Devotional - Titus 3:3-5

“At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy...”

Lord, thank You so much for the person that I am now, instead of the person I used to be. I am so grateful that my desires are changing and I am becoming less and less of a slave to the world. I cannot stand on anything I’ve done, but only kneel on what you’ve done. Mercy is the only thing that holds me together, because if justice had befallen me, I surely would of been crushed. The weight of guilt and judgment I would not of been able to carry. Christ is the only one who could carry my burden. Thank You for taking me from a life of sin to a life of sanctification. I am a work in progress, but thankfully I don’t have to do it on my own.

Nicaragua Winter 2009 - Staying Busy

A little work, a little fun, and a whole lotta action.

Devotional - Hebrews 11:1

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

It is amazing to read about all these men of faith You had raised up. Their faith and confidence in You is something I admire and desire to attain. They lived by faith till their death and did not even receive the things promised to them. Only from distance and time could they enjoy what was given to their offspring. Thank You for the faith You have given me; I simply can’t believe my faith can please You. I pray that You will stretch me in this area even more and that I will be certain of the future and the unseen. Thank You for drawing me into a knowledge of Your existence and that You have rewarded me with so many amazing things in my life. All I have to do is earnestly seek You, and You promise that blessing will come. Thank You for pursuing me first and tenderizing my heart. I desire to know You more intimately and that I could share my story with others. In reality I want to share Your story, so that others can have a story of redemption. I feel that this story of grace is coming to the climax of Your return and that perfection will come on earth as it is in heaven. All of Your elect have a role in this story, and everything we do is to bring You glory. It is the greatest story ever told; one starting with a fall, turning into redemption, and ending in glory.

Devotional - Hebrews 10:29

"How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?"

God, You say there is less severity in judgment for rejecting the law of Moses as there is towards rejecting Your Son. I have trampled on His broken body so many times in my life and I do not know why You keep giving me grace. I am sorry for my deliberate and intentional sin that has been accompanied by knowledge of the truth. I thank You for turning me back to Yourself and convicting me of my sin. I don't know why it has taken me so long to realize the bottomless pit I put myself in. I constantly continued to return back to my own filth and vomit to indulge in selfish desires. I broke every commandment with full knowledge of my actions. I thank You for turning this enemy into an ally and now I can call You friend. I get to call the creator of the universe an intimate friend. I never again want to insult the full measure of grace that has been given me, but rather I want to share with others what has been revealed to me and that they can have it too. Thank You for the blood that continues to sanctify me.

God at Work in Granada

I have some exciting news of what God has done in the past 2 weeks. I wanted to share with all of you guys about how God has been using our ATL (Ask The Lord) ministry. Laura Overs, Joann Weng, Caleb Austin, and I decided this semester to devote four hours each Friday to seek out the Lord’s will and act upon what we hear. We have rooted our ministry in prayer, worship, and evangelism. Two Fridays ago brought our ministry into a different direction and definitely showed us that God is actively at work in the city of Granada.

This particular Friday started out with all us in the House of Prayer in the back of El Puente. We were also fortunate to have two other people join us for this outing; our new leader, Seth Barnes Jr. and our faithful translator, Mario Rincand. We all gathered at the House of Prayer around ten in the morning and we spent ten minutes in silence to see where God was leading us. Then we broke out into corporate prayer and asked for God to utilize us. We then discussed what we felt God was pressing on our hearts, and both Laura and I felt God pushing us to walk down to the lake. As my eyes were closed during our time of prayer, God put colors of blue and green in my mind and kept speaking the word water to me. So that was enough confirmation for us and we all headed out to see what God had planned.

We decided to only take one guitar that day and Caleb Austin did the honors of carrying it on his back. As we were about to approach the lake, we had some fruit vendors from across the street shout out to us to play a song. So we thought this was a great way to introduce the gospel to these guys and perform two of our goals by worshiping and evangelizing. However, God had something else in mind. As we approached the four Nicaraguan men, one of them instead wanted to play a song for us. So we let him pluck away and we got to enjoy a semi-intoxicated version of the Beatles’ song, Hey Jude. I bought an orange from one of the vendors and started to strike up a conversation with another man that was with them named Bismark. I asked about his family, his job, where he lived and if he went to church. He was a very soft spoken man in his late 20s and he talked about his wife, son, and baby on the way. He also shared of his love for Christ and his involvement in their local church. And disheartening, he told me of how his wife had been sick for the past four days with a strange illness. He described to me that she was suffering from a horrendous fever and small, painful sores all over her body, which burned and itched constantly. I then asked him if we could go to his house and pray over her, and he was more than eager to invite us over. I now knew why God initially brought us down to the lake this particular day.

We walked through a wooden door that was basically an entrance to what looked like a tiny backyard with a small shack in the middle of it. The space was enclosed all around by concrete bricks and the shack was made of rusted tin. The outside was adorned with a few metal rocking chairs, clothes lines, a washboard to clean clothes, a brick oven, various trees, and other plant life. We waited for a few minutes for the wife, Yanira, to join us and we talked a little more with the husband about why some random gringos from all four corners of the US were doing in the middle of Nicaragua. We shared with him how we had seen a life change in us from our relationship with Christ and how we wanted to share that with the people of Granada. We expressed our desire to bring to life the church of Acts 2 by devoting ourselves to teaching, fellowship, healing, communion, worship, and prayer. As his wife came out to join us, they were both in somber moods. We told them how we believed in the power of prayer and the laying of hands written about by Paul in 1st and 2nd Timothy. So we all gathered around her to petition the Lord for a miraculous healing upon her life. We prayed fervently for about 15 minutes, and then Seth shared through Mario’s translating a blessing over the family. He also shared with them that God does not always answer the way we expect. It is sometimes “yes”, sometimes “no”, or even sometimes “wait”, nonetheless, He does answer. We encouraged them to have hope in the Lord and that His ways are above our ways, that His understanding is above our understanding, and that His will always takes precedence. We ended our time together by all praying one after the other, seeking God’s will in the matter and that He would be glorified by whatever outcome. We left our new friends’ house with invigoration and anticipation of what God was going to do it. I couldn’t wait to come back next week and see the power of God’s mighty hand.

The following Friday started out as chaotic, and it caused our schedule to get backed up. Also, our ministry team got cut in half that day because of confusion and conflicting schedules, so Caleb Austin and I decided to head out alone to see what God had planned instead. All week, God had put that Christian couple on my mind, and I so desperately wanted to see God work a miracle in their lives. Therefore, we decided to head back to their house and find out if God had showed up. Upon our return, we met the husband, Bismark, outside and his spirits looked rejuvenated. He took us into their backyard and we were over-joyous to see the wife, Yanira, completely healed. Her fever had dissipated, her sensation of burning and itching had subsided, and her small, swollen sores had vanished. Bismark also gave us some more insight into this amazing God story. He informed us that the previous Friday was unusual for him to be where he was. He usually works in the morning selling fresh donuts around the neighborhood, but God had told him not to work that morning and instead work in the afternoon. If he had been working, we most likely would never have had met him. It was only by the providence of God that our crossing of paths was orchestrated. We were so ecstatic of how God brought us together and how He brought healing that we thought it would be a great idea to praise God with some worship songs. So we played a little concert for the couple in Spanish, which included the songs, Here I Am to Worship (Vengo a Adorarte) and This Is the Air I Breathe (Eres Mi Respirar). We finished together by holding hands and lifting up prayers to God of gratitude, adoration, and praise. We were so thankful for what God had done for this family and we asked for continual blessing their lives that would spark life change in those around them and that this would spark a revival in their church and community. We left feeling like we got to play a small part in this grand story of God and it was amazing to catch a glimpse of Him at work.

I am so thankful for what Christ is doing in me and through me, what He’s doing on this team, and what He’s doing in Granada. We have so many different ministries going on and this is just one story of how God is changing lives. I thank everyone of you who have allowed me to be a part of such an amazing trip through your prayers and financial support. I pray that I will continue to seek out and know God’s heart beat and compassion for this city.

Devotional - Hebrews 4:9-10

"There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his."

Thank You Father for the gift of rest, reflection, and rejuvenation. You have set aside a special day each week to break ourselves from the worries of work and instead find solace in You. Thank You for calling me as part of Your elect and allowing me to be Your child. I find satisfaction in being able to enter Your rest. May I cherish these moments each week that allow me to put work aside and focus on You. Allow me to find these moments in each and every day. You set the example and all we have to do is follow and abide in You. Lord, I ask you right now to calm my spirit and free me from this burden of regret and what-ifs. I have often been reflecting on my college years in recent months and it is eating away at me on the inside of the things that I wish I did. My passions and pursuits at that particular time caused me to miss out on growing more in Your Word, diving deeper into meaningful relationships, and partaking in more active adventures. Let me learn from the past, delight in the present, and embrace the future. Send a resounding peace in my life that I am wrapped up in Your will and that I am exactly where You want me to be.

Devotional - Hebrews 2:14-15

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”

Abba Father, it is amazing that You would send Your one and only beloved Son to take upon Himself human flesh. The mere concept of God clothing Himself with bodily skin is quite extraordinary. He came to live in our midsts as a servant, a teacher, an example, a savior, and a conqueror of death. Satan reigned over this world when sin entered the scene, but because of Christ’s death and resurrection we are now co-heirs with Him. We have been given dominion over this earth and we are advancing the kingdom of God everyday. Christ took away the power of death when He rose again and instead He gave us the freedom of life. We are no longer bound by the fear of death and no longer chained to a life of slavery to sin. Satan lost the battle at the cross when Christ atoned for the sins of humanity. And because Jesus was tempted and tried just luke us, He is able to help us in our hours of weakness and temptation. Christ’s compassion is so abundant because He experienced what we experience. He is God in human form and He can relate to any struggle we are going through. All our pain, suffering, and sin was place on him; while all His joy hope, and peace has been placed on us. I am eternally grateful for this Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound!

Nicaragua Winter 2009 - Jumping Into Ministry - Part 2

Diving into all my different ministries. Includes photos and video from the dump in Managua, known as La Chureca.

Nicaragua Winter 2009 - Jumping Into Ministry - Part 1

Diving into all my different ministries.