Let’s Travel!

So it’s been a while since i’ve been on here.  That might be just a mild understatement.  So whats been going on? Well whenever i got back from WAPA i had about 4 fast and furious days to get ready for Kidz Kamp.  Don’t get me wrong, i love whenever im that busy, not a bad thing at all.  Anyway’s after i recuperated from the 16 hour drive home, i started working on getting ready for camp.  Also, i was attending Shiloh’s revival, were my parents and brother go to church.  Then friday was here,  we left early so that we could get down there friday afternoon and go to the falls were, of course we had a blast.  Then we headed over to camp to wait for Ross and while we had a very in depth carpetball tournament. (Yes its a real game look it up)  Saturday started our staffer training days which is always a great time.  Meeting new people as well as catching up with people that, in some cases, you haven’t spoken to in years.  Whenever the Kidz finally got there most of us then realized exactly what it meant to have the third largest camp ever at Bogg springs!  It was pretty much the most chaotic thing i have ever seen, but it was great because now we could start doing what we had been preparing to do all weekend, love on the kidz.  The camp was oneofthe best i have ever been to despite the technical problems, and the mild multi-tasking i did, btwn staffing and video for the service.  it was amazing.  After i got back from Kamp, Sarah and I went and spent a weekend in Hot Springs with my best friend.  We went to Magic Springs Saturday and then that night we went to the Steven Curtis Chapman concert there as well.  It was without a doubt the best concert i’ve been to in a long time.  Monday Morning i woke up bright and early to help my grandpa get ready for the election for a tax to keep our ambulance service around, which passed with great ease. Tuesday and Wednesday was more election working. and then on Thursday, my seventh day, i rested. So thats what i’ve been up to for the past few weeks.

Those guys

In our small group we have been talking alot about Paul lately, we always seem to come back to the fact that he did indeed have a past, something that is commonly forgotten.  He use to persecute the very people that he was now preaching to.  I can just imagine him walking into a city and the same people that used to follow him trying to hand him chains, or offering him some other means of persecution for the christians and he just turned them away.  Everybody has that in there life, the people that just assume, with good reason, that you haven’t changed at all, and that you can just pick up where you left off with them.  Only to realize that you have in fact changed the way you live your life.  I have recently had some of these people in my life come back.  Its really hard to look at them and tell them that you don’t do that anymore.  Mainly, because you know that you’re gonna get one of two responses. Either they completly turn you off, or they tell you thats great, but not to push your beliefs on them.  What do u do at that point? Obviously, you want to tell them about your new found lifestyle, and encourage them into it, but you don’t want to completly loose them as a friend.  Its a battle i have recently been struggling with, and it just happens to come at a time in my life where im facing quite a few decisions for my life.  So to turn and go with them again comes very easy.  This is the stuff they don’t teach you in school.

I’m going with you Jesus!

So i wish i could take credit for this, but i cannot.  One of the amazing people that i met at camp this past week, wrote this and put it on her facebook. So to Brooke Butler, thank you for helping me realize what was right in front of my face.

“I’m afraid,” she whispered and then shivered.
He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“Of what?” He asked quietly.
She was sure that He knew the answer before she said a word.
But He always asked anyway, and she always answered anyway,
because He likes it when she does that.
“Of what I can’t see,” she replied, gaze fixed dead ahead. From here the future looked like a wall of cloud that began a yard from her planted feet. She blinked, hoping to clear the fog. “Of tomorrow.”
He had to bend down to rest His chin on her shoulder. “Can you see this?” He drew His hand an inch before her nose.
“Yes,” she answered slowly, right eyebrow jutting up above her left.
“Then take it,” He whispered in her ear.
She didn’t do anything.
He stepped before her, offering it again, palm up, reading for the taking.
Of course He smiled.
She sighed and then grabbed it.
He turned to go and she panicked.
“Wait!” He stopped and looked back, searching for an explanation.
“Where, where are we going?” she blurted.
That’s when He really smiled, eyes twinkling with what she was sure was hidden treasure. A treasure she was also sure He was about to unearth.
“With Me,” He answered simply.
Then He held out His other hand.
She studied it for a moment, noted the creases, the calluses, the strength. His sleeves hung loosely on His wrists, just high enough to reveal the beginnings of a gruesome hole where flesh should have been.
She took it.
“Ready?” He asked.
“Yes,” she replied, pulling herself in tight and resting her forehead on His chest.
She gritted her teeth and braced herself. They didn’t go anywhere. He laughed.
“What?” she cried exasperated, throwing her head back to look Him in the eye. “What are You prolonging this for?”
He released her hands and used His own to steady her face. “Perfect,” He said. “Don’t look away.”
He reached down and took her lightly by the fingertips before taking a step forward. She followed.
“What do you see?” He asked.
“Um…” she turned her head to look around. “I…” His gentle tap brought her back to face Him . “What do you see?” He asked again.
She searched for something shockingly profound to say, but all she could come up with was, “You.”
He grinned. “Ready?” He asked.
“I guess.”
They took another step. “What do you see?”
She sighed and began to swivel her head when He righted her again. “No, what do you see?”
“I see…You.”
“Perfect.”
She thought her heart skipped a beat.
One more step.
“What do you see?”
This time she knew better. She didn’t even try to look away. She just kept staring up at her Shepherd. Maybe she really was beginning to see.
“I see You.”
“That a girl,” He nodded and squeezed her hands.
One more precious step.
“What do you see?”
She tried to speak, but something was blocking her throat.
That’s ok. He knew the answer. He knew her heart said, You.
He clutched her face in His hands. “That’s all you ever need to know.”
She smiled through her tears and whispered, “I’m ready for tomorrow now.”
His eyes glinted with the Treasure that was Himself.
“Where are you going?” He asked as if He didn’t know the answer.
Really, He’d just been waiting forever to hear what she was about to say.
“I’m going with You Jesus.”

Why?

So i was listening to a Christian comedian earlier today named Bob Smiley, and he was telling a story about running into a man at a hotel where he was staying.  His story basically goes on to say that he was chillin in the hot tub of this hotel, and a very large man came and sat down in the hot tub beside him, that basically grossed him out.  Instead of attempting to witness to this man, he made up an excuse to leave.  As he was leaving, the other man in the hot tub looked up and asked him if he was a christian.  Surprised to hear this man ask such a question he turned to him and said, “Yes, as a matter of fact I am.”  The larger man looked at him and said,”Just didn’t want to miss an opportunity, ya know?”  I started thinking about that over and over and started realizing that this is something i don’t practice as frequently as I should.  Then I thought to myself,” Why is it that I only try to talk to people about Christ whenever I’m on the “mission field”?”  I mean, would it just be completely inappropriate to talk to someone about Christ whenever I’m far enough away from my simple life in Arkansas to make sure, I’m not ever going to get strange looks in my hometown?  The Great Commission says GO!  so why do we only minister, when we just actually “go”.  Go away from our mediocre lives in our comfy hometown.  I believe that if we truly wanted to be out of our comfort zone, that we could accomplish that quite a bit easier, being around the people we think we are comfortable with.  If you don’t believe me then next time your in your town and you go inside to pay for gas ask the cashier if they now Jesus Christ.  I don’t know about you, but that would be completely out of my comfort zone.

As i sit here and type this post, i realize that i have come to that point in my life, that fork in the road, only mine looks more like the spider web you see going into Dallas.  Which one should i chose, and when i get there where should i go?  It just opens up endless questions for me, especially when i sit here and think back on where/what I’ve been through. Where i want to be, What i want to do.  It really just gives me a good chance to remind myself of where my thoughts and prayers should be. Jesus will guide us, i just have to let go of the steering wheel, fully. Its not an easy task for me, i like to be in control, at every chance i  get, and this doesn’t help me at all.   Everyone please pray for me as i look ahead and choose which path I’m going to take.

jf