OK, so...Christian Youth In Action 2011 was the best CYIA week yet! And I feel that as time passes, additional treasures may reveal themselves. Many thanks to my fellow Dorm 22 guys, Team #1 students and amazing staff for making this year's training camp so awesome!
I believe there's a lot of stuff God has changed in me over the last week...I just can't see it yet. Being a Counselor for Dorm 22, Team Trainer for Team #1 and handling various other staff duties was an incredible experience, and it has me pumped for everything that's going to happen over the summer and what's going to happen at CMI. I know God has called me there, and I'm excited to see where He'll have me go afterwards. For now though, I'm focused on doing what I'm called to do during the summer. Which may or may not include finding out what the true identity of the gift behind the ever-present stained glass door is.
As I think back on what happened this week, I'm pretty sure that I'm holding an answer to prayer in my hands **GRABS CYIA AUTOGRAPH PAGE** Yep...pretty sure...here's hoping God answers the next prayer just as quickly. What am I talking about? Well...some of you might know...but once again, it will remain a secret until it deserves to be revealed.
So perhaps there are things I missed slightly...were somethings more than what they seemed? Did you actually mean...? Cause if you did...why didn't you say anything? Is there things that should not have been left unsaid?
Becoming the man God wants me to be...
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
A Gift
That is what lies behind the stained glass door. A gift. One that I can enjoy, but also, one that I can enhance. I know the essence of the gift, some of what it contains, but I do not know all. I don't know what kind of wrapping this gift comes in, or all of it's details, but the essence is enough to enable a search & confirm mission. Basically, anything that matches what I know is part of the gift is potentially the true form of the gift. So, it's my job to go out, find those potential gifts and lift them up to God in order to find the true form of the gift that lies behind the stained glass door. Right now, I'm in the process of doing just that, and I've found a few things that the gift might be, but God hasn't returned the results of my inquiries over to me yet. For now, they remain with Him.
With all that's happened recently, I don't blame Him for keeping the answers to Himself for the time being. But, that brings me to wonder just what the purpose was behind recent events. Did He remove one thing so I could see what would take it's place? Did He remove something so that I would see something else entirely? Hopefully I'll know the answers to those questions soon...maybe within the month...
Regardless, I still need to be focused primarily on what God has me doing right now in CEF. But if God has called me into a lifelong work of serving within CEF, does that mean that the true form of the gift is somehow related? Does it mean that my current guess as to the true form of the gift is correct? I suppose all will be revealed when I need to know...but if it is...then, will I find out at the end...?
Anyway, can't wait to be part of CYIA again this year. I wonder who God's going to put on my team...hmm...
With all that's happened recently, I don't blame Him for keeping the answers to Himself for the time being. But, that brings me to wonder just what the purpose was behind recent events. Did He remove one thing so I could see what would take it's place? Did He remove something so that I would see something else entirely? Hopefully I'll know the answers to those questions soon...maybe within the month...
Regardless, I still need to be focused primarily on what God has me doing right now in CEF. But if God has called me into a lifelong work of serving within CEF, does that mean that the true form of the gift is somehow related? Does it mean that my current guess as to the true form of the gift is correct? I suppose all will be revealed when I need to know...but if it is...then, will I find out at the end...?
Anyway, can't wait to be part of CYIA again this year. I wonder who God's going to put on my team...hmm...
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Why a "Hero"?
Over the last week, life has drastically changed for me. But at the same time, it hasn't changed at all. If you've been following this blog, or look back at the more recent posts, you'll see talk of steps and how those steps played out. As I type this I can say that those steps were needed and were meant for a purpose...I just don't know what the purpose is yet. In order to better understand what I'm talking about, let's look back at where the steps truly started...
August 2009 is where this series of steps had it's beginning. It was there that I finally decided to man up to what God had called me to do: become the hero that He wanted me to be. I knew what I had to do, but I wasn't able to do it by myself. God didn't expect me to do it all by my lonesome, but I thought I did. It was after this that I attended Cornerstone: School of Ministry (CSOM) at my home church. I received teaching on every aspect of the Bible (although only in small parts, as that's a lot of ground to cover) and got the initial inkling of what things might have been to come. I realized that God had called me into ministry: to be a hero to the children who don't know Christ.
From my first understanding of "The Steps", to now is a total of 18 months. During those 18 months I saw God speak to me like never before. I would ask Him to confirm things through a specific sign, and shortly afterward, there would be that sign. I believed, at the time, that this was proof of a surety of the things asked for, but it was not. I may have had questions for God to answer...but they were vague, and to rely on them would be like relying upon a globe to find my way from my house to Portland. I've come to that realization now...which makes it that much easier for me to understand.
And so, after 18 months of waiting and seeking God on the whole matter, I initiated "The Steps", believing that I knew what was going to happen...I was wrong. What I expected to happen was not even close to what actually went down, and the results sent me reeling. It took some time to settle in, but I've come to realize that God is using everything that He showed me these last 18 months to try and teach me something. Which is what I'm trying to find out.
I think it has something to do with being a hero. Sure I'm a hero to the kids that don't know Jesus, or at least I'm trying to be. But I'm also called to be so much more than that. Now is the time that God is using to mold me into the hero I need to be for my future wife, and future kids. Each area is a little different, but in each I have the same power source: a never-ending, always loving Savior. That's why this blog is named the way it is. The landscape for a hero is his life's circumstances. His power source is the One True God. His purpose is to point others, whether it be his wife, kids or those without Christ, to God's ultimate sacrifice and will for them to grow in Him.
Which brings me back to "The Steps". My life has changed drastically, in that my entire outlook on life has shifted as I've come to understand my own ignorance and lack of faith in my requests to God made over the past 18 months and their eventual epitome. Now I look forward to what God has for me, no matter where it comes from. But at the same time, it really hasn't changed, because nothing has actually "happened".
Although, one other thing has changed. My image of the Stained Glass Door. I've come to understand that what I see through the glass is not something specific, but rather, some of the contents of what the door is guarding. This limits the possibilities, but prevents knowing the exact object until the door is opened.
And so I continue my quest. Although now it is not to find exactly what is behind this Stained Glass Door. Instead I will be searching for whatever I can find that carries the essence of the hidden treasure behind the door, and lifting it up to God in prayer to discern whether or not what I have found is actually what I was looking for.
August 2009 is where this series of steps had it's beginning. It was there that I finally decided to man up to what God had called me to do: become the hero that He wanted me to be. I knew what I had to do, but I wasn't able to do it by myself. God didn't expect me to do it all by my lonesome, but I thought I did. It was after this that I attended Cornerstone: School of Ministry (CSOM) at my home church. I received teaching on every aspect of the Bible (although only in small parts, as that's a lot of ground to cover) and got the initial inkling of what things might have been to come. I realized that God had called me into ministry: to be a hero to the children who don't know Christ.
From my first understanding of "The Steps", to now is a total of 18 months. During those 18 months I saw God speak to me like never before. I would ask Him to confirm things through a specific sign, and shortly afterward, there would be that sign. I believed, at the time, that this was proof of a surety of the things asked for, but it was not. I may have had questions for God to answer...but they were vague, and to rely on them would be like relying upon a globe to find my way from my house to Portland. I've come to that realization now...which makes it that much easier for me to understand.
And so, after 18 months of waiting and seeking God on the whole matter, I initiated "The Steps", believing that I knew what was going to happen...I was wrong. What I expected to happen was not even close to what actually went down, and the results sent me reeling. It took some time to settle in, but I've come to realize that God is using everything that He showed me these last 18 months to try and teach me something. Which is what I'm trying to find out.
I think it has something to do with being a hero. Sure I'm a hero to the kids that don't know Jesus, or at least I'm trying to be. But I'm also called to be so much more than that. Now is the time that God is using to mold me into the hero I need to be for my future wife, and future kids. Each area is a little different, but in each I have the same power source: a never-ending, always loving Savior. That's why this blog is named the way it is. The landscape for a hero is his life's circumstances. His power source is the One True God. His purpose is to point others, whether it be his wife, kids or those without Christ, to God's ultimate sacrifice and will for them to grow in Him.
Which brings me back to "The Steps". My life has changed drastically, in that my entire outlook on life has shifted as I've come to understand my own ignorance and lack of faith in my requests to God made over the past 18 months and their eventual epitome. Now I look forward to what God has for me, no matter where it comes from. But at the same time, it really hasn't changed, because nothing has actually "happened".
Although, one other thing has changed. My image of the Stained Glass Door. I've come to understand that what I see through the glass is not something specific, but rather, some of the contents of what the door is guarding. This limits the possibilities, but prevents knowing the exact object until the door is opened.
And so I continue my quest. Although now it is not to find exactly what is behind this Stained Glass Door. Instead I will be searching for whatever I can find that carries the essence of the hidden treasure behind the door, and lifting it up to God in prayer to discern whether or not what I have found is actually what I was looking for.
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