Standing in Awe

With Valentines Day approaching this topic only seems fitting.  However, it is not the reason I have been thinking about love.  Although I am not currently leading a small group I still receive the small group study on a weekly basis.  I'd like to say that I even open the email every week let alone read the study, but I don't.  However, I have been looking at them sense the start of the year.  In the first study it challenged the reader to write a six word mission statement for their life.  Easy right?  It was a really cool thing to think about though.  I sat for a while and just thought, "What do I want my life to be about?"  I thought a lot about my desire to serve the poor, my heart for social justice, my longing to see people come to know Christ, and it all boiled down to one thing: love.  So this is what my mission statement said: Risk everything in faith to show true love. I don't know if this seems obvious, simple, or insane to...

I know most bloggers, missionaries, and people in general would do some kind of "year in review" type post this time of year, but I simply don't want to.  Also, you can always go back and read the last year's worth of posts if you want to.  So instead I am just going to talk about the last month and the future a bit. Christmas As many of you know, I. Love. Christmas.  To the point of listening to Christmas music from November 1st all the way to Valentines day.  However this year I was not in the Christmas spirit.  A lot of things have changed in the last year, and not having a designated vacation time, as it was my first time not being a student over the holidays, combined with Satan's attacks of loneliness and isolation really hindered my happiness.  Despite these circumstances, I had the most perfect Christmas day.  I started the morning reading the story of Jesus coming to earth as a vulnerable infant by the light of the tree as I sipped my mo...

A few weeks ago our pastor Steve Hayes posted this simple quote in his Facebook status: "This is the wonderful thing about reality; in the end, it wins." -Charles Krauthammer I had a great conversation with a good friend last night and we were talking about struggles in our lives and how sometimes our experience tells us different than what is actually true.  If you have been rejected by family and friends for what you believe or choices you have made it can seem hard to believe that there is a God that has never and will never reject you .  Personally I have been struggling lately to believe that God is faithful and that he does fulfill His promises.  I was meditating on this earlier this week and trying to figure out what or where specifically this is most difficult for me to believe and suddenly a thought struck me: it doesn't matter how much I do or do not believe that God is faithful.  It doesn't change the fact that He is faithful and always has been and...

The sermon at New Life on Sunday was about Joseph, the son of Jacob (not the father of Jesus).  Kyle talked about pain and what we use to defend ourselves and ultimately our limited perspective.  As I re-listened to the sermon I was forced to think and reflect upon my own tendencies.  One of the questions Kyle posed was "What is your go to for self protection and self promotion?"  Like many others, as I thought about this questions, I realized that my primary go to is to just shut down.  Don't let anyone in, don't talk about what is going on, just act happy.  I will say that I have grown a lot in this in the last year, but it is definitely still my go to.  How often are we told to do that?  Just be normal, don't disturb anyone, whatever is going on is YOUR problem so deal with it yourself.  Then when we do hear these messages, rather than actually deal with it, it often seems easier to just stuff it down. For Joseph this looked like him fo...

Announcement:  Baptism Service THIS Sunday, November 3rd at 1:30pm at New Life Church I want to really encourage you to consider coming to this, even if you don't live in Ann Arbor.  It is such a beautiful display of God's redemptive power and love for His children. Reflection: Alright I'm going to be really honest: the last few weeks have been pretty hard.  Between going through some of my own emotional turmoil as well as a lot of conflict with a lot of different people lets just say my anxiety levels were running a bit high.  I had gotten to the point where I was sick to my stomach, not really eating, not really sleeping and had a headache for almost 5 days.  Yup.  Anxiety.  Much of it has since subsided, but today I was thinking about anxiety and how it is not of God.  I looked up some versus and read a devotional about anxiety.  In James 1: 5-6 it says "But let him ask in faith, with no doubting , for he who doubts is like a w...

Announcements: This Friday is Campus United: A good friend of mine organizes this event which is a worship concert on the University of Michigan Diag that unites all the Christian groups on campus to come together and worship God! This Saturday is the New Life Church homecoming tailgate: I would love for you to join us in cheering on the Wolverines and for a great fun way to see ministry in action! November 3rd New Life Church will be having a baptism service.  If you have wanted to visit NLC and have not had the motivation to do so, I would highly encourage you to make a point to make it to this.  I cry every time at the testimonies people give of how God has redeemed their lives. In other news, I don't have a ton to share this week or anything super deep, but do have a lot to be thankful for.  Today I gained my 30th supporter!  It is amazing to see how God has led me to people I never imagined I would talk to let alone would join my ministry support tea...

Alright people get ready, this is rich.   I had the best quiet time I have had in probably months the other morning and I am about to share it with you.   So as I have mentioned I am doing a bible reading plan to read the entire bible in a year.   I started on January first so I’m getting close!   You may not think if Chronicles as a book of great revelation, but on this particular morning it was for me. So to give you a bit of back-story basically the Israelites go through a seemingly endless cycle of having God’s favor, turning away from him and worshipping other gods, God smiting them so they will turn back to Him, repeat.   It is in 2 Chronicles 20 where we pick up.   Jehoshaphat is the current king ruling over Israel and he has turned the nation back to God.   All is going well until the Moabites Ammonites and Meunites decide that they want to attack the Isrealites.   Jehoshaphat receives the message that a vast army i...