The Greatest Adventure

How could you see what you see and not totally
Want to discontinue me for all eternity and then some
It bothers me so that I could be so
Completely unaffected when connected to the holy one
And so I sit here and stare at this page and wonder
At what age it will become clear to me
So for now I am clueless to how you do this
And how you move this spirit in me

I’m going Your way
Even though I cannot see in front of me
I’m going Your way
Even though I feel lost at sea

How could your favor be the flavor I savor
When the fruits of my labor are so unfavorable
And old pages are setting the stages for something outrageous
A man who can save all our souls
And you know and you know

I’m going Your way
Even though I cannot see in front of me
I’m going Your way
Even though I feel lost at sea

Ride the wave, wave goodbye, by the way did I mention today
That I don’t know the way home
So could you take me by the hand and lead me to the dryer land
So I can finally breathe again instead of sinking like a stone
And now I will diligently and not religiously but affectionately come
Before the throne of your grace in this place and seek your face For all eternity and then some

Lost at Sea
Written by: Jimmy Needham & Josef Gordon
© 2005 Jimmy Needham

"Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!"

[John 4:35, NKJV]

"He who is not with Me [siding and believing with Me] is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me [engage in My interest], scatters."

[Luke 11:23, Amplified]

Are you gathering with Him?

Or are you scattering?

"Making Disciples" is not an option if you are following Jesus.
"Preaching the Gospel" is not an option if you are following Jesus.
"World Missions" is not an option if you are following Jesus.

However, the role you play in these three interests of His (which are ultimately one--the creation of worshipers) may look different than the cookie-cutter, clean-cut, business suit brand of Christianity we have become comfortable with in this country.

But even that does not excuse you.

God has worked in you, through the divine power of His Spirit, a role in the body in order to accomplish His work (1 Corinthians 12:7). Can you call the spirtually dead to repentance? Can you admonish the backsliders and the fence-sitters? Can you nourish the newborns? Can you effectively build believers in their doctrine? Can you encourage men and women in their passion for Jesus? Can you provide money or supplies to send missionaries? Can you offer yourself as a presence in the field? Can you pray, brother and sister? Do you?

I have added some resources regarding world missions to this blog, along with the more general resources--though both sets of links have the same heart for the gospel. Investigate some of these sites. Find teachings to listen to, countries to learn about, people-groups to pray for, stories to strengthen. Ask God how you can be a part of his glorious plan of redemption. Ask Him how you can join in the great harvest.

"May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth.
Selah
May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.
Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us.
God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him."

[Psalm 67:4-7]

My apartment made me fall on my face today. It's nothing special. Small kitchen, two bedroom, every light switch in the house located in the hallway. Yet even something as subtle as afternoon light streaming into the living room reminded me how much mercy God shows me.

Phil told me that everything God gives us is mercy. Mercy is a gift we don't deserve--and in the case of God, what we deserved was no mercy at all. However, because of His promise, and because we have become children of the promise, every gift is mercy. My apartment is mercy. The chair I found on the roadside is mercy. My Totino's pizza eaten on the floor is mercy.

Just because every gift is mercy does not mean that the gift is always immediately pleasant or enjoyable. Athlete's foot is mercy. A sunburn is mercy. Awful streaks of diahrrea are mercy. This kind of mercy is not always evident. Sometimes we have to dig to get to it. If this mercy is the treasure, the dirt is our pride, our selfishness. We must uproot our complaining and mean-spirited hearts to unearth the joyful mercy that God has given us. If we have pride, we will not see the mercy, only hard, barren ground. Furthermore, if we have pride, we cannot even get to the mercy. It is distant from us, unattainable. Perhaps that is why Scripture says, God unequips the proud, but gives a shovel to the humble...Or something like that. Only God can bring us to that mercy. He rewards us, and He enables us to gain that reward. Do you want mercy in the wasteland? Cry out to God for a shovel. There is a treaure there. He promised.

I'm here in the Campus library wearing a pair of shorts for the somethingth day in a row...I'm not actually sure what day it is, or where I will sleep tonight, but I prayed in faith this morning for God to work things out with the move-out and thus far He has been answering those prayers.

Here is a brief account (both for my sake and the sake of those interested--so maybe two people, total) of my adventures over the last several days.

Tuesday morning, July 25, 3:00 am: Last security shift in New Orleans, with Nick Roseveare. Nick falls asleep at 3:30. Spend the rest of my time reading Luke and eating Oreos.

6:00 am: Leave New Orleans with Trevor and Chris. Missed a turn, shady restaurant for lunch, Vernonburger for dinner, roll into New Mexico at 3:30 am, Mountain Time.

3:35 am: Conversation with my Dad before he decides to go to work.

3:45 am: Sisters friends show up to surprise her for her birthday.

4:30 am: Mom returns from trip to California--she fell asleep on the side of the road in Gallup.

4:31 am: I pass out on a couch, shoes and all.

Wednesday morning, 7:30 am: Sister makes tasty breakfast for her friends and my friends, then we leave for Colorado.

6:00 pm: Arrive in Fort Collins. No roommate, place looks a mess, and there's creepy black plastic inside the shower. Psalm 103 scribbled on the mirror. Terribly unsettling. I pack. Fastly.

12:00 am: Roommate Adam shows up. I breathe a sigh of relief. Then fall asleep on a bare mattress.

Thursday, 8:00 am: Pack (this was the boringest section).

3:00 pm: Nathan picks me up and drives me to his house in Denver, where we listen to the best hits of Weird Al Yankovic, talk to his uncle who plays the drums and just moved here from New York, eat Turkey (that is delicious and makes you sleepy), and then fall asleep at 11:00 pm.

Friday, 1:00 am: We wake up and drive to Alamosa. Listen to two teachings. Pray. Rejoice. Repeat.

5:30 am: Arrive at Kim's house. Try to stay awak, but mosquitoes are like Turkey because they make you sleepy. Both of us pass out on the smallest bed in a camper. Aaron wakes us up at 6:30.

12:30 pm: Drive to Delta and fall in love with Colorado all over again. Aaron and I talk about our foolishness, the future, and the O.C. Supertones.

6:00 pm: Dinner with the Shark and Sam in Delta. Fun, and a little awkward. That night, sleep in a tent between a waterfall and a cornfield.

Saturday, 7:30 am: Go on a fun run with the Bride and Groom (which is awesome). Felt great, and I won some good sleepwear from the Father of the Bride.

10:00 am: Get lost trying to find Grand Mesa. Get lost trying to find a place to have a quiet time. Get lost trying to find a place in the wilderness for natures call. Still get found by Jesus.

5:00 pm: The Shark becomes Mrs. the Shark! Sam and her get married. I really liked the wedding, message and all that. My favorite parts included the candle-lighting ceremony (very intimate), Rae's song for the Shark, Sam's song for the Shark, and when Nathan and John sang "I Will Always Love You" to no one in particular. Slept in room furnished for a baby from Kazakhstan with four other guys.

Sunday, 8:30 am: Pancakes with yogurt from Janet and Abra. A minivan from Chelsea. We leave for Fort Collins.

11:00 am: Liz's car breaks down.

11:25 am: Breaks down again.

11:30 am: God breaks me down.

12:15 pm: Breaks me down again.

12:45 pm: Get caught in weird Sunday evening rush hour. Four extended testimonies and one long line at Subway later, drop the three passengers off at respective locations.

6:00 pm: Arrive at the disshevelled apartment. Feel a little a little disshevelled myself. Eat a hamburger made by Kyle's mom, and talk to Kyle and Phil. Finish loading the van.

Monday, 12:00 am: Talk to Justin about the gospel and fall asleep on the floor at Brian's.

8:00 am: Wake up on the couch. Get to the apartment. Clean like a W Employee with 16 rooms. Beat the buzzer by half an hour. Drink a slush at Sonic to celebrate.


What will happen next? I have no idea. Yet I have longed and sought God to increase my faith, and surely even my basic necessities will be met over the next few days only by His grace. Praise the Lord for...very many things.

That's the flavor of "sno-ball" (though really sno-cone) I had today.

I feel like I should have a lot more to say.

I'm in downtown New Orleans, less than half a mile from the Superdome, and about as much from the French Quarter. We're living in a dilapidated old pink Bed & Breakfast that looks as though it were better suited for stange underground cult activity.

I'm living in a room with three other men about half the size of my bedroom in my parents house in New Mexico. It's hot, sweaty, more humid than I've ever experienced, and the bathrooms are in just-over-porta-potty quality. And I love it.

Must be the adventurer in me. I would live like this all the time...then again, maybe I shouldn't be asking too much...I might just get it.

My heart is more full of life than it has been, though I do miss reading, but my friends and family are here. Not that I don't love my natural family, but there is a quiet and powerful joy that permeates these people. I don't know if I am projecting, but I think non-Christians around notice it also. It shows grace to the downcast, strength to the weary, and love to the unlovely. It is a small myriad of God's glory displayed through his children.

I've spent the past few days job hunting with Chris. He's a very good friend. A very patient friend. We have a few leads, painting, banking, or Office Depoting. May God be glorified by bringing us gainful employment and a diligent mindset.

So I thought that my mom was going overboard for this party event, celebrating my graduation from college, my sisters graduation from high school, my brothers 21st and my moms 50th birthday. We rented an extra refrigerator (that word is hard to spell) and a 400 square foot tent. We bought a new grill and enough food to feed 200 people. As it turned out, there was enough food to feed about 70 people, which is how many showed up. They ate pretty much all of it except for a couple buckets of beans (but we got a great deal on those anyway), and some cake, but that served as a treat at church on Sunday. I was impressed that my mom (and my Aunt Valerie) so deftly handled the preparations for this event. I grandly underestimated the attendees, and the wisdom of my elders. I clenched my teeth in submission throughout this past week, thinking I knew more about what we really needed. I was also wrong.

It's over now, and most everything is returned or cleaned up. I got to see my relatives (especially my grandpa and his brothers) interact with each other, and for once I was paying attention. I can still see old tensions of brothers competing, but I also saw a stronger respect and a camaraderie that perhaps comes only with age. I can only hope that my relationship with my brother and sister changes as we grow older. I so badly want to see them in love with Jesus, and to talk with them about more than video games and pet antics. I have not been faithful in that, but I'm growing.

As an entirely separate thought, but one that came from conversations with old friends and old relatives. Humility is not making yourself out to be worse than you are...you don't need to do that. In the light of the glory and majesty and beauty of God, you don't have to debase yourself more than the presence of God already does. Recognize the truth, and respond. Don't backpedal from God's grace until you have convinced yourself that not even the cross can cleanse you. Maybe this thought is undeveloped, but it has helped me from despairing or being depressed about my weaknesses.