After waking up at 0400 to catch our flight, we land at Raleigh-Durham to find that our time on campus will coincide with Justice For All, a pro-life awareness project run by Christians. Due to their central location in the free-speech zone, we didn't have many other options to distance ourselves from the exhibit, so the topic of abortion did not take long to arise. I have already been struggling with and praying through patience to deal with the exorbitant folly exhibited by some of these hecklers. With the added influence of the JFA exhibit, it just grew to be even more disgusting. Comments abounded such as "hey nigga, why don't you just kill it then ask for forgiveness?" forgive them Lord, they know not what they do.
After Obama proclaimed that FOCA would be a priority for him, this has become incredibly imperative, not to mention the worldwide efforts to provide this "right". With two weeks left in this marathon election, polls are coming up showing Obama's gap is closing. I deeply believe this election could become one of the most decisive of our generation, not just because it's Obama, but because that would leave 2/3 of our governmental trinity under Democratic rule, not to mention the several Justice positions that could open up in the future. Leaving Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama unchecked is a dangerous place to be in. Yes, the Lord is sovereign, He will reign, I'm just wondering how much closer that will be after November 4th.
Monday, October 20
Tuesday, October 7
Columbus State Community College, Columbus, OH: Day 1
i need to preface this by stating that monday was spent at ohio state all by myself, preaching solo, trying to get a crowd. for some reason i felt i had absolutely nothing to say, coming up with nothing to preach on and having a very hard time getting anything resembling decent interaction with the students. as the day progressed and i continually processed the days events, i wound up feeling discouraged to a certain degree, thoughts of complete deficiency overcame me as twilight arrived. the roof over our porch proved to be a much needed location of discussion and prayer with tim as we worked through my frustrations and fears.
this morning i woke up in anxiety, the first thoughts of the day swamped with doubts of abilities and the fear of men. as i progressed through breakfast, showering and time with the Lord, i became overwhelmingly desperate for His intervention, constantly dwelling on the fact that if He doesn't show up today, i fail. show up He did.
right from the get-go, within sixty seconds perhaps, there was a student probing me on whether or not he would go to hell for being gay. people immediately gathered, the crowd began to get louder and louder. as things began to build, one black student stepped out and kept circling me in silence (as if somehow that would deter me from my mission) and ignored my requests to back off and show respect. at some point someone asked me my political affiliation to which my response set off this circling mocker. he went absolutely livid, screaming, literally, about how i'm voting for four more years of bush, how we are in a recession and increasing the tension in the crowd by ten fold. once this mocker was a few sentences into his spiel, the crowd swelled to easily 150 souls, the largest i have ever been in front of before! i couldn't believe what i saw! at first they laughed at this mocker but i gave him just enough slack to hang himself with for within a few more minutes, the rest of the black students turned on him, shouting at him to back down because he's making a fool out of the rest of the black students. it's always a pleasure to see a heckler eaten publicly by his own kind. he left.
i continued to preach as loud as i could without screaming, in which we kept at it for about two hours total! this by far was my largest and longest time ever! sure, there were plenty of mistakes i made, some i am still thinking over and need to discuss with tom on the phone tonight, but all in all i am incredibly thankful for how the Lord showed up, how His name was proclaimed and even the chance to exhort the nearby saints to think of themselves as just that, saints, not sinners. one heckler recorded a large portion of today on his camera, i'm waiting for that video in which i will post on facebook! tomorrow is another day at columbus state, may i approach it with the same level of desperation and eagerness to see Him show up again.
there is no life like the one truly lost, we find it where we pick up our cross.
this morning i woke up in anxiety, the first thoughts of the day swamped with doubts of abilities and the fear of men. as i progressed through breakfast, showering and time with the Lord, i became overwhelmingly desperate for His intervention, constantly dwelling on the fact that if He doesn't show up today, i fail. show up He did.
right from the get-go, within sixty seconds perhaps, there was a student probing me on whether or not he would go to hell for being gay. people immediately gathered, the crowd began to get louder and louder. as things began to build, one black student stepped out and kept circling me in silence (as if somehow that would deter me from my mission) and ignored my requests to back off and show respect. at some point someone asked me my political affiliation to which my response set off this circling mocker. he went absolutely livid, screaming, literally, about how i'm voting for four more years of bush, how we are in a recession and increasing the tension in the crowd by ten fold. once this mocker was a few sentences into his spiel, the crowd swelled to easily 150 souls, the largest i have ever been in front of before! i couldn't believe what i saw! at first they laughed at this mocker but i gave him just enough slack to hang himself with for within a few more minutes, the rest of the black students turned on him, shouting at him to back down because he's making a fool out of the rest of the black students. it's always a pleasure to see a heckler eaten publicly by his own kind. he left.
i continued to preach as loud as i could without screaming, in which we kept at it for about two hours total! this by far was my largest and longest time ever! sure, there were plenty of mistakes i made, some i am still thinking over and need to discuss with tom on the phone tonight, but all in all i am incredibly thankful for how the Lord showed up, how His name was proclaimed and even the chance to exhort the nearby saints to think of themselves as just that, saints, not sinners. one heckler recorded a large portion of today on his camera, i'm waiting for that video in which i will post on facebook! tomorrow is another day at columbus state, may i approach it with the same level of desperation and eagerness to see Him show up again.
there is no life like the one truly lost, we find it where we pick up our cross.
Sunday, October 5
carpe diem can be so cliche...
...but what other phrase do i have which encapsulates this understanding any more clearly? frank & pam apisa are church planters in turino, italy, who are on required gcm furlow for three months here in the states. visiting columbus, they held a luncheon after sunday service to share about what the Lord has been doing there over the past few years and what He has in store in the future, which as it turns out is another church plant in italy, this time milano. for the gc regulars, this is nothing crazy out of the norm, albeit it is exciting nonetheless, but something struck me today. frank mentioned that he is turning sixty years old very soon.
practically three of my lifetimes thus far.
that's a long time, a really long time. not that frank is a dinosaur by any means, for he sure is vivacious and full of the Spirit but during those years, he has been involved with the start-up of my home church at the university of florida, planting the church in tampa, fl, as well as planting turino and now milano. on the drive home it struck me how incredibly young i am, at twenty-two years of age; it struck me, more than ever before, how much of my life i still have before me. oh the time that is left to lay eternal bricks in the Kingdom! this just stirs my soul, to think of where Jesus and I could wind up in ten, twenty-five, or fifty years from now.
sure He could come back soon, but i kinda really don't want that to happen just yet. as much as i would love to see Him return in all of His glory and fire, i would rather see more and more souls come before His throne of grace before this chapter is done. didn't paul have this same tension?
"if i am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. yet which i shall choose i cannot tell. i am hard pressed between the two. my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. but to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. convinced of this, i know that i will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith..." -phil. 1:22-25 (esv)
to a certain degree, paul is saying some things i am not, as well as i'm saying some things that paul is not. but in the words of rick whitney, "your life is a coin, you can only spend it once". Lord willing, i could have a solid forty to fifty years ahead of me. think of all the possibilities with forty years to spend?! we could plant churches at uga in athens, ga, um in miami, portland, reykjavik, manchester, edinburgh, marseilles, brussels, coppenhagen, the possibilities surpass endless.
is there anything worth holding onto in light of all of this? roth ira's? stability? marriage? there is so much to be gained for Him, if only i "sacrifice" my rights, in which i truly have none when all is said and done so that my sacrifice is no sacrifice at all, just a deeper realization that He owe me nothing, absolutely nothing, not even the next intake of oxygen into my lungs.
thank you Lord for that last breath.
practically three of my lifetimes thus far.
that's a long time, a really long time. not that frank is a dinosaur by any means, for he sure is vivacious and full of the Spirit but during those years, he has been involved with the start-up of my home church at the university of florida, planting the church in tampa, fl, as well as planting turino and now milano. on the drive home it struck me how incredibly young i am, at twenty-two years of age; it struck me, more than ever before, how much of my life i still have before me. oh the time that is left to lay eternal bricks in the Kingdom! this just stirs my soul, to think of where Jesus and I could wind up in ten, twenty-five, or fifty years from now.
sure He could come back soon, but i kinda really don't want that to happen just yet. as much as i would love to see Him return in all of His glory and fire, i would rather see more and more souls come before His throne of grace before this chapter is done. didn't paul have this same tension?
"if i am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. yet which i shall choose i cannot tell. i am hard pressed between the two. my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. but to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. convinced of this, i know that i will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith..." -phil. 1:22-25 (esv)
to a certain degree, paul is saying some things i am not, as well as i'm saying some things that paul is not. but in the words of rick whitney, "your life is a coin, you can only spend it once". Lord willing, i could have a solid forty to fifty years ahead of me. think of all the possibilities with forty years to spend?! we could plant churches at uga in athens, ga, um in miami, portland, reykjavik, manchester, edinburgh, marseilles, brussels, coppenhagen, the possibilities surpass endless.
is there anything worth holding onto in light of all of this? roth ira's? stability? marriage? there is so much to be gained for Him, if only i "sacrifice" my rights, in which i truly have none when all is said and done so that my sacrifice is no sacrifice at all, just a deeper realization that He owe me nothing, absolutely nothing, not even the next intake of oxygen into my lungs.
thank you Lord for that last breath.
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