The Tower of Babel

This evening's blog post will be more of a post about a bible story rather than encouragement. I hope that this is cool with you all! It won't be as long as the last couple, so that will be nice and convenient. I have been reading the book of Genesis and came across a story in Genesis chapter 11. The story is about The Tower of Babel. I don't know if you have ever heard of it before. I have read through it a couple of times in the past but never really read between the lines and understood the story.

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar from mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth." But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel-becuase there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth. (Genesis 11:1-8)

Imagine the world world having one language and a common speech. Then people of this world wanted to build a tower that was going to reach to the heavens. I think that sounds so amazing. I cannot fathom the world being so united and tougher. I want to say, imagine today's present day world being so united...think of what could be accomplished. Unfortunately, that is not the way it is. Something that sticks out to me is that God said: "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them." Is God saying that if we all spoke the same language nothing would be impossible? Remember nothing is impossible for God and we are capable of so many things through Christ. We can do all things!

This post was a little different than normal...I believe that different is good and I hope that enjoyed reading about a story that might not be the most popular in the bible.

One more thing, I don't know how many of you have seen Black Panther...but this story reminds me of the movie. The people of Wakanda had their little secret, and their power was unlimited with it. Do you see the similarities?

Two are better than one

Two are better than one. I am hopeful that you have heard that before at some point in your life or during your walk with Christ. For those of you who might be reading something that I posted for the first time, I have been reading the book 'Living on The Ragged Edge,' by Charles R. Swindoll. I have referenced his work in a couple of my posts and I plan on doing the same with this post.

I opened up the book last night and the the title of chapter 9 was 'One Plus One Equals Survival.' I immediately was drawn to what this chapter was going to be about and looked forward to finding out what that chapter title meant. While I was reading through it last night, I felt like it was something that I wanted to use in my blog post today. Last night, I had my mind made up that I was going to post about it, and then this morning my mind changed for a bit. I was telling my girlfriend last night about what I read and what it meant that two are better than one. I told her how I was thankful for her because she is always there for me because that is what I need. She is my best friend, and encourages me in every circumstance. She also tells me that there is something that I do that isn't right. I am so thankful for that. (I could go on) When I was reading last night I underlined something that stuck out to me that the author said that I really liked. "I also have a small group of men who know me very well. They are trustworthy and confidential guys I really need. Why? Because I am weak and I need their counsel. Furthermore, I occasionally blow it. If you doubt that, take it by faith! I need those men to encourage me and, when necessary, to reprove me." Those words jumped off the page at me, because that is something I need and want in my life. I have my guys, and I love them, but our relationship is missing a couple of things. Accountability, vulnerability, and Christ. I am just going to be honest, what my relationship with my friends is missing is fruit. I long for friendships where fruit can be produced for the kingdom of heaven. Luckily, I have become disciplined enough where I don't need someone to hold me accountable for reading my bible, but I need some guys in my life that will bring fruit bearing relationships.

Why did I share that all? This morning I was having second thoughts about this blog topic. I was feeling like I was going to be a hypocrite. How could I encourage you with this topic and then not do a good job with it myself? Then the Spirit hit me and I realized that I was just trying to be attacked by Satan. I realized that he was scared and was going to deceive me to not address this topic. Satan likes when we are alone, that is when we are most vulnerable to sin and do things that we probably shouldn't. Where two or more gather in my name, there I will be with them right? Satan is just trying to claw his way in there because he doesn't stand a chance. He was already defeated. My mom used to tell me all the time that she believed the enemy was attacking her, or attacking me, my brother or even our family. I remember thinking, how does she always feel that! It used to blow my mind. Then I realized that once your relationship with Christ gets to a certain point and you feel God's presence all the time that it becomes easier to distinguish what God wants vs. how the enemy is trying to attack you.

Two are better than one 

Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

As humans we are lonely. There are billions of people on this earth, yet we are still lonely. There are some common cries of the lonely and maybe you have heard them before.

1. Why don't people love me and help me get out of my problems?

2. If only others realized how difficult things are!

3. Nobody really cares! I am all alone in this!

There is an old Swedish motto that reads: "Shared joy is double joy, and shared sorrow is half a sorrow." As the motion says, the secret of survival is not simply enjoying life's little joys but enduring its sorrow, it is sharing bother with others.

The opening line of the scripture sets the stage: "two are better than one." I don't know about you, but  I always thought that this scripture was for married people. It would only make sense right? Nope! This passage if for people who are humans on this lonely earth wondering how to survive in our "dog-eat-dog" culture of ragged-edge reality. It is better to have someone along our side for the battle. We gain perspective by having somebody by our side. We gain objectivity and gain courage in tough situations.

Here is a poem from the book that explains why "two are better than one."

Oh, the comfort-the inexpressible comfort
of feeling safe with a person,
Having neither to weigh thoughts,
Nor measure words-but pouring them
All right out-just as they are-
Chaff and grain together-
Certain that a faithful hand will
Take and sift them-
Keep what is worth keeping-
And with the breath of kindness
Blow the rest away.

That poem might not make a ton of sense to you the first time you read it through...or the second.

After making the statement that, Solomon takes the time to explain why. He mentions three reasons: mutual encouragement when we are weak, mutual support when we are vulnerable, and mutual protection when we are attacked.

1. Mutual encouragement when we are weak

...if either of them falls, the one will life up his companion.

It goes like this, in times of personal failure, when times are tough and when it becomes easy to stumble or mess up, we need a companion to keep us from getting to bruised and bloody, That is why I mentioned above about having a group of God loving men by my side would be so cool. They'd watch out for me. If I slip up and make a mistake, I would have someone to encourage me not to do that again.

Here is quote from David W. Smith that express the feeling many of us understand. When I read through this last night, I thought...this is so perfect.

"Within each man there is a dark castle with a fierce dragon to guard the gate. The castle contains a lonely self, a self most men have suppressed, a self they are afraid to show. Instead they present an armored knight-no one is invited inside the castle. The dragon symbolizes the fears and fantasies of masculinity. When men take the risk and let down the barriers, people respond to one another as whole persons and try to communicate with openness and intimacy. Openness brings with it opportunity for a growing relationship, for a wider range of deeply felt experiences. This is the stuff from which friendships are formulated and sustained."

The one of the most eye opening things to me is when I see a dude be different because of his faith. When I see older men ( dads) who love Jesus and you can tell, it is so encouraging. When guys let their guards down in front of each other it is such a cool experience and it's an experience that I long for. I want to have that group of guys that I can change the world with.

2. Mutual support when we are vulnerable 

Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?

This is one that got me! I always thought Solomon was talking about laying together in bed..as a married couple. I was wrong again! This isn't just bedtime warmth. We need someone when there are elements that we can't change-when we can't make it hot if it's cold. We can't get warm if everything around us is cold. That's the point. We're exposed. We are unguarded. We're vulnerable. And in that vulnerable state, we need someone to warm us up. To put it this way, it's better to have two than one, because the other person will support us when we'er in a vulnerable spot. Swindoll says it best: "Any time or place where you feel self-conscious and your major battle is "How am I going to make it through this right now?" be reminded of verse 11- you are cold and you need help in keeping warm. Two are better than one.

3. Mutual protection when we are attacked

And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.

We all relate to this. There is an adversary we all fight. He is relentless, determined, and clever. He's also invisible. He's called the devil. Sometimes people who are near to us warn us about the devil's attacks. My mom used to, and my girlfriend did today. I told her this morning that I was thinking about just avoiding this topic, but she convinced me that it was just the devil. in that small example, one plus one equals survival.

Ending on that note, I hope that you were encouraged today that two are better than one. This post was extremely lengthy, and I apologize for that. I had a lot of my heart that I wanted to say and combining that with the words of Swindoll, and the Holy Spirit there was a lot to say and address. Again, one plus one equals survival.

Makayla Reimer: Guest Post

I reached out to Makayla yesterday after seeing a picture she posted on Instagram with a pretty in-depth caption. As soon as I saw that, I felt like God had a way to use her to encourage whoever is reading this post. I am very thankful for her honesty and sharing about some of the things that she is going through. 

All my life, I’ve usually been one who’s good with transitions in life.  At first, they can be hard and seem impossible to get used to, but in the end, I’ve always found that I make transitions and adjust to new situations in life pretty quickly.  Coming to college was no exception to this.  My first semester was great.  Sure, I missed my family, but I was also making friends, making memories, and experiencing life on my own.  I was enjoying life.  Second semester has hit and, if I’m being honest, it’s been horrible, especially when I compare it to my first semester.  I’m still making friends and enjoying the little things, but I’m also running into a lot of doubt and emotional struggles.  I feel very unwanted, unloved, and so distant from those around me. 

My senior year I struggled with these same feelings, but it was different because I had my family beside me.  I knew that my family was going to be there for me and love me no matter what.  Today, my family is eight thousand miles away from me.  They’re not even a phone call away due to the eleven-hour time difference.  Whenever I feel absolutely horrible, majority of the time it’s the middle of the night for them.  I can’t just call them and talk to them about my struggles.  Having them so far away has made this semester really hard as I deal with conflict, rejection, and loneliness.

This second semester has been a season of feeling very alone.  I’m surrounded by so many people here at college, but I can’t seem to find many who will support me, love me, and encourage me in ways that I need it.  This is not to say I don’t have anyone who will do that for me.  I have a wonderful mentor who encourages and uplifts me every week, and I have some incredible friends who know that when I feel down, I just need to sit in their silence, go on a walk to clear my mind, or just be with them and talk through things.  I do have people here for me, but it still doesn’t mean I don’t feel alone in life right now.

I am probably the biggest extrovert I know.  I love to be with people.  I was telling my mom the other day that alone time is actually terrible for me.  My “alone time” consists of sitting in a public place by myself but still surrounded by so many people.  If I’m in a public place that means I can still possibly see people I know and talk to them if I need a break from whatever I’m working on.  Sometimes, I’ll even talk to people I barely know if I don’t have a chance to see people I know.  So, as you can imagine, this feeling of loneliness has been awful for me.

But as I’ve gone through this season, I’ve learned so much about myself.  I used to think that because I was so extroverted, I was hard to get along with or spend long periods of time with.  I thought people didn’t really enjoy being with me because of my personality was overwhelming, but my mentor reminded me that I have a huge love for people and that is not something to feel bad about.  I’ve had to learn to stop caring about what people think of me.  This is hard because I do thrive off of people and if I feel that certain people are upset with me, I tend to tone down my personality.  I become quieter, I say less around those people, and I become less like my happy, bubbly self.  But caring deeply about people is a strength I’ve learned I have.  Caring about what others think of me and only thinking people has negative thoughts about me, is a weakness I have.  I’m slowly overcoming it.  I know it is going to take time, but I know that the more I give this weakness up to God and work on a positive image of myself, the more I’ll start to believe it.

The biggest thing I’ve learned is that God loves me no matter what.  Even if everyone I know thinks I’m the worst or super annoying, or I have absolutely no one to show me the love I need, God has that love.  God loves me more than anyone else has, can, and ever will.  I have learned that I just need to keep living my life the way He has created me to live because His opinion and image of me, is far more important than whatever anyone else thinks of me.  I have always known that my value is in Christ.  But this season has reminded me that the love I receive, and the value and joy I have in life are only brought to me by Jesus.  I have been reminded that only Jesus will give me true joy in life.

As I finish out this semester, I know it’s still going to be hard.  I know that sometimes life is just going to be terrible.  I’m still going to have those feelings of loneliness, being unwanted, or unloved.  But when I think about the love God, the Creator of the world, has for me, or what His plan for my life is, I am brought unexplainable joy.  I may not be brought happiness, but I can still find joy even when I’m feeling down.

“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” John 15:11

Less Talk More Power

I attended LifeWorks church this morning and the sermon given by Justin Maust was very good and perhaps very convicting for a lot of people. The theme of this message was "Less Talk More Power," meaning, we need to be more about the power God has given us rather than talk. You can't just talk up something and not do anything about it, if you ask me that's fake. This basketball season there were times where we had not played good basketball...there were so many times where we would play a terrible first half and in the locker room during halftime we would talk about all of the things that we needed to do better. Sometimes, we would go out in the second half and we wouldn't do the things we had just talked about and it was just fake tough. That is one of the things that was probably the most frustrating to our coach. He would talk us through all of these things and we didn't seem to do anything about it. Do you ever think that is how we make God feel? He loves us unconditionally, but there are still things that we do that probably doesn't please God. Less talk more power. Power is defined as having the ability to do things, by virtue of strength, skill and resources. What do you have the power to do? Justin gave the illustration that the worship team has the ability to lead worship, Kip has the ability to control the sound, Marta has the ability to sing, etc. At church on a Sunday, they all were blessed with these skills that they use and look the fruit their skill produces. The fruit being an awesome place attend church on Sundays. Think about your life, what do you have the ability to do? Taking that a step further, how can you use that power to produce fruit? When you use your power, you will advance the kingdom of God! I believe that God has given me power and gifted me the ability to play basketball. With that, I use basketball as a platform. Without basketball (my life would be completely different) but I don't think as many people would know who I am. I believe as of late that a love for other people is a gift that God has given me. It might be a little weird saying that the ability to love is a gift, but the feeling of love is definitely a gift from God. I think that we forget sometimes that the ability to feel emotion is perhaps one of the greatest gifts from God. With the power I have to love and care for other people, I try to encourage as many people as I can on a daily basis and by doing that I strive to advance the kingdom of God. I might not see the fruit that is produced from what I do, but that doesn't matter to me, that is between the people I hope to have an influence on and God.  Jim Rohn says, "We must all suffer one of the two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. " How do you interpret that? I read my bible everyday. Most of the time, my days are very busy and sometimes so busy that there isn't enough time to do everything I want to. Sometimes I say no to things because I choose to read my bible and spend time with Jesus. It's hard sometimes too because I want to have some fun with my friends but I  think that is sometimes the price you pay to be disciplined. To clarify, when I make that decision it's because I want to spend time with the Father, not because I feel like I have too. I believe that the pain of regret is when you miss out on opportunities to spend time with the Father. If I decide that I am no going to spend time with the Father, like I have decided before and then what I do instead isn't something that produces fruit, then I will feel regret.

John Maxwell, perhaps the most famous leadership spokesperson in the world says this, "the secret to your success is found in your daily agenda." Maxwell says that he does three things everyday. He writes, reads, and thinks. Everyday, for decades he has done this and he has been extremely successful. What does your daily agenda look like? Are you spending all of your time playing xbox? Sitting on your phone scrolling through social media? Fortnite? Doing things that don't produce fruit? I do some of those things sometimes. If I accomplished all I felt God wanted me to do in a day and I don't feel like there is anything else he needs me to do, then I am going to have some leisure time. It's good to have leisure time when you need (NEED not want) it.

Do you want to use your power, gifts, and skills that God has blessed you with to have a powerful life in Christ? I hope that you can all say that is something that you want. I know that is something I want every single day. When I lay my head down on my pillow to go to sleep, I can sleep well and peacefully knowing that I surrendered my day to Christ. I also feel that peace when I know that I experienced fulfillment through the time I spend with God that day. A vertical lifestyle is how I live and is a key ingredient to a powerful life in Christ. Here are five actions that guarantee a powerful life in Christ.

Five Actions that guarantee a powerful life in Christ

1.) daily surrender to God
2.) daily prayer with God
3.) daily study of God's word
4.) daily work with and for God
5.) daily pursuit of a God-sized dream

Justin encouraged the congregation to try to live this out for the week. So if you read this post today, try it out! If you really think about it, it doesn't take you that long. Remember this. "A few so people dedicated in time, will shake the world for Christ." You can surrender your day to Christ by a simple declaration. That doesn't take long at all! Spend 5 minutes praying. Pray before bed, before you eat, while you're in the shower! Study God's word. I believe that is the most important thing on the list. It will change your life. It changed mine that is for sure. Two books and two chapter, that is what I do and it works so well. It takes me 10-20 minutes every day. It just takes some time, it took me years. I am 21 and finally am consistent with my time in the word on daily basis! Daily work for God. Do everything you do on a daily basis for God and for his kingdom. Lastly, pursue your God-sized dream. I don't know what that is for you. I have a hard time at even thinking what my God-sized dream is. I hope and pray that you can try this recipe for a powerful life in Christ this week. If you can do this until next Sunday, 7 days turn to 14 days, which turns to 21 days, which then turns to nearly a month, which then turns out to six months, and then a year. A disciplined relationship takes time!

Today is the next step to a change in your life. I am so excited for the fruit that you are going to produce. If you want accountability or help with this reach out to a close friend, or perhaps even a mentor. I'm always available too. I would love to help you. I've seen God change my life because of my daily agenda and I know that he can and will change yours too.

God is so good!!!

LifeWorks:My story

Last night, I had the opportunity to speak at Lifeworks church. I was asked to share some of my story and that is what I am going to share in this post. I want to share it on here too because I want to share how God works with as many people as I can. I encourage you that if you ever get asked to speak somewhere that you say yes and do it, because you never know how God might want to use you. Think about your life right now, think about all the things that have fallen into place to make your life the way it is...only God can construct your life to the way it is right now. I typed out everything I said thanks to learning how to write a manuscript speech last Spring semester in speech class. It's lengthy, but its some of my story! I hope that you enjoy.

(The highlighted questions are what I was asked to answer) 

When did you first take interest in basketball.?

I first took interest in basketball when I was in either 2^nd or 3^rd grade. It was through our local parks and recreation program. I had played soccer the year before and I was all about it. I’m a humble guy, but from what I remember I was a pretty good little soccer player. I was home schooled until 5^th grade so nobody really knew who I was. I had a couple of friends that I had made from Sunday school class that I got to play sports with. The night of my first basketball game is a night that I will never forget. I remember showing up and it was just me and my dad. I was so nervous because I had never played before. I knew that my dad was super excited for me as well. I remember walking into the small gym of the elementary school and I thought there were so many people. I remember crying and begging my dad to take me home. My dad told me that if he was going to take me home, that he wasn’t going to bring me back, so I figured it was probably a good idea to stay. I was freaking out because there were so many people there. There had probably been just as many people at the soccer games I played but it didn’t seem like it because the soccer field was so much bigger than the basketball court. I don’t remember what happened during the game, I don’t know if we won or lost…or even if I scored or not. I remember that we were the yellow team and I had fun. When my dad and I left the gym that night, I remember telling my dad that I had a new favorite sport.

When did you start to think about playing in college?

One of the days my work ethic forever changed was in 6^th grade at a basketball practice on a Sunday night. 6^th grade was probably the year when I realized that I was good at basketball. Our team was pretty dang good. There were 3 dads that coached us, and my dad was one of them. One of the dads usually made us run some laps around the court at the end of practice and on this particular night everything changed. I had a friend named Levi and he was the stereotypical 12-13-year-old who had seemed to already hit puberty. He was the fastest kid that I knew, and he knew that. He was so cocky about it and I remember running laps and he said something to me as we were running, and it triggered something inside of me that made me run faster than I had ever ran before. That night I learned how to truly push myself and everything changed. I know understood what it meant to outwork someone, and I was going to outwork everyone every single day. I had grown up watching basketball, our high school team was very good and while I was growing up the made it to the state tournament 3 out of 4 years. Basketball meant a lot to my town and it was beginning to mean a lot to me. I remember being in 7^th grade when I decided to make playing college basketball a goal of mine. I had dreamed about it couple of years before that. I remember when I started playing AAU basketball, and my 8^th grade AAU coach told me that I was going to be a college basketball player if I kept working hard. When I was a freshman in high school I began playing for All Ohio. Which was one of the best teams in the state. Everyone on that team ended up playing in college. I started receiving some letters from colleges when I was a freshman, so I knew that if I kept working hard that my dreams could become a reality. Going into my Junior year I picked up my first full-ride scholarship offer, and I knew that I would be able to achieve one of my biggest dreams. I was offered by Bethel during my junior year of high school, and I committed on August 9^th, 2014, which was my birthday. I was pretty excited.

When did you take ownership of your trust in Christ?

From the day I accepted Christ when I was super young till last summer, my life as a Christian was a roller coaster. You might hear me say that a lot because that is what I believe life is like. My story doesn’t really have any crazy parts or crazy things that happened to me. I’ve told people that I’ve thought my story was boring because it was missing something, but whenever I tell somebody that, they tell me that they would change stories with me in a heart-beat. I always went to Sunday school, always went to church, and always went to youth group on Wednesday nights. My relationship with Christ was all over the place. It seemed like over and over again there would be periods of my life where I would read my bible a lot, or pray a lot and then I would get away from it. Over and over again, that was my life and that was my relationship with Jesus Christ. There were times where I was proud of it and times when I was not. A highlight for me and my trust in Christ was when I got baptized going into my freshman year of high school on my mom’s birthday. Another important event that sticks out to me was when I was a junior in high school and the leader of the FCA asked if I wanted to be on the leadership team. When he asked me, it felt like there was something that I was doing right. I was also excited because this was going to be an opportunity for me to grow and I really needed that in my life. My high school years were so chill, I remember hanging out with the right crowd (most of the time), making the right decisions (most of the time) and living what I thought to be a pretty righteous lifestyle (most of the time). I was what some might call…innocent. It might have looked like I had it all together but my relationship with Christ was still a roller coaster. There were things that I was proud of and some things that I weren’t. Once I got to college, I was still kind of innocent and then started swearing and sometimes not doing things that I should. The first two years of college were a lot of the same…a roller coaster. As I was becoming more mature and I think my relationship with Christ at a low point. I don’t know if I read my bible more than 20 times my freshmen year. My relationship with Christ just wasn’t the number one thing in my life. Last year, I remember there was probably a 2-month time span where I didn’t make it to church on Sunday’s. I wasn’t living my life for Christ, I was just living my life. My life changed last Spring and this past summer. I got into a 5-month relationship that was entirely long distance. I fully believe that God put me into that relationship so that I could my relationship to Him could become greater than it has ever been. Because of that relationship I began reading my bible every day and found how Christ wanted to use me. I began journaling along with my Bible reading. I would choose two books of the bible to read and I would read two chapters a day. I would write a section in my journal for my thoughts, application, favorite verses, a question that I had, and a prayer. This is when my relationship with Christ took off. I was learning so much about reading and getting into the word and I was on fire for the Lord! I remember that I had a longing to share what I would learn with other people. I began to pray about ways that I could do that God answered them. As I was journaling one day, the Spirit reminded me of a church service I was at probably 6 years ago. I remember a man sharing how he would get up every morning, read his Bible than scroll through his contacts in his phone and whatever names stuck out to me, he took that as God telling him that those people needed some encouragement. So, that is what I did. I began sending out encouragement texts every day. I made it a goal that I would only send out 5, but so many names would stick out to me and I was sending texts out like crazy. The feedback was awesome too. I didn’t do this for myself. I wanted to encourage people with what I had learned and what I thought that the Spirit was teaching me. I honestly didn’t care if anyone replied, I was going to be happy if just one person was encouraged. After a month or two of sending out texts, I had a longing to do even more. I had a friend who I talked to about this a lot, and my friend recommended that I start a blog. At first, I was like, there is no way I am doing a blog. Then the idea started to really settle it, and I felt like it was the best next step. I started it, and it was one of the best decisions that I have ever made. I have blogged 151 out of the past 159 days. I have learned so much that I really cannot put it into words. One of the ways I have grown the most is feeling God’s presence. I believe that when you become disciplined is your relationship with Christ and become ridiculously faithful that you feel his presence all the time. I have also found and experienced true fulfillment. Regardless of what I do every day, nothing fills me more than when I spend time with the Father. Nothing even comes close. The discipline that God has instilled in me has allowed me to trust in him with all my heart throughout whatever situation I am in. I think I have become disciplined because of injuries that I have been through in my life. I am always learning and there are always things to be learned. Getting in the word has changed my life and almost leaves me speechless. I also took ownership of my trust in Christ this summer. I had the opportunity to go to China for 2 weeks, after spending one week in LA. Going on the trip in the first place required a lot of trust in God. I was flying across the country and then to the other side of the world with a group of people that I had never met in my life. I knew one person who was on the team and that was only because I have played against him a couple times while at Bethel. I remember when my parents dropped me off at the Detroit airport. When we said good-bye to each other, I started crying and don’t remember a time in recent memory where I cried that hard in front of my parents. It was so hard to say good bye to them. That trip changed my life. I will save the stories for that trip for another time. I say it changed my life because my eyes were opened to how life was like on the other side of the world. My life also changed because we got to love on each other and love on the people of China like no other. We couldn’t say words like Jesus, God, Holy Spirit, Lord, etc. So, we witnessed by being a light to the people.

What scriptures are important to you and why?

When it comes to picking out specific scriptures in my life, it’s honestly a little hard, I say that because there has been so much scripture that I have been over the past couple of months that there are new passages and verses that always stick out to me. The story of Abraham sticks out to me. It was one of the first stories that I really got into and encouraged people with. I love that story because of Abraham’s obedience. He was going to kill his only son because that is what God wanted him to do. As he was about to kill him and was told that he didn’t have to, and that God was testing him. Abraham was considered a friend of God because of his obedience and I don’t know about you, but I want to be a friend of God because of my obedience. Another one of my favorite verses is Colossians 2:9-10. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. I love that because when we are in Christ, all of the fullness of the Spirit lives within us. I came across a quote that said, “A Few so people dedicated in time will shake the world for Christ.” Recently my favorite book of the bible has been Ecclesiastes. I just started reading it through for the third time. In 2 weeks. I love it because I have learned so much about how things under the sun are meaningless. I have enjoyed learning how the lifestyle we need to live is vertical and too many of us live a horizontal life style. A vertical lifestyle is a when you have a living relationship with Christ and it’s about the sun, and a horizontal lifestyle is when you worry about things of this earth. I have loved this book because it has been so cool learning about the life of King Solomon. Literally, he had everything you could ever want, the dude basically constructed his own perfect world…he planted vineyards, built building, and had herds of animals. He had everything but still felt that he was missing something. One of my favorite verses is Ecclesiastes 3:11which says, “He has made everything beautiful in his time. He has also set eternity in our hearts; yet, no one can fathom what he has done from beginning to end.” I love that verse because it’s the perfect explanation for what we all feel. I guarantee that anything that you have ever done on this earth that hasn’t been related to your relationship with Christ, that you may have been proud of still didn’t seem like it was enough. That is because what is eternal will last forever. We’ll always know/feel that there is more out there for you.

What is God teaching you?

I think there are many things that God is teaching me right now. I think one of the main things is to love everyone and to pray for those who I might not be a fan of, or those who are just mean to me. One of the things I have stressed a lot in my blogs is how important it is to love everyone. I say that because loving one another is the greatest commandment, and like I mentioned above, I want to be a friend of God, so I am going to try to be as obedient as I can be. I also want to please God and I know that if I am loving on other people just like He loved us that He is going to be pleased. There are been many times this year where I have felt isolated and like I was all alone on an island. It’s weird to think that in a time where my relationship with Christ has been stronger than it’s ever been. I won’t get into much detail but when I feel isolated, it’s tough for me because I feel like I am in such a different place spiritually then all of my friends and teammates. I don’t feel like I am better than them, I just try to not participate in things they do or conversations that they have because I know those conversations and actions aren’t glorifying to God. I feel isolated at times to because I get made fun of a lot. That’s just always been how it’s been for me and it’s tough because I am a super sensitive guy. What I am being taught right now is that no matter how isolated I feel, how much I get made fun of, how much I struggle with certain people in my life, that I need to pray for them as much as I can. I’ve been reminded of that by special people in my life and when I started praying for them, I immediately felt so much better about things.

In what ways do you think he wants to use you?

So how does God want to use me right now? What comes to mind is encouragement. I believe that God wants me to continue to encourage people in whatever ways I feel led to, whether it’s going out of my way to have conversations with people are doing random acts of kindness. I believe that God has placed a love for people in my heart that is one of my gifts, so I am going to use that gift to glorify Him to the best of my abilities. I think God is in the process of something big. I feel like there is something out there and some way that He is going to use me for that I am interested to find out.

I hope you took something away from what I had to say and were encouraged. If you can take one thing away from what I had to say, I want you to know that once you become disciplined in your relationship with Christ that you will feel God’s presence more than you ever have.