Jesus Wrecked my Life

While this statement may seem a bit harsh and even sometimes disturbing, it is very true (keep reading).

My life before I came to the Philippines was a breeze. I was a zombie of sorts. I would wake up the same time every morning and either go to school or go to work; in a truck mind you. I would be in class all day or at work and have a normal redundant day. I would go home to eat dinner where either one of two things would happen. I would eat the dinner that my mom had already cooked or I would go out to eat, two very simple things. Then at the end of the day I would either watch tv, hang out with friends or head home. That would be followed by a warm shower, clean clothes (cleaned by my loving mother), and then off to bed to perform every single thing the next day.

My religion if that is what you like to call it, was worthless, even the week before I came to the Philippines. Sure I would sprinkle some David Crowder in my truck during the day and maybe read a chapter in Psalms all while dozing off to bed. I would attend my church Christ Fellowship on a lovely Tuesday night in Bowling Green(which is led by several amazing men who love the Lord with their whole heart and where the people of the church actually live for Christ and share in each others burdens together as one body and where a member is not judged by his social status or his attire or even if he has alcohol on his breath or if he may have slept downtown the night before and where the one and only Father is worshiped and glorified by his people and where His name is made famous in the downtown area and throughout Bowling Green(christfellowshipbg.blogspot.com)and this is a plug not because someone told me to but because this is the image of the church in Acts and because the church needs to start acting like the church, and they do that there). So who am I to say that I worshiped the Lord in Bowling Green at all? Sure I would sprinkle in some God like He was some pepper I was going to put on the green beans my mom had made. Why? Where did I go wrong? The God who made me was being treated like He was an episode on tv or a book I could just read and feel convicted of or a song I could listen to and feel warm inside. Wow, I had never been more wrong about something in my life.

I am currently sitting in a dark outdoor church in the middle of a rural Philippines baragauy (city). I am 12,000 miles from home. From my mom, from my dad, from my brother, and from my friends, oh how I miss you all; from Jan to Jt, from Mike to Tim, from Hootie to Monkey, and from Sassy to Lance.

I have been on a plane for over 24 hours. I have been on ferries. I have been on jeepneys (google it). I have been on motorcycles with four people. I have swam. I have walked miles upon miles. I have slept in churches. I have slept on grass. I have slept in tents. I have slept in more tents. I have slept on school desks. I have slept on boats. I have eaten rice and more rice. I have eaten corn beef. I have eaten coconuts. I have eaten squid. I have eaten plants from outside. I have made my own meals. I have jumped off of many cliffs into water. I have jumped in puddles. I have sat and enjoyed sunsets. I have laid down and enjoyed the stars. I have raked with brooms. I have showered outside with a bucket and a scoop and cold water every day. I have urinated in lots of places. I have pooped at very inconvenient times. I have climbed mountains to meet people and enjoy sunsets. I have dined with a homeless man. I have been asked to shower with a homosexual man of which I declined but did sit and enjoy conversation with. I have played with thousands of kids. I have been called Joe or Bob more than I could ever imagine. I have fallen in love with a boy that I cant understand and whom cant understand me. I have eaten with him. I have shot slingshots with him. I will cry with him soon. I have loaded up a backpack of clothes and basketballs and toothbrushes to give to him. I have preached a sermon. I have been terrified to preach a sermon. I have become a Philipino chef. I have been on the beach. I have been in the forest. I have been sick. I have been exhausted. I have had diarrhea. I have been constipated from too much rice. I have danced with high school students. I have shared bible studies. I have shared my testimony. I have developed a new testimony. I have been overwhelmed by the grace and mercy of the Lord. I have worshiped the God of the world not just the God of America. I have adored the God of the homeless not just the God of the wealthy. I have fed the hungry. I have clothed the naked. I have loved the God of the prostitutes not just the virgins. I have worshiped at a Catholic Church. I have believed in a God of all people. I have been afraid. I have been homesick. I have been miserable. I have been frustrated. I have cried in the internet cafes multiple times. I have seen Jesus in the eyes of children, the homeless, the homosexual, the corrupt, the rich, the poor, the hungry, the homesick, my team, and myself.

Truly meeting Jesus has truly wrecked my life, and I will never be the same again.

In Luke 15:2 it says, And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, This man (Jesus) receives sinners and eats with them.

In Luke 7:34 it says, The Son of Man (Jesus) has come eating and drinking, and you say, Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!

Jesus was persecuted and belittled by those around Him because He didn’t always hang out with the people who thought they were most Godly. People confused Him for a glutton and a drunkard because He was with sinners and people suffering more than with anyone else. He opened his arms and hugged the little children. He opened his doors and housed the homeless. He walked and dined with the sinners of the world.

And we think that we have it together living our God sprinkled lives. How wrong were we?

Why is it that we treat God like a side of mashed potatoes in our main course of living a worldy life? Are we really that blind?

As Christians (or at least titled that) we live our live as far from the live that Jesus as we can. We want to be comfortable and complacent. And we have our cute little words about how we are saved and about how we do our good deed for the day. We sing worship songs to God on Sunday but forget Him on Monday. We welcome our friends to church but wont ask the people we don’t know. We watch the homeless man over the bridge of I-65 sit and beg for food. We watch as the woman struggles to work at the strip club and pay her bills at the same time. We wont sit by the homeless man at church because he smells too bad to suffer sitting by him for an hour and a half. We are too scared to walked up front and bow down at the alter because of what other people may think or say. Let me tell you my friends, I don’t care what people think. If you care what people think then you will spend you life never having fun, letting go, and always worrying who is watching. And we even worry what people think at church? Wow. I hope that when the rapture happens someday that maybe it happens to be on a Sunday, and the people who just attend church as a social gathering or because they have to (not me I am saved by His grace alone) are sitting around and looking at each other wondering why they are still there. I know that seems morbid and awful but it is the truth. Just because you go to church and do your good deeds doesn’t save you. The local church needs to do a lot of searching inwardly and focusing on becoming the church. And if you are at church and you are spreading lies and gossiping then you have more self searching work to do that outward watching to do. Local churches, not the church¸ is full of deceitful people but also very full of beautiful people. So be aware, and be alive.

Let Jesus wreck your life. It will take you to places and let you experience life in the way God meant for it to be experienced. Put all you faith in Him. Not just figurative faith, but faith that He will provide for you. He has provided me meals here when I thought I wasn’t going to eat. He has provided me a place to lay my head when I thought I had none. Jesus Christ owns my life because I owe it all to Him. Not just my spare time. Not just when I can fit Him in. Walk with Him. Take Him to Wal-Mart with you. Take Him to the ballpark with you. Take Him to the Philippines. Take Him to Tennessee. Take Him to college. Take him to work selling used cars and insurance. Wherever you go in life, take Him with you. I know first hand that Jesus loves a good adventure.

Jesus wrecked my life. Let Him wreck yours.

a sweet old lady...

one love...

i just stepped off the podium at the church that we attend from preaching my first ever sermon...and what else should i preach about but love....
in 1st corninthians 13 it speaks about love in its truest form...it speaks of never ending love...it speaks about faith and hope and love and that the greatest of these is love...
we are called to love others...
it is biblical...
before we are ever supposed to tell people about the gospel or pass out stupid tracts and stupid dvd's(to be explained in a later blog)we are to show them love...however we can...
whether that means eating lunch with a homeless man...sharing a coke with a drunk person...talking about love with a whore...we are to show the world love...
the Lord is showing me things on this trip that i would never have learned about or even known about...i have been reading a book called the irrisistable revolution by shane claiborne and it is changing my perspective on life...
just because a person may be drunk or homeless or a whore doesn't mean that they don't deserve our love does it?
i mean if you think about it, jesus was kind of homeless...
he went from place to place with only the love of other to live on...

living on love...now there is a concept...

i talked this mornign about how love never ends and the old quote that love is contagious...if love never ends and in fact it is contagious then why are we as believers not showing more people our love...a never ending contagious love sounds good to me...

i know that i have talked in past blogs to stop what you are doing and hang out with stangers...have you done that?...we are called to love and called to tell people about the Lord...

so i continue to reiterate that concept...hang out with people...eat with someone you don't know...invite some people over for dinner...just be a good person...and through our love others will see the love that He has shown to us...

that is all for now...

Make His name Famous...

its just a little typhoon...

just some pics....enjoy...

Make His name Famous...

just a fun read...

http://www.nehemiahteams.blogspot.com/

breast feeding and naked babies

oh my oh my...
the breast feeding and naked babies are bountiful in the philippines...
just a thought for you all...
i am currently writing to you on wed june 18 in the middle of san fransisco, cebu, philippines a municipality of camotes island...
as i have said in my previous blogs i am learning newer things every day...
i have recently learned that while some tracts and dvds may be useful, they cannot contain my God...
my God is the God who is bigger than any 6 page tract that someone may hand you...He is bigger than any dvd you can make...
my God cannot be comprehended in a short bible study...while studies do help to introduce Him, a study alone can't do Him justice...i see the Lord moving in my life daily...the only way anyone of us will understand Him more is to be in His word daily and to be in prayer multiple times daily...nothing that we do is so important that we have to put God on the back burner...God deserves out whole lives...He deserves it all...our love...our passion...our desire...the death of Jesus Christ on the cross was enough to consume us all...
we are not missionaries in a foreign land...we aren't on a mission trip...we aren't americans staying in the philippines...

we are living our lives as living testimonies and sacrifices to Him...the one who deserves it all...

i know these are all just words and words cannot do Him justice, but they do glorify Him if another person can read this and see my light...

this is not a blog to tell you of my struggles, it is not to tell you how much i miss you all, it is not to tell you of my accommodations or the food i eat, it is not to tell you of the people here or the people on my team...

it is to tell you that God will be glorified in my life, persecution or not...the persecution that i face could never in a lifetime be as awful and what Christ suffered, and that is why i owe it all to him...

Jesus Christ's sacrifice deserves our discomfort...i am not comfortable here...this is not my home...but the bible says nothing about our lives being easy sharing the word of God...

So to end the blog i want to say that whatever you are doing this week even today...

stop...

turn off the tv and the cell phone(i promise it will be ok off)...
get off the internet for a while...
be still...
be quiet...
and know that He is God...
He will have his way with you...
meet a stranger...
eat with a sinner...
walk with a drunk...
comfort the widow...
talk to the whore...
He did...
why can't we...
don't worry what people think about you with them...
they are the ones with the problem...
spend time with a philippino..
talk with an african...
smile to an asian...
the world is made up of people...
God loves people...
the people that He created...
so love on them, feed them, show them His love through your life...

Make His name Famous...

a cup of coffee and some rooster friends...

i am currently in camotes, cebu philippines....finally...
it took way to long to reach this city...but after many flights...many boats...many jeeps...many motorcycles(no joke)...and lots of sandal steps...i am here...
the people of camotes island are incredebly friendly and open to americans and we are somewhat of celebrities here...me and matt got pulled from the back of their independence day parade today in front of a thousand people and pulled down front to sit with the mayor...it was awesome and they brough us drinks...
camotes is sunny and 105* all day every day...it is one of the prettiest places on earth...
yesterday i woke up and showered...by the way this is at 5:30 when all of the roosters are yelling and i use a bucket and a scoop to shower outside with the dog...the water is cold and the curtain that surrounds me is barely rip high....but it is outside and the view to the morning sky is worth it...like i posted in my last blog i am getting even more keen to the philippine cuisine...i love rice and it only took 3 days...
all 8 of us sleep on the ground in a small room...start the fire to boil water for coffee...start the rice in a bowl...and this morning we had a delicasy...canned pinapples...oh they were good...
God is moving in amazing ways already...we have countless, really countless bible studies set up with unbelievers...we are focusing on doing these weekly bible studies with people instead of just evangelism from house to house...we are really praying that the people of camotes will accept christ for what he has done for them not what they have to do(catholic religion here)...the people we have met are the sweetest of all...the kids have innocent smiles and the old people are laid back and get in a hurry about nothing...
me, ate(ati) lisa, and kuya jetter rode a motorcycle all over the large island of the philippines...we went to many schools where some of the children had never seen a real live white person, only in the movies...it is very odd...
our group is awesome and we all accent each others abilities...we all have a love for children and for these people and we desire to make His name famous in this beautiful place that he created...
my challenge for those reading this is to make yourselves less as i am learning so that we can make others and Him more than us...His sacrifice deserves it...
i am having a great trip and the time is already flying by too quick...i still miss my mom and dad and hootie like crazy...i miss lance and monkey(becca)...i hope you are well tim and i am praying for you...keep up the fight jt...i may be in a different country but i still have you in my minds...i even miss many people that i met at orientation who are on different groups including dapitan, manila orphanages, augusan, can-avid and many more...i am praying for you all...
it is so awesome to have no cell phone here...to tv...to internet except when we seek it...to make what you eat...to clean what you where(not put it in a washer and dryer, you become both of those in big buckets)...i am learning new things every day...
be calm...
slow down...
talk to the lonely lady...
play with the anxious children...
sit with the eldrly man...
plow with the hard working farmer...
love people...


that is it for now...i was going to put up pictures but forgot my cord....so until next time...make His name famous...