“We all need help…I need help”

This past week, during the Thursday night campfire service, I taught (or whatever you wanna call it) about God’s love for the campers. To be honest, I didn’t feel as prepared as I would have liked to have felt. I also don’t think that I portrayed God’s love in a totally accurate fashion.

But how can we? I understand semi-completely that I am inadequate to fully teach on (or even understand) any characteristic of God.

I walked away from that chapel service believing I had gone around in circles only to confuse and lose the interest of the campers. Then God had to sit me down and tell me, once again, that He would do the work and I just had to be willing to obey him.

That’s nice to know! =)

Everywhere in the world right now are people who seriously believe with everything they can muster that there is no one on earth or above that gives any shred of care for them. Who is going to knock on their door and show them love? Tell them of love? Tell them of the most perfect, thirst quenching, undeniable love that exists in the universe?

Hollywood?

America?

The increasingly growing population of Muslims?

Or the faithful to Christ?

If we don’t, someone else will. If someone else does, then the lost and lonely hook on to whatever shimmer of hope anyone (and everyone) else will offer…only to find themselves just as lonely after realizing that what everyone has to offer breaks and crumbles.

Lets go folks. You don’t have to stand on the sidewalk and face the crowds, yelling loudly that God is love and only His love will suffice (a true statement). But you can tell your friends, family and those who collide with on a daily basis in little or big ways.

Just pass on the message: God loves you and wants you to know Him for who He really is, the one and only God. And I love you too, I care about you.

Another go-round

On this Thursday night, after a run to Wal-Mart with the guys and now waiting for the washing machine to finish and I can transfer the clothes to the dryer, I find myself once again in Kingsport, Tennessee.

I am the activity director….guy…person…wannabe.

Unexpectedly, I’m back at Bancroft Bible Camp. Partly because I need the money and a job…but also because God has called me back here and for a reason, that I’m sure.

I’ve been down here for three days now though it feels like weeks. Haven’t seen any campers yet, just preparing for teen week next week. After a near emotional break down on Tuesday night, I’ve gathered strength from my brothers here and from prayer time with God.

Lesson learned: my plans are insufficient – they do not lead to happiness, fulfillment, or contribute glory to God. Yet His plans give me everything as well as challenge and stretch me. I’m nervous about what will happen the ten weeks of camp that I have to get activities together for…but also anticipating serving God and glorifying Him and looking back on this time in the future to see God’s blessing and grace.

Long live the King.

10:45 pm May 28, 2009

Still strolling and whistling in the rain

Since last time....

Went to Gorizia, Italy with a group of people two weeks ago on Saturday. Gorizia is a small northern town with not much to see except for a magnificent castle. It was so awesome to climb up the hill that led to the castle and look over the city and landscape. Gorizia also extends into Slovenia. So we walked across the border and stopped for some good ole Slovenian coffee. 

Last week we had our first Bryan professor come. Dr. Legg taught the New Testament Literature and Interpretation class. The class was similar to a survey of the New Testament only crammed into one week. It was a really great class and the research papers were interesting. The topic of my paper was the varioius theories on Revelation 2 and 3 - were the letters to the churches literal or were they meant for the furture universal church? Or perhaps are the letters a timeline of the church and its progress/degression? I answered that question...only not really.

=)

This past Saturday Lauren and I went on a shopping date to the Udine mall. That mall is MASSIVE! =O It is like it ate three other malls and a super Wal-mart! We browesed a LOT of shops...and we walked out of there with one english (inglese) to italian (italiano) dictionary, one postcard and a cup of gellato. 

This week for class we are in Intro to Fine Arts. And art is not really my thing...but we've looked at some ancient history which I like so that has made yesterday managable. The rest of the week could get long and complicated.

Either way...next week we travel to see some of the things we've discussed in class - in Florence, Rome and Venice! ROAD TRIP!

Venice and Carnival = fun for the whole family...until the sun goes down then its time for all good people to go home!

Facebook now has picture of both the Verona trip and the Venice trip from yesterday.

It was a lot of fun to don my mask on for a bit and walk around looking at everyone else who had a mask on (or a full on custom).

Just like a mime skit we're going to do, I wonder how many people used those masks to cover who they really are. Acting happy and joyful, bouncing around and posing for the cameras...eating up the pictures being taken but really they feel so lonely.

anyways, just a thought.

Minsitry week starts tomorrow. Training for mimes and other stuff, like chalk talks and stories to tell kids. Then we'll start handing out tracts tues-fri and performing and evangelizing. It'll be fun but also a bit intimidating.

But I have to keep reminding myself that my job is to give the good news and present the Gospel but the decision to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior is between the person and God, not my ability to persuade them.

Please pray as we gear up for this and other going ons happening here in Italy and at the school.

Quite simply an update =)

Ciao e buongiorno!

Last Saturday the students here at Saints Bible Institute went to Verona. It was Valentine's Day, in case you missed it, and the city was decked out with hearts and people in Carnival costumes. The city is quite lovely and I liked it better than Venice...Verona is less touristy.

While there we got to see Juliet's house. Pretty cool I think. That's the balcony and the courtyard.

We got to go up a clock tower and see a great view of the city!














The rest of the day we walked around and took pictures of the city and each other. Over all it was a fun day and I wouldn't mind going back and seeing some more of the "sights" like Juliet's grave and Romeo's spots and I think there is a museum, also the coliseum.

This past week has been Missions class which in reality has been church planting class. So this past week we split into groups and have come up with a fictional church that we have planted in a city in Italy. In our paper we had to come up with all the documents normally thought of for a new church: doctrine, constitution, leadership training and basically everything.

I am kinda disappointed that the class wasn't a class on broad study of missions I think it turned out alright.

My curiosity has been sparked to see if we could actually start our church and how it would unfold. Maybe that lays in my future? We'll see where God leads.

Tomorrow some of us are going back to Venice because it is Carnival - where people dress up and where masks. A lot of us got masks but I dunno if we'll wear them. We'll see! =)

And I'm looking forward to sleeping in this weekend when I can before next week when we start ministry week.

As the name may imply, a week of ministry in Udine and other local towns/cities.

Italia

Its over.

The first exam is done and the first class is over.

But that isn't really the most exciting news I suppose. I've been in Italy for a week and a half. Since I've been here I've taken a class on evangelism, washed laundry at a local laundrymat, eaten Italian pizza at an Italian pizzaria, eaten gelato twice, been to Venice for a day and went on a gondola ride. I have also been lost in the Italian country side after walking from one town and trying to find another (not really lost but it felt like it) and have experienced the drastic changes in northern Italian weather: really warm and sunny to cold and rainy.

And there was snow a couple times also.

and we may have a pretty amazing view from the class room:

To see all the pictures I've taken, look at facebook. There are a bunch there (i think, if not there will be).

For now, that is all. Going to Verona on Saturday.

Ciao.

Camp is now over

Alright all, camp has now ended. Friday was the very last day of camp. The last week went really well and surprisingly quick. We tried to mix up all the games and do some new stuff so that on the last week of camp it didn't feel like we were just trying to fill in game times with old games we've played before or those games that are so lame that no one really likes to play. We made boats out of aluminum foil and raced them (pushing them with our breath) and throwing pennies at the other cabin's foil boats to see who's boats could stay afloat while being attacked by a barrage of copper!

We also had a paper airplane flying contest on one of the rainy afternoons. Its amazing how many of the kids had never made a paper airplane! The activity director and I quickly realized that these kids today do not play the same games that we did when we were kids. Hide-and-go-seek is boring to them, tag takes to much energy and it is to hot to play outside, no idea how to fold aluminum foil to make a boat-like shape, and paper airplanes were a new concept to them. 

It really is sad how lazy we Americans have come to be. And its no longer just the older adults...the children have now adopted the lazy, passive mindset that has engulfed our culture.

In chapel this past week the campers learned about Noah and the Flood. They learned how all of mankind had become wicked and separated from God, that Noah was a  preacher of righteousness and that people laughed at him as he built the ark - and yet Noah continued to do what God wanted him to do despite being mocked and ridiculed. Keith Walsworth, the camp bible teacher, explained that the ark was not a cute little boat where all the animals were sticking out of the ark because it was too small but rather that it was huge enough to fit all the animals without their heads popping out side the boat.

Camp this summer has been great! It was such an awesome experience and I'm glad I got to share it with the staff at Bancroft Bible Camp. The camp is already looking for counselors for next year, so all you highschool graduates and college students who are interested in serving God at a biblically solid ministry, please check out Bancroft. On the website is contact information or you can contact me and I will set you  up with contact information for the camp director. 

Thank you all for your prayers, support and encouragement this summer!

Second to last week of camp - learning about The Fall.

Greetings to all! Hope this update finds you quite well! At the moment...I'm feeling a little sick (stomach mostly) but I shall persevere! 

So this past week was the second to last week of camp and it went rather well! We had about 18 campers, several of whom had been here previous weeks. It was good to see campers return, not just because we already knew the campers but because that meant they enjoyed being here enough to come back! 

This week in chapel the campers learned about The Fall - how Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil then how they were kicked out of Eden. We even looked at Cain and Abel and how not all acts of worship are acceptable to God.

Thursday night for the evening chapel during the over-night stay, I got to lead the chapel lesson time. I shared the story about Saul's life as a persecutor of the church and how an encounter with Christ completely changed his life in a tremendous way. It was really good to get to teach again, its something I enjoy doing.

Another update I'd like to share is something I am rather pleased to have experienced. This year at Bancroft Bible Camp - the songs and chapel presentations have been moved from an over-head projector to PowerPoint! We've had some issues with the computers working right with the projector but I think we have those mostly fixed. Praise God for this technology! Now for the lessons, the power points can have clear, colorful pictures and sounds! It makes the whole chapel lesson more interesting and eye catching. 

With this last week of camp coming up fast - please be praying for strength for all the staff and counselors so that we can make this week the best one yet! Also be praying for Matthew, Lucas and Sarah Walsworth who are leaving from camp on Thursday morning to travel to Michigan from where they will meet a missions group and fly to the Dominican Republic for a missions trip. 

"Its by God's grace alone..." (currently listening to Steven Curtis Chapman - "Declaration of Dependence") that this summer has been such a blessing and has led me to lean on Him more.

"Lord, make me a sanctuary"

The week is done - camp is over and the campers have gone home. This past week was day camp, where the campers go home around five. In chapel they learned about the creation week. We broke each day up and really looked at what God did in each of the six days of creation. The funniest part was that the girls wanted Pastor Keith to get to the part where Eve was created! It was fun to listen to them ask when Eve would enter the scene. But we learned about each day individually (and got to do a LOT of great color and work sheets!)

Day One - God created the heavens, the earth and separated the light from the darkness.

Day Two - God separated the lower water from the upper water ( creating the atmosphere).

Day Three - God separated the water and brought up dry land and created all the plants.

Day Four - God created the sun, moon, planets and day and night.

Day Five - God created all the flying and swimming creatures.

Day Six - God created the land animals and Adam, the first man.

The kids loved learning about creation and the 'very goodness' that was the earth and the Garden of Eden. 

I count it a blessing that no one was hurt this week, sure we had some scraps and cuts but thankfully no serious injury. The campers continue to LOVE the zip-line on the hill and, of course, swimming in the pool. It rained several days this week, quite hard I might add, but we were able to play games in the rec building and the campers seemed to enjoy them pretty well. 

I had three returning campers and several of the girls were returning campers - a total of twenty campers in all this week. So hopefully they will continue to tell their friends about Bancroft and will continue to keep coming back every week. 

Please be praying for those campers who don't know Jesus as savior, for safety for the them, for wisdom as the counselors and staff seek to make the camp better and glorify God as well as for God to speak to the campers' hearts as they are in chapel and learn about the Bible, God and what God has created and has done.

Last overnight camp - angels in the afternoon, David in the evenings.

Hey all -

 So Jr. Boys overnight week is over! These young men were 9-12 years old and FULL of energy and things to talk about. Seriously, they talked a lot. 

Thankfully though - I had a really great cabin. The boys behaved quite well, listened fairly well and were quiet as soon as the lights went off. I really am/was thankful for such a good group of boys. 

The mud pit was a pretty big hit with everyone, only a couple of boys sat out. I personally really love the mud pit...there's just something great about getting covered in mud and playing tug of war over a mud pit that is simply great. 

This week in afternoon chapels the boys (and day camper girls) learned about angels and Lucifer! Such solid teaching here at camp! The campers have learned that God is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient (last week)!! I think the boys really enjoyed and got a lot from learning about the creation of angels and the fall of Lucifer. After taking the angelology class at school I felt fairly comfortable talking to the boys about angels and demons while having knowledge of the subject. In the evenings we went through King David's life from child (slaying Goliath), as king (wanting to build a temple for God), as a sinner (his sin with Bathsheba) and as a fugitive (when Saul was hunting David).

We are so blessed to have Uncle Keith here to teach and prepare the curriculum. He's going to teach the entire Bible chronologically within four years here at camp! Such amazingness!

Please keep praying for the campers who will be coming for day camp throughout July, for us counselors who are old and get tired and for the staff to continue having servants' hearts and that God would continue to bless the camp and the families who trust us with their children.

Hunted

The above is a picture of my cozy home...at least, it was my hiding spot for about an hour during the counselor hunt. It was cramped, muddy...and surprisingly not very buggy. Then again...any bugs (or other critters) that were in there were hopefully scared away by me because they didn't show their faces/feelers/claws/fangs. Those pipes you see - they're water pipes, the main water pipes for the camp. I was warned not to break those pipes...cause not only would I be wet but (more importantly) the camp's water source would be disrupted. So, you can imagine how carefully I tried to be in there - I certainly didn't want to be the one to blame for a lack of water throughout the entire camp. Breaking the pipes is probably frowned upon.

Upon being in this little hole, I read for most of the time (I brought a flashlight with me). About forty minutes into the counselor hunt I had already had several groups of campers walk over the lid of the hole, stomp around a bit and inquired of each other where they thought I was hidden at. Ha, you can imagine me smiling as I sat underneath them while they tried to figure out where I was at.

Think about this - I was hiding for a game but what if I was hiding for my life? What if I was being hunted because of my religion? For my belief in Christ? How many believers would give up their entire life in order to hide and spread God's Word? And how many would pretend or even denounce the name of Jesus to continue to fit into society?

I am afraid to think of it but I fear that the time where Christianity will no longer be tolerated is fast approaching. Unlike today where Christ is scorned and made fun of - in the future speaking the name of Christ or congregating as a Christian become illegal. What then? Do we blend in and rely on the grace that has saved us and we live to survive comfortably? Or do we hide to survive so that we can risk our lives again to proclaim the message of Jesus?

Would you hide in a hole - for hours (or days) on end - to get a chance to share an illegal message that would alter where a single soul would spend eternity?

Would you?

A Single Look Can Break Your Heart

Ok, wow. 

Haven't been round this part of town for a while. January by the looks of things...ah, oh well. =) No one reads this anyways. I'll have to start writing good things and maybe promote this a bit. Yeah..we'll see how that goes.

So update: 

 Freshmen year of school is finished. The school  year was good, trying and difficult at times, but good. This summer I have the privilege of serving at Bancroft Bible Camp as a counselor (and staff when there are no boy campers, like this week for girls' week!). 

The summer has been good. Been able to get to know the people who work here at camp, their families and the campers (obviously). 

For now, this'll do. 

More will come.

Promise. 

The Coming and Going of the Tide

Why hello,

It's been a while since the last post, yes? Sept. 8th...of 2007. Hmm, at that time I was just beginning my first semester at Bryan College. Now it's four months and three days since then and I'm gearing up for my second semester of school and falling back in love with writing. With that, I hereby enter the latest blog that is vastly over due:

So I've once again opened Mere Christianity written by the brilliant C.S. Lewis. I admit that I have attempted to read this book two or three times only to stop on the third chapter and put the book away for a couple months. This time however I have reached page 94. So, while I'm in the middle of reading the book I have something to say about it.

The chapters that have hit hardest is the chapters that are focused on morality. I'm have the book open to page 75 at the moment and review "the three parts of morality", which are: "relations between man and man, things inside each man and relations between man and (God)." The idea of these three moralities are important, I think, so that we understand that our moralities not only affect how we live if we were to be alone in the world but also how we act towards another human-being and also how we act (and our attitude) towards God. Lewis does a tremendous job not only in this chapter but in the whole part of the book I've read thus far in saying that morality is not something that each person creates brand new for themselves but rather we all share the same basic ideas of what is right and wrong. 

The very next chapter is one on "The 'Cardinal Virtues'. I'll be honest, I saw 'cardinal virtues' and thought that Lewis would press upon the reader a set of values or whatnot that are held in highesteem by the Catholic church. Though this is not the case! He lists four virtues and give details to each. The first being "prudence". Quite simply, Lewis says that "prudence means practical common sense, taking the trouble to think out what you are doing and what is likely to come of it." (p. 77) 

COMMON SENSE! 

How many times have I exclaimed in my living room here at home that something I see someone do on tv doesn't make sense! That the person has no grip on what common sense tells a person to do. I admit that I am not the most logical person at times but I do try my hardest to use the common sense that God has given me so that I don't make a mistake when the correct choice is so blatant! And sometimes it's not so blatant. In this case I believe that just because something is not out in the open to you doesn't mean that someone with a slightly different point of view won't see the clear choice that needs to be made.

To disect the sentence I quoted, another important part of prudence is thinking about the out come of a descion. How many times do we think about what the outcome of a choice will be? How long do we spend making a choice, thinking over it, pouring over it, praying about it? I fear for myself not near long enough. I want to glorify God with every aspect of my life...am I doing that with every choice I make? Not just the big ones or the ones that people can see but also the ones I make in the quiet? In the darkness of my room? Are we as followers of Christ? Sometimes I think not.

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Galatians 6

I really like Galatians chapter 6. And there is a few versus that I want to share with all the people (...all two of them...) who read this. Galatians 6:2-3

"Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is somthing when he is nothing, he deceives himself".

I feel like I have a 'job', if you will, to help people carry their burdens. I've spent a lot of time online and offline talking to people and trying to help them through what it is they are struggling with. I'm not trying to boast about myself - as is says in verse 14:

"May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."

But I'm just saying that isn't it great when you have a friend who will come up to you and drag you away, wanting to know whats going on? I'm glad I've had the chances to do that with some friends of mine. My advice, or wisdom, may not always be the best but please understand this! I only speak frankly and sometimes harshly to you as my friends because I do care so much about all of you.

Now I realize not that many people will see this but that's not why I write or even do anything. Perhaps God will speak to someone through me using this. If He is...whether your the one taking someone aside or your the one being taken aside DON'T WASTE THE OTHER PERSONS TIME!!! Spill your guts and say what needs to be said. It may be awkward at times, it may be difficult and every single being in your body may be telling you to be quiet and run away but I challenge all of you: don't leave problems bottled up. The pressure will continue to build until you can't confine it inside any more - then you have to deal with the aftermath of an explosion.

I could continue to write about this...but not now. Perhaps next time. God bless you all.

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Sanctified Disatisfaction

Pastor Cook has been a guest speaker at Bryan's chapel last night and this morning. He also will be speaking tonight in about twenty minutes. He said something last night that struck a chord with me: "sanctified disatisfaction".

And what that mean is - as we grow in Christ, as He sanctifies us, we should not be satisfied with what we have gained spiritually but rather we should be disatisfied with other parts of us that need growth, renewal or cleansing.

Instead of settling for one improvement and thinking that we're complete for a while we need to realize that there's always something that needs to be cleaned by God. We allow ourselves to be satisfied way to easily!

Hey:

Go watch this video. It's about an hour long...so if you don't want to watch it all just listen. Or split it up - thirty minutes, take a break, the last thirty minutes.

This speaker is incredibly bold.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uuabITeO4l8

Warm Up Before Attempting to Run!

A change from what I've written in previous posts. This is my lil way of hoping to inspire a generation to make a change for Christ and that a lil change is still change. =)

Ideally what would your world look like?

What would you change if you could?

Describe to me in complete sentences what you would do

Let's talk about it for a while

Let's think about it while we're idle

Let's dream about it till we die

Or we could wake from our sleep

Break out of the comatose state we're stuck in

And change the world

Even a small change is change

Everyone needs to warm up before they run

Let's start the warm up process...

Are you ready to run?

If God took seven days to create and make the world

Why should we expect to change it so quickly?

People take time to understand change before they accept it

While they're thinking we can be planning

While they're thinking we can be preparing

While they're thinking we can be praying

And it might not hurt to bring a pair of running shoes

Even a small change is change

Everyone needs to warm up before they run

We're just warming up...

Before the big race

Ok let's go!

The dirt path lays before us

Waiting to be paved

Changes that need to be made are among us

Let's leave the out-of-bounds

And start runnin' this race

Go go!

Matthew 4

"Temptation come my way..."

4:1 - "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil".

A whole lot of the time Christians see temptation as something horribly bad. Jesus was tempted and we should know that there was nothing bad about Jesus. When we are tempted, that's Satan trying to get us to get away from what is right and Godly. Satan knows that we are close to God and he (satan) wants us to distance ourselves from Him. When we are tempted we need to be reminded that it's a sign that Satan has locked onto us and wants us to lose our way - sepereate ourselves from God. Not that Satan doesn't tempt those who are lost but he has really has no reason to for they are already lost. Followers of Christ walk around with a target on them for Satan to hone in and strike.

4:13 - "Leaving Nazareth, He (Jesus) went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali- to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:

'Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,

the way to the sea, along the Jordan

Galilee of the Gentiles-

the people living in darkness

have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of the

shadow of death

a light has dawned' ".

We have indeed seen a Great Light! And yet despite of seeing this brilliant light we still choose to live in the darkness, cover our eyes or stay in a twilight, semi-lit area. As Americans we think we live in a great country (which we do) that is deprived of the evil that resides outside our borders and takes up residence in far away countries. Yet death is around us every day. Not just physical death but spiritual death and death of morals, death of the family, death of what is Godly, death of the church as it should be. Death does not always have a single victim. Blood and death do not always go together. Sometimes death creeps in and escapes before we realize what is missing.

I pray that we understand that we serve a Master who has conquered death and without it's sting we should fear it no more. We have something more to fear, the God of the Universe whom we should be fearing and reverant to. We have been given light both spiritually and in a vinyl-leather bound book with thin, paper pages.

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Matthew 3

Matthew 3:1-2 "In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near'."

These versus are sweet. Two parts I find sweet in this passage.

1) John the Baptist (henceforth known as J the B) is "...preaching...". Yup, that's it. He's preaching. From what I know of J the B he was not very timid. A few versus down he calls the Sadducees and the Pharisees a "brood of vipers"! Talk about boldness! Today at the library some lady was talking to one of the librarian ladies about different things and she mentioned God and about how we sometimes have to create our own miracles. WHA?! But I listened. I coulda said something...but I chose not to because I didn't want to barge into their conversation (which the patron lady was dominating).

2) In the second part of the verse J the B says, "REPENT, for the kingdom of heaven is near". REPENT! Not as in, take your time...when you feel up to it or when you have time ask for forgivness. NO! As in, RIGHT NOW! Can you gaurantee me what will happen in an hour from now? How do you know that Christ won't be back? Or that you won't be killed some how? We don't need to be fretting and worrying all our lives about making sure we're 'clean'; repenting every second. But we need to make sure we repent before God and not hold sins in, just taking for granted that as a Christian we'll be ok. We owe it to God to humble ourselves before Him and ask for forgiveness.

Matthew 3:10 "The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire".

J the B says something here that should catch our attention (and I assume it caught everyone around's attention). The ax, our judgement, is right here beside us. It's not something that might or might not come. It is plain that we will most definitely be judged for what fruit we bear. Is what we produce in our lives glorifying to God? If not we best be worried and get to workin on a way to fix this problem.

If you know Christ as your savior - keep pressing on and work on growing closer to Him.
If you do now have a personal relationship with Christ (which IS possible!) please look into the facts and realize that Christ loves you; enough that He died for you!!

Ryan ><>