Psalms Challenge and how God is teaching

So this summer the youth and I are diving deeper into God's word to learn more about who God is, sins around us and forgiveness, and what God promises/what God does for us.  It is amazing and helpful to read the Bible and then pull these things out of it through prayer and meditation on the word.  So be praying for the youth group and I in that God will move in His Living Word and they will see God in a new and powerful way.  Right now I want to write a little of what I learned so far. 

Psalm 4  
"Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer! O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;  the Lord hears when I call to him. Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord. There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”  You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety."

This passage hit me especially verses 2-3, "O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;  the Lord hears when I call to him." David is distressed by these higher officials/powerful people around him and how they behave.  David wants these men to turn to God and stop sinning so they can have the same joy he finds in God.  Then I looked at verse two and David describes these men.  First of all, these higher officials/powerful people in their actions and words bring shame to David and his role as King.  They are not listening to him, but instead attack what he stands for and his actions.  They drop the critical bomb on David because he is trying to lead them to God.  Second these men love vain words, or delusions as some translations have it, and seek after lies.  These men are following the American dream of riches and glory and will do about anything to get to it.  That is when I had a God given thought about loving delusions and seeking lies.  I have fallen into this trap and I am/have been trying to do better at it.

When I get stressed/mad/end of the long day/sad/happy/etc. what do I tend to do? Follow delusions and seek lies.  I tend to seek out what the world says will bring joy and peace through movies, books, video games, music.  Why do I not seek the one that gives peace, that is my refuge and shield, the one that gives joy...the list could go on.  Why do I want to seek out sin when I want to follow God?  It is because we are sinful and it is an everyday battle to pick up the cross and follow Christ, to seek God, and to be lead by the Holy Spirit.  Instead of these men David writes about that follow delusions (false givers), seek lies, and are lead/influenced by the world...I was stuck on this thought after reading two verses in Psalms!  God is awesome and will guide us if we seek Him.  He will bless us if we ask like David does so many times.

What this means for me?  When I get home I should pray and thank God for what He has done for me.  I should pray about the stress and the troubles and ask God to deliver me from it.  I should take time to sing praises to Him.  When I am sad instead of listening to Taylor Swift or Adele I should seek wisdom and help from God. 

I guess what I learned so far is to seek God not the world...and that it is a hard thing to do.

What I learned from Operation Christmas Child!

So a group from my church went down to Denver last week.  It wasn't to go skiing or snowboarding, but it was to go to the Operation Christmas Child processing center.  I have never done it before and I wanted to so when I heard a group were planning on going I jumped right into it.  I only did two days of processing the Christmas shoe boxes people sent in to be sent out.  All the ones we did in Denver were going to Mexico and if any were left to places in Central America. At that site alone they had 800,000 boxes to sort through and were doing about 50,000 a day (most of the time way more then 50,000).  In the end I loved it and wanted to do more days.  I also want to come back next year and might even make it a family tradition once I have kids (13 and over).

Why do I like it so much?

Well I always make a shoe box and pray over it and know God is going to give that gift to a child who needs it and also a Gospel message of the greatest gift...Jesus and the salvation He gives from the death on the cross!  What more do you need to be excited about it?

Well I went to Denver not knowing really what to expect and the job I did the most was the "Heavy Lifter."  You guessed it...I lifted heavy boxes :)  But it was so much more than that...I got to pray over every full box I lifted up and sent on it's way to Mexico.  I got to see the cool stuff people were sending to these kids and in my mind the joy the kids will have opening the box.  I got to share the joy in finally packing 23 shoe boxes in a box (that is the most you can pack in a box).    

But what really made the trip were the stories I heard from different people.  I heard stories from people who went and delivered boxes to kids.  I heard stories from people who have volunteered for 10 years.  I even got to hear a story from a women who got a shoe box when she was an orphan in Russia.  That was a tear-jerker story..

Her name is Tatyana and at her orphanage she had no hope there.  The girls there didn't expect much coming out of the orphanage.  They would most likely end up on the streets or as a prostitute.  On top of that crazy future the girls would get one shower a month with no soap and had 1 toothbrush to share with 30 others.  Just let that sink in...I wouldn't share with one other person but they did it with 30!!!!  So yeah no hope...then one year her orphanage got the shoe boxes.  Her favorite items from the box she got were: 1. Candy of course. 2. Bar of Soap 3. Her very own tooth brush 4. A slinky.  One of her favorite things was a slinky!!!!  Her reason was that they didn't have a lot of color around them and this slinky was so colorful!   For just a little moment she experienced Hope in a time where there was no hope!

What a thought, but that is like our Christian lives.  We have no hope in this world or in our future without the person who gives us hope, Christ.  If it wasn't for His greatest gift to die on the cross for you and me.  If it wasn't for this free gift of salvation then what hope would I have in a hopeless world.  But I do know the Father and I have hope in God and what He has planned for me.  I have experienced True Hope in a time/place that there is no hope!

So this Christmas season remember the great Hope we have in the birth of Jesus.  Also as you give gifts think about the kids that will be receiving the Operation Christmas Child gifts and pray that they will receive the true Hope we find in Christ!

Learning about God through things I have lost

This week has been the week of me losing things...lets just say I have lost 3-4 things this week and it is very frustrating and the week is not over yet :(  and next week I am going to go to a corn maze and get lost there.  I don't know about you but I get upset about not finding something when I have lost it, but if I do find it I tell everybody the great news! 

Then I read Luke 15: 8 - 10

"Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?  When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!' In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

I remember these stories of the lost sheep, lost coin, and Prodigal Son as a kid and even the Leaving Ninety-Nine Song by Audio Adrenaline.  The point that God cares for the lost and rejoices when one comes to back to Him and repents.  But I never took time to look at the other point from this passage.  I do not know anyone that does not spend time looking for things that got lost.  I always retrace my steps after I freak out.  I will destroy my room just to find the missing item.  In this passage the woman does the same thing...she does everything she can to find the lost coin.

That is God in our life.  God is pulling at hearts to bring them back to Him, but just like socks sometimes people are too stubborn to be found and to give God their hearts.  At Blowout at Oyate Concern this week we read this verse and I think it fits well with the previous passage.

Revelation 3: 20

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me."

God is knocking at our hearts, God is doing everything He can to find the lost, but it is our job to open the door and/or ask God for opportunities to talk to people we know about Him.  Are you being a stubborn lost coin or a person who does not look for lost things.  If so you need to go to God and change your view point.

Also how awesome are parties in Heaven over someone who was lost is now found?  Nothing I can probably imagine :)

P.S. if you find a yellow notebook, a furby, a check, my favorite pen, a hacky sack, Oceans 13, or anything else I lost/lose this week I would like it back :)

Seeing God through Mugs

I LOVE TO COLLECT MUGS!!!  Not so much cool looking mugs, even though I do like collecting those at thrift stores, but mugs to represent times of my life.  I can look at one of my mugs and a memory comes to mind.  Some mugs represent places God has taken me (mission trips, vacations, jobs) and others tell me about a time of pain or joy.  I finally got a chance to unpack my mugs and give them a home at my new apartment and it was pretty cool to go through those memories with God and thank Him for all that He has helped me through.

It reminds me of Joshua 4: 1 - 9

When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe,  and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.”

So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.

I underlined my favorite part of it.  When your children ask you, "What do these stones mean?"  Wow what a great way to minister to your kids or grandchildren about what God has done in your life.  When someone looks at my mug collection they might ask, "Why do you have so many mugs?"  I usually respond, "Because it is a useful collection, but they each hold a memory of some cool event in my life."  I never thought about how I can share the Gospel with my mugs, but now I do because in each of those memories God was working.  

It doesn't have to be an object like the stones or a collection either to have an opportunity to share the Gospel.  When I worked at a camp in Texas I got asked a lot about where I was from, since I didn't sound like a Texan.  When I would say Ohio they would ask me, "How did you get here?" That was an opportunity for me to share how God worked through me and got me to work there.

So what in your life can point others to ask you about God?  Are they stones you set up, is it the thing that makes you different from those around you, is it a certain action you do, is it your kindness?  Think about how you can show God's work in your life this week.  

Learning about God through a Dare

So the series I am teaching in youth group is called Truth and Dare.  We examine the truth in a subject and then at the end I dare them to do it.  Now the dares have not been the easiest dares, but they have taught me a lot.  The first week's dare was to pray every time you needed to make a decision, then it was 1 4 1, which is one hour in media is one hour with God, and this week's dare is to Be Content.  

Each one of these dares have challenged me to look at the life I am living and helping me take the next step in living life for God.  So I just want to share some cool things I have learned.

God's Decisions was a dare that showed me that I too much decide things and then ask God to bless my decisions.  It is a funny way to think about it...we should be asking God what to do in everything.  On my day off I asked God what He wanted me to do...all I got back was text your friend.  It was weird but I did and found out my friend had the same day off and then we went Geocaching.  It was fun just to get away and do something that I love.  Plus explore a different part of the blackhills :)  God loves us and wants the best for us...so why not ask Him what you should do instead of asking Him to bless your decisions.

1 4 1 dare showed me that I really need to pay more attention how I use my time.  I found that I didn't have enough time in the day to pay 1 hour of media with 1 hour of God.  I saw that when I was tired or just needed a break I went to media for it instead of God.  It opened my eyes to how much we rely on media to fulfill our needs instead of God.  

Then this week is to Be Content...do not buy anything new, no going out to eat, no going to paid entertainment.  Instead when we feel the urge to buy something new take that time to praise God for what we do have.   This is going to be a hard one for me...there are days that I want to go out to eat because you know...I am tired and want something really good.  That is going to rock my world and teach me a little bit of how to be content with what I have.   So I will be cooking a lot this week and it will be a week full of praise and trusting in God's provisions.  

So I dare you to try one of these dares this week.  Choose the dare that would be the hardest for you instead of one that would be easy.  Then see how different life could be.  

Not trusting in God but looking for hope in others is #fail

Isaiah 30:12-17New Living Translation (NLT)

This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel:

“Because you despise what I tell you  and trust instead in oppression and lies, calamity will come upon you suddenly—  like a bulging wall that bursts and falls. In an instant it will collapse and come crashing down. You will be smashed like a piece of pottery— shattered so completely that there won’t be a piece big enough to carry coals from a fireplace or a little water from the well.” 

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:
“Only in returning to me  and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it. You said, ‘No, we will get our help from Egypt. They will give us swift horses for riding into battle.’ But the only swiftness you are going to see is the swiftness of your enemies chasing you! One of them will chase a thousand of you. Five of them will make all of you flee. You will be left like a lonely flagpole on a hill or a tattered banner on a distant mountaintop.”

I read these verses today and was hit at how trusting in the wrong things I and the world can be.  Last night in youth group we talked a little bit about how we are influenced by the "truths" that the world tries to tell us instead of the Bible.  How we will even justify what things are right and wrong, but never look to the Bible or God about it.  It is scary to think sometimes we trust and hope in what someone says instead of finding it out through the truth aka The Bible and God.  WHY?!?!?!?   Time and time again in the Bible we see that is a bad idea. Read the book of Judges and you will see...even in this verse!

I laugh at the part in the passage when it gets to the Egyptians.  "Hey God you are cool and all, but I want to get help in my time of need from these Egyptians.  They are a powerful nation and look they have these awesome horses to even help us in our battle.  Don't really need You when we got swift horses!"  Haha, now this is me being dumb with what I read in the verse, but it has a little truth.  They would rather rely on the strength of the Egyptians for their time of battle versus the power of God!  A powerful nation vs. God...God always wins!

So are you trusting in the truth God tells us in the Bible or are you despising it by allowing your life to be influenced by a powerful nation like America or the oppression and lies of the world?  Return to God and rest in Him...it will be great for you :)

Seeing God through the Gift of a Baseball.

While I was packing I unpacked one of my favorite gifts!  A dirty used baseball signed by Thomas!  Now that might not seem much, but this gift taught me to give with a loving heart...even if it is something you love.  I was in Quito Ecuador doing a mission trip at Alliance Academy International helping out in the chapel all week long.  We taught kids how to pray...more than bedtime prayers and prayers at meal times.  But during this week it was my birthday!  So I didn't tell the kids this, but they found out from the teachers who had been praying for us by name before we came and they had my birthday from my form.  Well the day of my birthday I was given gifts from a lot of kids.  I got drawn pictures, a painting, a lot of hugs and then this baseball.  Thomas gave me the ball and told me it was one of his favorite balls and he wanted me to have it on my birthday.  I felt so blessed and had him sign it.  So I now keep it around...not so much to play with, but to remind me to give from my heart and to be selfless about my giving too.

Acts 20: 32-35
“Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

It is more blessed to give than receive.  We are told to give to the poor and help the needy.  Thomas helped me by giving me a joyful day and blessing me forever with the thought of giving selflessly.  Just like Paul worked hard to support himself, but also gave and received from many.  He was blessed and loved in that since.  So show how much you love and care for others this week.  Maybe give a little bit of your time to listen or buy someone coffee this week.  Buy the person behind you their meal...etc etc.  Give and you will be blessed!  That is what I was reminded of this week.