Challenging Normal

Spending a week in Colombia really shook my perspective on somethings. I realized that I have been complaining about the dumbest things. It has got me asking...

• Why do we complain about the food we eat when children are going to bed hungry?
• Why do we complain about the car we drive when 98% of the world has to walk?
• Why do we complain about our clothes being out of fashion when people kill to cloth themselves?
• Why do we complain only having water to drink when their are countries that do not have any drinkable water?

It was sad leaving this morning, but it is good to be home. I missed Paige, my family, and friends.

My life will be forever changed by the things that I saw, did, and experience while in Colombia for 8 days.

The Missionaries that we worked with are some of my heroes. They are giants of the faith and it was an honor to work along side of them.

Made some awesome new friends while we were down there. People that I will pray for on a daily basis. People that are changing a nation.

Very proud of my students. They work very hard. Watching their hearts break for students that they have never met broke my heart. They never once shied away from any work, the never complained about anything they had to do, and they did not whine any of the time.

I will blog about a couple of things that God has challenged me about while I was gone and share more pictures next week.

My computer is jacked up so I have limited internet access and cannot update often. This will be my last blog from here in Bogota. Tomorrow is our free day and then we fly out early Saturday morning. I have had a blast and seen awesome things but I miss Paige and home and I am ready to be back.

Words cannot describe what I saw today. I saw things that you only see in movies. We ministered in the poorest part of Bogota. Families move here after they are run out of their villages by drug lords. Most of the kids in the community are already hooked on drugs and taught how to steal before they are taught how to read. Their houses are built out of whatever they can find. As we hiked, we had to walk through raw sewage and wait for cows to cross the road. This gave the whole team a HUGE reality check.

I had the privilege to speak at this outreach. I talked about the extraordinary love of God and how much He loves us. As I spoke, it was all I could do to control my emotions. As I closed in prayer, they got the better of me. As we closed out our last outreach, a lot of our students got really emotional. The weight of what was around them had become a reality. I am so grateful that God allowed our students to be apart of something so awesome.

This week we have done 9 outreaches, 19 school assemblies, and 3 services. 6 straight days of ministry have been very awesome. I will blog more when we get back. Thanks for all your prayers and support.

Today was a really incredible day.  We spent the day in the schools of Bogota.  Conservative counts say that we ministered to over 1300 students at 8 schools.  I got to speak at one of the assemblies at a Middle School.  I talked about good values and making good choices.  It was a really cool experience.  Every school we were met with open arms.  At one school after the assembly was over we spent twenty minutes signing autographs and hanging with the kids.  It was a neat experience.

Today I got to sleep in a little.  I did not get up until around 7 a.m.  Probably one of the best nights sleep I had since I have been here.  I love breakfast time.  I get coffee.  It really is awesome coffee.

Today started earlier than yesterday. We had three services today and our first one started at 7 a.m. The services were really cool. They did a missions emphasis service. Our team sang a special, gave testimonies, and preached. Their worship was really cool. It was very energetic and very authentic. The church was so excited and received us with open arms.

Well we made it. The plane ride was long. The longest I have been on. Which I have only flown one other time. Planes were not built for a big boy in mind. Made it through customs and security without any major issues. Then checked into our hotel. Everything and everyone is extremely nice and going out of their way to help us.

Don't know when I will be back again.  Well, actually I do.  I will be back next Saturday.  Today we fly out to Bogota Colombia.  I can not express to you how excited I am.  I am still nervous and anxious as well, but my excitement is overriding everything right now.  I am excited to get to work with some heroes of mine.  I am excited to see things I have never seen before and do things I have never done.  I am excited to be able to preach in a different country.  I am excited.

Have you ever felt like you can not keep up?  Like you are always running behind?  You are always behind the curve?  You can never get ahead or catch a break?  My question is a simple question.  Who are you trying to keep up with?  Who are you trying to catch up with?  Who is setting the standards in your life and setting the bar?

What if we memorized Scripture like we have memorized song lyrics?

We fly out this Friday for Bogota Colombia and our Missions Trip.  I am excited, anxious, nervous, and a lot more things.  It is strange because I am finding my heart burdened for a country that I have never been to, a city that I have never stepped foot in, and for people that I have never met.  People have been asking me for months if I was excited and I can say that I was not until Sunday.  Sunday something shifted.  All I can think about it Colombia.  I believe that God is going to do some awesome things down there and I believe everyone from our team will come back changed.

Where are you going?  Even if you do not think so your life is heading somewhere.  Where?  What path are you on and where is it going to take you?  I am convinced now more than ever that every decision effects the path that I am on.  Every actions will move me forward or backwards on the road that I am traveling.  It may even take me to another road.  When we start taking for granted the small decisions, they will start taking us down a road we do not want to go.

My Pastor spoke yesterday on commitment and really challenged me.  I just wanted to share some highlights with you:

I find myself from time to time asking myself questions.  If you have read this blog long enough you know that.  This morning in my quiet time, there are some things that I keep asking myself and God over and over again.

It was strange not being at camp this week after spending the last three weeks there. I was glad to be home and getting back into my routine though.

Being fighting a cold all week. I think I about kicked it.

I had the best 4th of July ever this year. Spent the 3rd with our students in Stone Mountain and then the 4th with Steven, Nikki, Mary, and other really awesome friends. God has blessed me with some really awesome people in my life.

We leave for Bogota Colombia in 6 days. I exicted to see what God is going to do.

Paige and I left Thursday and came down to visit with my family in Adel for a couple of days. Love being back home. My mom threw down in the kitchen last night and I almost made myself sick. It has been a while since I have eaten homecooking.

Wednesday night was awesome in Thrive. I love watching God change our students lives. I am convinced that I am the luckiest Youth Pastor alive and God has called me to the greatest students in the world.

I have not blogged a lot over the last two weeks. I have been really tired. Going to try to catch up next week on some thoughts.

Some of my good friends have been changing the inner city of Atlanta for Jesus this week. You can read about what God has been doing here.

Love reading about Stephanie's adventures in El Salvador. So proud of her.

I am going to spend a lot of time resting next week in preparation for our Mission's Trip. I have got to shake this cough some how.

Hope you are having an awesome weekend.

We took a break from our busy schedule and came down to Adel to visit my family for a little while. Today I spent some time with my dad and a couple of old family friends. Men that I grew up admiring and respecting. People that have really spoke into my life and had a huge influence on my growing up. I can look back on a lot of things and remember many valueable life lessons that are priceless to me now.

While sitting in my Dad's man cave this afternoon I heard one of them say that he was a wealth of knowledge. He went on to say that when he died that we would be coming to dig him up to ask him questions. He was kidding of course, but it got me to thinking. How much information is buried in cemeteries around the world? How many people have died with what they know still in them?

You and I have a choice. We choice every day whether or not to take the information and knowledge that we have and invest it in other people. To pass it along. A grave yard should never be the riches place on the earth. We should intentionally be finding people to pour into and invest our legacy in.

When you die, will people be coming to dig you up to ask you questions? Or will they know. An insecure person keeps knowledge to themselves for fear that they will not be wanted or needed anymore. A person that cares more about others, that lives selflessly, is finding anyway they can to pass along what they know.

How much time do we spend trying to go back to the way things used to be? How much energy do we waste chasing after yesterday? How many times do we chase after what we thought was awesome in the past and miss what God has for us in the future? I have learned that the only thing that stays the same is that everything changes.

So this was the longest stretch of me not blogging since starting challenging normal almost a year ago.  We have a lot go on in the last couple of weeks and a lot more left to go.  I am going to try my hardest to catch you up.  I will also post some pictures from camp and Stone Mountain.  Here are some ramblings: