One of the benefits of living by myself and having a much reduced schedule is that I get to read more and do other things that I used to love doing, like sit around and be lazy!!! Oh well...
I recomend "The Normal Christian Worker" by Watchman Nee. I just finished it... it is a great account of what a servant of God should be like, how they should be tempered and how they should respond to dfferent challenges and situations, from scripture. Great read, it has really taught me a lot of what it will take to be a pastor and the attitudes that I should have toward my self, the church and my role within the church.
The other bok that I am reading right now is a book by John Eldridge, "The Way of the Wild Heart" It is a sequal of sorts to "Wild at Heart" and it really tackles some of he deepest roots in a mans heart... great read and I will tell you all more about it as I read more of it.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Friday, February 16, 2007
Health
Well... isn't it funny how sometimes you don't realize something is bad for you until it is gone? That has been the story of my life the past few days, pushing almost a week now. PLU will always be a high point of my life, but it won't be THE high point of my life. I realized that there were some things at PLU that were in my life and were causing me to make unhealthy choices. Now that I am away from PLU and some space has been allowed into my life and some relationships, I can honestly look back and begin to make changes. I know that I have talked to most of you who read this in person, but I want to put it down in words for real.
What started off this whole journey back to health was the realization of how much I try and do or how hard I will work to be comfortable. Most of my relationships bring me a measure of comfort, so to change most of them in the space of one weekend (me moving to Sumner) was hard to do. I have had to challenge myself to find my comfort in the Lord, and in Him alone.
This verse has really been speaking to me... lots. All about how discomfort is always a gain for someone. In my particular case, the gain will be for me; I will get more out of this season of discomfort than many other seasons of my life. Discomfort always leads to comfort, because God is a merciful and loving Father who delights in His childdren and will never give them more than they can handle. I know this, but sometimes it is hard to accept.
Another facet of my heart that the Lord is unlocking right now is my hope for the future. When you are in my position, you get the priveledge of hearing people say things like, "Wow, you will look back on this in five years and laugh" or my all time favorite, "You have such a great calling and annointing to do _____!" Me in my impatience would usually smile politely and then vent to the nearest available person who understood (Emily Hockert, who is a miracle worker). What the Lord has been showing me is that I am not to despise the hope set before me.
Jesus only did what He did here on earth so that He could enjoy an eternity with us, His bride. When I look at the discomfort around me, I don't need to complain and tell anyone who will listen that it is not fair. I don't need to go looking for things that indicate that people are against me and then show them off like I am proud of them. I can choose my attitude, even in this. I will do what I have always done with spiritual things, run.
I will run right at it. I know that God has big, no huge things in store for me, and if a little discomfort and a lot of growing is what it takes to walk in those things eventually... I will run right at it and endure, fixing my eyes on Jesus and waiting for the promises that God has given me to come about, not by my doing, but allowing Him to do it in His perfect time.
So, my prayer for myself is simple... I want to know Your love and comfort, I want to experience it at my deepest core and allow this life changing knowledge to complete me in ways I never knew were possible.
Once that happens, I won't even be able to think about comfort... it will just be.
What started off this whole journey back to health was the realization of how much I try and do or how hard I will work to be comfortable. Most of my relationships bring me a measure of comfort, so to change most of them in the space of one weekend (me moving to Sumner) was hard to do. I have had to challenge myself to find my comfort in the Lord, and in Him alone.
2 Corinthians 1:3-7
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.
This verse has really been speaking to me... lots. All about how discomfort is always a gain for someone. In my particular case, the gain will be for me; I will get more out of this season of discomfort than many other seasons of my life. Discomfort always leads to comfort, because God is a merciful and loving Father who delights in His childdren and will never give them more than they can handle. I know this, but sometimes it is hard to accept.
Another facet of my heart that the Lord is unlocking right now is my hope for the future. When you are in my position, you get the priveledge of hearing people say things like, "Wow, you will look back on this in five years and laugh" or my all time favorite, "You have such a great calling and annointing to do _____!" Me in my impatience would usually smile politely and then vent to the nearest available person who understood (Emily Hockert, who is a miracle worker). What the Lord has been showing me is that I am not to despise the hope set before me.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us throw aside any encumberance and the sin which so easily entangles and let us run with endurance the race set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus only did what He did here on earth so that He could enjoy an eternity with us, His bride. When I look at the discomfort around me, I don't need to complain and tell anyone who will listen that it is not fair. I don't need to go looking for things that indicate that people are against me and then show them off like I am proud of them. I can choose my attitude, even in this. I will do what I have always done with spiritual things, run.
I will run right at it. I know that God has big, no huge things in store for me, and if a little discomfort and a lot of growing is what it takes to walk in those things eventually... I will run right at it and endure, fixing my eyes on Jesus and waiting for the promises that God has given me to come about, not by my doing, but allowing Him to do it in His perfect time.
So, my prayer for myself is simple... I want to know Your love and comfort, I want to experience it at my deepest core and allow this life changing knowledge to complete me in ways I never knew were possible.
Once that happens, I won't even be able to think about comfort... it will just be.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Richland, WA
I am taking a mini-vacation from everything... so I am now in Richland, WA (one of the Tri-Cities) and I am hanging out with my Dad for a few days. It is really great because I have nothing to do, no responsibilities to people or any obligations that I need to fulfil. I have free reign to just vegetate, spend time with Jesus and make music.
If you have myspace, you should check out my brother Timothy's page. He is my number one, and he left a comment telling me that he got saved yesterday!!!
I am slightly confused, because I thought he was saved already and that he know's the Lord, so him telling me he got saved... I just need more information, that is all. Maybe he got baptized in Holy Spirit, that would be cool.
I am going to play with ProTools now... I will try and keep up with e-mail and myspace and stuff, no I know that I will because I have nothing pending that would keep me from them!
If you have myspace, you should check out my brother Timothy's page. He is my number one, and he left a comment telling me that he got saved yesterday!!!
I am slightly confused, because I thought he was saved already and that he know's the Lord, so him telling me he got saved... I just need more information, that is all. Maybe he got baptized in Holy Spirit, that would be cool.
I am going to play with ProTools now... I will try and keep up with e-mail and myspace and stuff, no I know that I will because I have nothing pending that would keep me from them!
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Sumner here I come...
I am moving to Sumner, sometime on Saturday after I get my room all packed up. I am not to sure how I feel about it, but the price is right and I hope to be working out there as well at either Costco or REI so the commute to work is good.
The reason that I have pause about moving to Sumner is because all my friends and church stuff I do is in Tacoma... a long ways from Sumner. I guess that I will put more miles on my truck than I want to beause all the things in Tacoma that I love are really worth it to me.
Hopefully, I will not be living out there for too long, because I would love to work either for Pierce County Sheriff's Department or for an Ambulance company. In order to work for an Ambulance company, I would need to recertify as an EMT. This would require me to audit some of the EMT classes offered at TCC, in Tacoma (a long ways from Sumner). Once I recertify, I can call up Mary Bridge Childrens Hospital and ask them if there are any positions available to me, or even apply to Tacoma General again and hopefully restart my career in the ER. I would also like to get hired with an Ambulance company, or someone that would eventually let me go through Paramedic training. Working as a Paramedic would give me so many options and advantages...
1) I would be able to fulfil a dream I have had since High School and be able to help people in the ultimate of dire emergency situations.
2) I could work in the ER as a Paramedic and basically do the same jobs Nurses do, with some restrictions of course.
3) The real reason I ever pursued medicine in the first place was to be able to go overseas and help impovrished nations by providing health care. This is a great way to get into areas of the world that have not heard the Gospel message of Jesus Christ!
4) I have always had a strange fascination with knowing what to do and being able to keep my head when people around me start to panic. Maybe it is a power trip, but I like to think of it as a gifting.
If none of this works out or if God leads otherwise, I can always try my hand at being a Sheriff's Deputy and patrol the parts of Pierce County that are not Tacoma. Don't get me wrong, I would like that too, it would just be much different.
So, as for now, I will be living in Sumner. It will be great because I won't be paying rent because it is a house that my Grandpa owns and uses as storage for stuff. Sumner is a nice town and a good area, it is just really far away from Tacoma.
The reason that I have pause about moving to Sumner is because all my friends and church stuff I do is in Tacoma... a long ways from Sumner. I guess that I will put more miles on my truck than I want to beause all the things in Tacoma that I love are really worth it to me.
Hopefully, I will not be living out there for too long, because I would love to work either for Pierce County Sheriff's Department or for an Ambulance company. In order to work for an Ambulance company, I would need to recertify as an EMT. This would require me to audit some of the EMT classes offered at TCC, in Tacoma (a long ways from Sumner). Once I recertify, I can call up Mary Bridge Childrens Hospital and ask them if there are any positions available to me, or even apply to Tacoma General again and hopefully restart my career in the ER. I would also like to get hired with an Ambulance company, or someone that would eventually let me go through Paramedic training. Working as a Paramedic would give me so many options and advantages...
1) I would be able to fulfil a dream I have had since High School and be able to help people in the ultimate of dire emergency situations.
2) I could work in the ER as a Paramedic and basically do the same jobs Nurses do, with some restrictions of course.
3) The real reason I ever pursued medicine in the first place was to be able to go overseas and help impovrished nations by providing health care. This is a great way to get into areas of the world that have not heard the Gospel message of Jesus Christ!
4) I have always had a strange fascination with knowing what to do and being able to keep my head when people around me start to panic. Maybe it is a power trip, but I like to think of it as a gifting.
If none of this works out or if God leads otherwise, I can always try my hand at being a Sheriff's Deputy and patrol the parts of Pierce County that are not Tacoma. Don't get me wrong, I would like that too, it would just be much different.
So, as for now, I will be living in Sumner. It will be great because I won't be paying rent because it is a house that my Grandpa owns and uses as storage for stuff. Sumner is a nice town and a good area, it is just really far away from Tacoma.
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