Thursday, November 29, 2012

Eighth Link Year Recap 11/27-11/29

Before I start this post I just want to say something. One of my friends back home said that when he reads my blog posts he feels odd. I believe his actual sentence was, "Whenever I read your posts it makes me feel completely awkward." Apparently my writing style does this. Is it reflecting how I usually talk? I'd hope so. Anyway...we will begin.

This week was pretty good. We got the privilege of having Shay Robbins speak wisdom into our lives. Because Shay is the Men's Kamp director at K-2 he had a lot of experience speaking to our age group. This was a great asset for him because I believe everyone really enjoyed what he had to say and understood because he put it so simply but still kept the whole week entertaining. Shay's main theme throughout the whole week was Intimacy with God. He highlighted a few things that I thought were really good so without further adue here are the five things that stood out to me or I learned this week.

1) Something Shay kept coming back to was how back in ancient times (think around Christ's time) there was great intimacy with God. The people who lived then could just go up on their roofs and sleep while looking up at the beautiful night sky with God's handiwork very evident. All those stars and planets millions and bilions of miles away. But now-a-days we are so consumed with just looking at whatever is right in front of our faces. This is usually some sort of screen whether it be a computer, tv, or cell phone. Whatever it is, we have lost sight of God's handiwork and creation.

2) The youth in America lack depth. Why is this? Well if you look at what I just said you'd see that for most of our time we are right in front of a screen. You lose any kind of real relationship depth if all you do is communicate through a screen. Want to say something to someone that you'd never say in person? Just text them. The conversation gets awkward during texting? Just stop replying. Feeling lonely? Just go add a bunch of people on Facebook for a temporary cure. It's this lack of depth that is also really hurting our intimacy with God. I am by no means saying technology is bad, it's something that is neither good or bad. Our jobs as Christians is to redeem it.

3) One thing he said that I thought was really cool was, "The greatest miracle we can ever be a part of is the salvation of someone else". Notice how he did not say we are doing the saving, but we are blessed to witness the Holy Spirit work in this persons life and convict them. God saves them, not us. We are just witnesses of God's great work.

4) He also talked about different ways God talks to us. Mainly and primarily through the scriptures. But He also speaks to us in different ways. Creation (Genesis 1, Rom 1:20, Psalms 19:1), God's people (Proverbs), Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12-14), dreams and visions (1 Corinthians 12-14, Acts 10:9-16, Acts 16:6-10), and finally however he flipping wants to (Balaam's donkey).

5) Fasting is feasting. Something my pastor says whenever he talks about fasting. It's a really good thing to remember and tell others about. Fasting isn't just from food, but it's abstaining from anything and replacing it with a feast of God's Word. Devour His word daily, but when you're fasting it sort of takes a different mindset in the way that you are becoming even more reliant on His sustenance.

Boom you guys. Hope you learned from and enjoyed my blog post this week. Also hope it made you feel awkward. Well maybe not awkward, but just makes you feel as if I was there talking to you face to face. If that is awkward than I embrace that.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Of Role Models and Sermons

As a lot of the people who read this blog know I had a pretty big event happen last week. Thursday around 1:07pm is when this event happened. I got to shake the hand of one of my favorite pastors. Matt Chandler. This was a pretty dang big deal for me. I mean Matt Chandler shook my hand and I was pretty amazed to see him face to face. It was also weird to hear his voice in person and not over audio or video. But anyway, back to my point. I got to shake his hand.

Now I should probably say this before I go on. Matt Chandler has had a big impact on my life through his sermons and his continual serving by letting God use him in amazing ways. Matt is also head of Acts 29 so that's sorta a big deal. Basically what I am getting at is that he is a really cool guy who has contributed to my life in big ways through the example of his own life. Now when I saw Matt on campus in the dinning hall talking to some students Tuesday morning I got pretty dang excited. But also really bummed because I knew I wouldn't get to hear him teach since he was only teaching the Kanakuk Institue (Kanakuk's post college program). After this I began to think about some things. Like how I sometimes fall into the trap and sin of idolizing these types of people. Not just Matt Chandler, but any person who I look up to (Mark Driscoll, John Piper, Sam Storms...there are more.) I forget these people are humans and the only reason they are where they are is because God for some reason chose to use them. It wasn't because they are so great and amazing, but because God decided, in his eternal wisdom, to use them in His plan. The Holy Spirit working through them. When I see what they are doing through God's grace I shouldn't look at them and praise them but go back to the God who created and gifted them, praise that God. The God who gifts everyone in different ways. Not all were created and gifted for preaching and teaching in such a way that they are doing. That doesn't mean they are any lesser though.

But anyway...I should get back to my main purpose of writing this thingy up.

As I thought more about Matt Chandler being on campus and how much I enjoyed his sermons I thought about Acts 1:1-3 (Well I thought about what it said, I couldn't remember where it was in the NT till I looked it up). It says, "In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

Now this is pretty cool to me. Here are two things that stick out to me.

1) I thought it was great how "through the Holy Spirit" He gave commands to His apostles that he had chosen. Throughout all of Christ's ministry on earth he was empowered by the Holy Spirit (example of this is when he was tested in the desert by Satan.) It goes to show you we need to Holy Spirit greatly. For many things; to lean and trust on through struggles, for conviction and repentance, to understand the scriptures...etc. So that was cool to see.

2) In verse 3 it talks about how he was, "speaking about the kingdom of God." which is something I would love to hear. I feel like this whole verse 3 would be a great sermon to see and hear. To see His many proofs throughout these 40 days and hearing Him speak about the kingdom of God. Once I die and go to Heaven I really hope you can look and see past events because I'd want to see this event along with others (like creation, the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah...etc). But is anyone else with me on this? Being able to hear this would be amazing.

But yes that is it for now. Just some thoughts that were running around my head. Sorta just splashed them on this post so I hope it wasn't too hard to follow. More thoughts like this probably in the future. For now though, goodbye.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Seventh Link Year Recap 11/12-11/15

Here we are again, another week another recap. This was a little more of a normal week, but still, the fact it's the week right before break made it a little strange. Example would be no class Friday and we had the chance to leave Thursday or later. So that was nice. I chose to leave Thursday and get home a soon as I could. But anyway...you don't want to hear more about me. There are other blog post for that.
Alright, here we go.

A quick recap of this week so far. Monday was Mystery Monday and we got to have a lot of fun laser tagging and mini golfing. It was actually pretty great. The laser tag place let us run so that is a huge plus. Also the mini golf was inside with glow in the dark/black light things. Pretty legit. On Tuesday Adam Donyes gave us all a much needed talk on dating and stuff. More to come about that. Wednesday was bible study in the morning, small groups, and finally accountability groups. Good morning and ended with a good night of family dinners and The Fort where Don Ford spoke. Thursday we had Andrew Munneke and he talked about Spiritual Formation in Contemporary Culture. It was pretty good overall. Personally a little hit and miss at times. Some things he said I completely agreed with and some things not so much. But overall still good. Maybe I was just misunderstanding some of his points, very possible.

Well here are a few things that stood out to me this week or I learned.
1) Adam gave a very good morning message on Dating Tuesday. It was pretty great to hear things I've been taught and agree with reaffirmed, but also new things proposed by him. Something I'll definitely remember. He also gave us an article called, "How to Pursue a Godly Spouse" by Mark Driscoll. I am a fan of Driscoll so I was happy to see this. The article had a part where it talked about that our Independence and our Dependence can become idols in our lives.

2) Another important thing that the article talks about is being the right person. So often we can get caught up on looking for the right person and having them fit our own idea of the ideal future spouse. There isn't anything necessarily wrong with having some ideas about how you want your spouse to be, but if that becomes all you focus on then it's not good. Focus on becoming more like Christ first and foremost.

3) Leaving a good impression on the girl you date. This is something Adam stresses a lot and I completely agree with him. It is a very important thing to remember, but let me explain it a little. Usually when he talks about this he is saying it in context of dating the other girls in Link Year. So he basically says this: If you date a girl here at Link Year and treat her badly just think of the damage you will do. Here is a guy who is supposed to be following the Lord and he treats me this way? This will lower the expectations for the girls if supposedly the best guys who are Christians treat them badly then those who aren't Christians won't seem as bad. On the other hand if us guys treat them well and respectfully like we should it will end up much better. The girls will go onto college life and if a guy treats them badly at college they can hold up and realize there are people out there who will treat them better. This applies to just more than Link Year relationships, but any relationships I (I'll make this personal now) have with girls in general. I need to uphold them and respect them. When I date a girl I need to treat her so well and respectful that even if the relationship doesn't work out, she understands what a godly guy looks like and can look for that in other guys.

4) What are my non-negotiable's? This is an important question to ask myself. When I am looking for a potential spouse (basically someone to date because after all the point of dating is to see if the person is someone you could see yourself marrying. But that's sorta a different topic.) I need to have some things that do not change. An example would be they have to be a Christian. No question there. Things like that are what I mean by non-negotiable's.

5) Culture mediates 3 things to people. Meaning, value, and identity. An example would be for meaning, the quarter means 25 cents. The culture gave it that meaning. If I had that quarter 400 years ago it would mean nothing. The culture gave the quarter it's meaning.
In the end if you find your meaning, value, or identity in anything else except Christ, you fail in life.

So that was this week. Really good week to end with before break and I am grateful for it. Before I wrap up I must point out what was one of the top things that happened this week if not my highlight of the week. I got to shake Matt Chandler's hand. Yes...that is all.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Sixth Link Year Recap 11/5-11/8

This week was quite a bit different from the other weeks. Basically we had no class...so that was cool, but also we had the great opportunity to go up to Kansas City, MO/KS and work in the inner city with little kids. It was pretty amazing but I'll get into more of that later. First I am gonna explain sorta what it looked like.

So if you asked me my thoughts on Urban Entry before I left I would have said that I hoped it was going to be like the Waco, Texas "Poverty Simulation" some of the older kids in the youth group did during June. After having returned I realized they are two different things, but also have many similarities. Firstly I will quickly explain what the Poverty Sim was, very briefly.

Basically Poverty Simulation was a two-three day period where we got the chance to live homeless. Yup, homeless. It was a really eye opening time and definitely one of my top mission type trips I've been on. If you want to know the more detailed parts of this trip than just ask me. But I don't really have the time or need to put it up. Maybe another post.

As I was saying, the Poverty Sim and Urban Entry had some similarities, but a lot of differences. In short the Poverty Sim was much more immersive. We lived like homeless people (even a little better) for those days. Urban Entry we had a house to stay in and such. Although food was scarce. But in UE it was much more focused on serving. We got to clean up an old church (much like the bean cans...) but more of furniture and such. It was definitely really cool to serve in this way. Enough of this though, let me get to five things that impacted me/I learned this week.

1) That Kansas City is one of the most crime ridden cities in the US. I believe #2 if I remember correctly. This was an interesting one for me to learn. It made me a little excited whenever I went outside, because being in danger is exciting. Sorta. That's hard to explain. But it is true for at least my experiences.

2) Something pretty amazing was to see how many abandoned houses there were throughout all these neighborhoods. Probably 1 out of every 5 houses actually were occupied. This was mainly just in the rougher neighborhoods, but still. It was pretty strange to see so many houses abandoned. 

3) Another thing that has to do with the houses. Some of these houses cost around 7,000-15,000 dollars. Ridiculous I know, but that's just how low in demand these houses are. No one wants to live in these neighborhoods. They are completely overlooked.

4) This was a reassured thought but still a good one. Missions are not just overseas but they are also over the street. Just walk across the street and be missional. Live a life like Jesus and be missional with everything you do. You don't need to get on a plane to be a missionary. 

5) Finally something that was really good for me to remember throughout this week. You don't need to feel guilty for what you have. That is not the feeling that these sort of trips are (should) evoke. What it should do is make you aware and give you a bigger heart. Continue you in the sanctification process. Becoming more like Jesus day by day. So what you do with this is not become guilt ridden, but have a heart change and give. Not out of the motivation of guilt, but give out of the motivation that God has blessed you with much so that you may bless others. Do it. Just like Nike. 

A really good quote that I want to end with is this...
"Just remember beautiful pictures come from negatives in a darkroom. So when you see the darkness in your life you know that a beautiful picture is being prepared."
This was on a paper lunch bag. It was written on there by a girl around 18 (can't remember exactly) who had gone through immense physical abuse, cutting herself still, drugs, sexual abuse..etc. She was and still is being wounded. That's why this quote struck me so much. I have no idea if she is following Christ or not. But the fact that she had this quote and is still going through that crap is incredible. So yes, that is how I am going to end this post. Think about it. 

More post to come, hopefully some that aren't just about the Link Year week recaps, but also random subjects. I got a few ideas. Keep up with this blog and you'll probably see them. Adios.






Thursday, November 1, 2012

Fifth Link Year Recap 10/30-11/1

Well hey there everyone, glad to see you showed up. Let us dig in.

First off this week was pretty good, inside and outside the classroom. We had the privileged of having Marvin Daniels speak to us Tuesday and Wednesday. He was also planned to speak on Thursday, but had something come up on his part and had to jet. So we got a surprise guest speaker for Thursday, but I'll get to that soon. Anyway, on Tuesday Marvin came in and talked about how we should not be isolated from the world but insulated. So basically we need to be in the world but not of it. The solution to living in a sin filled world is not to go off and live all alone, isolated. The solution is to be a light in the darkness and keep yourself insulated. Meaning, guard yourself with scripture and ask the Holy Spirit to work in your life. Another fun thing Marvin did was he made us all stand up...and walk to the back of the room. What followed was a great thing. He had, on opposite walls, signs that said "Don't Agree" and "Agree". Next he put up a slide with a question and we had to walk to whichever side of the room we agreed with. Example would be this: The first slide he put up was, "I can listen to music with profanity and lewd lyrics without it affecting me negatively." So if you agreed you would walk to the side of the room that had the "Agree" sign. If you disagreed, well, you get the point I'm sure. So after everyone had chosen a side he let a friendly debate take place. Each group would get to defend there side. This was really cool cause I got to see others opinions and views on these "gray" areas. I'll tell you guys the other 2 questions he asked and then move on to Wednesday. The second question was, "The Republican Party is more Christian than the Democratic Party." and the third question was, "I would lie if it would get me out of serious trouble.". Well I won't tell you which sides I picked, you can guess and/or ask me personally.

Wednesday Marvin came back to talk about "Living Above The Influence". Basically don't be influenced by what the world is doing, be influenced by what Christ did and is doing in your life. Just ask. Something he said that stood out to me was, "The best compliment a Christian can receive is, 'If Jesus is anything like you than I want to get to know Him.'" To which I would say, "Heck no dude, Jesus is a whole lot better!" Then this apocryphal person and I would continue this great conversation. This is what would happen in an ideal conversation. I just hope it can come to reality sometime. Something I will be praying for. [By the way, notice how I ended that sentence with a preposition? Some people don't like that...] Wednesday was good, but I really wish Marvin had made us do the whole, "Don't Agree and Agree" thing again. He had three more questions he could have asked! They were good ones also. First, "If humans could be cloned - a clone would have a soul.", second was, "Racism is still expressed in the Body of Christ in America.", and finally third was, "Abortion is always wrong unless a person is raped or the mother's life is threatened.". As I said before, I have my views on these but you should guess and/or ask me personally. A final note, a cool thing we did Wednesday is we all got in small groups and discussed a lot of other questions he posed to us, I just can't remember all of them and they were not written down sadly. 

Thursday was a really cool day, much more personal than some of the other days we have had at Link Year so far. By no means am I saying that the other days were not personal, it's just this day was more so. Anyway, as I said before Marvin had to leave for an unknown reason so Adam Donyes brought in a guest speaker. I was pretty happy to see he brought in Keith Chancey. He did a really good job of speaking and teaching on Genesis 1-3. Some cool things were brought up but the most interesting thing I'll mention in a lil bit. Just be patient. I know that's harder for some people but just bear with me.

Up next we have the five main things I learned this week. Stay tuned.

1) "We are never called to supervise sin, we are called to pray and confess." This was not really something I learned as much as it was just a really well worded quote. Concise and to the point. I like it. So many times we just tell our accountability partner that we are struggling and then kinda look at the sin for a little bit. Finally we just move on to the next thing. Nope, not the way to do it. Gotta fight that monster and punch it out. Pray and confess.
2) "The Principles you live by create the world you live in; if you change the principles you live by, you will change your world." - Blaine Lee. This was just a good quote that I enjoyed. I feel like it speaks for itself and doesn't really need to be expanded on. Plus this blog post is starting to become a little long so I am going to try and wrap this thing up.
3) This is probably the most interesting thing I learned at all of Link Year. Or at least one of the most interesting. Also one of the things I actually learned. Lot's of the things I have heard but just put in a different way. This was something I'd never heard before. Anyway, Keith talked about Genesis 1-3 and he talked about Genesis 1:6-8. I can't go into too much detail but basically when the text talks about separating the water into the expanses there is a theory called, "The Water Vapor Canopy Theory" that says the text is talking about the water on earth and the rest of the water was separated into a canopy of sorts around the earth. This was really interesting because I'd never heard this before. As with all things I hear that are new to me I looked this up more and studied it a little bit. Not completely sure which side I fall in but I tend to disagree with it. For different reasons. Now I have only been studying it for about an hour so I am by no means an expert, but I encourage you to look it up more yourself. Here is a link to a description of what it is, http://creationwiki.org/Canopy_theory. You can look into it more yourself and make a decision. It is an open hand issue so believe what you want with that one.
4) If you can disprove Genesis, even down to the very first verse, "In the beginning God..." you can disprove the validity of the whole Bible. That's why it's so important to study the whole Bible and not just the NT. So yeah...know yo Bible.
5) This is a little of a throwback but that's fine. On Monday we had a nutrion expert lady come in to talk to us. She was all about eating right and being healthy. I learned that there are 7 Pillars of Health and Wellness. Hydration, Eating Well, Sleep and Rest, Exercise and Movement, Detoxification, Coping With Stress, and Healthy Relationships - Building Community.

Alright everyone thanks for joining in. Next week looks to be exciting for we will be going to Kansas City for an Urban Entry thing. Hopefully it ressembles what I did in Waco, Texas with the Poverty Simulation because that was fantastic. Living homeless was a real eye opener and I hope and pray that this coming week is the same thing. Stretching periods hopefully are in my future! Ight everybody, I'll see you next week.