The Texas Conclusion

4/16/09

Not just another group:

Not going to lie, today was a beast. We rolled up to the work sight at 8:35am and we rolled out at 8:20pm. The group at the other sight worked until 6pm. They rocked it out. They dominated their project. Good work guys!

Me and four other freaks (KB, Katy, Mel, Danielle,) stayed at Steve’s house until we finished sheet rocking the entire house. It was great. Steve is one incredible man. He really taught me what a truly selfless, humble person is like. Steve was so real, so thankful, and extremely laid back. Seriously, he had middle school boys and high school girls building on his house and it didn’t faze him!

Before we left, Steve wanted to make sure that he got our e-mail address so that we could stay in touch. Steve and I hugged four times within the last ten minutes that I was there. It was great! As he walked the five crazies, who spent their spring break rebuilding his house, to the van he continued to thank us. As I gave him my last hug he teared up and couldn’t finish saying thank you for the last time. That right there tells me one thing; we were not just another group who came to Bridge City Texas. We impacted a life for real. Not just a smile and a helping hand but hopefully a spiritually altering, eternally lasting impact. I know that I can close this day out in confidence that this group from UCF reflected Christ to the fullest of their abilities and Steve, John, Pastor Bobby, and the others saw what it looked like to be a follower of Christ. Don’t get me wrong, we still had our slip ups, and I know that I didn’t do perfect dry wall work, but I do know that the people we served saw an incredible reflection of Christ.

“Dear Lord I thank you for using us this week. Thank you for including us in your tool box and allowing us to partake in your plan. You are good. Thank you for Steve and his life. Lord I pray that he draws closer to you than he has ever been before. Allow him to feel you love, grace, mercy, joy, and peace. I pray that you bring healing to John. He is sick Lord. You know what his body needs and I pray that you place your healing hand upon him. I pray for the work that we completed. Keep those walls up and allow them to create an intimate, comfortable setting for whatever community may take place between them. You are truly awesome God! Thank you for teaching me and using me. Amen.”

Texas Mission Trip Day One

The Texas Mission Trip: 4/13/09

Devon, Jerad, Sam, Ryan, Robert, Mike, Erik Anderson & Kari, Don Z., Nate, KB, Paige, Katy, Melissa, Danielle, Stephanie, Megan Foster…….and B. Todd.

Today was the first day on the work sight. It was a pretty typical day one. We rolled in to a church, stood around in a room for a while, waited for instruction, and then we got the move on. Me, KB, Devon, Robert, Jerad, Mel, and Danielle were sent to an individual house and the rest of the group stayed at the church.

The house: owned by a man named John. John is in a wheel chair. John’s house was flooded with 4 ½ feet of water from Hurricane Ike. John’s brother Steve is awesome. Steve is staying with John and is helping to get his house back to a livable state again. Steve has this glow about him. Even though his house was mangled, he really didn’t care, he just takes life as it comes. I’m thankful to have met Steve.

So here is what stumped me today. Steve was telling me the story about how his house was flooded, and how insurance covered nothing, and then he began to talk about all the past groups that had come to help. He said a 7^th day Advent group came, a Korean church, A Buddhist community, a Baptist group from Arkansas….and so on. And hearing that just crushed me. This made me question some things. Who are we? What are we doing? What do we represent? Are we just another church group that goes down in the books of Nehemiah’s vision?

The Challenge of the Day: As a group we sat down after dinner and debriefed the day. We went around and shared our rocks and Rubies. After that I closed the night with the challenge of the day. I told everyone what Steve told me about all the other groups that came before us. The challenge is this. The challenge is to look deep down inside of ourselves and figure out what is driving us on this trip. Are we here to just be “another” group that was “nice” and came to serve? If we are truly focused on reflecting Christ and His love then there is no way we can just slip through the cracks and just be another group. If we are reflecting Christ to the best of our ability then I truly believe that the people who cross our path on this trip will never forget us and more importantly, what we are all about…..J.C. They will never forget the authenticity of our faith. The challenge this week (and every other day of our life) is to reflect Christ to the fullest extent.

Birds and the Bees

Birds and the Bees: 4/1/09

I went to Charlotte One last night and they are in the middle of a relationship series. The talk was an absolute home run. We broke down the difference between virginity and purity. Never in my life had I separated these two terms before but they are sooooooooo different. Virginity ends at marriage. It’s the act of sex. It’s just about me and my physical state. Virginity is just a classification. Purity is a continuous pursuit. It’s for life. It is everything about you. It continues through marriage. Purity is allowing God to lead you.

“God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they WILL see God.” (Jesus) Ma. 5:8

Your sexual activity is such a small piece of your over all pursuit of purity. Those who are truly saved shall see God. These are the pure in heart. Their lives have been transformed by the grace of God. They are not yet sinless but their position before God has been changed. They have the new birth, saving faith, and holiness. The process of sanctification is a continual transformation of them to the image of Christ.

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”

James 5:16

When you want to be healed, you need to name the places that are broken. You need to be honest, transparent, and open. James recommends telling someone about your struggles. And so do I. I carried around a lot of pain and hurt throughout different times in my life and it wasn’t until I told somebody about all my junk that I carried that I felt relieved and burden less. At the least be honest with God. He knows you. You can’t hide your junk from Him. Just get it all out there on the table with Him. Authenticity, that’s what He wants. Psalm 139 is a good prayer to pray.

Birds & Bees continued with the GF.

Oh my what a great sermon to sit through with a girl who I’ve been dating for 5 days. God, way to just throw the tough conversations right in our face! Thanks though, I appreciate it. Honestly, there has been no conversation too tough for Em and I. We are both very up front and ridiculously transparent, it’s great! It is so obvious that Em is in such an intense pursuit of Christ that it makes no conversation hard because really, we both have a take it or leave it philosophy. “This is who I am, this is how Christ calls us to live, if you don’t like it then that is just too bad.”