Monday morning around 9:30 AM I depart for Alpharetta, GA. There I will meet up with my Journey team. Twenty strangers who may have a little bit of an idea of who we are through the wonderful world of facebook. We are from all over the country from Hawaii to Indiana, and go to all sorts of different schools and have different stories, different lives, goals, experiences, but somehow all of us have one thing in common. We have no idea what we are getting into.
Too often I like to plan out the way I want my life to unfold. I plan classes, trips, what my routine is on a day to day basis, and yes most of the time I don't consult God on the everyday "normal" things. The beauty of this trip is that I have a rough idea of where I'll be, Kenya, and what I will be doing for some of the time, a sports camp, but have no clue about 90% of what is about to happen.
It puts me in a very awesome situation. I have no choice but to trust God. I have so far to go in terms of being the man that God can make me but I am loving doing this one little bit at a time. I recently watched last week's video cast of Elevation church and Steven Furtick talked about how God changes us little by little. Of course one of the first questions is... why? I mean he is God can't he change me completely and all at once? Well the answer is yeah he could. But then Steven says maybe he doesn't do this because if he did then we would have no need for God.
I may get frustrated about uncertainty or wondering why I can't do certain things yet or get over some issues that just keep bringing me down, but I don't ever want to get to a point where I think I am in complete control of myself and find no need for God.
So I leave you with something I hope speaks into your life, and what I hope God will show me in the 28 days that I'm gone.
Deuteronomy 7:21-23
21 Do not be terrified by them, for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God. 22 The LORD your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you. 23 But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Friday, July 06, 2007
Mandrew vs. Wild
I have expressed before my love of the show Man vs. Wild starring survival super guy, Bear Grylls. I mean even the guys name screams bad to the bone. Fridays at 9PM the Discovery Channel brings into my living room a new episode, but somehow they knew that wouldn't quench my thirst for survival and showed the show literally all day long. I have watched far too many episodes to the point where I've almost tried to convince myself that I could survive in the wild.
Yesterday was my first adventure to Half Moon Outfitters and I felt like a kid at a candy store. If you don't know what it is then you can check it out here but basically it's a shop for all of your outdoor, camping, and nature adventure needs. The people there are really cool and let you test out pretty much anything you want and have probably tested out most of what is in the store. I bought some Chaco sandals after the guy told me that he had spent several months in Kenya climbing mountains in his very own Chaco's.
The other night I went camping out on Lake Murray with some people and it was quite the experience but it left me wanting more. On top of all of the purchases and growing love for the outdoors and doing something adventurous I am reading Mark Batterson's In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day, which is very much about taking risks and fighting battles that most people would think you would be crazy to fight. So all of this is mixing in for something that I'm not sure of yet. I feel like all of these things are more than just a coincidence and somehow God wants to use it.
This is my last weekend before going to Kenya and I am getting excited to the point that it is getting hard to sleep. I've been having some really awesome time in prayer and just being as real as I can possibly be with God. I want so bad for God to heal all of Kenya and I've been trying to increase my tiny view of God every time I think of just how messed up things are. One of the coolest ways God has been showing up is in others around me and people who I am actually not even that close to. There have been so many people who have told me that they have prayed for the trip and many people have committed to pray during the trip and it's incredible to know how many people want God to have his glory on that continent.
Yesterday was my first adventure to Half Moon Outfitters and I felt like a kid at a candy store. If you don't know what it is then you can check it out here but basically it's a shop for all of your outdoor, camping, and nature adventure needs. The people there are really cool and let you test out pretty much anything you want and have probably tested out most of what is in the store. I bought some Chaco sandals after the guy told me that he had spent several months in Kenya climbing mountains in his very own Chaco's.
The other night I went camping out on Lake Murray with some people and it was quite the experience but it left me wanting more. On top of all of the purchases and growing love for the outdoors and doing something adventurous I am reading Mark Batterson's In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day, which is very much about taking risks and fighting battles that most people would think you would be crazy to fight. So all of this is mixing in for something that I'm not sure of yet. I feel like all of these things are more than just a coincidence and somehow God wants to use it.
This is my last weekend before going to Kenya and I am getting excited to the point that it is getting hard to sleep. I've been having some really awesome time in prayer and just being as real as I can possibly be with God. I want so bad for God to heal all of Kenya and I've been trying to increase my tiny view of God every time I think of just how messed up things are. One of the coolest ways God has been showing up is in others around me and people who I am actually not even that close to. There have been so many people who have told me that they have prayed for the trip and many people have committed to pray during the trip and it's incredible to know how many people want God to have his glory on that continent.
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