Exploring the Land of the Text: Day 4-6

Day 4:
      Today we went to Tel Arad and observed a Bedouin Shepard boy. I learned that the Bedouin culture is that of hospitality. The question that I ponder on throughout the day was how I can be hospitable in a culture that has such abundance? At this point I am not sure what it looks like. The other question I was pondering is: How do I fully depend on God when I live in such a culture that is full of abundance? As of right now, for me to fully depend on God, I have to be less selfish with my stuff. 

Day 5:
     Today I climbed Masada. A Fortress Palace built by Herod the Great which is atop a 1000 foot mountain. The trail up was step with a lot and I mean a lot of stairs (700 to be exact, and no I did not count them all). For me this was the hardest hike I have every done. I was only quarter of the way up and my heart was pounding and my lungs trying to take in every bit of oxygen they could. At about the half way point, my legs were jelly, I was alone and ready to give up. In that moment God provided Andrew as a source of encouragement. We together continue to climb up, Andrew being a constant source of encouragement. God gave me the strength and grace to make it to the top. The other two spots was En Gedi and Qumran. More on those when I get home.

Day 6:
     Our fist day in Galilee. We began by climbing Mt. Arbell, near the sea. The trail was a challenge but compared to Masada was easier. The end of the tail required me to do some vertical rock climbing (with metal hand holds of course). At the top the view of Galilee was amazing. We spent time in worship. The next stop was the Mountain of Beatitudes. I wouldn't call it a mountain but rather a hill. Being on there and listening to the sermon on the mount gave me a new sense of the words of Jesus. Our next stop was Korzen one of the cities Jesus visited. Here I learned how important family and community are to the Jewish person. Living in community offers support and countability. When a son went to marry, he would build a room off his parents house, eventually creating a community. How can I promote community at home? How can I minister to the family in a culture where the family is fading?

Day 7:

Today we went to a Zealot town and had a synagogue service. What really struck me was how important the word of God is to the Jews. It is the center of the service. When it came out everyone would touch the scroll. The question I asked myself is how important is the living words of God to me? I know that they are important but so often they lose their meaning and I forget their importance. The Bible becomes just another book. The service also made me appreciate the Jewish heritage that Christianity grew out of. I hope to bring some of the elements of this service into my own personal worship. We then went to Caesarea Philippi and Tel Dan.

Well that is all for now!

Exploring the Land of the Text: Days 1-3

Day 1:

Greetings from Israel! After traveling for a little less than 24 hours we arrived safely in Israel. Our first stop was Tel Gezer! What is a tel?  A “Tel” is actually a specific archaeological feature which is very common in Israel, a place that has been inhabited by people for thousands and thousands of years. Basically a “Tel” is a mound underneath which lay the ruins of previous settlements that once stood on the same spot (Hebrew Today). How do you tell a tel? There are three criteria for a tell. First it has to be able to get water where that was through a spring or collected in a cistern. Secondly, it had to be in a strategic spot such as nearby stream or near a road. Thirdly it had to be defendable. Tel Gezer is located on the south side of the Aijaion Valley. Here a branch of the Kings highway that ran through Israel and connected Egypt and Mesopotamia. This branch went to Jerusalem and Jerico. 

Day 2: 

Today we visted several tels. The first tel was Bet Shemesh which means house of the sun. It with in a couple of miles that Samson was born and lived. Next we visited Tel Azekah. Here we over looked the Elah valley where the story of David and Goliath took place. Our next stop was Maresha. Here we saw several caves and an olive press. While in the olive press we learned about the process of making olive oil and how Jesus might have prayed in an olive press when praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Finally we visited Tel Lakish, a military fort that was was conquered by the Assyrians and allowed them to siege Jerusalem. 

Day 3: 

Today our text of focus was on Psalm 23. We are exploring the wilderness. The biggest thing I did today was hike down a wadi. A wadi is place that water runs durning the rainy season. Hiking down the wadi was difficult because the the path was so rocky that one miss step could have terrible consequences. We descended 700 meters or roughly 2000ft and walked the wadi out to the Dead Sea. We ended our day by floating in the Dead Sea.      

Looking through the rearview mirror: Reflection on the Practice of the Spiritual Disciplines

As some of you may remember that I started this blog because of a class requirement. I'm the kind of person who has thought about something but doesn't share it because I don't want to embarrass myself nor do I think anyone will benefit from my comments. But this blog has given me the opportunity to do just that: share my thoughts. It has been a huge blessing to see how God has challenged me with this blog and even some of my readers. So now this post is a reflection on my time practicing the spiritual disciplines.   

1. Foster says spiritual disciplines are not designed to be ends in themselves, but are intended to facilitate a person's journey into greater freedom in living a Christ-like life. How did your practice of the disciplines this semester (either some in particular or all together) help you grow in your faith and obedience to God?

As I reflect on my experience engaging with the spiritual disciplines, I noticed a common theme: focus. Each discipline practiced, called me to focus on God. How did these disciplines help me grow in my faith and in obedience to God? These disciplines helped in several ways. The first way is focus, as already noted. Each discipline prompted me to take time from being a student, a son, a friend, and a youth leader and instead become a child who was not worried about what to get done or how to complete this or that but rather be like Mary and take time from my responsibilities to listen and experience God. 

The second way the disciplines helped me grow in my faith is to stop what I am doing, be still and know God. Each discipline required listening and by listening I began to understand just how grand and infinite God really is. He is so much more than someone who is there only when I am in trouble. He is so much bigger than all my worries, fears, and dreams wrap together. He is… words cannot due the justice that God deserves. Finally, the disciplines prompted self reflection. They nudge me to examine myself, to look beyond the physical but to look at my soul and heart. What did I find? I found my own sin and its darkness and I found God’s grace, mercy, and peace protecting me from becoming that monster. I found a passionate heart for God. It is in these ways that the practice of the spiritual disciplines help me grow in my faith and obedience to God. 

2. What were some of the distractions or hindrances that kept you from practicing, or practicing to the fullest, the assigned disciplines this semester? What does this show you about yourself? How do you plan to address this area (or these areas) of struggle? 

Clearly practicing the spiritual disciplines helped me grow in my faith but there were some hinderances that kept me from practicing each discipline fully. Three hinderances come to mind as I reflect on my experiences of the disciplines, they are: distractions especially media, busyness (working, full time student, and a high school youth leader), and motivation (finding the energy to put into the practice after all other responsibilities). So what do these three hinderances show about myself? These hinderances reveal that I often take on so many responsibilities that all my energy is poured into them rather than first using my energy in my relationship with God so that it is he who sustains my energy so that I am then able to fulfill my other responsibilities. These hinderances also show that I care too much about my own appearance before others and thus, my desire to please them. My plan for addressing these hinderance is to think before committing to something. This address the issue of becoming too busy and only doing a job partially and also helps to keep motivation on doing the task at hand. As for the distraction of media, I don't have a plan. 

3. Identify three disciplines you think mesh together well and explain how you see them interrelating. How would you plan to practice them together?  

As I reflect on my experience with the spiritual disciplines, three disciplines I think that mesh together well are solitude, fasting, and mediation. These three mesh together because they all draw the focus to God. Solitude focuses the participant to listen for God speaking by removing outside distractions such as media, facebook, etc. Fasting also helps remove distractions but internally. In other words, fasting helps the participant understand what internally distracts them from listening and obeying God. Finally, mediation focus the participant on encountering the presence of God and not leaving that encounter without having heard God and changed by God. Thus, these three disciplines fully encompass the head knowledge, the heart, and the hands. Another way to put it is these three disciplines together allow the participant to come to understand something about God (head), allow that understanding to burden their heart which then moves them to either obey or ignore the burden (Hands). My plan to practice these three disciplines together would be very similar to what I did while on the retreat when practicing the discipline of solitude; find a secluded spot, ask God for guidance, and mediate.  However instead of few hour fast, I would do a normal twenty-four hour fast.

4. Identify one discipline you would urge a new believer to practice. How would you instruct them in the discipline? Why do you think this discipline is especially well-suited to the formation of a new believer?

It is wonderful to reflect on my experience with the spiritual disciplines but what if I had been a new believer, what discipline would I urge myself or any new believer to practice? I would urge them to practice the discipline of study, especially studying the Bible, because the discipline of study helps the new believer gain biblical knowledge but it also helps the habit of reading scripture be established. The discipline would also serve as an opportunity for the new believer to find a mentor who would help in answering the new believer's questions but it also be an opportunity for the mentor to be challenged and to articulate his own spiritual journey.

With this understanding of why I think this discipline is well-suited to the formation of a new believer, the next question would be: how would I instruct a new believer in this discipline? I would begin by reminding them study includes repetition. That is, reading the passage of scripture over and over again each time asking God to revel something new. I would instruct them to write down any observations and questions. I would then encourage them to read the context, the chapter before and after and even the whole book, that the passage is in and then explore the historical cultural context, like author, audience, purpose, etc. Finally I would encourage the new believer to share what he has observed, any questions, and even any insight with someone else, so that the whole body may be built up and encouraged.

5. Spiritual disciplines fortify believers against some of the universal struggles and weakness all Christians have battled against. Identify and describe an area of weakness you observe in the Kuyper College student population. What spiritual discipline, if corporately practiced, would target this area of weakness and why?

 Often I think that the Kuyper community stress the importance of reading and applying Scripture into our lives... yet often they leave it up to the students to figure out what is the best way for them to accomplish this. Thus, a spiritual discipline that would target this area of weakness would be the spiritual discipline of mediation. The spiritual discipline of mediation would allow the Kuyper community to come together and focus on a single piece of scripture, listening for what God may want to teach them through his word and how then they could apply the teaching to their own life. The spiritual discipline of mediation would also promote sharing what God has taught, thus forming a community that really desires to seek God in all areas of life.

6. What advice would you give to the next class of spiritual formation students at Kuyper College who will be practicing these disciplines?

The advice I would give is this: Take the time to fully practice each discipline and journal your thoughts. I say this because I wish I had taken the time to fully practice each discipline because the ones that I did fully practice are the ones that impacted me the most. As well as, look for ways to continue to practice each discipline rather than move on to the next one as if each discipline is not interwoven. I found that journaling my thoughts and experiences with each of the disciplines has helped me see how God has been working and moving in my life over the semester.

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. ~ Ephesians 3:16-21

The Spiritual Discipline of Submission

Take a moment and image yourself being an African slave in the deep South. You labor under the hot sun all day and your master treats you like you are the scum of the earth. How do you feel? Would you be willing to be submissive or would you revolt? What does it mean to submit? What does it mean to submit to God, to be "Christ's slave"as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 7? Let's look at the spiritual discipline of submission.

However, before talking about submission, let me take a moment to remind that every spiritual discipline has a corresponding freedom to which it is designed to direct us. Thus, it is important to understand that the freedom of the spiritual disciple of submission according to Foster is to "lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way" (111). In other words putting aside your own desires and wants.

So what exactly is the discipline of submission? The spiritual discipline of submission is submitting our lives to Christ. Well, what does that mean? Submitting our lives to Christ means that we recognize our dependence and existence on God alone. Jesus model and calls us to live a cross life, that is, a life of voluntary submission and freely accepted servanthood. The freedom that comes from spiritual discipline of submission is the freedom to value other people through cultivating a spirit of grace, consideration, and respect. In other words, the discipline of submission allows us to love other unconditionally.

So for this week's practice of this discipline I chose to focus the attitude of my heart towards submission. The way I did that was through submitting to the words of Scripture. Every day I reread Isaiah 60: 1-7, which was the Scripture passage that Sunday's sermon was based on, and reflected on it and listening for what God was calling me to do.

Well I did not reread the passage every day liked I had planed instead I only reread it twice. Yet reading it and reflecting on it those two times, I notice that I was more aware of God throughout the day. I found myself praying continually and in all circumstances. I found that my heart was directed towards God and the needs of those around me. I found that by submitting to the words of Scripture, I could truly love those who were around me.

Living the cross life is daily. It requires submitting everything to God-all hope, fears, and yes even dreams. It requires that God leads and we follow and may include risk taking, something as small as being a more transparent Christian or as large as going to another country. The question is are you willing to submit daily your life to Christ? 

My Journey

You have searched me, Lord,

    and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise;

    you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down;

    you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue

    you, Lord, know it completely.  

You hem me in behind and before,

    and you lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

    too lofty for me to attain. ~ Psalms 139: 1-6

Ernest Hemingway once said, “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters in the end.” Just like the Psalmist and Hemingway talk about life as a journey, so too is my life. My life has been a journey but what is more important it has been a journey about the relationship between God and I. 

I grew up in a family of four. My father, mother, brother, myself. If you looked at my family you could spilt us down middle. I look and talk like my father and my brother looks and talks like my mother. My bother and I could not be more opposites. He enjoys sports while I enjoy fine arts, like theater and classical music. Yet we are similar in that we are both very emotional. 

My Childhood was normal. I went to school, made friends, and loved my family. Yet I was a shy kid, I never wanted to ask kids if I could play with them, especially at the Mc Donald's play place, so I would have my mom ask for me. There were also where times in my childhood where I was bullied and I was the bully. One morning back in first grade, my friends and I began making fun of one of the fifth graders because he was over weight. One of the many names we kept calling him was “chicken.” I don’t remember why we chose that name all I remember is that is what we called him.

Then during my later elementary years I was the one that was bullied not by some random kids but by my own class mates and friends. Every day during lunch recess, a group of us would play ball tag. It always seemed that I was the target. Everyone wanted to tag me. I’m not sure if this was because I was just an easy target or if it was because I was not one of the slowest. I believe it was a combination of both. Every time I was it, there were several kids, the “cool” kids, who would start sining We are Family to me. But they were not referring to an actual family but rather they were mocking my obsession about whales. Their words cut me to the bone because of they were indirectly mocking me about my weight. 

I grew up in a Christian home, so God was always talked about. My parents taught me about God’s love and how he cared for me. However, those teachings didn’t comfort me or easy that pain from being bullied. They didn’t stem the lowering of my self-esteem or stop how I felt about myself. In my eyes I was still the shy kid, who was overweight, who had an obsession on whales, and was the kid that everyone wanted in their group because they knew I would do all the work to get a good grade and they could ride on my coat tails. 

Then in the summer of 2002, I went out to the Grand Canyon for two weeks with a group called People to People Student Ambassador. I not only hike in the Grand Canyon but I also visited Zion National Park. During our visit there we climbed what is know as Angel’s Landing. It is a five hour hike that is five miles long. In order to get to the top, as described by the park, hikers pull themselves up by chains. I stood petrified where the paved trail ended and the chain link rope began. I stood there and watched as the others began to climb. The storm of indecisiveness raging inside of me. The thunder, in its deep voice telling me to abandon hope. The lighting speaking words of encouragement to grapple the chain link snake and climb. The rain blurring my vision and the wind propelling me forward and guiding me. Each step a dangerous step where life and death were always present. There it was, the glorious top. The giant no longer down upon me but I upon him. The heavens so close that one could touch. The world so small and I so tall. The storm gave way to peace, confidence, and new life. Angle’s landing. 

In that moment a top Angel’s Landing, God began to change me. After that trip, I was a new person. I was more independent and more self-confident in myself.

God continue to change my heart over the next year and then during Sunday school the gospel message was presented to me. It was in that message that God moved me to accept the gospel message. There in my fifth grade Sunday school class with my father being my teacher, I accepted Christ as my personal Lord and savior. Over the next months I began having this desire to live for God in all I did. 

There was this girl by the name of Jill (not her real name) who everyone found to be super annoying. She was bullied and an outcast. One day God broke my heart and prompted me to hang out with her at recess. I obeyed and found that she was not as annoying as everyone thought, but by the next recess I was back to hanging out with my friends.

The major theme through my teens was identity. The question who am I was the central question.  I began middle school with excitement. During that past summer I had an opportunity with People to People Student Ambassadors to travel to England and France. During that trip, I began to develop my leadership skills and made some new friends. I went into middle school excited to change classes, to have a locker, and be in a different part of the school building. I excelled in academics but socially I struggled not that I did not have any friends but rather my friend’s joke all included me in some way, more often than not, I was the end of the jokes. Oh I would laugh but deep down those words pierced my new self-esteem and really cut me down. 

I also began youth group where God guided me to my small group leader Doug (not his real name) who would become a mentor and friend to me in the coming years. I really enjoyed being at youth group. My small group was made up of guys whom I was friends with at church but began to develop deep friendships. Doug really took an interest in me, wanting to get know me for me, something I had not experienced before.

That fall came my first retreat. It is a retreat that will never be forgotten. When we arrived at Son of Life camp, Drew (not his real name), the youth pastor, came over and asked us how the ride down went? One of the older students replied that it was okay. When Drew asked why, he replied, “It was really warm in the car.” He then proceeded to explain how sitting in the back of the van with myself and one other student made the car will warm. As the group gathered around, Mike said that the heaters in the cabins were not working properly. Well, being excited for my first retreat I blurted out, “That’s no problem because I have a built in heater!” Everyone laughed, including myself and that became the joke for the rest of the retreat and even over the course of the next several years. That comment did more harm to me than good. It made me super conscience of my weight and it fueled my low self-esteem to new lows, but whenever it came up, I would put on a smile and laugh trying to hide the hurt and pain. 

That summer after starting middle school, I again went Europe with People to People Student Ambassadors. This time it was with new leaders and new kids. The group was to large and was split. The group I was part of met with another group from Tennessee. It was from this group that I met Dan (not his real name). Dan was a strong Christian who faithfully read his Bible and even asked his family to pray for him when he talked to him on the phone late one night. I on the other hand was a new Christian, I was very legalistic in following the rules set by the leaders, even to the point where I rush Dan to finishes his conversation with mom because I did not want to be late for curfew, even though the leaders knew where Dan and I were and what Dan was doing.  Then one day, as we traveling to our next sighting stop, Dan was reading his Bible and there were several older teens who were reading out loud the Scripture passage in a mocking tone. Dan just sat there taking it. He kept on reading even in the mist of being made fun of. 

I look back at that event and I admire Dan for his faith. God used him to demonstrate to me what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ

The following school year a new student joined the eight grade class. He was bullied by everyone, myself included. I bullied him not to his face but rather behind his back with my friends. We commented on how stupid and annoying he was. Yet, God challenged me to show him love. It was not easy to show him love by not talking about him behind his back and often I would fail. Still, out of that trial, I discovered I had a love for those that were hurting. 

Finally, I was in eighth grade, the top dog. I was growing in my faith but I had not internalized it yet. I was still riding on my parents’ faith. So again, God used a retreat to turn my world upside down. I was leaving from a large group where the speaker had just shared his story about his battle with being over weight, how it had affected him, and how he over came that struggle. I really resonated with the speaker because I too was struggling with my weight. I entered my cabin and sat down in the circle with my small group. In that circle where two of my best friends. One I had known since I was in kindergarden and the other since fifth grade. Doug like always got us in a great discussion about what the speaker had talked about. He was a master a creating questions that cause silence while we thought. During one of those moments of silence, I broke down. I told my two best friends how their bulling was hurting me emotionally. Everyone was in tears. My two friends apologized and asked for forgiveness.  That was moment that God orchestrated perfectly, though it my faith took the first steps of becoming my own no longer relying on my parents’ faith. After that both Drew and Doug saw that joke about my heater was actually hurting me, they asked me to forgive them which I did. While the wounds from those jokes still hurt they began to heal. I thought things could only get better but they got worse. 

A few months later, I was introduced to a lurking friend by the name of lust. When I first got to know it, I immediately turned my gaze away knowing that it was wrong even though no one had told me it was wrong. I knew it was wrong because deep down in my heart I knew that it went against God but it was too late, we had been introduce. Life went on and I thought nothing more of lust until one day. I was alone at home and bored out of my mind, my thoughts raced back to that first encounter with lust and I thought that one encounter couldn’t hurt me so I went and sought out lust. 

That day began a two year long struggle with lust and all its consequences. During those two years I began to drift away from God personally. It was a slow fade. I was still going to church on Sunday and youth group, I had made profession of faith, I still had a desire to live for God but my secret struggle began to over come my desire for God. Soon I was only going through the motions. I was living a double life, a life I never wanted to live but I was. I had become the Sunday Christian and the rest of the week, I was living for myself and by the world’s standards. Sure I give the right answers but God was there waiting for me to return. 

Over the course of the battle, I became the master at manipulating people’s emotions. I master how to get them to do what I wanted especially my mother. We would often get into fights that really had no purpose and they would up with both of us mad at each other. She treated me like a child by saying she would tell my father what happened (which she had every right to). But because I had learned how to manipulate her, I would use that to my own advantage usually ending with her saying she would not mention anything to my dad. I would apologize but I didn’t really mean it. In a way, my acting out was me crying out for help because I was so sick of who I had become. 

Then in my Junior year of high school, God orchestrated another defining moment in our journey. My friend Jack (not his real name) had become super involved with an organization called Teens encountering Christ (TEC). Over the last several months he kept bugging me to go. But every time I came up with some excuse why I couldn’t go. Well, he asked me again, this time I said I would like to go. I said I would go mainly to shut him up and to make him happy. 

I enter into the church where TEC was being held with a skeptic heart. I sat down with my small group unsure of what TEC was all about. Over the course of the next two days God began to work on my harden heart. I remember my small group leaders begging and pleading with us to open up assuring us that it was safe. Inside I smirk at their efforts. My stubborn and cold heart reasoned that opening up would be a bad idea. Then on the last day, after reading a letter from my parents praising me how proud they were of the young godly man I was becoming, I broke. I confessed to people who I had only known for forty-eight hours about the struggle I was in with lust. God’s grace and forgiveness breathed new life into a cold heart. 

A few days later, I confess to Drew about my battle with lust. He didn’t shun me like I thought he would instead he thanked me for sharing with him and that I need to confess to my parents and he would be willing to be there when I did. I told him I would like that. Later that night at the dinner table with tears in my eyes, I told my dad that I need to talk to him and we went for a walk. On the walk I confessed to him everything that entailed my struggle with lust. Needless to say, that was the toughest things I had to do. The walk was a long and quiet. Neither one of said much. 

God used TEC to draw me closer to him. I became a student leader in the middle school ministry. I was on fire for him. I loved my Bible classes and just learning more about the Bible. Drew and Doug started becoming more of friends rather than youth pastor and youth leader. One Friday morning during High school morning devotions, Drew sat across from me sipping his coffee and I my hot chocolate. He looked at me and said, “BD, you know what you are going to be when you grow up?” I replied in suspicious tone, “Sure.” Drew responded, “You are going to be a youth pastor.” I just shrugged my shoulders and said, “Sure.” Up to that point my career plan was to become a marine biologist, move out British Columbia, and study killer whales. Yet what Drew said also seemed like a good fit. As the year went on, God used my involvement as a student leader and Drew and Doug’s friendship to move my heart towards a vocation in full time ministry. 

So now I am a senior in High school only a year away from one chapter of my life closing to another beginning. I began looking at colleges with majors in youth ministry. Drew invited me several times to go with him and experience classes at Kuyper College. The first class I experienced at Kuyper College was Christian Doctrine II where that day’s lecture was on baptism. I sat there in my desk eating up every word the professor spoke, I even thought about posing the question to professor regrading the disciples and baptism but decided against it. After that day, I knew that God wanted me to go Kuyper College. I did start to fill out other application to other colleges but never finished them because I didn’t feel like those places where the places for me. 

Then another one of God’s perfectly orchestrated moments came up in early March. I had just come back from a conference where I was equipped with tools to share my faith with others. Just before the last session, Drew encourage all of us to be listening for God. After the last session, on the ride back to the hotel, Doug asked each one of in the van what God had spoken to us. When it was my turn, I said that I felt God calling me to share my faith with one of my friends who was not a believer. 

A few weeks went by and I hadn’t even attempted to share my faith with this friend. Then one Sunday after church, Doug came up to me and asked if I had shared my faith with my friend. I responded that I hadn’t. Doug then asked to pull from my wallet a gift card that I no longer used, so I pulled out an old Target gift card and on it Doug wrote “BD’s man card.” He then told me that wouldn’t get my “man card” back until I followed through on sharing my faith. 

At first, that was some motivation but it soon faded away. A week or so later, during the night I was having a hard time falling asleep. I tried everything I could think of: counting sheep, counting backwards from one hundred, even just closing my eyes. However, nothing worked; then the Holy Spirit prompted me to open my Bible to the story of Moses and the burning bush. As I read that story, the Holy Spirit revealed that I was like Moses. I was giving God the same excuses as Moses did and all the promises that God promised to Moses was promised to me.

Well, that divine encounter motivated me and I began searching for a way to share my faith with my friend. Well, that day happened to be my friend’s birthday and I turned to him in class and just causally mention how I wanted to take him out for his birthday. He liked that idea and so we ended up going to Mc Donald's that the next day. While we ate our food we were able to catch up and I was able to share a little bit of what God had been doing in my life. I look back and see that the words coming out of my mouth were not my words but God’s words. Just like Moses, I was God’s mouth piece to my friend. He didn’t come to know Christ on that day but that is okay because all I am called to be is the seed planter not the grower. 

Summer came around and I had gotten my first real job. I was an auto parts deliver. My job was to deliver auto parts to various locations around the Grand Rapids area. It was a great first job and I enjoyed the experience but what really stuck out for me is that is the summer I got my iPod touch. It was so much fun until my old friend lust decided to show up at my front door again. 

I again welcomed him in like an old friend. I had become comfortable and thought I had over come lust and his influence in my life but I was wrong. This time around he was battling to stay for good. During the battle I was freshman at Kuyper. I was learning so many new and exciting about the Bible, yet lust and God were competing for a place in my heart. I again feel into only going through the motions, lust was hardening my heart again. 

Then one fall afternoon, I opened the door into my room only to be greeted by the cool air and the grayness of the afternoon. As I walked in, my stomach heavy from lunch and all I could see was my bed calling out to me telling me to fall down and rest a while. 

But before falling for the temptation of a nap, I spot a white plan envelop with my name written in cursive, sitting upon my laptop. The thought of a nap was swept up by the storm of excitement as my hands fumbled to open the tightly sealed envelop to see a two page letter cradle inside. The letter was from my friend John (not his real name). He wrote: 

Since the beginning of the school year, there has been something that I have wanted to talk to you about, but haven’t found the guts…

In that letter John called me out on several things but the two biggest were: my personality trait being too clingy and how girls were uncomfortable around me. They found to be creepy and a stalker. I threw the letter in the top draw of my desk out of anger. How could John say such words I thought as I stormed out into the cool autumn air. As I walked though the trails on campus the anger inside of me burned against both John and God. I decided immediately to fight it out with God, telling him how I really felt and what I thought. While I was yelling, God simply kept silent, then only then when I was done having my hissy fit, God spoke. He told me that what John had written was true. That afternoon, God challenge me to reflect on who I was and had become. I had become someone I didn’t want to be. I had fallen back into a lustful man. However, lust wasn’t going to give up that quickly. He fought back and held onto to me until that fateful night in the spring where he and God would battle it out once and for all. 

That spring night, I sat in a arm chair in the commuter lounge listening to a fellow student share his testimony about struggling with pornography and how God had overcome that desire and struggle. While I listened, I fought back every tear because I knew what was true of that student was true of me. I wanted so badly to get rid of lust and its desires but I was trying to do it on my own.  I walked outside with this war: God against lust raging inside of me. I walked and walked arguing with myself if I wanted to give it all to God or try to go on my own. God eventually pierced the swirling darkness of lust and confusion. He reminded me of his love and that no matter what I had done, he was waiting with open arms again. 

I called Drew but he didn’t pick up so I left him a voicemail confessing my struggle with lust again. Then I went to bed. The next morning I had a voicemail from Drew expressing his concern for me and asking me to call him back. I did and we talked. He told me I would have to tell my parents again but he said it could wait until after the leader’s retreat that weekend. I hung up and thought that would be good to wait to talk to my parents because Sunday would come and I wouldn’t need to talk to my parents, my dad was leaving for a business trip that afternoon. So I finished class and went home. 

When I got home, nobody was home, I plopped myself down in front of the t.v.. Just as I was settling down, both my parents walked into the house. I turned off the t.v. and went up them, immediately I told them about my struggle with lust. My dad stormed off down stairs and my mom began crying. All I could do was go and embrace her, tears streaming down my cheeks and all I could say was that I was sorry. God extended his grace and mercy upon me yet again. This time there was no doubt that God had won. 

I finished up my first year at Kuyper and summer was upon me. I began preparing for my summer journey at Grace Adventures where I would be one of the camp’s media specialist. I had no doubt that God was real but I was wrestling with whether He was calling me into full time ministry or into the film industry. As I saw it, I envisioned myself doing both with no problems. The first two weeks went really smooth. Then came father’s day and a sea of home sickness poured down on me. I didn’t know how to handle such an emotion. I had been home sick before but never to this level. Rather than seek out help, I decided push the emotions back behind my carefully constructed dam of self-pervasion. The following Sunday followed the same routine: Community worship, lunch, and then staff huddle. 

Yet this Sunday was different. I sat down in the circle and moments later tears were running down my face. I tried as hard as I could hold them back and behind the dam of self-pervasion but I felt the cracks beginning to form as an earthquake tremors through my soul breaking my carefully constructed dam of self-pervasion. The water cascading down into all the trees of success and rocks of failure. I sat in my chair shaken watching everyone leaving to go into their ministry teams. Then, several of the guys came around me, bathing me in prayer and bring me and my problems before the feet of the cross.

The next thing I know, I was in the President Steve’s office setting in the red plush couch surrounding me like a giant security blanket. When asked what happened all I could mustered to say was that I had an emotional breakdown. The dam I had so careful constructed torn apart, exposing rusted rebar of worry and fear. God in that moment spoke to me through Steve. He asked if I wanted to know how to know God’s will for my life. I told he yes thinking he would give me some magical formula. President Steve gave me no magical formula rather spoke two words, “Know God.” Two words so simple and yet so profound in that moment. I had been putting myself at the center of my life rather than God. That was what God taught me that summer: to place him at the center of my life and not to worry about having my life all planed out. The following summer, back at Grace Adventure, God taught me how to better handle conflict.

As I look back upon my journey, I see God’s faithfulness, his guidance, and his never failing love and forgiveness. I know that the all the good times and struggles I faced were part of God’s plan to lead me to where I am today and to that I am ever thankful to God. I am excited to see what God has in store for me. 

Solitude: The cause of focus

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. ~ Mark 1:35

Where is your focus? Has it been on work, school, family? Has it be on God? These are some questions that came to my mind while I was practicing the spiritual discipline of solitude. Mark 1 and other Scripture passages (ex. Matthew 14:13 and Luke 4:42) talk about Jesus going off to a solitary place. So what does it mean to go off to a solitary place? In other words, what is the disciple of solitude? 

Richard Foster writes, “Solitude is more a state of mind and heart than it is a place. There is a solitude of the heart that can be maintained at all times” (96). What Foster is getting at is that the discipline of solitude is more about the attitude of the heart and mind rather than the physical place. You can still be in solitude even if you are among a crowd of people. “Inward solitude has outward manifestations. There is the freedom to be alone, not in order to be away from people but in order to hear the divine Whisper better” (Foster, 97). The disciple of solitude allows God to speak not because he never speaks but because we are now listening and focused on him. The discipline of solitude goes well with the other spiritual disciplines such as prayer, mediation, and fasting. These disciples give freedom to hear and experience the presence of God. 

So my plan for practicing the disciple of solitude this week was to take couple of hours of one day to be by myself. I chose to do this because I am always around people. I am a people person. I get energy from being around people and often do not take the time to be by myself. The ironic thing is that this past weekend was the annual retreat for the youth group I volunteer for and the theme was unplugged. We unplugged from the daily distractions such as Facebook, cell phones, computers. This was a time to listen to God. The place the retreat was held at was Waltman Lake. A camp that is surround by forest, a lake in the center, and a half a mile from the nearest main road. It was a solitary place. A great place to practice the spiritual discipline of solitude. This is where I practice the disciple of solitude.

So on Saturday afternoon, everyone was given a couple of hours of free time. Each person including leaders were given a packet and encouraged to find a quite spot and work through the packet. So after hanging out with my small group for an hour or so, I felt God telling me to get onto the paddle boat and go into the middle of the lake. I thought,"Okay God," and I went into the middle of the Lake, there was no wind, no clouds, and it was sunny. The first thing the packet had me do was ask God to lead me to a spot so I could listen to him. 

God direct me towards a small cove. On the shore of the cove where these barren trees and in the center stood one evergreen taller than the rest of these trees. As I looked around, I notice all around the lake a similar set up, barren trees and one or two evergreens all along the shore. I was drawn back to staff training at Grace Adventures when we talked about leadership and what it was and looked like and the metaphor for a leader was a tree. I again looked back at the evergreen and thought about the youth leaders who have played a significant role in my life. Who have influenced and encourage me to explore a life in full time ministry. Then I thought about my leadership and reflected on was I leading to be the center and get all the praise or to set an example of Godly leadership. 

As I was making way through the packet, I came to a section where I had to write a letter to myself from God. Through that time of writing God challenged me to reflect where my focus was and had been. I realized that it had been on school and myself. I was neglecting my relationships with my family, friends, and even my students. But more important was that my relationship with God had taken the back seat. I didn’t have time put into that relationship because it would require work. 

Well, the next thing I know is God asked to keep the Cross, which was on the opposite shore of the lake, in the center of my field of vision. My first thought was this was going to be easy. There was no wind, I could just sit and continue to go through the packet. Well, God had some humor with me, just when I got the cross in focus and began to continue working on the packet, the wind picked up and I would drift off towards the shore, left of the cross. So I had to stop and paddle the boat back into place. Then the same thing happened all over again. 

Each time it got harder and harder to put the cross in focus. The wind kept blowing and the paddle boat kept drifting. I finally gave up and thought, “God what is the point, I am never going to keep the cross in focus. I give up!” In the silence of that moment, God whispered, “Did you really think that keeping cross centered was going to be easy. Did you think it was going to require no work or effort? You are so very busy that you allow your business to blow you around. You allow your focus to drift from one thing to another and yet I call you to keep focused on me. It is gong to take effort and I already know that you will not get right all the time but by my strength and not your own, you can focus on the cross even when life blows you around.”

Of all the lessons that were taught, that was the single and most important one. I know that if I hadn’t take that time to be by myself, to slow down, to unplug, I would have missed that lesson. The disciple of solitude doesn’t require you to be by yourself but it does require a heart and mind ready to listen even among a crowd. But sometimes, it takes the quite place for the heart and mind to listen to the one that created it. So where is your focus? 

Simplicity: the art of inward outward living

What does a life of simplicity look like? What is simplicity? These may be some of the questions that are raised in your mind when you hear the word simplicity. The discipline of simplicity “is an inward reality that results in an outward life-style” (Foster 80). Foster goes on to say that, “Both the inward and the outward aspects of simplicity are essential. We deceive ourselves if we believe we can possess the inward reality without it having a profound effect on how we live” (80). 

Simplicity is more than giving clothes away to Good Will or Salvation Army. It is more than living with fewer material objects. It is more than using or fixing something until it can no longer be used.  The discipline of simplicity begins on the inside. Without being simplistic on the inside, all outward expressions are meaningless. 

So what does it mean then to live simplicity on the inside? Living simplicity on the inside is the conviction that what we have is a gift. That is you have an attitude of gratitude. It is trust that God care for and sustains what we have. It is a willingness to have what we have available to others. When we live a life of inward simplicity, then our outward actions will reflect our inward reality. Forster list ten principles guiding the outward of expression of simplicity. They are: buy things for their usefulness rather than their status, reject anything that is producing an addiction in you, develop a habit of giving things away, refuse to be propagandized by the custodians of modern gadgetry, learn to enjoy things without owning them, develop a deeper appreciation for the creation, look with healthy skepticism at all the “buy now, pay later’ schemes, Obey Jesus’ instructions about plain, honest speech, reject anything that breeds the oppression of others, and shun anything that distracts you from seeking first the kingdom of God.

So my plan for this week practice this disciple was to take time, examine my inner attitude towards these ten principles and assess if I was living a simplistic inner life. 

Well, I didn’t follow through on my plan. I did not set aside any time to examine my life. Even though I failed to follow through on my plan, I did notice several things about my inner life. The first thing is that when I am not seeking the kingdom of God first, or in the words of St. Augustine, “having a properly order loved,” my inner life is full of anxiety and stress which is translated in an outward expression of single mindedness. That single mindedness is focusing on myself, meeting the my wants and my needs, completing my agenda rather than seeking guidance from God. 

Secondly, I notice that my outward expressions of simplicity are meaningless when I don’t live an inner life of simplicity. That is, I do things for the sake of doing them. My motives are selfish and my values are misplaced. 

Thirdly, my thoughts and actions conform more to the patterns of this world than the patterns of God and his word. 

So what about you? Are you living an inner life of simplicity or are you just going through the motions of simplicity? How do we cultivate this inward life of simplicity even as you work, save, make decisions about your money, possessions, time, reputation? I challenge you to set aside time to examine your own life. Are you living a simple life?