life… of life.

nothing crazy is happening right now… I don’t feel just so inclined to write about something .. so I guess I”m just talking.  Lately, I’ve just been learning a lot.  period.  I have the mind of a baby most days, it’s like a sponge.  I’m always thinking, looking around, wondering, daydreaming, all the above.  But, all of this recent sponge-like learning has been because of Jesus.  Haven’t you ever just wondered why things work out the way they do, or maybe why they don’t work out?  It’s like you can look at something, see how perfect it would be and why it would be… how it could be fruitful and nice.  That’s where my daydreaming comes in and turns the sponge-like mind into a rock.  close-minded, seeing one thing and ignoring any sort of evidence it just might not be right.  It’s so easy to be stubborn and just choose to see one thing,  and no matter what happens, you still are counting on that one thing.  The past couple weeks, I feel like God just shook me and yelled “WAKE UP!”.  since that’s happened, i’m sure i’m back to the sponge-like mind.  open to things, using discernment, not being foolish with my heart and what I invest it into.  I’ve been thinking about how God gives and takes away.  Sometimes the things He takes away really aren’t too convenient for us, and we can get caught up in hurt of losing something.  There is nothing wrong with being it hurt, I believe it’s a natural thing.  But what you do to deal with that hurt is what matters.  I’ve just learned that, yeah, sometimes things get hard and I can’t understand why they happen.  But in this story of God, not to be cliche, I’m just learning everything happens for a reason.  If I just continue to look down this really narrow road at Him, not getting distracted by the wide ones on both side, but just keep my focus on the beautiful prize, I’ll be ok.  Everything will make sense.  I believe that.  

random, yes.  but i’m at a coffee shop and have free time. i love all of you.

my experience, my heart, my convictions, our growing.

Well, as you can see I definitely didn’t blog as much as I thought I would while up at Hume Lake….sorry guys.  As I replay everything over and over again in my head I try to think of the best way to tell you guys about it and describe it, but only one word comes to mind.  God.  Everything was simply about God.  The sessions, the worship, the staff, the campers, the relationships I made…it was all knit together by the big man.  I would go out late when it’s nice and dark just look at the overwhelming blanket of stars that covered the sky every night, and I couldn’t help but to feel some sort of teary-eyed emotion in the wonder of how beautiful my God is.  The trees, the mountains, the lakes and waterfalls, it almost seems like they were all put together in a picture painted by the artist to show His beauty and glory. 

 I learned when I was up at Hume that I can tend to put God in a box and only allow Him to occupy so much of my life and time.  Over the weeks of understanding God’s nature and love I started to feel extremely convicted by this.  I’ve come down the mountain and back home understanding that God is IT.  He matters in every decision, action, conversation, paycheck and thought I’ll ever have.   I pray the Lord has LOTS of mercy on me for whom I’ve subconsciously molded Him to be in my life this past year.  I realize how ok I’ve been with making Him small in my love and friendships and it kills me, literally.  I believe the “put to death” part is, in a cool way, already taking action due to the amount of conviction I’ve felt this past month. 

 I guess that it bothers me that we tend to get super spiritual when we attend awesome camps like Hume and all the sudden live our lives completely for God, pouring into complete strangers and loving them as if they were family.  That part is cool, but what about the lives we lead at home?  Who am I really when I’ve come down the mountain and am back home where I thrive and should have more fellowship than I do anywhere else?  What would it look like if we could all live this way, passionate about what the awesome living God is doing in our lives and who He is.  Seeking Him day in and day out ready to serve!  I said earlier that I could see how everything was knit together by the Lord when I was up at Hume, but it’d be foolish of me to say that can only happen at a camp in California.  I don’t say all this in hopes of you getting done reading this screaming revival, but more so to say, we can do better, a lot better.  We can love better, serve better, show compassion better, put on humility better, and all the above.  I’m sick of lukewarm, it doesn’t do it for me.  I think that’s because I was created to glorify God, which results in true satisfaction in Him, which also explains why I would feel empty and bored with life at times this past year… I honestly did a sorry job of letting God be “it” for me.  

 

It’s almost 4:00 in the morning… jet lag is kicking my butt.  I know this all may be a little scattered, but it’s on my heart.  I’ll explain more of this later… I definitely got a lot more to say.  Hey, what can you expect from a guy at 4 in the morning anyways.  I love you all dearly, now lets change the world.

 

Hume Lake Camp in Hume, CA…

Hello to all of you beautiful people!  I just got done with my first week at Hume Lake… and I must say that it has been absolutely amazing.  This week brought in over a 1000 students for Ponderosa, the highschool camp, and it was WILD.  Because I don’t have any pics of the place yet… I gotta fill you in.  Hume Lake is without a doubt the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.  The days are nothing but cloudless blue skies with temperatures high enough to go swimming for the day.  Then right around 7 it starts to cool down… by the time 10 PM rolls around it’s around 60 and the sky is overwhelmed with stars.  It rocks here. 

 Another thing I gotta talk about is the staff here at Hume.  EVERYONE here so far has been some of the most encouraging awesome people I’ve ever met.  Each conversation I have here with someone, I walk away feeling refreshed, blessed, encouraged… and all of the above.  I’m definitely looking forward to having the privilege of sharing life with these folks for the next month.  It’s gonna be a blast.

 I can already see God doing huge things here just during the first week.  I was able to get to know several of the campers with whatever free time I had, and I can truly see them being molded and changed as the Lord continues to work on their hearts.  It’s so encouraging to see the small impact I can have on someone’s life just by spending time with them, talking with them, loving them.  It’s sad because all some of these kids want is someone to talk to.  I met a girl who has always struggled with feeling accepted.  In her family, school, church, she said she never felt good enough.  All that she had ever lived for was trying to be a people pleaser.  All I had to do was introduce myself and ask her how her week has been, and 5 seconds didn’t go by before she’s crying and starting to tell me her story.  All it took was me caring about how she’s doing and she says it changed her week and view of God, love, and people.  That blows my mind and breaks my heart all at the same time.  As insane as that sounds, I find as I talk to more and more kids with similar situations, it’s actually common.  I keep on learning more and more each day that it’s all about love.  Love God so much that His love pours out onto everyone all around you…that’s it people.  It has already been revealed to me that this month is going to be a major growing season full of these kinds of things.  I’m so freaking pumped!!

 I can go on for hours but it’s time to go visit some cabins.   I just wanted to briefly let yall know what’s going on.  I got a lot more coming so be prepared.  Missing you and praying for you all.

 

cheers

 

 

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