Training Week/Week 1: LA Tech

I just thought I'd share a few quotes, as well as some Scripture, that the Lord has been revealing to me these past two weeks...

"If our God is for us, then who could ever stop us? And if our God is with us, then what could stand against?"

"For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose."-Philippians 2:13

"Whom shall I fear? My help comes from the Lord."

"Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other."

"There is love that never fails, no matter how dark, my God prevails."

"We are not sinners because of what we DO, we are sinners because that's who we ARE outside of the grace and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ."

"God takes broken pieces and makes masterpieces, and He takes the vulnerable and makes it valuable."

"Let us not be about the American Dream, but about the Kingdom Dream."

"I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, CHRIST DIED FOR NOTHING."-Galatians 2:21

"Religion says that you have to obey the law to get acceptance, but Christianity says that your acceptance leads to obedience and results in a relationship."

"Suffering is a part of God's will for your life."

"Don't isolate yourself, insulate yourself."

Also, God has laid on my heart the joy of sponsoring a child through Compassion International. I would really like to sponsor a girl from a Spanish-speaking country, because since the Lord has given me a love for Spanish, and in wanting to make it my minor, I would be able to help her with English, while she helped me with Spanish. I could visit her sometime, and we would just have that instant commonality. However, while looking through packets, God placed 4 girls on my mind-1 from El Salvador, 1 from Peru, and 2 from Africa-and obviously, I can not sponsor all four. I began to pray for these girls, and asked the Lord which would have the most need. One girl from Africa, Faith, stood out in my mind, and I just can't get her beautiful smile out of my head. Also, another girl from Africa, Joy, stayed on my mind as well. While preaching one evening, Ed Newton spoke the words, "...joy, don't miss this, JOY!" So yeah, that threw me for a loop. A few days later I found out that a girl from my team is sponsoring the girl from Peru, Melissa-an answer to my prayers. So now it's down to the three-Faith, Joy, and Mayra. I'm putting it in the Lord's hands, because if He wants me to sponsor a girl from Africa, then by golly, that girl needs my help, so I will.

Now, I'm sitting in Limon, Colorado, about to experience my second week at camp in Estes Park, Colorado starting Monday. I'm a little nervous about altitude sickness, but hopefully everything will be fine. I'm still so very thankful for my wonderful team, and I'm super excited about the rest of the summer. My prayer is for safe travel, and teenagers lives to be changed this week.

Much Love.

Awesome God

To sit and see a worship leader standing with hands raised, worshiping his Savior during PRACTICE is an AWEsome moment. The word awesome literally means amazing, inspiring, full of awe, admiration, or wonder. So I ask myself, what am I in awe of? At that moment, David Walker was in awe of the Almighty God, the Creator of the Universe, the Lover of our Souls, the Maker of our hearts. At that moment, Christ was sufficient. At that moment, standing in awe of our Lord showed what really matters in this life. That one moment spoke volumes. My response?

Praise.

What else can you do? When someone else is directing their heart towards Christ, how could I not? HE is the only worth my affection. HE is the only one worth my heart. HE is the only one worth my awe.

Camp Starts Today!

Okay, so today is the first day of the rest of the summer...and I am super excited! In about an hour students will start showing up and the fun will begin! I know the Lord will move this week, because He promises that where two or more are gathered, there He will be also. But I don't have much time to blog, hopefully I'll have time later, so OT '10, HERE WE GO!

Student Life 2010

So, as many of you know, I will be working for Student Life Ministries this summer. We will be traveling over most of the U.S. hosting camps and conferences for youth, hoping to help students know God by His word. I knew Student Life was special, but I never realized how unique an organization like this is. I know God is going to change my life this summer.

First off, the people I work with are phenomenal. They are true servants of the Most High, and they just lift me up and give me hope for this world every day. I can tell that my team (Orange Team '10!) is going to be a team of encouragement and strength. I know that on my worst days I can lean on them to direct me to the One who will sustain me no matter what. We've been sharing our "YOU"s lately, which are fifteen minute presentations about our lives, and my team's testimonies and stories truly excite me about what I will learn from them this summer. The girls are so wonderful, and I can see many of us becoming really close, and the guys are men of character and have such a passion for the Lord-which in my opinion is very rare in this world today. And not to mention we won staff rec yesterday! I'm not saying this boastfully, but just to mention that even when we were losing, my team was still patting each other on the back. Basically, my team rocks.

This morning God rocked my world by showing me how ungrateful I am, and how wonderful He is. We had our LDP (Leadership Development Program) team member from Kenya, David, share his testimony this morning. He spoke about his life growing up and my heart just broke. Thankfully, Christ used Compassion Ministries to reach David and draw him to Himself. Christ was David's EVERYTHING. He had nothing, but Christ. And Christ was enough.

Man, I don't know if I could say that. Yeah, I could say it, but would it be true? I recently saw John Piper's video, The Prosperity Gospel, which speaks about this, and my life has been challenged ever since. So basically this summer is going to very interesting to say the least, but I can not wait to see what the Lord has planned! One of our production staff quotes is..."Striving for excellence, because we serve an excellent God," so I just pray that we would be good stewards of the Gospel and keep in mind that it's not about us.

Less of me, more of You.