7.
7 is the number of hours of sleep I got on Friday and Saturday combined.
If you take away the lack of sleep it was an amazing weekend and God moved in big ways. We talked about having eyes to see. Every single message was challenging and refreshing. Worship was amazing and I saw kids in our youth group worship God like never before. It was evident that the Holy Spirit was there and that He was changing lives right before our eyes.
It was an awesome weekend to connect with my guys and to invest into their lives. At 12:30 Saturday night I woke all my guys up and had them get dressed warmly. I had them line up in single file and walk about a half a mile to the soccer field where I told them that they were all going to be men tonight as I grabbed a cow tongue out of a bag. I explained to them how I had not been impressed with their choice of words over the last two days and then I told them that we were going to play football with this cow tongue. They were all for it and they all participated and had a blast. Afterwards I shared some verses from the bible about how powerful the tongue is and then I had them circle up and say something while holding the cow tongue that they needed to work on to be a better man of God. I hope that this little activity will be engraved into their minds forever haha and that the next time they are tempted to use their tongue poorly they will think about how it makes God feel.
I was asked to run the power point and videos and stuff and it was weird for me because it was serving behind the scenes. I am so used to being up in front of people doing something, but that wasn't me this time. I guess it shows that God can use however He wants in specific situations. I really wanted to be up there worshiping with my guys and taking notes from all the sermons, but that wasn't what God wanted for me to happen and I know His plan is the perfect plan.
I can't wait for the retreat next year, but for now I am ready to see God do big things in people's lives right here in Hershey.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Going Beyond Superficiality
This weekend we will be taking my youth group up to Rock Mountain Bible Camp for our fall retreat. The theme this year is "Going Beyond Superficiality" and I am really excited to see what God is going to do. I am really hoping that this weekend I will get to connect well with my guys, learn more about them, and continue to make an impact on their lives. I am not excited about the amount of sleep I am going to be getting though. A cabin full of 8th grade guys+me=no sleep haha.
If you all could be praying for God to move in big ways this weekend that would be awesome.
If you all could be praying for God to move in big ways this weekend that would be awesome.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Mid Atlantic Orphan Summit
As I sit listening to Meredith Andrews I can't help, but think about this last weekend.
This past weekend was the Mid-Atlantic Orphan Summit at my church here in Hershey, PA and I went not expecting much to happen, but God had different plans for my life, my future, and my heart when I stepped into that conference.
I was a little late on Friday evening, but I was right on time to see Eileen Mestas speak and she is all I needed to speak. She just simply shared her story that God is the amazing author of. She talked about how life for the Mestas family has been a struggle for many years, but there has been so much beauty out of this struggle. It speaks volumes of how God uses every situation to bring honor and glory to Him. The entire time God was speaking to me, telling me that He has big plans for my life and that I need to trust Him. I have been praying that God would stretch me and break me for what breaks Him and He used Mrs. Mestas to do that. I knew that there is an ever growing need for orphans, but it had never fully grabbed my attention. I had planned to adopt in the future, but it was never something that I put a whole lot attention on. My eyes were opened more than ever this past weekend.
In 2009 I was on a mission trip in Australia and God was speaking to me like never before. He had given me a very big heart for the less fortunate on this trip and He told me that He wants me to start an organization called Love Above All: Loving Others Like God Loves Us. My main focus was going to be homeless people, but then this past weekend God was like Nate my orphans are less fortunate too, what are you doing to help? At this moment I knew that I had to care for the orphans too. I don't know how I am going to do this, but I know God is going to provide for me and He is going to direct my path.
I got to spend the rest of the weekend connecting with the Mestas family. The little ones (Josiah, Jeremiah, James, Keren, and Keziah) were absolutely wonderful and couldn't have been more of a blessing on Saturday and Sunday. They were always smiling; at least until they became tired and the girls got cranky and the boy just fell asleep, but it was nice to bring out my inner child with them. I know that God will use them for big things. It was also nice to get to know Ellie and Solomon. Solomon's story is amazing and has touched many hearts. Just Google Solomon Mestas and you find him. I encourage you to read about his story, you might cry or you might smile, but I know it encourage you. Ellie's faith is amazing, I don't think I have ever met someone who loves Jesus so much. It was because of her that her family has the kids they have today. If God wouldn't have used Ellie in the past the way He has I wouldn't have got to meet them and my heart for the orphan could just be as mediocre as it was last week.
This past weekend was the Mid-Atlantic Orphan Summit at my church here in Hershey, PA and I went not expecting much to happen, but God had different plans for my life, my future, and my heart when I stepped into that conference.
I was a little late on Friday evening, but I was right on time to see Eileen Mestas speak and she is all I needed to speak. She just simply shared her story that God is the amazing author of. She talked about how life for the Mestas family has been a struggle for many years, but there has been so much beauty out of this struggle. It speaks volumes of how God uses every situation to bring honor and glory to Him. The entire time God was speaking to me, telling me that He has big plans for my life and that I need to trust Him. I have been praying that God would stretch me and break me for what breaks Him and He used Mrs. Mestas to do that. I knew that there is an ever growing need for orphans, but it had never fully grabbed my attention. I had planned to adopt in the future, but it was never something that I put a whole lot attention on. My eyes were opened more than ever this past weekend.
In 2009 I was on a mission trip in Australia and God was speaking to me like never before. He had given me a very big heart for the less fortunate on this trip and He told me that He wants me to start an organization called Love Above All: Loving Others Like God Loves Us. My main focus was going to be homeless people, but then this past weekend God was like Nate my orphans are less fortunate too, what are you doing to help? At this moment I knew that I had to care for the orphans too. I don't know how I am going to do this, but I know God is going to provide for me and He is going to direct my path.
I got to spend the rest of the weekend connecting with the Mestas family. The little ones (Josiah, Jeremiah, James, Keren, and Keziah) were absolutely wonderful and couldn't have been more of a blessing on Saturday and Sunday. They were always smiling; at least until they became tired and the girls got cranky and the boy just fell asleep, but it was nice to bring out my inner child with them. I know that God will use them for big things. It was also nice to get to know Ellie and Solomon. Solomon's story is amazing and has touched many hearts. Just Google Solomon Mestas and you find him. I encourage you to read about his story, you might cry or you might smile, but I know it encourage you. Ellie's faith is amazing, I don't think I have ever met someone who loves Jesus so much. It was because of her that her family has the kids they have today. If God wouldn't have used Ellie in the past the way He has I wouldn't have got to meet them and my heart for the orphan could just be as mediocre as it was last week.
Significance
I was listening to a Louie Giglio Podcast yesterday on my iPod and it was called "A Search for Significance". It had a lot of good stuff to stay, but the one thing that Louie said that caught my attention wast that there is something so much more different about this college generation than any other. It started to make me think about our generation and how much potential we truly have.
I have said many times in the past that it took one generation and that generation being our parents generation to change things for the worse and it can take one generation to change them back to good. Our generation gets that we have a huge job to accomplish and our generation wants to make an impact for God. We realize we are young and we realize we don't have many resources, but who cares? Jesus's disciples were all under the age of 19 with exception of one. We don't have many resources, but we give what we have.
In the next few years we will have things handed down to us for us to take care. Things like world poverty, world hunger, orphans, and widows. We can either tackle these problems with all of our hearts or we can let them slip away. We can tackle these problems and we can make Jesus known and at the end of each day we will be able to stamp significance on that day or we can just sit back and be lazy like so many past generations. God has called us to do great things. So what are you going to do? Are you going to give what you have? Are you going to be able to write significant over your life when you come to eternities shores or will your life be another one that is wasted?
I have said many times in the past that it took one generation and that generation being our parents generation to change things for the worse and it can take one generation to change them back to good. Our generation gets that we have a huge job to accomplish and our generation wants to make an impact for God. We realize we are young and we realize we don't have many resources, but who cares? Jesus's disciples were all under the age of 19 with exception of one. We don't have many resources, but we give what we have.
In the next few years we will have things handed down to us for us to take care. Things like world poverty, world hunger, orphans, and widows. We can either tackle these problems with all of our hearts or we can let them slip away. We can tackle these problems and we can make Jesus known and at the end of each day we will be able to stamp significance on that day or we can just sit back and be lazy like so many past generations. God has called us to do great things. So what are you going to do? Are you going to give what you have? Are you going to be able to write significant over your life when you come to eternities shores or will your life be another one that is wasted?
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