I normally try and give a brief life update at the beginning of my blog posts and I am about 6 weeks away from completely finishing my undergraduate work and I am ready. A lot of what I'm doing now is just to get my degree and not really teaching me a ton so I'm ready to continue my education as a Ph. D. candidate. God has been so faithful in providing a way to do this and I'm excited to see how He's going to continue to use me as a grad student! Right after I graduate in May I will head to Belize for a mission trip with Thrive to help with some children's ministry and loving on some locals who have it pretty rough. When I get back from that I have about a week and a half then I'm off to Glorietta, NM where I will spend the summer as a Games-and-Rec M-Fuge track leader! These next 3 months are going to fly by so quickly and I am ready to do some worthwhile work over the summer.
I titled this post "The Homeless and the Hurt" because I got to spend part of my spring break in Columbia, MO working with Ben Hightower and Mitchell Neldon as they are planting a new church there. A lot of what I did over the trip worked with people who were homeless and hurt. I journaled throughout the trip to get a recap of what all actually occurred and I wanted to try and get a sense for what God was trying to tell me. I had a friend suggest an idea to me that whenever I go on a mission trip I should journal at night before I go to sleep and I would give you the same suggestion as well. It helps me remember what all happened and helps me sort through things myself later on.
This is my 4th year going with Thrive on a mission trip during spring break and I've always wondered what all I was "missing out" on for the typical college spring break. In high school you always hear how college spring break is basically the greatest thing ever by going to the beach and hanging out with all your friends. I'm not exactly a partier so that part wouldn't happen for me, but I do enjoy having a good time with my friends and beaches are pretty sweet. I've had a pretty good attitude about going on these trips and going for the right reasons, but there's a part of me that has always wondered what else was I "missing out" on. Every year God has shown me that the work done has been worthwhile with eternal consequences and He is not holding out on me. I have no clue why we believe this lie so often, "God is holding out on me." If you think that, He isn't. God has what is absolutely best planned for you even when you don't fully comprehend it yourself. Jack challenged us to dwell on John 15 during the trip and one thing that sticks out to me is verse 2.
"Every branch in Me that does not produce fruit He removes, and He prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit." John 15:2
I think of how God has been pruning me over my college years and it sucks at times. He's been pruning me on these mission trips showing me the process of planting a new church and how difficult it really is. Love on your church leaders because they have a lot more going on in their lives than just leading their people spiritually. They have families and financial situations which are tough at times that they have to worry about too. God has also been pruning the pride and lust in me that's been buried deep inside. Verse 2 talks about how He does it so that I can produce more fruit and hallelujah for that. He's doing it for our better you guys! If He didn't want you to grow then He would just remove you from the branch.
The homeless part of this post comes from some of the things we did in Columbia. Ben wanted to equip all the people involved to do further mission work in the future so my group went to the store, bought all the necessary items to make a homeless care package, assembled it, and then found the homeless to give it to them. I literally drove around for a couple hours looking for homeless people haha. I've done some ministry with the homeless before, but not quite like this. I walked up to people who were holding signs and gave them a backpack full of useful supplies and just started a conversation with them. You hear stories about medical problems by a guy named Paul or how Amy has been hitchhiking to go to her friend's house in another state because they have work for her to do. Most of the time my attitude towards these people has been that it's their own fault and they don't want to work. Life is rough sometimes and just gets us beat down. I could have easily been lied to, but that honestly doesn't matter. As a Christian God wants me to love on these people unconditionally and serve them. That's what Jesus did and I want to be more Christ-like in my love.
I have no clue what sticks out to you in this post, but I know that I need to keep writing occasionally because God is moving in me and I do not want to be silent about it. Please keep Ben, Brittany, and Joey Hightower and Mitchell Neldon in your prayers as they continue to serve the city of Columbia, MO and start Summit Church there. It is extremely difficult to leave the comfort of home to start a church to a completely alien people but they are faithful in their calling. I would also ask for prayer as I enter this crazy point in my life. I'm super excited to see how God will continue to prune me and make me more Christ-like in my love. As always, if you have anything I can be praying for you about please let me know.
In Love,
Bill
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