The purpose...

Call me old fashion, but I beleieve in purpose... I don't mean the kind of seasonal purpose we so often lean on to comfort ourselves... But real God-given purpose in the good, the bad, and the so often ugly... Purpose that makes no sense to us, but is beautiful, devine, and in our best interest! How amazing is that!? How could someone love us so much, and know us better than we do...? Have a look at Psalms 139 if you don't believe me... Or even if you do, read it again anyways!!

"Your eyes saw my unformed body.  All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." - Psalms 139:16

Pretty cool... You know, when tough times arise, is when true courage arises... This is because of purpose... God knows what He's doing... I like knowing that...

Where there is life there is purpose...

Where there is purpose there is God...

Tomorrow is the big day, and we are so excited to know there is purpose behind it...

Purpose behind what can seem crazy... Last night, Lucas, James, and myself met for a final

time before we head out. It was sort of nice to know we all have the same fears, the same goals,

and the same purpose going into this... Most of which we aren't really sure of yet actually...

Which is all the more exciting it seems...

If truth be told, last year Mexico really challenged me.. It pressed me to believe with faith

there was a purpose, because I have yet to find it... Unless it is simply that..? I plan on being

uncomfortable this time around, because it is when we are uncomfortable that God can really

reveal our purpose, stretch us, and teach us...

I'm excited I can't believe it's tomorrow already... Pray for us, as we learn... Also Kaila will

be heading home on Saturday, she will be in our prayers... As she arrives home, we will be

settling in at Kirk's house probably... She and the group are in my prayers as they travel home!!

It is through prayer purpose is discovered, and lives are changed...

The mess... The beauty...

Have you ever been overwhelmed by what you're up against!?  You know, that place where you have no clue what is going to happen, and not even sure if you have any influence in the coming outcome?  Today was one of those days...  We (the band) were getting ready to play a show for Friday night when pretty much all of our plans for the show came crashing down...  We knew that it was out of our hands and we just prayed...  And in the end, we had a pretty great night!!  We had the stage for about 40 minutes, in which we had the awesome opportunity to worship God outside in downtown Brantford!!  And we got the chance to just share and praise in front of a bunch of people...  Thank you God for making this work!!

Eventually we will realize we can't even come close to being successful in what we do and what we hope to do without God playing a huge role in it...  Submission is a really hard part of Christianity to get, and I know I don't do it near as much as I should be, nor effectively to any extent...  Because in the end, the truth is, we aren't good enough...

I'm not good enough...

But yet we have a God that makes our messes beautiful!!

...that makes me beautiful!!

...that makes you beautiful!!

And yes, as the time draws closer (only one week, for those of you who are counting) for us to leave, I feel messy, I feel disorganized, I feel busy, I feel nervous, and I feel worried...  But I know God makes messes beautiful, and He fixes our brokenness, and He reveals our potential, and our beauty!!

Amazing...

Another verse that came up this week is one you probably know... 

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more important than food, and the body more important that clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" - Matthew 6:25-27

God doesn't want us to worry...  God wants more risk-takers, more visionaries, more prophets, more prayer warriors, more evangelists, more drive, more passion, more love,  more humility, more grace, more submission, more hunger, more uncomfortable Christians, more you!!  Jesus didn't just say, "...please trust me, I know what I'm talking about..."  No, Jesus said, "I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE."  I'd say He was pretty convincing...

So my prayer tonight is that I can stop worrying, God knows what He's doing...

Also something to keep in your prayers, Kaila is going to be leaving in about 3 hours and 45 minutes (July 26/08) to head to Toronto.  There she will be meeting up with a team from Huntsville area.  From Toronto she will be catching her 8am flight to Minneapolis, from which she will catch another flight to San Diego, California.  In San Diego they will be meeting up with even more youth and young adults (from Teen Mania/Global Expeditions) to head across the border into Mexico, and will arrive in Tijuana, Mexico.  And let me tell you, this will be no vacation...  They will work in a team of about 30 youth in order to run a week long VBS program for the kids in the area, as well as constructing a house for a family that really has nothing but the land to build on.  What an awesome opportunity for Kaila to share with a bunch of other youth to share the love of Jesus to people who are desperately seeking something more in life...

Have you ever noticed how Jesus ran His ministry?  He met a need, loved, and shared truth...  How simple, but yet so hard for us to figure out...  This trip captures the essence of Jesus' ministry...  Build a house (they need one), love them (everyone needs this), and share the truth (another need we all have)...  Finally, we're catching on...

The lives of these young adults heading out are now prepared to be moulded and changed by a Holy, just, and loving God...  My prayers are with Kaila and the team as they head out and for the entirety of their trip (they will be returning the following Saturday August 2/08) and I hope yours are too!!  It's amazing to see the willingness and excitement for simply doing something in the name of Christ that is beginning to form in myself, and those around me...

God is up to something...

The anticipation...

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." - Hebrews 12:1-3

Let us run...  Let us anticipate something bigger, something greater, something powerful...  With faith and perseverance, all is attainable!!  These few verses have meant a lot just recently!  I think I've heard 3 or 4 sermons on it within just the past 2 months, as well as it coming out in average conversation (last night for example, and wow, just now, honestly how crazy is that!?)  How amazing would it be if all Christians began running again!?  No longer walking or waiting...  But RUNNING and DOING!!  I believe we have a God of ACTION..  And we are His people of POTENTIAL!!

That's right, YOU!!

Q: How often do we forget that we have potential, power, and blessings?

A: All of the time!!

It's so much easier to see the stuff that isn't gong right in our lives..  Struggles are so much clearer than blessings..  So I urge you, run harder, faster, and with faith that it is worth it!  We have the potential to move mountains with prayer, and we have a secret...  A secret of victory over death, and power over everything in our way!!  You have the potential, and YOU have the power of CHANGE..  You have the ability to tell that secret!!  So run on...

I'm so excited for what is coming...  God has been up to amazing things within our church!!  I said goodbye to my brother tonight as he is heading off with a youth team to Brooklyn, NY tomorrow!  Lucas will also be a part of this team..  We are praying with faith that this team will do amazing things with their week in Brooklyn!!  They will be coming back next weekend, and on that same weekend Kaila will be heading off to Tijuana, Mexico for a week with a team there!  She will be working as a part of Teen Mania and Baja Christian ministries building a house, and helping with a children's VBS program..  And overlapping with our trip, a team of men from our church (including my dad) will be headed off to Tijuana also, to work with Baja Christian ministries to build another house (they will be leaving the second week of August I believe)...  This is all so exciting, and I'm even more excited to see as my friends and family take on the call of Christ's ambassadors!!  We have the potential, run on...

And in only 2 weeks we will be headed off to the East Coast, we are growing nervous as the time approaches so quickly, but are very excited to see what God has in store for us!!

So I wish the best of luck to my brother, Lucas, and the rest of the team headed off to Brooklyn tomorrow morning!!  Please be praying for them as they head out (most of them for their very first missions experience)!!  Go and make a difference!!  And run on...

The beginning...

Okay, so this isn't actually the beginning...  God's been starting a fire for a while...  Trying to get the attention of the sleepy Christians to start moving and shaking the world around them!!  This is more of an... AWAKENING of sorts...  So awaken with me, and join as we change the world...  

It is time for us to rise up and stop talking, and start doing...  What would it look like if we actually lived  in accordance to what we are talking about!?  Imagine with me REAL LOVE...   Love for each other, no matter who there are, where they come from, what they believe, or where they've been...  If we honestly want to be Christians ("exhibiting a spirit of proper to a follower of Jesus Christ; Christlike"), that is if we were PASSIONATELY PURSUING to be LIKE JESUS, this love would be a reality...  I too am lost in a faux reality, in which sleeping is accepted...  But I long to be awake...

I can't believe it's come so quickly, but in only 16 short days James, Lucas, and myself will be heading off to Eastern Canada to awaken ourselves, and hopefully a few others along the way...  Skillet said it best when they said, "where faith and fear collide"...  The feeling of anticipation is hard to explain...  I am so excited to work with Kirk from August 1-21, but at the same time, so frightened as this is way out of my comfort zone...  Join us on this experience as we approach, and embrace 3 weeks of street ministry in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island...  Something none of us has truly tried out before...  We are excited to have Shenstone behind us (not to mention the 3 other trips this summer!) as we reach outside our walls to touch our country, and our world!!  No matter where we come from we are lost, we are sinners...  But by the GRACE and LOVE of GOD we are set free, and only hope to bring that LOVE and TRUTH to every person we come in contact with...

Please be praying for us as while as the other missions efforts departing from Shenstone this year (Brooklyn, NY and Tijuana, Mexico)!!

"I tell you the truth, anyone who has FAITH in me will do what I have been doing.  He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father" - John 14:13-14

Do you believe it?