"Oh God, stamp eternity on my eyeballs!"

"When I see the church in the New Testament... They didn't have stately buildings. They didn't have paid evangelists. They didn't have a lot of money. They didn't have organization. They weren't able to get on TV and beg. But I'll tell you what they did, THEY TURNED THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN!"

"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." 2 Cor. 5:10

What do you think? Do you see the "church" today as a success or failure? Do you struggle to keep an eternal perspective? Which quote from this sermon struck you as most profound or convicting?

... Twill soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last.

"Life is too short, too precious, too painful to waste on worldly bubbles that burst. Heaven is too great, hell is too horrible, eternity is too long that we should putter around on the porch of eternity."-John Piper

"Let us lay aside ever weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run, with patience, the race that is set before us."

"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation..."

Its so easy to forget. In the middle of the conversation with a total stranger its easy to forget my available Resource. When confronting someone about their spiritual beliefs is easy to forget to 'Look up'.

Sometimes I hesitate to say something for fear I don't know enough about it. Other times I hesitate to quote or look up a scripture, afraid that I might not be able to quote it correctly or find where its at in the Bible.

But today? Today was amazing. GOD is amazing. Words just aren't adequate. Alex and I were talking to a young man who came from a Catholic background, but had long ago given up on living a "religious" life. Alex shared that she also use to be in a Catholic home and so our conversation started off with some good conversation and testimony with opportunity to just relate to the young man in a simple sort of way.

The conversation proceeded and he indicated that he didn't believe that God exists. Immediately a verse came to mind. "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God."
I wished I knew where it was in Scriptures, so I could read it as God's Words and not just me accusing him (the young man) of being a fool.

These thoughts passed through my mind so quickly, but next thing I knew I was opening my Bible and thinking "If God wants me to read it, He'll show it to me."

I kid you not, the most incredible thing happened. I opened right up to Psalm 14:1 and it was the first verse that my eyes saw. I was floored. I doubt I will ever, ever forget that reference after today. I KNEW at that point that God wanted me to read the verse. I wasn't even sure it would fit in our conversation, but I knew that verse was for him. So I read,

"The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, no one." [Ps.14:1-3]

We were able to proceed with the conversation and I shared the entire Gospel. But only after that point. Only after I opened the Word, obeyed the promptings to read, and just let the Lord speak through me. There's no telling what kind of impact that time was in that young man's life. But I KNOW God's word will not return void. Don't forget. Look up. God is there listening in. God is seeking to use you. Listen up!

Admittedly this is a very simple answer and it was purposely so. More in depth reasons could have been given, and more scriptures could have been quoted. I know each of us (trainees) have given slightly different answers that were all true. It depends on who you are talking to, what the context is, and how well they grasp the terminology you're using. To me, this is the foundational reason why I personally don't smoke weed. You could further expound by asking them what they get out of smoking weed, and point out how self-centered the reasons are. As Christians we understand that it simply does not bring glory to God.

Now I'm curious. What would you say?

And by the way, I got to talk to Mocha again today. She let me speak to her some more but basically told me I was wasting my time. She asked some more good questions that gave room for me to share more, but I tried to convey that I don't have all the answers but I know the one Who does. She needs Jesus, not intellectual peace in just being proved to that God exists. "Even the demons believe and tremble". Please pray for her. She has pretty much accepted my offer of friendship and is not hard-natured in responding to what I say. I know God can convict her of her sin as well.

Street witnessing, construction work, classroom time, Bible study and memorization, and fun times hanging out with classmates and my grandparents.

The street witnessing opened my eyes and heart to reach 1. my generation who has been brainwashed to believe that truth doesn't exist and 2. those who haven't had the same blessing of a secure and godly home life.

Construction work was fun. We're helping a man from the church put some finishing touches on his house he's building. My job was to apply expanding foam (insulation) in the cracks around the windows. Some of the yellow foam is still stuck to my fingers. :-)

I've learned an incredible amount about God's Word and about Him. Judging from the first week, I am really anticipating Him working in my life in deep ways these next few months, as I learn about Him and learn to love Him.

Sam, TJ, and Alexis are the names of the great people who are taking this training with me. Their hearts for the Lord are an encouragement to me and I'm excited to see the Lord working in their lives as well. We really have fun hanging out together-- we're working on being purposeful with our time. :-) They all have incredibly fun personalities.

Yesterday we looked into some volunteer opportunities here locally. I'm looking forward to see what comes of that. That may be something good to post on in the future.

A big hello to everybody back at home and thanks for the emails and prayers!

…
When we arrived in Loreto, of course many memories from last year came flooding back. When I was at home it seemed like it had been forever since I’d been there. Now that I was there it seemed like it was only yesterday.

Its hard to decide what to limit my stories and memories too. Everything from food to people are worth writing about. I had really missed my cousins. We’ve always been close, but living with a family for 2 months causes you to get to be about as close as cousins can be. Ethan, the cousin who was born 2 days before I left last year, was now a toddling 1 year old. And did I mention, even more adorable?

Getting together with the church family was definitely a highlight. They welcomed me back as if they’d known me forever. They did the same for my family.

Probably one of the most memorable things that happened while I was there, is that this family informed me that they had named their baby girl, Kaylene. Being foreign and different sounding I guess they had grown to like it. I was pretty honored and excited about that. I assumed they were going to spell it different being that the pronunciations are different in Spanish, but I was surprised to find out a few days ago that they had decided to spell it the same way. Just a fun tid-bit. And I should mention she’s about the sweetest-natured, cutest little girl in Mexico. Curly hair, huge brown eyes, long lashes… . Of course there’s no reason that I would be biased in that opinion. But I’ve got about 20 pictures to prove it. (see above)

The Sunday we were there church was pretty emotional. It was my Uncle’s family last Sunday there, and the people were very sad though very understanding that the leadership of the church was their responsibility now. They acknowledged that their dependence was on Christ not my Uncle or themselves. I think it was extremely rewarding for my Uncle and his family to see. As person after person gave testimony I was inspired to serve as a missionary like never before (how ever it be, in whatever capacity). My Uncle had over 15 years ( 5 of them there in Loreto) of his life in Mexico. He’s learned the language, become a part of the culture, all for the sake of Christ. He’s the furthest away from anyone I’ve ever known, to wasting his life. I was definitely challenged to follow Christ and seek for accomplishment and success in the name of Christ and not my own.

I wish I could adequately describe the sacrifice the Christians have made in order to follow Christ. Some have given up good relations with family, reputation, and more, all in order to follow hard after God. There's no walking the line--its all or nothing. Its something that's hard to appreciate until you hear their personal testimonies, which they love to share.

I hope I get to go back, meanwhile I'm praying for my friends there. That God will keep them strong in the faith.

...
Last week my family returned from a seemingly short trip to beloved Mexico. For me, its beloved, because I was there for 2 months last year and formed many friendships and came to greatly appreciate the language and culture. I never dreamed I'd have the privilege of returning exactly one year later, to be greeted by their smiling faces and welcoming arms.

It was a joy that my family (all except for big sis Jolynn--this was the only sad part) was able to make it this time around. Especially as this was our last opportunity to visit my Aunt,Uncle, and cousins before they moved back up to the states.

Several months ago when we started praying about going to Mexico as a family, everything started to come together. Uncle Mike asked, that if we did end up coming, if we could bring a trailer to help bring some of their belongings back with us. In other words, could we help them move?

My brother Jeb, had just purchased a horse trailer, but we didn't have a vehicle to pull it with. As time passed and we continued praying God provided and we were able to purchase a suburban that we needed anyways, trip or no trip. I can't really express how excited I was getting at that point. It was starting to look like what had started as a far fetched idea might actually become reality. God works that way a lot. Why am I so surprised?

Its a long story filled with details as to how the Lord worked everything out, but we ended up having quite a load of things to take down to the church my Uncle was helping lead.. .Including 10,000 copies of the Bible books, John and Romans, for the church in Loreto to distribute in their evangelistic endeavors!

The day we left, our goal was a town in central TX where we used to live. We visited many friends there--some whom we hadn't seen in 6 years! Monday, a day later, we left for the border. Uncle Mike met us there and Tuesday we headed to central Mexico. (600 miles south of Del Rio).
The trip was mostly uneventful except for some "interesting" run-ins with the Mexican police. I guess the trailer drew their attention, but once they had us pulled over they were accusing of us speeding when we weren't. I guess its not that rare, (for them to falsely accuse) so thankfully my Uncle was able to just discuss things with them and talk them down to a few pesos. Funny story though, My uncle was in the process of telling us about some of his experiences with the cops. As he told the story, we got pulled over, and so he told the "policia" that he had just been telling his family how bad the cops were about pulling people over for stupid stuff. The guy handed him back his driver's license and sent us on our way.