Sorry I haven’t updated my blog in a while but since I am leaving for Mexico City in about an hour I thought I’d do my best to give an update and let everyone know what were going to be doing there.
We finished up lectures about a week ago and spent this week relaxing, packing, cleaning, and celebrating Christmas. Tonight half of us leave for Mexico City, the other half leave for South Africa. As stated previously I am going to Mexico City until the last weekend in January.
In Mexico City we will be working with MegaCities (http://www.megacities.org.au/). We have a few churches we will be working with through them. Our goal is to help the youth and encourage them in their love for God, to develop in them a heart for their own city and to help them step out in boldness in Mexico City. We plan to do this through many ways including worship, testimonies dramas and whatever else God calls us to do. We also plan to bring awareness to Human Trafficking. I made a video which I hope to get on the web soon but haven’t yet. 27 million people are currently enslaved in human trafficking. It is happening everywhere and its happening in Mexico City. We hope to bring awareness to the church about this and help them find ways to fight against it.
Other than this we plan to listen to God and do what He says. We actually don’t have a lot planned and we just found out the churches were working with a couple days ago. We plan to be led by the Holy Spirit and by the voice of God.
There are a few main things we can use prayer for. Pray that God would speak and that we would hear Him clearly and have the courage and boldness to do whatever He says even if it seems strange or its something we don’t feel like doing. Pray that God would open up the hearts of the people we talk to whether they are in or outside of the church. We are actually going to be the first MegaCities team (everyone else starts coming in March) so pray that we can lay a good foundation for MegaCities 2010 and move things in the spiritual realm so when other teams start coming the ball is already rolling. Pray for unity in our team that we might have God command his blessing upon us (Psalm 133).
We will be in Mexico City until the last weekend of January. We will then return to Mazatlan to help with a Surf Comp put on by the church I go to here, Centro De Vida. We will then be helping out at Carnaval, Homes of Hope and in Colonia Sinaloa all here in Mazatlan.
Thank you everyone for your support and your prayers I would love to say more to share stories but I just don’t have time right now. Hopefully I’ll get to write once on outreach but we will see as it depends on the availability of computers and internet and time. I love you all! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! God bless!
Brother Chris
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
November Happenings
Well it’s been almost a month since I’ve written anything on my blog which seems strange because it does not seem that long yet so much has happened. God is awesome and continues to work in amazing ways in my life and in the lives of those around me. I guess something that’s been hard is that a lot of the growth hasn’t been bamb! Or sudden stuff. If you aren’t looking for it you don’t see it. But when you look back at where I was or we were as a DTS a few weeks ago you really go Wow! We’ve really grown.
Since I haven’t posted in a while I figured I’d write more about events than anything else. One of the major things that has happened is that our leader Chris was in the hospital for 2 weeks with an ulcer. It was pretty major, he was in the military hospital first and they thought it was just dehydration but I guess he was bleeding internally. But God is faithful and Chris is completely restored to health.
Not this past week but the week before we had Troy Sherman come in and talk to us about relationships. It was rad. We spent about 15 hours going through 1 Corinthians 13 and what love is and how it was been skewed so much by society etc…Everything he said was really captivating and really made you think and wrestle with what you truly believed. One of the things that really hit me was that he said “If you pray for something you better be willing to be the answer to your own prayer or shut up.” (his words not mine) Now this doesn’t mean if you pray for China that you go to China. Maybe it does. But say your praying for China. As your praying ask God what you can do. Maybe he’ll call you to move to China, maybe he’ll call you to take a trip there, to give money there, to write a letter to some missionaries that you know there, etc…A lot of times we as Christians just pray and then we say okay well done with that and we forget that we can actually not only offer up the prayer to God but be the answer as well. We are God’s vessels, the hope of glory here on earth, he entrusted us and Jesus proved it by leaving. The world needs us to respond.
Another thing that hit me was during base intercession this week Troy talked about human trafficking. He and his wife do a lot to help end human slavery. I knew it was an issue in the world, but I had no idea the severity of it. 27 million people are currently held captive in human trafficking. Slavery is bigger today than it has ever been in history. And yes it is happening in Minnesota and South Dakota. About half of those trafficked are kids (KIDS! Like 10 years old kids sometimes younger), a lot of time going straight to the sex trade bought and sold as prostitutes. Anyway so I felt called to include that in here to help raise up awareness and I want people to think about ways they can get involved to help end it. Research it, tell others about it, give money to organizations working to end it, write letters to your representatives asking for laws to come hard against those caught. Need ideas or more info? http://www.freedomprojectinternational.org/The_Freedom_Project/Take_Action.html or http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/ This is not something that is impossible to end but if we want it to end we each need to decide individually to do something about it. I have decided to make a video about it for outreach and we’re hopefully going to show it to churches that we work and serve in so they can know that this is going on in their city and they can get a heart to help stop it. There’s like a million other things I could say about what Troy talked about like how we as the church answer questions the world isn’t asking which is why they don’t care and don’t understand us. 42!!! Or how it sometimes breaks God’s heart to do a miracle because if we had or were doing our job He wouldn’t have to do it. Or how Americans spend $450 billion a year on Christmas and yet it would only take $10 billion to give everyone in the world clean water for life (1 person dies every 3 seconds from bad drinking water). Or how hybrids are actually bad for the environment, but I won’t go in depth on these things cuz then this would be a book not a blog.
Couple holidays have happened since I last wrote. My birthday was great thank you everyone back home for your birthday wishes or cards etc…Also we had Thanksgiving as a base yesterday it was awesome. We had tons of turkey and mashed potatoes and corn and rolls and Martinellies. Then we went to the Madsen’s (the base leaders) house and had desert, pecan and pumpkin pie, apple cheesecake and all sorts of good stuff.
Then finally today was a really awesome day. I got up at 7 and we went to Colonia Sinaloa and took some siding off a house because they are moving a house there. Then Antonio, Laura and I went and talked to some homeless guys we know. The first guy Rafael I’ve been talking to a lot this week. He is crippled and always is lying down by this one fisherman’s boat because he can’t stand up to walk. (Don’t worry God’s in the process of healing him) Anyway we talked to him some more today and he accepted Christ and Lord and Savior today!!! Wahoo!!! Then we talked to this guy Antonio brought to Christ earlier in the week his name is Armando. And he was just saying like how he didn’t even know things he was doing were sin like praying to saints but now that he knows what sin is he can live a better life. When we asked him at the end what he wanted prayer for he said he wanted prayer for wisdom and strength to help his brothers. This dude has only been a Christian for a week, SO AWESOME!!! Then later we were swimming and Antonio asked me to baptize him so I did. That was awesome. Then we ate tortas and pizza, it was good.
Anyway that is life in YWAM Mazatlan 2009 DTS. I love you all back home thank you for your support and prayers. Happy Thanksgiving!!! And God bless!!!
Since I haven’t posted in a while I figured I’d write more about events than anything else. One of the major things that has happened is that our leader Chris was in the hospital for 2 weeks with an ulcer. It was pretty major, he was in the military hospital first and they thought it was just dehydration but I guess he was bleeding internally. But God is faithful and Chris is completely restored to health.
Not this past week but the week before we had Troy Sherman come in and talk to us about relationships. It was rad. We spent about 15 hours going through 1 Corinthians 13 and what love is and how it was been skewed so much by society etc…Everything he said was really captivating and really made you think and wrestle with what you truly believed. One of the things that really hit me was that he said “If you pray for something you better be willing to be the answer to your own prayer or shut up.” (his words not mine) Now this doesn’t mean if you pray for China that you go to China. Maybe it does. But say your praying for China. As your praying ask God what you can do. Maybe he’ll call you to move to China, maybe he’ll call you to take a trip there, to give money there, to write a letter to some missionaries that you know there, etc…A lot of times we as Christians just pray and then we say okay well done with that and we forget that we can actually not only offer up the prayer to God but be the answer as well. We are God’s vessels, the hope of glory here on earth, he entrusted us and Jesus proved it by leaving. The world needs us to respond.
Another thing that hit me was during base intercession this week Troy talked about human trafficking. He and his wife do a lot to help end human slavery. I knew it was an issue in the world, but I had no idea the severity of it. 27 million people are currently held captive in human trafficking. Slavery is bigger today than it has ever been in history. And yes it is happening in Minnesota and South Dakota. About half of those trafficked are kids (KIDS! Like 10 years old kids sometimes younger), a lot of time going straight to the sex trade bought and sold as prostitutes. Anyway so I felt called to include that in here to help raise up awareness and I want people to think about ways they can get involved to help end it. Research it, tell others about it, give money to organizations working to end it, write letters to your representatives asking for laws to come hard against those caught. Need ideas or more info? http://www.freedomprojectinternational.org/The_Freedom_Project/Take_Action.html or http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/ This is not something that is impossible to end but if we want it to end we each need to decide individually to do something about it. I have decided to make a video about it for outreach and we’re hopefully going to show it to churches that we work and serve in so they can know that this is going on in their city and they can get a heart to help stop it. There’s like a million other things I could say about what Troy talked about like how we as the church answer questions the world isn’t asking which is why they don’t care and don’t understand us. 42!!! Or how it sometimes breaks God’s heart to do a miracle because if we had or were doing our job He wouldn’t have to do it. Or how Americans spend $450 billion a year on Christmas and yet it would only take $10 billion to give everyone in the world clean water for life (1 person dies every 3 seconds from bad drinking water). Or how hybrids are actually bad for the environment, but I won’t go in depth on these things cuz then this would be a book not a blog.
Couple holidays have happened since I last wrote. My birthday was great thank you everyone back home for your birthday wishes or cards etc…Also we had Thanksgiving as a base yesterday it was awesome. We had tons of turkey and mashed potatoes and corn and rolls and Martinellies. Then we went to the Madsen’s (the base leaders) house and had desert, pecan and pumpkin pie, apple cheesecake and all sorts of good stuff.
Then finally today was a really awesome day. I got up at 7 and we went to Colonia Sinaloa and took some siding off a house because they are moving a house there. Then Antonio, Laura and I went and talked to some homeless guys we know. The first guy Rafael I’ve been talking to a lot this week. He is crippled and always is lying down by this one fisherman’s boat because he can’t stand up to walk. (Don’t worry God’s in the process of healing him) Anyway we talked to him some more today and he accepted Christ and Lord and Savior today!!! Wahoo!!! Then we talked to this guy Antonio brought to Christ earlier in the week his name is Armando. And he was just saying like how he didn’t even know things he was doing were sin like praying to saints but now that he knows what sin is he can live a better life. When we asked him at the end what he wanted prayer for he said he wanted prayer for wisdom and strength to help his brothers. This dude has only been a Christian for a week, SO AWESOME!!! Then later we were swimming and Antonio asked me to baptize him so I did. That was awesome. Then we ate tortas and pizza, it was good.
Anyway that is life in YWAM Mazatlan 2009 DTS. I love you all back home thank you for your support and prayers. Happy Thanksgiving!!! And God bless!!!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Sculptures and Deserts
I have been here at YWAM Mazatlan for over a month now and I cannot express the joy that I have of being here. I have really learned to love this place and the base and the city. I am already feeling thoughts of how much I’ll miss this place when I don’t live here anymore. Part of these feelings come from the amount of peace God has given me about being here and what my role is here.
My DTS so far has been one of brokenness and tears, repentance and forgiveness. And for the first few week so DTS I wondered why my growth didn’t seem to be coming in these huge ways. God seemed to be showing everyone else these huge chunks in their life that they needed to take a sledgehammer to and for me I felt like I wanted that because I wanted God to do something big.
However I have come to realize that my chunks are already gone. It’s like an artist sculpting a huge stone sculpture. At the beginning, he takes out the bigger tools and takes off chunks at a time here and there. These chunks are fairly big and isn’t very tedious work. However once those chunks are gone its time for the details. The artist is taking of less stone with each movement and it takes more time. It is a more tedious work. It takes patience and concentration. This is where I feel I am. God has already broken off the big chunks. Maybe there’s more but for me I see it I just gotta make sure I don’t put big chunks back on. While I’m here I feel this is a time for God to do the tedious details of forming me and molding me.
Another thing God has shown me is the importance of the desert. A lot of times we see the desert as a time when we don’t feel God and we are stretched thin. I’m not talking about this kind of desert. I’m talking about the kind of desert the forms us and prepares us for ministry. For example Jesus was baptized then immediately went into the desert. Right after the desert, he began his ministry. Paul after his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus Egypt
God has shown me that this DTS is kind of like my desert time. The calm before the storm. A time of preparation that needs to happen so things that will seem more important will happen later. When we look at Jesus we see his time of healing people from sickness as a bigger event than his 40 days in the desert. For example we would see Paul and say him raising the young man from the dead in Acts 20 as a bigger event then Paul’s 3 years in the desert. Yet without the 3 years in the desert Paul probably wouldn’t have been able to raise that man from the dead.
Tedious sculpture work and deserts are both things that require patience, time, and endurance, but they are very important for God to mold us into people who are intimate with him, obedient to him, and are able to be used by him. These times are not a waste but vital and important to our faith. Intimacy is the source of ministry. Intimacy does not come in one night. So let’s stop thinking of waiting on God as a waste of time and start seeing it for what it truly is so that we can be found worthy of the calling He has on our lives.
Love you everyone! God bless from Mazatlan
Brother Chris
P.S. KALLEY AND ANDREW ARE MARRIED CONGRATUALIONS!!! YAH!!!
Friday, October 16, 2009
Outreach
The question of the week is outreach. Where are you going on outreach. Well I've known for a week where I'm going but we weren't supposed to tell anyone until the full teams were announced so now here we go. Last week Wednesday we were given our two outreach locatoins. Then we were pretty much given an hour to ask God and have him speak to us where we were supposed to go. Our options were Mexico City and South Africa. Mexico City didn't surprise me too much especially since i guess Mexico City is going to be a city of focus for all of YWAM next year and YWAM Mazatlan has ambitions to plant a base there as well since there is currently no YWAM base in Mexico City despite it being teh largest or 2nd largest city in the world. (it and tokyo keep switchin) South Africa meanwhile threw me off. I was expecting Africa, Chris our DTS leader had said a couple things about Egypt and i know they go to Morocco and I was like AFrica that'd be awesome its one continant besides austrailia i haven't been to sounds cool and i was kinda expecting Africa before they announced hte locations and was somewhat leaning that way. then they said South Africa and i was like what. Not expecting that.
Anyway they sent us off wiht a piece of paper. One hour. Kinda intimidating. But since we were learning about the voice of God and hearing the voice of God i was alright i got one hour that means God knows that and is going to speak to me in that hour. Get excited. For a lot of people they said it was hard to get to that place of neutrality between the two locations but for me I felt like I really wanted to go to both places. I really want to go to Africa and while i feel the urge to go to like a more northern country Africa is Africa and it'd be freaken awesome. Meanwhile I feel pulled toward Mexico and the Mexican culture and i want to learn spanish more etc...So was I like i really want to go to both but to be honest my desire probably was South Africa just because it'd actually be going somewhere a lot different. Mexico City is pretty close to Mazatlan.
I went out to the beach sat down by the tide pools listening to the waves lookin out over the city. God speak, just tell it to me. Make it easy give me a vision give me a verse blah blah blah. The biggest thing I learned through this process is that God speaks to us. But who are we to tell Him how to speak, yes sometimes we can ask for a dream and he'll give us one or we'll be like if you really want this have this person come up to me and say this and it will happen. But overall we have to trust God to speak and we have to be attentive because we aren't always sure how He's going to do it. Going on, I'm sittin there just lookin out over the ocean and the city. Kinda going through logic where I want to go and why and what would be cool about each one. And finally I'm like God which one Mexico City or South Africa and first thing that popped into my head was Mexico City. That you God? So again i tried to tell Him how to speak to me give me 3 obvious confirmations blah blah blah. And he really didn't. A lot of poeple get spoke to through the bible like God will turn the pages of their Bible with the wind and stuff or God will put a refereence in their head and it will fit perfectly so I'm like God give me a verse. So i tried forcing the issue and trying to come up with a verse. God didn't want to give me a verse.
So I'm going through all this and slowly God is just revealing to me why Mexico City, my heart for Latin America, my heart for cities, he gave me an image/vision of buildings and of me tlkaing on the corner of a busy street to some poeple. So He's showin me these things and reminding me my desire to learn Spanish etc...but I'm not really feeling to sure about this but my mind didn't really think about South Africa at all. So then God was like circle it and go. I was like what I dont feel like I've got any confirmations no cool vision (the images were kinda vauge and im gonna say lame) no verse etc...so i got up and went to turn in my piece of paper to Chris.
As I walked back to teh base I was just like God if this is the right decision give me supernatural peace about it. I went and handed it to Chris and since then the only time I've questioned my decision at all is one day for about 5 minutes but other than that I've just felt amazing peace. That night I asked for a dream to confirm my decision. didn't get it. God didn't want to speak to me through a dream or a verse or blah blah blah. He wanted to speak to me through peace. I'm usually terrible about decisions and stuff like this and I've never felt this much peace about something not even about coming to Mazatlan.
What I pretty much want to say through all this very choppy writing haha. Is that God WILL speak to you. He won't leave ya hanging He will show you where to go what to do etc...But its not always gonna come the way you want it. Sometinmes it will, my friend Caleb asked for a dream for his direction and he got one. Awesome. Didn't happen to me. God spoke to me through peace after making hte decision. I had to step out in faith with the decision first and then He spoke to me and told me it was right through peace. (He's also shown me how if i had gone to South Africa it would have been on impure intentions etc...also apprently theres prophetic words about reivial in Mexico in 2010 so heckz yea) Therefore...for my outreach, I'm going to Mexico City from December 26/27 to about February 5ish and then we have Carnaval outreach here for 2-3 weeks with our whole team which is pretty much mardi gra in Mazatlan, gonnna be intense i hear its a lot of sleepless nights with very little sleep days. then our whole team will do somethings around mexico and probably build a house through our homes of hope ministry. God has spoken I am officially a Mexican, I am a Mazatlecan and at least until March...VIVA MEXICO!!!!!!
Anyway they sent us off wiht a piece of paper. One hour. Kinda intimidating. But since we were learning about the voice of God and hearing the voice of God i was alright i got one hour that means God knows that and is going to speak to me in that hour. Get excited. For a lot of people they said it was hard to get to that place of neutrality between the two locations but for me I felt like I really wanted to go to both places. I really want to go to Africa and while i feel the urge to go to like a more northern country Africa is Africa and it'd be freaken awesome. Meanwhile I feel pulled toward Mexico and the Mexican culture and i want to learn spanish more etc...So was I like i really want to go to both but to be honest my desire probably was South Africa just because it'd actually be going somewhere a lot different. Mexico City is pretty close to Mazatlan.
I went out to the beach sat down by the tide pools listening to the waves lookin out over the city. God speak, just tell it to me. Make it easy give me a vision give me a verse blah blah blah. The biggest thing I learned through this process is that God speaks to us. But who are we to tell Him how to speak, yes sometimes we can ask for a dream and he'll give us one or we'll be like if you really want this have this person come up to me and say this and it will happen. But overall we have to trust God to speak and we have to be attentive because we aren't always sure how He's going to do it. Going on, I'm sittin there just lookin out over the ocean and the city. Kinda going through logic where I want to go and why and what would be cool about each one. And finally I'm like God which one Mexico City or South Africa and first thing that popped into my head was Mexico City. That you God? So again i tried to tell Him how to speak to me give me 3 obvious confirmations blah blah blah. And he really didn't. A lot of poeple get spoke to through the bible like God will turn the pages of their Bible with the wind and stuff or God will put a refereence in their head and it will fit perfectly so I'm like God give me a verse. So i tried forcing the issue and trying to come up with a verse. God didn't want to give me a verse.
So I'm going through all this and slowly God is just revealing to me why Mexico City, my heart for Latin America, my heart for cities, he gave me an image/vision of buildings and of me tlkaing on the corner of a busy street to some poeple. So He's showin me these things and reminding me my desire to learn Spanish etc...but I'm not really feeling to sure about this but my mind didn't really think about South Africa at all. So then God was like circle it and go. I was like what I dont feel like I've got any confirmations no cool vision (the images were kinda vauge and im gonna say lame) no verse etc...so i got up and went to turn in my piece of paper to Chris.
As I walked back to teh base I was just like God if this is the right decision give me supernatural peace about it. I went and handed it to Chris and since then the only time I've questioned my decision at all is one day for about 5 minutes but other than that I've just felt amazing peace. That night I asked for a dream to confirm my decision. didn't get it. God didn't want to speak to me through a dream or a verse or blah blah blah. He wanted to speak to me through peace. I'm usually terrible about decisions and stuff like this and I've never felt this much peace about something not even about coming to Mazatlan.
What I pretty much want to say through all this very choppy writing haha. Is that God WILL speak to you. He won't leave ya hanging He will show you where to go what to do etc...But its not always gonna come the way you want it. Sometinmes it will, my friend Caleb asked for a dream for his direction and he got one. Awesome. Didn't happen to me. God spoke to me through peace after making hte decision. I had to step out in faith with the decision first and then He spoke to me and told me it was right through peace. (He's also shown me how if i had gone to South Africa it would have been on impure intentions etc...also apprently theres prophetic words about reivial in Mexico in 2010 so heckz yea) Therefore...for my outreach, I'm going to Mexico City from December 26/27 to about February 5ish and then we have Carnaval outreach here for 2-3 weeks with our whole team which is pretty much mardi gra in Mazatlan, gonnna be intense i hear its a lot of sleepless nights with very little sleep days. then our whole team will do somethings around mexico and probably build a house through our homes of hope ministry. God has spoken I am officially a Mexican, I am a Mazatlecan and at least until March...VIVA MEXICO!!!!!!
Friday, October 9, 2009
Life in Mazatlan
Okay so I"m finally going to write a post that actually talks about what I'm exactly doing here, we'll see if i make it to the end. Pretty much I am here in Mazatlan doing my DTS for YWAM. I am expecting to learn a lot and to be strengthened a lot. I expect to learn how to walk in the Power of the Holy Spirit but also in the meekness, love, humility, and intimacy that Jesus walked in. Anyway God has done some crazy stuff here, our speaker the first week was Kelly Vargas she's on staff at the base here but she pretty much prophecied over our team that we would be a team of brokenness (which is already totally true) and that we would be a DTS that takes the base and the DTS school to the next level. Awesome.
I could outline a lot of events but I thought I'd just maybe go through the awesomeness of a day here. Today for example, i got up at 7am ate breakfast...went for a walk with God on the beach for a half hour, came back went up to the secret place (its what they call this cool garden quiet place where we have class) and had personal time with God for another hour. Then we either have worship or intercession or class for 2 hours till about 11. Then a break then class for two hours. then i have lunch at 1 and do lunch cleanup (my job) that takes until 3 and then i have freetime everyday until 6. Plenty of time to either just spend more time with God wohooo, read the word, listen to podcasts, go to the beach, jump in the pool, learn guitar, chill on facebook and skype etc...Then we have dinner at 6 and then have more freetime till 8. (I've never had this much free time in so long). Then we either have class 8-10 on mondays, tuesday is freetime and it looks like I'm gonna get to play soccer those nights the base has a team we play at this awesome ghetto cornerkick outdoor type place and we lose but its fun. Wednesday we have outreach meetings (i know where I'm going for outreach but blog on that will come later), thursday we have freetime but i got my team to turn that into a worship time wohooo! and firday we have fmaily night tonight we watched a movie. Anyway and then i usually go to bed at about 11 so i have another hour of hang/free time from 10-11. Then weekends are pretty much all free. Every other weekend we do an outreach thing and sunday at 12 30 is church and sunday night we do flagpole outreach which is awesome...we go down to the malecon by the beach and just have people worship and intercede and evangalize and pray for poeple its great though its tough not being able to speak spanish that well. So pretty much life is awesome. Everyday is filled with learning about God, worshipping God, talking to God, listening to God, and reading the word. However I'm already excited for outreach cuz pretty soon I need a way to release all this stuff God's just overflowing me with or I'm gonna explode.
Okay now something interesting...God's teaching me a lot...prolly the most He's teaching me patience and humility. For one i go from being a leader in many ways at home just with The Movement and such and being seen as a leader by others. Here i feel i am still called to be a leader but its very different becasue a lot of times its less visible...i'm not the one teaching i'm not the one leading the school or anything like that. Though its kinda weird it's good for me b/c it is keeping me humble realzing that I have so far to go still in my walk with God. I have also realized that a lot of teaching i have heard before but if i get past the lie that i've heard it all before i learn a lot of new stuff and can ask questions to dive deeper. I also realize that as described above I have a lot of freetime. I think that God has given me an oppertunity to spend time with Him so much and this is an oppertunity I may not get very often in life. He's teaching me how to not just talk to him but to listen and not just a couple minutes but to sit and listen to him for long periods of time. He is also teaching me patience. I want to be one place in my walk with God and I want our team to be one place but you can't just get to places instantly sometimes teh process of getting there is more important and valuable than actually getting there. And while I look and go wow i wish we were here, us as a team are already way farther than I ever thought we would be after being together for 2 weeks.
Anyway that's a lot and not sure how much of it you all actually care about but I figured i'd actually write about what I'm doing here and what God's showing me. Love you all I'm prayin for ya guys (I got enough time ha). God bless you all and may He teach you to love the process of growth.
I could outline a lot of events but I thought I'd just maybe go through the awesomeness of a day here. Today for example, i got up at 7am ate breakfast...went for a walk with God on the beach for a half hour, came back went up to the secret place (its what they call this cool garden quiet place where we have class) and had personal time with God for another hour. Then we either have worship or intercession or class for 2 hours till about 11. Then a break then class for two hours. then i have lunch at 1 and do lunch cleanup (my job) that takes until 3 and then i have freetime everyday until 6. Plenty of time to either just spend more time with God wohooo, read the word, listen to podcasts, go to the beach, jump in the pool, learn guitar, chill on facebook and skype etc...Then we have dinner at 6 and then have more freetime till 8. (I've never had this much free time in so long). Then we either have class 8-10 on mondays, tuesday is freetime and it looks like I'm gonna get to play soccer those nights the base has a team we play at this awesome ghetto cornerkick outdoor type place and we lose but its fun. Wednesday we have outreach meetings (i know where I'm going for outreach but blog on that will come later), thursday we have freetime but i got my team to turn that into a worship time wohooo! and firday we have fmaily night tonight we watched a movie. Anyway and then i usually go to bed at about 11 so i have another hour of hang/free time from 10-11. Then weekends are pretty much all free. Every other weekend we do an outreach thing and sunday at 12 30 is church and sunday night we do flagpole outreach which is awesome...we go down to the malecon by the beach and just have people worship and intercede and evangalize and pray for poeple its great though its tough not being able to speak spanish that well. So pretty much life is awesome. Everyday is filled with learning about God, worshipping God, talking to God, listening to God, and reading the word. However I'm already excited for outreach cuz pretty soon I need a way to release all this stuff God's just overflowing me with or I'm gonna explode.
Okay now something interesting...God's teaching me a lot...prolly the most He's teaching me patience and humility. For one i go from being a leader in many ways at home just with The Movement and such and being seen as a leader by others. Here i feel i am still called to be a leader but its very different becasue a lot of times its less visible...i'm not the one teaching i'm not the one leading the school or anything like that. Though its kinda weird it's good for me b/c it is keeping me humble realzing that I have so far to go still in my walk with God. I have also realized that a lot of teaching i have heard before but if i get past the lie that i've heard it all before i learn a lot of new stuff and can ask questions to dive deeper. I also realize that as described above I have a lot of freetime. I think that God has given me an oppertunity to spend time with Him so much and this is an oppertunity I may not get very often in life. He's teaching me how to not just talk to him but to listen and not just a couple minutes but to sit and listen to him for long periods of time. He is also teaching me patience. I want to be one place in my walk with God and I want our team to be one place but you can't just get to places instantly sometimes teh process of getting there is more important and valuable than actually getting there. And while I look and go wow i wish we were here, us as a team are already way farther than I ever thought we would be after being together for 2 weeks.
Anyway that's a lot and not sure how much of it you all actually care about but I figured i'd actually write about what I'm doing here and what God's showing me. Love you all I'm prayin for ya guys (I got enough time ha). God bless you all and may He teach you to love the process of growth.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Pressure
I have been here in Mazatlan for over a week now and there is so much I could write on. There are even things I was planning on writing on but when I sat down I asked God what the title of this post should be and He said pressure. And since this week we are talking about hearing the voice of God and obeying it, I am going to write on pressure.
I think a lot of us at different times in our life experience a lot of pressure. There's pressure when you play sports, pressure in performing a job, pressure in school etc...For me however I feel I have struggled a lot with pressure in what God has for us. Coming to Mazatlan I felt a lot of pressure. Coming in a didn't even realize it was there and maybe I haven't really realized it until now when God told me to write about it.
Anyway looking back on the first 9 days of this trip I have been under a lot of pressure. Pressure to fulfill God's plan for me, pressure to serve others, pressure find His purpose for me in this time, pressure to help others in their walk with, pressure to not only receive from the YWAM base here but to give to them what I can.
What I have realized is all that pressure is self-inflicted. It's all been put on by me. Not God, not friends or family, not other people, not my fellow students or my teachers here. God does not want us to feel pressure. In fact looking up the definition of the word (yes the classic dictionary definition), one of the meanings is harassment and/or oppression. Wow. Revelation. I have brought harassment and oppression onto myself because coming in I have expected so much of God but instead of just relying on Him to carry the things out He has already told me He's going to do. I have put pressure on myself that it is my job to make sure these things happen when really He's got it all under control. And while this doesn't mean I stop being a leader or I stop seeking Him with all my heart, mind, body, soul, and strength, it brings the realization that He's in control, He's got it all planned out and while I am going to be used by Him (in greater ways than I know) I am not the only one He is going to use or has to use to see these things through. That for me gives me peace. Thank you Jesus. This is why we are the body of Christ.
So while maybe most of you were hoping to here about my trip and cool stories and all that, they'll come (I have a lot already so maybe next post) I feel God calling me to write on this not only for myself but for anyone reading this I want to encourage you to let go of the pressure you put on yourself. That you have to do this that God is calling you to do this and you better not mess it up or that you are alone in the calling He has given you. If you have been putting pressure on yourself look around. Look at your brothers and sisters in Christ fighting alongside of you. You aren't alone, you don't have to do everything by yourself. Even Paul had plenty of people He worked with, that were there with Him in prison etc...Let God take control, He will give you the help you need when you need it. Trust in Him and let Him use you, but let Him use someone else too because the body of Christ together will go farther than any of us ever could on our own.
Peace and joy from Mazatlan, may God relieve you all of the pressures of life, and the pressures we put on ourselves that we may be consumed by supernatural peace, joy and trust in Him.
Your brother in Christ,
Chris Brands
I think a lot of us at different times in our life experience a lot of pressure. There's pressure when you play sports, pressure in performing a job, pressure in school etc...For me however I feel I have struggled a lot with pressure in what God has for us. Coming to Mazatlan I felt a lot of pressure. Coming in a didn't even realize it was there and maybe I haven't really realized it until now when God told me to write about it.
Anyway looking back on the first 9 days of this trip I have been under a lot of pressure. Pressure to fulfill God's plan for me, pressure to serve others, pressure find His purpose for me in this time, pressure to help others in their walk with, pressure to not only receive from the YWAM base here but to give to them what I can.
What I have realized is all that pressure is self-inflicted. It's all been put on by me. Not God, not friends or family, not other people, not my fellow students or my teachers here. God does not want us to feel pressure. In fact looking up the definition of the word (yes the classic dictionary definition), one of the meanings is harassment and/or oppression. Wow. Revelation. I have brought harassment and oppression onto myself because coming in I have expected so much of God but instead of just relying on Him to carry the things out He has already told me He's going to do. I have put pressure on myself that it is my job to make sure these things happen when really He's got it all under control. And while this doesn't mean I stop being a leader or I stop seeking Him with all my heart, mind, body, soul, and strength, it brings the realization that He's in control, He's got it all planned out and while I am going to be used by Him (in greater ways than I know) I am not the only one He is going to use or has to use to see these things through. That for me gives me peace. Thank you Jesus. This is why we are the body of Christ.
So while maybe most of you were hoping to here about my trip and cool stories and all that, they'll come (I have a lot already so maybe next post) I feel God calling me to write on this not only for myself but for anyone reading this I want to encourage you to let go of the pressure you put on yourself. That you have to do this that God is calling you to do this and you better not mess it up or that you are alone in the calling He has given you. If you have been putting pressure on yourself look around. Look at your brothers and sisters in Christ fighting alongside of you. You aren't alone, you don't have to do everything by yourself. Even Paul had plenty of people He worked with, that were there with Him in prison etc...Let God take control, He will give you the help you need when you need it. Trust in Him and let Him use you, but let Him use someone else too because the body of Christ together will go farther than any of us ever could on our own.
Peace and joy from Mazatlan, may God relieve you all of the pressures of life, and the pressures we put on ourselves that we may be consumed by supernatural peace, joy and trust in Him.
Your brother in Christ,
Chris Brands
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Here we go...
Well it comes to the end of my first night here in the great city of Mazatlan and I have to admit I can't say a whole lot besides God is amazing. Getting here at first i was kinda wondering why God picked me to go here it didn't seem like the perfect fit. When i got here they were kinda like here's your bunk and then i didn't know what to do so that was weird. Also i had to endure some converstations about politics the first day that were brutal. But God is so faithful after a full day here i can tell the fit here is perfect..the poeple here and their stories of how we all got here are crazy and you can see God's hand in it already, one guy a week ago was pretty much in Austin, Texas wasting his life as he puts it, and in that span he ended up Mazatlan homeless and hten found hte base applied for the school and bamb. Anyway at first i was a little skeptical about our team as the first few conversations were about things like politics but once i endured that we are really starting to gel and get along. Another way its a perfect fit in in respect to my wish to learn guitar. I really want to learn guitar for worshipping by myself and stuff so i felt God tell me to bring my guitar and bamb theres a couple other people here who want to learn guitar as well and we are prolly gonna learn together. Anyway I dont have a lot of time here but wanted to give an update. The ocean is awesome the view from my window/bed is awesome and its super warm, the waves are great and the actual school starts tommarrow which is great. Love everyone God bless from Mazatlan!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Footsteps of Fire
And so it begins...ha okay I am writing a blog obviously, however this is very wierd for me. I barely keep a journal and well exposing my thoughts to the world via this thing called internet is strange for me but here it goes. I am starting this blog mainly so people can keep up with what I'm doing and where I am. The reason for the title of the blog, Footsteps of Fire is actually from a vision someone had for a friend of mine. He saw my friend walking and where he walked were footsteps of fire kinda like on the sand but it was just everywhere. The fire was of course the fire of God and the fire of God is of course His Holy Spirit and His love. I decided to steal this idea as it is my mission and my desire that I would spread the fire and the love of God wherever I go kinda like leaving footsteps of fire. Anyway on Saturday I leave for Mazatlan, Mexico to do my YWAM DTS there. I am quite excited and the only reason I am not giddy is beacuse the buildup to me leaving has been incredible long. Most of my friends have already started the next season in their lives, whether that be college or YWAM or high school everyone has kinda started up. Even at North Heights it is kind of like a new season is starting for everyone everywhere, and then there is me. It feels like I have been saying I am moving on to the next season for forever and yet it hasn't happened yet. I have been saying goodbye to people for over a month now and to be honest I am sick of it I just want to get there and start. At the same time, God has really showed me that there is a purpose in everything. For one I know that if I had left a couple weeks ago I probably would not have been ready as I have had more to do than I initially thought to get ready. Secondly I have been able to kinda help people adjust into their new season before I begin mine. I have been able to support North Heights as it begins its new season as well as my friends as they begin college and well I can't really see how God has used me I know that in staying behind He used me even if I can't see it. Anyway pretty much what I am saying is being here has been great but I AM READY! I will miss everyone a ton and will be praying for you all and thinking about you but my time has come and I can't wait.
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