Reward Galaxy: Share Your Link And Win Rewards.

Reward Galaxy: Share Your Link And Win Rewards.

Ready. Steady. Go.

Summer is, let's say, like a race. So much has been going on. Graduation and on to Bryan's bachelor party followed by the wedding then off to Hawaii with my dad to visit family that I haven't seen in about 19 years (wowza!). It was really cool though. There is something cool about family though, and that is that they will always be family. Even though I had tons of fun hanging with my biological family again and getting to know them, I was super encouraged in this: I will always be able to be close with my brothers and sisters in Christ that I am so close with from APU. I know there is some anxiety from all of us about the new adventures that we are about to embark on but we are also really encouraged about the times in the future that we will be able to be with each other again.

The countdown is...done. Tomorrow I am leaving my brief stay on the Central Coast and making a four hour trek up the coast to my new home in Benicia. It seems like forever ago that I saw a posting online for the job and began the interview process. Now after a lot of compounding excitement over the span of a month and a half of waiting to finally go and start this new ministry adventure. In my life, God opens doors and when they open there is a strange peace and calm in my life. This is what I have experienced with my journey to Northgate Christian Fellowship. The excitement has built, and it's time to go join "the real world" (no, not the MTV show). Please keep me in your prayers as I strive to shine out the brightest example of the Gospel to all the students of Benicia. Keep on keepin' on.

Starting from Scratch

Good morning. It is Monday, May 9th at 10:30 in the morning. That means that a day and a half ago I walked across the commencement stage of Azusa Pacific University! It was a crazy roller coaster of emotion going from an awesome roommate lunch to lining up on the Cougar Walk to sitting and waiting on the field until ultimately having your named called and walking across that stage to shake the presidents hand. In what seemed like a heartbeat the moment had ended and I sat in a flood of adrenaline holding my empty black folder that someday (whenever I get my actual degree in the mail) will house my degree. I must say, it was a real party. Being surrounded by 600+ people who are all pumped on finishing college is a great time. I for sure will remember that moment for a long time. Not taking too much time to let the brain go into idle though. Spent a good little chunk of time last night praying, thinking, and reading youth ministry blogs as I begin to think through.... starting my job and ministry at Northgate Christian Fellowship in Benicia, Ca. It feels awesome to graduate college on one day and then turn around and start to do it the next. I am already beginning to experience the first lesson that I was never formally taught during my education. Starting from scratch is hard. There is so much to consider: What kind of events do I do? When do I do them? How often? What do I teach? Where do I live? What do I take with me? Will I be lonely without my best friends and roommates? And so on, and on, and on. Today I am coming to peace with the excitement, mystery, and apprehension that comes with the first steps in this new phase of life. Even as I currently write I feel a sense of excitement swelling within me. Jesus said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations..." It is time for me to Go. I was recently reminded again by my awesome mom of an important thing that God has taught me while in college: Live like a radical for the Kingdom of God. Time to go do it.

The Limitless Power of the Gospel

I am just getting settled from my recent mission trip to Kenya. It was an amazing experience and I hope that I can find the right words to properly describe the mind blowing experience that I had the opportunity of being a part of. Our mission was pretty simple, we went to build intentional relationships with the students of St. Mary's Secondary Boys School and Belwops Rescue Center in Nyeri, Kenya. The students at the the school and the girls at the rescue center have a pretty solid foundation and are very knowledgeable about the Bible. Because of this, we didn't go to evangelize but we went to encourage and reinforce the fact that we serve a "Limitless" King. The theme was pretty simple. In the world we experience limited family, limited possibilities, limited healing, limited life, and limited love. Because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the things in this world that are limited have become limitless. I got to speak on limitless healing. Primarily the message was grounded around the story of the woman who had bled for 12 years. Because of her condition she was unclean. She had become an outcast in her society. Her family would have abandoned her. Her husband would have nothing to do her. Her friends had certainly deserted her. No one could touch her, no one would talk to her, and no one would look at her. As she crawled through the crowd towards Jesus I can only imagine that profanities were proclaimed towards her. She reaches Jesus and grabs the corner of his robe and is immediately healed. When he feels the power leave him he searches for the person who touched him. I imagine that at this moment the woman felt any last bit of humanity gone. She had just made the great teacher unclean in front of a great crowd. Desperately she tells Jesus her story, about how for 12 years she has been outcasted, unloved, and abandoned. Then Jesus addresses her as daughter. I still get goose bumps to think about it. After 12 years of abandonment she is finally welcomed warmly by the Christ, adopted into the family of God. In an instance Jesus erases her painful past. He heals her physically but more importantly he restores the humanity that she had lost. No amount of brokenness is too much for Jesus to restore. Limitless healing.

I must say that this was one of the most meaningful Holy Week/Easters that I have had. Nothing solidified the amazing sacrifice of Christ more then being across the world hanging out with the orphans and the little children that Jesus loves so much. I was simply dumb founded at times by the boys that I met. So many hard working, dedicated, and intelligent students. My heart was so broken for them. They deserve so much more then the world has offered them. They are working so hard to earn it, I want to see them blessed in this life for their hard work. They had such a deep knowledge of the Bible. Often times I felt like they were testing me with their questions to see if I had really studied and educated myself in the teachings of the Bible. Thankful for the Spirit that resides in me which led me through some amazingly difficult discussions about evolution vs. creationism, the implications of original sin, the trinity, at so much more. Much like I experienced in South Africa, I have left a part of my heat in Kenya. I have been back in the U.S. for almost 24 hours now and I already find myself thinking of and craving for the next time that I can go visit my brothers and sisters in Nyeri.

Imagine this sight on a bright and beautiful Easter morning: A wild pride of lions basking in glorious morning sun. I am still blown away that I can say that is how my Easter Sunday started. While on our Safari drive and looking at the beauty written in God's creation there in Kenya I was humbled by the very messages and lessons that we had brought to Kenya. Limitless possibilities. There I was in Kenya on a Safari. WHAT!? Never would I have imagined myself experiencing that but through Jesus Christ there I found myself across the world experiencing things that once seemed near impossible. Limitless family. It was weird to be so far from my family on Easter with no way of contacting them and talking to them. Yet I found peace and joy in my heart because I stood amongst people that I share a bond stronger then friendship with. We had invested so much of our time, heart, and soul into the preparations and mission of our trip and through that we had turned from 17 ministry students into brothers and sisters in the family of Christ. Limitless love. John 15:13 says, "Greater love has none than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." Love is sacrifice. I believe that Love Never Fails. As I gazed upon the regal beauty of the lions I thought about the Lion who became the Sacrificial Lamb because of his great love for us. God manifested the greatest form of love by sacrificing his son to redeem all of creation. Love Never Fails. Because this is true I will always run the race with endurance. I will not get discouraged for the victory has already been won. Whether in California or out into the very ends of the earth I will sacrifice myself for the work of the kingdom.

Thank you so much to all who have supported our team both financially and through prayers. The very fact that we were able to raise funds and go on this trip is a testament to the limitless power in Christ. I know that all of us who went came back changed. We have built relationships for eternity. The lessons that we learned in Kenya will impact our lives and our ministries for the rest of our lives. I pray that you all continue to seek out the Gospel and go to the ends of the earth to see and be a part of the redeeming work of Christ. Always remember, the victory has already been won because of the Sacrifice of Christ. Love Never Fails. Amen.

Another door opens

Oh my gosh. The school year is winding down rapidly. 16 days until Team Kenya takes flight. Most of my schoolwork for the semester must be turned in before then. That means I'm in the last two stressful weeks of school. I hope I don't blink for too long and miss my graduation! I've realized that in my rush to get stuff done (i.e. youth group, homework, stuff for Kenya) I have neglected to realize that I am almost done with college, for ever. In spare moments I have been trying to reflect back on some of the meaningful things that I have been taught over the last four years. There is so much to reflect on, so much to rejoice in, so much to put behind me. Most importantly, there is so much to look forward to. Kenya is so close, graduation is so close. This weekend I am flying up to Benicia, Ca. I have interviewed with a church there and will be visiting the church and then giving them a decision! This is where I have to stop writing and reread that last sentence over and over and try to really soak it in. I just can't believe that I am graduating and going to be going out and doing full time ministry. It has always seemed like a far off distant dream. Yet, here I am getting ready to hit "the real world" and go do some ministry. I just hope that I can find contentment in what God calls me to and live my life as a reflection of Jesus.

Team Kenya Retreat

So, today we had a mini-retreat for Team Kenya. It really was an awesome time. We went to the household of one of the team members and were extremely blessed by her family! Fun games, lots of laughs, great food, some face paint, amazing magic tricks, and some genuine team bonding. I continue to get more and more excited for the trip. While on the retreat I had a brief moment where the reality hit me. I am going back to Africa. It is humorous to me because I used to have this bizarre attitude towards missions in Africa. I remember when I started college thinking to myself, "I'm not going to be one of those Christians that goes to Africa to do missions." I really just thought it was the "trendy" thing to do and was, therefor, not going to "be like that." Out of seemingly no where God placed in me a huge desire to go to Africa and serve, which manifested in my trip to South Africa last May through July. To be honest, now there is still a large part of me that just wants to be in Africa. God's path in my life is crazy, and I never seem to be able to figure out his next move. I just know that my appetite for another trip to Africa is growing.

There was something about today that really got me. My team members family hosts international students regularly and they currently have a Chinese woman living with them. We were told some of her story, and I was simply floored. She was a member of the underground church in China. The government had become aware of her involvement with the church and had contacted her family warning them to have her stop before she would be punished. She is here in America to flee from the persecution that threatens her in her home country. Wait. That kind of stuff isn't real. Persecution is something we just talk about, but we don't actually stand in the same room with someone who has lived it. To think, I complain about having to go to chapel three times a week. Uh oh, conviction. Is it possible that the comfortability we as Christians in the states can live our lives in makes us dull to the reality of our faith? "Love your enemy as yourself..." the closest thing that I have as an enemy is a quacky neighbor who leaves mean notes on our door. My government hasn't called my mom to tell her to make me stop being a Christian on penalty of imprisonment or worse! My Christian faith becomes more my routine then my relationship to a God who is so worthy to be praised that I should be willing to risk everything to worship Him. Would I stay faithful in persecution? Could I stay faithful?

1st post in six months! Wahooo!

Clearly, I am an excellent blogger. I would like to blame my lack of blog updates on my zealous commitment to my schoolwork, if only that were true. I mean I am a senior. This means that: I rarely go to class, If I go to class I space out most the time, I do all my homework last minute, I play lots of Call of Duty with the roommates. (Mom, don't take this too literal, it is more of an elaborate way of illustrating the point that I have "senioritus"--my grades are fine.)

In all reality, It's been a busy six months. Because I highly doubt that anyone reads long blogs, I'll be brief...

I have been working as the Intern for High School Ministry at Glenkirk Church in Glendora, CA. I was helping cover the high school ministry for an interim period while we as a church were waiting for our new high school director, Lisette, to move from her come in Canada to Glendora (turns out that this process takes many months). I taught youth group and Sunday school classes each week. God really stretched me during this time and the lessons have ben numerous. Lisette is here now after a long wait and it's super fun to help her transition into her new position. I am learning lots of things about ministry through that process, the things that are overlooked in my classes.

I am going to Kenya! If you haven't heard, I am co-leading a team of 15 ministry students to Nyeri, Kenya this April. We have been working hard to raise over $25,000 to afford airplane tickets and supplies for our trip. It was frustrating at times, exhausting at others, but overall I just PRAISE God! When our team returned from our Christmas vacation in the beginning of January we only had $4,000...that means God has provided over $20,000 in about two months which I think is pretty phenomenal. Now we are preparing for the ministry that we will be doing while in Kenya. I know that this will entail a whole lot of soccer, which is awesome because I am super good at Soccer! Yeah right... I just learned tonight that I'll also be speaking during our night programming, which is really exciting. I already have tons of ideas going through my head as I ask God what he wants to teach the young people of Kenya.

Well, I'll stop there for now. More to come soon...hopefully.