My traveling friend

So many transitions, so many places to go see.
Adventures to live through, wonders to explore.
New places, new people, and new jobs
New experiences as far as the eye can see



Yet every time I move
Changing seasons, places, or even best friends
I have to find Him again
Not that He isn't there
no matter where I go, what I do, what I see

But He lets me find Him
He lets me choose Him
Each and every day
Even though He pursues me
He waits for me to follow Him



I don't know what I'd do without Him
I don't know where I'd be without this guy
I've crossed so many countries with Him
Journeyed so far away
And yet He's the only one that stays by my side
He'll never leave me

Three years ago I left for a country of Peru
And I asked my traveling friend
To take me on a new journey
On the best journey I'd ever been with Him

I asked him to marry me
And I told him he could have my heart
He could break it
Or remake it
It was His

He took my life and started painting
New colors and pictures
Painting over my fears, my insecurities
And asking me to be a nurse, to be humble
Most importantly to let Him lead me every day

And as I've followed
My best friend has shown my heart so much joy
So much love, so much passion, so much peace
It's incomprehendible

So I invite you.
Do you want to go on a crazy journey?
I hope you meet my best friend
I hope you let Christ love you passionately
I hope you give Him everything

ALASKA

This summer I experienced an amazing adventure deemed "Alaska camps". I spent eight weeks traveling to three different summer camps in Alaska being a camp counselor and a lifeguard. We visited Camp Tukaskoya (Palmer/Anchorage), Camp Polaris (Dillingham), and Camp Lorraine (Wrangell). I made amazing friends, saw some great wild life, and grew a different perspective of Christ. I want to share with you a few special memories and pictures that stand out to me from the trip but most of all I want to tell you TRAVEL; GO SEE ALASKA for yourself!



One of my favorite memories of Alaska is my 2 bear encounters- every tourists' dream come true. We were prepped upon going to camp Polaris that there were dangerous grizzly bears and that we were to carry whistles at all times. If we blew the whistle continuously it meant there was a bear and the camp ranger would go get out his gun. Well it was only a couple days in when I heard the whistle and everyone came running only to hear the bear was pretty far across the camp. We took some picture shots and then got in the canoes to go for a little bear hunt. We stayed a very long distance from the shore but were trying to make sure the bear was not getting close to the camp where the kids were. We continued to see the bear a few more times at night and had to stay inside but we fortunately did not have any serious bear trouble.



One of my jobs at camp was to be a skiing and wakeboarding instructor. Something we do at this camp to help kids learn to wakeboard or ski is to start them on a tube. So imagine with me that here I am sitting on a double tube holding onto a rope and then a camper jumps on with me onto the tube and my job is to show them correct starting technique and help push them into the water when they are ready. There is nothing so beautiful as seeing a little kid learn for the first time and ski out from the tube for me to be spun in circles left in the middle of the lake for 5 maybe 10 minutes as they continue their ride. As I sit on my tune in the middle of a beautiful large lake I see mountains that are tipped in snow and I see beautiful clouds in the horizon. The mountains dude they are awesome! Alaska is a crazy beautiful part of God's handiwork that really declare His glory.

At every camp our cabins would rotate activities including fishing, canoeing, hiking, tubing, and sometimes even showering our the great well known Mkay-eh. The Mkay-eh is what some natives use in smaller villages and it is basically a sweat house. You start a fire and then pour water on the rocks, sweat, soap up, and then bucket rinse off and declare yourself clean. Showering in the small Mkay-eh is a one of a kind Alaskan experience that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Hey the other option was a Polar dip into the freezing cold lake early in the morning. It would definitely wake you up, but it was NOT my preferred temperature.

At many of the camps we had Alaskan natives and non- Christians. This was cool because we got to rewind back to basics and share with them who Jesus was. Every morning and night we would have worship and frequently they would be outside with views of mountains, lakes, or oceans listening to the sound of loons over the water.

This picture above brings back lots of memories as it is deemed Jackknife Mountain. It is accessible easily by our camp but other fisherman or visitors sometimes visit just to climb it. It is a tough climb- especially for the girl who climbed it in old tennis shoes. There is a huge area that is covered in shell or rock which most hikers either love or hate. First most of the staff got a preview/ practice climb the Sabbath before the campers came. Then during camp the show called "Let's survive the mountain" started where our goal was to get as many campers to the top of the mountain and down without injuries. We had staff running back and forth, three radios, lots of sweat, songs, fun, water, and child motivational speeches. In the end about 15 kids (out of 40) made it all the way to the top and conquered the mountain.

heaven

"What is heaven like?" the little girl asked her dad. Are their butterflies and rainbows and dancing?
I don't know daughter. He said. The Bible doesn't tell us much about heaven, but their will be no more sadness, no more pain, lots of singing praises to God and spending time worshipping Him...

Oh the little girl sighed. Anything else? What about the animals?

Oh and there will be lots of animals the dad replied.

What else dad?

I don't know daughter. I guess we'll find out when we die."

I can't believe how easily we dismiss thoughts about heaven and teach little children and new believers to do the same. We make it sound boring, unrealistic, imaginary. This delights Satan who does not want us to meditate on heaven and a new pure world with Jesus.

 Heaven should be the thought most constantly in our heads and yet for so many of us it seems a distant fairy tale land that we feel guilty about thinking of when this world has so many problems.

Yet Colossians 3:2 says to Set our minds above not on earthly things.  Is it possible that thinking of heaven is what God wants us to do to gain strength for our current condition and passion and love for His kingdom.

C.S. Lewis says "Most of us find it very difficulut to want "Heaven" at all- except in so far as "Heaven" means meeting again our friends who have died. One reason for this difficulty is that we have not been trained; our whole education tends to fix our minds on this world. Another reason is that when the real want for Heaven is present in us, we do not recognize it.

I think we have a serious problem when Christians wait more eagerly for Christmas than they do for heaven. Beyond that, the truth is that many church-goers aren't excited about heaven at all. Like the song by Albert King says "Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to go now."

It's terrifying and tragic that as Christians sacrificing for the Lord we know and care not about heaven- where we are going to spend eternity. So often we act without thinking about heaven, without looking up, just doing the world's things, and it's almost prophetic of the time we are living in because it demonstrates that as a Christian people and church we are asleep if we are not awaiting heaven and looking forward to it daily.

Randy Alcorn believes that God has given us glimpses of heaven in the Bible to fire up our imagination and kindle a desire for heaven in our hearts. And that's why Satan will always discourage our imagination- or misdirect it to ethereal notions that violate scripture. As long as the resurrected universe remains undesirable or unimaginable , Satan succeeds in sabotaging our love for heaven.".. "What we need is a Biblically inspired imagination." Read the book "Heaven".

Think about the best things that have ever happened to you that are pure, good, and beautiful. The Bible says that all good and perfect gifts are from above, coming down from our heavenly Father. So think about each animal, pure beauty, innocent relationships without the sin, without the hurt, without the fear. Think of the things that make your heart come alive. Imagine us in our original condition pure and holy, undefiled masterpieces of God, and the world around us lively and lovely.

I don't know about you but I want to receive a Biblical imagination and I want to think about heaven more then I think about the things of this earth. Satan wants us to get caught up in everything this world has to offer us so we won't care about heaven. Let's pray to God to transform our thoughts and help us to think about heaven- the way He created it- so that we can look up to Jesus and spread his light to a fallen world.

Hide this mess

I remember when I was little and it was Friday- the day when I was supposed to make my room super clean- I would get distracted and play until finally my mom was ready to come look and inspect. So super quickly I would put all of the dirty things inside the closet or under the bed.

 Even as a little kid we quickly learn that nobody enjoys our messes and we learn that it is easy to disguise things in order to put our best foot forward. We learned the art of hiding what we didn't want to be seen.

I think as a society and as a church we have became pretty talented at hiding as well. We dress our best and say "Happy Sabbath" when we go to church and when we ask people how they are doing we rarely get more than a "I'm doing great", "Praise God", or "I'm blessed."

Which is awesome- praise God- if being in the house of God, His people really feel blessed. But if you talk to many people and their families outside of the church, without the makeup on or fancy clothes, you can find a lot of real struggles, sickness, grief, depression, fighting. People need help, support. Their is a lot of messiness that is hidden under the smiles.

Even though our natural instinct is to hide, hiding often hurts us by creating walls around our hearts and leaving us feeling all alone. Hiding means that we are afraid and it takes away our opportunity to be found and experience the art of healing.

In the first book of the Bible Adam and Eve, the first creatures, who were so loved and valued by Christ felt extreme shame after sinning and so they hid. They were afraid of their nakedness and what they had done. They knew that they had created a mess out a beautiful thing.

And God had to pursue them. He had to call for them to ask them "Where are you?" to help them come out of hiding. And Christ gave them grace for their mistakes and clothes to comfort them.

The amazing thing about God is he says that he wants to take our brokenness and our weaknesses and use them for His glory. So often when we share our struggles, when we boast about what Christ has done through our mess.. that's when other people stop feeling so alone and realize that everyone is struggling with something. That's how we learn to trust each other and that's how we build true community- we take off the masks- we reveal the mess that God is changing.

There is so much freedom and pure joy when you feel loved by people that actually know and understand you. I know for me, some of my best friends, in all my life have been given to me only by God in the weirdest circumstances. Like when I had lice, or when my friend passed out in a dirty place in Peru, or when I was forced to live with people for eight months or go on a longgg adventure with them. You see everything- the good the bad- and the beautiful thing is when you can look at each other and laugh and love and forgive each other anyway.

2 Corinthians 12:10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

struggles of faith

I ask my newly converted friend what he's going to do this summer and as he replies "I'm going to study the Bible more", I find myself rolling my eyes. As I walk through church to teach  the kids' class I find myself laughing at the "other convert" being an active recruit for prayer. He is always praying... I think to myself. Inwardly I can't stop myself from wandering... Can't wait to see you stick around and follow Jesus for a year maybe 2 years and see how peppy you are. Hang out in the church a little longer see what it's really like.

I know it sounds terrible, but I just can't help classify most of my Adventist friends as raised in the church or "converts" based on how excited they are about Jesus. Been in the church for a while? Your family was Adventist? You probably go to church most Saturdays, skip Sabbath School, don't really care that much about your faith...

Newly convert? Oh I see you praying, telling all your friends how great God is, going to all the extra meetings, sharing your testimony like it's golden and your on Operah.. No don't bother trying to give me a Bible study, I'm "good" and saved too, sorry I'm not as smiley as you are.

When did I become so cynical about a faith I've surrendered my life too again and again?

The problem is not the new believers or converts who are on fire for God.

The problem is me with little fervor, quick to judge and become burnt out... Why am I so
bitter? Why am I like the judgmental second son that isn't so happy when his lost brother returns home and his dad throws a party?

Do I think I am faithful because I have followed God for so long? Does that make me a recipient of extra mercy, extra blessings because I have followed God for this or not done that? Do I wish I would have sinned more so I could try it? Do I desire to be rebellious against Christ and the faith?

Why do I look around and see big sins and fail to see my own selfishness and pride that separate me from the character of Christ? Why is it so easy for me to live on the fence thinking that "I am holier than thou" yet not spending enough time on my knees or in the Word of God to defeat the enemy and fight the battle of God?

So often if I hang out in Adventist or Christian circles (at college, at church, at summer camp)  I see a lot of nice people with a really small amount of faith. I know that sounds critical, harsh, judgmental and it is. But I believe from my heart that so often following Jesus is reduced to wearing the goody good sticker on your forehead which means you are nice to people and say and do the right things.

But in my heart I feel the longing for a faith that is so much bigger and a Biblical Savior who is so much more powerful than politically polite. And I want to know this Jesus- this God- I want to see this Hero, this crazy romancer in my life, in my friends' and families' lives, and in the church. And when I see Him, when I experience Him, I awake from my sleep and worldly daydreams and become ALIVE.

How do I nourish my own personal EXPERIENCE with God to pursue a long term relationships with Him that will not easily fade?

Where do I get the authentic faith to marry a sex offender and love him as a husband? To leave my family and friends behind (for nonselfish motives) and go to another country to sacrifice my health, my career dreams, my money for them? How do I walk to a cross- the most painful death known to mankind- and let someone pierce nails through my hands?

Sometimes I listen to my friends talk about Jesus and their lack of relationship with Him. They tell me that they do the right things but they don't really know Him personally and they desire their faith to get stronger. And sometimes I ask them if they have ever experienced Jesus for themselves? And so many of them tell me no and that's something I don't get.

See for me, I know Jesus because I know He has loved me personally, healed me personally, rescued me when I needed it the most. I know He has called me, I know He has used me. I have confidence in Him and His plan for my life.

Yet sometimes I think the church has taught us about Jesus but not how to know Jesus. Maybe in the families many Adventists grew up in they were given "spiritual milk" and taught basic principles of Christian love like being kind to one another, sharing, saying happy Sabbath, forgiving our family and friends. Yet maybe they didn't learn how to eat solid food?  and instead were taught they could have the world and follow God too? (We think we don't have to commit suicide to our self and our own dreams and desires and pursuits of this world and that literally strangles us) Maybe I don't know how to eat solid spiritual food? And maybe it's easy to look at many professed Christians or people in the faith and say well they're doing that.. so it's ok for me to live like this.

1 Corinthians 13:2 says Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—as infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact you are still not ready, for you are still worldly.

-- Basically where I'm at right now, is I love God but I know my faith and love relationship with Him needs resurrecting. I want to follow Christ and His commandments but I'm tired of being defined by rules or high expectations. I desire authentic faith and I know that my spiritual walk can't be lived on the mountain alone but will journey from valley to mountaintop. Yet I need a spiritual attitude adjustment that will better equip me to love people for God commands me to love in every part of the journey. I want more faith and real food.

God heals broken families

"Start a revival, revival in me." - Citizens Way.

I'm finally at home with my family for a month and it's definitely different. It's hard because you move away from home and start doing things differently just to come back it takes a little readjusting. It's easy to get selfish in college when you are solely looking out for you- one person- and meeting your own needs. And then you come back to a family and are reminded how much sacrifice and effort it takes to work together.

My family has been working on this family camp thing for our church with the theme "God heals broken families." I think it's definitely an important  topic because if you look around at familes anywhere (the grocery store or the pew behind you) you will see dysfunctional families. Families that are angry, divorced, or argumentative. Kids that don't behave and wives that feel overworked and husbands that feel disrespected. Despite the smiling faces at church for many families worship is the closest they may sit together all week.

God desires so much more from our families. But the only way we can start a family revival is by starting with ourselves and our perceptions and actions towards our own family. This transformation can only be possible with prayer.

I learned the coolest thing about God's love and families today. Basically God's character of perfect love is manifested by the fact that He is three in one- trinity- a third wheel relationship ( a heavenly family) and the way His love can best be demonstrated through us is how we "do family".

 We know that we humans are naturally self centered and love by definition is self-giving and other-centered (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). So in order for us to love there must be more than one person: a relationship.

 The problem with only having two people though is each is the sole recipient of the other's attention giving potential for self-centeredness. So if we think about marriage and we think about being selfless towards one another- that's a good start- and something many couples these days can't pull off even. Because we don't love God enough to even love one person like that. But...

The real test of pure love comes in when a third person enters into the relationship. Three is the minimum value of love in it's truest form because each recipient must also humbly defer attention to the third party and occupy the position of the third to the other two.Thus if the third person is accepted, self-centeredness will be forced to give way to a more selfless quality of love. In families today children often play this role of the third recipient and children can often strengthen or weaken a family demonstrating either a pure family after God's heart or selfishness.

Jesus expresses to His Father his hope regarding mankind "that the love with which You loved Me may be in them and I in them" John 17:26. Only through Christ we receive the power and redemption to love with the same kind of love Christ has demonstrated to us.

Even in the very beginning of time, the Bible shows that "doing family" and loving our family is not easy. Isaac and Rebecah start out being totally pure and dedicated to God. Isaac is a total man of the faith as he has witnessed the God of Abraham rescue his very life on the altar. Rebecah is the sweet and generous young girl Abraham's servant picks out- after a sign from God for Isaac. Surely their coming together was part of God's divine plan and their family intentions were pure.

We see a couple who struggle to have a child and pray for children.. to which God provides not just one but twins.

Yet somewhere along the process of raising kids, the focus of Christ is lost as favoritism and anger creep into the story. To the point where Rebecah loves her son more than her husband and chooses to help her favorite son Jacob (the deceiver) lie and manipulate to her own lover stealing from his own brother. Jacob tricks Esau and takes away his birthright. Esau is furious.

Yet the beautiful thing is the story doesn't end there.

Years later we see Jacob praying to God and God commanding Him to "go back to his country and relatives so he will prosper him." As he repents for his actions, humbles himself, and finds gifts for his brother and family, he wrestles with God and even gets a new name Israel. And then finally the day of restoration comes when Jacob meets Esau and and prepares to die, humbling himself and asking to be Esau's servant..

Yet Esau in his heart had forgiven Jacob as well and instead of being angry, he runs to Jacob or Israel with arms wide open to kiss and embrace him. Only by Christ their family was healed from anger and hurt. Christ always desires to heal our families and will often ask us to take initiative in the healing process.

In our culture today,media shows many different lies about families. I believe the devil is constantly throwing us counterfeit stories of how family, love, and sex should look and feel like instead of the truth about why God created families. Romance movies and books make marriages look so easy and statistics show us they lie. Satan tells us that families will meet our needs and help us work up the platform of the American dream to Disney World, cruises, and Santa Clauses.

What if we stopped taking our families for granted and realized that they are not easy? That family isn't just what you are born with but is what you make it and how you love/ or fail too. That as trouble arise, attraction fades, and impatience sets it, we have a new opportunity to love and forgive each other in the name of Jesus instead of simply walking away.

I know that I am blessed to have the family that I have now, and I also know that by loving my family, I can demonstrate Christ's love. Family's a verb that we make or break by our actions, words, and facial expressions. It's the things we do and don't say. The chores we fail to do or the secret ways we help each other. Love is to be given and shared and will require sacrifice, hard work, and commitment. May we love our families the way Christ has demonstrated His love towards us and may we pray for our families so they can be healed- in His name.

love one another

In Galatians, Paul writes that he has identified himself so completely with Christ that he has been crucified with him. His ego is no longer central. The life he lives is not his own but Christ living through him.

Often we ask how we learn to love one another? And I think the simplest answer is we don't, we let Christ love through us. As humans we lack knowledge in what real love looks like, in what sacrifice costs, in patience, in generosity, in service... As many times as we try to represent Christ's name without His spirit we fail Him.

This doesn't mean we become apathetic and make excuses for our sinful nature it simply means we switch motives. We stop thinking how can I do this or that.. and we start praying Crucify me Jesus so that my selfishness dies and your spirit lives.

Oswald Chambers writes that "Love is the loftiest preference of one person for another, and spiritually Jesus demands that this sovereign preference be for Himself (see Luke 14:26)...

The knowledge that God has loved me beyond all limits will compel me to go into the world to love others in the same way. I may get irritated because I have to live with an unusually difficult person.  Am I prepared to be identified so closely with the Lord Jesus that His life and His sweetness will be continually poured out through Me? Neither natural love nor God’s divine love will remain and grow in me unless it is nurtured. Love is spontaneous, but it has to be maintained through discipline."

Paul's counsel is this: To Live freely, animated, and motivated by God's spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical , so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence? (Message)

It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage, frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all consuming yet never satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community (Galations 5:19-21). These are the manifestations of selfishness and seeking after what we want. We see plenty of examples of lives today ruined by selfish pursuits.

Yet a narrower path and less common life of love reaps entirely different results. By loving someone through Jesus, we have the power to change their life, to heal their wounds. To free prisoners of anxiety, guilt, or shame from Satan's chains of bondage. To heal in the name of Jesus by showing how much we care and taking the time to touch someone else.

Christ asks us everyday will you let me crucify you so I can love through you? Will you trust me and give when you have nothing left? Will you fulfill the needs of someone else without thinking of what you want? Will you spend time with me in my word and through prayer so I can transform your heart and take away your worldly desires?

And when we let Him day by day destroy our idols, take away our old desires and selfish thoughts, we will find a joy and hope unexplainable and find ourselves in awe at the most amazing transformation by the loving Father of the universe.