Wednesday again!!!

It's finally Wednesday again! This is definitely the best and hardest day of my week. So much work goes into making everything perfect for a service, but then to see how God moves makes it all worthwhile!

God has been doing some amazing things in our ministry this last month and a half. I really feel like we're being positioned to do something incredible. God has really birthed in our students a passion for prayer, and we're seeing them shedding weight in their lives so they can move faster and climb higher in God. And God is honoring their dedication to Him. They have really started to learn what it means to wait in the presence of God, and how God blesses when we cry out to Him.

We're in a season of blessing right now and it feels like everything we touch turns to gold. It shows in the way God is answering prayers so quickly. Last Monday we found out our renter was moving out (last time it took us several months to get a new renter) and we have someone moving in already! It just blows my mind that God is moving so quickly. So what am I asking God for right now? You'll have to wait and see. Actually, I gotta go pray, see you tonight!

-Jeff-

An Amazing Testimony- Bryant's Story

My friend Bryant has been going thru some stuff recently, and I thought I'd let you all in on what's been happening in his life, because it helps showcase the move of God that's happening in the youth ministry.

Here's the story as he posted it on his myspace blog:

"Three days ago I had acute myeloid leukemia.

That was three days ago.

Three
days ago I found out I had a severe bone marrow issue causing my body
to not absorb iron near at all. Three days ago I wanted to give up, I
wanted to curse God for letting this happen to me after all the things
I had surrendered to follow him the way he wanted me to; I wanted to
explode, I wanted to run.

Three days ago I said NO. I wouldn't
let some petty bodily excuse keep me from pressing into the kingdom of
God and surrendering myself again to him.

Three days ago I had
a protein scan performed on my blood that pretty well signed my death
warrant. So they redid the tests of course.

Three days ago a group of students on fire with the passion of God prayed over me.

Yesterday
my body was clean. There was no sign of the proteins that were there
for "some time now." All that was left was an entirely and easily
treatable disorder in which my body just cant absorb iron well and
where I have too small of red blood cells. So they have me megadosing
iron pills. If this works, great, if not all it'll take is bi-yearly
transfusions to keep it in check.

God is Amazing.

So the full story for those who care to read on.

So
those who read my blogs know what brought me to three days ago. If not
read it, I don't feel like recapping as trying to do this via
blackberry takes a bit.

I was woken on Thursday morning by a
phone call from a friend who works at the clinic I went to, saying that
the provider I saw wants me to go to a PCP so I can figure out where I
wanted to go from my new set of test results. The doc wouldn't state
what those were, I had to come in. Bad sign as we all know. I had told
the doc the night before that I didn't care what the results showed,
God is bigger than that. They kinda laughed it off, of course.

So I went in at 11am that morning.

The
doctor sat down with me and said that the second retest had just come
in and started going over the previous results. My blood was full of
the proteins linked to myeloid leukemia. Apparently they had been there
for "some time now." My heart sank. This was a death warrant. But the
doctor read the second set of results from the retest. As he read his
eyes kept getting bigger as he flipped back and forth through them, and
kept saying "theres got to be a mistake." He looked at me with wide
eyes and said "Theres nothing there except the original bone marrow
disorder." I just started laughing and told him "I told you God was
bigger than this." Needless to say they had to redo the tests, which
last night I got a call saying that I was still clean.

Now I'm
still trying to wrap me little brain around all this. I cant comprehend
it all, nor can I even begin to put into words what I have experienced.
I know this was a trial of my faith. As if God said "Ok, Bryant, you've
been making huge steps, there IS something wrong, but how wrong it is
is up to you." I fully believe that if I had stepped out in my flesh as
my normal reaction to this would have been, to go home, crack open a
fifth and drink myself into oblivion, to curse God for letting this
happen; that I would still be sitting here conemplating life with
leukemia. It was as if God was saying "ok, now take that extra step,
here is a chance for you to learn to fully give yourself away into my
arms."

For those curious, I'm having my full test results from
all the phases mailed to me so that I can post them on my wall, and in
case anyone in my life doubts God's power in this, I can give them hard
evidence of it. Now I know I still have a health problem. So what. I'm
ok with pooping bricks for the rest of my life from the iron pills, or
having to be hooked up to a blood bag every six months, for me every
time I take my pills, or if it comes to it every time I have to get
blood, it'll serve for me as a reminder of God's power and promises for
my life. I can live with this. And who knows, maybe if I keep at it,
God will heal me from this too! I'll keep praying that be true, but if
not, it'll be something that will daily smack me in the face and remind
me to give thanks for what he has done, and to daily surrender myself
unto him."

I'm pretty excited about this for a few reasons, not the least of which being that he is a good friend. But I also love that we've got a group of students who are sold out for God, and while I was the one praying into the microphone, they were gathered around laying hands on him and seeing the power of God move through them. It's not about me, I believe God moved through those students that night to bring this healing to pass.

-Jeff-

What should I do after I get saved?

Below is a letter that I wrote to a girl who recently got saved in one of our church vans coming home from playing mini-golf. I started looking around the internet for resources about what to do after salvation, and since I couldn't find anything I liked, I thought I'd start a series on my blog. This letter will be part one of many:



Hey I just wanted to write and tell you that I think it's awesome that you took this step tonight. I really feel like God was in the whole experience, and I hope you do too. If you ever have any questions about what happened tonight, please ask. The bible says that all you need to do to be saved is what you did tonight, but there is a lot more to being a Christian than just saying one prayer. Here is a recap of the talked about tonight, just to make sure you understand what's happened.

1) God Created You and Loves You Alot. He created the whole world just so he could have a relationship with you. He thinks you are absolutely amazing.

2) Everyone has sinned. It doesn't matter who you are, everyone has done something wrong in their life. The problem is that God is perfect and because He's perfect imperfect people can't have a relationship with Him. We can never do anything right enough to get back together with God, therefore we are destined to be punished.

3) Jesus took our punishment. The reason Jesus came to this world was to take care of the sin problem. Think of sin as a prison, with no way out. Jesus came and took our place in the prison so that we can have a relationship with God.

4) We can live for Him. God wants us to be with Him, and just like any friendship we need to spend time with Him in order for it to grow. We do that by praying and reading the bible. Prayer is easy, you don't need to memorize any fancy sayings or anything like that, you just talk to Him. Tell Him all your feelings, your hurts, and your desires. He just wants to hear from you. Reading the Bible is God's way of talking to us. I would suggest reading in John. Try and read a chapter a day, but if you miss a day don't give up on it.

Well, that's about it for now, since I've already written you a book. Do you have a bible? Let me know how you're feeling when you read this, if you're confused about anything just ask.

I'm proud of you,
-Jeff-

Flood Recovery pt 4: Dreaming again

For the first time in a while, I'm dreaming again. I noticed it this morning in the shower. I was standing in there, and I started to think about cool topics for the youth group to cover, and new blogs that I'd like to write, and other things like that. It was a good feeling. I walked into our family room this morning to let the dogs out and I wasn't tripping over tools. There was a clear path everywhere I needed to go. I feel we've finally cleared a path in my head too.

While writing this I got a call from my Grandpa, reminding me of a couple things we still need to do, so I guess it's back to reality for now. We are organizing a work party on New Years Day over at our house, and we'll be painting and pressure washing our shed and making a few minor repairs. We're not out of the woods yet, but there is a definite light at the end. I'm so grateful to my Grandpa and Uncle for all the work they've done, there's no way we'd be in this position if it wasn't for their help. They would say that that's what family is for, but they've been down here three weekends in a row (including tomorrow), taking off time that they could be spending with their families in order to help mine. It's very humbling.

I think I'm gonna use one of those cool blog ideas here in a couple minutes and post a bible study. It's nice that I'm not spending all my time thinking about the house.

-Jeff-

Flood Recovery part 3: An Update

Well, we're still sleeping in our living room, but other than that things are going great! I wanted to write a quick update for everyone who's been following the blog, to let you know how things are going down here.

1. Construction: My Uncle and Grandpa came down here on Sunday and hung about 70% of the sheetrock, which means the rooms are close to being liveable again. We've been having a harder time getting the siding dried out, but I'm confidant that it will be okay by Saturday, when they are going to come finish things up.
2. More Blessings: I neglected to mention our windows when I was writing Neighbors helping Neighbors the other day that our bedroom windows need to be replaced. We were set to do the work and then things happened (you know how that goes) and it was never finished. Because of this one of the windows was only hanging by one nail, and was easily pulled to give John access to the house, so they could get all of our clothes and stuff out. What was once a source of frustration for us has become a point of blessing.
3. Stuff Stuff: A lot of our "stuff" was ruined by the flood. We filled two trailers full of it. Things like tents and lawn chairs were completely yucked up by the mud, and our weed wacker was ruined when water got in the engine. So a lot of that "Stuff" is gone, but the great thing is that it's all just stuff, and it can all be replaced.
4. The kids: They've each had interesting an different reactions to our living situation. Olivia (our 3 year old) has become very clingy. She always wants to be sitting on our laps, or be held, or even help out with chores. She just wants to be near us constantly, she has a hard time staying in her room or playing with her brother. Kadin (our over-analytic 5 year old) thought of something that neither of us had thought of. If we don't have a Christmas tree (due to space), how will Santa know where to leave the presents? Lucky for us, my parents know Santa personally and he's agreed to drop the presents off at their house this year, just to avoid any confusion. Living in such a small space with them can be overwhelming, so on Tuesday tiff's parents came down and picked them up, and they'll be up there until after Christmas.
   

Well, that's the quick update, I'll post more changes as they happen,

-Jeff-

Flood Recovery part 1: Neighbors helping neighbors

I LOVE THE HOME DEPOT!!!!! They are the greatest company ever!!!!! In a time where they should be looking to rebuild their own store, and really could be looking to turn a quick buck, they seem to be genuinely concerned about the welfare of others. I don't know if this is company policy or was the actions of two very thoughtful employees, but they have a lifelong customer in me because of how they've handled this flood situation.

Over the past week there have been several "coincidences" that have helped me to see the hand of God at work in our current problems. Because of these things several people have commented on how great our attitude has been. It's not too hard to be positive when you can see that God is on your side and working on your behalf. I'm sure I'll forget some things, but here is the short list:

1. Our Rental House in Stanwood. It didn't sell for several months. We were very worried about it, but God has shown Himself faithful because if it had sold a couple months ago we would have invested the money in our house, now we have money available in case FEMA doesn't cover everything.
2. Our vacation. We wanted to go on vacation for months, and were really hoping to spend Halloween in Disneyland. Because our Senior Pastor was leaving the church, we took the last opportunity we had to take a vacation and we were warm and safe while everything was happening. I'm sure if we were there we would have stayed too long at our house, and who knows what would have happened to our kids.
   
3. Our car. As soon as we get the money from our house we're going out to buy a minivan. I've been dreaming for a while about walking into a dealership with cash and trying to get the best deal possible. But if that would have happened our car would have been underwater in our driveway, which is a little lower than the rest of the house. Instead it was safe at a parkinglot in Seatac. Plus, they detailed it for us while we were gone.
4. The outpouring of love from friends and strangers. To date we've had about $550 cash, groceries and a dehumidifier given to us, not to mention all of the people who helped us take care of the house while we were gone. One lady overheard us talking at Disneyland and walked up and gave us $20. But the most amazing thing so far has been how people have really stepped up to help us, from John and Susie pulling our stuff out of the water, Melody and the gang getting most of the water up with a carpet shampooer, or my uncle and grandpa helping us get new sheetrock in place, you all have helped us and blessed us more than you'll ever know.
5. The Home Depot. This was so cool, it deserves it's own line. We had heard that a dehumidifier would really help us, so we went to Home Depot to look for one. The only one they had was $220. Tiff and I couldn't afford that, so we passed on it. The kids were getting fidgety so I took them to the car while she payed, and while in line one of the employees walked over with the dehumidifier and placed it in our cart. When Tiffanney balked at the gift, the lady told her "This is what neighbors are for". In almost a week of use it has pulled over 230 pints of water out of the air and has made the whole house much more livable.

This store is right next to Home Depot in Chehalis

If you can't see the hand of God in all of that, you're trying really hard not to. God has blessed us indeed. BTW, our house closed Thursday and we got the money on Friday. I guess God knew what He was doing the whole time.

-Jeff-

The Mexi-blog pt.10- The finale

We're back home now! After spending 23 hours in a van (including driving 20 miles in 3 hours due to a brushfire in So. California), Tiffanney and I decided that we hadn't driven quite enough and therefore thought it was a good idea to go and see our kids right away. At that point we didn't realize that our 2 and a half hour journey up north would take us 6 hours. By the time our heads hit the pillows that night at my parents house we had been awake for 36 hours and had spent 29 of them in a vehicle, including 9 hours in stop and go traffic.

They say that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a step, mine began with driving back to Disneyland to see if they had sorted through the hundreds of pairs of lost sunglasses to find the ones my wife had lost a day earlier. After being denied once again (it was the third time we'd tried), I returned empty handed to our hotel to begin packing things up and prepping the van to leave. I also took some time to reminisce about the trip that was and compile my thoughts into what would later become this blog that you are reading right now. (Update: That part really was written the day we left, everything else was written 8/14)

Here is a summary of what happened, including a couple of testimonies:

• Even before we left Tiffanney and I knew this would be a great trip, but it was far above what we imagined. We had a service on Wednesday night that was just incredible. As worship was getting started I felt God telling me that we needed to pray for the pastors(please take a second to do that right now, too) of the church. We called out to God and His response was incredible. God took us and transformed us into vessels to be used by His hands. We were willing and so God poured through us mightily.
  
• There was one man who was specifically blessed that night because not only did God heal his knee pain (meaning that he'd be able to work again), but God healed his relationship with his wife and daughter that night too.
  
• Tiffanney preached a great word on Thursday night, and again the power of the Spirit fell, this time in the mission church we were at. I know that God is continuing the work down there even right now, and I believe next year we'll see the fruit of it.
  
• God stretched us in ways we never thought possible. Whether it was VBS or learning to preach with an interpreter, God used Mexico as an opportunity to bring us out of our shells just a little bit more. Because of this experience and Summer Camp, God has birthed in the hearts of our students the desire to form a drama outreach team. We did our first human video a couple weeks ago and it was incredible.
  

May God stir in each of us the passion to follow Him in reaching the lost,

-Jeff-