Who do we have confidence in?

Hebrews 10 34-35

34. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.
35. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

We're reading through Hebrews in our young adult group, and these verses really struck me. "you...joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew you had better and lasting possessions, so do not threw away your confidence"

As we're gearing up to leave, some of our biggest fears seem to be about jobs we're leaving behind, or what we get to bring with us, or the fact that we're leaving security for the uncertain, but this verse really convicted me of what I put my confidence in. If my confidence is in my job, money, or possessions, then I'm not really going to be willing to give those up if that's what God calls me to do.

However, if my confidence is in God, it doesn't matter what anyone takes from me, my confidence cannot be taken.

I also think it's interesting that the Bible says "do not THROW AWAY your confidence." It makes me think that when we put our confidence in anything but God, we're waisting it, because those things are not lasting - they're fleeting.

My question for you (and for me) is, are we wasting our confidence? Are we throwing it away on things that can be easily taken? Are we not following (or afriad to follow) what God wants us to do because our confidence is in something other then Him?

Lord, please help me to be confident in You and nothing else but You. God help me to be willing to completely surrender my life to You, and not keep any part for myself. Calm my irrational fears because I know that You have and will continue to take care of us. Amen.

Is what we believe really real to us?

It's a rainy Saturday morning here in St. Paul, and seems like the perfect morning to write in a blog. I know I'm supposed to keep posts short, but I feel a long one coming on, so bear with me.

Like Steve mentioned in the last post, it's been a crazy week, or really, weeks (plural) since we've returned from Denver. It's really challenged our focus, drive, enery, and attention span. I know that when the devil knows that we're on fire and really running after Christ, he wants to do anything and everything he can to divert our attention from that.

I challenged my girls Sunday School class to be reading through John this week. We're talking about it in church, and I've been challenging them to give out gospels of John for months now, but we never actually read through it on our own (lately at least). It's amazing that in this Gospel, Jesus makes no mistake to let his people (us) know who He is.

Just in the first chapter it says he is:

• The Word (vs. 1, 14)


• God (v. 1)


• Creator (vs. 3, 10)


• The Light (vs.4-5)


• Grace and Truth (v. 17)


• The Lord (v. 23)


• Worthy (v. 27)


• Lamb of God/Taker of sin (v. 29, 36)


• Teacher (vs. 38,49)


• Son of God (v. 49)


• King of Isreal (v. 49)

All I can respond to that is WHAT A MIGHTY GOD WE SERVE. How can we not shout that? How can we go about our day when the Light, the Creator, the Lamb of God wants a personal relationship to us?

I once heard someone say that the reason people ignore Christ is because if Christians REALLY had what they say they have, they would act different. Not just being "better" then the person next to you, but if we REALLY believed that we have a personal relationship with the ONE who takes away the sin of the world and give us a life, we would be shouting it from the rooftops. But we don't. I don't. Most Christians don't. So...that begs the question. Do we believe that what we believe is really real? Let me say that one more time....do we believe that what we believe is really real? If so, then how would our lives look different?

I know mine would. I would not be scared to share the Gospel with EVERYONE because I knew that I found the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I would not have to schedule in time to read my Bible and pray because I would realize that I have a personal relationship with the CREATOR of the World and maker of all things. I wouldn't worry about the little things because the One who takes care of me gave it to me and He can do with my life what He pleases.

Just ponder on that for a bit (I know I will) - Do you believe that what you believe is really real?

Just to give credit where credit is due, these throughts came from a combination of "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan and Focus on the Family's "The Truth Project".

Please feel free to leave comments, questions, concerns, and prayer requests on our blog. We love to hear from you.

Just to let you know, our next week blogs will be about France (which, considering it's called FOCUS ON FRANCE, would be good). We will be posting different facts and also our reasons for wanting to go to France. Thanks for following. We really appreciate you all!

The beginning of this week was a stressful one for me (Steve). I had a long engineering assignment due Tuesday and a French presentation Wednesday that I hadn’t started. That was just the start of the week. I had to keep reminding myself (and Jess would remind me too) to take deep breathes and take one day at a time.

The other thing that helped me through the week was Romans 5:1-5

“1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but w] also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

I was very encouraged by this passage.

The second half of the week I had a homework assignment for my Advanced Analog Integrated Circuits class (yes, this class is as much fun as it sounds). The class is extremely challenging and when I started the assignment I knew how I needed to start and how it should end. The steps in between were hazy so I worked on it Wednesday and did not get far.

Thursday morning I received an email from my professor who had solved the tedious middle part save for a few steps and posted his work online. I realized it is great to see how he worked through the problem because it gave me an idea of how to do the last few steps. The parallels our walk with God, we need people who are able to teach and guide us as we grow with God.

Life Goes On...

Our Mid-Term Training Group - Pray for these people as they're on the same journey we are raising support to go over seas to preach the Gospel!

Well, we’ve been back for a week, and like coming back from summer camp excited about what you learned, the training last week gave us the renewed excitement for the ministry ahead. However, real life is still going on. *sigh* We had a busy week with lots of extra hours of work and school and catching up from the weekend we didn’t really have.

I have learned this week (as many of us do after coming back from something that spurs us on to ministry or a call that God has given us) that I cannot rely on excitement alone – when I come back from a conference or training, I am so hyped to do EVERYTHING! I eat, sleep, dream France and missions and presentations and culture, BUT…that excitement goes away. Just as the Bible says our hearts are deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9), I think that relying on pure emotion to follow God’s will is deceitful. I think that’s why the Bible talks on perseverance so much.

2 Thessalonians 3: 1-5 1Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. 2And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith. 3But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. 4We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. 5May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.

I need to have Christ’s perseverance. Think on Christ’s life and how many things He suffered through after they stopped being “fun” or “exciting” (if they ever were). He knew the will of God for His life, and nothing was going to stop Him until His time was done on earth.

Let me ask to you – is there something in your life that God is spurring you to do, but because the “thrill” of it is gone, you have put it on the back burner? Has your Christian walk become like that? Just because you can’t “feel” God in your life, have you stopped seeking after Him?
Can I just ask you to, right now, rededicate that thing to Him – whether it’s your passions, your service, your money, or your life, give it to Him. The Bible says that if you “commit to the Lord whatever you do…your plans will succeed” (Prov. 16:3).

Lord, please forgive me if I ever try to take the passion You’ve given us into my own hands. Lord, I give this to you. I pray that I will not rely on my emotions, but that I will allow You to give me the strength and perseverance to finish the calling that You gave to me.

Yesterday was a hard day for me. I was challenged by many of my downfalls and could feel myself starting to get anxious about everything. We started talking about transition and starting out on the field. Someone asked how we will know if we’re doing things right and all of a sudden a sheet of dread just closed in on me. I like order, I like routine – and although I like to be spontaneous, it’s only when I’m in control of the adventure. This adventure is one that is out of my control for the most part, and in God’s hands. My mind tells me that is a good thing, but my stomach did flips.

How am I going to know if I’m doing a good job? How am I going to build routine? Will I have enough stuff to do during language training that will give my life purpose? Am I ACTUALLY a people person, or is that just what I’m expected to be? I feel panicked at the mere thought of trying to build relationships in France….does that mean I’m going to fail as a missionary?

We also talked about support raising. There are so many rules. I feel like I can do nothing but wrong things – it seems weird that we have to jump through hoops in order to get the church to support doing God’s work through us. I mean, I’m not saying anything about the church, because, honestly, I usually have to be VERY impressed with a missionary, or organization in order to give my money. It takes something emotional and something convicting for me to even part from $32/month for my compassion child. I’m definitely one of the culprits.

Lord, please calm me – give me a peace that passes all understanding and help me to realize that You are the almighty God and you already know who is going to partner with us, who is going to pray for us, and through You, we will succeed. I give this all to you, Lord – work through me. As Your Word says, we are only servants, and we plant and we water, but only you can make things grow. This is not about me or my ability, but about Your strength working through me. God, give me clarity to start today strong and learn more about serving You. Amen.

Jessica:
What a great experience. Everything from the people in the training to the people doing the training has been such an encouragement. I started getting sick on Wednesday before we left, but nothing could compare to the fuzziness I’m feeling right now. Nevertheless, I’m having a wonderful time.
Even before the plane took off, God was preparing my heart for this training. We got to the airport WAY too early and hunkered down to stay a while. All of a sudden the girl in front of us was talking and mentioned that she was planning on going to Northwestern College, St. Paul. Any of you who really know me, know that my ears perked up hearing that. I went up to her and asked about it, and here she’s a student I’ve been working with, but haven’t been able to meet – what a small world.

We arrived in Denver about 10:15pm (11:15 our time) and still needed to wait for the Shuttle to drive us to Littleton. When the driver started on the way all of a sudden out of the car speakers comes the song “Mighty to Save” – he was playing Christian music! I was able to spend that time in prayer – God was able to prepare my heart for this conference during that 45 minute drive.
This morning started with breakfast with the rest of the Midterm Missionaries. I have to be honest and say I was expecting your typical “missionary types” – middle age couples with 4 kids, using phrases like “young people these days…” and “when I was a kid...” Instead, out of the rooms come 3 right-out-of-college guys, an early 20’s Missionary Kid from Japan, a young couple with a 5 month old (ADORABLE) girl, and an older couple planning on doing missions in their retirement. What a fun group!

I’ll spare you the details (Steve is right next to me writing his post, so he probably told you about what we talked about), but one of the biggest things that tugged on my heart was the idea of my comfort zone. One of the activities we did today was to take things like “Cleanliness” and rate how much we value it, from strongly value to never value. We were able to list our top values (mine included rootedness, individuality, and a clean environment) and realize that these things might not be available in the country we’re ministering to.

Jerry (the leader of the training) talked about Peter, and how Peter’s comfort zone revolved around the Law, which included Sabbath, dietary restrictions, and who you associated with (meaning not talking to the Gentiles). He said that in Acts 10, where God shows him the vision of the cloth being lowered down with the food, Peter would have been VERY uncomfortable with what God was telling him to do, but when Peter allowed God to shape his comfort zone, instead of keeping it rigid, he was allowing God to make him an effective minister of the Gospel. Being able to keep his comfort zone flexible allowed God to use him as a light and witness to the Gentiles in ways that would never be possible if Peter was rigid in that area.

My prayer is that God will use this time of raising support to allow my comfort zone to be molded by Him. That my expectations for what my life will be like will not interfere with the ministry that He’s given me here in MN, or my future ministry in France…

Thanks for tracking with us – we’ll keep you updated!

Day 1 of Training

This is Steve, just thought I'd let you all know that so you didn't have to try and decipher the differences in our writing styles. We flew to Denver,CO Thursday evening and got to the WorldVenture home office late that night and stayed in the guest rooms that are provided.

This morning we had breakfast and met the other Mid Term Missionaries who are also attending this training. It has been great to get to know the other missionaries who are at the same place of raising support. It was also cool to see the age range of the group. There is an older married couple, a couple with a 5 month old, and 4 single college-ish aged people.

We started the training getting to know one another, did a tour of the headquarters, and learned about all the different ministries and services provided by WorldVenture. We also met Hans Finzel who is the president of WorldVenture and Jonathan Finley who is the leader/founder of the Oikos House in France (the ministry we will be working with).

We were able to sit down and talk with Jonathan about the work we will be doing with the Oikos House. We will be language training and building friendships the first year and depending on how well that goes will determine the extent we will be able to serve with one of the 20 WorldVenture church plants.

Getting back to the training one thing that stuck out was we were asked to make a list of questions that would help us conduct a Spiritual Audit, questions about my quest to grow as a child of God. Here are some of the questions my group came up with.

-Is spending time in prayer and studying the Bible a priority?
-Am I investing time in others?
-Is someone pouring into me?
-What is my trust in?

These are the questions I will think about in how I evaluate where I am spiritually. In another exercises we were encouraged to start journaling as a way to express ourselves especially when we are entering a different culture where it will be difficult to adapt. Here is some of what I journaled during that time:

Today has been a great day of encouragement and challenging in preparing for missions and ministry. I"m not sure I'm ready to leave my friends and family to go to France, but I know that God will provide and He knows what is best for me. I am excited to see God work in raising support and in how He plans on using my Engineering before, during, or after France.

For being 12 hours of training with enough breaks, today has felt relaxing and encouraging.