A fantastic conversation starter: Roadtrip Stories

Here's a great conversation starter: Tell me your favorite road trip story or story that involves you in a car.

I asked this question around a circle of young adults and realized that this was a great question because everyone had a long interesting story to tell!  Even if they couldn’t drive, they had ridden in a vehicle when something crazy had happened.   

So I'm filing this question away for future conversations. :)

What's one of my crazy road trip stories?

I remember pushing an overheating car til I blew the head gasket and completely killed the car.  I knew the car had something wrong but I thought the car might make it and I had to go surfing!!!

 

The moment I remember most is my friend Evy laughing as smoke came pouring from the hood and I was puttering down the road well below the speed limit.  

To add to the the craziness, another car passed us honking and upset because they got stuck behind us for a little bit.  SO upset that they actually threw something at the side of our car!  

All we could do was laugh and shrug our heads thinking, "What did they want us to do?!"  

You would've thought that the big smoke cloud coming out of our car's engine would deserve a little more patience and grace... 

But i guess not. :)

Good times to laugh and look back on. 

"No, I can't hang out tonight..."

-->

This is when you start feeling older.

It's the moment I hate because I want to say, "Yes" to every possible hangout.

And I don't want to feel like I've lost it... whatever it is.

But there is a huge lesson of limitation and maturity to be learned here:

I Have to Take Care of Myself More to Be Able to Take Care of Others More.

In college I could go off caffeine, less than 5 hours of sleep, and no alone time for days, 

if not weeks, before I crashed.  And I still managed to get good grades!

But as I take on more responsibility, I see that how I care for myself affects others. 

How we care for ourselves affects our work and those we love.

 I’m having to come to grips with reality.  That for me to take care of others I have to take care of myself… 

(ie. sleep, restful time with God, exercise, and saying no at times)   

…somehow I survived college and my early twenties without doing a good job at this, but I'm having to change as I take on more natural responsibility to love God and others well.

There are some effects of "growing older" that we can avoid, but this is not one of them.  Unless you decide to avoid maturing at all costs, life will require a growth curve of you learning: 

 I Have to Take Care of Myself More to Be Able to Take Care of Others More.

Everyone wants to be wanted

Everyone wants to be wanted.  I thought about this last week as I saw an attractive girl leave the room.  The thing that really stood out about this girl was that she was one of those girls who was definitely trying to be attractive and noticed.  I can’t explain how I knew, but you know the girl I'm talking about.  

I began to think about how deep our desire is to be wanted.  Someone who may have no direct person they know loves them, especially celebrities, could still settle for living off of the buzz of knowing that they will always be wanted to some degree because of their acquired popularity.  A logic that would say: “well even if I can’t find true love and acceptance, being wanted physically by someone as I walk out of the room will still suffice... because inwardly, I really just desire to be wanted."

            My thought quickly changed from "the noticed girl" who had now disappeared, to you and me.  I think absolutely every human being, including you and me, wants to be attractive and wanted by somebody.  Only someone who might’ve had a bad experience with people or pressures would say otherwise, and I believe that even that person still desires to be wanted.  It would just be in a different way than they know or could imagine. 
            Could you imagine not being wanted?  Being attractive to absolutely no one?  Feeling absolutely uninvited and unwanted every single place you set foot?  Not being wanted by any relative, friend, or person?  We have all felt unwanted at times, but to be unwanted by everyone with no hope would be absolute hell.  Literally.
            Seeing that everyone wants to be wanted made me see God in such a beautiful new light today.  His pursuit of us just isn’t a creative idea, it’s essential to the world feeling loved.  Noone can be unwanted because God is in a pursuit of everyone human.  Hell will be a place where you will be completely unwanted because the desire to be wanted and cherished is a direct reflection of God.

If I have… but do not have love, I am nothing.

-God's Words-

How To Stay on Course in the Twenty Somethings

I have two things I want consistent on my flow days and my not so flow days of life.
Today, I was reflecting on two ideas as I went for a run:

FIRST,
The verse that I was mulling over mid-jog was:
How can a young person stay on the path of purity?    By living according to your word. Psalm 119:9

One of my main goals this year is to be a pillar young adult who holds onto God's word because i know that those who cling to what God says, "Cannot be shaken."  Plus, men and women of purity in the twenty somethings are a direct reflection of God's glorious light in my opinion.

Recently at the annual Leadership Summit, Patrick Lencioni  (who is one of today's top leadership experts) blew my mind by defining an organization's core values as the top 3 values "your willing to be punished for".  In this case, I want to love the Word and let it exude so much in my every day life that people might actually feel like I talk about it too much or that I get too excited about conversations where I see the Bible's wisdom jump out of the pages.  To be punished for loving the message of the Bible at my core.

One interesting habit that I found in a recent book called Sticky Faith, was that those who went to their parents and the Bible first when a problem arose were more likely to stay firm in their faith through their twenties.  Love this!

SECOND,
I grew up reading the wisdom of Proverbs and it has shaped me tremendously.
As i was skimming over Proverbs, I was so surprised at how unimpressed Solomon was with riches in comparison to living a wise and righteous life for God.

Better a little with the fear of the Lord
    than great wealth with turmoil. 

Better a small serving of vegetables with love

    than a fattened calf with hatred. 
Better a little with righteousness
    than much gain with injustice.
How much better to get wisdom than gold,
    to get insight rather than silver!
The generous will themselves be blessed,
    for they share their food with the poor.

I pray that as I continue to mature and take on more responsibilities in time management, relationships, and money...

...that I continue to become a solid man of God; a pillar of purity, that keeps in perspective the value of God speaking into my life through the Bible to be a man of purity, and how to keep in perspective the value I put on riches in relation to it chipping away at my integrity and heart focus on God's provision.

Hard Times Make Us God-Inseparable

Oh, to be intertwined with God...

Job used to know God from a distance (“by the hearing of the ear”), but now, after having ben through the grind and clinging to God when nothing else made sense, Job knew God in a much more intimate way (“Now my eye sees you”).  And with that, Job arrived at the most important point: It’s not about figuring out all the of the mysteries of God, but embracing Him and cherishing Him- even when He doesn’t make perfect sense to us.

Francis Chan  Erasing Hell 138

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.

The hard times bind us closer to God and He closer to us.
The word "wait" or "hope" used in Isaiah 40:31 comes from a word picture of twisting, binding, or intertwining something like a rope (qavah Strongs 6960).
It's as if clinging to God in the hard times threads His DNA even deeper into our inner core and being.  We must cling to God in the unknown as Job did to arrive at a place beyond having to convince ourselves that God is in everything including the Hard to experiencing and seeing God in everything including the Hard.

The catch?  If we push Him away in the hard times or falter, we are missing some of the most intense bonding times which can only take place under extreme heat or pressure.  I will cling to God when i don't understand Him instead of push Him away.  It's the only way that I will know Him deeper and closer.

Oh, to be intertwined with God.

Livin the Dream- Blessed are those... whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.

Livin the Dream.
It is so good to be reminded of the truth that the journey is worth it.
That the journey we're on is not only good enough but BLESSED (happy, fortunate, to be envied) as the Amplified Bible says.

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage -Psalm 84:5-

"Livin the dream"is what we say these days.
As we are strengthened by God to persevere, we aren't just surviving, we are BLESSED.  We are being strengthened and storing up treasure in heaven.

We are livin the dream.

I Can Get It All?!

I Love How The Gospel Makes Everyone's Life Circumstance An Even Playing Field.  Check Out This Verse in Is 56:4-5 NIV

⁴ For this is what the Lord says:

“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
    who choose what pleases me
    and hold fast to my covenant —
⁵ to them I will give within my temple and its walls
    a memorial and a name
    better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
    that will endure forever. 

Although eunuchs in the bible couldn't typically have kids, the Bible states that even without children, eunuchs as God's beloved can experience, "a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever." 

God makes promises all over the Bible for those whose families don't consist of mother/father/brother/sister/children/etc.
Although the Bible is clear that marriage and family is one of the greatest physical and spiritual blessings we can experience here on earth, it also seems to state very clearly that since Jesus came a spiritual family can be just as if not more important (Gal 3:28/Matt 12:49-50/1 Cor 12:22-25).

We Can Experience God's GREATEST BLESSINGS BY FAR single, married, or with kids.  All are a gift.  Live in your current life circumstance and relationships as a GIFT from God because that is exactly what you are living in.

Trying Harder Is Not Enough

Stop Enough to Change Your Life.  Trying harder is not enough.  Many people lie to themselves by hearing the word of God and telling themselves they're going to try harder, but they never stop their lives enough to truly make sure that they are putting into practice what they’ve heard.  They hear the words of God in their head, but never make it a high enough priority to stop the rest of their lives if its left unchanged.  The world keeps going and they keep going with it.  Their character is less important than their goal.  Own it.  Either you are choosing to stop enough to change what matters the most, or what really matters the most for you doesn’t matter the most to you.  Nothing changes if nothing changes.  Either stop to give enough time to what matters the most or own that your living as the world does in certain areas.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 

James 1:22.

God is a God of the Alone

Laughably Frustrating

Have you ever had one of those days where you stepped outside and wondered what the weather was thinking?  It’s somewhere between sunny and raining and you’re not sure whether it’s misting or spitting.  Or it’s between raining and snowing and you’re not sure whether to call it hailing, sleeting, or slushing?  Sometimes I’m not sure there is even a word to describe the weather outside of “temperamental”!? That’s exactly where the single twenties stage of life is outside of education. 

Right there. 

Right where you don’t know quite what to call it and what it wants to be.  It’s no man’s land.  Right where you react by smirking and shaking your head or by getting just plain upset at the weather for not making up its mind.

Stuck Alone in the Unknown

School gives you direction and a social life but what do you do once you’re out?  Culture says family and a good job answer this question.  They will fix those feelings of alone and the unknown.  They are security. 

But what if I don’t want to move back home or get married? And what if I can’t get a job or my current job definitely doesn’t make me feel more secure about enjoying life and my future success?   Does that make me stubborn and selfish?  Does that make me completely alone and lost?  No.

But these questions do leave a lot of people feeling lost and confused.  It leaves a group feeling alone like the invisible minority displaced in the confusing unknown shadows of mainstream…

God is a God of the Alone

            Sometimes you need to get alone to realize that you’re not alone.  It sounds funny but humanity can be lonely without God.  We can have people all around us and still feel like we have nowhere to turn.  Elijah is being chased after an epic stand for the Lord and complains, “I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too” (1 Kings 19:10).  God’s reply is just as epic, ““Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD… I reserve seven thousand in Israel” (1 Kings 19:11,18).  Seven Thousand Others!  And Elijah thought he was the only one.  Elijah had to go to the mountain so that his lonely soul could hear the Lord whisper what he couldn’t feel or see, “You are not alone.”

You are not alone in the unknown. 

-none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone- 

Rom 14:7

Don't Hide Yourself

Unexpressed or unexplained fear is causing more depression and loneliness than I can predict.  Young adults are hiding and not feeling known because they fear this will be taken the wrong way.

Stop it. 

Find someone who is loving and trusting and tell them everything.  Or at least try.  If they don’t get it, regroup and tell somebody else who does.  Don’t let the ashamed unknown eat away at you like a cancer. 

Did you know that the Bible describes a moment where all hell breaks loose on Jesus and all his closest friends desert Him and leave Jesus all alone. [i]  Jesus alone is not a something you hear preached very often.  God himself has felt your predicament to its fullest.  Yet Jesus' strong statement of faith in the alone was this, “Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.”

We are not all alone.  We are not that special.  God never gave us the prideful right to think that we are above or below anyone helping us.  Others can help if you will let them in.  God can help.  Choose someone who really cares and if you don’t have any friends like that, go to a church or find a stranger who will listen because you deserve that.  Pray out loud because God wants to hear.  God will understand our crazy.  One of his qualities to the max is patience.  When we are at our wits end for an answer, then the Holy Spirit can give us an answer.  But how can He give us an answer when we are still well supplied with all sorts of answers of our own. [ii]

Perspective Changer

Let it marinate and soak in. Reflect and read this statement below three times:

I called on your name, LORD,

from the depths of the pit.

You came near and said,

“Do not fear.”[iii]

---

[i] John 16:32

[ii] Karl Barth

[iii] Lamentations 3:55,57

I LOVE that God is okay with me learning along the way

God is a God of Works in Progress

God desires Growth. Otherwise God would’ve had us all coming out of the womb at forty years old! You have hopefully been taught by now to be a lifelong learner. Well I propose that you should be a lifelong grower and preparer. Each day, each situation is preparation for something bigger God wants to do through your life (Ephesians 2:10). Whether it’s training for the next time a bigger challenge presents itself or the day you worship God in heaven, life is definitely preparation.

One of the best parts of a relationship is living the journey together. It is not enjoyable traveling with somebody who’s always telling you what you’re doing wrong, but it is fun being around the people who stretch you to go places you would’ve never gone by yourself. This is God. He knows we are works in progress on a journey of preparation. Jesus was once a five, fifteen, and twenty-five years old Himself. He understands growth and knows how to walk the journey with us. He is the one that makes things grow (1 Corinthians 3:7). He is the one that will carry us to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6; 3:12-14).

Don’t let embarrassment keep you from trying. Ask God to help or send you a helping hand. Be open to how God asks you to stretch yourself. Allow God to help you grow. Prepare. He actually enjoys me learning along the way. Enjoy the hard moment you are learning of fighting through right now as an opportunity.

I Love The Fact That God Is A God Of Those Who Want To Give Up

I definitely have my days or moments where life seems too much. I love the fact that the Bible portrays this as a rather common experience. Sometimes I wonder if I'm crazy for the hard moments. But then I remember I'm following in the footsteps of saints who have experienced similar struggles and it keeps me going. God's plan is to pull me through those times:

God, Just Make it all Stop!!! You were not the first to pray this prayer. Did you know that there were at least five Bible characters who told God it would be better for Him to just end their lives now if their current situations weren’t changing anytime soon!

Elijah has just called down fire from heaven and made one of those legendary stands for the Lord. Afterwards, in the loneliness of being overwhelmed and attacked he says, “I have had enough, LORD… Take my life”(1 Kings 19:4). Jonah gets so frustrated in the aftereffects of saving a whole nation that he says not once but twice, “O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live” (Jonah 4:3,8). Moses is carrying the burden of the Israelites grumbling and says to God, “If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now” (Numbers 11:15). Job. Good ol’ Job. Talk about being alone. Everything is going wrong and even his best friends and wife are giving him bad advice. You know he’s not happy when he says, “…I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine. I despise my life” (Job 7:15-16). Last but not least, Jeremiah preaches God’s message for twenty-three years, twenty-three years, with no visible results (Jeremiah 25:3)!!! In the midst of this trial he said, “Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me not be blessed! …Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?” (Jeremiah 20:14,18). If you have ever felt this way, then you are in good company.

Elijah, Jonah, Moses, Job, Jeremiah… these are not obscure characters! These are God’s faithful men feeling alone and ready to quit. Yet God answered and was faithful to each one of them until the end, “for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again…” (Proverbs 24:16a). “…we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved” (Hebrews 10:39). You are not alone and God will answer and pull you through. God won’t give up. That is why we are thankful that He is the God of us those who want to give up.

Why didn’t someone tell me this sooner?

I started to form this list of things I wish someone would’ve drilled into my head sooner. I have been consistently surprised at how true and often I face the situations below:

• There are going to be multiple moments that I’m scared witless and severely questioning myself and everything that I am doing, even while I’m on the right path.
• There will be multiple moments, even on the right path, that it’s so hard I will feel like quitting it all. Just be done.
• When I pursue my dreams, I’m going to continually hear hurtful jokes and comments, even from people who love and support me but just don’t understand.
• To achieve dream success, there will be temporary heart shattering setbacks that I’ll have to overcome in the middle of an otherwise great life.

The craziest part is that these things can happen whether you are living life the right way or not. These happenings are not the best way for you to determine whether you are choosing the right or wrong path. They can be typical of both. Don’t get caught up in letting these typical situations cause extra discouragement or fear in your life. Instead we must look to God for guidance in whatever situation no matter how good, bad, or why it is happening.

In ALL your ways acknowledge Him

and He will direct your paths

Proverbs 3:6

Is there something to the ages 21 and 30?

Joseph was instated and started saving lives after years of preparation at the age of thirty!

Genesis 41:46 Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout Egypt.

This is so interesting to me as I started to ask the question of whether the Bible almost infers that age 21 is the start of adult accountability and 30 years old being a significant and symbolic instating year of now pouring out of that preparation as Jesus started his ministry at that point.

Joseph was another reaffirming cool random connection. Maybe there is something to preparing our choices wisely in our young adults preparation years before the age of 30.

It's Not Getting Through But Who You're Becoming Through the Hard

I just sent in a manuscript into my publisher after five years of collecting and writing on the twenty somethings stage of life after college. Not Alone in the Unknown. The gist of the book is focusing on our perspective in this season so that we do not give up when we feel alone in the unknown in typical hard and confusing times.

One of the life lessons I solidified and learned in this process of turning the book was that:

I will never have enough money, time, or life experience to do things as perfectly as I could. All i can do is give my best for now.

God calls us to do things beyond our capabilities in faith and there is never full completion but only deadlines until heaven is finally set in place.

It is a very vulnerable thing to own a book as ready while admitting in the back of my head that this book and answers feels very incomplete and isn't my best, but my best for now. I so long for me and everything I do to be complete, but God very clearly states that i am still a work in progress in Philippians 1:6 and the He also infers that if i am born again as a Christian, that means i still have a lot of learning and growing to mature into he desires for me.

I must be willing to own my incomplete attempts at love and help as necessary to risk in order to love others well in this season. You must do the same. It's about becoming someone who accepts God's redeeming power as the perfect completer of our less than perfect sacrifices for Him.

And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay.

If sinners will go to hell, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned or unprayed for.
Charles H. Spurgeon

Don't fake it til you make it, live it til you make it.

Don't fake it til you make it, live it til you make it.
too often people get burnt in prosperity teaching trying to fake it until they are tired of putting on the smile anymore. Proclaim it, but trust and live it so that whether it comes now or in heaven, you will make it.

Love this Thought

"The successful will perish but the Lord is my portion forever." Psalm 73

Always Complainers

We can't be "Always Complainers" as Christians. The religious leaders are finally having Jesus crucified after going through a whole 3 year ordeal and night/day process to convince Pilate to kill Jesus. Even after its decided he's going to be killed, the religious leaders are STILL complaining... over a SIGN!!! They are finally getting everything they said they wanted and yet they still complained and wanted more. Don't be that guy or girl in the church and out in the world who is an Always Complainer, it's not Christlike.

Are you going to hang out with Jesus if there are smelly sick people around all the time?

Are you going to hang out with Jesus if there are smelly sick people around all the time?
That's my question for Christians after reading today. They were always being brought to Jesus as i am reading so you couldn't be stuck on being high profile and high maintenance and hangout with Jesus all the time. But often that is how we ask God for our lives to look. Do we have a double standard in our lives sometimes?

Danger of Christians

I have had the privilege of growing up in the church and being a Christian most of my life. There are so many life changing amazing things that God does in our lives, but we can also become unaware of the common weakness and blindspots that can also appear.

We can forget to focus on the unseen and only focus on what is seen/temporary and begin to act as the blind if we are not careful

1 Jn 2:15-17

These are some Bad habits we can sink into:

1. Skipping over Scriptures

a. Memorization Mumble- mumble through words to get to a point

b. Skim- Skim the verses in a book to get to what the author has to say

c. Danger: Not Reflecting on the Living Words of God you have heard to allow His words to change and speak to you in a new way

2. Believing but not heeding Scripture

a. Pride- We have heard it and already know what it says

b. Bad assumption: that "since we have heard, we are living it out" when a lot of times we have heard but not fully changed and obey what we have heard

3. Putting Extra Guilt/ Rules on Christianity that God never did

a. We Often turn God’s Tools into Rules (Bible, prayer, church, etc.)

4. Forgetting the Purpose of what We Do

a. Church/Read/Pray/etc. We get to MEET with JESUS!

b. The Powerful Mystery of Prayer.

c. Loss of Perspective can lead to being Guilt Driven or blind instead of appreciative of serving opportunities.

This is not a criticism of all Christianity, this is a reflection to make sure we are aware of potential blindspots.

Questions about American Life Pt. 5 of 5

I love living in America and so thankful to call this place home, but i know no place or people is perfect, so here are some of my questions after living with less for a week.

Need vs. Wants
needs- something necessary to have an acceptable quality of life.
wants- something good but unnecessary to have an acceptable quality of life.

I do struggle at times with what we call needs in our culture or at least with what the media wants us to belief are needs. Computers/nice cell phones/TV/own car/insurance/nice makeup/etc. Our society and jobs can almost force these things to be needs, but in no way are they directly necessary to having a better "quality of life." They are wants they market as needs so that we buy them and feel like we can't live without them. It is not that these things are not good and that we can't consider them a blessing to be thankful for, but i do wonder

At what point do the goods become a Trap instead of a Blessing?
I personally like the simplicity of less technology instead of more even though i use it a lot. So it was hard for me to see people wanting to get back to their phones and facebook even before we had left Jamaica as though it was their lifeline to survival. I know it is good to want to be in others lives, but it is almost like we have made it a necessity to be able to reach each other at any time and to be able to keep up and know what everyone's doing at all times through text, twitter, and fb newsfeeds. But i constantly wonder when does this become a distraction and more noise to keep us from God? it also makes me think that we may be

Convenience Spoiled.
Once again as you saw in my previous post, i am very thankful for convenience. At the same time, I think our American culture is constantly elevating convenience and worldly security to a higher and sometimes completely unhealthy need when it is really a luxury or want. We have to have a TV & cable in our house even though it would be cheaper going to a friends or restaurant when i wanted to watch something. We have to be able to track or be able to contact our kids everywhere for their own safety even though kids have continued to survive for thousands of years compared to our 20 years of cell phones being around. We have to have a cell phone instead of a land line because if people can't reach us, how will survive (see last sentence). Which brings me to my next question,

Are We Security Consumed?
One I struggle with sometimes is insurance. I don't think those houses in Jamaica have insurance on them. I am not sure about the cars. I don't think the families in Jamaica have insurance for their family. yet the culture continues on. Yes, on the opposite end i didn't get to see but i heard the hospitals were a place to be avoided and that our team walked away so thankful for what we do have, so don't get me wrong. I'm so thankful on some level for our system. But i still have to ask in my head, Is all the different insurances i pay for really necessary and are all the ways we want to protect our kids and families necessary? or are they also luxuries and wants that we have convinced or trapped ourselves into believe are necessities we stress over rather than luxuries to leave behind or be extra thankful for?

Thankful Jamaica Recap Pt. 4 of 5

Me and the team actually get to share more of this on Sunday at the DeWitt campus service, but this was the list of things i am thankful for that i started to compile with a few others while I was overseas:
Thankful for:

• My own personal car- they can be lucky to have a family car, if not just taxi $, let alone each individual in the family owning a car
  
• Money to get to school and eat
• Parents who made Access to education (taxi's/uniform) possible
  
• Pastors able to be themselves- Sounds like their are some pretty strict rules of a religion rather than relationship put on pastors at times in Jamaica
  
• Ice
• Urinals that don't splash
• Toilets that aren't falling apart
  
• Air conditioning
• Easily accessible Hot water
  
• Clean hospitals
• Reliable Car
  
• Washing machine
• Safety on roads
• Unending supply of water
• Less bug spray needed
  
• Shoes
• Electricity
• More Value in Families with one mom and dad
  
• Plumbing instead of Water in barrels

• Comfortable houses
• Proximity- churches/school close enough to get to
  
• Christian culture- the non-pressure to lose my virginity
  
• Not having Innocence lost- falling into bad circumstances early because of poverty
  
• Trash service- there is not a lot of recycling and mainly have burn piles there
  
• Nice Grocery stores
• Refrigerator
• That I was Taught/know how to swim/I met a few adult Jamaicans who were scared of the ocean or couldn't swim
  
• Not worried about having to be darker/lighter skin color for prejudice reasons
  
• Having a Christian community/good church back home
  
• Beau at Faith Church (Jim and Penny expressed their appreciation of his support)
• Lack of Accusations- against what I've done in ministry so far
• Lack of Distrust in the local church- I hear of a lot of people who don't trust the church anymore, but despite its flaws and humanity, i still have a wholehearted hope for its people.
  

Things I contemplated giving up or at least pondered whether i should be downgrading:

• Cell phone
• Clothes
• How much money needs to be spent on securities

God at Work Jamaica Recap Pt. 3 of 5

God Stories:
Unity- God really brought our two groups together(MI/CA & NC) and allowed us to mesh and encourage each other, Jim & Penny, & others in an amazing way!

Testimonies- We had testimonies share in the circle of where people were coming from in our team circle that cannot be shared but it was amazing to see who God had brought on this trip and how people were growing and giving even from some pretty dark past scenarios. Its fun to see God stretch people. Stories of past failures, current struggles, and future fears were all shared and prayed over.
Ian- (Jamaican below in the background) I had a really great conversation about what it means to be a light in dark places as a Christian and what it means to be a Christian. He considered himself a believer but not a baptized Christian since he had 4 girlfriends at the time (which I don't believe is right, but is more of a common practice in Jamaica from what i am told). It Was a really good conversation for me to share about saving myself for marriage and what it means to try and be to living a life of purity as a Christian guy in every aspect of my life. It was the first time i have actually been straight up laughed at by a group of guys for still being a virgin! Apparently, Reggae is connected with the "party scene" of Jamaica and once you become a baptized Christian from Ian's perspective, you will be judged harshly if someone who knew you to be a Christian were playing that kind of music out of your house. Interesting.

Lloyd-
was riding by on his bike and seeing a group of us reading by the beach, he asked me, "What are you all studying?" I was able to tell him it was the Bible and slowly the conversation switched from small talk to me being able to ask him what it meant for him to get back into the habit of following God, since he said he had fallen out of the habit of church or praying. I suggested that while "he was riding his bike by the water would be a fantastic time to think about God and pray." I hope our conversation reminds him to do that.
Rosa- Was the mom who we helped rebuild her house(top picture). She had such a great attitude and was so thankful and optimistic about the future and her next steps from what others told me, despite living in such simple conditions. A blessing to be apart of helping and to see.

Also, Erika told me she counted 27 answered prayers over the trip as she looked back. I can't wait to hear all of them, but this was my starting list, although it doesn't even begin to scratch the surface...

Answered Prayers:

1. Logan got his passport on time before we left
   
2. Logan's hand got better after being bitten and swollen by centipede
   
3. Amanda's headache felt better after a day or two
4. Amanda T had a God moment in her quiet time that she had been asking for.
   
5. Trace was able to be on the team because he was obedient to moving to Michigan
6. Cami Carter wouldn't have come if Trace didn't move to MI
   
7. Kristyn stepped out in sharing her faith and talking to others as she had been praying
   
8. Kayla Marie stepped up to play and sing by herself on Sunday at church for the first time
   
9. I actually made it to Jamaica in God's timing
   
10. Penny & Jim and the kingdom builders ministry should be making it in the Jamaican Observer newspaper which was a prayer of redemption and blessing that God seemed to answer through the article.
11. Conversations with Ian & Lloyd the morning we had prayed for such opportunities
    

Jamaican Culture Recap Pt. 2 of 5

STEREOTYPES

• Saying, "Ya, mon." This one is true! They said it way more than i thought they would. More than my canadian friends say, "eh." That's for sure.
  
• Fast Runners- Also True. I'm not sure everyone is, but they definitely were beating all of us in sprinting contests on sports day and following their runners racing in Kingston in the news!
  

• Good Climbers- Also True. I was climbing a tree and it felt kinda like how i pictured Africa in the Lion King (tropicalish)... sitting in a windy swaying tree over looking a field. When Four local kids all started climbing up the tree at the same time and were hanging upside down, by one arm, etc. like monkeys. Once again, this may not be all Jamaicans, but these boys definitely blew me and my American friends out of the water!

• Laid Back- Also true. From what I could see life was slower because you would run a shop or business out of the home, but it seemed like a lot of people would sit around the shops or by the street during the day and at least not appear too busy. Also, you could smell it and i was told that the ganja(mirijuana) was very popular among the people and what helps run some of the power and economics.
• Poverty- Fairly true. there were some nice houses and areas, but there were definitely way more simplistic areas and poor housing as you drove throughout the country. It was sad to hear that the kids can often get themselves into more trouble because this puts them in more situations where they might be performing favors or trying to find other ways to get the money needed for a ride, an education, or to provide for their family.

• Churched- Somewhat True. I've heard of a lot of missions trips going to Jamaica, but it seems that although it one of the leaders of the most churches per capita of people, it seems that a lot of people believe in God, but that a lot of people will not commit to the church or call themselves a "baptized Christian" because they don't want to live a godly life (have multiple girlfriends) or see the church as more religion rules (ie. have to dress a certain way) than a relationship and don't want to be too committed to that falsehood. So there is still a need for cultural and church shifts and outreach.
• Need Help? Yes. We can't just always be handing people things and the people there are happy with less, but yet there is so much we have to offer these people from labor to resources to loving arms to godly male examples to a pair of shoes.