The Vision and the Reality

"There are times when we do know what God's purpose is; whether we will let the vision be turned into actual character depends on us, not on God...Isn't it piercing to realize that God not only knows where we live, but also knows the gutters into which we crawl! He will hunt us down as fast as a flash of lightning. No human being knows human beings as God does." -Oswald Chambers

Light

Happy Fall! I hope to have more of a "fall season" this year. It always seems to hop from Summer to Winter in a matter of two weeks. A lot has happened in the past few months. From family vacations to Myrtle Beach and Florida to celebrating one year of marriage to opening a new student worship center to starting a college worship service and now finally having some "down-time"to catch up on little things it has been a whirlwind; but God is good. In the past few months we have noticed a significant joy in the lives of our students. They have grown into people of God that worship and live as though today is their last day whether that means sitting at a lunch table with the "not-so-cool" kids to crying out to Him in worship on Wednesday nights. You remember when you just "got it"? You know, finally the light bulb flicked on and you understood? I think the light bulbs are flicking on rapidly in the lives of God's children at Clearview. God is good. 

I hope your light bulb is still on and is not burning out...because that's easy to do. When I feel my light bulb burning out, I remember that God's light never burns out on me and unless my cup is full, I cannot pour into the lives of our kiddos. 

Be a light today...in this dark world!

NYC, Papa, 24

Long time no blog :) It has been one crazyyyyy July! As my mind wants to write you a book to fill you in on our July happenings...I'll just give you some highlights. July 4th weekend we flew to Aiken for a day (because we all know ministers don't really get vacation time) so we jumped at a free day to spend July 4th with my family.

NYC: We just got back in town from a week-long missions trip to Brooklyn, NY. We were there with Spreadtruth ministries and helped the Brooklyn Tabernacle out with a VBS that they put on for about 300+ children. Let's just say...I was discouraged before we even got there. Why, you ask? Well, my "duty" was snacks. I was really hoping to hang out with the children but for some reason, God thought I needed to prepare snacks for them. These kiddos got some LUXURY snacks, let's just say...it wasn't an easy task. However, I think I became the most-loved staffer there. I heard stories all week that went something like this, "Please, can I have some more...this is the only food I'll get to eat today." This sobered me up REAL QUICK! A lot of people question, "Why would VBS be considered missions?" Well, these broken children come from broken homes with broken schedules and broken relationships. These children do not have schedules and most do not have love. Some of our people spent the whole week chasing these students around the building while trying to disciple them and show them the love of Christ. While some of us helped with VBS, husband and two other guys from our youth group helped run a basketball camp in Queens and got to share the gospel with many children and even teens and adults. At the end of the week, the gospel had been shared with almost 5,000 New Yorkers and 459 said "Yes" to Jesus! Jesus said, "go"...we followed, and He worked!

**I'm working on editing some videos from the VBS that I'll post soon!

24: I turned 24 Tuesday and yes, I feel old! I had to drive to Aiken Monday for a doctors appointment and had lunch with mom, Jess, and John and they lavished me with goodies. Husband surprised me with a new nailpolish (he loves me!) and he had planned for my family to drive up and surprise me for dinner...sweet man!

Papa: Thank you to those that have been praying for my grandpa! He had a heart attack Saturday and was hospitalized for a few days but now he's HOME and well, just tired! Thank you, Jesus for your mercy on him and sparing his life!

Visions and Valleys

{Taken from Oswald Chambers "My Utmost for His Highest"}

Visions Become Reality

Jul

06

2011

The parched ground shall become a pool . . . —Isaiah 35:7

We always have a vision of something before it actually becomes real to us. When we realize that the vision is real, but is not yet real in us, Satan comes to us with his temptations, and we are inclined to say that there is no point in even trying to continue. Instead of the vision becoming real to us, we have entered into a valley of humiliation.

Life is not as idle ore,
But iron dug from central gloom,
And battered by the shocks of doom
To shape and use.

God gives us a vision, and then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of that vision. It is in the valley that so many of us give up and faint. Every God-given vision will become real if we will only have patience. Just think of the enormous amount of free time God has! He is never in a hurry. Yet we are always in such a frantic hurry. While still in the light of the glory of the vision, we go right out to do things, but the vision is not yet real in us. God has to take us into the valley and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the point where He can trust us with the reality of the vision. Ever since God gave us the vision, He has been at work. He is getting us into the shape of the goal He has for us, and yet over and over again we try to escape from the Sculptor’s hand in an effort to batter ourselves into the shape of our own goal.

The vision that God gives is not some unattainable castle in the sky, but a vision of what God wants you to be down here. Allow the Potter to put you on His wheel and whirl you around as He desires. Then as surely as God is God, and you are you, you will turn out as an exact likeness of the vision. But don’t lose heart in the process. If you have ever had a vision from God, you may try as you will to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never allow it.

Our Valleys are for molding and shaping...not for punishment!

June 18, 2011

This past weekend, husband and I traveled to Charleston, SC to partake in the wedding festivities of my college roomie, Amanda. Amanda and Brad have been dating for several years so everyone was SO excited to see them tie-the-knot (even the priest!!) The wedding was beaut-i-mus and we got to catch up with one of our couple friends! Here's the weekend via pics!

Happy Marriage, Amanda and Brad...We love ya'll :)

Happy Dad Day

 ^"5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Deut. 6:5-7

Thank you, Dad for impressing the Lord upon me, Jessica, Stephen, and John. Thank you for never neglecting us through your years of ministry and for always making all of our sporting events and activities! Your dedication to us has never gone unnoticed and we thank you for that! Thank you for being the parent that Jesus teaches His followers to be. LOVE YOU, Dad!

Suffering

I wanted to a "camp post" that summarized all of camp...but I think I will write something that has been heavy on the hearts of our students and then post some pics later. Lately, through talking to some of the students, it has become truly evident that what most of these guys and girls are going through is...suffering. Suffering for their faith, suffering through family loss, and suffering through relationships. This morning I was reading Philippians 1:12-20: Paul uses his chains in prison to advance the gospel. I think the main question that comes to mind when we endure hard trials in our lives is "Why, God?"..."Why me? A good person?"..."I can't handle this."..."Why would something like this be for your glory?". Well the answers to those questions are simple yet tough and the answers will always be, "We don't know". I believe that if we knew why God did everything that He does then He would not be God. God is a god that is unexplainable. However, we DO know that God places everything in our paths to advance His name...to give Him glory.


When Paul was imprisoned, His focus was still not on himself, but on the Lord. Whenever I endure trials, I think of the many trials that Christ went through for me. We were made to be like Christ in all aspects of our lives...and that does involve suffering for Him in the same way He suffered for us. I'm sure that while sitting in chains in jail, Paul had no idea what was going to happen...he didn't know God's plan for that jail. However, Paul kept preaching and he kept telling others the joy of Christ. Through Paul's perseverance through suffering, prisoners in the jail found Christ, people were saved and would therefore go out and preach the name of Jesus.


There are so many things we go through in life that leaves us questioning "Why." Well, the answer remains, "For the Lord". Though we may not see an immediate response as to why God has us go through things, He does promise to reveal Himself in time. The only way for us to get through sufferings is through prayer and through faith knowing that He does not do anything "just because"...He does EVERYTHING for His glory. Scripture says that He will never give us anything that we cannot handle...so if you are going through suffering, know that God thinks you are strong enough and has chosen you to reveal Himself to.


I'll leave you with the neatest thing from camp:
The Wave Baptisms