A New Chapter

I have been completely blown away by what God is doing lately. More than anything I am learning that He will always do more than I expect and do it in ways I wasn't expecting. There is a lot I want to talk about, but for today I'm just going to talk about one thing.

I was incredibly blessed yesterday to be ordained in the Gospel ministry at my church, and to have many of my best friends and my family there. Pastor Dane and FCC have prepared me for ministry in infinitely more ways than I could have ever imagined. When I first started there in August 2007, I wouldn't have told you I'd still be there today. Yet, three and a half years later, God still has me there, and I am eternally grateful.

A good friend asked me if that day made me feel any different or view ministry in a different light. I had to think about it, and it was hard to put into words. Therefore, I write this post.

In practice, not much is different after being ordained. I was already called to ministry before yesterday. I had already decided that my life would be all about the Gospel. What happened yesterday was a more of an awakening.

I knew the seriousness of the ministry I was called to. I knew that it meant dedicating my entire life to His purpose. But I believe this service truly inspired me to make my entire life look like the Gospel. I am beginning to recognize that God has set me apart for the name of His Son Jesus Christ. I recognize my responsibility to others to present the Gospel and the truths of the Bible clearly and effectively.

What example can I set for my friends? How can I guide them in their walks with Christ? In what ways do I need to pray for someone? What can I do to help bring my church closer to God through our worship services? These are all things more prevalent on my mind. I don't know if anything miraculous happened yesterday, although I believe what Pastor Dane said when talking about the anointing of David: "It is the Spirit of God that prepared and empowered David to be king and it is the same Spirit of God that empowers ministers of the gospel today."

As unworthy as I feel to be set apart for this calling, I embrace it. There is no other way I would want to live my life. I have tried to live it for myself and I am always terribly disappointed. I pray that His Spirit would be on me continually that I might make my life look like the Gospel.

Yesterday's service was a humbling experience, but an empowering one. I know that I have a God who will sustain me. I know I have brothers and sisters in Christ who I can lean on in hard times. Whatever I face in the coming days and years, I have dedicated everything to the name of Jesus Christ.

Thoughts on Jesus (after Passion 2011)

This post was going to be called "Thoughts on Passion 2011" but I thought that would have been against everything that they taught us this week. So thus, the title is "Thoughts on Jesus (after Passion 2011)" or the longer title: "Thoughts on Jesus based on what I learned and how the Spirit moved in my heart at Passion 2011"

First off, I want to say that I'm actually a little excited that Passion's over. Of course I loved it and in some ways I wish it would last forever... but this time, God put so many things on my heart that I want to do and showed me so many ways I want to be different. I'm excited to go back to work and to FCC and to my friends and share what I've learned with them.

Now, I don't want to iterate every little specific thing that I learned. That would be way too much to read, and I'm pretty nice and don't want to ask you to read very much on my blog. To start off, I'll share some of my favorite quotes. (Note: all quotes are paraphrased because I can't write very fast while listening to a speaker)

"We were enemies, but God made peace with us."

"Choose to chain yourself to Christ or something else will chain you."

"It takes the renewing of the mind to discern His will for us individually."

"Whatever He's called you to do is more than you can do on your own."

"There is either more of the Spirit, or more bondage to sin. The mind does not allow us to stay the same."

"Change how you think and it will change how you feel."

"Does your life look like the Gospel?"

"Jesus' mindset was all about glorifying God."

(I'm going to have to write a whole blog post on Andy Stanley's message about Appetites, so I'll do that later.)

"Jesus says to us: 'You follow me? Then I'm all you've got.'"

"Are the Word of God and the Spirit of God enough for you?"

"God's design in loving us is that He be made much of."

"Jesus is praying for us and asks that we would see how glorious He is." (John 17:24)

"...self can never satisfy a heart made for God."

These quotes barely even begin to explain what God did in my life this week. I'm blown away that He loves me enough to keep seeking after me and desiring to use me for His glory! I hope I can make my life look more like the Gospel, and I know that Christ in me can accomplish this. I come away from this experience longing to make everything I do about bring glory to God. It's not going to be easy, and I don't make light of that. Otherwise I know that I will fail almost instantly. But I know that Jesus' power is more than enough to bring this about in my life, and He can do it for you too!

New Years Resolutions

A New Year is a pretty decent time for a new and better outlook on life. I know a lot of "New Years Resolutions" get broken after a few weeks/days/hours, but here are some things I want to try to start the year off:

1) Spend less time on the internet; spend more time reading.
2) Be more healthy by eating better food, drinking less soda, and working out.
3) Prioritize free time more effectively.

If I can stick to these goals (following some specifics I've laid out) for the month of January, I'm going to buy myself an Inspiron Duo. (I don't want to hear your objections, Mac users)  Hopefully by then, these things will become habits.

I would make it a resolution to write in my blog more, but there's no use making promises I can't keep! Either way, I'll try to provide updates more often.

Psalm 95:3-5

"For the Lord is a great God, And a great King above all gods. In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for it was He who made it, And His hands formed the dry land."

The hands that hold the depths of the earth are the ones that hold us. The maker of the sea and the dry land also took the time to create us. I think maybe the reason we have so much trouble trusting God is because we don't really believe this. We may know it, say it, and think it. But how can we live it? That's the hardest part. How can we possibly live like we really trust Him?

I'm finding that my struggles to trust Him are rooted in the fact that I don't truly believe He's as big as He really is... and I'm sure that I don't see Him that way because I try to . I try to be in control... I try to get what I need on my own. I give Him most of my heart, but I still need a little control on my own. But as He's taught me before, I'm not truly surrendering to Him unless I give Him everything. And until I completely let go, I will never be able to see Him as He truly is.

I need to begin praying that God would make Himself and His power known to me as I begin to surrender everything to Him.

Impact Georgia Update

I spoke to a lawyer today about getting Impact Georgia declared as a non-profit organization! Looks like it will be a lot of work, take a lot of time, and cost a lot of money. I would like to ask you to start praying that God would provide for us and help us get started! It's important for us to get this done so we can start accepting donations and get ready for camp in March.

So far we have started a (temporary) website and are currently working on some promotional things.  My friend Courtney is helping us out with marketing using her stellar graphic design skills.  We are also working hard on many behind-the-scenes items.

Right now, we are really just asking for your prayers! We have a lot to do, but we are trusting God to lead us every step!