I'm Baaaaaack

Well my time in Pullman at WSU is finished for now and my year of adventure has begun. The first 3 months of this year of adventure will take place in one of my favorite places in the world Malibu Club in Canada. Malibu is where I have been interning the past two summers and I am extremely excited to be back. I know that Malibu is exactly the place where God wants me to be. He has given me a new role and view on camp this summer that I know will teach me a ton of stuff that could help in equipping me.

This summer I will take on the role as Sound Tech at Malibu. This is an area that I have no experience at all. It is a scary but exciting new job. I know because of this new role and lack of experience I will have to totally depend on the Holy Spirit and His guidance to serve to my best ability. I have only been here for 6 days and people continue to rally around me to help me in learning and fitting into my role.

I have really tried to take a step back and look at the amazing blessings that the Lord has given me while I have been here at Malibu. Any moment I get to look upon the glorious mountains that God created I just take a deep breath and think about how amazing it is to be here and thankful I am for being able to call this my summer job the past 3 summers.

With being a sound tech I will have the opportunity to listen to every speaker that comes through and so hopefully I will be able to leave you with some thoughts that I have received or have myself. Here is one from the sin talk that was just given at the Men's weekend...

Ash the main speaker read through the beginning of Genesis and the birth of sin and death. He focussed on the verse in Genesis 3:4 "You will not certainly die," the serpent said to the woman.




Ash then related this verse to the sin in all of our lives. For instance, the moment a man begins to take that second look at a woman the voice of the serpent whispers "You will not certainly die". Or when a man is about to click on pornography the serpent whispers "You will not certainly die". Or when a person has the drink on their lips to begin to make them drunk the serpent whispers "You will not certainly die". The serpent's whisper convinces us to commit sin which ultimately leads to this shame.. The same shame that Adam and Eve felt in the garden when the realized that they were naked is the same shame that we feel after we commit our sins today. This is a reminder to me that ALL sin is the same. We must all be on guard for the deceptive voice of the serpent and fight it with the Word of God. We must also repent and realize that Jesus died on the cross and has forgiven us for our darkness.

It is a love story.

My summmmmmmmmer

Storm

Just stupid busy the last couple days. But something that my mentor Gary told me the last time I met with him came to the surface of my memories. That memory was that even in the midst of the craziness of life you have to be obedient to the Lord. I felt like life was moving way too fast the last couple days and then I sat down and started reading and just prayed about my worries and anxiety. I had a huge first exam in one of my classes and a lot of people asked why I was so calm? I can't really give them an answer other than I was just trusting in God that what I knew was enough and that I was going to depend on Him for the strength and wisdom I needed to pass this thing.

I felt so good when I finished my test. A lot better than I thought. If we cast our worry on God and really think about what matters I think He will help put in perspective what really matters. Right before the test I thought... How much does this grade on this exam really mean to me? Sure it looks great but when it comes down to it, I really have a lot of other real cares and thoughts that matter for eternity rather than temporary.

Life is like a storm sometimes. You can see the Chaos. And just in case you were wondering chaos refers to a state lacking order or predictability. Kind of funny how a lot of us might describe this as life. But within the chaos and craziness there is a beauty in it all. There is a sense of control. A control that only comes from the God above. No one can control a storm... no one can control life... only God has a handle in this all.

One Sentence or a couple

I had a great conversation with a brother in Christ the other night. The depth of the conversation was awesome but two sentences stuck out the most that really made me think and in fact still has me thinking...

"People are always asking why God is letting all these people die. Maybe the question is why is letting you live?"

It is one of the questions/statements that you have take a step back. I remember when he said this to me. All I could do was say wow. Wait. I need to repeat that. This is one of those statements that really make you reevaluate life and how you look at it. God is so much more powerful than we can ever imagine. Yes our God is the most passionate being that you can't even imagine but He does as He pleases. Even when life doesn't make sense. When people die, when people suffer and when tragedy hits. It is all for a reason. God is always in control. The last line which says why is he letting you live really is thought provoking. God will remove us from this Earth when He wants. So... what will we do with the time we have? I want to be the most intentional voices of God I can be. I want to be used up. When I was back at Malibu, that is something that Gil, my boss, would always say. That when he was done here he wanted to be used up. That is the way I want to feel. When God calls me home I want Him to look at me and say, "This is my son, to whom I am well pleased."


Sometimes we just have to follow where the Lord leads us. "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans." Proverbs 16:3.

Closure

I have yet to really address my departure from Malibu. First of all was the departure of my very good friend Andy Thompson. He was my garbage man and a summer staffer during third session. Andy was the guy I referred to in earlier blogs as the guy I really started to hit it off with. In short, our friendship grew deeper and stronger as the session went on and as the goodbye came around it was evident it was going to be hard for us both.

As the summer staff is beginning to board Andy calls me away from the crowds of people to get one last chance for just the two of us to say our fair wells. As we get away we both just start sobbing. We realize that with Andy heading off to South Carolina that we don't know when the next time we will see each other. It is weird when you really can't say any words but hug each other and know deep down that this was/is a cool experience and friendship.

Three days later the day came in which I had to pack up all my things and leave Malibu for who knows how long. As I hug everyone and step on the Laker(water taxi) I realize once again that Malibu goodbyes are the worst things ever. One, you have to leave a place that you have grown in Christ and with others.. oh and not to mention its the most beautiful place on Earth. Two, when you travel by boat your boat takes off soooooo slow that you are literally waving and crying at your friends for a good 10 minutes.

Overall, my adventures in Malibu have been very worthwhile. I learned so much and I have no regrets going away. I just know one thing, the summer flew. As many people ask, what are my thoughts about heading back next year? I have no idea. My plans are in God's hands. I really don't have any jurisdiction anymore.

Run

"Run" from Resonate Church on Vimeo.

Run: A Response from Resonate Church on Vimeo.

"Surrender" from Resonate Church on Vimeo.

Dreaming Big

Dreams. A man who helped change the United States once started off a speech with “I had a dream…” A dream is what changes the world. One day someone had a dream to fly. One day someone had a dream to reach the unreached teenagers of the United States (Young Life). It takes one idea, one thought, one movement to go through with your dream. There are far too many people in this world secular or Christian that never follows through with their dreams or passions. If your heart is aligned with the Lord then your dream should be one that follows what He wants with you. But if the Lord gave you a dream would you follow it? Would you really go for it? Would you leave the country?

Can a dream be too big? The question isn’t the size of the dream but if you think the God of the universe is as big as you the bible says He is then no dream is too big for Him. There is nothing that the Lord cannot do. In Philippians 4:13 it says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. The Lord has the power to do immeasurably more than any of us can imagine. In Ephesians 3:20 it says Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. So are there dreams that are too big? No way! Something that I have been thinking about is how we shy away from praying big prayers. We pray for things that in our eyes can be accomplished. Why aren't we praying big prayers? Isn't that kind of insulting to the God of the entire universe? I don't think God enjoys us putting Him in a box. I think He wants us to dream. He wants us to pray BIG prayers.

Some might oberve someone else's dream as stupid or too big. But something that I have been learning is that what we are being told by the Lord might not make sense to others. I once quoted Crazy Love "If our lives make sense to unbelievers then something is wrong." But I would go further into saying that sometimes our lives won't make sense to even fellow believers. That the things that God might be calling us to do might not make any sense but it is what God wants so you do it. So what I pray is that fellow believers would understand that it is between that person and the Lord. That this dream might not make sense but that you must trust in the Lord that it is the plan that He wants for that person. Who are we to judge what God has told another person? Trust in God. Listen to Him and worry about what He wants you to do and trust He has it under control with others. He works in mysterious ways, don't underestimate Him.