The Sunshine State

I am happy to report that I arrived in Punta Gorda last week! I had the pleasure of leaving Lafayette on a beautifully frigid day and arrived in Florida under much better conditions. However, on Monday I went up to Tampa with my brother to check out his new campus and it was freezing, 30 degrees when we left in the morning. I felt much better after I noticed that the temperature in my home state was hovering near zero. Hope you guys are having fun up there.

I am also happy to disclose some more information about my future plans: I will have the pleasure of working under Josh & Allie Boman at Ball State University! I met Josh and Allie at Purdue through an organization called Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship and now I have the opportunity to work with them at Ball State, needless to say, I am thrilled! We are hoping/planning/expecting to be on campus by the end of 2011, but there is still much work to do, please keep us in your prayers.

Object of Perpetual Hissing

I decided to read through the book of Jeremiah this week. Since I hadn't read Jeremiah for awhile and because I was reading the New Living Translation, I picked up some new things that I've overlooked in the past. My favorite phrase this time is found in 18:16 and 19:8 where God describes the upcoming destruction for Judah as a "monument to their stupidity". The NASB uses the phrase "object of perpetual hissing" which, I think we all can agree, is much cooler. 

So, the bottom line is that Jeremiah is a cool book.
The Bible is a cool book.
Take some time to read it!

On an unrelated note: I am still in Lafayette. I had a bit of a setback, but I should be on the road to Florida next week. The good news is that I didn't miss the first snowfall...

The Journey Continues



As far as I can tell, today was my last day as a painter. For the last three months I have been blessed to have, as I affectionately called it, an "inbetween job". Something to hold me over until my "other job" begins. But these past three months have been so much more than just an opportunity to stash away cash and exist until my "real life" starts. 

It only has three rotating sides!

• I had the opportunity to spend a day crawling through a cave in southern Indiana
  
• I visited the world's largest Rubik's cube (slightly disappointing, especially since it wasn't even a true Rubik's cube. Jacob, Rob and I have plans to build our own)
• I finished reading "The New Testament and the People of God". I know it doesn't sound like much, but it was a big deal to me

I'll admit that this list doesn't look all that impressive.
But I've been able to invest quality time into friends and family. And I've learned a lot about myself and how I interact with God.

More than anything else though, I have been overwhelmed with the goodness of God. He is taking really good care of me...he always has. As I reflect on my journey up to this point, I am truly in awe of my King. Sometimes it seems that he orchestrates complicated strings of events just to get me into the position where he wants me.

My anticipation for the next 2-3 months is growing everyday. I cannot wait until I am able to give my full, undivided attention to the one who deserves it the most!

Change of plans

By now, you are all surely eagerly expecting my soon departure to Florida to partake in my sabbatical rest. Not so fast, my dear friends, the time has not yet come.

My original plan was to leave on October 29th, with the intent to be in Florida by the first of November. Recently, Gary Thayer (my current employer) asked me to stay for three extra weeks in order to help finish a rather large job we had recently acquired. Far be it from to me to refuse the man (and company) that has treated me so well in the past few years!

Therefore, I have decided to extend my stay in Lafayette until after the Thanksgiving holiday. This shakes things up a bit, but doesn't really rattle my cage. I don't necessarily believe that this is just a random occurrence, I believe that YHWH is orchestrating this and has more for me to accomplish before I leave. I will embrace this blessing, not just for the financial reward (I'm not working for free!) but because I know that God wants to do some things in me. 

Nevertheless, there are a few minor consequences to this change:

1. My "sabbatical" will be shortened.
   Initially,I knew that labeling a 4 month time period as a sabbatical was a bit of a stretch, but I was willing to make the stretch because I knew that I would have plenty of time to rest and meet my goals. After factoring in some other variables, it might only be 2-3 months. Not that I'm complaining! I still feel very honored and blessed that I am able to take an extended break from work. But I wonder if the term sabbatical still applies? Any input would be greatly appreciated.
2. I will not completely avoid the Indiana winter.
   Not really a big deal, but many of my friends were giving me a hard time for skipping the frigid temperatures...unless the heat wave continues, in that case, please ignore this point.
3. My sabbatical/time off (seriously, we need to resolve this issue so I can properly address the time between Thanksgiving and my return) will look very different than I had originally planned.
   Again, not necessarily a bad thing. I'm sure that God is using this to teach me a lesson (perhaps about time management?). Knowing that I might only have a couple of months amplifies the value I will place on my time spent with Jesus. It will make those moments that much more precious.

Just another reminder that "change is the only constant" (a favorite expression of the great Charity Ramlal)

I Surrender

Do you remember the song "I Surrender All"?
Wait, is it a song or a hymn? Hold on a sec, let me check.

Ok. Fun fact: according to Merriam-Webster, it is both. Interesting, I've always thought that a song had to be really old and be "voted in" to be a hymn.

Anyways, I had this song stuck in my spirit yesterday and I just kept on singing the chorus over and over again throughout the day. I don't think that Jesus minded that I kept it simple (I couldn't remember the whole song) because there is so much power in those words, or rather the meaning of those words.

I have surrendered everthing to Jesus, well, I'm trying. I give up my desires, my passions, my life so that I can have His desires, His passions, and His life. I don't release these things blindly, and I surely didn't release them easily. But Jesus has won me over. He has proven his ability to handle the things that I value.

The cool thing is that the more I give to him, the more confident I feel about him having control. My increased reliance on him brings forth a decreased reliance on myself. I don't even want to have control again! I have complete confidence in him.

Paul told the Philippian church that we have been given the privilege of trusting in the Messiah (1:29). How awesome is that?! This isn't something that we do begrudgingly. It is an honor that has been given to us as children of God. 

All the believers devoted themselves...to sharing in meals

Ok, ok, I'll admit it: I like food and I like to eat.

Now that we've got that out of the way, I will follow by saying that I very much enjoy eating with others. Food and fellowship. They both start with the letter "f". It's fantastic.

I have been extremely blessed in the past two weeks to have been able to reconnect with some friends. To be more precise, seven rendezvous in the past ten days. Most of which either involved or featured a meal. Today I was reflecting on how pleasant it was to catch up with these wonderful people in my life and realized that I hadn't seen many of them in quite some time.

Busyness is the most common culprit, of course, but how many meals have I eaten in between meetings (suffice it to say, there have been several!). However, it's not always a matter of "not having time". You see, as an introvert, I often prefer solitude to fellowship. As a result of investing so much of my time in "ministry", I allowed some of my relationships to falter.

Enter: the goodness of YHWH. I haven't even started my sabbatical yet, and I have already reaped so many benefits of this new season that He has brought about in me. I am relearning the value of people and the value of relationships. He knows exactly what I need and when I need it.

So...who wants to eat?

My King

Moving has always given me an opportunity to declutter my life a bit. I must admit, I usually keep "things" longer than I should, but I do enjoy a periodic purging of unnecessary material. Today I found an article given to me by a friend about the crucifixion of Jesus written by C. Truman Davis.
As I read, I was once again overwhelmed with emotion as I remembered the incredible amount of pain that Jesus chose to endure for our sake. I am tempted to feel sympathetic towards Jesus, to feel bad for him. But Paul says that it was Jesus who "shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross" (Colossians 2:15, NLT). The cross was part of the plan all along. It was Jesus' victory lap. He made the world look foolish as they were mocking him. Jesus always wins.
This doesn't at all minimize the pain that Jesus went through. Let us not forget that he, like us, was human. I have great respect for this Messiah, this King who chose me. He paid a great price for us, we should consider it an honor to live for him.

So, what's the plan?

Let me start out by filling you in on some of the changes that have been happening in my world. As you are probably aware, I have worked with Pastor Charity in the Student Ministries Department at First Assembly for about 18 months. In light of Pastor Greg's departure, the deacon team has decided to make several changes in the organizational structure of the church. After much prayer, I decided to put in my resignation with Pastor Charity in order to allow the new leadership team to implement their vision.

Many have been wondering about my current situation and my plans for the future. I am happy to report that I do, in fact, have a rough outline for the next several months of my life. I will stay in the Lafayette area until the end of October in order to fulfill previous commitments. I will then spend a few months in Florida to take a sabbatical. I strongly believe that my God is bringing me into a season of rest. A time for Him to prepare me for what lies ahead. I am determined to take advantage of this gift; to use it for His purposes, not mine. Will I have fun in Florida? Of course! But I will not lose sight of the main purpose: fellowship with my lover.

After returning from my sabbatical, I will be busy preparing for the next season of my life...campus ministry. I have been invited to join a team that will be launching a college campus ministry next fall. I have great anticipation and excitement for this next adventure! Even as I venture into uncharted territory, I am aware that I am being guided by the one who has it all figured out. I am so blessed to be involved in His great plan.

And so it begins...

So, here it is. I plan to use this blog as my primary method of updating others on my life. Why not use facebook? Well, my time with facebook is done. There are several reasons that I am closing down my facebook account, but it would take too long to expain and I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Many of my issues are personal convictions and I do not want to transfer those to other people. John Piper wrote an excellent article on his view of the new wave of networking sites that made me think quite a bit about my use of these tools.
I would like to give a shout-out to the one and only Pastor Charity Ramlal for helping me create an appropriate name for this blog. She knows well enough that creativity is not one of strengths. 
My hope is that this blog would be more than just an update, but that it would also be an encouragement as we continue the pursuit.