A Look at SpringLake

I am now living in Spring Lake, Michigan!
I am working at Spring Lake Wesleyan as a youth intern for the fall.
I will also be speaking and contacting churches about raising support to return to New Zealand in January.

I am living in a host home with Brit & Suzie Cary. There boys are Seth(10), Drew(12) and Tyler(15) (from left to right). They live in a nice neighborhood where everyone already knows my name and how long i am staying! ha. They are all just really close and laid back.
They live 3miles from Grand Haven Beach! That is a 10 min drive or a 30 minute run. Love it!
These first two weeks will be big for getting settled and moving forward, focused and determined, as i figure out the church, support raising, and continuing Master's courses online in the Spring!

Stretching our Minds

I went on a 6 mile jog today and it felt like a stroll. Would i have ever thought that would've been me 5 years ago... no way. If you would've asked me if it was possible for me to run a marathon during my last year of high school i would've laughed at you. But then in college i ran 5 miles. After that a half-marathon and the next thing i knew i thought in my training, why not run a marathon? So i trained and i did! What i never thought i was capable of i started to realize i was.
Sometimes i think we hold ourselves back because we don't know what we or God are capable of doing.

I often have wondered how businessman can make decisions involving billions of dollars when i am having trouble deciding whether to spend the extra $2.50 for the fries and drink that come with the value meal! I say God can do ANYTHING with his resources, but experience tells me that it is a lot harder than anticipated to believe that i really can change my character flaws that have developed over 23 years or that God really can and will provide my missions salary for the next two years. Would i have gone to New Zealand initially if i knew it would involve 3 years of my life? No. But He got me there because he needed to stretch my mind to see what He and I were capable of. Now he is stretching my mind again to dedicate two more years of my life there. Has God been stretching your mind? Are you seeing how much more you and He are capable doing?
I wouldn't expect to just go and run a marathon in one day. It took stretching steps and reason and preparation to get to that place. A businessman doesn't just get a billion dollars to play with for no reason. We need to start believing, dreaming, and stretching forward. Because of repeated failures to compensate for my weaknesses it is hard for me to believe God cannot only change help me overcome weakness, but that He is capable of changing a WHOLE person's make up and life through repentance! But he does it! Or to believe God wants to bring thousands of people in your life instead of the ten in your small group is a big step. To trust God will provide thousands of dollars instead of $10 takes a lot more understanding of what God is capable of, a lot more responsibility, and a lot more work, but you begin to understand just how big, in control, and capable God really is. God isn't all about numbers, but He really can and does blow them out of the water. Are we stretching our minds so that not only God can use us to do big things that WE are capable of through Christ, but also to have faith of how BIg and capable our God really is!

Examples:
-One guy has a shovel, the other a bulldozer. Depending on how each one uses there talent the guy with the shovel may dig way more than the bulldozer ever does. Dream.
-Missionaries trust God for ample supplies of money!
-People receiving limitless amounts of money out of faith to provide for other's needs!
-God taking you out of an occupation maybe presenting a better or more fitting situation


(I wish i posted more scripture on these excerpts but i just don't have a bible near)

Worth the Read...

I just got this from a friend and enjoyed the insight
Speaking of Friends though, i got to spend some time with my roommate Steve this last weekend and it was great. Picture this, we found an empty building and just talked on the roof after dark with a light breeze, while listening to a Dave Matthews concert half a mile away. Perfect. This was him getting his disc from throwing it on the roof while playing disc golf the next day!

Keep reading below, i enjoyed the perspective of the story.

Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"

He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it."

Times are Changing!

If any of you who reads this wants a monthly newsletter about what is going on, please email me at obrent@mac.com from the address you want me to add saying, "add me to your newsletter."So things have changed for me rather quickly. I was planning on staying in Plymouth and working and raising support from home while staying with the parents but a new opportunity has arisen. I will be heading up to Spring Lake Wesleyan Church to help out with the youth for the fall with Dan Ward, Julie Collins, and Josh Carroll. I will continue to raise support there with a vision of returning to New Zealand in January! Craziness, but i might actually have a somewhat consistent life here for the next three months... i am not sure i even know what that looks like anymore!!!
To see a Map Click Here
Springlake is at the top right above Grand Haven
40 minutes above Holland where my bro-in-law Brandon bruce's family lives
4 hours above Plymouth at he bottom of the map

Things i thought i would never say...

i was running today and realized i enjoyed it!
it was one of those things growing up i would've never guessed so here's to a few of those things.

I have run for a long time but never thought i would enjoy it.
I have began to choose reading over activity at times and enjoy it. Never thought i was a reader
I like tomatoes and the occasional onion in food.

Here's to change!

Direction

It was one of those moments where your brain goes, "aahh!" The word just made sense.

DirectionI feel like a lot of people look at my life confused and perplexed. I hear them think, "No wife, no consistent job, no consistent residency even!"

I often took it as though i had failed to live up to their picture of success or maturity. Maybe that is still true, but what i really think is happening is that they are trying to resonate a life like mine with direction.

If your married your spouse and/or children help to determine that
If your settled in a place your job and income help decide that.

I do not look to be establishing perpetual and multiplying habits with money and relationships.

What i have found though, is that in my personal pursuit of following God's calling, my direction is focused on eternal fixtures(2 Cor. 4:16-18). I am learning to hear God's voice and the preparations and lessons i am learning will continue to be used in my ministry and life to come. There are tangible plans and pursuits in my life. I could show you direction and intent.

But what i have come to value is making sure that God determines my direction.
In his heart a man plans his course, but the lord determines his steps. Prov 16:9

Global Partners

The group at GP

So i spent the last week in Indianapolis learning about what it means to be a missionary. There is still a lot to be learned, but here were a few things that really hit home for me.

Misconceptions of Missions I have seen:
BEGGING: No shame in asking; can come across as beggars always having an agenda; always after you just for your money
Lucky because traveling and on the field like so many of us desire to be.
GIVE UP EVERYTHING: Have to be HURTING, uncomfortable, and out of comfort zone to be in missions: We want to feel bad for our missionaries or know they sacrificing and making much out of little. Helping the helpless.
The Reality:
EDUCATING BODY: Support Raising is just as much educating, involving others, and blessing others through team involvement
People are asking for your money all day long through advertisements why is it so bad when it is for a good cause?
EDIFYING BODY: High cause: our lives and asking is for others... not for our own benefit
Sacrifice: it is a social, financial, time, and "American life" sacrifice.
Providing opportunity. Not begging. Beggars just ask for money for food with no work. you are asking them to take part in a ministry and invest in the body.


I am excited to go and raise support
It's a chance to share God and how he is moving, who cares about the money

Abundance Mentality-
There are more than enough resources to fulfill God's vision

Everyone that supports me in prayer or finance takes part in anything that happens while i am in New Zealand. The ministry becomes an attribute to God and the body bringing people to Christ. Every supporter in the US is gaining brothers and sisters in Christ that they will get to rejoice with and meet in heaven one day!

Focus

Lord willing, I am going back to New Zealand soon. God has called me back there at this time and i am excited as i leave this time with Global Partners to do everything in my efforts to make this happen through prayer and sharing! It is exciting, nerve racking, and faith stretching all at the same time! I look forward to sharing more with you in the future.

Taking Steps Forward

I am in Indianapolis all week if anyone wants to hangout at night.

I head to Indianapolis today to attend training with Global Partners to head back to New Zealand. This is really my next big step in the process of going back. They will tell me about what it means to go over as a missionary and the steps i will need to take physically, spiritually, and financially to return. It will be interesting.

I love being taught and equipped.

I love getting the inside scoop and what it means to be more of a missionary.

It helps me understand how to impact the people of New Zealand for the kingdom of God

I feel called to return and i am excited to see the Lord provide and work as i work hard also in the process to see and make this happen.


Random Thought:
It always seems that I am working too hard, being too lazy, or having too much fun. Just read a quote that said life is not a scientific solution but a piece of art. I plan to enjoy my imbalanced life in the midst of figuring it out!

Fully Present

I have had an ongoing dilemna over the past few years.

I want to be fully present where ever I am and don’t know how to do that.

I don’t want a cell phone. I don’t want a laptop or internet. Yet I love how they connect me to people and are so convenient. On the other hand, the worldwide web overwhelms me. I don't know who i can keep up with and on what level. How do I find the boundaries there?!? Too many emails, inbox messages, etc. When do you say it is too much? When do you figure out an alternative? How do people have time to check facebook, myspace, email, AIM, blog, and text on their cell. I am not that coordinated and do not feel like I have that much time to waste online, think, and live a fully present life. Where is my ministry?
Where I would’ve spent a couple hours outside, 10 years ago, I now spend it sitting infront of the computer.

I have always tried to treat people as equal and important in my mind. I see that as a strength in myself but what ends up happening is i don't know how to sort my priorities in relationships and when i just don't have time for someone or long conversations.

Lord continue to teach me in this area!

My Desires RIght Now

Desire Break Down

To live in God's love
To search for the Lord wholly
To understand other religions/beliefs and where they are right and wrong
To be pushed Intellectually
To be challenged
To use my God-given passions through community
To impact through consistency
To teach
To be pouring and poured into.

Where I am at?
I am 23. have Started Master's and would love to finish it. want to learn and be pushed. want to get out of debt. want to find a job i am sold on. Desire to help where there is a need that God has given me a passion and gifting to fulfill. want to get married at least before i am 30. Find a church family where i do not feel stifled in expressing myself. Want to enjoy life and activity through sport and outdoors. Want my life and walk with the Lord to be described as Thriving. I want people to first and foremost understand why i do what i do and i want the answer to be very clearly and obviously the Lord so that it is evident to myself and others where my source of strength comes from.

An outside pressure to succeed. To be successful as a person who is well rounded, respected, capable, responsible, trusted, in control, investing for the future, personable, etc. The Base Factor often being Financial Security.

I didn't put the lines above with the full paragraph because i am not sure they are a core want but rather a want that has some influence on me. I am sure i see all of the above as good/successful if achieved but i am not sure about everything in the last lines.Although it is good and i want it SO bad, i sometimes doubt the idea of security and success in finances. We take so much pride in it though... ie. Being able to give. Not need from others. etc. (there are biblical concepts there but it can be a source of pride as well) There's a battle of blessing vs. responsibility vs. false security vs. pride