I{ll keep this one short since its 1230 and I am using a spanish keyboard that is challenging. I just finished the last Harry Potter book, and I am still awake for some reason. Today was awesome! We got a lot of work done, and we really got to be an encouragement to Matt, who is a missionary that we are spending a lot of time with. Keep him and his family in your prayers, as his father had an unsuccessful surgery for colon cancer and his wife is due with a baby in about a week. He is a great man of God and we have been mutually encouraged by each other.
You know what I learned today that is interesting...we all carry loads. I felt so relieved to be down here and not carrying an emotional load with everything going on in my life, but when I got down here, I realized that most of these people have huge loads here. How do we truly learn to cast these loads upon Christ, because we cannot run from them, we can only do one of two things: bear carry them or let somebody else carry them. Pray that I would learn to hand them over, and I will pray the same for you. I am going to bed.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Adios!
Well, we're sitting here packing for Costa Rica, where we'll be heading tomorrow morning for 9 days. I can't tell you how excited we truly are for this! These days have been challenging ones, as many of you know. Finding my place in God plan, in my church and in life has been quite a trip right now. I'm proud to tell you guys that I've got nothing figured out. I don't know what God wants me to do at my church or with my life or anything really. For once, I'm really quite okay with an immense amount of uncertainty!
I'm excited to go spend time with missionaries and see what God is doing in a different culture. It's rare that I look around in my church and feel like God is at work there. Does that sound terrible? I am ashamed to admit that I'm a part of the problem. I'm so unsure how to help lead people out of spiritual apathy and into a passionate relationship with God. It's all I can do to keep myself from falling into it, let alone try to pull others out. However, I know that God is more than sufficient.
Okay, so I'll rant for a few minutes here...it's quite incredible that after my wife and I finished reading our Bibles, we had extremely similar things to share with on another afterward (as a note, I wish I could claim that we sit down to read our Bibles together regularly, but it's unfortunately rather rare that this happens). She was reading in Leviticus and I was reading in 1 Peter, and we had similar thoughts. I'll share my own. Peter writes and just assumes that so many things are true about his readers simply because they are Christians. He assumes that they have put aside so many sinful and useless practices and that they are filled with an "inexpressible and glorious joy." Wow, when's the last time I could say I was filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy? What am I missing? Why is it that I am rather filled with...stuff to do? I am hoping that this trip to Costa Rica will be one that will help me remember that inexpressible and glorious joy that we should be filled with due to the grace that has been shown us! For the 3 of you that read this (I'm going to do this more frequently now, I promise), please be in prayer for Katie and I as we are away. Have a great week!
I'm excited to go spend time with missionaries and see what God is doing in a different culture. It's rare that I look around in my church and feel like God is at work there. Does that sound terrible? I am ashamed to admit that I'm a part of the problem. I'm so unsure how to help lead people out of spiritual apathy and into a passionate relationship with God. It's all I can do to keep myself from falling into it, let alone try to pull others out. However, I know that God is more than sufficient.
Okay, so I'll rant for a few minutes here...it's quite incredible that after my wife and I finished reading our Bibles, we had extremely similar things to share with on another afterward (as a note, I wish I could claim that we sit down to read our Bibles together regularly, but it's unfortunately rather rare that this happens). She was reading in Leviticus and I was reading in 1 Peter, and we had similar thoughts. I'll share my own. Peter writes and just assumes that so many things are true about his readers simply because they are Christians. He assumes that they have put aside so many sinful and useless practices and that they are filled with an "inexpressible and glorious joy." Wow, when's the last time I could say I was filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy? What am I missing? Why is it that I am rather filled with...stuff to do? I am hoping that this trip to Costa Rica will be one that will help me remember that inexpressible and glorious joy that we should be filled with due to the grace that has been shown us! For the 3 of you that read this (I'm going to do this more frequently now, I promise), please be in prayer for Katie and I as we are away. Have a great week!
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