Sunday, May 18, 2008

Me and My Boy


Just had to put this one up. Peter and I at Easter this year.

Living like the rest of you

Four weeks from today is our first day of camp in San Diego. It's almost surreal to be moving the whole family down there and live with an ocean view for an entire month. It's even more surreal to know that we'll be away from Hume for an entire month. The crazy part coming from Hume is that we'll actually experience city life. Our cell phones will work. Starbucks is close by. If we need to buy something, the store is 5 minutes away. We don't have to pack the ice chest in the car when we head to the grocery store or Costco. But the coolest part is that we get to be around friends we normally wouldn't get to spend time with on a regular basis.

And yeah, to cap it all off, we get to be part of an amazing ministry where God's moving in kids' lives on a daily basis. So for my friends down in SD, I'll see ya in a month.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Youth Pastors Conference & Summer Band


So last week was Youth Pastors Conference at Hume, and it was amazing on several fronts. I got to hang with 50 quality people in youth ministry, a lot of whom I call personal friends. Probably the highlight for me had to be taking about 25 of them up to the top of Sunshine Mountain to one of my favorite prayer spots. I loved sharing this place of rich history with them. Not only is this I place where the Lord has met me so many times, but also the spot where Herman Pettit used to pray over Hume on a regular basis; prayers that I believe are still being answered today. I was seriously reminded of my need to head back to this spot often and expect the Lord to move. But the conviction really isn't about the spot as much as a deep, person need to remain dependent on God and not me.

Another highlight of the YP Conference was the privilege of having the Ponderosa Band Exodus up for the conference. I picked the guys up at the airport on Monday and drove them up the hill, stopping at all the regular tourist spots along the way. (In-n-Out Burger, General Grant Tree, Lookout Rock, etc.) They were truly overwhelmed at the wonder of God's Creation. (I see it every day and take it for granted.) I can only say that these are amazing guys with amazing hearts. They are a perfect match for Hume and I know they'll have a great ministry this summer.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Sabbath Day

Once a year Hume gives each employee a paid day to be alone with the Lord... a time to reflect, pray and just spend time with Him. The rule is that we can't be around other people and can pretty much only bring along the scriptures... and then just see what God does. So two weeks ago April, Peter and I headed out to Colorado for an extended weekend. While April and Peter hung out with my parents, I headed to the mountains for a day away from it all and waited to see what God would teach me.

Leading up to this time I have been seriously desiring that I become a man of God that is led by the Spirit day in and day out. Arriving at our place in Westcliffe, the temp was probably around 25 and the sky was as clear as could be. I headed out for a hike through the snow-covered forest and found a beautiful spot where I could sit down and just start to read and reflect. As I opened my journal, I found an original entry that talked about my desire to be Spirit-led in life. It referenced Galatians 5:16. So off to Galatians 5 I went and there the Lord met me on that Friday.

What I learned over the next several hours in the stillness of the Colorado mountains was that the whole point of what Christ did was freedom. It is for freedom that Christ set us free. And with that I'm on a whole new quest to truly understand the freedom that God gives us in Christ. He set us free from a life of regulation. He set us free from our sin. And he set us free from the punishment that goes along with that sin. I was overwhelmed with those three things, because I'm definitely one that tends to atone for his own sin whenever possible.

So as I live this life of freedom in Christ, I gain a new understanding that being Spirit-led happens because of the freedom that Christ gives us. It's totally an oxymoron, yet one of the most beautiful things that God has done for us.

Now I've decided to study the entire book of Galatians and I seriously can't wait to see what He has in store for me next. Hopefully more to come later.