I'm Made It!

Hi everyone. I know that it has been a while, sorry for that. These past few days have been crazy busy. I arrived on Tuesday, May 27th, I get settled in my apartment, and met the staff that I will be working with. Just from that first impression I know that it is going to be a great summer. I will be working with two other interns this summer, Camille Conely and Rebekah Stewart. They are great teammates.

Wednesday, the staff put us right to work. We had some orientation and got more details about what we will exactly be doing this summer and what jobs we will be assigned to accomplish. One of these tasks is putting together an event called Love NYC Day. This is a time when churches from all over the Northeast come to NY and partner with Forefront to be a part of a huge servant evangelism project (I will give more details about this as they happen). This is set for Aug. 2nd. That afternoon, we had our first of orientation--we had to go to Union Square and pass out free granola bars as wells as a little card with the information of the church and just telling them that we care about them and we wanted to show them by this small, free gift. We all had to pass out 100 and go to separate parts of the park. It was a great time. Something people sometimes say about servant evangelism is that it is only marketing the church, getting the name out there, which is a part of it. But more importantly it is about showing the people that we are a church who care for them. About half of the baptisms at Forefront have been from projects like this.

Thursday, we did another project like this, only this time we went to other strategic corners of the city. It was a great day. After work, we went to dinner in East Village and then we went to the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a lot of fun, though it was a long walk. Here are a few pictures.

One Week Left...

I can't believe that in one week I will be in New York. I have most of my support raised. I still need a little more but I know that God is faithful and he will provide for me. My plane tickets are bought and I have a place to stay. The place I am staying is called Radical Living. It a place where Christians live together and serve in their community. I am stoked to be living there. It is a God thing. I was worried about being lonely, but knowing that I will be living with other Christians really helps me know that God is taking care of me. I have two other roommates, of whom I have not met, but that is okay--it will be great.

Yesterday my younger brother graduated from High School. It is crazy to see how fast time flies. Just three years ago I graduated and now I am about to start my Senior year of school at Ozark. Now that is crazy. Time goes so fast. I am not ready to be a true adult, and yet at the same time I am. No matter what, I know that God is in control. I really have no idea what I want to do once I graduate or where I will end up serving, but I know that God's hand is in my life and he will direct my path. I can trust Him in that. It is always a hard lesson to learn, but once we can grasp it, or even see the faintest glow of God's direction, it makes life so much easier. We just have to let go of our wants and let God's take over.

I was reminded of this last summer in Africa and even throughout this school year. I like to read through the Proverbs, such great wisdom, anyways, throughout the book Solomon writes a lot about man's ways compared to God's and how God always wins. Here are a few examples.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight"--Proverbs 3:5-6

"All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord. Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans shall succeed. The Lord works out everything for his own ends."--Proverbs 16:2-4a

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."--Proverbs 16:9

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails."--Proverbs 19:21

You see, Solomon had it write. Man has plans, but only God really knows our steps in the matter and even if we do have our plans, we need to turn them over the God and let him do what he wants. We cannot let our own agendas get in the way. It is my prayer that through out my internship this summer that I will continue to learn this lesson and that my faith in God will be stretched.

Prayer Card

Here is my prayer card for this summer!!!

God is Good!!!

Just the other day, I was getting a little weary of the bills that I had to pay and different obligations that I had. I just didn't know how or where the money was going to come from. I went to my mail box today and I got my paycheck. Well it turns out that the Hospital owed me back pay, so I had an extra $400 on my paycheck. Now I can not worry and know that I will be able to hold up to by obligations.

I always knew God would provide but sometimes it is hard to really trust Him in that promise. Matthew 6:31-34 says "So do not worry, saying 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." God provides for his children. We can't worry about things in life for we know that no matter what God is on our side. He will be there and he will be our provider. This has been a hard lesson for me to learn, but I am slowly learning it. God is faithful. He has had my every need taken care of, even when I didn't think he did. So thank you God for being my provision. May I always remember that you provide for your people even in ways that we might not recognize.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in the world, without you none of us would be where we are today. Mother's have always played an integral role in the raising of children, of instilling morals and ethics, and demonstrating to us God's love and mercy. Thank you for all you have done. The message at College Heights today was a great message on mother's and more specifically women in general. Randy talked about how the culture is trying to blur the lines of male and female, of what it means to be a woman and a man. His main question was "What are women for? Why did God create them? What is their role?"

17 Days!!!!

I only have 17 more days before I step off a plane and start my internship in the most influential city in the world--New York City. I can't wait. While there, I will be working with Forefront Church doing outreach for them throughout the city. It will be my responsibility to lead groups of supporters through out the city to do servant evangelism and prayer walks and such. It should be a great summer.