Book Quotes: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

Pg. 38-If you aren’t telling a good story, nobody thinks you died too soon; they just think you died.

Pg. 60- I wonder…if when people say life is meaningless, what they really mean is their lives are meaningless.

Pg. 86-I like the part of the Bible that talks about God speaking the world into existence, as though everything we see and feel were sentences from his mouth, all the wet of the world his spit.

Pg. 88-So I started obeying a little. I’d feel God wanting me to hold my tongue, and I would. It didn’t feel natural at first; it felt fake, like I was being a character somebody else wanted me to be and not who I actually was; but if I held my tongue, the scene would play better, and I always felt better when it was done. I started feeling like a better character, and when you are a better character, your story gets better too...And when I learned to hold my tongue a bit, the Voice guided me from the defensive to the intentional. God wanted me to do things, to help people, to volunteer or write a letter or talk to my neighbor. Sometimes I’d do the thing God wanted, and the story always went well, of course; and sometimes I’d ignore it and watch television. But by this time I really came to believe the Voice was God, and God was trying to write a better story. And besides, nothing God wanted me to do was difficult. Until…(Little tease Here for people to get this book and read it)

Pg. 89-I told God no again, but he came back to me and asked me, if I really believed he could write a better story—and if I did, why didn’t I trust him?

Pg. 103-We knew it would end well, but you don’t feel that when you push a chracter into his story. You only feel what he is feeling at that moment.

Pg. 107-Perhaps one of the reasons I’ve avoided having a clear ambition is because the second you stand up and point toward a horizon, you realize how much there is to lose.

Pg. 113- It made me wonder if the reasons our lives seem so muddled is because we keep walking into scenes in which we, along with the people around us have no clear idea of what we want.

Pg. 118-There is a force resisting the beautiful things in the world, and too many of us are giving in.

Pg. 160-We teach our children good or bad stories, what is worth living for and what is worth dying for, what is worth pursuing, and the dignity with which a character engages his own narrative.

Pg. 167-I asked Bob what was the key to living such agreat story, and Bob seemed uncomfortable with the idea he was anything special. But he wanted to answer my question, so he thought about it and said he didn’t think we should be afraid to embrace whimsy. I asked him what he meant by whimsy, and he struggled to define it. He said it’s that nagging idea that life could be magical; it could be special if we were only willing to take a few risks.

Pg. 180-“You didn’t think joy could change a person, did you? Joy is what you feel when the conflict is over. But it’s conflict that changes a person.”

Pg. 186-Part of me wonders if our stories aren’t being stolen by the easy life.

Pg. 204-Paul says Jesus is the hope that will not disappoint. I find that comforting. That helps me get through the day, to be honest. It even makes me content somehow. Maybe that’s what Paul meant when he said he’d learned the secret of contentment.

Pg 204, 205-I worshiped at the altar of romantic completion…I think that’s why so many couples fight, because they want their partners to validate them and affirm them, and if they don’t get that, they feel as though they’re going to die. And so they lash out. But it’s a terrible thing to wake up and realize the person you just finished crucifying wasn’t Jesus.

Pg. 206-When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are. And when you stop expecting material possessions to complet you, you’d be surprised at how much pleasure you get in material possessions. And when you stop expecting God to end all your troubles, you’d be surprise how much you like spending time with God.

Pg 208, 209-When we look back on our lives, what we will remember are the crazy things we did, the times we worked harder to make a day stand out.

Pg. 214-I think God wanted his people to build altars for their sake, something that would help them remember, something they could look back on and remember the time when they were rescued, or they were given grace.

Pg. 236-A good storyteller doesn’t just tell a better story, though. He invites other people into the story with him, giving them a better story too.

Pg. 246, 247-It’s interesting that in the Bible, in the book of Ecclesiastes, the only practical advice given about living a meaningful life is to find a job you like, enjoy marriage, and obey God. It’s as though God is saying, Write a good story, take somebody with you, and let me help.

Pg 247-I don’t ever want to go back to believing life is meaningless…I wish people who struggle against dark thoughts would risk their hopes on living a good story.

Memorable book quotes from: In the Name of Jesus

Pg 30- the Christian leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self.  That is the way Jesus came to reveal God’s love.

Pg. 34-Feeling irrelevant is a much more general experience than we might think when we look at our seemingly self-confident society.

Pg. 37-But: Are you in love with Jesus? Perhaps another way of putting the question would be: Do you know the incarnate God?  In our world of loneliness and despair, there is an enormous need for men and women who know the heart of God, a heart that forgives, cares, reaches out and wants to heal.

Pg. 40-The radical good news is that the second love is only a broken reflection of the first love and that the first love is offered to us by a God in whom there are no shadows.

Pg. 41-He cries out in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me! Let anyone who believes in me come and drink.”

Pg. 41- The desire to be relevant and successful will gradually disappear, and our only desire will be to say with our whole being to our brothers and sisters of the human race, “You are loved.”

Pg. 58-I need my brothers or sisters to pray with me, to speak with me about the spiritual task at hand, and to challenge me to stay pure in mind, heart, and body.  But far more importantly, it is Jesus who heals, not I; Jesus who speaks words of truth not I; Jesus who is Lord not I.

Pg. 61-  Laying down your life means making your own faith and doubt, hope and despair, joy and sadness, courage and fear available to others as ways of getting in touch with the Lord of life.

Pg. 61, 62-We are sinful, broken, vulnerable people who need as much care as anyone we care for.  The mystery of ministry is that we have been chosen to make our own limited and very conditional love the gateway for the unlimited and unconditional love of God.

Pg. 78-The temptation of power is greatest when intimacy is a threat

Pg. 81-But Jesus has a different vision of maturity: It is the ability and willingness to be led where you would rather not go.

We have something Disneyland doesn't...

Every child longs for Disneyland.  When I was little Disneyland was the epitome of heaven to me.  The scenery was incredible, there were cartoon characters walking all around me, the rides were unreal, and churros were available on every corner.  What could be better. 

I have been thinking a lot about ministry and the purpose of youth ministry and I ran across something that ignited my thought process.  Doug Fields, youth ministry guru, once said at a conference I went to that what we (youth ministries) have to offer is something that Disneyland doesn't have.  I never left disneyland feeling extra loved or extra cared about.  We have the ability to love students.  The truth of the matter is the students never actually leave youth ministries, they leave leaders. You see youth ministry is not about a cool room, cool lights, great sermons, rockin music, or even disgusting games.  Youth ministry is about significant relationships.  Youth ministry is about loving students where they are at.

 We have something that Disneyland doesn't. We have the ability to love people.  To anybody who has devoted time, energy, money, or love to youth ministry I just want to say thank you for offering something that many youth don't have the opportunity to feel or experience, legitimate and unconditional love.  The truth is Disneyland does not have Jesus to offer, the people there are not called to particularly care for the condition of peoples' hearts.  Yet, youth ministry is about exactly that.  Teenagers need an adult who likes them.  They need somebody who legitimately cares for them.  We have something to offer that Disneyland does not.  

There is this new song out by Michael Gungor that has gotten me thinking. It simply says, "You make beautiful things out of the dust...you make beautiful things out of us."

Look closely at the creation of man in Genesis 2:7 and we see a God who is creative and perfect. This creative God takes the dust of the ground and creates a human. But the most powerful part comes next when the text says that God breathed life into him. I haven't been able to move from this thought. The God that created us breathed into us...in a sense we could say that God is our lifeline, but in another sense we must say God is our lifeline in the sense that he instills us with that necessary element to live.
Look at what God says about us in Genesis 1...He says we are made in his likeness, in his image. He says we are good. God has made us beautiful originally and he continues to make us beautiful. First Corinthians tells us that in Christ we are a new creation, the old is gone and the new has come. God takes this filth, this broken and hurt humanity and turns it into beauty, but really we knew he could do this. He used the dust to create us, he used the dust to form us and than he stepped down and breathed into us. I hope the significance is sinking in. God is intimately involved in our lives, and is constantly making us new. I don't know about you but there are times when I feel too dirty and unfit to be loved by God, but Ephesians says we are God's workmanship....We are God's masterpiece.....We are God's. For some reason that ceases to be enough for us, but please consider the gravity of that statement. We are God's. I am God's. You are God's. He created man from dust. He formed you in your mothers womb, He did not mess up.

Now we have been broken and hurt and cut and torn...I was looking at one of those dandelions that you can blow the seed off and they fly out the other day and thought of God's creativity. Of all the flowers it seems this one has the saddest fate, it seems it's purpose is simply to be destroyed. It is easy to blow the seeds off, it is breaking the flower, but out of that brokenness God incites life by having those seeds to go and bear life...

Yet, isn't that the beauty of our God, that he makes beautiful things out of the dust.....

That he makes beautiful things out of us....

Set Apart

Christians are called to be set apart, to be different. Yet too often I think Christians blend in far too well with society. We are in the world, which were called to be, but we were called to stand out. There is supposed to be something in the way we live that sets us apart, that makes us holy. Honestly, when I am hanging out with my friends I hardly feel holy. I feel like my standards are a little different, I feel like where my friends are making bad decisions I am with standing, I feel where I choose moderations many of my friends choose loosing self-control, but I really don't feel like there is always a noticeable difference in this aspect of my life. We were called to be a city on a hill, but often times it feels like we are not standing out but rather disconnecting. I think the radical message ofthe Jesus is that we are supposed to live different, move different, be active, but the way religion has moved us is to a place where to follow Christ is not to act rather than to act. We try not to do this, say that, wear those, watch that, or listen to that. And while I do feel we should stand out by what we choose to avoid, we must not use that as our way of living out the faith that we hold so firmly too.

We are followers of the light of the world. Light does not take away from the darkness, but overtakes it. Honestly, is the life of the Christians you know, or maybe your life, shining bright. Being set apart has nothing to do with trying to make others feel inferior, but rather quite the opposite. What if people near us found life. When people lived the way we live, if even for just a minute, they should find life and not feel as if they are loosing life. Jesus had the incredible ability to make people feel important. He rarely tried to impress people by what he refrains from, but rather chose to live in a way that the actions he made and the people he hung out with would bring their own questions? Do you ask more questions when people don't do something you do or when people do something that you just don't understand? I want to live a life that is constantly getting questioned. Why do you always talk to the loners? Why do you constantly buy food for homeless people? What is it like talking to people at their lowest points? Why did you drive all the way out here for me? You really do care, don't you? I want to be surrounded by these questions because for many people we really are the closest thing they will see to Jesus Christ in their life time. Silence is deadly. A spoken word poet that I listen to says that if we walk by the hurting without saying that Christ loves you, we might as well stop and tell them how much we don't care about their life and where the end up.

Being Set Apart, being Holy is not necessarily about pulling away from the filth, but overtaking it with love. In fact, it is in that love and hurt where God is most present. Are you living loud? Are you living light?

I do know many amazing followers of Jesus Christ who are shining bright and who are loving loud and living intentionally. I just feel like it is time that some of us choose to join them. Let's be Holy.

Mexico Day 8/Recap- Parting is such sweet sorrow

I’m sitting in the DOL right now, and somehow it seems like the perfect way to contrast coming home to spending my last week gallivanting through the streets of Tijuana. So now I’m surrounded by a stupid amount of American’s wanting to renew licenses and stuff like that. However yesterday morning I was standing on a dirt road in Mexico starting the day like I had ended the last one. God had me wake up pretty freaking early cause he wanted me to start out the beginning of my 21^st year with him and I’m not one to say God did this or that very easily, but I do feel he wanted me to start this year resting in him. It was so cool as God just challenged me to thank him for all he had been doing in my life and all that I still need to hand over to him. Have you ever had that opportunity? It was pretty cool just to re-cap my life with God and see where he has taken me and what he has allowed me to see and do. The rest of that conversation was pretty personal so I’m obviously not going to go into detail, but let’s just say it was a cool way to start the year.

Right after I got done writing my last blog, I came downstairs and snuck into a room full of the younger boys and one boy Ricardo was up laying in his bed and I sat down next to him. In his hands he was clutching an envelope and inside it were pictures he had drawn for Mackenzie, Carly and myself and little trinkets he was going to give us. (He had no idea I would be coming down, which is why it was so surprising and sweet that he would be clutching this envelope while lying in his bed.) It was one of the sweetest things I had ever seen. Here is a picture of Ricardo.

The next morning I went into the room and all the boys had pictures or letters for me. The littlest boy, Oscar, that wasn’t in the baby house gave me a Dish Network add that had superman on the front and told me I was superman. Than moments later he tried to give me his Spongebob stuffed animal that was bigger than him (although it may have been the boys whose bunk was above him), and than he tried to give me a toy truck, and than he tried to give me more and more toys (all of which I would not let him give me, he was three…and seriously he had already given me the dish network card so I felt super special. Check out how cute Oscar is.

When I went to visit the baby house I got to see my favorite kid in their, Lucy. Lucy is a toddler and kinda waddles around and she is freaking adorable. For 5 or 6 of the days I was there I would go in and pick her up, through her around, dance with her, sit in the rocking chair with her, get besos (kisses) on the cheek from her, and just show her love that she doesn’t get consistently from parents (but she does get love from the orphanage worker, but they have 16 other babies to share love with so its not what it would be). I was getting ready to leave the baby house for my last time and Lucy followed me through an open door into one of the crib filled rooms and grabbed my shirt tail and reached up to me and said “Papa.” WHAT! Papa….that melted my heart and I picked her up and never wanted to let her down.

I bonded most with a boy named Moises. He is a fourteen year old kid who has had to grow up way too early. Two of his brothers ran away from the orphanage and I’m not sure if his parents are alive, but if they are they are completely abandoned from his life. He’s one of those guys who is craving for a positive male influence in his life and I pray that I began to play that role. Every morning this trip he would come to my window and whistle to wake me up. We spent hours playing card games, trying to teach him how to jump high enough to touch their 9 foot basketball hoop, fighting, cleaning up after meals, and struggling through conversations. I guess I see more and more why my heart is youth ministry and the potential that teenagers have to influence others. He lived in the shadow of his Jesus-junior brother, and was just trying to find his place in this world. I will always be thinking of Moises.

Well this is the end of my Mexico blogging. I pray that it made a difference in your thought process somewhere along the way. I pray that you think differently about the needs in the world, about the way God cares for you, in who God is, and in the call for the church. I will be blogging sporadically but Thanks so much for your prayers for our trip to Mexico

Mexico Day 7----One night left to live....in Tijuana

The sun was setting over the Pacific ocean as I stared at the end of a dirt road that led into a valley and eventually into the Ocean. Turning around I saw the lives of many Mexican families as they went about their normal business. Glancing back across the valley my eyes were drawn to small and poorly put together houses. As I continued to just think about the situation I was in the voices of 18 orphans, 5 orphan care adults, and 1 other family encased me. In the middle of Tijuana worship filled the air as it always does at the orphanage. It was one of those moments when I was stuck in God's grace and overwhelmed by his grandeur. Entering church I came to the realization the any love these kids have for God comes from seeing the example put out by the five workers and the pastor. Their posture of worship was incredible humble and grateful. It was great we again said what we were thankful for and I got the chance to tell the church that I am thankful for my new big family in Christ in Tijuana (I wanted to say that my heart was with them, but I didn't know how, but it didn't matter because Mackenzi feeling the same way told them that and both times we spoke the room filled with Amens and "Gloria a Dios"s. I'm just still overwhelmed by how their entire lives revolve around Christ its cool.

We are preparing to leave and it is obvious that tomorrow they will have to return to life as normal without us, but it has been so incredible to begin to say our farewells. Two kids have given us notes and both say that we are there best friends and that they love us and that they pray God blesses us!

Manuel and Armando came to church today and we got to chat and exchange numbers and email adresses and the like (On the paper Manuel wrote in perfect English "You are my best friend"...He's actually my friend and I like it lots). As time drifted by and we needed to begin to part ways we embraced and began to walk away, but with urgency he called out "WAIT, I want to pray for you guys!" He just encouraged us and continued to pray, and I got to pray for them and it was so freaking cool! I loved spending time with them and it was so much fun getting to know these true amigos de Christo. It was sweet! Keep praying for all these people I love them much and a part of my heart is stuck in Tijuana! There will be one more blog in a few days! I hope you have been encouraged reading about these kids and the church! They send their love! Adios!

Mexico Day 6

Yup....I'm in Tijuana! I love it here but I do miss everybody at home.  It's incredible to experience the love that has been shown to me by everybody in this community.  The younger kids had school today so two high school boys and myself played card games and did card tricks for over three hours. It was cool just to understand that these guys just wanted to be in community.  We laughed, played, drank more coke, ate cheetos, I cheated, so they started cheating (and that made me angry) and we continued the trend for all three hours.

Life moves slower here and its really strange.  For a while it is the most obnoxious thing in the world and you need time to speed up, but lately I have began to embrace it and really see that the focus of their lives is so much more relational and run less by individual accomplishments.  The pace also allows time daily to get away and dive into the Bible.  Today I took advantage of that time and was blown away by Paul's life as described in the book of Acts.  It was crazy to just see how his heart always went out to do the work of God, it always came before his comforts or his desires.  I am amazed by his heart and passion.  As I was reading 2 Thessolonians I came across a verse where he says, "May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance."  this just popped out to me!  May the Lord direct my heart...is that really what I have been praying, is that really what I seek?  As I begin to mature more in my identity with Christ it seems as if I just begin to notice more shortcomings in my life and honestly that excites me!  How awesome is it that Christ reveals to me my depravity in the midst of my growth.  It is like a magnet that continually draws me back to his grace and his love!  I like Paul...thanks for making me think Mr. Apostle  man.

Anyways....the rest of the day was spent taking a van full of kids to a shoe store and a store to buy their uniforms for school...which seems easy enough but it was crazy!  Which makes me have mad respect for a man named Alejandro and his wife Alison.  They have one child here and they devote their lives to the rest of the kids! I don't know them incredibly well but I have just noticed that Alejandro is the quiet servant type who doesn't want any credit for what he does and Alison just loves on the kids 24/7!  Keep them in your prayers.

I just love these kids.  After dinner they were all playing in this little court yard!  There was a three year old running around with the stick part of a broom, there were two kids sitting with Mackenzie, there was a person running around with Mac's camera, there was a nine year old girl trying to make fisher price rolelr skates work that were super cheap, and my favorite part was they don't have enough rollerblades (I think they have 1 1/2 pairs) so there were three kids skating around with one rollerblade each and having a fantastic time! Life is so different here and the kids love it!  This girl named Aida is looking over my shoulder and wanted to be in this so Aida says hi...She has a huge crush on a boy named Isaac who plays in a band and apparently is super sexy! Well That is today...different than any other day but is an incredible day still! Keep praying peeps, always works

Mexico Day 5 - - -Where are we?

Where to start, where to start where to start.  Honestly I'm not sure if there was much that I realized today that is crazy life-changing more so I realized that my life has the ability to be crazy.

I started the day off by going to church and I expected it to be packed because there aren't any other churches (besides one a catholic one) in the area, but I came down to the church and the place was almost empty, except the orphanage kids.  However this didn't stop them.  I ended up trying to teach a Sunday school class and I was more nervous than I have been speaking in front of 7 people than ever.  Luckily the regular teacher saved me and taught an incredible class on the importance of communion! When we returned to big service there were 50 people total, 27 kids and 23 adults.  Again they had a time where anybody could stand up and say what they are thankful for....they never stop giving thanks.  It was also cool because three songs they played I knew in English and it was so cool to have a chance to say in tandem with them: "Savior, He can move a mountain Our God is mighty to save her is mighty to save."  It just rang through my heart that OUR God is mighty to save, not my God...OUR God.  We get so caught up about how God changes me, and what God says to me, and how I feel about God, and how I relate to God that we forget to acknowledge that he is the God of all of us.  It was also incredible to be able to proclaim with them: "Shine your light and let the whole world see, were singing for the glory of the risen King."  Again it was that idea  that we are only an extension of the church that grabbed my attention, so cool!  Jumping ahead in my day I came back to the church and some youth were listening to music over the speakers and just singing into mic's for eachother.  When I came in they found an English version of "How great is our God and handed me a mic...it was awesome to sing along side them again and to know that they wanted me to join in the worship of God.

Anywho my life got crazy from there... Manuel (from yesterday's blog) was at church and he took us to Aramando's (also from yesterday's blog) dad's taco stand where we ate great tacos and we had sugar cane coca cola's in glass bottles which are like the best thing on the face of the planet, and if you have never had them you are stupid (not really but I was in a dramatic mood).  Anyways after that Manuel took us to this ranch and we saw like 15 horses and so many chickens and they were hanging out amongst the cactus' and we were just wandering around.  Well a horse riding teacher, and friend of Manuel brought out a pony and gave us the chance to ride it which was awesome! The pony was just the right size for Carly, a little bit small for the taller Mackenzi, and crazy small for me...I looked like a Giant (I would say the horse was more Gary sized....OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DISS!)  Anyways we were picked up by Aramando and rode in the back of his truck through rural Tijuana down dirt/rock rodes avoiding pot holes and dogs (we tried to hit the cats!) all the while drinking more Coca Cola (cause it is like Jesus in a bottle).  Eventually we reached a valley crossed over a stream and arrived at this amazing ranch that had pigs, horses, lambs, a goose and the cutest dog in the entire world.  We wandered around this ranch that had a pretty nice house and old school wood board swings and orange trees, the road to the house was lined with palm trees and the grass was actally green.  It felt like I had found the secret beauty of Tijuana...but to put the money problem into better perspective, right up the hill were two houses put together with left over plywood and hardly standing. but how would this happen! I am in Mexico...but wait...we left this crazy ranch to go up to the weekly horse race in the street! THE HORSE RACE IN THE STREET!  I watched as an entire community came together to ride horses down the street and drink beer and place bets (late I found out that people have been shot over these bets but my mom doesn't need to hear that)!  We came back to this singing and to the kids and ate dinner and spent time with babies and learned card games its pretty cool.  I spent probably 20-30 minutes just laying in the bedroom with all the guys changing words from Spanish to English and English to Spanish and helping them study for school which starts tomorrow!  It's so cool!  I also got to sit down with these two girls and talk to them about the boys they like and a girl named Naomi brought me love letters from two different boys who like her! Oh the decisions and oh how girls are girls!  Oh and the boys both said they wanted kisses....I donno about this (however instead of showing disgust I asked if she wanted a peck or a big sloppy wet kiss...she didn't answer).

The people I want to tell you quickly about today are Alberto and Carmen.  Alberto is the pastor of the church and the head of the Orphanage and Carmen is his wife. They live in an apartment right above the kitchen in the orphanage with there 7 year old son Haciel. They have agreed to share their love with 32 other kids and take them on as their on children.  They are an incredible couple.  Pastor Alberto loves God so much and it runs through everything he does.  He is an amazing leader and an incredible host (plus he has a killer mustache that I have been trying to steal).  Carmen is one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen and I'm not sure if it is just that she is pretty or that her demeanor, her love, her smile all obviously come from her intense heart for God.  She is a mother to all of them and its amazing.  Keep them in your prayers...I like them alot! They have truly grasped how to make a church a community or even more so a family!

So I guess here is my realization for the day: I would not lead close to the same life I lead if Christ were not my reason for living!  It is so clear to me that everything that my life is comes from this transformation that God has done and is constantly doing in my heart.  I would not know a lot of you if I were not a Christian. I would not have the chance to pour into kids students lives if I were not changed by God, I would not be able to be in an orphanage in Tijuana if I did not know Christ, I would not have gone to a horse race today if God had not blessed me with the opportunity to sacrifice for him, I would not have been able to drink two of the godliest Coca-Colas if God were not in my life, I would not have witnessed two healings at church on Thursday if God were not my heartbeat, I would not be the same. Period!  It's funny I guess when I look at how God has changed me I get stuck on the big things.  I get so caught up on how god has gotten me over hurts and has allowed me to see crazy things, but I forget that being a Christian calls for my entire life to be different.  But I have been transformed by Christ to lead a different life- a life full of love, compassion, horse races, ranches, sacrifice, sometimes dealing with pain, other times drinking really good coke, but throughout it all I simply remember that God is God and he has allowed me to live a mighty charmed life! I love you all and am thinking of you!  Continue praying...it works I promise!

Mexico Day 4---Oh the people I meet

Today the pastor at the church invited mac, carly and myself to join the older students and some community members on a trip to the beach today.  He prefaced it saying that these students don't get vacations but for one day they get to feel as if they are on vacation at the beach.  How can you say no to joining that? We hopped in the car and made our way to the beach, where my face later became a lobster, but that is a different story.  It was incredibly interesting to have the opportunity to experience  life with the older students because we are typically spending con los ninos (with the children).  Anywho three people I want to introduce you to today who I just met and made me think an incredible amount. 

First is a 20 year old guy from Tijuana named Manuel. He loved speaking English and stuck to me like glue! He was someone who actually became a friend. We spent the majority of our time in the ocean experience the power and majesty of our creator....oh and we jumped through waves. He didn't say anything inparticular that made me think, he didn't have an incredibloe story to tell, but he interacted with me in a way that I wish more people had the ability to do...he was transparent.  He spent time with me, he cared for me, he asked me question and answered questions, but most of all he was willing to be present with me.  Manuel is the perfect example of an amazing friend, and I have experienced his friendship for one day...and I would not trade that for anything.

Another interesting guy is a 24 year old Mexican named Armando!  Armando es increíble! He has an incredible testimony in which he was once addicted to drugs and drinking and the entire party lifestyle, but God grabbed him by the face and turned his life entirely around.  Then, check this out...He moved to Bellevue where he worked and evangelized in multiple community throughout western Washington!  He returned to Tijuana because of his family, but he still evangelizes in some more southern cities in Mexico, and let me make this clear...for those of us who claim to be Christ followers, we should be ever so proud to have a brother in Christ like Armando.  He lives life with so much joy!  Currently Armando is still evangelizing and he is going to a Bible school in Tijuana.  God has grabbed his heart and turned him around! He also helped us find some killer Taco's today! which is awesome!

In fact, the guy who we found who sent us to find these incredible fish and shrimp tacos with fresh pico de gallo on amazing tortillas was a man named Renee.  Now Renee was not with our church, he was actually a random worker at a taco stand (that ran out of fish and shrimp tacos so we didn't buy from them) on the beach. Anyways we started talking and he asked what I do and I said that I am a pastor and he was crazy confused because I am so young, but God is good and used this to open the door for me to hear his story!  Basically Renee began to used marijuan and began to drive while being drunk and his parents sent him into a rehab center. This rehad center treatsthere patients horrible on purpose.  Their goal is to not give them any luxuries and to break them in order to make them stronger and with Renee it worked. He came back a different man and he believes in God now, but does not know Jesus!  He sees life as beautiful and will continually be in my prayers...but he did say one thing that made me think like crazy.  He lived in LA for a couple years and he said that the rich seem to only want to put their money in their own pockets.  He recognized the greed that runs through America and he asked why people hold on.  He recognized that God calls us to give.  It surprised me that a poorer man would say that if he had money he wouldn't just take care of himself and help his lifestyle.  Instead he was broken over the greed and the lack of love that comes from the rich and was confused by how his very own uncle had become like this!  Renee was amazing...I wish I could do him justice, but it is crazy difficult.....So basically I had a long conversation at some random Market in Mexico with and incredible man who had gone through hell and back and came out understanding that God is good and that life is beautiful! Now let's pray that he understands that Jesus is the savior of the world!  Pray for Renee.

My last few thoughts of the day came while we were sitting in a circle with the students on the beach talking about what we were thankful for.  It was one of those moments where I realized I was on a beach with a church that 2 weeks ago I had no idea existed.  The thought came to my head and I said, "Gracias por que la familia de dios es grande."  "I am thankful becausethe family of God is big."  This is soooo true!  This week I have met believer from California, Canada, Germany, Mexico, Australia, Brazil, Fiji, Costa Rica, Austria, and many other countries.  It's incredible.  We were sitting in this circle singing "Open the eyes of my Heart Lord" in both english and spanish and I looked at this Mexican woman named Brenda at the line that says "I want to see you."  I though just as badly as I want to see and experience the God of the Universe (not just the United States) Brenda also wants to see, experience, and be moved by God.  It blew me away.  So in your prayers begin to pray for the church across the world.  I have began to recognize that few things unite so many different types of people, but Jesus Christ has made me family with many different cultures this week.  I am bonded by my savior with my family....PLEASE PEOPLE IF YOUR NOT SMILING GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD HOW EXCITING THIS IS!  THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE DIED FOR US ALL AND NOW FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE THERE IS A UNIVERSAL FAMILY!  God is good!   Please enjoy this.  The ninos here understand this.  My new family includes, Moises, Carlos, Antonio, Alberto, Carmen, Brenda, April, Armando, Renee, Oscar, Alejandro, Liz, Bryce, Stefanie, Brody, Andrea, Jonathon, and many more people!  My heart is tied here....it is tied to mi familia de dios!  

Lastly my challenge to you is to practice this:  Every morning the students gather to sing and in the middle of this singing time multiple students share what they are thankful for!  I have been so impressed that they never cease to thank God for what they do have....so if you are reading this it means you at least have access to a computer to be thankful for! Stop...now and thank God for the crazy amount of blessings he has overflowed your life with!  Keep praying!

Mexico-Day 3

Today is a totally different day than any other we will have this week. Today is my chance to chill and do some touristy things. However, God never stops being present in these moments. I want to tell you guys about the most amazing woman I have ever met named April.

April is a typically white lady from Los Angeles and she is well-off and she knows normal American life, but my friends she has no desire to settle. April has been coming down to Tijuana at least once a week for over 25 years. Now she and her husband own a house in Mexico and stay here every Tuesday through Saturday! She longs to bring truth and life to a broken nation. She is incredible. Her heart beats for the broken, her heart beats for the hurting, her heart beats for the church and it never stops beating. While many Americans have been fleeing Tijuana because of drug cartell wars, human sex trafficking and more she has gone into the core of it! Every Wednesday night she brings a group into Zona Norte and feeds the homeless in that area. Zona Norte is the red-light district of Tijuana. It is filled with prostitution and drug trafficking and criminals galore! In fact just a block down the road from where they feed the homeless is the Purple Rain night club where a person can buy anything! And by anything I mean anything...you can buy drugs, you can buy sex, you can buy weapons, you can even pay to have someone murdered. In the midst of this craziness, danger, crime, hell April shines the light of Jesus with soup and a smile. I can only hope you get the chance to experience April, She is the epitome of hope, love, hospitality, passion, and any other redeeming quality! Please keep April in your prayers.

I have so much more to write, but I had to blog earlier today because of a party at April's house (which she throws every friday for between 30-80 people)!

Oh Duh! The kids! They are doing amazing today...We haven't seen them in 5 hours and Mackenzi and Carly were already talking about how much they miss them! They are such a blessing. Today I went into the Baby room and a 18 month year old girl named Lucy ran up to me and grabbed my shirt tail. She wouldn't let go...She rested by me while I fed another Baby. She smiled at me. Let me tell you a little about Lucy...
She is adorable, she does her hair in pig tails, she wears little cute dresses, she has teh most heavy duty garbage bag diapers ever, she laughs at me when I bark like a dog and her little teeth that are still incoming and definitely baby teeth show up! She is my one of my favorites! There is also Oscar who is three years old. Today I picked him up and he was just smiling at me and I would throw him up in the air and he would laugh so loud! Eventually he looked at me and said, "David, tu quieres comer mi mano?" which means "David, do you want eat my hand." And of course I responded with "No, Tengo comer tu Cabeza." which means "No, I want eat your head!" That is OSCAR! He is awesome! Adios! Hablamos Manana!

Mexico Day 2- Love is ....

Love is in the simplest of touch. A high five, a hug, a tap on the shoulder...this is what I have been learning over the past two years in youth ministry and this is what is apparent here and now. There is something lacking between the kids and myself, that is the entire ability to communicate verbally, but you really wouldn't be able to tell if you watched the way we interact. My love no longer has the ability to come from my words, but it comes from intentional touch. Allow children to climb all over me, stroke my arm hair (which happens often...kinda weird, but I may pick this up so if you are a close friend...watch out for me bringing home the stroking of arm hair), a piggy back ride or simply an ambrazo (think thats how you spell it) a hug. The lack of physical contact this kids have the ability to get is sad. The staff here is loving and caring, but they cannot be a mom or a dad to all 32 kids here. I experienced this today when I was hanging out with the babies. There is a seperate wing of the orphanage for infants-3 year olds and they are amazing. I walked into one of their rooms filled with six cribs with the most beautiful babies in them. I saw Yiram and picked her up for a little bit, she was making some strange noises and I got a little unnerved slash bored (i'm kinda hyper and holding babies is kinda uneventful at times) so I set her down in her crib. The crying began and I cannot handle crying. So I picked her back up and immediately the crying ceased. Over the next 3 minutes I tried this 4 times and the same thing kept re-occuring. As I finally gave in to holding this baby for an extended period of time I recognized that those weird noises was her attempt at singing. It was beautiful. As time past she clung to me and pressed her head against my shoulder and continued to sing. This child simply needed somebody to hold her and to love her. Maybe I look too hard, maybe I am just obsessed, or maybe its completely reasonable but I totally grasped God in this moment. What if like Yurim apart from someone carrying for us (God) we must cry, however when we are truly in God's embrace we naturally sing? This is how it is meant to be. In the grasp, in the embrace, in the arms of God we sing. I became content in knowing that my job today, my role as a representative of Jesus Christ in that moment was to simply hold a small infant. I was called to allow a baby to let her guard down, to feel loved, to rest on my shoulder, to sing (or more like hum). I was called to for a minute hold someone and not let go! Appropriate physical touch can sometimes be the most sacrificial type of love. Some of this kids are not incredibly clean, kissing the cheek of a small baby here is not crazy sanitary but it is in those moments where you begin to get how to love! Multiple times I have had kids crawl into my lap and just grab my hand or play with my hair or scratch at my bracelet. I'm learning how to let this kids into my world! Those are my thoughts for today...more to come, continue to pray!

p.s I'm not re-reading this so typos, run on sentences, fragments, horrible grammer...get over it

Mexico Day 1

So a week ago two friends and myself decided to take a leap of faith and come to Tijuana, Mexico to spend time with kids and babies in an orphanage.  The orphanage is called Siempre, which simply means always but there is a heart behind siempre that should break all of all hearts.  Siempre is named because the kids who are here have always been cold, always been helpless, always been dealt a rough deck of cards, always been abandoned...so there sense of siempre is broken.  So Siempre is here to fix, to mend, to redefine always.  Here they will always been cared for, always be loved, always be shown who God is! Siempre has a meaning that has been lost in this nation, but now is being rediscovered in this poor, yet beautiful village that overlooks the ocean which spans out as a reminder of hope, a reminder of God. 

I have found myself already moved by these incredible kids. For the most part they were not too guarded, but they did need permission to love.  Our smiles, our hugs, our games, and our effort to communicate with them despite pathetic attempts at Spanish allowed them to see that we wanted to love them! I was so shocked though at how their faces lit up when they heard that we would be staying a week.  To them it seems like forever! It seems like enough time to invest in us, it seems like enough time to love, and it is definitely enough time for everyone to leave a permanent imprint on the lives of one another...THIS COULD BE EPIC!

I'll leave you with one last story.  As Mackenzie, Carly, and myself were saying good night to all the kids and wandering around just hugging and laughing, we were each handed stuffed animals. Mackenzie received a pink cat with an oversized head, Carly got a cute white dog with a purposely off-colored eye and a pink flower, and I got this epic aqua colored monkey that velcros together.  The stuffed animals are cute and all, but for me it was simply a reminder of what love is!  Love takes action, these little girls in mexico get it!  They love, they hug, they give, they share, they live love!  Love is not somethign they take for granted, love is something they embrace and chase!  Which makes me wonder if we truly embrace each others love? Which makes me wonder if we even remotely embrace the love of God?  And if we are embracing the love of God is it over-flowing in our life! 

There will be more, but adios for now....which by the way if you literally translate adios it means to God...I like that!

Where are all the good men?

I've been so overwhelmed with the concept of the importance of men in the life of youth, in particularly the father role. I've really yet to come to a point where my words and thoughts are completely coherent so bear with me as I struggle out my heart. Working as a youth pastor for a little over a year I have seen more hurt than I wish I knew existed. The broken hearts, the confused youth, the hurting generation has almost ruined me. One thing I have noticed over and over and over again is the affect of absent or apathetic dads. I've begun to see how necessary a father is in the shaping of identity of his children. I've become awestruck at how important it is. Sadly, I have seen enough people in my life come to a place of utter chaos in life due to a lack of a father figure. My heart breaks for them and is continually torn apart. This is something I cannot stop considering! Ladies, I am not discrediting your role in the lives of your children or significant women in you life, but this is directed at the men, myself included. I include myself and all the young men out there because this necessity of positive male influence extends far beyond paternity.

When did boys stop becoming men? Gentlemen, we must grow up! Our word is our bond (to quote Johnny Q). Guys I pray you are reading this! I prayer this is here for you to truly consider. Listen to this next part because it is vital. GUYS! You have the ability to positively influence the people in your life. The ability you have to change the life of a young guy or girl in your life who looks up to you is incredible, but you must become men first to do this positively. Guys are you encouraging? I've come to notice that many guys do not often complement girls without an agenda and this is awful. Recently I've come to realize that one of my most awesome abilities is to appropriately compliment somebody without strings attached. This means girls who are my friends need to be built up by me. Men need to be building up ladies. Also men need to be building up men. More and more I see condescending, and snide remarks being praised as witty and humorous, but more and more I see the results of this view becoming confused, guarded, and surface level people who fear to allow others close.

Men check who you are becoming. Are you patient? Kind? Loving? Self-Controlled? Do you stand up for the oppressed? Do you intentionally define others out of love and affection? Are you a man of your words? There is something about men of God that stands out to me. I am drawn to people who have taken the time to develop who they are in Christ. I think of one man that I look up to greatly. He listens, loves his children, asks questions, values others, compliments others, and frankly he is one of the greatest dads I've ever seen. So from me to all you out there I beg of you to encourage one another. Drop the pride, drop the ego, drop the attitude and recognize the ability you have to positively touch others lives.

Prayer

Prayer. The more I prayer the more I discover I have to ask for. This asking isn't the oh God I want this or this would be nice, but it's more like the God develop patience in me, give me opportunities to trust you. God change my mindsets. God, Psalm 37:4 says that if I delight in you I will be given the desires of my heart, but to be perfectly honest I know that the desires of my heart would be entirely different if I knew how to delight in you. Prayer. I keep thinking about this. Prayer. I can't get it off of my mind lately. I feel as if many Christians do not understand the importance to come to God in prayer-with thanks, with request, we declarative statements, with repenting hearts. Prayer. To become people who pray continuously is asked of us by the Apostle Paul. There has been an air of apathy in my life in regards to prayer lately. How about yours? As I have gone through life somehow my faith and my prayer life have shown a tendency to want to seperate, but once one is hit the other falters. My heart goes out to those right now who desire to hear God's voice but feel as if no one is listening. My heart breaks right now for people who have given up on prayer altogether. Prayer. If this is you please allow the powerful God of the Universe to hear your cry for him. May your life be a call out to God to tell him you desire him. As I have spend the last couple weeks looking at my prayers I have noticed they have a tendency to be repetitive, vague, and safe. Prayer should not be dumbed down to this. The repetition has proven a lack of thought put into what I need God show himself faithful. The vagueness has come as a result of allowing God room to show me anything along with a fear that if I get too specific God will actually make me sacrifice which leads to the safety part. If I believe, or you believe, that God is big and active and longs to show himself to his creation than how much more insulting could I be by praying safe prayers. These safe prayers show a lack of imagination, a lack of awe, a lack of trust. I have come to understand the words of Jesus when he says that "it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than it is for a camel to go through the eye of the needle." Luke-warm, apathetic, uninterested Christians are repulsive to God. These types of Christians lack much, but I believe almost all of them lack a vibrant, daring, faithful prayer life. May we overcome the apathy, overcome the passivity, overcome the arrogance. Through God's overwhelming Grace may we become people of prayer.

Anybody who has heard my heart for ministry would never miss the fact that my heart beats for the broken. In the hurt and the dirt of the world is where I found the reality of Jesus and has been the way in which I have seen others discover the potent love that is found only within Jesus.