figuratively but actually Spiritually.
We shared some bible verses the other day and I brought up 2nd Cor 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
He rejoiced at this already seeing, and believing the new man had come. As I said before the appearance is decieving because it came from the old man. But indeed the new man has come.
Born again. Re-Birth. Regenerated. Made New.
Additionally in the very short time he has been walking with Jesus he got a job despite His facial tattoos, has made amazingly quick reconciliation with members of His family down here including His Father, is able to tell His children in the U.S. about Jesus and has new hope for the future, forever. "Here is a saying that is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners...." 1st Timothy 1:15
Please pray for Him if the Lord puts it in your heart to do so, he is so young in the faith and I also know he dearly misses His kids.
Please pray for me if The Lord moves you to do so. This is an uncharted water in my life of faith and though it´s hard I wish to grow and remain faithfull through it all.
What a month it has been guys. I honestly feel like it has only been a few weeks since I arrived back in Georgia but of course it has been over a month now. It always goes by fast.
I have been reflecting greatly on the time I have spent here and the relationships that have I have been SO blessed to have received.
I am just being blessed and challenged by the AIM community who live together every day.
I've sort of been on the go non stop, first to Orlando with my mother for a great visit we both thank God for.
Then shortly after I was off to Houston for the final debrief of the Novas Project students we had started a nine month journey with way back in September. It was great to here so many stories of miracles, love and learning.
They all had absolutely amazing experiences with Jesus and if you remeber them in your prayers that would be amazing. Usually the hardest part of a trip is coming home and being shocked by what you re enter and what you feel you have left behind.
I also had some blessed time spending birthdays with my great friends Tag and Holly Thompson in Tennessee. It's been about community and I am really starting to see that the satisfaction of something does not lie in what you do but who you do it with and how you choose to engage and bless that person.
There are many here down south, regardless of the religious saturation, who do not know Jesus in a saving way and many who really just need someone to talk to.
Only a week ago I and some AIM friends met a man named Sidney siting in a local park blowing a jazz trumpet like you would not believe. (Oh how I enjoy the South!) He is an amazing musician and teacher, but still was laid off by the Gov't and now struggles to find a check and is even living on the streets. He never asked us for a thing, we just talked for 2 whole hours.
The people that I am surrounded with every day have been transformed to passionate pursuers of the Kingdom of God and this summer will present the largest student launch of adults and college students ever done here at AIM. Hundreds of young people affecting and being affected.
These young people will be the raw energy God uses to make the coming generation of the church alive and Glorifying in the Spirit.
I can do nothing aprt from Christ BUT i do get to be a part of it every day. For that I am thankful.
We glorify and testify to God's worth when we sacrifice and pursue Him
above that which the world deems of highest value. Often I do not do
this and then ask the question:
"Why am I not reaching people?"
I have come to dream God's dream that every part of myself and all His people will come alive in radical ways to His "surpassing greatness" Philippians 3:8
I believe that God has great dreams for all His people and If I dream His dreams two things are sure to happen:
1) I WILL see Him move in and around my life in the amazing ways I long to see and be a part of.
2)They will without fail be realized, because God never fails.
So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return
to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:11 "God is love" (1st John 4:8 b) and "love never fails" 1st Cor 13:8
Tomorrow I am allowed by grace once again to take a team of students to Nicaragua and pursue this dream for the God's people in the west AND for all peoples abroad. "Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the
gospel, 6which has come to
you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing-as
it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth," Colossians 1:6
I will have a week in Jino Tepe, Nicaragua all by myself before the team gets there and in that time I hope to be posting a blog of where we are at, what it is like and all the things we will be doing in the area.
God has big dreams for this team, I pray that I am not ignorant of them but am full of them and I pray that today you might ask God boldly to give you a dream that he has for the good of His people and the Glory of His name and the faith to actively expect the fulfillment of it in and around you.
Thought I would share a short video from one of the girls on the team, Liz Martin. This is the first of the cuts and I know another more thorough version will be along in the coming weeks.
Hope you enjoy it, its very cool for me to be able to share this visual blog with all of you.
Romans 12, Tells us that Christians are to be transformed and renewed.
Elsewhere, in John 3, Jesus staggers us with the declaration that we must be Born Again or face finding no place in the Kingdom of Heaven whatsoever.
"Renewed": To become new again. To start over.
Transformation is a powerfull thing. It is the Christian's great evidence of the living risen saviour active in and through them.
Because when He comes to live in us we are super naturally empowered and compelled to be just like He is.
THIS IS BECAUSE HE STILL LIVES. Believe me!.....a "strong will" and "turning over a new leaf" are laughable sources of power.
We all have things we would love to grow in, areas that could use shaping or challenge and one of the many things I love about God's active love in His Children's lives is that He challenges and grows us supernaturally. This is the sanctifying (making like Himself) work of God in His people. He knows His children... all of all of them.
As I come to the end of this amazing time in Kenya, I as always, reflect on the amazing people that I must soon say goodbye to.
SO many great things and times have come and gone again and of course Gods hand of power and grace was so evident in them all.
This team is especially dear to me as they were really my first team that God entrusted to me to head out and shepherd. They have taught me (Leadership, teaching, friendship, Law, Love, Hunger, Suffering and so much more), they have supported me and have respected me from the very start and yet still. They have "administered God's grace in its various forms" 1st Peter 3:18
But as I close out another chapter in this ride of life the main thing I want to share from my own heart is short and simple. I have witnessed such great transformation in these students it is truly such a powerfull testimony of God's power and love.
We are all so messed up!
And God's love and challenge and power comes in and makes all things new. I do love that about what He has called me to do, I love it about these students and friends and I love that He would do that for us.
He takes us into fear and blessing and relationship and pain and and gives His Spirit and we become new. We become who we are called to be.
The west is going to change because of what God is doing in these people. They come from great hardship, great sin and have entered into great love and I LOVE watching it's power to transform.
These students have learned that they are free from the law and that love is the fufillment of everything. It all starts with God's grace leading us on the road of life with Him. I thank Jesus that I have been able to walk with these wonderfull people.
Jesus is still THE discipler and I ask that we have the love He has for those given to us.
I would like to simply share thier names here and ask that you may pray as they go back home and face whatever is next for thier lives. That they may be strong and Spirit filled people of Jesus.
Thank you all for your support and correspondence through this trip.
Always, thank you so much Living Stones Church Family for making this life possible by sharing such grace with me.
From here I will be enjoying some rest and some family time and then it looks like I will be headed to Nicaragua in the opening of June for a two month trip. Thank you all!
I want to bring you guys into this world and life Jesus has given to us in Kenya in a different way than I have before and I think I can leave it up to the words of John Calvin to start us off:
It Is The Task Of The Church To Make The Invisible Kingdom Visible....
It has been almost eighteen months since I first left home to follow God into this wild adventure and I have tried and apologized several times for trying and failing to post pictures...unfortunately I am adding another letdown to my list as I simply cannot get them to work out here.
SO..........
I would love for you all to head to our Team Blog page for an overall Easter/picture update as we have not had the same internet access in the last few weeks as the previous months.
PICTURES AND NEWEST UPDATE PLEASE CHECK IT OUT!! http://kenya.adventures.org/
We are coming to the end of our time here and are begining to say goodbye to friends and look ahead into our final debrief. It has been wonderfull in Kenya and I know God is not done yet because He is never done!
This past Easter weekend has been an amazing.
We spent it in the internally displaced people's (IDP'S) camp, where victims of the 2007 election violence have been relocated. Many have lost thier entire familes to machetes and fires. Those who once lived in big houses, watched thier flat screen t.v.'s and dreamed of University now live in small tents, survive on charity and hope the rain comes to the fields so they can eat but not to thier blankets so they can't sleep.
This year's Easter was WITH JESUS. It was with Them. It was a call to the Cross, where Jesus actually bled and died so that we all, who have hated God in our rebellion could be cleansed of our sin and depravity and celebrate how He has Risen from that hold of death to the highest throne which is above every person, every nation, every religion and He will return to bring Justice and Renewal to Everything.
I was led by grace this Easter to pass on simple tradition and really consider the pain of God, yes God dying viciously on a cross (FOR US! Can We Comprehend this??) that not even Mel Gibson in all His efforts could achieve for us,
and the "glorious and inexpressible joy" (1st Peter 1:8) of the Apostles upon meeting the Risen king Jesus. But also of infinite importance on an occasion where Christian and non Christian alike remember at least in some capacity the Death and Resurrection of the Nazerene Jesus is the words of Jesus Himself as he ascended to the heavens after rising from death: Luke 24:46
And He said to them "Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem."
and else where....
Acts 1:11
They (Angels) also said "Men of Galilee why do you stand looking into the sky?
This Jesus who has been taken up from you into Heaven, will come in the just the same way as you have watched him go into Heaven."
Reminds me of a song I recently heard by Misty Edwards: "JESUS IS COMING"
He's not a baby in a manger anymore,
He's not a broken man on a cross,
He didnt stay, in the grave,
and He's not staying in Heaven forever.
Once again I AM gonna shake everything that can be shaken
Once again I AM gonna break everything that can be broken....
Are You Ready, are You ready for this,
Better Get Ready, Jesus Is Coming.
Easter Sunday is the Beginning not the culmination of the Truth, and for many of the peoples of the world such as these IDP's, removed from the comforts and complacency's that wealth and "modernism" can and does bring , Easter Sunday IS NOT THE END. It is the beginning and the expectation of the Kingdom that is to come.....
