ALL SCRIPTURE......

Being a graduate of Moody Bible Institute, I have had hammered into me time and time again the importance of handling God's Word properly. I mean, 2 Timothy 2:15 is the school's favorite verse. It's posted everywhere on campus. I learned how to do inductive Bible studies (that take about 3 hours to complete!) and how to use the background, culture, and context of a passage to help show the original intent of the author and thereby what God is really trying to teach us when we read His words. And this is all well and good, but it is tiresome, and ultimately, in a ministry to at-risk youth like TreeHouse, sometimes it even seems burdensome to go through such a process when most of my conversations revolve around depression, fighting, anger, broken homes/relationships, and sex. 


However, a couple of days ago I sat down to a one-to-one with one of my students. This student has had an increased desire to better understand God lately- mainly desiring to know what God wants him to do with his life. A verse Bill Allison shared about 5 million years ago during chapel at PCS came to mind. Colossians 3:23, "Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people." In choosing this passage, I wanted him to start getting the concept that the ultimate goal/plan for our lives is simply living for the Lord. All that other stuff about where to go and what job to have and whom to marry will come, but this is the starting point. 


He was tracking with me for a little while when I asked what this made him think/question. He said, "what about people that are jerks? Am I supposed to work hard for a boss that I hate and doesn't respect me?" I thought for a moment, then realized that the verses leading up to v.23 stated, "Slaves obey your earthly masters in everything you do.... serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord." It was amazing to see God's Word speaking directly to this student's questions! The understanding flooded his mind and he smiled.


We talked a little while longer until he stated, "that's so hard to do though, cuz like it's not like we get anything for obeying people that are jerks, do we? So who cares if we obey them or not?" My heart both skipped a beat and simultaneously sunk as I read verse 24-25, "Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ. But if you do what is wrong, you will be paid back for the wrong you have done. For God has no favorites." He smiled at me. It was clear God was speaking through His Word to this student throughout our conversation. It was one of the deepest, most God-honoring one-to-ones I've had in a while.


However, I felt like God had called me out. " ALL SCRIPTURE is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16). I had just talked on this last Thursday during our Going Deeper program, and yet here I was, doubting that God could speak through the context of Colossians 3:23. I took a shortcut, I copy/pasted a verse wanting to apply it to a situation. All the while, God's authoritative Word was speaking as it desired, rather than where I was wanting to place it. 


Praise God that His Word is more powerful than mine, and pray for me to be a faithful steward to that Word and a humble mouthpiece. 

4.29.2010

On 4.29.2010, I packed up my whole life into a mini-van and made the trek up north. Upon arriving, we met my fiancée, Emily, and moved into a short-term house, provided by the Anderson family. I fell asleep on the couch to a big storm, with the knowledge that tomorrow my parents would be gone, and I would start my new life and ministry in the unfamiliar world of Minnesota. I was terrified out of my mind. 


Fast forward one year and here I sit in my favorite local coffee shop where I'm on a first name basis with the baristas and owners, writing my notes for a talk I'll give next week on the power of words, and preparing a missions team builder this afternoon with teenagers whom I love. I'm looking forward to spending the weekend with my lovely wife, going on a bike ride, packing for a summer move into a new apartment next month, and fellowshipping at our home congregation, Hope Community Church, on Sunday.


Life is full of surprises and change, but God's faithfulness remains. Deuteronomy 7:9 says, "Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands." Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Perfect Love Drives Out Fear

Thank you so much for all of your prayers this last weekend as Plymouth TreeHouse met up with the Chaska TreeHouse for our Spring Retreat. It was a great time of getting away, building relationships, and connecting with God. It was everything a retreat is meant to be!


Our theme for this year was "What Do You Fear?" with the goal of helping our students give their fears and stressors over to God. One of the core needs that every person has is to know "You Are Not Alone." It is something that we tout week after week during our support groups, but this weekend was a great venue for helping our teenagers realize that they are truly never alone because God is always with them; therefore, there is truly nothing to fear!


The culmination of the trip was allowing each student to walk up on stage and paint their biggest fear on a black tarp (in the middle of the picture), giving it over to God and seeking His comfort to take the place of the fear that grips them. 


More than that though, my favorite part of the trip was having small group time with my guys after each talk. I am asking you to pray alongside me for the young men God has brought to TreeHouse. The pervasive fear that my guys admitted was "failing to become the man God wants them to be" or "ending up like my dad." Their confessions were so raw and you could sense the passionate heart and desire to break the cycle of abandonment, abuse, and hurt they've experienced from their fathers. 


It was a beautifully humbling time watching God move in the hearts of His children!

Full-Time Program!

    I promise you, despite how terrified I look in this picture, I'm actually thrilled to let you all know that I am officially back full-time at program working with at-risk teenagers!!!!!! God has richly blessed me and Emily with so much love and support over the last four months. The whole support-raising process has been new and stretching to us, but we have time and time again seen the hand of God moving. 

    I still have not reached my full target of support yet, but I you all have sent in enough support that they have allowed me back to Plymouth and to my guys! So, with that, I will still be continuing to raise support as I transition back into working full-time in ministry. If you are still feeling led to give and have not been able to do so, you've not missed the boat. Much like a full-time missionary, my support is on-going, so I even after I do reach my official target, I will always welcome new friends and family who want to support me!

    I want to thank you for all of your prayers, emails, meetings, cups of coffee, and encouragement over these few months. I also want to invite you to pray for the hurting teenagers with whom I am now working. Pray that God's Spirit would be moving in them and through me as He draws us to Himself. 

   Again, thank you so much, and I'm so excited that I'm back full-time!!!

Our New Hobby

   Some of my favorite hobbies include playing guitar, painting, and writing. However, a new hobby I have begun developing is of a daily benefit to both me and Emily. Every morning we enjoy a cup of coffee to start off the day. I'd done some researching into ways to make a great cup of coffee. It started off with a Chemex coffee brewer. The more and more research I did, the more I heard about people who roast their own coffee in-home. This intrigued me. Eventually I convinced Emily to let me give it a try.
    There are several ways to home-roast. You can buy fancy machines that cost anywhere from $100-$1000, or you can employ different manual methods. You can simply use a baking sheet and oven, a cast iron pan, a stove-top popcorn roaster, or my current (and very elementary) method: the air popcorn popper.

The great thing about this method is how easily you can find an air popper in thrift/discount stores, making this hobby much more cost effective. Once I had a roaster, I needed to find a place to buy some green (unroasted) coffee beans. I'm still deciding on my preferred store, but three i have used so far are www.sweetmarias.com, www.burmancoffee.com, and www.paradiseroasters.com. Between online sales, bulk shipping discounts, etc. I usually am able to get my coffee for around $5.50/lb on average.

Here are some pictures of a Guatemalan Antigua Finca "Colombia" batch I roasted last week:

   Emily and I love peeking open the jar a few hours after the roast. I never smelled fresh coffee until I started roasting it myself. So many complex aromas, each origin and blend smelling so different. I usually give the freshly roasted beans between 12-24 hours of a resting period. This method combined with my Chemex brewer means that we get to drink some of the best coffee we've ever tasted every morning. What's more, it's even cheaper than cheap and burnt beans like at the supermarket and chain coffee shops.

TWO YEARS!

Although I am far from fully understanding her, big part of me feels like I've known Emily, my wife, forever. We have so many memories of being together, learning each other, and growing in love and devotion to one another, not the least of which is our engagement (one year ago on thursday!) and wedding (seven months ago yesterday). However, today is the TWO YEAR anniversary of us meeting as we boarded a plane to Israel!

HOLY COW! We've both concluded that it is amazing how close we are to each other today when we've literally only known of each others' existence for two years. God has shown us time and time again how His paths for our lives individually brought us together, walking down the same road today. His blessings, wisdom, and grace abound!

Here's a few pictures documenting some of our last two years together!

So blessed.

iStand

So for the last couple of weeks, my car has been acting up. I took it to Midas in St. Louis Park and found out what the problem was, and also got a quote - which was super pricey. Over a couple of weeks, and per the advice of my dad and father-in-law, I researched and found a local mechanic who was supposed to be pretty good. I found his fairly shady garage in North Minneapolis, and really, he did a great job. Plus, it cost about a fifth what Midas wanted to charge me. Phew, mission accomplished.

Then, the next day, my computer randomly froze up. Tried turning it back on, and it just wouldn't work anymore. Once again, I was on the phone with my dad. Turns out, after attempting to do several tests on it, my hard drive is fried. That's right. I've lost everything I didn't back up since October-ish. Which isnt a huge deal. I also lost all the pictures I took since spring 2009. Luckily most of the important ones such as wedding pictures and Israel pictures are backed-up on CD's. But seriously, really inconvenient. Lost my contact list and everything for my support-raising, any talks I've given at TreeHouse, and other various documents i've written. Lame.

All this is to say that, although I was certainly very excited to have a dad who knows a lot about computers and cars and a father-in-law whose expertise is small engines, I wasn't exactly happy about either situation. Which is normal. And also wrong.

Just last week I had a Bible study with some TreeHouse youth where we talked about James 1:2-6 (one of my favorite passages in Scripture) and discussed the role that trials and hard times plays in our lives. God's ultimate goal by bringing us through hard times is to bring us to maturity and even closer to Him. Although it can be so difficult, we are called to face trials joyfully, knowing that God will help us persevere and at the end, we will know Him even better, more intimately. Isn't it funny how the day after you help someone understand one of God's promises, He asks you to cling to that same promise?

I didn't react poorly (I don't think...maybe you'd have to ask Emily about that one), but I certainly didn't react with joy. It's great to know God uses these things to lead us to perseverance. Promises are promises... and facts are facts.