What do you agree with?

Hey everybody. Or "Hey everybody!" I think I feel slightly in between those (getting sleepy).

Hey everybody-

It's been an interesting week. On Monday my Indian roommates and I wore traditional Indian clothes to school to spice things up. We (at least I) got plenty of weird looks but it was so fun and quite the cultural experience. 

I'm the white guy

Then Tuesday we welcomed Randy Clark and his team who were here for the rest of the week for a healing conference. He spent a couple days just with us students and then a few with anyone who registered or showed up for the free evening services. SO many people were healed in these few days (as in hundreds of miracles). Most of them involved pain from an accident or surgery but we also saw deaf ears opened and people were even being healed through phone calls and texts. Randy would call out different problems and said that if anyone knew others with those problems, they should call them and release the healing over them. I only know about 1% of what happened so I wish I could share more testimonies, but we would praise Jesus even if only 1 person was healed this past week. 

Wednesday I got to meet with my core group (20 or so) at Westside Pizza. The pizza place is owned by Bethel people so they let us come worship and pray in there while they ran their business as usual. They even joined in on the worship in between making pizzas. We got to ask and answer some deep questions in groups of 4, trying to learn more about the hearts of these people I'm in community with. It's so easy to see them every week without truly knowing and being known by them. So that was fun. Speaking of fun, I made this sandwich a couple minutes ago: (Got the idea from the Internet somewhere)

Grape and strawberry jam, honey, Nutella, and peanut butter

My thought of the week is about what we consent to and how our thoughts are powerful. I have an example to illustrate! Some amount of time ago (to be specific), I was listening to music on my phone via Google Play. In the middle of a song a message popped up that said "Google Play has stopped working." It had a big Okay button at the bottom of the message. BUT the music kept playing. Nothing was wrong. I listened for a bit longer and then decided I didn't want the error message on my screen anymore so I clicked Okay. Of course, right then the app crashed and in came the empty silence that follows a song ended before it's proper time. 

I think many times Christians get bombarded with false accusations and lies from the devil which literally have no power to change us. That is, unless we agree with them. If our identity is rooted in Christ and what he did for us on the cross, then nothing can move us. But the enemy would love to get our help in taking us down. Ephesians 1:4 says we are "holy and blameless in His sight." Philippians 3:16 says "Only let us live up to what we have already attained." That means the hard part is over, we just have to agree with the victory. So sometime you might get a negative message in your head about your life, and it has a big Okay button attached to it. Feel free to ignore the message (even better, reject it) and keep believing what God says about you!

Another song from Bethel music this week: Fall Afresh featuring Jeremy Riddle

50 days until I leave for South Korea! $1350 to go in fundraising. Click here if you want to give. 

Jesus, You have won me!

"Jesus, You have won me. You have broken every chain with love and mercy."

These are the lyrics from the song at the end of this post, and right now they are the cry of my heart. I find myself feeling an overwhelming optimism for the future and for what God is doing on Earth right now. Jesus has won me, and I'm living from His victory instead of for my own victory. Nothing seems like too bad of a situation anymore. He made a way for us to have joy, peace, and righteousness in every part of our lives. This past week has been filled with singing, dancing, and rejoicing at His goodness. I've also been writing this paragraph for over 20 minutes because I'm listening to worship music and can't do both at the same time. I really should commit to one or the other.

We hit the ground running at school after break, and now it feels like we have a huge amount of momentum pushing us forward. The metaphor one staff member used to describe the teaching so far is that the first half of the year was spent building a car and the second half is spent putting in the engine. So the topics for our first week back were servitude, sacrifice, and surrender. Like everything else in the Kingdom, these values seem backwards in our culture. Why would we go low to be raised up? Why would we serve to lead? Why would we die to live? (hint: Jesus already won it all)

So here we are nearing the end of January and I haven't really said anything about 2014 as a whole. I made a list of goals for this school year before I came (climb a Redwood tree, CHECK) and a new list for 2014, so want to keep pushing towards those and live with a mission. My wonderful sister, Roo, gave me the word "power" as a one-word prophetic goal for this year. And I also felt like the word "shine" was going to be a big part of my life this year. I'll write more about that another time.

SHINE with POWER

Right now I'm thinking I want to stay here another year and try out for the 2nd Year school worship band. One factor in the decision is whether or not I can find a job. I've been looking for QUITE a while but most places are looking for day-time work, not another student who can work evenings and weekends. Please pray for a job :) I also hear there is less homework in 2nd year, which will be good since I may have gotten locked out again this past time (let's be real here). But even THAT won't get me down because it won't happen again.

So let's make this an amazing year. We'll start with another amazing week, as Randy Clark is coming for a conference and we get to go or help out with most of it. It's gonna be a good time.

From this point on, I won't remember if I'm repeating a song I've posted on an earlier blog, but this is one of my favorite songs from Bethel Music: You Have Won Me

Short Update

Hey! Here's a short update of the last month since my last post:

Hiking: Did that at Whiskeytown.
Christmas break: Awesome time with family and friends; tiring.
First week back: Heidi Baker came. Her film, Compelled By Love, is amazing.
Homework: Relentless
Job: Still looking
South Korea: Still going ($1,460 to go in fundraising. Click here if you want to help out :) )
Weather: Sunny and 70's. My kind of January.

We climbed a mountain!

Longer update in the next post!

Christmas and bears

Hey everybody! The snow has melted but we are still feeling the Christmas cheer here in California, as we drive with our windows down and feel the warmth of the sun on our faces (did you know Redding is #2 on the list of sunniest cities in America??). We had a tree-lighting service at Bethel during the winter blast, which really made things feel Christmasy:

A bundled up Jeremy Riddle led us in some carols

Then today I went with some friends to a nursing home, where we got to spread some joy by singing carols. They were very appreciative and said we did bring cheer to their environment, which they don't always get to experience. It was a great way to pour out love, which actually makes room for us to receive more love in return. It's a nice little cycle.

Earlier this week we had an Encounter Day, which was basically a small personal retreat followed by a time of worship and sharing with our core group. If you're confused about the seemingly endless list of groups, we have revival groups (70 people), core groups (20 people), and small groups (5 people). So for my encounter I went with my small group leader to Whiskeytown lake and hiked on the trail:

The actual lake is much bigger. This is more like a creek on the side

Right when we got there, we saw some fresh BEAR tracks in the snow! At least we thought they were bear tracks. But I'm no doctor...

I was scared, I'll admit it. All alone on the trail, my imagination running more wild than anything I came in contact with. I thought about how the bears are probably eating more now to prepare for their winter hibernation. But then I realized that if I'm living my life on a mission towards a vision, I shouldn't be scared of death in any way, because I'll only get as much accomplished on earth as I have days given to me. And God will provide for what needs to happen.

I think this is choice we simply have to make before we get into a difficult situation. Much like "Will I defend Jesus if someone I respect mocks him?" or "Will I worship Jesus even when I don't feel close to him?" That last one is a toughie because it's so easy for me to be led by my feelings. Feelings make a great thermometer for how things are going inside, but they make a terrible master.

That's all for now. 3 days of school this week and then I'll be back on a plane to Cincy :)

For your Christmas enjoyment, my favorite carol - O Holy Night sung by Josh Groban

SNOW

There is no escape. Whether you live in Ohio, Texas, or California, winter has come and dumped a freezing blanket of awesome on us all. What started as a few flakes looking out of place against the palm trees turned into this:

"Those are not palm trees." Yeah but it's a nice pic.

My revival group had gathered for a Christmas party and gift exchange, but after dinner the decision was made to end it early so we could drive home and be safe. So some friends and I went to the Civic Center (where we have class) and had a snowball fight. We also took advantage of the glorious packing ability of the snow and rolled a giant snowball. It ended up being about 6 feet high:

That's the silhouette of a champion.

After building a wall of snow in front of a friend's front door, we called it a night. And what a week! This past week was relationship week at BSSM. So we heard a variety of amazing talks on friendship, dating, marriage, and all that good stuff. Danny Silk brought a life-changing message about boundaries, and one of my favorite events was Men's Night. The ladies had one too, which I heard was fantastic. But I got to gather with the other men in my class to worship (interesting sound with just the low voices, very powerful) and hear from a speaker. It ended with some ministry time and guys seeing breakthrough in different areas. For some odd reason I felt less distracted on that night...

So here's the thought for this week: the bar is always being raised. Think about it. Humans are designed to want to succeed and explore. We were called to subdue the whole earth, and it's natural for us to want to reach new heights and set records. This desire, harnessed in the wrong way, led to things like the building of the Tower of Babel, where people tried to reach heaven and show off their pride in humanity. But no matter how you look at it, it's clear that when we reach a certain level, there is expectation to go above and beyond.

This is also true with spiritual things. When we reach a level of intimacy with God, he wants to bring us even closer. When we do something great, he wants us to do even greater things. Now there are two ways to look at this bar being raised. You can look from a worldly perspective and say that you never have enough, and that you are never good enough. It may seem that God is never fully satisfied with your work. Or you can look with a heavenly lens and see that God went to great lengths to raise us up himself, and he is SO satisfied in us if our identity is in Christ. God would love you the same if you never prayed another prayer or read another Bible verse. But he knows that there is so much more for us to experience - so much more of Him to know. So he calls us to come, and to reach.

Listen to this song and get pumped up! The Anthem by Jesus Culture. Wow!

Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

I'm sure you've already read a lot of posts about what people are thankful for, so I'll try to avoid making a big list, but I hope everyone was able to reflect on all we've been given in life. If you're reading this, you have access to a computer or phone, which not everyone has the privilege to enjoy, so there's a start!

Monday we had a Thanksgiving meal as a revival group, since that's they day we meet normally. We got to share in pairs things about the other person that we are thankful for, as well as give small gifts, so it was a cool time of getting to know people a little better. 

I was also thankful for beautiful California weather to play football in, and for my safety after we ended up playing tackle football with some guys who were a bit bigger than us:

The "Turkey Bowl" - they've been doing it since '76

On the big day, the other BSSM students from my apartment complex and I banded together and made an amazing feast. For most of us, it was the first one away from home, so the fact that all of our kitchens are still in tact is pretty cool (minus one small burner-on-fire incident). We also took in some other students who needed some awesome company to celebrate Thanksgiving with. Here's the gang:

I contributed the corn pudding and jello salad! Thanks Mom :)

It's been great seeing all the international students post pictures of their "first Thanksgiving". They got to experience this American tradition with us students or families from Bethel who volunteered to host them for their meals. Overall, just a whole lot of smiles and good community. So again, I hope you had a great day or week of celebrating and being content, no matter your situation. Thank YOU so much for reading this and for supporting me in my journey here at Bethel! I pray that you receive many blessings of peace, love, and pumpkin pie!

This week I don't have a song but watch this 6 minute clip from Graham Cooke! About how much God loves us no matter what:

In His Gaze

Thank you to everyone who has donated so far to my South Korea trip! The first payment deadline was met (with 2 hours to spare!) and I have a month and a half until the next one. You can still donate here if you want to.

The past two weeks have been amazing. There are no crazy events that stand out but it seems like every day we get hit with a new truth or revelation about a concept that's spoken on. Kris Vallotton has been blowing our minds with a couple talks on truth, the Bible, and how nobody can accurately interpret the Bible without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We get to download 10 of the talks for free (3 bucks a piece after that) so I'll definitely try to get some of the more impactful ones to save a share. I'm also enjoying worship more, and it's definitely a highlight of every day. Sometimes I wish I was up on stage playing but I know that I already have plenty of things to do with my time.

A few days ago some friends and I went to Whiskeytown lake to have a late-night bon fire under the stars. The next day there was a fire by the lake on the news but we are 95% sure it wasn't our fault:

Don't worry, we covered it up with sand afterwards

One thing we sang during worship one day was the phrase "You never take your eyes off me." I don't think it's from a particular song, but I love the idea of God constantly looking at each one of us. It's a gaze so loving that no deformity or sin will turn it away. No one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws him in (John 6:44) so even the most rebellious souls are being wooed daily. The stories of people "finding God" are actually stories of people finding out that God has been chasing them their entire life, and He actually knit them together in the womb (Psalm 139).

He's not like a celebrity that people follow on Twitter, limited by time and space. He has enough mind-space to concentrate fully on everybody, all the time. And we're engraved on the palms of his hands (Isaiah 49:16). God delights in us and loves looking at his creation. He knows when we sit and when we rise, when we go out and when we lie down. He is extravagant in his pursuit and extremely optimistic. He is awesome!

I've been jamming out to this on guitar recently: Great I Am by New Life Worship