We survived Frosh week round #1!

The week is coming to an end (finally!!). This morning as the team met up for the daily briefing and prayer time I really think there was a sense of accomplishment and excitement in the air. For me this week has been my first real opportunity to be at Interamericana and to interact with the students there. The students there are amazing! There's definitely a different atmosphere at Interamericana but students are still searching and still open. And so as we all (minus Jon) bumbled through Spanish explanations of the questionnaires and what exactly it is that we do we connected with the students and more than anything put our name out there. We have official club status at Interamericana which is huge and such an amazing blessing!

Please pray now for the follow-up process. A lot of students have showed interest in discipleship and now the challenge is to connect with all of them. But even as carnival starts and the national partying begins God is at work. I know and trust with all heart that God loves these students and has a plan for each and every one of them. The Christians are coming out of seeming nowhere and already people are stepping into place to get this movement off the ground... its already been a blast and we're just starting! :)

If you haven't had a chance to read the last post, check that one out first because this one will make a whole lot more sense with that one two... and so, this is the follow-up to my "quiet revolution" week;

I struggled to write down this week on paper, not knowing quite what was expected and not sure that the things I did learn were what God wanted me to say. I read through 1 Kings 18 and 19 again several times this week and the question that time and time I wrestled with is how do you hear the quiet whisper of Gods voice? When I take time to concentrate on listening, time and time again I feel bombarded with my own doubts, worries or the answers that maybe I’m telling myself. Sometimes I want it to be God’s voice that is the storm because it’s easier to hear fire and earthquakes than a quiet whisper. But it’s that whisper that I long to hear with all my heart. It’s in the middle of the storm and the pain that I believe we really seek God and are willing to struggle to hear His voice. Elijah sees fire fall from heaven and God move in a powerful way. And still he ends up hidden in a cave praying for death, likely praying for anything other than being told to, “go back the way you came.” (1 Kings 19:15). We can’t deny the quiet of Gods voice because in its stillness it’s more powerful as the earthquakes and the fire.

I think more than anything this week I was so much aware of the time that I was or wasn’t choosing to spend with God. I missed my quiet time last night and woke up this morning again thinking about how hard devotional time is to maintain. I was years into my Christian walk before my devotionals had any resemblance of consistency. I was so frustrated with everyone telling me the necessity of devotional time and not seeing it backed up in my life that I gave God an ultimatum. I committed to a daily 2 weeks of devotionals but if he didn`t “show up” in that time I was done, feeling I could honestly say I gave it a good shot. God totally showed up in those two weeks and I still look back at that time as being extremely special to me. I was also being held accountable in my devotional walk and this kept me going through the lows. We have such an awesome opportunity right now; both to grow in our personal devotional walks but also to encourage and help hold each other accountable as we lead this Quiet Revolution. I know how difficult and frustrating it can be to seemingly scream at God and miss the whisper. I’ve been there. My hope and prayer though is that through this you grow closer to God and learn, like we’re all learning, how to hear His whisper. I still don’t have my answer to how we hear it but I know that this week has shown me the necessity of listening even when the answers aren’t what I want to always hear, if I hear anything at all.

The Quiet Revolution...

1 Kings 19:3, 4b
"Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.... He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough Lord," he said, "Take my life, I am no better than my ancestors."

1 Kings 19:11-13
"The Lord said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

I love Elijah because he's totally straight up with God. He simply said, "I've had enough," and he prays to die. Now I've never got to that place but there's definitely times where I've laid in bed in the morning and wondered how on earth I was going to drag my exhausted body out of bed and face another day.

As many of you know besides full time campus ministry I also lead a small group of Grade 10 girls at my church youth group, called Crossfire. We had out monthly leaders meeting Friday night and among many things were challenged by our youth pastor to become a part of the quiet revolution. Sometimes in the middle of everything going on in our lives we need to take out to listen for that gentle whisper. We can't hear it in the rushings of the day, we can't hear it when our worries and doubts drown out its gentleness. Our youth pastor Mark explained this all to our group of leaders and then we were all assigned weeks to take part in this. A week where we'd make the effort to take more time than normal for God and to quiet down and listen to him. And so... this week is my week.

One of the blessings of my job is that once a month I get a "day alone with God." A day alone to spend just with the big guy upstairs, my best friend and sure enough for me it's this Thursday, my quiet revolution week. And so I would challenge you guys too... sometime this week take some time out for God. An extra 15 minutes, an hour... whatever you need to do. Lets spend some time this week, slow everything down and focus simply on God and our relationship with him. I'll get back to you on how my week goes, let me know about yours. I would honestly love to hear from you too, may you be blessed this week, I love you all so much!

Well well well.... I'm back in Panama and as we were driving back to the apartment from the airport last night I was was shocked at how normal it felt to be back. The last night I was in Los Angeles I realized that as much as I love what I'm doing and where I am, it gets hard to say good-bye time and time again. So I was thinking about something that really challenged me when I was getting prepared both practically and even emotionally to come on Stint. Jesus says the following and its repeated in 3 out of the 4 gospels.

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Matt 16:24

"Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Mark 8:34

"Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23

Jesus knew that the path of carrying our crosses is not always the easiest way to live life and yet daily its the life of surrender that He calls us too. And so as I adjust to being back in my apartment and surrounded by the team I love and the country I love I remember that although its not always easy, its always good.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17

And to wrap it up... a major prayer request. This (below) is my "little" brother Lance and I. He's currently in the Canadian military and I just found out last night that he's on stand-by to leave for Afghanistan. He could be there in 5 days. Its a scary thing... and yet I know that God is in control, even when things are out of my hands, they're held completely safe in His. Please pray for his safety.