blog resolution for 2011

I will blog a whole lot more in 2011.

So far in the past month I've lost my camera (probably died for good) and my computer (for a week or two) and then after finals and traveling, I finally have some down time to update everyone on stuff.

So, right now, I'm in New Jersey and I am so excited to be here! It's freezing and I am battling some crazy jet lag. I went to bed around 7, woke up around 10:45, and now it's almost 2 am and I can't sleep. I'm listening to Stephen Armstrong sermons and playing cityville to pass time. I am excited about the next three weeks. I have some decisions to pray over and I think that's why God put it so strongly on my heart to be off of Guam and on the mainland. First things first, though- spend time with family, adjust to the time and temp, and get some good food.

Merry Christmas!

I'm typing up a speech on the Anabaptists and the Schleitheim Confession, something I never knew about until taking a seminary class on "How to Write Papers" and of course the topic is seminary "stuff." I loved writing about Church History, surprisingly, and even though I went into this topic blindly I found out some very interesting things about the Schleitheim Confession and Anabaptist movements.

I struggle with legalistic practices in churches and sacraments that people do out of habit instead of recognizing what they are symbolic of in their own faith. The Anabaptists, from what I understand, although agreeing with the 95 Thesis, saw some problems in the Reformation and wanted to make an impact on Christian culture, not just church culture (even though they should be related, they sometimes are not). I am not going to go into the seven areas that they tackle, some of which I highly agree with, some that I am not sure about, but I will say that this group drafted a document that cost them their lives to take a stand for ministring as Christ had, and not how legal and church figures saw fit. I want to live my life that way- looking to the cross and to Christ as the basis of my ministry.

The Anabaptists were considered radicals in their day, just as Jesus was (it's interesting that the term "radical" when relating to Jesus means extreme when Jesus just did what was right, what God would do), and as I want to do. Learning about these people brought me back to the book I recently read by David Platt, in which I did a quick online search and found these two quotes from it. May we be like Jesus in what we do:


"As long as you and I understand salvation as checking off a box to get to God, we will find ourselves in the meaningless sea of world religions that actually condemn the human race by exalting our supposed ability to get to God. On the other hand, when you and I realize that we are morally evil, dead in sin and deserving of God's wrath with no way out on our own, we begin to discover our desperation for Christ."


"The modern-day gospel says, 'God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Therefore, follow these steps, and you can be saved.' Meanwhile, the biblical gospel says, 'You are an enemy of God, dead in your sin, & in your present state of rebellion, you are not even able to see that you need life, much less to cause yourself to come to life. Therefore, you are radically dependent on God to do something in your life that you could never do."
Both quotes by David Platt, Radical

staycation

 Steph, (myself), and Sarah got away for a night on a staycation- a vacation without really going anywhere. We stayed at the Nikko Hotel on Guam, which I highly recommend, for an evening which mainly meant that we took advantage of the beautiful pool for all of the hours we were there when the sun was out.

In the evening we had dinner at Outback (thanks to a gift of a giftcard) and were surprised by our friends with s'mores and a bonfire on the beach adjacent to our hotel.

We were able to get away from our work and ministry for long enough to feel slightly refreshed and feel "away." I don't know why we didn't do this sooner. I think all three of us are ready to face our last three weeks before the break. It was a beautiful 24 hours that I'll gladly and thankfully repeat.

Thanksgiving

I am thankful for friends and family, including the ones I got to spend two beautiful Thanksgiving dinners with (lunch + dinner). I think social gatherings involving food is mmm hmmm a really good idea. It makes the holidays away from other friends and family really special. Happy late Thanksgiving to you all, especially far from me.

Crazy Love

I love these girls, and what we get to do together. We're still working our way through Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan, and last Wednesday we got to escape to the Westin to have some coffee (and tea, and coke) and read through a chapter and a half of our book. We're getting deep into God's love and what it means to have a perfect Father and how the way we love Him just doesn't seem to do it. I'm convicted weekly and pray that I can lead this study while I have so much of my own stuff I'm working through. All I can say is that God has blessed me with a great group of girls and we're growing in His love through this. I am so thankful.

K2 photo highlights

Stephanie and Erten with a coconut.

Kevin husking coconuts. He's from Iowa. This is a lot different than the corn he's used to. hehe.

 Here are some pictures from our recent retreat. I hope to write up on this but there's a lot to share, so I wanted to get some pics out there first.

Leeman and his machete. He's kept it in his backpack before.

Jihee and Teisy helping set up the Holy Graffiti room.

Yos, Sou Sou and Xyanne helping prepare dinner.

Teisy, Sarah, and Jihee having snacks in some downtime. These three blessed me so much!

Yos and Sou Sou eating the food they helped prepare. We fed about 100 people for three days.

Anne and Steve in line. Steve is one of my favorite foodies and both are mentors to me.

Leeman leading worship. God really used him this weekend.

Kenny Clark, from La Mirada, Ca was our speaker for the retreat. He lead 4 services on what it means to be adopted into the family of Christ, and following Christ into a life of sacrifice.

After dinner and night service, we had rooms open for worship, healing, counseling, creative arts, etc. This is some of the wall of the Holy Graffiti room.

Jayleen adding to the wall.

Exhausted in the morning...the guys slept in the sanctuary.

just for fun, a giant slip n slide.

Benny Luke and Charles perform a song together. Benny Luke is Marshallese but translated the song into Chuukese and played with Charles, for Shema Cafe night.

Back on Track

I have not posted in forever. I haven't contacted my church in forever. I haven't done a lot of things that uphold my end of being out here in Guam, especially with my supporters. I will humbly admit that I am stressed, dealing with some big situations, have a lot on my plate, and have just been plain busy. 

Busy- I am convicted of that word. I am even too busy for God, and I hate it.

I am slacking off in reading my Bible, and I hate it.

I am blowing off some important students because I have to go tutor, which I have to, but I don't make time for them later. I just let things go. That's not me but it's resulting from something in me.

Many a thing unmentionable.  But God is BIG. Our problems are small.

Oh, and my room is a mess.

But, let me catch you up on some GOOD things.

I have a discipleship group of 3 girls who are amazing! We're growing together in scripture and in Francis Chan's Crazy Love. We are planning a missions trip with Sarah's group, prayerfully and hopefully to the Philippines. We're also praying to go serve in Chuuk together.

Teisy, Grace, and Javrin

God is moving hugely in student's lives. I have been able to be involed in 4 things that blessed our campus:

Staff lead chapel

Shema cafe (open mic night, one student came to know God)

K2 Campus Wide 3 day retreat

 Chapel again, theme of what it means to follow Christ

I will be posting on most of these in the next few days.

Sarah and me on our way back from a hike, way back

Oh, I have a great roommate, great friends out here, and I love my work. God has blessed me immensely. I really miss my family and friends back in the mainland...and if possible, I would love to catch up with everyone I have been missing. If you can, shoot me a message. I would love to hear from you in the midst of blessings and craziness.