a good summary

Philipians 3:12
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me His own.

This is a big part of the reason that I came to the ranch. I remember while I was in Seattle, on our 8 hour lay over, I was hanging out with some friends that drove out to see me. Honestly a majority of the time was filled with ridiculous joking and just a laid back time, not much was really said about me going to Africa. However I remember on our way up the steps at the airport my buddy Cam got serious, he reminded me that before I left I had said that I felt like I needed to get out for a while. In all my excitement to get back to the Northwest, because it is the best place in the world, I had completely forgotten that I had that feeling. So when he said this to me I was taken back and replied with "I did?" Then I suddenly remembered that feeling of being depressed and confused, knowing that this Christianity thing had to be more personal, more real, then what it was in my life, but not knowing how to make it that way. So I knew what didn't work, I knew that Christianese didn't work, I knew that those camp highs that I used to get were nothing more then a feeling that I created that vanished once the world hit, I knew all the right answers but I did not know how it practically worked, how it really looked, and being a practical guy this was a problem. So this is the reason that I said this to Cam, sick of a lot of things, depressed, confused and longing for more I was ready to make this Christian thing my own. However I couldn't have been more wrong.
As I have said many times the biggest part about being here was the fact that God showed up, the fact that I care now. I am not one to pretend to care about something, so the fact that I do now means that something real happened, it means that God showed up and showed me what it is like to have a relationship with him. He gave me that Joy that I was looking for. He showed up and He did great things in my life not the other way around. So when I say I was wrong I mean that Christ Jesus made me His own not I made this my own. With this in mind the future does not scare me, I actually kind of look forward to the rough times, I really look forward to going home, finally knowing this truth, I may not have grown in a lot of ways, but God pursued me He made me His own and outside of that I could care less. Now this is getting long so I will wrap it up.
For a couple of months now I have been thinking about God in the old testament. I have a hard time understanding the meaning of a lot of it but the one thing that I did catch was how God always says to the Israelites, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt. I was honestly shocked when I read how many times He says that to them, it got to the point where I was like "Ok ya we get it God you did that, but that was a while ago, and you have brought it up a thousand times." As if every time you bring something up it loses its value. However I now understand the importance of this, that when God, who is so big that we will never be able to comprehend, who is the creator and in the words of pastor John God who is Lord of the Universe, when He moves you pay attention and you don't ever forget it.  Through the good times you let it humble you and through the hard times you cling onto it. Well this time for me as I look back on it was when God made himself known to me, when he made himself real, when he brought me out of Egypt if you will. So as I think about this verse and about going home I get excited, excited to see what God has next.

Luke 17:10

This morning I got a little bit earlier to pray and read my Bible. As I went for the walk, I am not kidding, I had a little bit of a mind set of "I am sacrificing sleep to be here God has to show up." Matthew 23:37 "And he said to them you love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your strength." Lord fix my heart and as I wake up tomorrow to go for a walk remind me that I am doing it to search after you and that I am an unworthy servant.

Luke 17:9

Luke 17:9

 does he thank the servant because he did what he was commanded?

"I am sorry" and "thank you" are two words that mean a lot to me. I am not sure why but it seems that it is important to be noticed especially when you are doing something nice or good.  However does a master thank his servant for the things that he is supposed to do? The answer is obviously no. So what will Christ, my master, say to me when I die? Hopefully He will say well done good and faithful servant. So how does this apply to today? Well if Jesus can look at me and acknowledge my life by saying good job then I can say thank you when people serve me, because I all to often just think of it as something that should be done.

Luke 17:8

8: Will he rather say to him; prepare supper for me, and dress properly and serve e while I eat and drink?

Here I see a servant after a work day not getting an opportunity to eat but instead to work more. It would seem that the term bond servant has been on my mind the last couple days because what I see in this verse is the fact that he would not have a choice. There are many times that I do not want to serve people and that usually happens in the little things. The application from this is to serve in the little things even if I don't want to or think that it is meaningless.

Luke 17:7

Today is just one of those days that it seems like everything has gone wrong. The word in this verse that has stuck out to me the most is the word servant. I know that I am a willing bond servant but all day today I can feel myself fighting this. However I do know that His way is better. Although I can feel my fleshly desires fighting even more today I will continue to strive towards Christ.

Application: Today it is more important to follow Ephesians and to not give any opportunity to the devil. This realistically looks like me praising God remembering that I am growing.

luke 17:6

Luke 17:6

And the Lord said, "if you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."

As we are now only weeks away from being on the mission field this verse really speaks to me. Since we are so close to leaving, whenever I talk to people back home the questions that I get the most are about the trip, these incude whether I have enough money or I am just mentally prepared. I don't have a problem with these questions, in fact I like talking about the things that are going on in my life. However these questions do get to me in some ways. As I start to think about it I realize that I am not as prepared as I could be mostly because I can not prepare everything. However this verse shows me how much simply having faith in Jesus Christ can do. My application for today is to not let a single thought about the trip stress me out but to have faith that he is preparing me as much as is needed.

Ephesians 4:31

31Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slandor be put away from you, along with malice.

Here Paul is explaining just about every way of having a problem with someone. I have mentioned in past blogs that I have a problem with holding onto and thinking about these things. So now I come to a part of scripture where Paul is describing how serious this is by repeating himself over and over again. In the past when I was convicted of this I just prayed about it and asked God to take it away. This time however is a different story, prayer is neccesary but there is also a part that I must act in. Today when these problems come up I will pray about it first but then start working for the family that we all want.