Intimacy With God

This week we had the privilege of hearing from Shay Robbins who is a director of one of the Kanakuk Kamps. I loved listening to him because he is so passionate about the topic he spoke on, which was intimacy with God. We started by talking about seeking God, because if we are going to have intimacy with Him we need to seek Him. After that, we talked about how God speaks to us and the avenues He uses to do so. That was really convicting because it became clear why I haven’t heard from God a lot. It is because I haven’t been taking time to do things like really study His word or seek out Godly people to pour into me. If I want God to speak to me, I have to be willing to listen and make sure that  my heart is in a state where I can hear Him.  That leads right into the next thing Shay talked about, which is spiritual disciplines. The six that he talked about are:

1.     Study

2.     Solitude

3.     Meditation

4.     Fasting

5.     Prayer

6.     Simplicity

It was pretty convicting to see these and realize how poor of a job I am doing at practicing them. However, it was encouraging to hear how these things didn’t come easy for Shay either at first. For example, I am really bad at waking up early to have a quiet time. When my alarm goes off, the last thing I want to do is get out of bed. When Shay first started having his quiet time in the morning, he struggled with the same thing. In fact, it took him six months of pure discipline before waking up early became a passion. Now he says there are days where he can’t wait to wake up and spend time with God. It is nice to know that I am not the only one who struggles at that discipline. Sometimes it seems that everything comes easy for older wiser people, but Shay had six months of not wanting to wake up early before it became easy. It is also encouraging that if we are disciplines and really focus on getting better at something, it will become easier.

 Hearing that right before Christmas break was great timing because during breaks is when it is the hardest to manage those spiritual disciplines.

That ends my first semester at Link Year. Thanks for those of you who have been following this blog throughout the year. I really appreciate it!

Make Today Count

One thing that I have really been working on while at Link Year is managing my time and getting the most out of every day. I’m so tired of letting day after day go by without any growth because I waste my time on things that have no value. After talking through this with my mentor, he gave me a book to read that completely changed how I view each day. The book is called Make Today Count by John C. Maxwell. If you struggle at all with managing your days and getting the most out of them I highly suggest reading it. In it he goes through what he calls his daily dozen. They are the 12 things that he makes sure he focuses on every day. They are:

Attitude

Priorities

Health

Family

Thinking

Commitment

Finances

Faith

Relationships

Generosity

Values

Growth

For each one of those he goes through a few points on how to make the decision to improve in all those areas daily. However, he doesn’t stop there, because he knows that making the decision to improve is only a small part. He also goes into how to manage the discipline of improving. I love how he focuses on that because I’m so bad at managing the disciplines necessary to improve. One of my favorite things that he said in his book was, “Neglect enough todays and you will experience the “someday” you’ve wanted to avoid.” That is so true and it is why I really want to take advantage of every day. If I continue to go through my days without a purpose, then before I know it my life will be wasted and I will have hardly accomplished anything. My goal by the end of Link year is to incorporate these twelve things into my daily routine. I obviously won’t have them mastered by then, but my hope is that I will at least have a good start.

Another cool thing about this week is that we did something called Link Year Gives Back. Throughout the week we served at different places around Branson. One of the places that I went was the local food pantry. It was neat because we were able to help them out a lot and accomplish tasks that they simply didn’t have time to do. I loved seeing how grateful they were for the few hours of work we put in. While serving there, one thing that I realized was it doesn’t take much to have a big impact on those around me. All it took was sacrificing a few hours out of my week. I hope to go back in the weeks to come and continue having an impact on that organization.

That is all I have for this week! 

Thanks for reading! 

Do We Need to Rethink How We do Mission Trips?

Here I am, the week after Thanksgiving with only 2 weeks left before Christmas break... and then my year here at Link is half over. Looking back it is crazy how far I have come already in past few months. My understanding of the Bible, the Gospel, and my faith is so much greater than it was in September. However, there is still so much to learn and I am looking forward not only to the remainder of Link Year but also the years to come because my learning will not stop when I leave.

One of the things that has challenged me a lot while being at Link Year was Urban Entry, which took place the week before Thanksgiving break. For one week we went into a poor community in Kansas City and did mission work at a place called the Hope Center. What really challenged me was actually not seeing a poor community because I have gone on multiple mission trips to poor areas, including one to Africa. It was how the trip was set up that really made me think of my heart behind going. In every mission trip I had been on up to this point, it seemed as though the organization we went to serve ended up serving us in many ways. Now that sounds crazy, but the more I think about it the more I am convinced that is how it was. For example, I've been on three mission trips to Peoria, Illinois where we worked at an inner city mission and also out at a summer camp. Every year I went our hosts at the camp made sure we had a comfortable place to sleep, plenty of snacks to eat and Gatorade to drink, and big meals to eat. The result of this is each year I would go back, I was looking forward to those things often times more than actually serving. I went thinking about how much fun I would have and how I would enjoy all the things provided for me. In essence, the trip became about me and the experience that I would have. Not that it is bad to have fun on a mission trip or to enjoy the things provided for us, but if that is the sole reason why we enjoy going, there is a problem. And maybe the mission trips you have been on were not like the experiences that I had, and that is great because you probably figured this out a lot sooner than I did.
It was not until a little over a week ago that the way I approached mission trips was revolutionized for a couple reasons. First of all, we slept (all 30 guys) in a small basement on a cement floor. So it was crowded, uncomfortable, and did not smell all that great. Secondly, at the beginning of the week we were given tickets with which we would "buy" our meals and showers. As I'm sure you can imagine, we were not given enough tickets that we could spend them on everything we wanted. We had to budget them well all week or the last couple days we would have been broke. Because of this system I never felt full all week. Now don't get me wrong, I had plenty to eat by the standards of most of the world, it just wasn't what I was used to, especially since one of the meals I ate was a bowl of rice and beans. So what do all these things have to do with changing how I think about mission trips? It's simply this: I would honestly never say if I went back that I would be looking forward to the hard floors to sleep on or the smaller portions of food to eat than I was used to. Be careful not to misunderstand me here. I definitely would still look forward to going. I just would not look forward to the conditions. That is how I wish more missions trips were set up. Why? Because every time I was tempted to complain or think negative thoughts about sleeping on a cement floor or being hungry, I had to check my heart about why I was there. Was I there just so I could be comfortable and have a fun experience or so I could serve others? It also made me rely on God's power to have a good attitude and be able to serve others with all my energy. You see, in all the mission trips I had been on earlier, it was so easy to make them about me. I did not need God's power to have a good time because I was always comfortable. If I had made Urban Entry about me and not about serving, it honestly would have been one of the worst weeks of my life. I would have been tired, hungry, and pretty grumpy. Thankfully, I was able to get over having it be about me and loved serving.
Please don't think that I have this all figured out. It will always be a struggle to take the focus off myself in whatever I do. I simply now have a goal for how I want to approach every mission trip I participate in from now on.

Hope that challenges your heart behind mission trips as much as it did mine.

Thanks for reading!

November 13

This week has been unique for a few reasons. First of all, the speaker we were supposed to have was not able to make his flight, so he ended up not coming. However, we did not at all have a shortage of good speakers to listen to this week. To start us off on Monday morning, we had Paul Etheridge, a United States Veteran and Kanakuk Wilderness Directer, speak to us on the Armer of God. It was really neat having a veteran come speak to us on veterans day. And having been in the army he was able to give us a whole new perspective on the importance armer, whether physical or spiritual. After Mr. Etheridge spoke, the Men's Director of Link Year, Seth Higgins, spoke on the question Who is Jesus? That was the topic focused on for the remainder of the week. The whole point of his talks were that we would leave with a solid grasp on who Jesus is and why he can be trusted. There are three different forms of evidence he went over that help prove the existence and validity of Jesus. The first is eyewitness evidence. In other words, are the Gospels accurate and can what they say be trusted. The second form of evidence is documentary. How do different manuscripts that have been found dating back to the First Century support the New Testament and is there information in ancient secular works of literature that support the New Testament? The third form of evidence we went over is scientific. For this we broke down the gospels to see if they support whether Jesus was really the Messiah or just someone who claimed to be; and did he really die and come back to life?
 I will go off on a little tangent here to talk about the argument that says since Jesus could have known what the prophesies for the Messiah were, he could have intentionally fulfilled them. First of all, there is no way that he could have done that because how could he have arranged where he was born, the soldiers gambling for his clothes, or his legs not being broken? There are many other prophesies like that which he had no control over. What is so ironic and funny though is that the very people who were trying to disprove him being the Messiah (the Pharisees) were the ones who fulfilled some of the prophesies, proving that he was the Messiah that was spoken of in the Old Testament. The Pharisees knew the Old Testament very well and would have definitely known about the prophesies for the Messiah. Yet, they still betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, which was prophesied about, and chose to have him crucified, which was also prophesied about. I thought that was pretty cool how God will use anyone or anything to fulfill his plan. It was really neat being walked through all that information that supports Jesus' validity and I feel like I have a much better grasp on why we can trust who He is.
The Last thing I would like to mention is that we had the privilege of having John Stonestreet come and answer any question we had for a couple hours Wednesday afternoon. He knows so much about current topics on culture and how we as Christians should handle them. If you don't know much about him here is a little info:

http://www.colsoncenter.org/connections/speakers-bureau/entry/22/14249

Two things that he said that I loved and can really take away are:

1) "Don't emphasize things that the Bible doesn't emphasize or question things that the Bible doesn't question."

2) "The mark of an educated person is that no one ever simply gave them an education. They were constantly seeking an education for themselves."
What I got from that is I can't expect to just sit back have knowledge and wisdom come to me. I need to be proactive and search for it whenever and wherever I can, along with lots and lots of reading.

Next week we go into Kansas City to do urban mission work which I am really excited about!

Thanks for reading!

The Cost of Following Christ

This week our speaker was from right here on the Link Year staff. Our very own Brian Wang spoke, and did an incredible job presenting his message. His main theme for the week was the cost of following Christ in a world that pulls you down. In his vary first session he gave an analogy that will stay with me for a long time. It was simple but so true. He said how at 211 degrees, water is just really hot, but at 212 degrees is boils and creates steam. And steam can power a locomotive. The only difference between boiling and not boiling is one little degree. Here is a video that explains this further:

So what does this have to do with the cost of following Christ? Brian explained that so many of us live our Christian lives at the 211th degree. We don't give the extra effort or go the extra mile. However, what does Jesus call us to do? The verse that Brian based his whole talk on was Luke 9:23 which states, "Then he [Jesus] said to them all: 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.'" This is one of the hardest verses for me to read and follow, because it requires that I completely let go of all my desires and plans. Brain pointed out three things that we need to understand as we follow Christ: 

1) Self Denial

2) Complete Dedication 

3) Willing Obedience 

I can say that I want to do these things and really live by them, but when I look at my life it is nothing like this. I live for myself. I'm only dedicated when it's easy. My obedience is based on my terms. This video by Francis Chan speaks into this and it blew my mind: 

 

I love Jesus as a savior, but do I love Him as a role model? Do I really want to serve how He served? To live how He lived? The truth is that I don't. I am too attached to this world, to my future plans, to my comfort. But what does Paul say in Philippians 3:7-8? He considers all the pleasers and possessions of this world garbage in comparison to knowing Christ. In other words, they do not even come close. Brian's left us with some really challenging questions to end, such as, what "garbage" do I need to get rid of in my life to fully pursue Christ? and what is keeping me at the 211th degree? I will constantly have to be asking myself these questions because it will always be a struggle to let go of living for myself and give my life to God. It's a daily struggle, but thank God that He does not expect me to do it on my own. He is always there to help me. I just need to be willing. 

Hope that convicts/encourages you as much as it did me. 

Thanks for reading! 

Who Am I?

After last week I was not sure if we would have another speaker as good and Jefferson Bethke, but I would say that BJ Thompson has been just as good. It is incredible having one amazing speaker after the other. BJ has tackled some huge questions this week such as: Who am I? Who are we as believers? And why are we here? The question that has impacted me most is who am I? This is a question that I know I have to constantly be asking myself or I will forget, like I so often do. When I forget I fall into living the performance lifestyle. I see my relationship with God as a performance relationship. I work so hard on doing good things and go before God and say, "Look God, look at all I have to offer." Unfortunately it is never enough, because there is no way I can perform my way to God. When God looks at all my good works and says they are worthless, it leaves me with only my sin, which is pretty depressing. I know that there is a standard that I can never reach on my own. At this point there are three things that we tend to do. We run because we know there is a standard and choose not to live by it. We sit because the weight of the standard overwhelms us so we become depressed and don't do anything. Or we make up a new standard to make us feel good about ourselves and become self-righteous. How do we get out of this mess of living a performance based life? One thing that I realized, when BJ mentioned it, was that our biggest issue is not understanding that God loves us unconditionally. It is believing that God loves us unconditionally. Not many of us truly believe that there is nothing we can do to change how much God loves us. BJ left us with three things we need to do to experience God's grace.

1) Understand that we are a mess. Jesus came for the sick. He does not want us to come to him acting healthy. However this is so contrary to human nature. We don't want to admit we are a mess. We like to see the mess in others to make ourselves feel good. But we need to understand that our ability to admit we are a mess is to the degree we understand grace.

2) Understand that although we are a mess, we are deeply loved. Again, this is so opposite what we naturally think. When we really understand that we are a mess, the last thing we feel is loved. But, as we see in Ephesians 1, God loved us and adopted us into His family before we were born or did anything for Him. We did not have to prove to Him that we were worthy of being loved. He loves us no matter what.

3) Let grace transform us. When deep mess and deep love meet, grace transforms. This transformation can only point to God, because there is no way we could do it. The most powerful testimony is a life changed by grace, because it cannot be credited to us.

That is how we avoid the performance life and live in the identity God has for us, which is that we are His dearly loved children.

Thanks for reading!

Jefferson Bethke

Time continues to fly by here at Link Year. Just a few short weeks until Thanksgiving. Then Christmas follows only 3 weeks after that and my year is half over. Really makes me want to use my time well because Link Year will be over before I know it.
This week we have had the incredible opportunity to listen to Jefferson Bethke speak to us. This is the first speaker who is here a full week, which is neat because he can really go deep into certain topics. Jeff is amazing at communicating and keeps his audience drawn in. Our 45 minute sessions felt like they were only 10 minutes. One of the topics he spoke on was how the Bible should be seen as a story or narrative. If we look at it as a narrative, when we read certain parts we have to see how they fit into the whole story. We can't just take what we want. When reading a story, you don't start in the middle. You start in the beginning. When we read little bits all over and choose what we take from the Bible it becomes like a math book in that we can create formulas to say whatever we want. We need to read it in the scope of the whole story. I have never put much thought into this before. I often have seen the Bible as a bunch of little separate stories. However, now when I read from the Bible I will constantly be thinking of how it all fits into the scope of God's whole story.
Another topic that Jeff talked about was temple. In the beginning heaven and earth were created to be together. They were to be one in the same. However, at the fall of man, they ripped apart, but not completely. They are still together wherever there is a temple. The temple is where heaven and earth meet. In the Old Testament, the temple was a building. However, in the New Testament Jesus became where heaven and earth meet - the temple. That is why the Pharisees questioned his authority so much. He claimed to be able to do what only the temple could do, such as forgiveness of sins and debt collection. The temple was now in flesh and could go out to the world and further the area where heaven and earth meet. After Jesus leaves earth, guess who becomes the temple. Christians do.  We as believers are now where heaven and earth meet and have the job of increasing this area. God's goal is not us eventually going up to heaven. His goal is to fully restore earth to what it was. The fact that we as believers have Jesus living inside of us and we are were heaven and earth meet should drastically change how we live. How different should we be than the rest of the world? I was pretty convicted on that point this week. If I am God's temple - literally where heaven and earth meet - then I want to honor and glorify him in any way possible. It really puts my life goals and want I want to accomplish into perspective. They are pretty small in comparison to God's plan.
I wish I could share all that Jefferson spoke on but unfortunately that would take hours. So I will leave you with that.

Thanks for reading!